The Washington times., 1901-07-12


show great curiosity to see their King.
let him alone on Sunday and allow him
to worship in peace. 1t was remark
able fact that last Sunday morning. when
there were at least 1000 people in the
courtyard of St James Palace listening
to the music OF the band at guard mount,
not more than fifty or sixty people, and
they the members of the household, were
seated in the Chapel Royal, which opens
upon that court. There is an outer en-
trance and an inner one from the corrf-
dor of the palace, so that the King may
reach Ii from his apartments in MARI
borough House without going into the
open air: but all the worshippers, except
the royal family and the ladies and gen
tlemen in waiting for that day, are ad-
mitted at the public doors in st. James
courtyard.
Attention is called by one of the Eng
lish trade papers to a new and peculiar
trouble among the cotton operatives in
Lancashire. a result of the shorter work
ing day which the labor unions of the
district have succeeded in establishing.
A system of overdriving is said to be
growing up, and according TO the reports
of the labor leaders it is fast becoming
intolerable. The foremen, or overlook
ers, receive a percentage on the earn
and 1t is asserted that these overlookers
go around the mills with a slate to note
what each weaver has earned, and put in
a conspicuous place pay day the
amount each operative has earned on the
looms. Opposite the names of those earn
ing under the average, IL is stated, cross
in red ink or ring around the amount
earned is placed, this being a warning
that unless the average is kept up the
weaver will lose his or her place. 1t is
affirmed that this driving system has in
yOlVed such strain as TO make the lives
OF many factory workers miserable, and
various meetings have been held. at which
the practice has been condemned, and
strike at the mills where 1t prevails is
talked Of The employers assert that the
complaints are exaggerated. They say
that the speeding of machinery has
been the inevitable outcome of the reduc-
ton of the hours of labor and that com
petition cOmpels them TO secure weight of
production in given time Somewhat
similar complaints can be heard in this
country by those who will question our
skilled mechanics. A carpenter, for in
stance, said the other day that the super
vision of the men in his trade is now
vastly more rigorous than it used to be,
and any relaxation Of activity in working
hours is instantly noticed and reprehended
hy the bosses, who make every effort to
prevent the shortening of the day from
Increasing the expense ses of production. AS
are gained at the cost Of a WEAKNESS
equal to. If not greater than. that which
followed the long days work Of other
times. These, Of course are effects to be
expected in a period of transition. and
may pass away in time but they have
made some mechanics doubt If the change
for which they have fought so hard and
long Is yet real advantage to them.
The traffic on the new electric under
ground railways in London and Paris is
about the same. The total number of
passengers carried from July 30 to Decem-
Der 81. 1900, was IA, AS, ,405 for the London
road and 10, SIG for the Paris line. The
receipts are highest for the English road.
but the London road cost much more to
build, the expense being s., $4,000 per
mile, while the French road cost only
81, ,4Q3. 900 per mile. The vibrations caused
by the railway in London have been so
great that a committee has been ap
pointed to investigate this difficulty. II
was found that a large proportion of the
locomotives were not borne by springs
and that the rails lacked rigidity.
The assassination of Hoshi Toru, the
chief of the Liberals at Tokyo, is now
said to be traceable to the organization
known as "SOshi,'' consisting of turbu-
lent patriots who have before now given
the Japanese Government much cause
lOA dliAltlgs LII dCtOih<tliCt Will tltE btil-
eral topsy-turvydom Of the country, the
'Soshi. instead of being revolutionaries,
as the Western world knows them, are
ultra-conservatives, who have bitterly
opposed foreign innovations. With "a logic
which has commended itself to Europeans
and Americans living in Japan, they
have seldom offered the 'tojinsan." as
the foreigner is popularity known in
Japan, actual physical violence. combining
their attention to their own countrymen.
This is not the first time that assassina-
tion has played part in their prOpa-
ganda.
This year. by the way, marks a memor-
able Anniversary in the history OF Japan.
Incredible as it may appear, only thirty
years have passed since the Empire of
the AIikado emerged from the system Of
feudaiism which had existed for CEN
turies. and which in it's broad principles
was not unlike the ancient barOnial in
stitutionS of Europe. In lS1 the daim-
yates were abolished and prefectures es-
tabiished in their stead Almost stimuli
taneously-for events moved very quick
ly-the disestablishment Of Buddhism be-
gan, and mint was opened at Osaka.
The following year the first line of rail-
way was laid. conscription was intro
duced, and an edict issued prohibiting
nudity in cities.
In the daily war for supremacy now
motormen the former are constantly de-
vising fresh methods for catching the lat
ter In the act OF furious driving. The au-
thorities have just made a new move by
investing in a large stock of high-priced
chronometers Special policemen have
been provided with these instruments and
sent to the BOis de Boulogne to watch
offending automobilists. The policeman
takes up his stand on a given spot. the
distance from which to another point in
view has previously been accurately meas
ured. When a mOtorman passes the first
place the policeman times him during his
progress to the second, and when he
reaches the latter invariably nabs him for
furious driving In nine cases out of ten
the automobiist can only plead guilty
when confronted by the unimpeachabie-
evidence of his time taken on a first-elass
chronometer.
Some idea of the vast quantity of coal
consumed in the British Navy was given
a few days ago in the House of Commons,
in answer to the enquiry of Mr. Gordon.
The cost last year was s1,700,0O0 about
IS 500. .00OD, but this was due in part TO the
consumption for transport and other SER