Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-21
OTHER LANDS THAN OURS.


Bismarck's idea Of Germanizing the Polish
provinces of Prussia has been readopted
by the Landtag and a credit Of 100, 0O0, 900
marks is to be voted to further the scheme.
The money is to be employed to purchase
Polish estates upon which German fam
lilies are to be settled and the expectation
is that the Polish gentry will blow in"
the price at the gaming table. What hap
pened before is likely to happen again. No
less than 4O0,0 900 acres were purchased from
Poles out Of the fund created at Bismarck's
instance in 1886 and the land was resold on
easy terms to 5000 German families which
were INSTALLED on the same. But the Poles
did not go to Monte Carlo. What they did
was to encourage the peasantry and small
tradesmen of their nationality to make life
uncomfortable for the newcomers by the
methods Familiarity known in Ireland as
boycotting. Sooner or later the Germans
were glad to sell out at any price and the
thrifty Poles became repossessed of their
acres for a song.
Drouth has always been the curse of a
great part Of Australia and has been more
than usually persistent for six years and
more. Conditions have been growing stead
lily worse and worse, and now seem to have
reached something like a climax. A CORE
spondent Of a London journal writing from
Sydney gives a doleful account of the conse-
quences of the seventh year of dryness. The
only districts which have escaped, he says,
are the northern rivers of New South
Wales and parts of Riverina. The losses
OF sneep have been enormous and even the
rabbits are starving. The rabbit is a pest
in Ana ira liz d. hIt ifa dacfrt,ofion q. onIu .
very small compensation under the circum-
stances. In parts Of western Queensland
cattle are suffering and the outlook is a
serious one, for when agriculture suffers
In Australia financial interests are largely
involved. The question Of water storage and
irrigation is one of the most serious prob
lens to be solved by Australian statesmen,
The state governments of New South Wales,
Victoria and South Australia have been con-
ferring together recently and have APP
pointed a committee of engineers to inves-
tigate and report.
The recent election of deputies in Bel
gium was Of uncommon interest, because
Some considerable effect of the Socialist
strikes was anticipated. 1t should be
noted, however, that violent political
changes are unlikely under a system by
which only one-half of the members OF
the House of Commons are chosen at each
biennial election. But seventy-six OF the
152 seats were balloted for in the May
elections, and under these circumstances
the gain of four seats by the Socialists was
all that could have been expected. 1t
seems likely, indeed, that the rank and file
OF the Socialists felt that the recent strikes
had been precfpitated without due consid-
Grafton or provision, and accordingly gave
to their leaders only a languid support.
That the Socialist agitation is not wholly
f~ruitless appears from the announcement
that the Clericals, with their clear ma
jority Of twenty-four. will abolish the
triple vote. This at present is granted TO
those who hold certain diplomas of higher
study-a class which naturally includes
many priests. II would be a substantial
concession on the part OF the Clericals,
though still far from the one-man-one-vote
system which the Radicals and Socialists
desire; so it appears that the Socialist agi-
tation even while ill-timed and badly d.
rected, was not, as most observers held,
a wanton display Of brute force. II It were
merely that, the ruling party could not
afford to consider its demands.
ssR
A Turkish garrison in Macedonia has
mutinied because the paymaster has not
been seen or heard Of for months. II may
be perplexing to some people that the
hardy and patieht Mussulmans who serve
the Sultan in uniform should rebel because
their pockets are empty. But 1t is prob
able there are hollow voids in them stom-
achs also. 1t is a we'll known article OF
faith among the followers of Mahomet that
the pious warrior who dies in battle goes
straight to his longed-for heaven. But the
Koran has nothing to say concerning the
future happiness OF soldiers who are on
the edge of starvation in peaceful lines,
and even the muezzin's call to prayer as Il
sounds from the slender minaret may fail
to appease the cravings Of appetites made
ravenous by days and nights of enforced
fasting outside the month OF Ramadan. To
draw the waistbelt tighter, to say 'kis-
met" and try to be stoical, may keep the
rebellious spirit in check for a brief
season; but II the Sublime Porte does not
increase its supplies OF food in some Of its
garrisons. and does not dole out a pittanee
Of long overdue wages now and then, the
throne OF the Caliphate may totter. For
many a year IL has been propped up by
bayonets. Were any large part OF the army
to be disahected to the extent of an out
break. that support might be so weakened
that the map Of Eastern Europe and West
ern Asia would need recasting.
Significant Of the increasing number of
tourists in the Alps is an order recently is
sued by the project OF Savoy 20 the effect
that all persons collecting flowers or pluck
Ing plants in the French Alps will be prose-
The new regulations apply to the
mountainous regions, where the edelweiss. |
Alpine rose and other species OF Alpine
plants grow, and the reason for II Is that
these flowers are rapidly disappearing and
without some such regulation would soon