The Washington times., 1901-10-20
FOREIGN TOPICS.

" 'AiN PAofhlee VI 6upeTat- Inc lHlIneul
ate cause is plague of rats. which hav
destroyed the young crops. that the Gov
efhhent tried to meet by rewards for
certain number of rats tails. But Indi.
Is one Of the countries that you neve
can tell about, and the natives chose t
regard the life of the rats as sacred, an,
allowed them to live and grow fat. !
London letter, however, declares tha
neither scarcity of rain nor plaques o
rats nor lOcusts will account for III,
chronic recurrence of famine in India
that the real responsibility lies at tn,
door OF the vanya, who are grain mer
chants, and are nearly all rich and many
Of them very rich. The poor farmer
whose crop has failed. comes to one o
these men for help and gets it only or
his own conditions, namely, that tht
whole of the next years crop must bt
handed over the vanya only undertaking
to supply a little food in return and per.
hsps the seed for the following year, tbs
crop of which will also belong to him
mus the vanya boards his grain year
aIter year, and in the year of famine
sells 1t at an excrbitant rate. while the
poor man and his family die. The mass oi
the people are thus kept perpetually poor
ana in year of famine they inevitably
uit uiAASSs cONtiIiflSnt TtutI COIneS. II
Is these remorseless spectators, and not
natural causes, this account contends
that are at the bottom of India's trouble
and there viii be no relief until they ere
curbed
There are some interesting facts in the
statistics OF the consumption of alcoholic
liquids in different parts of the world
which have just been issued by the British
Board of Trade. In the year 1900 every
hundred English people drank between
them 80 gallons. or 234 bottles of wine. In
the United States the consumption proba-
bly, was not quite so much, for in the
previous year it was only 80 gallons per
hundred. In Germany, however. II
amounted to las gallons; and in France to
as much as 2.54O gallons. But with beer
1t was different. One hundred English
men imbibed S.17O gallons while the
t'renchmen accounted for only $50 gall
Ions. In the United States the hundred
men drank 1880 gallons in 1899, while in
Germany they required 2.750 gallons. The
consumption of spirits in Great Britain
IN lSVO was III gallons per hundred OF the
population. The corresponding consump-
non IN Germany rose to 19i, an1 in France
TO zoz. Thus Great Britain heads the list
OF consumers of alcoholic drinks. for her
average is rather over 80 gallons year
as against nearly 81 in Germany-while
the average consumption In the United
S.ates Is rather less than half. and in
rance not quite a third. Beer is tlie
principal beverage of Great Britain, Ger
many and the United States, and wine of
france The British are the largest
drinkers of beer in the world, and the
consumption Is growing, for from 1885
TO 1855 IT was, roughly, q gallons a head :;
1t rose in the next two years to 30 and
Kept near this figure till 1885. when ii
mounted higher, and in 1899 was we'll over
SZ gallons. The quantity of beer absorb
ed In 1900 amountedzs{p 1,29S. 900 gal
Ions, or not much less than 20S, 900. 600 cubic
feet; in other words, the contents of a
reservoir 1000 feet long, 1,0c0 feet wide
and lO4 feet deep.
A good idea of the reaction that is TAX
ing place among certain factions in
France against the Russian alliance is
found In an article recently published by
Camille Peiletan, one of the leading mem
bers Of the Chamber OF Deputies, in which
he brings new charge against Russia;
TO wit, that Russia is slowly but surely
destroying all hope of la revanche, not be-
cause she loves Germany but because it
suits her purpose to crafty her near
neighbor even at the expense Of her fond
ally Russia sent France to Kiel 1t was
Russia that made France an ally of Ger
many in the Chinese campaign. 1t was
Russia that put French troops under the
command of a German. Russia, argues
NJ Pelletan, gets good deal out of Ger
many for her pains, and gives France alb
solutsly nothing in return. The French
Government seems to have considered
that IL was such an honor to have these
noble friends that IL WIS sufficiently rec
Impensed for its sacrifices when they ae-
cepted invitations to dinner Indeed, not
ong ago they were considered the great
est Statesman who went furthest along
This path of seif-denial. and NJ. Pelletan
ellis a little story Of Yellow Book which
was about to be issued by the Govern
ntnt, with view OF demonstrating that
France had abandoned all her interests
% Russia. 1t was only when some other
politicians demonstrated strongly against
4 that its publication was suppressed.
The whole drift of NJ Pelletans article
IS to the effect that France has given
enough; that 1t Is now time for her to
make a stand and get something in re-
urn, and that alliances should mean
iomething more than fetes and festivities.
Most of the influential Austrian news
,apers approve very heartily of the at
itude assumed by. the Austro- Hungarian
jovernment-at the instigation of NJ
szell, the Hungarian Premier-with re-
,ard to the German tariff. They commend
NJ. Sells declaration that It is
impossible TO conclude a commercial
reaty with Germany on The basis of the
practically prohibitive duties on certain
agricultural products included in its pro-
ected customs tariff. Some of them pro-
est. more OF less emphatically against
he alleged assumption by Hungary of
he right TO decide independently an I'm
'ortant question affecting the future COM
nercial policy of the monarchy, but 1t is
admitted that as an agreement
n such a question between the two halves
f the Empire Is essential to common ac-
ion. Hungary was perfectly justified in
efining her position. II is well known
hat the Austrian agr1eulturistS are in
lined to make common cause with the
ierman agrarian party and favor a high
artn on corn. One prominent Vienna
ewspaper says that NJ. Sell has shown
imself sincere friend 10 Germany in
lis frank statement 1t is impossible
owadays ia, ,dissoeiate economic from po-
tical questions, as could be doua for
lerly. At first nobody believed ii pos
ible that, while the renewal of the Triple
iliance was under discussion, Germany
hould attempt to make her ally pay the
rice necessary to secure the support OF
he agrarians in the German Reichstas
nd the Prussian Diet 1t was only the
fficial publication of the customs tariff
nd showed that IT was high time for
.ustria TO look to her defences."
The Scandinavian magazines are devot-
ng much space these days to illustra-
ions of scenes OF the recent visit of King
;dward in Denmark and Sweden. After
he happy family gatherin in the Fred
nsborg castle near Christiania, the Brit
sh ruler accepted the invitation Of King
,scar to proceed on his yacht Osborn to
he coast of Sweden and pass day in the
astle of Stockholm.
King Edward spent most of his time
peeding along the highways OF Denmark
nd Scandinavia in his motor. AS the au- |
nmohile has not vet gained much of a |