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money has been paid to members of the Police Department in return for immunity from prosecution, the Grand Jury declare that they found themselves constantly obstructed by the District Attorney. The presentment recites a series of facts which seem to show the grossest maladministration of the Police Department, and charges police officials either with criminal ignorance or criminal negligence. These charges are so definite in their character as to make it impossible for the District Attorney to rest under them. Either he must meet them or he must be removed. There could hardly be a greater scandal in city government than such a state of things as the presentment of the Grand Jury charges against the prosecuting officer of the county and the responsible officers of the police force.

The New York Franchise

Assessments

When the New York statute passed a year ago permitting local boards to assess municipal franchises at their market value was modified so as to transfer this power to a State board, there was general fear among anti-monopolists that the cities would not secure the revenue to which they are entitled. Last week, however, the State Board appointed by Governor Roosevelt reported its assessments, and these show that the spirit of the law has been followed with rare fidelity. As was expected, nearly all of the valuable franchises are in the great cities, and the great bulk of them in the metropolis. The assessments given out by the Board for this city indicate how large a mass of "intangible" property belonging to corporations has hitherto escaped taxation. The list is as follows:

Brooklyn Heights system..
Manhattan Elevated..
Metropolitan system...
Third Avenue system...

Harlem steam..

Brooklyn Union Gas..

Consolidated Gas....

Standard Gas...

New York Mutual Gas..

worth in the market about $150,000,000. In a similar way, the Consolidated Gas Company, whose assessment has been raised from $5,000,000 to $15,000,000, has outstanding over $40,000,000 of securities, all of which are above par. Most of these corporations are assessed at a lower rate than are the great body of real estate owners, whose property gets no value from any special privilege received from the city. The new law is moderate as well as just in its provisions, and will doubtless serve as a precedent for similar statutes in other States. The whole country is to be congratulated that the law is being administered in the spirit of its framers.

The Filipino Friars'
Memorial

We have received, apparently from a Roman Catholic subscriber, a copy of the "Rosary Magazine," published by the Dominican Fathers in Somerset, Ohio, which contains a copy of a memorial of the Philippine friars addressed to the Spanish Government, apparently just preceding the American war with Spain. This memorial contains the friars' statement of their case, and it is the only statement emanating from them which we remember to have seen. It frankly recognizes the hostility, not only of the Filipinos, but of Spanish residents in the Philippines, to the religious orders in the archipelago. It attributes this hostility to the influence of the Freemasons, to whom it charges the organization of the Katipunan revolutionary society. It affirms that "if we had given the faintest mark, not of sympathy, but even of toleration, to the men who were scattering broadcast false notions of liberty condemned by the Church, the religious congregations would never have $7,660,000 $30,766,770 been disturbed." It attributes the hos62.068,930 tility to the orders to the fact that "our 19,728,100 standard is no other than the syllabus of

Last Franchise

Assessment. Valuations.

27,945,000

5,030,000

2,174,750

4,175,000

2,865,000

5,635,000

1,419,000

735,000

1,775,000

2,404,000

New Amsterdam Gas...
Edison Electric of New York
Miscellaneous corporations..... 9,100,275

55,499,300

12,192,000

15,828,600

5,561,750

9.515,170 the great Pontiff, Pius IX., so frequently 3,439,790 confirmed by Leo XIII., wherein all rebel2,703,110 lion against the legitimate powers is so 9111,298 energetically condemned." It demands 34,157,188 the support of the religious orders as "the $70,918,025 $260,573,006 sole Spanish institution, pre-eminent and These later assessments are not exorbitant. deeply rooted, which exists in the islands, The Metropolitan system, which last year a vigorous oganization well adapted to was assessed at but $5,000,000 and this those regions." those regions." It implies that the hos year at more than $60,000,000, is to-day tility of the Filipinos to the orders is due

Total.........

to their passionate desire for the principles represented by the watchwords "Free Thought, Liberty of the Press, Secularization of Education, Ecclesiastical-Liquidation, Suppression of the Privileges of the Clergy." It indignantly denies the charges of impurity and immorality which have been brought against the orders, and "as not worthy of a reply the impudent assertion that in the country parts we are despots." At the same time it does more than acknowledge, it emphasizes, the hostility of the people to the orders, and demands, at least by implication, that opposition to the orders and their teaching shall be prevented and punished: "Of what use is it for us to teach the people to be docile and submissive, when their worst passions are excited by others who tell them to make nothing of our teaching? What professor could teach efficiently if his pupils were met outside the class-room by respectable persons who told them to despise his lessons? The civil authority, according to the teaching of the Church, ought, as far as possible, to be a bulwark to religion and morality. If the Government, therefore, does not protect us from the avalanche of insult hurled against us, if it does not root out the secret societies, if it allows our sacerdotal character to be trodden under foot, while our enemies destroy the fruit of our labors, we regret to say that we cannot continue our ministry in the islands." And again: "We prefer to abandon our ministry and see ourselves expelled rather than continue our mission in the islands if the situation does not better itself before long."

An Estimate of Its Value

This memorial of the Philippine friars confirms all that has been said by American correspondents respecting their unpopularity in the archipelago; it confirms the impression which those correspondents have given to the country, that one main reason for the revolt is a determination to be rid of the religious orders; it adds to the conviction that there can be no peace in the islands if the religious orders are left with the politico-ecclesiastical powers which they have possessed under Spain. Most Americans will not believe that this hostility is causeless, or that it is due simply to revolutionary agitation emanat

ing from the Freemasons. Such agitation would be powerless if the friars had not by their conduct given some reason, or at least some excuse, for the popular feeling against them. Most Americans also will agree that the Filipinos are quite right in having a passion for " Free Thought, Liberty of the Press, Secularization of Education, Ecclesiastical Liquidation, Suppression of the Privileges of the Clergy." These watchwords of the Filipinos are watchwords of all true Americans, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic. If the friars remain, they must remain subject to civil law; if they continue to teach, they must meet as best they can the opposition of others who tell the people to make nothing of such teaching and to despise the lessons taught. In short, the friars must take their chances in the Philippines as they have to take their chances in America, depending, not upon sacerdotal power, not upon the suppression of free speech, not upon any bulwark erected by the Government, not upon any political protection from an avalanche of insults, not upon any authority rooting out secret societies, but wholly upon governmental protection of the liberty of all men to teach, and upon such influence as they can exert through their personal character and their beneficent ministrations. We wish that some organization would print this memorial of the Philippine friars and circulate it widely through the country. It would help to make clear to the people the issue which America must meet in the Philippine Archipelago, an issue which can be solved only by the fearless and consistent application of American principles in the American spirit-a free field for all religious orders and organizations, and special favor to none.

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a majority of that body adopted a publicspirited resolution calling upon the State Railroad Commission for certain information about the conditions of the road to be leased. The Commission, among other things, was asked to explain why the receipts per ton-mile on all classes of freight were not one-half the average of the published rates to the various stations on the road for the cheapest class of freight, namely, coal. In reply, the Commission surprised almost every one except a few favored shippers by declaring that the freight carried on February 28, taken as a typical date, was charged on an average forty per cent. less than the published rates. The Commission reported that these discounts were open to all shippers sending freight "under similar circumstances and conditions," but the testimony gathered by Professor Bemis and Professor Commons, of the Bureau of Economic Research, seems to show that no shipper knew what rate his rival was getting. Some shippers of even large amounts, Professor Bemis testified, de clared that they obtained no discounts whatever from published rates. When this testimony was submitted, Mr. Samuel Hoar, attorney and director of the Boston and Albany, replied, with no apparent sense of the startling character of his statement, "I suppose it is true that no shipper knows what his rival is getting. I suppose it is true. But what of it? What has that to do with the lease?"

In one sense it had The Rights of the State nothing to do with the lease, but it had a great deal to do with the underlying question whether the State would be amply protected by its Railroad Commission if it ratified a contract giving over the Boston and Albany road to the control of a foreign corporation for three generations. Other testimony submitted bore directly upon the same question. Among other things, a letter was read from Inter-State Commerce Commissioner Prouty showing that the tank cars of the Standard Oil Company were being billed within the State of Massachusetts at twenty-four thousand pounds, though their actual weight was nearly twice as great. The evidence was so conclusive as to the unsatisfactory character of the report of

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the Massachusetts Railroad Commission that the Committee invited the Chairman of the Commission to state how he secured the data upon which that body based its conclusion that all shippers under similar conditions were treated alike, and that there were no discriminations beyond the car-load. To this question the Chairman made the astonishing reply that the Board has not directly investigated the matter at all, and that the answers submitted to the Legislature as coming from the Commission were really the answers of the traffic manager of the Boston and Albany Railroad. In other words, this Commission, which was famous for its leadership in railroad questions in the days of Charles Francis Adams, Jr., has now no information about railroad discriminations save what the railroads are pleased to give it. The Springfield Reput lican" declared this to be a "travesty on public regulation," and the protests throughout the State were so general that doubt was expressed whether a referendum vote would not show a popular majority in favor of the purchase of the Boston and Albany by the State. Meantime, through the hearings, which have been widely printed in the State, the people have learned that such investigators as Professors E. R. A. Seligman, of Columbia, F. W. Taussig, of Harvard, and R. T. Ely, of Wisconsin, are a unit in saying that in no one of the thirty or more countries in the world where public ownership and operation of railroads prevails is there any considerable or powerful element of the population desirous of returning to private ownership. It is also being recognized that Massachusetts has one of the most favorable opportunities ever presented in this country for undertaking the public ownership of railroads, and greatly reducing and simplifying freight and passenger rates, and that even if the State is not ready to accept this policy at once, it should keep the question open rather than virtually to close it for a long time by putting the stamp of legislative approval upon the pending lease. It looks more and more as if the Legislature might be forced to subpoena shippers, investigate secret discriminations, and submit to the people the opportunity to vote either upon State purchase of the railroad, or at least upon the propriety of the proposed ninety

nine-year lease. It is clear to The Outlook that the question of State ownership ought to be submitted to a popular vote; it is certain that the result of a legislative act ordering such a vote would be a campaign of education such as the State has rarely known, and that it would be an education for other States as well as Massachusetts.

By far the most seDeath of General Joubert rious loss the Boer cause has sustained in the war is the death of General Petrus Jacobus Joubert. Even the defeat and captivity of General Cronje become of insignificance as compared with the loss of this single truly great man. In every way Joubert was the most striking figure in the present war; even Kruger, powerful as has been his influence, is recognized as Joubert's inferior in mental power and in soundness of judgment. General Joubert will be succeeded as commander-in-chief of the Boer forces by General Botha. Joubert was of FrenchHuguenot origin, was born in Cape Colony about 1831, and, like most of the Boer leaders, was for the greater part of his life a farmer. His educational advantages were small, but were utilized with great eagerness. He was first brought into prominence by his skill and success in the frequent fights between the Boers and the natives. Later on, he accompanied President Kruger to London, and traveled extensively in England and on the Continent. His military fame leaped into existence when, with wonderful force and brilliant military tactics, he planned and carried out the defeat of the British forces under Sir George Colley at Majuba Hill in 1881. It should be noted that through the difficulties between Great Britain and the Transvaal General Joubert has been conservative. He was decidedly and positively opposed to President Kruger in many of the latter's acts; for instance, in 1884, it is related that Joubert refused to lead Boer armies against Bechuanaland because he considered that the Boers were violating their treaties with Great Britain. "I positively refuse," he said, "to hold office under a government that deliberately breaks its covenants-and we have made covenants with England." With regard to the outbreak of the present war, General Joubert did all that he could to

render war unnecessary, while at the same time he strained every nerve to prepare the Transvaal for the war which he believed, despite his own wishes, was close upon her. If Mr. Chamberlain and President Kruger had been actuated by the motives which governed General Joubert, there cannot be a reasonable doubt that war could have been averted without the slightest difficulty. Unfortunately, both were bent upon war. To General Joubert is due in great measure, if not altogether, the purchase by the Transvaal of the splendid new artillery which has made the campaigns waged by the Boers possible. To him also in person is due the greater part of the military credit for the extraordinary defensive campaign carried on against the British in Natal. Personally, General Joubert was a man of remarkable appearance, of unusual strength, and of marvelous endurance and activity. His death, it is stated, was due to peritonitis, how incurred is not known.

The South African War

There are indications that a movement forward by Lord Roberts is imminent. Whether this forward movement is to be in the direction of the slight advances already made (namely, northward from Bloemfontein) is open to question. It is not impossible that the immediate advance masks a turning movement to the northwest. On Friday of last week fighting took place six miles beyond the Modder River, on the road from Bloemfontein to Kroonstad. The result was the retreat of the Boers to Brantford, after some lively skirmishing which entailed the loss to the British of eight officers and one hundred men in killed and wounded. The next day British forces under Colonel Broadwood were ambushed by the Boers some miles east of Bloemfontein, and seven guns were captured by the enemy, who also took many British prisoners; the total British loss (killed, wounded, and captured) was about 350. This is the first repulse suffered by the British for some time; it appears to have been due to lack of careful scouting; its significance is in the indication that a large Boer army is still within a few miles of Bloemfontein. The latest estimates indicate that the effective British forces now in South Africa are

about 135,000 men and 336 guns. An interview with President Kruger has appeared in the New York "World;" in answer to the question when the war would end, President Kruger said: "Never, if I must ask for peace without independence. It may be six months; it may be ten years. God only knows how long it will take the English people to see that they are ́engaged in an unholy struggle." He declared his hope that "the Transvaal would soon be able to take its place beside the United States as a free and independent nation," and added: "My burghers are fighting for their wives, their children, and their country. Those who are fighting against them are looking for medals, Victoria crosses, and a shilling a day. My burghers are the best soldiers in the world, because they do not receive a penny for their services. They fight with their hearts, and an army of hearts is invincible." There are, however, many indications that many Orange Free Staters are ready to welcome peace under the British flag; semi-official declarations are reported from Europe that no intervention can be expected from any European State; and few even of the most enthusiastic friends of the Transvaal outside its territory will share in the sanguine expectations of independence so confidently expressed by its President.

We noted lately

The Delagoa Bay Award that the Delagoa Bay Arbitration Tribunal, after ten years' leisurely consideration of the matter intrusted to it, was about to issue an award in favor of the American and English contractors and stockholders of the railway between Delagoa Bay and the Transvaal, unjustly seized by the Portuguese Government, on the ground that the construction contract had not been fulfilled to the letter. The award has now been made. It gives (in addition to $140,000 already paid by Portugal) the sum of $3,062,800 to the claimants, with interest at five per cent. from 1889. This is generally considered a decidedly small award, although the London "Times" says: "The company and its creditors will doubtless consider the sum awarded far from adequate, but it is probably as much as they can reasonably have expected to

recover, and as much as Portugal can manage to raise without assistance." We are sorry to see that some of the English papers regard what they consider the insufficiency of the award as an argument against international arbitration; it would hardly be possible to please beyond cavil every one concerned in an arbitration, and the avoidance of international difficulties by this arbitration has been, in point of fact, a decided triumph of principle.

Archibald Forbes

The veteran war correspondent, Archibald Forbes, who died in London last week Friday, may almost be said to have founded the modern school of descriptive war correspondence. He will be remembered, not merely because of his personal courage, his enterprise in seeing all that there was to see and in getting his copy into his editor's hands with almost miraculous precision and rapidity, but also because he wrote notably strong and good English. He was one of the few newspaper correspondents who have made a mark because of their ability to write tersely, pictorially, and even brilliantly at times, without giving way to the temptation to write in heroics and to overemphasize with adjectives and epithets. Mr. Forbes was the son of a Scottish clergyman; he enlisted as a private soldier through a spirit of adventure, and served ten years in the British army as private and corporal. This personal experience gave him the intimate professional knowledge which afterwards stood him in such good stead. His most noted correspondence was sent to the London "Daily News" during the latter part of the Franco-Prussian war, and during the Russo-Turkish campaign of 1877. Hardly any living soldier has seen as much service and taken as many battle risks as had Archibald Forbes. He saw

as much of the Franco-Prussian war as was possible for one man to see; he was at Sedan, at the surrender of Napoleon, at his funeral, and finally with Prince Napoleon in Zululand. The Servian insurrection against Turkey, the fighting in Spain after the abdication of King Amadeus, the battles of Shipka Pass and Plevna, the Afghan campaign of 1878, the war in Zululand, and the battle of Ulundi (after which Forbes took his famous

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