Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-03

history cannot be ignorant of the letter
 written by President Jefferson to Gouv- erneur Morris apropos of the rumored in- tention of Great Britain to seize the | Spanish colonies in North America. "We
 wish you therefore" wrote the president, ito intimate to them"-the British min | istry-"that we cannot be indifferent to enterprises of this kind. That we should | contemplate a change of neighbors with extreme uneasiness. That a due balance on our borders is not less desirable to us than a balance of power in Europe has always appeared to them" Incessant vigilance is still the price of that due balance on our borders, for in these days
 of steam the true frontier is far beyond
 the geographical frontier
 ->e -
 A careful canvass of the senate shows forty-six sure votes for free silver to
 thirty-eight against it, three doubtful ] and one vacant seat Delaware). Two of the doubtful are believed to be for free
 silver. and when Utah elects two sena- tors in January they will still further reinforce the column. So that with a full senate the free silver strength will
 be forty-eight surely and fifty probably, against a so-called sound money vote of
 forty. '"rhe whole root of the trouble" :"
 said Senator Sherman recently, lis in | those eight far western states, whose entire population and wealth does not
 equal New York alone. while they cast sixteen votes" Deducting these sixteen
 votes, added by the republicans to pack
 the senate, the silver vote would be only
 thirty-four. But the sixteen votes are
 there and will remain there. So also
 the silver senators of the south are there and will remain there.
 The vote of the democrats of the house upon the bond bill was a unit against the bill, but the two factions did not vote against it for the same reason. Curious
 ly,. the democratic vote, while harmo-
 nlous on the surface, was striking il-
 lustration of the meeting of the two extremes, as the debate very clearly shown. There is lit- | tie genuine bimetallism in the democratic | party. The members of that organiza- | tion are divided into slverites and gold | ties. They both opposed the bond bill | for the reason that 1t is designed to make | easier and perfectly sure the parity of | the two money metals, and that>is pre- | cisely what neither faction wants. The | Inter Ocean has had frequent occasion | to call attention to this feature of demo-
 cratic antagonism. This opportunity to | bring them together on the surface will
 not render the difference itself any less
 pronounced. It simply postpones the in- | evitable conflict within the party
 | The official report of mill dividends for | 1895 among the Fall River mills was
 published yesterday. The total of $1,- | 721 .425 in dividends is paid on a capital | of $21 ,26S.000 or slightly over S.09 per | cent. The total dividends include extras | of 10 per cent. The Border City Manu- | featuring company paid IS; Sagamore l Manufacturing company, 6; Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing company, 22; | the Bourne company, 19, while the Un- | ion company paid II per cent. Three cor | porations paid 8, two paid 71s, seven paid | per. cent, and the Anawan and the Meta | comet Manufacturing companies, the | Fall River Manufacturing company and l the Barnaby Manufacturing company
 paid their regular dividends. The Slade
 and the Roleson mills. old plants. paid and Az respectively.
 The amount of railroad construction
 in the United States in any given year
 is an important factor in the total of the
 business activity of the year. Railroad l construction means employment alike to labor and capital and increase in subse- quent production and development. The
 new railroad construction for 1895 Is
 placed at 1928 miles, the lowest onrecord. | In 1884, which held the undesirable rec ord up to date the total was 17O0 miles. l Alfred de Rothschild wears the most | gorgeous cuff links. His cuffs instead
 of fastening under the arm, fasten di-
 rectly over the back of the hand with
 double links consisting of two big pearls
 one black, the other white, surrounded by
 diamonds of large size. MT de Roths-
 child wears, like the Prince of Wales
 heavy gold cable bracelet that occa- | sionally is much in evidence.
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. | Great Britain, by virtue of holding