The Washington times., 1901-08-20
FOREIGN TOPICS.

| schemes through which they can have
races and yet not rouse the enmity OF
/ the country. 1t is proposed to build a
| track. which VIII embrace all the acciden-
| tai. the irregular. and unexpected features
| OF an ordinary highroad. At certain stages
the hills will be made unusually steep and
| the corners unusually sharp. and at other
| points the track unusually narrow. so
that the automobilist may think he is go
ing through the narrow, crooked. steep
| streets of little village. Various sites
are being discussed. One site is the So
| iogne Plain in the Loire Valley; another
1 is some fields at Acheres near Paris;
| while third is the magnificent carriage
drive, twenty miles long, which runs
around the park of the Castle of Cham.
bord. The Duke of Parma has offered
this. All that would have to be done to
this is to put in few artificial hills and
hazards. and the automobiles could run
as fast as they like.
Advices from Moscow say Russia Is on
the eve of another famine Nearly third
OF the provinces of European Russia are
officially declared to have produced in
sufficient" other sufficient" and others
still under the average" crop of cereals.
Only two provinces out of seventy have
really good harvests. Among the ''insuf-
fcient" are the best wheat growing dis
tricts. The official insufficient" means
utter starvation. The famine-stricken
area exceeds half a million square miles.
twice the area of France, and about the
same area as that of the great famine dis
trict of 1897. The population numbers
43. 600. O00
The hopes founded on the report of two
months ago have vanished. The havoc
has been wrought by the intense heat and
entire absence of rain when needed. At
terward there were torrential downpours
and hailstorms. The appearance of in
Vulnerable pests is completing the de-
struction. As the harvest is now in prog
ress these are final reports. 1t might be
supposed that Russia would still be able
to draw on her vast resources in Siberia.
But matters have not gone well there,
though the figures have not been finally
issued. Moreover, the bumper crops OF
Siberia avail little. for Russia has no
of thousands who persisted, directly or In
directly. from typhoid and other epideH-
les induced by starvation, during previous
famines. the great majority were within
railroads, and grain could not and cannot
go to the starving Muiiks. though the
streams take such quantities to the ports
as to benefit the outer world.
The proroguing of Parliament on Sat
urday is the occasion of much doieful
comment The Pail Mall Gazette" refers
to the results accomplished, with annota-
tons on THE Decay of Parliamentary
Government and The Breakdown of the
Constitutional System" However this
may be, finance was the only big thing
dealt with during the session. Even the
Times" and the Standard point out
the decline of the authority of the Minis
tiers in the House of Commons The clo-
ture has been used more frequently than
ever before. Mr.. Balfour, the Government
leader, has delighted the cynics by his
cool unconcern in walking into the House
of Commons at II o'clock and breaking of
debate by the cloture.
The 'Statist" says the Government has
bungled In the war and in finance. 1t de-
fines Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Chancellor
of the Exchequer. as politician, abso-
lutely ignorant of finance. and who knows
as little about the uioney market as any
trasts the effects of the enormous sums
borrowed by the United States in the civil
war and by France in 1870 with the fall
in consols resulting from the methods of
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach. and attributes
it to the Governments financing. 1t says
there is mistaken belief abroad that the
resources of the country have been i'm
mensely exaggerated. and that Great
Britain is not 60 rich as imputed. and
claims that the belief in the almost in
exhaustible resources of Greet Britain has
been. heretofore, one OF the great guaran-
tees of peace.
France has increased in population only
10000 in the last five years. And this
very slight increase Is said to be due to
the incoming of foreigners. There has
been absolutely no gain in native popu-
lation. That the outlook is a very serious
one has long been felt outside of France
as well as within. For years remedies
have been proposed, but such things are
easier of proposition than of practice,
for the practically stationary condition
of the population seems to be the result |
of long customs, that il not impossible |
of change are at least difficult to change. |
Subdivision of the land is fundamental |
idea with Frenchmen. The children of |
land owners become equal owners of the |
real estate. The result of this has been |
the subdivision, practically, of farms into |
areas until in many cases they have |
reached the point where they are not |
needs of a very small family. Manifestly /
this results in the restriction in the size |
Of families. The other universal custom |
that the French girl must have a dot or
iowry in case OF marriage causes a large
number of women to remain single. No
matter what a girls attractions may be
Of beauty or intellect, she has no chance
Of being married in France unless she
brings to her future husbands house |
hold a. capital sufficient to represent prac-
-tcally the cost of her maintenance there |
after. Thus in both commercial and
social life there will appear to be at |
least two great habits making steadily |
md inevitably toward fewer marriages
md fewer births, and unless II be posi- |
Die to change these customs it may be |
expected that whereas France is now |
apparently just holding her own, a--eenSus |
nay at any time reveal that she is falling |
behind absolutely as well as relatively in |
population, and 50 it is not impossible ]
hat we are looking on what Is really the |
iecay and passing of great people-once |
dominant factor in European affairs.
Cornwall has many curious customs, but |
hat called the KnilI celebration is per- |
laps. the most curious of all. The late
John Knill left f5 $50 to be equally d.
yided between ten girls, under ten years
# age. natives Of St Ives, and daughters
If seamen, fishermen, or timers, who
hall dance and sing round the mauso-
cum containing his mortal remains on
he anniversary of his death. Other Gu
-ious gifts, such So to the natives with
he most children. are also distributed |
rhe ceremonies this year were very pic
ureSque and the local magnates did their
,est to let everybody have good time.
There have been twenty-one annual Knill
Among the most renowned of the mill |
airy animals of the British army are the
ogs of the Northumberland fusiliers
which have gone through much of the Sc ,
ere fighting in South Africa. There are
number of them. including bulldog
;hich is an especial favorite of the regi- ,
1ent. Jack. the retriever dog of the |
'welfth Lancers, also accompanied that | +