The record-union., 1894-05-12

/ y
wants, but the vague notion of their plat
form connects it with the Populists' de-
mands, and the Populists are attributed
to 1.-The West.n That is a region of ex-
ceeding vagueness to the average New
Yorker, who is as ignorant of us and o1
our country as he believes we are of him
and his mode of thought. There is ig-
norance, too, on both sides and much iil-
| justice done, but it is ineonvenlent. moi
dangerous; it checks progress, cannot
stop it.
/ For the present, however, the In
dustrial Army is added to reasons fo1
discrediting the West. 1t is impossible
TO see how this error can last for all the
| Eastern States are furnishing recruits.
Cultured Massachusetts is sending a
navy by sea and an army by land. The
army, tittingly, is headed by Dr.. Swift, q
/ man OF one-Sided but very thorough
! training, who is pretty we'll known in
| California. New York has sent a few
men, but all the neighboring States have
| caught the fever. Nevertheless, the
movement is the real cause of the ten
| dency of local capital to stay here, to risk
the old lines of investment rather than to
undertake pioneer work, and II the
tendency lasts, the West will be injured.
Thus, unexpectedly, has the poor army
| helped to foster sectional feelings. Alone
| it could not have done so. But together
| with the revival of bimetallism and the
| belief that the income tax is an eX-
| preston of envy and hatred OF the East
TO the South and West, the Coxeyites are
having this effect.
Whether the West wants Eastern capi-
/ tai do not presume to say. But economl-
cally it needs it more than il does immi-
| grants. Immigrants is what it Will get,
| however, of another beginning, succeed
as it may. The transatlantic steamship
lines have began tight and rates have
| been cut to Sl4 by the Continental lines.
Thus far the cut is for eastward traffic
only and the British companies have not
yet acted. But the Englishmen are in
clined to strike back, and then both west
ward and eastward steerage rates will be
reduced. the determination Of the Ger
man and American managers being such
| that prolonged fight will ensue. The
contest Is for the traffic that embarkS and
! lands in British ports, but the Continental
| lines will be constrained to increase their
| inducements to emigrants from their
present territory to make up for losses on
| the routes of the competition, so that i'm
migration will no doubt be increased.
| This certainly will offset in part the
check to the influx of foreigners caused
| by our business troubles. Before the
| the year is out we may be getting as
many of the poor and unemployed of
| Europe as ever. New York and the
East generally will get its large quota;
but the greater proportion will drift over
| the country as recruits for the Industrial
Army. 1t is not a pleasant prospect,
| therefore. when the capital that must arm
the industrial captains, who cut out work
| for labor, is making It's next move. In
| the absence of captains or entrepreneurs,
| the present generals may be sup
| planted by socialists, anarchists, or any
men OF ideas who possess personal mag
netism and can make addresses full of
! false hopes. ss4
The Legislature adjourned Friday. It's
work is called popular triumph" be-
cause it left in the hands of the Demo-
cratic Governor nearly all the bills
which were most urgently demanded by
| the Republicans, Independents and the
| Good Government groups OF citizens.
There is withheld from the Republican
Legislature the credit for the enactments,
on the ground that it did reluctantly the
work that is praised. Suspicion of Platt,
as | have recently explained, is the basis
| of this ungenerous treatment of The Re-
| publicans. Long before the fall elections
are upon us, however, that party will re-
ceive its due, for the qualification is as in
| tense as the hatred of Tammany which
| inspired most of the measures. An anti
sentimentp seldom produces good states
4
all are directed against that machine and
are framed consequently to meet present
or expected conditions. One will give
the Mayor who succeeds Gilroy power to
remove the heads of departments; an
other reduces the city's Sheritf's pay
| from fees amounting to nearly Sl00,0O0 a
year, to a fixed salary of SO, ,000 a third
will cause the removal of the present
Rapid Transit Commission and substitute
four new members. named by the Cham
ber of Commerce. These affect the city.
For the Stale, the most important law is
a blanket ballot measure. There is every
reason to believe the Governor will veto
this as we'll as one or more of the bills
changing municipal arrangements. Gov
ernor Flower is candidate for the re-
nomination of his party, and that alone
will restrain his hand. The pressure on
him to refuse his sanction is very strong
from within his party.
An interesting incident of the week is
the split in the music world over the
management of opera for next year. 1t
came with the close of the season at the
Metropolitan Opera-house, when the bad
performances OF German music and the
dissatisfaction with Italian and French
operas enforced the conviction that Ger
man music by German singers under the
leadership of German methods and spirit
must be the body of next years pleasure.
Walter Damrosch is an American, ener-
getic. able and enterprising. He is
backed by rich and influential friends,
among them being Andrew Carnegie,
who built the Music Hall in Fifty-Sev-
enth street. He is, moreover, James G.
Blaine's son-in-law. But Damrosch is not
master in music. He has had made
quate training, because of the death of
his famous father when Walter was boy.
Instead of continuing his education, he
sprang one night into his fathers seat
and conducted an opera amid wild en-
thusiasm for the hoy leader" When,
therefore, Damrosch announced that he
would organize and conduct the opera
next year there was an outburst of en-
thusiasm for him and furor against him.
Anton Seidl, the fine old conductor,
who was a favorite of Richard Wagner,
has had the support always of the real
lovers and students of German music.
He was late, of course, with his PROPOSE
ton. The American was a few months
ahead of the slow. German. But while
one must appreciate the enterprise of the
''boy leader" the resentment of the mu-
sical people cannot but be understood.
Here was an opportunity to have Ger
man music under one of the two greatest
living masters. Damrosch cannot pro-
duce opera as Seidl can. He lacks power
and refinement and individuality: knows
none of the original interpretations by
Wagner himself and other composers
whom he must render, and is careless
and hasty in his preparation for public
performances. The splendor and COM
pleteness of next winters operas depend
on his defeat. But he had secured the re-
fusal of the opera-honse till May 9Th, and
he says he has nearly the necessary
amount of subscriptions. He has the
laugh on the musical world, but there is
gnashing of teeth and weeping in New
York. j. L. S.
The Collapse Of Industry.
The power of these unions in the city of
New York is absolute. No architect ill