Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-17
LORDS IN TRACE
PRESENT MINISTRY FIGHTING
FOR THE DOLLARS
GET GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.
Shut Out Other Tradesmen-Jealousy
in the American Jockey
Matter.

London, Nov. 17.-Minimum news and
features of the week. Such gloomy, wet
days as have been experienced here re-
Gently are unusual even for London.
Joseph Chamberlain. that central fig
ure in British politics, can congratulate
himself, for more reasons than one. upon
his absence from his murky native land.
He is disporting himself on the sunny
Mediterranean. Thus the colonial sec
rotary is temporarily safe from the ef-
fects of the vigorous personal ttacks
which continue to be made on him by the
liberals, from Sir Henry Campbell-Ban-
herman down. The latest and most I'M
portant of these is a statement made by
the Morning Leader showing that MI.
Chamberlain halds 1000 pounds y shares
in the Colombo Commercial company,
which is receiving large contracts for
housing Eoer prisoners in Ceylon. what
makes the case still more damaging is
the fact that Mr.. Chamberlain sanction
ed as ~coGonia secretary. a regulation iaid
down by the governor of Ceylon. strictly
prohibiting amy officer of the local gov
m from interesting himself or his
family in private business. In other
words Mr.. Chamberlain forhids his sub
ordinates. under pain of severe penal ! =,
to do what he himself is doing on a large
scale. 1t now seems impossible for Mr..
Chamberlain to avoid explanation. for
which he will undoubtedly be asked when
parliament reassemhles.
Another feature in the same connec-
ton. of which the liberals are making no
little capital, is the extraordinary num-
Der of directo"ships in private companies
held by government officials. OF the
twenty cabinet ministers thirteen are Oh
rectors while between all the thirty-siN
ministers, t~wenty-seven directorshlps
are held. The list commences with Lord
Salisbury who assists in the mana @enan
of an insurance company, and Includes
Lord Selborne. who is a first lord of the
Admiralty and a director of a peninsular
and Oriental Steamship company: Ger
aid Ealfou-. who unites a diractH"7'in in
aluminium companies with the presidency
of the board of trade and many other
homogeneous or discredita he connections.
With such fl~agrantly weak spots in the
armor of the new cabinet. 1t is no Won
der the liberals are imploring Lord Rose
berry to lead the party. Sir Henry Camp
bell-Bannerman's appeal to the ex-prem-
Ter only NOlCed the feellnS OF the majority
of the party. but it was accompanied W
such bitter denunciation of the so-called
imperialists that it can scarcely be ex-
pected to produce much result. F~".
American enterprises in New Britain
now promises to revolutionize the meth
DDS of the war office. The problem of
transportation of stores, guns and men
over the unit having no railroads has
long exercised the army experts. Trac-
ton engines. bullocks, elephants. hor%s
and mules lave been tried, with only
moderate success. With the view of dis
placing these. a series of experiments Is
occurring in England. before a war com
mission. An American motor car, suita'
BILE for wal service having on board thu
driver, an American, and the inventor
which attained a speed of thirty mile!
an hour on grass going over obstacles
and u%ndulations without the slightes
difficulty or injury. has been tested. Tn
British officers We're favorably impresse'
with the performance of the motor ca
and are likely to recommend it's adoption
by the war office.
The fact that so conservative a pape
as Punch devotes a cartoon this week t
the representation of an American jock
ey perched on a horses neck, while tn