Ship Trust, Boxerism, and Coal Strike
The Atlantic Ocean has at last come under the rule of the great ship trust. This is a combination of American and British steamship companies under the leadership of Mr. J. P. Morgan. The capital stock of this concern is placed at $120,000,000. It will have the power to compel other shipping companies to come under its direction or go out of the shipping business. It has already begun to make its influence felt in inaugurating an increase in passenger rates. Other companies have followed its suggestion in this for their own protection. A despatch from China states that Boxerism is increasing in the provinces of Szechuen and Chili. In the first-named province the Boxers are led by a woman who is said to have been one of the “Boxer goddesses” in the outbreak of 1900. She is said to have a following of 10,000 Boxers. In this province many native Christians have been killed. In Chili province the Boxers are said to be drilling every morning before daylight in the vicinity of the capital. The great strike of the anthracite coal miners is still on, and at the present time both sides seem as firm as ever. Representatives of the coal mine operators and of the labor organizations met in Washington at the invitation of President Roosevelt, on October 3, and held two sessions with the executive; but the representatives of the mine owners refused to recognize the labor leaders or to accept suggestions of compromise. The mine owners’ representatives demanded that the President send Federal troops into the strike regions to compel the strikers to cease intimidating those who were willing to return to work. From the standpoint of the inevitable distress of the poor, the President urged that these representatives of the miners and the mine owners reach an agreement by which work could be resumed at the mines. On October 5 a cabinet meeting was held to discuss the strike situation, and it was decided at that meeting to urge each local coal company to arbitrate with the miners in their own employ. This would mean a compromise on the part of each of the parties concerned. Mayor Maybury of Detroit has called a meeting of mayors and governors for the purpose of discovering some ground upon which the long-continued strike may be brought to an end, and the threatened fuel famine be averted. Some large manufacturing plants have been compelled to shut down on account of lack of coal. Many members of the English Parliament from Ireland are now in Irish prisons for violation of the Crimes Act. A report from Dublin states that “Ireland is completely in the throes of a coercion campaign.” The government has taken up the prosecution of members of Parliament, editors, and tenant leaders. According to this report, the crimes consist in boycotting landlords and opposing the landlord system. The boycotting process consisted in isolating the person boycotted by refusing to have any commercial dealings with him or to work for him. The next step by the government will be the proclamation of the United Irish League as illegal. When that has been done, a great portion of the people can then be thrown into jail for belonging to that organization. The report states that “the situation is becoming more bitter every hour.” Contrary to treaty stipulations, but in deference to the strong urgings of Russia, the sultan recently permitted four Russian torpedo-boats to pass the Dardanelles. Now the Grand Duke Nicholas, on a visit of friendship to the sultan, in a regular Russian warship, has been permitted to pass through these forbidden waters. The unarmed torpedo-boats established the precedent which permitted the warship to pass, and the passing of this warship has virtually annulled the treaty stipulations. When Russia desires to bring a whole fleet through the strait she will appeal to these precedents, and come through in spite of protest. All the union teamsters for the various express companies doing business in Chicago have declared their intention to go on strike within ten days unless the demands made by them upon the companies for which they work are conceded. They demand a recognition of their union and the employment of none but members of that union. It is said that the companies will not yield to these demands. The American force operating against the Moros of Mindanao has captured 40 forts and completely routed their defenders. The Moros were driven from their forts by artillery at long range. Their loss is placed at a hundred killed, while the Americans had but two wounded. So confident were the Moros of success that it is thought this signal defeat will cause them to submit. On account of renewed activity among the Hudson Valley Electric Railway strikers, soldiers of the National Guard have been called out to guard the peace of the town of Glens Falls, where the principal disturbance is anticipated. The street-railway men of New Orleans also are on strike, and the company has stopped running its cars until they can be assured of protection. A proposition is now being put forward in Europe for a conference of European statesmen and economists for the purpose of arriving at some understanding regarding the treatment of trusts and combines. The idea is receiving considerable support from economists and the press, who declare that Europe must adopt some means to meet the “American danger.” All the great steamship lines whose vessels ply between American and European ports have agreed to raise the rates on passage across the Atlantic. Second cabin rates have already been raised $5.00, and first cabin rates will be increased before winter. This movement was instituted by the great steamship trust; but lines not in the trust have joined in the increase. A Chicago inventor has devised a mechanical appliance for reciprocating steam engines that is designed to increase the speed and power of such machines. It does away with the crank and rods, and increases power by means of a spiral shaft cross-head and a stub shaft, giving a leverage hitherto unknown in any type of engine. A new copper company, with a capital of $100,000,000, has been organized to fight the copper trust. Like all other movements of this kind, it will end either in their amalgamation or in one’s swallowing the other, thus eventually increasing trust power. Colombia and Nicaragua are said to be on the verge of a clash of arms, and Colombia is still protesting against the course of the American commander at Panama. In Venezuela the revolution is thought to be gaining in strength. It is reported that the president with his army is surrounded by the revolutionists. The English torpedo-boat destroyer Wolf, which was recently completed at a cost of $1,250,000, has now been placed in a specially fitted dry dock to be demolished. The purpose of this costly destruction is to ascertain wherein lies the peculiar weakness which has affected this class of England’s war vessels. By a new method of painting cannon and their accompanying limbers, it has been found that they can be rendered almost invisible at a few hundred yards distance, and totally invisible, even with field-glasses, at a distance of 3,000 yards. The guns are painted in daubs and streaks of red, blue, and yellow. Advices from Japan state that during the early part of September a terrible typhoon visited the coast of that country, causing widespread disaster and loss of life both on sea and land. Six hundred fishing smacks with 1,500 men were lost, and many persons were killed and injured on shore. Large amounts of money are flowing in to the leaders of the anthracite coal strikers for distribution among needy families; the receipts for the last three months for what is termed the “miners’ defense fund” reached the total of $865,351, as high as $25,000 having been received in one day. On September 30 two aeronauts were flying over New York in their air-ships at the same time. Neither of them flew a great distance, but both reached the ground safely, although one of the aeronauts had to climb down a telegraph pole on the top of which his ship was tangled. The election of a governor for Vermont having been thrown into the Legislature, that body, on October 1, elected to that office John G. McCulloch, Republican, of Bennington. Vermont’s new governor was at one time a member of the State Legislature of California. Sixteen members of the city council of St. Louis have been indicted by the grand jury on the charge of receiving bribe money from those interested in the passage of a certain bill. It is charged that $47,500 was distributed among these men for voting in favor of the bill. M. Emil Zola, the best-known French writer of the present day, was asphyxiated in his sleeping-room, on September 29, from the fumes of a heating-stove. It was through his efforts chiefly that the second trial of Dreyfus and his release was brought about. By order of the Secretary of the Navy a new division of the North Atlantic fleet has been made, which gives a special fleet for the Caribbean Sea. This special fleet is charged with looking after American interests in the West Indies and Central America. Serious revolts against the rule of the sultan have occurred in Bulgaria and Albania, and a number of sanguinary conflicts have taken place. The sultan has called out 38 battalions of the reserves to cope with the revolutionists. The famous Pius Fund Case, which was being tried before The Hague Arbitration Tribunal, was closed on October 1. The decision of the court will be rendered at a session the date of which has not yet been fixed. At the annual conference of Mormons at London, on September 5, great progress was reported in the countries of England, Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Turkey, Palestine, Italy, and Switzerland. On October 2, 2,500 miners in the employ of the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company in Alabama ceased work, and it is thought that other miners in adjoining mines will join the strike. A party of four well-known explorers, well equipped for a long journey and for scientific research, left Paris last week for the unexplored regions of the Caucasus, Persia, and India. At Salina Cruz, Mexico, on September 23, seventy earthquake shocks were counted in one day, and these were followed by a great tidal wave which destroyed a half million dollars’ worth of property. Signor Marconi is now credited with the invention of an electric automobile which will carry sufficient electrical energy at one charging to travel 560 miles at the rate of 38 miles an hour. A large combination of stockmen has been formed for the purpose of combating the great beef trust. The stockmen are said to plan the erection of independent packing-houses. The epidemic of cholera is raging fiercely in the province of Iloilo, Philippine Islands. The number of deaths is said to exceed the total reported from the province of Manila. For the month of September the government’s surplus of receipts over expenditures amounted to $11,000,000. On September 29, 1,200 public schools were opened on the island of Porto Rico.