, 1900-02-22

I%HS ~ obNS GULL Una Ills
mail did not reach him punctualIy, but
never reported anything more serious,
nor do they believe that any of his
correspondence, official or otherwise,
was ever opened, examined or inten-
tionally delayed. This is a very seri-
Gus matter and ii is remarkable that
Mr.. Macrum should have kept silent on
the subject for so many months and
then given the first information to a
newspaper instead of 10 the govern
ment. That the correspondence Of an
official of a foreign power shall be held
~lnvioiate is one of the most sacred
point of international law, and II Mr..
Macrum had reported to the State De-
partment that his mail was being tam
pered with an emphatic demonstration
would have been made on the subject.
Chairman Hepburn of the House
committee on interstate and foreign
has submitted the report of
the committee in favor of the Hepburn
bill for constructing the Nicaraguan
canal. The report says in part: IF the
provisions of the bill can be carried ont
the United States will within n few
years from six to eigh) be in full
ownership and control of a waterway
connecting the oceans, that it can de-
fend and that it can use in the interests
of its navy and its merchant marine as
wisdom may dictate. There seems to
be but little doubt that the states of
Nicaragua and Costa Rica will give
their consent for the construction of
this great work. 1t will traverse either
the border or the interior of Nicaragua
for a distance of about 100 miles. IL
will give to hat state a waterway
from its capital and its most productive
region to the sea. 1t will place that
cOnntrV on ono nf tho lpnninpr Nyntpr-
ways of the world, bringing it into i'm
ediat contact with n large foreign
and those who d Ii.
In very many ways the state will have
advantages not now possessed, and
that will be for a long time lost If IN
other route by which the oceans are
connected SHOULD be adopted. All of
these considerations induce the belief
that these two enlightened states will
be glad to aid u government cordially
n efficiently in carrying out this
great design. 1t is true that the esti-
mates of cost are variable, ranging as
they do from less than S40,O00,0O0 to a
possible S145,0OO.0O0. 1t is. however,
proper to say that the size and charac-
ter of the canal estimated for is as var
liable as the cost. The earliest esti-
Bates We're for a canal suited to the
ships of the time. The later estimates
4 " SHIPS u llllS lllllb. II lllttH lttI
depth and fifty feet width was the size
of the earliest project. Thirty feet
depth and $50 feet width are the di-
mansions of the later proposed canal"
For several weeks skillful attorneys
have been engaged in drafting a law
for the American Federation of Labor
to be introduced into Congress to pre-
vent future interference by United
States courts with strikes and other la
Dor movements. The purpose of the
proposed law is to prevent employers
of labor from appealing to the courts
for injunctions and other orders for
their W protection and the protection
Of non-union labor which they may en-
ploy. This is not a new subject. 1t
has been under discussion for many
years, and a humble of bills have been
introduced into both houses of Con
gress from time to time to exclude or
ganized labor from the jurisdiction of
the courts, but nc bill yet drafted has
commanded he support and approval
of any committee in Congress. The
American Federation of Labor took
the matter up last fall and employed
some of the ablest attorneys in the
country. The result of their work, in
the form of n bill, has been submitted
to h executive council of the fedora
80 VI
Vice Presidents Mcclure, James Dun
can, James O'Connell, John Mitchell,
Max Morris n Thomas l. Kidd,
Treasurer John II. Lennon and Secre-
tary Frank Morrison, which now has it
under consideration. As soon as 1t re-
ceives the committees approval it will
be introduced in both houses of Con-
gress N is awaited with great inter-
est by labor men. There is almost uni
trnVrnl .1AtrfRh on t1A rap. - l..
Congress whether il is possible for hui
man ingenuity to devise a method by
which the labor unions may be made
exempt from the action of the civil
courts. Representative Lorimer of Chi
cago, a member of the House commit
tee on labor, who has been in Congress
several terms, and has always taken a
deep interest in the subject, having
framed Il bill himself to restrict the use
of injunctions, admits that he has been
unable to draft n measure that was
worth the paper it was written on.
The correspondent of the Chicago
Record writes to his paper as follows:
The action of the Senate In passing
the currency bill by such an over
whelming majority ought to remove
the question from politics in
definitely, because, eve IL Mr.. Bryan
or some other Silver Democrat were
elected president in November and had
a Democratic majority in the House of
Representatives behind him he could
not repeal this law for at least six
years. The tariff question is out of
politics for the same reason. 1t will be
at least six years before the Dingley
law can be repealed or materially al
tered. If the Democrats should capture
every seat in the United States Senate
between now n March 4, 1906, they
would not be able to secure a majority
until that time. Nor Is it possible by
any political maneuver or by any vote
of the people mt the polls to pass a law
for the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1,
or dt any other ratio, until 1906, ex-
cept In the improbable event of an cpl
demic which shall carry off the Re
publican majority in the Senate and
the election of an equal number of free
silverites to fill their seats. Hence sew
eral of the Democratic leaders argue
that 1t Is useless for their candidate