People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1897-07-09
A Sensational Speech.

AL bn0 meeGlnB OF Ine georgia Oar
Association at Warm Springs, last
week. Chief Justice Baldwin, of Con-
necticut, delivered an address on the
subject, absolute Power and Ameri-
can Institutions" He began by saying;
"Of the great nations of the world,
two only in our time represent the
principle of political absolutism and
enforce it by one mans hand. They
are Russia and the United States. The
car of Russia, indeed, stands for Rus
STA in a broader sense than that in
which we can say that the president of
the United States stands for them,
1.-THE people of the United States have
not put all their power in the keeping
of all or any of their temporary rulers.
They are the sleeping giant, that sleep
ing or waking is a giant still, Their
ward is still the ultimate rule of con-
duct, their written word, but when
they gave their assent to the constitu-
ton of the United States they created
in it the Office of a king without the
name"
PRESIDENTS ABSOLUTE POWER.
He illustrated that the president of
the United States had absolute power
by the following:
"First-The presidents power in re-
moval from office.
''Second-His power to receive or
refuse to receive ministers from foreign
countries.
''Third- power to call the militia
out in the different states of the Union.
"Fourth-His power to determine
when it is proper to call out the mill
tia.'
He declared that the power of the
president of the United States was
practically unlimited in war, that his
command of the army and navy was
absolute. In this connection, he said
the emancipation proclamation was an
imperial decree. He said the Monroe
act was the single act of an executive.
He might have added that in addi-
ton to the immense power granted by
the constitution the president during
the last administration had usurped
the further power of multiplying the law
and mortgaging the future labor of the
people to the money power, while the
Speaker of the House had arrogated to
himself the right to determine what
Congress should not do. The address
created a sensation. D. N. S.
Foreign Telephone Rates.
While in America the telephone SER
vice is still in the hands of private cor
porations, in foreign countries there is
a growing tendency to place the tele-
phones under public control Where
this has been done it has usually re-
suited in the lowering of rates. In
Switzerland, for instance, the charge
for service is 1874 the first year, $40 the
second, and $16 thereafter. In New
Zealand the rate is 1874 a year; but in
England $35.7O, and in Germany $780,
But in Sweden above all countries, the
cost of telephoning is brought down to
a point that excites the wonder and
envy of Americans. The population of
Stockholm is 2O5, 900, and everybody in
moderately good circumstances appears
to have an instrument. The telephone
is not used for business purposes only,
but is found pretty generally in private
houses, in the smallest cigar stores and
newspaper shops, and in all sale rooms
In the houses of well TODD families
the rooms are connected by telephone,
and the cook in the kitchen announces
by telephone to the lady of the house
in the drawing room that dinner is
ready. The steamboats, on the canals
are connected to the telephone net
work on land. The central telephone
exchange is great tower of three
stories, in which 259 girls are busily
employed connecting up subscribers.
The average number of conversations
per week is 100, 900. The time to con-
meet up two subscribers averages
from eight to nine seconds. The length
of the conductors connected to the CEN
trail station is 10000 miles. The chief
cause of the enormous spread of the
telephone in Sweden is the low tariff.
The cost to subscriber for one tele-
phone is $22 so per annum. In Stock
holm the tariff is still lower if 400 con-
versations per annum is not exceeded.
In this case it is $15.75 per annum, 2,76c
being charged for every additional con-
versation. On the trunk lines the
rates are equally reasonable, For five
minutes conversation on a sixty-mile
line, the cost is &c; from 60 to $50 miles,
it is SC; from $50 to 500 miles it is Is 1-5c
for greater distance 27c. The install
lation of the telephone in Stockholm
was started by private company. In
recent years the state has been con-
structing trunk lines and has already
about 1900 subscribers.-St. Louis
be-Democrat.