Constantine, the "Christian" emperor.—
By Editor
Ice in Schenectady.— The city government of Schenectady, New York, bought and put in storage last winter thirty tons of ice, intending to give it to the poor this summer during the intensely hot months, the same as water is given to the passer-by at public parks. But the local ice dealers objected to such a procedure, and a judge was found who enjoined the officials of Schenectady from disposing of the ice on any terms, either giving it away or selling it. That would seem to be a very peculiar procedure, and one of the interesting things to the ordinary individual is that the despatches tell of similar things continually, and then there is editorial comment made concerning them, and as this goes on it makes more and more discontent among the common people. And who will say that it does not appear to them that they have just grounds for this discontent? And who can predict the revolutionary storm that will burst forth when this discontent becomes a little stronger? Constantine, the "Christian" emperor.—
The Rev. Thomas S. Gregory, in one of his historical sketches in the Hearst papers, entitled the "Battle of Adrianople," rightly says of Constantine: "Constantine was one of the worst men that ever lived, and he did nothing in the whole course of his life that was morally great, but he was an excellent fighter, and was never known to show the white feather." Washington and Religious Liberty.—
We have cited heretofore a statement from Washington in a letter to the Baptists as to how he regarded religious liberty. We note another sentiment, expressed in an address to the Hebrew congregation at Newport: "All [citizens of the United States] possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural right, for happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection shall demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support." The police in Atlanta have recently discovered a well-organized gang of boys calling themselves the "White Caps." They are fully one hundred strong, and have affiliated with them a girl contingent which they call the "White Stockings." Miss Margaret Laing, the probation officer, was listening to the idle chatter of some girls in the children's court when she got the clew that led to the detection and arrest of some members of the gang. They have been in existence for over a year, and some five hundred burglaries have been committed by them. The girls did not do much of the robbing, but they were aware of what was going on, and came in for a division of the spoils. They were all sworn to the greatest secrecy, and it is with the utmost difficulty that anything can be drawn from any one of them against another. One boy affirmed he would spend his life in prison rather than tell a word to incriminate his companions. If parents were all doing their duty, we would not have any such conditions as this. But in many instances the grinding heel of greed or else the depravities of the saloon, have driven mothers into the position where they are obliged to go from home to work to help support the family, and the children are left to shift for themselves, and they get into just such things as this. Child criminality has come to be one of the problems of the age. And with our "white slave" traffic, and with our grafting city officials, and with all the rest of the criminality and injustice that is cursing the world, who can be deceived into the notion that the world is getting better? Brigadier-General Clarence Edwards, who was one of the commissioners sent to Europe in the interest of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, is said to be enthusiastic over the prospect for a gathering of the "crack" regiments of the various nations of the world in San Francisco in 1915 for a competitive military tournament. The fact that the army reservation in San Francisco would furnish ideal drill grounds, and further that foreign troops could be landed right at the place by their own war-ships, adds to the feasibility of the plan, and foreign powers are said to be very favorable to it. The Department of Commerce and Labor, in a recent report, has pointed out that the great wireless station at Sayville, Long Island, is backed by German capital. Some are of the opinion that this move shows too much aggressiveness on the part of Germany. But it is more than likely that no one would have thought anything about it had it not been for the discussions over the aggressiveness of Japan in the Magdalena Bay affair. An explosion in the Haytian executive palace on August 8 killed President Cincinnatus Le Conte, and 400 others perished with him. It is believed by the best informed that the explosion was the work of dynamiters in the revolutionary party. The capital city is placed under martial law, and while the people are terror-stricken, the soldiers are keeping order. Secretary of the Navy Meyer is urging the building of more Dreadnoughts, because if we do not, we will soon be far behind as a naval power. The British and German programs are so active in this respect that it is argued that the United States will soon be a third or fourth if not a fifth class naval power unless more battle-ships are built here. Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for President, and Governor Johnson, of California, for Vice-president, by the Progressive Party, in Chicago. This makes five presidential candidates in the field, Messrs. Taft, Wilson, Roosevelt, Chafin, and Debbs.