very rich Democrats in the State, and his nomination is due to the power that his money and newspaper gave him in securing the support of politicians in various parts of the State. His chief opponent was Colonel James Kilbourne, of Columbus, a man of character, culture, and conviction, who, although a successful manufacturer, became a Democrat on the tariff question, and is now especially strong with organized labor, because of the generous treatment of employees that has always characterized his factories. Had the choice between them been submitted to direct primaries-as is now required in the selection of State candidates in South Carolina and Georgia-Colonel Kilbourne would have won with ease, but in the delegate conventions the rich newspaper proprietor who has always backed the maIchine was able to control. At the State Convention at Zanesville Mr. McLean was nominated on the first ballot, receiving 4022 votes against 227 for Mr. Kilbourne, and 172 for five minor candidates. Largely because of Mr. Kilbourne's defeat and Mr. McLean's nomination, both of which have seemed inevitable for weeks, Mayor Jones, of Toledo, has consented to enter the field, taking for his emblem "The Man with the Hoe," and for his platform principles looking toward a cooperative commonwealth. How large a vote he will poll depends-unfortunately for him—not upon the personality of the candidates, but upon the anxiety of the voters to record themselves upon the National issues put forward by the great party conventions. The Democrats last week not only reaffirmed their devotion to the Chicago platform in general and the free coinage of silver in particular, but condemned the war in the Philippines, and demanded that "the Cubans and Filipinos be not only permitted but encouraged to form independent republics." of the trust because of the rise has been overstrained in many quarters. It is probably true, as the Armours virtually admitted to one of the Congressional committees, that the five great Chicago packing-houses arrange together the price of meat; but at the present time, as Secretary Wilson states, there are natural reasons why the price of meat should rise. There is a great deal more money in circulation than there has been for several years, and the demand for meat has probably increased more than the demand for more necessary food products. This, however, is the smaller part of the change that has taken place since the beginning of 1892. According to the statistics kept by the Department of Agriculture, the farmers of this country have been selling off their live stock faster than it has been renewed. The figures are striking: 1892. 1899 Cattle. .37,700,000 Sheep. Swine. 44,900,000 52,400,000 .28,000,000 39,100,000 38,700,000 This remarkable falling off, during a period in which the number of American farms has materially increased, would seem to indicate that the raising of live stock has been even less profitable than other branches of farming and for this the beef combination may be responsible; but for the present rise in prices, when an increased demand finds a depleted supply, the "trust " is surely not to be arraigned. However, there is much truth in the statement of New York butchers that there is an exasperating difference between the prices they pay for meat and those the Western cattle-raisers receive, and no little truth in the statement of the cattleraisers that the trust pays them less for meat than local butchers paid years ago, but charges consumers as much as ever. The present movement, therefore, to enable New York butchers to deal directly with Western cattle-growers deserves every encouragement. The California fruitgrowers, after a good many trials, have established co-operative exchanges through which they reach their Eastern markets; and New York butchers ought to be able, by similar effort, to reach their Western supplies. It is reported that the subscriptions of butchers to the proposed co-operative company have already passed the million-dollar mark, and they promise to make a firm stand. Preserving Places of Historic Interest In October Mr. C. R. Ashbee, who is well known in London as the founder of a school and guild of handicraft and as much interested in the preservation of ancient London, and who is carrying on now some of the work of the Kelmscott Press, which William Morris started, will visit America to rouse interest in the work of "The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest and Natural Beauty." Canon Rawnsley, of Crosthwaite, Keswick, who is known as a sonneteer and balladwriter, and also as the author of the Literary Associations of the English Lakes and " Life and Nature at the English Lakes," will accompany him. The 66 National Trust" was projected by him, and he has from the first been its honorary secretary, but the idea of it came from America, and both the lecturers feel that all that is needed is that the work shall be known to enlist the sympathy of their American cousins. The "National Trust," with the Duke of Westminster at its head, and with Sir Robert Hunter as chairman, and with a council of men and women well known in English public life, exists to promote the permanent preservation, for the benefit of the nation, of lands and tenements, including buildings of beauty or historic interest;" and, as regards lands," to preserve as far as practicable their natural aspect, features, and animal and plant life;" and for this purpose to accept from private owners of property gifts of places of interest or beauty, and to hold the lands, houses, and other property thus acquired, by gift or by purchase, in trust for and enjoyment of the nation." The root idea was borrowed from the Society entitled "Trustees of Public Reservations" in Massachusetts, which, under the guidance of Mr. Sargent, Mr. Wigglesworth, and others, did such good work as to induce the State to step in and to create a permanent Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners. A committee formed in each great city of America to co-operate with this central and representative committee of the "National Trust" could do much, both by its public opinion and its public spirit, to stimulate England to preserve its gems of scenery and its jewels of his toric scene. Miss Octavia Hill, who is a member of the council, writing of the "National Trust" in the "Nineteenth Century" for July, says: The "National Trust" has not been more than five years at work, but we have made a small practical beginning which we believe will gradually develop. We have received from one lady a gift of a beautiful cliff at Barmouth; we have purchased a headland of fourteen acres in Cornwall, commanding the best view of Tintagel; we are appealing now for help to secure a wooded hillside in Kent, with a splendid view; we have bought and entirely preserved from ruin a lovely old fourteenth-century clergy-house in a ford of the Sussex Downs; we have purchased a piece of primeval fenland, to preserve plants, moths, and birds peculiar to the Cambridge marshes, and have received a gift of a spur of a Kentish hill commanding a lovely view over the country-this was given in memory of a brother, by a lady and gentleman who wished to make this a memorial to him. . . . Beautiful indeed! it is free for all time to the step of every comer, a bit of England belonging to the English in a very special way. Discrimination The Inter-State Com Against Americans merce Commission last week rendered two decisions regarding railroad discrimination in favor of foreigners. One of them related to the higher charge levied upon "export" flour than upon "export" wheat. The difference, says the Commission, is often four cents a hundred pounds, which causes wheat to be shipped abroad and milled in England, when naturally it would be made into flour here and shipped in that form. This unjust discrimination against American millers the Commission condemns, and declares that the rate on flour shall not exceed the rate on wheat by more than two cents a hundred poundsthe maximum difference in the cost of the service. The other case, however, was more important and the decision less satisfactory. It appears that the roads are charging half as much again for shipping wheat to Eastern cities for sale there as is charged for shipping it through those cities for sale abroad. For example, the published rates per 100 pounds now stand as follows: and the domestic grain rates to New York should ordinarily be the same," but that "rates to other ports, including Boston, . . . may perhaps be properly made lower on export than on domestic traffic, to enable them to compete for the export business." In other words, while the domestic miller must be given the same rates as the English miller, the domestic consumer may be charged half as much again as the English consumer. A great deal might be said, indeed, to show that such discriminations enable roads to increase their business without unfairly injuring the business of their competitors and without overcharging the patrons paying the higher rates; but, when all has been said, the feeling remains that domestic consumers are entitled to the same rate as foreign consumers, when the same service is rendered them. The Plague It is now admitted that genuine cases of the bubonic plague have occurred in Astrakhan, the chief town of the Russian province of the same name, and the Roumanian Government has in consequence put a quarantine guard on its Russian frontier. In China also the plague has some footholdseventy-three deaths in four days are reported from New-Chang from the disease. In Oporto, Portugal, there have been a very few cases, but the demonstrations made by the people there against the enforcement of sanitary and precautionary measures augur badly for the future. Similar demonstrations have been made by mobs in Alexandria, Egypt, where the plague has existed, though in a mild form, for several months; in July it was thought that Alexandria had become free from the infection, and the sanitary precautions were relaxed, with the result that new cases at once appeared. Nowhere has the plague been so fatal as at Bombay and Mauritius, where the proportion of deaths to cases has been five out of six, while the epidemic continues this year to ravage whole streets in the lower quarters. The general opinion of competent experts is that there is little or no danger of the infection gaining a hold in any city where the water, sewerage system, street-cleaning, and other conditions of living are according to modern hygienic standards. The President's Speech The report of President McKinley's address at Pittsburg printed in another place in this number of The Outlook has been submitted to the President and returned from him to the editors of The Outlook with emendations and corrections. It may therefore be accepted as absolutely authentic and exact. This address of the President is important, not because it contains any really new information, but because it states certain facts with an authority which no unofficial statement can possess, and with a frankness unusual in public addresses by the executive head of a great Nation. In this respect President McKinley has followed the example of President Lincoln, who was accustomed occasionally to puzzle politicians and confuse opponents by similar frankness in public speech. There has been in certain quarters a curious misapprehension of the facts of recent history, due, in our opinion, less to intentional misrepresentation than to a certain passionate doctrinairism which has forbidden a patient, open-minded inquiry into the facts. It has been assumed that the present war in the Philippines is a war of conquest, undertaken for our commercial profit, in which we have been the aggressors, and in which our soldiers whose term of service had expired have engaged reluctantly and under compulsion; then it has been argued with great seriousness that such a war is un-American and unjust. No one doubts that such a war would be un-American and unjust; but there is no such war. The critics have proved with elaborate argument what they might have assumed, and have assumed as admitted what they should have attempted to prove. Under these circumstances it is well that we have from the Chief Magistrate of the Nation a clear and concise statement of facts respecting recent events in the Philippine archipelago. He who desires to know whether the resolve "for the speedy suppression of the rebellion, the establishment of peace and tranquillity and a government under the undisputed sovereignty of the United States" is right or wrong should study that question in the light of the President's statement of the facts which have led to this resolve; . and if that statement is questioned, the unprejudiced inquirer will require, to awaken his distrust in its accuracy, something stronger than unproved assumptions or newspaper reports of unknown correspondents, whether journalistic or military. The facts as stated by the President are that we purchased the archipelago from the only Government which had ever in its history been recognized in or over it; that the volunteers, after the term of their enlistment was over, remained in the islands, "cheerfully, uncomplainingly, patriotically," to maintain law and order and defend the flag; that, had they not done so, "chaos would have reigned, and whatever government there was would have been by the will of one man and not with the consent of the governed;" that for weeks they maintained their self-control under the most exasperating conditions. "Subjected to the insults and duplicity of the insurgent leaders, they preserved the status quo, remembering that they were under an order from their Government to sacredly observe the terms of the protocol in letter and spirit and avoid all conflict, except in defense, pending the negotiations of the treaty of peace. They were not the aggressors. . . . The first blow was struck by the insurgents, and it was a foul blow." There is nothing in this statement of facts which will surprise any regular reader of The Outlook. He will find it abundantly verified by the history of events as it has been continuously given in these columns for the last year and a half. In view of this statement, it is clear that the question for the Nation to decide is not whether a war of aggression on a free people is to be sanctioned and sustaineda proposition which no intelligent American will defend; but whether, having succeeded by treaty and purchase to all the responsibilities of the only government which had ever existed in the islands, we have any right to surrender those responsibilities to a small minority of the inhabitants who, rifle in hand, endeavor to expel us and to assume authority over the rest of the inhabitants. We believe that America will, by an overwhelming majority, reply to that question, whenever it gets the opportunity, in the words of the President: "They assailed our sovereignty, and there will be no useless parley, no pause, until the insurrection is suppressed and American authority acknowledged and established." The Transvaal Ever since the outrageous, though unauthorized, Jameson raid of January 1, 1896, with its insufficient penal consequences to the ringleaders, the Boers have been justly suspicious of the British. The raid, indeed, elicited universal sympathy for the Boers. It should not be forgotten, however, that their hands were hardly immaculate. In 1881 the Transvaal Government agreed with Great Britain (1) that no treaty into which it might enter with foreign States should be valid until it received the approval of the British Government; (2) that there should be a limit to the Transvaal's rights to deal with natives; and (3) that the Boers should not encroach on the boundaries of their neighbors. Yet in that very year a raid was made by the Boers into Bechuanaland, a movement suppressed by Sir Charles Warren and his men. Unsuccessful in the west, the Boers turned to the east, invaded Zululand, and actually annexed the best part of that country. The increasing numbers and importance of the British forces then kept the Boers well within their own borders, but the latter soon found a far more oppressive method of aggression. In 1881, five years before the discovery of the gold-fields, when there were comparatively few Outlanders (or foreigners) in the Transvaal, the franchise was obtainable after a year's residence. In the same year the agreement between Great Britain and the Transvaal provided that there should be equality of treatment for all whites. The new form of aggression consisted in an increasing burden put upon the Outlanders, so that, until two months ago, to obtain the franchise meant for them a fourteen years' residence, the consent of two-thirds of the Boer voters, and the approval of the Government. No such restrictions were placed upon the Boers themselves. The result was that the Outlanders, paying nine-tenths of the taxes, have had no voice in the levying of taxation. So great has the recent British menace of war been, however, that President Kruger has receded step by step from his untenable position, until, last week, he offered an additional concession over the reform of two months ago. This last concession grants a five years' franchise to the Outlanders, and thus enfranchises one-third of them. The gaining of this "irreducible minimum," demanded by Sir Alfred Milner, British High Commissioner, in his recent interview with President Kruger, removes, however, but one of the causes of friction. Mr. Chamberlain, the British Colonial Secretary, now urges the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to effect general reforms, including the franchise, for if that is the chief, it is only one of a dozen reforms demanded by the Outlanders. They also ask (2) such a redistribution of seats for the gold-fields in the Volks raad (or Transvaal Parliament) as will give to them a proper representation. At present there is none at all. The Transvaal now offers one-fifth, but the Outlanders represent three fifths of the population. (3) The next demand is that for a Constitution safeguarded from sudden changes. At present an ordinary resolution of the Volksraad may change the existing Constitution. (4) A fourth demand is that the heads of the Government shall be responsible to the Volksraad. (5) A fifth demand is that for independence of the courts. At present, if a judge does not respect any chance vote of the Volksraad, he is dismissed from office. The Chief Justice was so dismissed. (6) Cancellation of monopolies constitutes the next demand. There has been much oppression from the railway, liquor, match, brush, and soap monopolies, and, above all, from that on dynamite, as mining is the great Outlander industry. In Cape Colony dynamite is imported at a profit for sixteen dollars a case; in the Transvaal it costs twenty-five dollars to the mine-owner. (7) The Outlanders also ask that the English language shall be put upon the same plane of equality with the Dutch. Nine-tenths of the Transvaal's business is transacted in English, yet the official tongue is Dutch. (8) The eighth demand contemplates the removal of religious disabilities. Other demands are (9) for a reorganization of the present corrupt civil service; (10) for an untrammeled press; (11) for educational reform, and (12) for free trade in South African products. The Outlanders have long but vainly urged these reforms upon the Transvaal Government. When patience ceased to be a virtue, they appealed (last spring) to the British Government by a petition signed by twenty-one thousand Britons in the Transvaal. Even after the Jameson raid it seemed to many imperialists—Mr. Chamberlain, for instance that patience had not really been exhausted. In May, 1896, the Colonial Secretary said in one of his speeches, "To go to war with President Kruger to enforce upon him reforms in the internal affairs of his State . . . would be immoral. . . . That is not my policy and never will be." Despite inconsistency, however, it now seems to him, and also to most Britons, irrespective of party, that, in pressing the complaint of inequality of treatment, they have taken time enough for sober second thought. The fact that, with the exception of the London "Chronicle" and the Manchester "Guardian," the Government has the support of every prominent newspaper, shows the earnestness and sincerity of the British sense of injustice. war be necessary, Britons know better than any others how to count the material cost. Aside from the loss of men and munitions, they realize that the flow of gold from the Transvaal (the world's largest producer of the metal) would be checked. During the past seven months no less than fifty-five million dollars' worth has been received in London from Johannesburg. Britons also know that such a war would be the signal for restiveness among the Dutch citizens at Cape Colony. They outnumber all the other whites. Moreover, such a war might precipitate outbreaks among the natives, who outnumber the entire white population ten to'one. If a The greatest difficulty of all may be the question of British suzerainty. The Boers base their protest on the fact that, in the Anglo-Boer Convention of 1881, the suzerainty of Great Britain was distinctly stated, but in the Convention of 1884 there was no mention of it. To this Great Britain replies that, while it is true that the word |