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to him, even if they should feel so disposed. In the present excited state of public feeling, a Democrat who should vote for Mr. Addicks would probably be thrown out of one of the State House windows. All that Addicks can do at present, therefore, is to hold up the Legislature and prevent the election of any body, and this he can do only in case personal and factional ambitions and animosities prevent the Democrats and Regular Republicans from combining against him. If there be no choice of United States Senator this winter, the responsibility for the failure to elect will rest, first, upon Mr, Addicks, and, second, upon the Regular Republican party. The Democrats are willing to enter into a combination with the Regular Republicans, provided the latter will give them one of the two vacant Senatorial seats. They do not even insist on having the long-term Senatorship, but will take the short term and give the long term to the Regulars if the latter will help them to eliminate Mr. Addicks as a factor in Delaware politics. This, however, the Regular Republicans are not now disposed to do. Some of them are personally hostile to Willard Saulsbury, who would probably be the Democratic nominee, while others have Senatorial ambitions of their own with which a coalition might interfere. As The Outlook believes in the party system of government, it can understand the reluctance of Democrats to ally themselves with Republicans, or vice versa, in ordinary political contests. But this is not an ordinary political contest; it is a National scandal.

The Defeat

Rhode Island enjoys the of a State Boss political distinction of being the only State north of the Potomac and east of the Mississippi having a Democratic Governor. Dr. Lucius C. Garvin was elected to the gubernatorial chair last autumn on the Democratic ticket by the astounding plurality of over 7,000 in a State which for years has been overwhelmingly Republican. While the Legislature of the State has a joint Republican majority, it is not so large as to make it impossible for Governor Garvin to influence in a very considerable degree the legislative as well as to direct the executive branch of the State government.

A very interesting and picturesque story, the story of the defeat of a powerful and strongly intrenched boss, is connected with Governor Garvin's election. For many years Rhode Island has been a bossridden State, General Charles R. Brayton having been the commanding and controlling figure in Republican State politics for nearly a quarter of a century. General Brayton was a brilliant soldier in the Civil War, and, like many of his fellow-officers, went into politics. He became postmaster of Providence, one of the most desirable offices in the State, but lost his position owing to an alleged improper political use on his part of Government money. For a time the machine politicians ignored him, but he soon regained his political position, and it is hardly too much to say that he has assumed and exercised the function of a political dictator. Much of the time he has held no political office, but has had his desk in the State Capitol, from which he has guided and directed legislation. A few years ago he became blind, but this did not interfere with his control over the machine. At his desk he has received Representatives, Senators. and corporation agents on equal terms. There is a current story that once he became impatient at a long session of the House, and, after waiting for his luncheon until his hunger increased and his patience diminished beyond the point of endurance, he summoned the Sheriff and instructed him to go in and see that the House adjourned. What the Sheriff did is not a matter of record, but it is known that when General Brayton reached his hotel the House had also reached it. General Brayton's influence very obnoxious corporation laws have been passed in Rhode Island. Indeed, his success in controlling and shaping legislation for purely material ends and with very little regard to the rights and welfare of the people at large brought him to that state of mind which has preceded the downfall of so many political bosses before him.

The Victory of a Persistent Reformer

Under

For nineteen years General Brayton and the "organization" have had a quiet but persistent opponent. Dr. Lu cius Garvin, a country physician, has been constantly elected from his district as a

made

Democrat even in years when the Republicans were overwhelmingly in control. At first the bills that he introduced and the speeches that he were either ignored or ridiculed. He was considered a crank and a radical, but finally some of his measures began to attract popular support. He persisted in writing to the papers and making public speeches advocating the measures which he had unsuccessfully introduced into the House. In this way the State at large gradually learned something about his personality, his character, and his political beliefs. He was instrumental in the passage of the factory inspection law, of the bill to make, the working day for motormen and conductors ten hours, and in the abolition of the landed-property qualification of the suffrage. This enlargement of the suffrage increased the vote of Rhode Island about a hundred per cent., and was of course of direct and distinct advantage to those whom Lincoln called "the plain people." The serious street railway strike of the employees of the Rhode Island Electric Railway last summer, which involved the cities of Providence and Pawtucket in dangerous rioting, was a factor in the election. It was alleged that General Brayton, the head of the political machine, had practically acted as a special agent of the Rhode Island company in the passage of legislation favorable to its interests. Dr. Garvin, who opposed the political injustices which he believed were practiced by the Rhode Island company, not only surprised the State by winning the Democratic nomination against formidable opposition, but, having been nominated, still more astonished the expert politicians by winning the election. It is another instance of the fact that powerful boss rule may be, and often is, overthrown by patient, persistent, and upright effort to guard and preserve the real interests of the public. What Dr. Garvin will do in the executive chair time only can tell, but we earnestly hope that he will show such a combination of practical wisdom and scrupulous integrity that the political managers of the State may be convinced that honesty is the best policy, even if they are unable to understand, aspire to, or practice honesty on other and higher grounds,

The Philippines:
Official Reports

The annual report of the

Philippine Commission, and also a separate report from Governor Taft, have just been made public by the War Department. With regard to existing conditions, the reports agree in stating that armed opposition to our forces has practically ceased, that civil government has been extended in a hopeful way, that ladronism continues to be the great curse of the islands, and that its prevalence is largely due to the lamentable condition of agriculture, caused partly by war and the ravages of cholera and partly by the loss through disease of ninetenths of the water-buffalo, on which the cultivation of rice is entirely dependent. Governor Taft states that the Moros do not understand popular government and do not desire it, and that the control by dattos or native chiefs may cease far in the future, but at present it is necessary to provide "a paternal, strong, but sympathetic government for these followers of Mahomet." During the year ending June 30, 1902, imports have amounted in full to forty-one millions, exports to twenty-seven millions; capital seems to be timid in going to the Philippines. In the recommendations of the two reports stress is laid on the need of currency reform and the reduction of duties on imports into the United States from the Philippines-the Commission recommends a reduction of at least seventy-five per cent. Governor Taft speaks earnestly about the labor problem, and commends the organization of labor unions as likely, if properly directed, to give laborers a sense of the dignity of labor and of their independence. He declares the objections to the unlimited introduction of Chinese to be logical, and thinks it would prove an obstacle to the opening of markets for Philippine products by the United States. The Commission, on this point, ask that power be given to admit a limited number of Chinese, certified to be skilled laborers, "on the bond of the employer that for every Chinese skilled laborer employed he will employ a Filipino apprentice, and that he will return the Chinese skilled laborer thus introduced within five years after his admission to the country, and that he shall pay a tax of not exceeding $50 for each Chinaman SO admitted to the insular government to meet the expenses of the

enforcement of these restrictions." It will be noted that this proposition contains at least one important restriction not contained in the plans for admitting Chinese labor which have hitherto been discussed in this country. Nevertheless, the imposing of these restrictions does not meet the objection that the plan essentially amounts to authorizing coolie contract labor, under which the laborers would for years have no control of their own industrial conditions. Other important recommendations of the Commission are that individuals or corporations may be aliowed to hold interest in more than one mining claim; and that the amount of public land which may be sold or held by individuals or corporations shall be increased to twenty-five thousand acres, the argument being that, as the Government owns sixty five out of seventy million acres, there is no danger of concentration of ownership in individuals or corporations.

The Tariff on Art

The bill removing the duty on works of art provides that works of art which were created fifty years before the date of importation shall be free of duty. Some obscurity of statement in the comment of The Outlook upon this bill two weeks ago led to misapprehension as to the provisions of the bill. The movement of which the bill is the expression seems to be gaining ground. Mr. Kenyon Cox, the Secretary of the Fine Arts Federation, recently said that, while there might not be any action on the bill during the present session, it was hoped that a hearing would be given by the Ways and Means Committee in order that the arguments in favor of the bill might be laid before Congress and so before the country. It is hoped also to engage the personal attention of President Roosevelt, whose interest in all matters relating to the development of the higher civilization of the country, and whose sympathy with art in all its forms, would naturally commit him to a wise and most generous policy. The most noticeable aspect of the agitation is found in the fact that there is no serious opposition to the proposed modification of the tariff law. No official body or person has recently declared in favor of the protecon of the American artist. It would

seem as if the time were ripe for entirely removing the tariff from works of art; but, in the judgment of the men who have the matter in charge, it is better to take one step at a time. The few people who think that art can be protected are not opposed to the free importation of works of art which are more than fifty years old. Mr. Ruckstuhl, who has recently resigned his position in charge of the sculpture at the World's Fair to be held in St. Louis next year, declares that he regards any tax on art from the point of view of protection as absurd. It is, in effect, a denial of American talent in art. The American artists are amply able to take care of themselves; they have made great advances during the past few years; they have developed men who rank with the first artists of the world, and they are creating a new school of art which promises to take its place with the great schools of the past. In Mr. Ruckstuhl's judgment, the taxing of collections made in Europe by such men as Mr. Pierpont Morgan, composed as they are largely of works of art that can never be duplicated, is absurd:

We have first-class painters and sculptors, although not so many as there are in Europe. But a picture of an old master cannot possibly compete with modern works of art, because it was painted when the art of painting was practiced as it never can be practiced again. It was the reflex of a spiritual and intellectual condition which cannot be repeated here. Our modern tendency is in a different direction. A painting by an old master would be an acquisition, as are the writings of Homer, Virgil, and Dante, which were the result of a different spiritual atmosphere from that of their intrinsic beauty, for the expression of a to-day, and must be appreciated simply for life and a social state which are forever past, and, therefore, in a large measure must be entered in the category of archæological and ethnological things, so to speak.

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find the price of this fuel also advanced. Almost at the same time that the Standard Oil Company announced another dividend-bringing the aggregate of the year up to forty-five per cent. on its $100,000,000 of capitalization-it advanced the price of oil a cent a gallon in barrels, and two cents a gallon in cases. The Standard Oil Company is so continuously cited by trust apologists as their illustration of the possibility of lower prices through the monopolization of an industry that it is of interest to compare present prices with those prevailing when the monopoly was established in 1882. An examination of the record shows that oil today is actually dearer than it was twenty years ago. Prior to that time the price of refined oil had fallen, as a rule, from seven to ten per cent. each year ever since petroleum was first put upon the market at the beginning of the Civil War. Export prices by the barrel mean little to the ordinary consumer, but they form the official basis of comparison. In the decade preceding the complete establishment of the trust the export price of oil by the barrel in New York fell from 24 cents a gallon to 71⁄2 cents. During the two decades following this event, the price of oil by the barrel has risen from 71⁄2 cents a gallon in 1882 to 81⁄2 cents a gallon in 1903. If improvements in manufacturing and economies in production have gone on as in the days of competition in the oil industry, the public has surely not received the benefit.

The Steel Trust's Profit-Sharing

On New Year's Eve the United States Steel Corporation announced an elaborate plan-or rather two elaborate plans-which it has adopted for sharing future profits with its employees. The first of these, which is open to all its employees, but particularly to the ordinary wageearners, offers them the opportunity to purchase on extremely easy terms 25,000 shares of preferred stock at a trifle less than the current market price, and promises them thereon not only the regular seven per cent. dividends whenever earned, but also a further dividend of five dollars a year for each share so long as the owner remains in the "continuous" employment of the Corporation. The employees are

divided into five grades according to the amount of their earnings, and those of the fifth grade-getting $800 a year or lessare permitted to invest 20 per cent. of their year's earnings in the preferred stock, while employees of the next higher grade may invest but 15 per cent., and those of the very highest grade only 5 per cent. Furthermore, the employees of the higher grades cannot purchase any of the preferred shares until the subscribers of the lower grades have received their full allotment, if they care to buy shares. This feature of the offer calls attention to the fact that only a minority of the employees can become profit-sharers under this scheme, as there are only 25,000 of the "profitsharing shares and there are 168,000 persons in the employment of the Company. Expressed in simple terms, therefore, the amount of the offer is this: The Company will help several thousand of its employees to become shareholders, lending them, if necessary, at 5 per cent. interest, the money needed to buy the shares. To these shareholders, so long as they remain in the continuous employment of the Company, it will out of its profits distribute a bonus. of $5 a share, or $125,000 in all. This means a bonus of $10 a year to the workman who gets the two shares for which most of them are allowed to subscribe, but if it were distributed among the whole body of the employees it would amount to less than a dollar apiece. The other portion of the profit-sharing offer is decidedly liberal. This is made only to those holding official positions or in some way responsible for economical management. To members of this class the Company offers a share in the profits rising from 1 per cent. when the profits aggregate $80,000,000 a year to 21⁄2 per cent. when the profits reach $150,000,000. Upon the profits reported by President Schwab last May ($115,000,000), the bonus paid to officials under this plan would have been 1.6 per cent., or $1,840,000-or fifteen times the bonus allotted to workmen becoming shareholders. The New York "Tribune's" despatch from Pittsburg reports that the higher officials warmly applaud the new plan of profit-sharing, but that the workmen almost universally condemn it, declaring that the bonus offered them is of little value and bound by

conditions lessening their freedom to quit work. Other despatches, however, indicate that some of the workmen are eagerly subscribing for the preferred shares, and the friends of profit-sharing hope that the purpose of the Corporation to express and promote good feeling between employers and employed may yet be achieved among the wage-earners as it already is among the employees holding the more responsible positions.

Conditions

after making specific recommendations for municipal legislation on the points above stated, advised municipal control and operation. Whether or not this recommendation by the Grand Jury is beyond the usual scope of the action of such a body is a matter of no particular importance; it is of very great public interest that an official and legal body of this kind should reach this solution. The presentment of the Grand Jury declares that "the efficiency and advisability of the participation of government in this sort of work has been abundantly demonstrated," and it points to the water system of New York and other large cities, the economical conduct of gas plants owned in many cities of the United States and Great Britain, and especially the management of the Brooklyn Bridge, as convincing examples of what may be done through municipal control. Finally, the . Grand Jury recommends that the municiThe pality of New York acquire all the street, elevated, and tunnel railway systems, and operate them for the benefit of the city, with the further suggestion that the Attorney-General might properly take action for the forfeiture of the franchises of these companies on the ground that they have not performed the functions allotted to them by their charters, and that after such forfeiture the city could properly obtain control. It is not probable that these recommendations will be followed immediately or as a whole, but the action of the Grand Jury has certainly set the people of the city thinking about the possibilities of municipal control in the future, and it should at least prove a warning to the companies involved that public utilities must be so managed that public comfort and public decency shall be maintained.

Two important and definite Street Railway results have already followed the investigation into the intolerable conditions now existing on the street and elevated railways in New York. The investigation of the New York Street Railway Commission was really forced by the fact that the crowding of the cars and other objectionable features had reached such a point that the public could no longer endure them. Commission has now issued a peremptory order directing the elevated railways to continue during what are called non-rush hours the full service afforded in the rush hours; it has also directed that the elevated roads shall by the end of March add three hundred cars to those already in service (thus giving room for fourteen thousand more passengers than under the present service), and that a third track be constructed in certain parts of the system. While the officials of the road say, with some appearance of justice, that less than the full service may suffice to seat all passengers at certain times of the day, it is certain that accommodation has not been furnished at times when it might easily have been provided, and it would be difficult to frame an order which would accomplish the end sought in any other way than by demanding full service all the time. The other result of the investigation to which we have referred was the rather startling recommendation of the Grand Jury of Kings County in its presentment as to the service provided by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. The Grand Jury not only emphatically asserted that the cars are poorly ventilated, dirty, badly lighted and badly neated, and that the crowding of people in them during the rush hours is shameful and indecent, but it went further, and,

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