Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

nity in small sums extending over a large period, but all the Powers do not approve this plan. Russia in Manchuria is a constant provocation to disagreement, whether a treaty with China be signed or not. The strongest The strongest military force in China is the German force, and Germany is not likely to be the most moderate in demanding indemnity. Japan is openly hostile to Russia. Great Britain is yet engaged in South Africa. Our own government wisely restricts its activity to moral suasion. The outlook therefore is not as hopeful for preserving the Chinese Empire as we could wish it were.

And it is Russia now as it was Russia in the beginning that causes the greatest fear, despite her friendly protestations. She has a settled policy of Asiatic conquest. Steady, sometimes stealthy and sometimes ostentatious, but always certain is her advance. In methods very different, but in results alike effective, she absorbs Persia on one side of the continent, and on the other side she acquires (for she will yet acquire) Manchuria. Internal disorder may threaten the throne, Czar may succeed Czar, and ministry succeed ministry, but there is a continuous purpose, perhaps an inevitable race movement, in the

the East, and elevate her rank among the great Powers. great Powers. Her hostility to Russia has slumbered since the unfair treatment that she received at the close of her conflict with China, but it has never been forgotten.

Now Russia is thought to have removed the English collector of revenue in Corea, and Japan interprets this as an unfriendly act, and Russian conduct in Manchuria has inflamed the Japanese Government. There has been an open threat of war, and Japan has been making active and extensive preparations. There is no doubt of the eagerness of the Japanese people for such a conflict. The patriotic feeling of the country is deeply hostile to Russia.

Of the allies that must come to an agreement about a settlement with China, England still has her war in South Africa, Russia has her acute troubles at home, and Russia and Japan are at swords points. Agreement on indemnities is not made easier by these complications, and the fate of China is uncertain for so many reasons that conjecture must descend to the level of blind guessing.

THE BOERS' STUBBORN OR STEADFAST REFUSAL

Russian push eastward. Sufficiently Asiatic THE peace-terms offered to the Boers by

instinctively to understand the art of conquerin nd assimilating Asiatic populations, the Russian has advantages that no purely European conqueror can hope for-whether his conquest be by arms, by diplomacy, by industry, or by trade. It looks as if he were destined to rule the greater part of Asia.

An illuminating chapter of this advance is told in this number of THE WORLD'S WORK by Mr. Mumford in his article about the Russian supercession of England in Persia. While the eyes of the world are fixed on Manchuria, or on Peking, or on St. Petersburg, the work of Russianizing Persia goes steadily forward. Not only may the Chinese Empire be partitioned, but the great conflict between the two dominant races of the world, the English and the Russian, may before many years take place on the borders of the longslumbering cradle-land of civilization.

[blocks in formation]

the British were surprisingly liberal and in declining them the Boers seem surprisingly ill-advised. General Kitchener, with authority, offered, on the surrender of the Boer arms and ammunition and the cessation of hostilities, to give amnesty in the Transvaal and the Orange River colonies to all bona fide Boer soldiers, and to all belligerents in the Cape Colony and Natal except British subjects who had taken up arms against Great Britain; to return the military prisoners from St. Helena and Ceylon; to replace military law by a civil administration, looking toward the establishment of a representative government; to permit the use of both the Dutch and the English languages in the schools and in the courts; and to give $5,000,000 toward payment for the loss of the burghers' property actually caused by the war. General Botha reported that, after a conference, the Boer leaders had declined these terms. The only terms that Great Britain had before offered were unconditional surrender.

Weary as the English public is of the conflict there was at once a vigorous revival of war-feeling. One explanation of the Boer refusal is that the Boers hoped for better terms

because of the difficulty that was at the moment threatened between Great Britain and Russia in the Far East. The true reason for their declination is doubtless their unwillingness to desert their kinsmen in the Cape Colony who joined their desperate fortunes. But, whatever their reason, the continuance of the struggle seems clearly to put a heavy responsibility on the Boer leaders. The British will put to the severest strain, if need be, the whole resources of the Empire-even to the remodelling of their revenue systemto end the long struggle victoriously.

A ROYAL VISIT TO THE BRITISH COLONIES

THE
Their to the English throne, has gone

HE Duke of Cornwall and York, the

on a world-girdling journey to the colonies, by the eastward route; and in due time, he will reach Canada. On May 6 there will be a celebration at Melbourne in honor of his visit and on the occasion of the opening of the Federal Parliament of Australia. Such a journey is an obviously excellent part of the education of a prince; but it is noteworthy that the English royal family appreciates its two-fold value more keenly than the monarchs of any other country. This journey was planned by the Queen, who was the most far-sighted monarch of our times. One of the wonders of this democratic era is the deep-seated loyalty to England of her great independent colonies -a wonder that a close study of the Queen's wide sympathy goes far to explain.

THE STATUS OF THE CANAL TREATY

HE Hay-Pauncefote treaty as amended

THE

by the Senate was returned by the British Government without its signature on March 11, and negotiations with regard to the cutting of an isthmian canal are now at a standstill. The original Hay-Pauncefote treaty, it will be recalled, received the assent of Great Britain; but the Senate amended it, and this amended treaty is not acceptable.

The objections that the British Government makes to it seem rather technical than substantial, namely (1) that the consent of both parties is necessary to abrogate the ClaytonBulwer treaty (we asked that the new treaty should supersede the old one); (2) that the proposal of the United States to defend the canal is in violation of the purpose of the original agreement that its neutrality should be guaranteed by both governments; and (3)

that in fact only Great Britain would be bound to observe neutrality, and that no other nation would be so bound.

Great Britain is, of course, clearly within her rights to withhold assent to the treaty, and her declination is expressed in friendly terms. But the situation is a complicated and embarrassing one.

The British Government forgot or ignored one important fact-that, whereas the ClaytonBulwer treaty contemplated the construction of a canal by the help of both American and English capital, the proposal now is that it shall be constructed by the United States Government alone. Under these circumstances we surely have a stronger claim to control of it than we should have had if it had been built by both British and American capital.

The important facts are (1) that public opinion in the United States demands the construction of a canal by our Government; (2) that a strong section of public opinion, including a majority of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, is in favor of independent action without further reference to Great Britain's wishes; and (3) that to reach an agreement with Great Britain further negotiations must be begun by us, Great Britain having made no proposition when it declined to assent to the amended treaty.

[ocr errors]

It would be difficult to conceive of a more complicated situation. But the friendly spirit in which the subject can be discussed by both governments gives hope of an amicable arrangement. In the meantime the "interests that are opposed to a canal are said to be active to discourage it. But the public opinion that favors it is so strong that nothing less than a period of great financial depression could cause the enterprise long to be postponed.

The canal is an undertaking which would make any administration so memorable that the utmost endeavors of the President and of the Secretary of State will be made to begin its construction as soon as possible. The present hitch is unfortunate; but the United States is going to cut the canal and an amicable way will be found to do it.

There is one remark in Lord Lansdowne's instructions to the British Minister at Washington which hints of the seamy side of diplomacy-that Lord Salisbury

"did not see how her Majesty's Government

could sanction any convention for amending the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, as the opinion of this country would hardly support them in making a concession which would be wholly to the benefit of the United States, at a time when they appeared to be so little inclined to come to a satisfactory settlement in regard to the Alaskan frontier."

The sensible and broad view of the whole matter taken by the London Spectator commends itself:

"We cannot help thinking that, instead of contriving a very effective diplomatic score, the Marquis of Lansdowne would have been better employed in asking himself what were the essential interests of the United Kingdom in the whole question. We believe the British mercantile and maritime interests demand that a canal shall be made, that when made it shall be held by America as we hold the Suez Canal, and that, except for keeping British Honduras, which of course we shall keep, the less we have to do with Central America the better. So long as we keep command of the sea-and unless we keep it we shall cease to count as a nation-we need not get into a panic over Americans fortifying the canal. Sea power will control the canal, not land batteries."

THE RISE OF NEW MUNICIPAL ISSUES.

THE

HERE is no doubt about a rising tide in municipal government. Public opinion is becoming alert about it in most significant ways; and the two subjects that it concerns itself most about are municipal home-rule and the careful guarding of franchises. The April elections in Chicago, Cleveland and St. Louis, and the present activity in New York have very instructive lessons on both these topics.

There is a very strong popular opinion, which is growing in every part of the Union and which is especially vigorous in the middle West, in favor of a much closer scrutiny of franchises than ever asserted itself until a very recent period; and the sentiment is becoming. strong even in favor of municipal ownership. Municipal ownership will play a greater and more earnest part in municipal politics for a long time to come.

It has received a noteworthy impulse by the election of Mr. Tom L. Johnson as mayor as mayor of Cleveland. His platform was "a three cent street railway fare and universal transfers;" and he was elected chiefly because he stands against the renewal of street railway franchises under the present terms. In Chicago, too, although the question was somewhat more

complicated, Mayor Carter Harrison owes his third election to his loyalty to the public interests as against the "traction interests." His platform demanded that "pending the achievement of municipal ownership" no franchise for street railways shall extend more than twenty years; that fares shall be reduced during the crowded hours; and that the municipality shall ultimately acquire the street railways. In spite of the grave criticism of his administration for other reasons and in spite of the Altgeld opposition in his own party, Mr. Harrison was elected on this street-railway platform. In Toledo, Ohio, Mayor Jones was reëlected on a platform of a similar and even more radical character in other respects.

In St. Louis, Mr. Wells (Gold-Democrat) was elected chiefly because he stood for municipal home-rule. Here the candidate who stood for municipal ownership was defeated; for the dominant impulse of the people was to make sure of a business-like and creditable administration during the period of the approaching great fair, commemorative of the Louisiana Purchase.

In New York, Governor Odell has made a successful revolt against the Republican machine of Senator Platt. Senator Platt proposed legislation that would do gross violence to home-rule in New York city in its police management. The conduct of municipal affairs by state machines is receiving many discouragements.

The significance of the spring municipal elections from the point-of-view of national politics is not great; for local issues were dominant. But in Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis the newly elected mayors are Democrats; and in St. Louis and Chicago the successful Democratic candidates were opposed by the Bryan faction of the party; and Mr. Johnson, of Cleveland, is a Gold-Democrat. If these elections have any national political significance they indicate the good management and strength of sound-money Democrats. Mr. Johnson is, for the moment at least, spoken of for higher honors. He is a man of fortune which he made chiefly from street railways, a man of convictions and courage, a free-trader, a believer in the single-tax, a man of good business ability and a former member of Congress.

But the political and personal aspects of these elections are of small importance beside their importance as indications of the growing

opinion in favor of home-rule for cities, in favor of stricter care for the public welfare in disposing of franchises, and of a strong tendency toward the municipal ownership of street railways.

THE BUSINESS METHOD OF PURIFYING CITY GOVERNMENT

TH

HE Committee of Fifteen citizens of New York city, who without making much noise are trying to cut the connection between vice and the government of the city, are the most effective enemies that the Tammany machine has encountered for many a year. Their primary purpose is not to suppress vice, which they frankly recognize is an impossible task in a great city; but it is to prevent the city government from protecting vice and drawing its revenue from it. They are every week closing gambling houses and other such resorts, and are thus cutting off one of the great sources of Tammany's revenue-a source that yields in good times an incalculable but enormous sum. The same process chills the loyalty of the criminal classes: if Tammany cannot guarantee protection to them, why should they be loyal to Tammany?

The value of the lesson taught by this method is the greater efficiency of business men than of religious crusaders, for the very practical work of lifting a city government to a decent level.

A SUCCESSFUL SECRET PRIMARY LAW

THE elec

HE nominating convention is the stronghold of the boss, and a primary tion that should be held under the secret ballot-law would at least arm a community against its bosses. An interesting and apparently conclusive experiment of this kind has been tried in Hennepin county, Minnesota, which includes the city of Minneapolis.

The aim of the Day primary election-law is to substitute a secret nomination election for the nominating convention. The nominating primary is held seven weeks before the election to allow time for a campaign. The primary election-day is also one of the registration days, so that a voter when he registers for the general election can cast a secret ballot for the nomination of candidates that he prefers.

Under the Day law any properly qualified person may become a candidate for office if he can produce a petition signed by a specified number of voters. In this way the political

field is open to any one who has friends enough or followers enough to nominate him by their ballots. But the law relieves a candidate and his friends of the pressure of party affiliations, and it gives independents an opportunity to make their power felt. The Australian ballot offers increased immunity to voters from coercion and corrupt influences and encourages coöperation among good citizens by giving them primaries exempt from the dictation of the machine.

The objections made to the Day law before it was tried were that it would lead to con

fusion, cause delays, and disrupt legitimate party organizations. But when it was tested last fall there was no confusion, no delay, and no disruption-except that five Aldermen of bad reputation were not even nominated, and the Hennepin Republican Association, which is a Tammany-like machine, was shaken to its foundations. It brought five times as many voters to the primaries as had ever attended them before, and it demonstrated anew that pure primaries are the most effective instruments in the hands of honest men to combat the machine. In the Hennepin county primaries the best list of candidates was put forward that had been nominated in many years, and of them were elected. many The legislature of Minnesota has now extended the law to the whole state, with some unfortunate amendments.

A stubborn contest has been carried on in the Wisconsin legislature for a similar law. Governor La Follette has stood resolutely for it; and when this summary closes, it had been passed by one branch of the legislature against the desperate opposition of the political machines.

It is bound to be an important instrument in undoing municipal bosses; and, if we may dream for a moment of the millennium, think what a change such a law would bring if it could be substituted for a national convention! These quadrennial mobs are the least representative bodies that exist outside the Russias. THE WESTERN DEMAND FOR IRRIGATION

[blocks in formation]

then. An Omaha letter to the Boston Herald -Omaha and Boston are the extremes of temperament, if we longer have extremes-recently told of the sectional struggle that may be expected if Congress continue to refuse aid to irrigation in the arid States. It was an arid Senator who talked the River and Harbor bill to death.

No one who knows the temper of the West can doubt that irrigation works will yet be built by the Government. Although promoters of this movement secured no legislation during the last Congress they carried on a campaign of education; and they expect the next Congress to pass the Newlands bill. They have all agreed on this measure, and the National Irrigation Association will champion it.

The Newlands bill does not call for any direct appropriation of money from the treasury; but provides for the use of the money hereafter secured by the sale of public land in the arid and semi-arid States to construct irrigation works. This sum last year was about $3,000,000. The Government is to use for irrigation the future revenue from this source -so this bill provides; the irrigated land is to sold to settlers at a fixed price, and the Government is thus to be repaid.

The objection to the bill rests on the general rule that the Government never receives back money once appropriated in such fashion. But, since the public lands that will yield this revenue lie only in the States to be irrigated, the general objection is likely to yield to the earnest organized public opinion of the West. The Western earnestness about the matter is little understood by local public opinion in the Eastern States.

THE MOST INTERESTING JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

PRESE

RESIDENT MCKINLEY is about to go on a journey to the Pacific States, and after his return he will attend the Commencements at Harvard and Wesleyan Universities, and visit other places in New England.

He does well to take these journeys, for he will enjoy them and profit by them, and so will the people. His jaunt is a cheerful enterprise from every point of view. It can have no personal political significance. He can go without arousing the suspicion even of those emotional children of the Republic who dream of him in imperial robes. He will see the

people as they are, the people of all parties and of all sections of the country, and he will see them in the cheerful mood of prosperous times. He is personally well-liked. He has a more sincere respect of his political opponents than any recent Executive. He has, for instance, resolutely and wisely refrained from giving sectional offense to the Southern Democrats. From Washington to New Orleans and to El Paso he will be as heartily welcomed as he would be in Ohio. Everywhere he will be received with pride and honor.

Across the desert he will see the meaning of the cry for irrigation. In California he will find out public opinion about the Isthmian Canal. Up the coast he will find evidence of the wonderful prosperity of the great northwest, for the old frontier-phrase has now moved across the mountains to Puget Sound, and he will see a trans-Pacific service better equipped than the trans-Atlantic service was until the other day. He will see a regular yield of precious metal from Alaska and from the Rocky Mountains that would have caused an economic spasm. He will visit the national parks that attract visitors from all parts of the world. He will return down the great lakes, which have a larger traffic than any other sea; and he will come to Buffalo, where the Pan-American Fair will show what advancement we have made since the great Fair at Chicago.

There is no itinerary from which a student of the practical forces of modern life could learn so much; no other country through which its ruler could get such a vista of the future of the world; no other journey so instructive to a man who looks to the wellbeing of mankind as the chief aim of civilization, and perhaps no man is so sure to catch the meaning of every phase of our bounding rise of life as Mr. McKinley.

And he has the habit of frank speech when he meets the people. His utterances will reveal more of his thought than he would express in many state papers. He goes at a happy time, too. The harassing problems of our island wards are nearer solution than ever before. The people are not wrangling about party doctrines. They have a more active pride in American citizenship than any recent generation has had, for they feel, as no preceding generation felt, the power and the destiny of the nation. The presence of the

« AnteriorContinuar »