Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-04-19

been put In circulation sumo days ago.
But the old paragraph that he died, leav-
ing his family nothing is still on its
travels, and the fact may as we'll be kept
following it.
Our esteemed contemporaries mean
well enough when they say that the fact
that Chief Justice Waite died poor man
is an Indication that he lived life of
integrity; but the implications of the
statement are not quite just. A good
many men died poor after lives in which
integrity played no part; and several
have died rich without arousing thereby
any suspicion of departure from recti-
tude. The late Chief Justice could have
left great deal of money at his death
without creating any suspicion of his in
tegrity. There is a good deal of cant in
the association of poverty with honesty,
and wealth with dishonesty
IF as reported some of the Hungarian
miners in the anthracite coal region
think they can redress their imagined
grievances by a renewal of Molly Mcguire
ism some kind friend should tell them
the story of the Molly Maguires. Ameri-
can law is little slow IN getting started
sometimes, but it has long reach and a
sure grip. If the Hungarians are tired
of life they should commit suicide in
stead of engaging in Molly Mcguire
conspiracy. They can get out of this
world by any method they choose by
adopting the former course. A halter
will do the work for them if they choose
the latter.
ONO has a law now which prohibits the
sale of cigarettes or tobacco in any form
to persons under sixteen gears. 1t is
goodlaw and ought to be enforced; but it
is not easy to see why the age limit was
fixed at sixteen. If it was assumed that
the youth who has reached the age of six
teen without acquiring the disgusting
habit of using tobacco is under no danger
the assumption is gross mistake. Most
boys begin to use tobacco in some form
under the impression that it is manly; and
if the Ohio lad is apprised by law that he
must make no attempt to be manly in
that way until he is Is, ne is pretty GER
tain to assert his manliness as soon as
possible after that point is reached. The
law ought, in fact to be called an act to
1ncite boys to begin the use of tobacco at
sixteen. To be Of any real value in pre-
venting the formation of the tobacco
habit the law should prohibit its sale to
any minor.
THE interminable length to which the
last census has been drawn out leads PEG
pie with business sense to ask if it is not
possible to secure the important and vital
year in which it Is to be taken. census
report need not be a statistical encycIopoa
dia. The important facts can be gather
ed tabulated and published within the
census year. If this is done the figures
that are gathered will be of some value to
the pablo. Where they are four or five
ears in making their appearance they
have too ancient flavor to be of use to
anybody but historian. It should be
possible to secure the statistics of popu-
iation in single day as easy as the fig
ules OF general election. If this were
done and the results given to the public
the other figures could be tabulated and
published before the year and the job
was completed. The eleventh census
should not be allowed to extend through
an entire decade.
IT is not probable that NJ. Floquet's
Ministry will last very long. It is dis
hnctively Radical Ministry, and as such
is even less likely to command majority
of the Deputies than the Conservative
Ministry it has replaced. The Right
votes with the Left against the Centre,
bat it will vote with the Centre against
the Left. The existence of these three
parties, of nearly equal strength, Is what
makes Parliamentary government IN
Franz just now SO very difficult In
England or in the United States, all
parties are at least agreed in loyalty to
the essentials of the existing constitution,
SO that the shifting of majorities causes
nc deep disturbance. The trouble in
France is that the great body of the
nation is without real faith in the Repu6-
lie as it is. The Radicals would change
it; the Monarchists would overthrow it,
if they could; and between those two
extremes the actual upholders of the
present constitution are but minority.
But they are strong enough in the Assem-
bly, to block the plans of the Radicals,
unless the Monarchists should support
the latter with view to the destruction
of the Republic.
IT is impossible to tell how near Prince
Bismarck and the German emperor came
to rupture, but it is safe to say that if
the engagement of Prince Alexander and
Victoria, the second daughter of the
emperor, was about to receive the royal
approval, the iron char cellor would do
nothing but retire to private life. The
Bismarckian policy IS to Bulgaria is one
of neutrality, so far as practicable. If
Austria calls upon Germany for support
of her declared interests in the Balkans,