St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-14
AMONG THE MAGAZINES.

| Napoleon which has infected some of
the magazines and the syndicate writers
has attacked this review in mild form,
and Albert ID. Vandam contributes the
opening article of series which we
trust will be short of personal His.
tory of the Second Empire" The arti-
Gle contains more or less chatty Incl
dents Of the first empire. taken as a
starting point by which to reach in sub
sequent numbers. by Il hop, skip and
jump. the alleged objective point-the
reign of the third Napoleon. The
stories are compiled from the writer's
Notes OIL Paris" to which he occa
sionally' refers the somewhat ennuied
reader, if the latter would have more of
the narrative limited at. The article is
lll~tlmed 1t is out of season. It belongs
to the summer SOIstice when doctors
prescribe rest and secluSion, and, if
you must read, then take something
light. These bracing froStS and this
oZonic air Of our midWinter can stand
something Of a greater specific gravity.
1t pals even on the leisure of a Sunday
afternoon after dinner. when the coal
fire and the soothing cigar and the
process OF digestion put the mind in q
condition when mental CONNECTIONS are
pleasurable.
EX-Gov. Lewelling tells about the
problems before the Western farmer
generally, and specifically those which
confront the farmers OF Kansas. 1t is
an easy task to make the conditions of
any community or state appear to be
most deplorable if Ole is careful in Sc
Letting his materials. If one seeks for
tue misery, for the poverty, for the sin
and degradation, for all those phases of
our human lives which cast dark
shadows, enough can be found any
where with which to paint gruesome
and depressing picture. If one were to
accept the picture this ex-governor
draws of Kansas, and which by infer
| ence drawn from his title is picture
or farm life over the West, such life is
not worth living, and the wonder is that
men and women remain there to endure
Its squalor and misery, The story is
one Of debt, private and public, OF in
terest charges thriving while drouthS
cut the crops from which interest must
come, and of prices of products ham,
mered down below the cost of produc-
ton. while procession of 10000 families
cease annually TO be free holders, eX-
PEELED by the relentless mortgage, and
sink into the grade of tenant farmers to
fall victims to the rapacious chattel
mortgage shark. This is the picture
without ray of relieving light
which Mr.. Lewelling draws of
Kansas farm life. This is the
meat on which Populism thrives and
fattens, augmenting the discomfort by
dwelling on it, as the pain becomes
sharper when ones attention is conferred
on it or the little ills Of the flesh grow
by mere contemplation into maladieS.
Labor applied to raising wheat is unpro-
ductiYe now, but this Is an incident of
every business. In every line OF activ-
ity men find their product bringing I'M
remunerative prices and have to change
to something else. Farmers from New
I ork to Kansas have had the same eX-
perience with wheat and reached the
point where decreasing yield or lower
ing price forced shift of industry to
something else. and uniformly the
change has been beneficial. ''Ihe
Western farmer is a philosopher from
necessity" says the writer. As he sees
prices tending downward ahd interest
and debt upward he applies his phio-
sophie processes to the situation and
arrives at the profound conclusion that
"the prime cause of all his woes is the
manipulation of the money system of
the country byunscrupulous and merce-
nary interests" From this the step to
the demand for free coinage of silver
is a logical one. We incline to the
opinion that the governor draws this
fearsome picture of the conditions of
the Western farmer solely for the pur-
pose of reinforcing the falling cause of
free coinage. Ii his picture is nc truer
of general conditions than his remedy
is sOund, the problems for the Western
farmer to solve are not any more seri-
Gus than those with which all humanity
has to Wrestle.
Charles Emory Smith, who was Harri
sons minister to Russia. attempts 10
solve the riddle presented to the nations
Of Europe every time one czar succeeds
another. Where the power of hun
dred million people is centered in one
man, whose will is supreme, the ques-
ton of what effect change of auto
Gratis may have on the peace and well
fare of neighbOring nations becomes
one of temperament, and if the man has
had no opportunity to display his quail
ties in public before his accession, as is
usually the case, the world about him
waits to see him unfold before it can get
its bearings or form conjecture as to
the effect On it of this new force. AS
minister at st. Petersburg, Mr.. Smith
had a good opportunity to learn
something of this young man who
succeeds TO the throne of
the man who so long held
the peace of Europe in his care, and he
believes that the trust will be as well
preserved as it was under Alexander. |
He expects a return to the liberalism Of
the second Alexander from what is
known Of the disposition of Nicholas
and the conditions that surround him.
1t is one Of the contradictions of goY>
eminent that there is so much democ- |
racy in this abSolutism. The ministers
that surround the Young car are nearly
all men who have come up from the I'M
tiled anks, and whose title to place is |
their brains, and not their birth. De |
Giers. as astute diplomat as there is |
in Europe. had neither rank nor fortune |
to push him forward, and the minister |
of finance was subordinate railway |
officer few years ago. The sympathy |
of the Russians was with Gladstone and |
not with the Tories. and to this under /
strata Of democracy was doubtless due |
the fervor of the Russian reception to |
the naval representatives Of the repub-
lie of France, which appeared to be so
inexplicaDle. On the whole, Mr.. Smith |
believes that peace will be kept, the |