Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-04-15
DEsERET EVENING NEWS MONDAY APRIL 1S 1901.

the COMPLICATED situations in the sphere
Of International politics. This feeling
Is rejected even In the press. Thus
the brush Weekly, n leading Journal,
asks IN all seriousness whether the
days q the mighty empire are not
numbered. The Weekly puts that ques-
lion nus;
HOW are we to read the handwriting
upon ule waltz We desire neither 20
be alafmlHts nor pesslmists; but the
man must be blind who does not see
at EASY the word Tekel-thou art
weighed IN the balance and art found
wanting. me only question that needs
TO be discussed Is, whether the hand
has rot written also Mcne--God hath
numbered Thy Kingdom and finished lt
For the first time In this generation
our sufhgth has been tested, and who
can deny that II has broken down at
almost every point2 Can we wonder
that IN the circumstances, the i'm.
presslQli OF our capacity and resource
Is raWuly dying away all over the
world The serious thing Is not so
much mat we are vilified as tyrants
ana oppressors, but that we are really
believed to be weak We live by linz
precision, ana as soon as that has failed
us, 1t = certain that our strength will
be tesed far more formdably and at
no distant date. From every side we
are mollaced with dethronement, Has
the shadow OF doom begun to fall upon
the empire2 Are we witnessing the
last or the penultimate scene Of
very great drama2 However this may
be 1t Is certain that trials are coming
when, X we do not win In the first
hour we shall not win In the second,
when a defeat viii close our history.
We are not writing In any partisan
spirit There IL little or no reason
10 imagine that the administration Of
the country would be better conducted
by the opposition In It's present dsor-
gani2ed state than by the government.
But we beg sensible men Of all parties
Ia accompany US In a brief review Of
the events that have happened within
practically o single week, and TO ask
In what direction they all point
one o. the most omlnous of these
signs according to the Weekly. ia the
discovery, after the expenditure Of mil
lions Of pounds. that the boilers Of
some Of the ships are 80 bad that they
were condemned by the investigating
committee, and that, Notwithstanding
this, they were recommended TO be
retained In the vessels where they have
been placed. This is considered
fearful mistake, which, should It come
TO war might cost the nation dearly
Another sign Is said TO be the foreign
competition In trade and industry, es-
peelaly by the United States
The writer does not refer to the stu
alton in India, but he might well have
done so, There, since 1895, more than
100000 people, under British rule,
have died of famine, plague and cholera.
In one Of the western states the pop
uaton has declined As per cent in
five years; In another there has been a
loss Of 10000 In seven years and the
city OF bombay has lost $4,000 since
1897.
The british government can OF course
not be charged with direct Responsible
t. for these disasters, but they prove
nevertheless It's impotency to grapple
successfully with some Of the important
problems that confront 1t, Its power
in Asia is evidently declining
Great Britain Ia, however, one of the
strongest nations in the world, and
also one Of the greatest moral forces.
lie, chief danger is to be led away
from her mission as one Of the stand
ard bearers Of enlightenment and lib
erty, and to follow the policy Of cold
commerclallsm. II there ever Is to be
a Meme, Tekel, written across the wall
OF the empire, It win be because of the
pursuance OF policy which is UNI
worthy Of a nation that calls itself |
Christian" and which Is ruled by |
monarch who Processes to be the de-
fpndpp ~ Tho faifh