The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1900-02-21
WASHINGTON LETTER.

are now building great national cathe
drals in this city, while the Episcopa-
lians sometime ago laid the corner
stone of one. Bishop Satterlee, of the
Washington diocese, is now visiting
Philadelphia. New York aud other cas-
tern cities for the purpose of raising
funds to complete the work in style
corresponding to the wealth and dig
nifty of the nation. The Bishop says
that the population of Washington
has increased 400 per cent. in the past
forty years, aud now that the United
States is taking place as one of the
great nations of the world, it is more
than ever necessary that the cathedral
in its capital city shall be worthy of it.
lie recognizes the feet, however, that
the people of Washington alone can
not raise the money essential to carry
ing out the plan as it should be. \
year ago, they purchased site for
S2i5,0OO, on which there is still a
mortgage for $4,000. The Bishop
says that the cathedral will stand for
great ideas First, the irrevocable
separation between church and state,
not only for the sake af the state, but
for that of the church itself: second,
the principle of religious liberty in
combining all true catholic and pro-
testant tendencies in such a way that
they should not conflict with one an
other; third, in standing as a living
witness and successor to the early
Catholic and Apostolic church, with the
simple worship, the love of the Bible,
the earnest faith and missionary zeal
which characterized the church of
Christ in the first four centuries"
Chaplain f. NJ. Wells, of the First
United States Volunteers, delivered an
interesting address here on Sunday af
ternoon last on the use of liquor in the
Philippines. He thinks that our sol
diers are not only running themselves
but demoralizing the natives. He said.
in part: "ln the city of Manila alone
there are 100 places where liquor is
sold. Before the Americans came to
the islands there were but three sa-
looms, and at these soft drinks" only
were dispensed. We can better afford
to send whiskey anywhere else in the
world than to the Philippines We do
not need it there No nation ever de-
veloped through the use of rum. |
never saw so much liquor on a Mis-
sissippi steamboat, and have travelled
on good many, as saw on the trans
port Sheridan the last three days we
were in Cuba. In that island, one
could see, on every street corner, native
women, with bottles of liquor in bas-
kets and a cup. These women retail
the liquor to our soldiers at II cents a
drink. The liquor rate of transpor-
tation from Kentucky to Manila is
less than that from Kentucky to Cal
ifornia." Chaplain Wells said that he
was an ardent administration man. and
that he only criticised the abuses that
| prevailed beyond the Presidents
knowledge. Il tell YOU" he concluded.
that the transport Indiana is a whisky
transport. The rum is there in guam
titles. When it runs out at the bar
| they go down in the hold for more.
| That crew believes i'll whisky"
The House committee on judiciary
gave hearing recently upon the sub
Ject OF bills pending before the com
mittee to submit to the States pro
posed constitutional amendment pro
hibiting pOlygamy, and giving the fed
eral government jurisdiction over mat
ters relating to polygamy. \ number
of eminent clerymen of this city, we'll
known people engaged in reform work
and prominent clergymen and reform
ers from other cities, were present.
| Brief addresses were made by several
people, and the committee gave atten-
ton to all that was said. Dr. John
Eaton introduced the speakers to the
committee. EX-Representative Spring
er, now United States Judgein the In
dian Territory, who was present, said
he had observed in his experience on
the federal bench that the most effect
| i've way to reach an evil is through a
federal law. The prohibitive liquor
laws of the Indian Territory were en-
forced with more severity than similar
laws in any state, merely because the
federal court had jurisdiction. $50 it
would be with pOlygamy," said Judge
Springer. Give federal courts power,
and in six months every polygamist
will be behind the bars"
There is a movement on foot to in
duce Congress, in Its efforts to amend
the Constitution 50 as to prohibit polyg-
amy, to include the whole subject of
marriage and divorce under national
authority. The divorce laws of the
various states are so diverse that all
sorts of abuses can be practced under
them with impunity. Nearly any mar
riage can be dissolved without any real
cause in at least one state of the Union.
In Kentucky, for instance, incompat-
! dOlilIy VI temper - CdtlSc lOT ulNOEce,
desertion for one year is sufficient in a
half dozen states, refusal of wife to
move into state, in Tennessee; refusing
to cohabit for six months, in New
Hampshire, and so on. Further, peo-
Pile divorced in one state can marry
again in some others but not in all A
good divorce lawyer has stated on his
professional opinion that with due care
a man can have a wife in every one of
three fourths of the states of the I'm
ion without violating any law. In New
York, in fact, a species of polygamy is