commerce department in the cabinet. The new department would embrace a number of bureaus having jurisdiction over special interests and industries now controlled by the treasury, interior and other departments.

SENATOR CULLOM of Illinois is preparing an anti-trust bill which has for its object the making of the criminal features of the Sherman law more drastic; increasing the scope of the civil suits which can be instituted under it, and making it more easy for persons whose business has been affected by alleged unlawful combinations to secure damages.

FOLLOWING the lead of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which voluntarily raised the wages of its employees 10 per cent, several western railways have advanced wages 10 to 20 per cent. Increases of 10 to 15 per cent have also been made by the American Cigar Company, the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the Kensington Woolen Mills in Philadelphia, and several other large concerns.

THE Boston Herald, which was a straightout Democratic paper in the recent campaign, continues its attacks upon wealth and thrift. It aims to foment popular discontent with prevailing economic conditions, and apparently aspires to become the organ of the ultra-socialist propaganda. Newspapers of that stamp are likely to be regarded as public enemies.

THERE are no protectionists "who insist that every item in every sched

ule of the Dingley tariff is so sacred that it cannot be touched by the hand of tariff revision," but they do believe that the need of tariff revision is not so pressing that it cannot be postponed to a time when it can be taken up with much less disturbance to business conditions than would be possible under present circumstances.

ACCORDING to a Washington special, it is doubtful if any of the Kasson reciprocity treaties will command the votes necessary for ratification. Senator Aldrich advocates in lieu of such treaties the establishment of maximum and minimum rates of tariff that can be put in force by the Executive whenever the action of foreign governments warrants

them.

THE fact that so many of the European countries must depend upon other countries for cotton and other raw materials for manufacturing purposes would be a serious obstacle to their industrial progress but for a superabundance of cheap labor which makes it possible for them to compete with considerable success in the world's markets with the higher. wage countries, though the latter may excel in producing capacity.

Gunton's Magazine gives figures to show that since 1891 the average prices of all commodities have risen slightly less than two per cent; but to-day prices are about 50 per cent lower than at the close of the Civil War, and fully 30 per cent lower than in 1870. One fact should be

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a

ELECTION RESULTS.

HE more the returns of the election are studied the more significant appears the general result. For sixty years, with a few exceptions, the party which has won a presidential election has been unable to win a substantial victory in the middle of a presidential term. The most notable exceptions were in 1886 in Cleveland's first administration, and in 1898 in McKinley's administration.

The Democrats had confidently expected and predicted that there would be a strong reaction against the Republican party in this election, and they are not reconciled to their defeat. Their efforts to get any crumbs of comfort out of the general result seem as futile as the process of ex

tracting moonbeams from cucumbers. The old-time Republican states have given large majorities and the states which were considered in some doubt have remained in the Republican column, with the exception of Rhode Island. In this state, as in New York, national politics had almost nothing to do with the election; and it is absurd to claim that either would be a doubtful state in a presidential election. The result shows that the country as a whole is well satisfied with the Republican party's treatment of existing problems, and that Republicans generally are true to their political convictions.

The correct returns give the Republicans 208 members in the next House of Representatives, and the Democrats 178, which includes the two Democrats elected in California as "labor men." Thus the Republicans have a majority of 30 over the opposition. In the present Congress (under the old apportionment) the Republicans have 200 members and the Democrats 157-a Republican majority of 45. The Democratic gain is chiefly in the additional members given to several states by the new apportionment. On the other hand, there is a gain in nineteen states of fourteen Congressmen for the Republicans.

The returns from states where United States senators are to be elected indicates that there will be no change in the upper branch of Congress, the Republicans retaining their present majority of 22-assuming that the deadlock in Delaware remains unbroken. Eight states will return senators of different political faith to that of the present incumbents, but these changes apparently balance politically.

A significant feature of the result is that those western states (with the exception of Nevada) which went astray on populism and free silver coinage have returned to the Republican fold; and this makes the Republicans of the West a more important factor than before in framing party policies and naming candidates in future presidential campaigns. It is pointed out that if the vote cast for congressional candidates had been cast in a presidential election, the Republicans would have had, under the new apportionment, 314 votes in the electoral college and the Democrats 162. It is thus apparent that the return of the late uncertain states west of the Mississippi to the Republican party eliminates New York as a pivotal state, though it is not doubted that it would be Republican on a presidential vote.

in this way: Congressman Roberts had expressed the opinion that the only way to get rid of the duty on hides is to make some equivalent concession when the tariff is revised, and it had been suggested that the duty be taken off boots and shoes. He expressed the opinion that the duty is no longer protective and that our shoemakers have nothing to fear from foreign competition. Mr. Rice took strong ground in favor of retaining the duty and said that it should not be sacrificed to the hide duty. His argument was not reported, but of course he would not have defended the duty unless he had thought it necessary to the safety of the shoe industry. Perhaps he knew, and perhaps Mr. Roberts did not, that if the duty were taken off, certain American shoe manufacturers would take their machinery and a few skilled hands as teachers to some cheap labor country like Japan or China and manufacture for the American market. Be this as it may, he must have known that the Standard Shoe Machinery Company of Boston leases its machinery to German and English shoe manufacturers on the same terms as in this country, sends over experts to teach their help, and that men who work there for only one-half to two-thirds the wages paid in this country are now producing on those machines as good shoes as are made in America and as many pairs for each machine in a day. Mr. Rice may like free trade as a theory, but he is a great business man.