ingly adopt any scheme which will compel them to accept a lower standard of living.

The new committee on rules in the House of Representatives, created as the result of the revolt against Speaker Cannon, and elected by the House, consists of Dalzell of Pennsylvania, Smith of Iowa, Boutell of Illinois, Lawrence of Massachusetts, Fassett of New York, Smith of California, Republicans; and Clark of Missouri, Underwood of Alabama, Dixon of Indiana, and Fitzgerald of New York, Democrats. Most, if not all, of the Republican members are supporters of Speaker Cannon.

We are indebted to the Washington correspondent of the Boston Transcript for the information that the Democrats are determined to make the tariff their chief issue in the Congressional campaign; and that "they propose to rely largely on

the utterances of insurgent Republi

cans to prove that the present tariff law is the worst tariff law ever enacted." The difference between the Democrats and insurgents on the tariff question is about as small as between tweedledum and tweedledee.

nunciatory of the cotton, wool and several other schedules in the tariff law.

In commending the unnatural alliance of Democrats and insurgent Republicans in the House to defeat the will of the Republican majority, professed Republican papers evidently take the position that the minority of a political party should be the dominating power in its councils. No political party can long exist on that basis. Said Representative Malby, of New York, in the debate: "I cannot recognize the right of a minority of my party to control a majority of my party. We are either a party of majorities or we are nothing."

On April 15 the newspapers began to report lower market prices on wheat, corn, oats and hogs, and the explanation was that holders of such

products were no longer able to maintain prices at high levels in the face of the strong opposition of the consuming public. It is again demonstrated that the farmers and middlemen cannot artificially control prices for a very long time by withholding supplies from the market. The time comes sooner or later when they must unload and accept much lower prices than they expected to get.

Some Washington correspondents declare that the maximum clause in

the tariff is a farce, because it has not been imposed against any country. Good reason why it hasn't. No one expected its imposition except in the case of a country which might refuse to accord us the same tariff favors that it gives to all other countries;

but it turns out that no country has ventured to provoke its application. So this provision of the tariff law was not a "foolish one," but it has well served its purpose in maintaining our tariff rates, and preventing undue discrimination against the United States in foreign tariffs.

According to the Washington correspondent of the New York Journal of Commerce, there is not the slightest chance of securing from Congress any action on the question of reciprocity with Canada either at this session or probably at the next. In the first place, any reciprocity treaty with Canada cannot be put into effect by merely securing the ratification of the Senate, but must have the assent of the House, it having been decided on a former occasion that any treaty affecting tariff rates must be acted upon by both houses. In the second place, it is not believed that any plan involving the reduction of tariff duties would be accepted by Congress.

Says "Fibre and Fabric": "The high cost of living scare is being worked to death, yet right in Boston there are hundreds of clean places where a full dinner is procurable for 25 cents, and it is the same in every city and town. The trouble arises from a growing desire on the part of the 10, 20 and 30 dollar worker to live the same as his 50, 60 or hundred dollar neighbor, and this desire is increased by the sensational efforts of the papers and magazines to make the masses believe they are being robbed by the classes. Stop investigations and agitations for six months and it would never again be effective, as conditions are too good, once righted, for anything to check

the prosperity wave. Continue the campaign of trouble breeding six months and we will have a panic."

The Democrats in the Maryland Legislature who unwittingly sought to contribute their mite to Republican success in the coming campaign, by passing laws to disfranchise the negro voters of the State and to ignore the Fifteenth Amendment giving the negroes the right of franchise, have been balked by the refusal of the Governor, who is a Democrat, to approve such legislation. He prefers to have the issue decided by a "friendly suit" in the courts, whether a state like Maryland, which voted against the Fifteenth Amendment, is legally bound by its authority before accepting any disfranchising proposal; but he may have been influenced somewhat by certain Democratic leaders outside of the State who regard the Maryland legislation as a colossal political blunder.

The New York Tribune, which is an apologist for insurgency, seems to be most ungrateful to the Democratic members of the House, but for whose aid the insurgents could have accomplished nothing in their revolt against Speaker Cannon, for it allows its Washington correspondent to say that the Democratic representatives have gained nothing for themselves by their alliance. "They had voted as one man," he says, "to pull the Republican chestnuts out of the fire to satisfy the demand for an end of Cannonism, and they have been left holding the bag." They have calmly and unwittingly forfeited the only issue which the fortunes of politics has entrusted to their care by helping the insurgents out of a hole, and now face the campaign with no other issue than their time-worn position on the tariff.

The New York Tribune says the tariff can never be rationally revised until it reflects the real difference in cost of production here and abroad. But suppose the domestic and foreign manufacturers as a whole refuse to disclose their costs of production, in other words, the secrets of their business? The New York Journal of Commerce (free trade) referring to the proposed investigation by the Tariff Board of the cost of production at home and abroad, remarks: "Their search will be futile because that difference covers a multitude of details and is constantly shifting, and, if ascertainable, it could never be used to determine rates of duty. The Tariff Board might find that out in the course of the current and the next fiscal year by spending its quarter of a million, and perhaps the knowledge would be worth the expense."

In a recent address, President Woodrow Wilson of Princeton University, who is a Democrat, charged that the short supply of meat is due to the monopoly created by the meat trust. This is the kind of stuff which the Democratic orators and newspapers may be expected to make the most of in the coming Congressional campaign. No doubt that the socalled meat trust has been responsible in some measure for the high prices, but the principal cause is the great shortage in food animals. The Department of Agriculture finds, on thorough investigation, that the number of cattle, sheep and swine in this country has decreased five millions since 1901, while the number

of consumers has increased twelve millions in the same time. This great shortage with the higher prices of grain used for feeding would go far to account for the higher prices of meat products even if there was no meat trust in existence.

The special election in the ThirtySecond New York district, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Congressman Perkins, resulted in the election of James S. Havens, Democrat, by about 5,900 majority over George W. Aldridge, Republican, who was assailed as a "boss," "machine politician," "self-nominated candidate," "anti-Hughes," "bribe-taker," etc. It should be remembered that the late Representative Perkins had long been an advocate of the un-Republican doctrine of free raw materials-a doctrine, which, if it should prevail, would make an end of the whole protection tariff system. Of course the Democrats claim the result as a tariff-reform victory, but the main factor (as in the Fourteenth Massachusetts district) was the personal issue-the unfitness of the Republican candidate. Mr. Havens himself says it is not wholly a partisan victory but "a triumph for better politics;" though he adds that dissatisfaction with the tariff and high cost of living helped him to win. The lesson for Republicans is to be more careful in their selection of candidates.

The Democratic and mugwump papers continue to discuss the significance of the recent special Congressional election in the Fourteenth District. They ignore the personal factors involved, and declare Foss's election a victory for tariff reform and as conclusive evidence of popu

It is a source of satisfaction to me to know that my successor is sure to be a Republican, whose fidelity to the principles and governmental policies of the party cannot be questioned.

are out of harmony with the Republican majority in Congress; but the fact is that thousands of Republicans voted for Foss, not because they fully endorsed his alleged principles, but because they were determined to defeat Buchanan, and many of them regarded Foss as the better Republican of the two. If we are not much mistaken, both Buchanan and Judge Harris (who failed to get the nomination) stood practically on the Foss Both had denounced platform. "Cannonism"-a bugaboo which has kept so many of the insurgents awake nights; both had declared for further downward tariff revision and for the income tax amendment. Mr. Foss repeatedly declared that if Judge Harris had been the candidate he would have stood by him and not entered the contest himself. It is difficult, therefore, to see where the Republicans of the Fourteenth District would have gained anything on the score of principle by sending either Buchanan or Harris to Conress instead of Mr. Foss.

I am confident that the important

I do not intend to resign my position on the national monetary commission, nor to relinquish my efforts to secure as soon as possible the adoption of a wise banking and monetary system by the United States.

On some proper occasion I shall express to the people of Rhode Island my appreciation of the unfailing support and confidence which they have accorded to me through more than 40 years of public service.

In a letter to the chairman of the Maine Republican State Committee, April 18, Senator Hale announces his decision not to be a candidate for re-election. He says:

Longer public service is not necessary to my peace of mind, and the prospect of retirement has little in it that is disagreeable to me.

The party has given me what no other man in Maine has ever received, five unanimous nominations for five full, continuous terms in the Senate, and it seems not fitting for me to make a personal contest for the succession.

The situation will not find me, however, either a grumbler or a malcontent.

My desire is to see Gov. Fernald reelected by a good majority with a Republican Legislature at his back.

It is further most important that Maine should send four Republican representatives to the next Congress, to avoid what may be the critical trial day for all Maine's industries and her business prosperity.

Should the Democrats carry the next House of Representatives, within 90 days after the opening of the next Congress a free tariff bill will be sent to the Senate, in which Maine's principal industries and interests will be marked for slaughter.

Whoever recalls the situation under the Morrison bill and, later, under the Gorman-Wilson bill, will fully realize

this.

And this disaster to Maine can only be prevented by the Republicans retaining control in the next House of Representatives.

To this end a full Republican delegation from Maine in the next Congress will be needed more than ever before, and to secure this result all my sympathy and efforts are at the command of the party.

THE ROCHESTER ELECTION.

The choice of Mr. James S. Havens, Democrat, to fill out the unexpired term of the late Congressman Perkins of the Rochester, N. Y., district, bears some resemblance to the Foss victory in Massachusetts. On its face it looks like a revolution, but closer examination shows that the Republican candidate had captured the nomination and was tainted with personal or party corruption. The Democrat proclaimed his purpose not to seek re-election, thereby securing the votes of those Republicans who desire an unembarrassed opportunity next fall.

To be sure, high prices, tariff lies, some desire for reciprocity with Canada, and the impulse of the unthinking to smash things, had their effect there as here, and it is probable that the speeches of Mr. Foss and Mr. Hamlin misconstruing the little cyclone in Massachusetts, led some to follow a bad example, but the fact remains that Rochester has not turned permanently Democratic and that when the Republicans get a good candidate they will again win.

There is one lesson which these two elections teach that has not been publicly mentioned, but which thoughtful men must consider. Rochester has large shoe and cloth

ing industries. The long agitation of the shoe manufacturers for free hides and the up-in-arms attitude of the ready-made clothing men towards the woolen tariff, had prepared the way for what took place, and the late Mr. Perkins himself, instead of educating his constituents, had catered to their prejudices.

Republicans in Congress and in other public positions must learn that their highest duty is to know and to teach the truth, and that the people are more apt to be misled upon the tariff than upon other questions. Republicans need more to realize that their party must adhere to principles and that they should not leap into the band wagon of delusions for the sake of some temporary success.

ALDRICH AND HALE.

A few malignant men welcome the proposed retirement from the Senate of Mr. Aldrich of Rhode Island, chairman of the Committee on Finance, and Mr. Hale of Maine, chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. The same men would have rejoiced over the retirement of George Washington had they lived in his day. But the broader minded and more patriotic are beginning to realize that it is an unusually great loss to the country.

For a third of a century they have been gaining the experience and wisdom which make them the best qualified men for their respective places, and there has never before been a time when their incorruptible integrity and civic courage are so much needed in public life as now.

But human nature cannot endure everything. Their hard work alone has been enough to make them tired