Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

said, and under the very eyes of the watchful police, yet nothing was done, no reports made, the guardians of the city's weal contenting themselves with the apprehension of the poor stand owners in the suburbs, while the more opulent firms were allowed free license.

The feeling against Gov. Steele, of Oklohama, is very bitter, in consequence of his veto of the bill locating the territorial capital at Oklohama City. Fears are entertained that the threats against his life that are openly made may be carried out.

The Farmers' Alliance has decided to boycott any South Carolina merchant known to be in favor of the Democratic ticket.

The election law passed by the last Indiana legislature has been declared unconstitutional by the State supreme court. The judges find that the Legislature has added to the qualifications of voters, which it could not legally do. Democratic papers charge that the decision is a partisan one, which will benefit the Republican party.

Colored Republican delegates from nineteen counties of South Carolina met at Columbus, and adopted resolutions declaring that the "do not desire social equality nor denegroes mand political supremacy as a race; but as citizens of the State and the United States, they do demand a just and fair share in that administration," and condemning the "bitter partisan feeling and rashness which tend to stir up strife among the races."

It is charged that the Republican committee is paying negroes in Kansas City forty cents each for registering. Candidates stand outside the register's office, and each negro under contract receives a ticket from him. The tickets are punched inside, and each punched ticket is exchangeable for forty cents in a room presided over by another of the candidates.

The compulsory education law is becoming an important factor in the Illinois political campaign; candidates for the Legislature are asked to pledge themselves to vote for its repeal. Fifteen Democrats are known to have signed the pledge, but the Republicans seem to be ready to make their campaign a campaign for compulsory education.

The Wisconsin Republican papers are printing alongside their titles a cut of a little school

house, and the following legend: "Register! For the Little School-house! Stand by it!" This, of course, is intended as an indirect attack upon the Democrats, who favor the abolition of the compulsory education law.

When the Circuit Court convened at Lexington, Mo., on Oct. 13th, Judge Ryland ordered the grand jury especially to investigate reports regarding the indulgence, at private residences, in games of cards for money, such as progressive eucre and high fine. The judge ordered the grand jury to return indictments against all card players, without regard to sex, age, or social standing, as he wanted the universal breaking of the law stopped.

A Cincinnati man who has been arrested twenty-eight times for the violation of the law forbidding the sale of liquors on Sunday was tried lately by a jury on this charge. The jury could not agree on a verdict, although many police officers testified that they had been in his place on a Suuday, together with many others, and had been sold liquor. Some jurors said they could not convict on unsupported police evidence, while others did not think a man should be sent to a workhouse for such an offence.

A decision was rendered in the United States Circuit Court in Topeka, Kan., allowing the reopening of “ original-package" liquor houses in the State, and declaring that the Wilson bill enacted by Congress does not restore the power of the Kansas prohibitory law as against original-package saloons.

A bill in equity has been filed by a prominent lawyer against the city of Pittsburg. The object is to secure other custodians of the city's sinking fund than the finance committee of councils, which now has charge of the fund. The complainant shows that the city has failed to create a suitable trustee for the care of the fund, and that the members of the finance committee are untrustworthy. One of them is shown to have been frequently arrested for violations of the law, another is shown to have been a defaulter, and still another to have been tried for receiving stolen goods He also charges that a bank in which the members of the committee are interested, with a capital of $200,000, holds each year over $600,000 of city money.

The New York Times charges that the mayor of the city of New York, who has been renominated, is unable to write grammatically the

[blocks in formation]

The London Socialists assembled one day last week in Trafalgar Square, with the view of holding a meeting in behalf of the unemployed, but the police appeared and prevented speechmaking. One of the leaders was arrested, and a charge made against him of attempted riot.

A proposition was lately made at the session of the Diet of Lippe (a small principality in Western Germany, covering an area of 423 square miles, and having a population of about 125,000) that after the death of its reigning sovereign the principality should be turned into a Socialist Government, and carry out the entire Socialist programme, in order to make a practical experiment of Socialism. The proposition was made by a deputy not connected with the Socialist party. The Diet declined to accept the suggestion.

A resolution was adopted by the Socialist Congress at Halle declaring that the Socialist party should seek to obtain their objects only through the enactment of laws by Parliament.

At the Socialist congress now in session at Halle, Herr Bebel reported that the German socialist party now owned 104 organs, with 600,000 subscribers. Last year the receipts of the party were 390,509 marks, and expenditures 383,325 marks.

The strike of the street-car and omnibus drivers in Havana is becoming a serious disturbance to business. The new drivers hired by the companies are stoned by the strikers, and passengers are injured. It is rumored that all trades will join the strike. A number of cigarmakers have already gone out.

The regular population of Siberia consider the influx of convicts a great drawback to the development of their industrial and social life, and the government is examining a small island in the Caspian Sea with a view of planting a penal colony there like that of Saghalien.

The Catholic congress at Saragossa has passed resolutions in favor of founding Catholic workmen's associations.

IN GENERAL.

There has been a mutinous outbreak in the ranks of the English regiment stationed on the island of Guernsey. A detachment of the regiment having been ordered to India, the men disregarded the officers' commands, and refused to prepare for the departure. When things be

came threatening, the mutinous soldiers were disarmed. Finally the men embarked, but in a very menacing mood.

A dispatch from Constantinople states that the arrests of Armenians are still being made, and that the prisoners are tortured to the point of death.

St. Petersburg is the only capital of Europe in which the population is steadily diminishing. During the last seven years the inhabitants of that city have decreased by eighty-five thousand.

In a paper read at the last annual meeting of the British Association the author showed that the world will be fully inhabited in the course of one hundred and eighty-two years.

Before the Association for the Advancement of Women, at Toronto, Ont., a paper was read by a Boston woman, who held that there is too much paternal legislation in the present day and too little encouragement of moral and personal energy.

In the nine months of 1890, 289,013 immigrants have been landed in the United States.

The Russian government is about to begin the construction of the Siberian railway. Officials of the government will have full charge of the works, and no contractors will be employed.

A YEAR'S LEGISTATION.*

In the address for 1890, delivered by the president of the American Bar Association, a review was made of the legislation of twenty-one States and Territories in relation to trade and labor enacted during the past year. Touching labor legislation, we find that Georgia makes eleven hours the limit of a day's work for persons employed in cotton and woollen factories, with certain specified exceptions. Massachusetts makes nine hours a day's work for workmen in the employ of the State or municipalities therein. Wyoming fixes the limit for such work, and also for work in mines, at eight hours. Ohio makes ten hours a day's work for railroad employees, and forbids operatives on the roads to perform any work after having been at work on a train for twenty-four consecutive hours until they have had at least eight hours' rest. Ohio and Iowa have made the first Monday in September (Labor Day) a legal holiday. Several States have made provision for the establishment or the continued support of bureaus of labor statistics. Ohio provides for the establishment in certain cities, by the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, of a free public * From the address of Henry Hitchcock, of St. Louis, Mo.

employment office, which is to keep and distribute lists of persons seeking employment, and of persons seeking to employ labor. South Dakota establishes a bureau of labor statistics, and North Dakota enlarges the functions of its Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor, making special provision for the collection of statistics relating to labor. Michigan establishes a State court of mediation, and Massachusetts amends its existing act providing for a State Board of Arbitration. Both boards have power to compel testimony, but neither has power to compel obedience to its conclusions. Both acts require the parties submitting the dispute to promise, in writing, to continue in business or at work, without any lockout or strike, until a decision is rendered, which must be, in Massachusetts, within three weeks, and in Michigan within ten days, after the investigation is completed. Several States legislate against fraud or unfair conduct between parties to labor contracts. In the case of farms cultivated on shares, Georgia and South Carolina prohibit the land owner from defrauding the laborer and the laborer from unreasonably refusing to fulfil his contract. Ohio declares void any agreement by a railway employee waiving damages for injury from accident, defect, or insufficiency in cars or machinery, makes proof of defective machinery prima facie proof of negligence, forbids any railway company to withhold any wages for dues in any organization, and requires written reasons for the discharge of an employee to be given him, if demanded within ten days. Maryland also prohibits the withholding of wages for relief or insurance purposes. In Wyoming, all coal mined at rates by the quantity, whether by machinery or by the hand, is required to be weighed at the mine before passing over a screen, unless the miners otherwise agree. Kentucky authorizes labor unions to record brands and labels, and recover damages for the unauthorized use of the same. Ohio makes employees of railroad companies having control of other employees their fellow servants for the purpose of damage suits for negligence. New Jersey gives silk finishers a lien for the amount due them on goods placed in their possession to be prepared for sale. Iowa gives miners and laborers working in coal mines a lien for their labor on the property used in constructing and operating the mine. Ohio requires manufacturing, mining, mercantile, street railroad, telegraph, telephone, express, water, and construction companies to pay their employees their wages to within ten days of date of payment. Statutes regulating the employment of women and children in stores, factories, and mines, for their protection against dangers to health, life, or limb, have been enacted in Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming.

Among the laws affecting trade may be mentioned the law of Iowa changing the rate of interest from ten to eight per cent. South Carolina fixes the rate of interest at seven per cent., or, by express agreement, eight per cent., all interest being forfeited in the case of usury. North Dakota fixes the rate of interest at seven per cent., or, by special contract, not

exceeding twelve. Another species of legislation affecting trade is the anti-trust legislation, which has been so common in the West. Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington have added themselves to the number of those States which have prohibited trust agreements and combinations by statute, while Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming have express provisions against trusts in their constitutions. Virginia requires insurance companies to furnish to the insured upon application forms for preliminary proof of loss, failing which the insured is released from obligation to furnish such proof. Massachusetts and Rhode Island have passed laws imposing restrictions on itinerant venders, requiring them to take out licenses, and to make substantial deposits with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Among the enactments affecting trade may be mentioned a class of statutes which, from another point of view, are to be regarded as police regulations. As examples of this class are to be noted, the acts passed by Georgia, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Ohio, and South Dakota regulating the sale of drugs and making the adulteration thereof a criminal offence, the laws of Michigan, Virginia, and Kentucky to prevent fraud in the sale of vinegar, the laws of Ohio, Michigan, and Washington to prevent the sale of deleterious milk or butter, the Massachusetts act against option contracts where there is no intention to receive or deliver the property pretended to be sold, the high-license laws passed in Michigan, and the prohibitory legislation in Iowa and North and South Dakota.

Statutes providing for the regulation of railroads have been enacted in thirteen States, viz.: Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming. Several of these States enlarge the scope of the powers already possessed by the railroad commissions. Some of the States prescribe and others require the commissioners to prescribe and enforce regulations concerning rates of transportation, speed of trains, obstructions at crossings, precautions against collisions and other accidents, adequate depot accommodations, and facilities for shipment, the construction and maintenance of cattle guards, road and farm crossings, of side tracks to mines and manufacturing establishments, and of improved switch and signal systems, and the prevention of fraud or unjust discrimination in the weighing, billing, and transportation of freight, severe penalties being prescribed or authorized for their enforcement. Rhode Island, Michigan, and Maryland require safe heating appliances to be substituted for car stoves within a limited time. Iowa forbids new cars to be built, or old ones repaired, or any cars to be used after a specified time, unless furnished with automatic safety couplers and power brakes. New Hampshire authorizes the consolidation of important trunk lines, and Massachusetts and Rhode Island have passed laws to promote the abolition of crossings at grade.

[blocks in formation]

Tyranny.

The suppression of the drama, Aldermanic the Clemenceau Case, by the Boston Board of Aldermen has been the subject of much admiring comment. Of the drama itself it is unnecessary to speak. The incident has its ludicrous side. That men of such character as those who administer city governments should presume to decide upon questions of morals or propriety delights one's sense of humor. The serious aspect of the case is that it shows that the majority of the citizens of Boston are as ready to submit to certain kinds of tyranny and dictation as the in habitants of Russia or China.

Police

Many actions of the police Authority. recently recounted in the daily papers, such as seizing pictures, breaking up public meetings, make it seemi as if citizens of this country have only so much liberty as the police authorities think best to allow them. The question arises whether such liberty is really very rare or very valuable. Have not all peoples, at all times, had as much liberty as their tyrants, or their rulers, chose to grant them? Do not even slaves have the like?

When we read that a man has been imprisoned for three months in Germany for saying that the Emperor will sooner or later join the Socialist party we are not much surprised. When we read that men have been arrested in England for addressing a meeting of Irish

Nationalists, or that in Russia persons disaffected towards the Government have been sent to Siberia, we say to ourselves complacently, these are just the sort of acts to be expected in despotisms. But when we read that in Brooklyn recently the police broke up a public meeting held in a hall the right to the exclusive possession of which the members had secured for the evening, not on account of any disturbance but because some of the speakers used language objectionable to the authorities of the town, shall we say that this is just what is to be expected in a free country? The people apparently did not think so in 1791, when they adopted an amendment to their constitution guaranteeing the right peaceably to assemble; or in 1868, when they adopted another amendment, forbidding any State to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

It is not surprising that attempts to abridge the freedom of the press should arise concomitantly with those to abridge freedom of speech. The reported exclusion from the mails at second-class rates of a periodical because, as alleged, it was the successor of a paper that formerly advertised lotteries, and the seizure of a lot of campaign literature at New Orleans on the ground that it contained advertisements of the Mountain Board Lottery of 1768 and the United States Lottery of 1776, may be regarded simply as indicating how utterly senseless an idiot a man may be and yet have the capacity for learning to write and read, or how shallow a pretence is sufficient to blind the American people, provided that it is invested with official formality; but the cases may have much more important bearings. It is very doubtful whether any infringements upon the right of free discussion can be innocent of harm.

[blocks in formation]
« AnkstesnisTęsti »