The Advocate and news., 1897-11-24

obvious advantages over the more neLar-
ious art Of assassination.
Boston Advertiser: Recent decisions
of the United States Supreme court have
tended to curtail quite largely the power
which the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion has attempted to arrogate to itself
during recent years. These decisions are
making it clear that the functions Of the
Interstate Commerce Commission is
chiefly executive, and does not command
that judicial quality which the commits
sion itself has attributed to its Office.
The Supreme court appears to regard the
Federal courts as entirely competent to
deal with questions of the violation Of
the interstate commerce act, and 1t is re-
sisting steadily the evident attempts OF
the Interstate Commerce Commission to
perform the functions of such court.
Chicago Chronicle: Down in Ken
lucky where all sorts of odd things hap
pen, Methodist preacher who held
some theological views at variance with
those Of his congregation, was aroused
at midnight and escorted out Of town by
three of his flock armed with shotguns.
This method of adjusting dOctrinal diff
ferences is somewhat drastic, but it has
It's advantages. It saves the scandal and
annoyance of church trials, for one
thing, and it conduces to liberality upon
the part Of the pastor. For he would be
an inflexible dogmatist indeed who
would attempt to enforce his views upon
a congregation given to the shotgun as
a controversial weapon. The Kentucky
Methodists may prove to be the pioneers
in a new scheme of church unity.
Detroit Journal: Few of the small
holders of gold mine stock ever realize
anything except the loss of their money.
The mines that are any good are bought
up by rich men, who can afford to put
money into developing schemes and
many Of these fail to strike fairly good
thing. An occasional poor man gets on
the inside and we hear all about his
splendid realization of a fortune. But
we never hear anything about the ill
lucks Of the thousands who put their
hard money into mines. The recent re-
vival of the gold-finding industry ought
not to be checked up against the return
OF prosperity. Back of 1t is a we'll
understood purpose to swindle, and those
who buy stock in ninety-nine out of a
hundred of them will simply burn their
money. Keep out Of the gold mine
cinCh," even though your best friends
advise you to buy.
Springfield Republican: Somebody
writes to the New York Evening Post
from New Hampshire that he had driven
clear across the State without seeing a
beer sign or barrel or other notice of
liquor being for sale, and he concludes
that prohibition is a hard and fast fact
in that region. But New Hampshire
citizen responds that under the State
law the exposure of sign or other ad-
vertisement Of liquor for sale consti
tutes prima facie evidence of the COM
mission of the offense Of liquor selling,
and he pertinently asks whether it was
to be expected that liquor sellers would
thus provide openly the means of their
own conviction. 1t is stated that liquor
is sold in more than fifty places in Con-
cord, and yet to all appearances the
city is as dry as dust. The case is inter
esting as showing how anybody who
keeps his eyes shut tight may be able to
see that prohibition prohibits.
New York Tribune: Sumatra comes
into the field as producer of petrO-
leum, its product crowding into the mar
kets of the East in competition with that
of the American and Russian wells.
Other islands of the Indian archipelago
also show signs Of like deposits, prom
Using to afford the basis of an Oriental
Standard Oil Company to battle with
the Occidental one and its Russian rival.
But the world is wide and there is room
enough for all of them. AS there are
limitless deposits of this precious sub
stance in Siberia and China, and as it
is found in varying abundance all over
the world, there is little reason to appre-
hend that the supply will give out for
long time to come. The Sumatra fields
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