Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-07
Other Lands Than Ours.

A correspondent Of the London Times
says that the officially organized lee
| lures to the industrial workers and
| harbOr laborers OF South Russia have
| failed completely to rally them to the
| support of the present war. Openly in
| the workshops and on the duays the
conduct of the war is criticised unspar-
ingly, and the great bulk of South Rus
| sian reservists dread the day when
| they will be sent to the front to fight
in conflict which they never ap-
proved, and from which they expect
neither national nor personal profit.
AS for the large Jewish element in the
south, they are positively solid against
the war, in spite Of statements to the
contrary. Their trade has already
been partly ruined. Their credit has
been diminished abroad by the assaults
which have been made upon them.
Establishment after establishment has
been driven into liquidation. Others
are tottering. Industry, too. is suffer-
ing most keenly. Scores of large and
hundreds of smaller Industrial concerns
are struggling along on half time
Tens Of thousands If workman are idle,
and the number of men out Of work
daily increases. Prices of many very
necessary foodstuffs have risen. and
the small shops refuse to retail even a
pound of bread save on cash terms.
The outlay of various public works has
been curtailed heavily by the authori.
ties, acting on instructions received
from the Russian ministry Of finance
Everywhere. says the writer there is
evidence of a desire for "retrench-
ment." and the workers in the long run
are inevitably heavy sufferers.
A dispatch from Spain says that a
death blow has been struck at bull
fighting in that country by the action
of the Institute of Social Reform in
ratifying an absolute prohibition Of the i
fights on Sunday. That Spain would |
soon abandon this anachronistic form |
of barbarity has been evident for some
time. but that the reform should be |
effected on the ground that the contests |!
are dissertation of Sunday is certainly |
surprising. that feature of the situation !
being the one which Spaniards. despite |
their piety. seemed little likely to note
and still less likely to hold important.
One can see, however. that the pro-
hibition of Sunday fights was shrewdy
devised, since it Involves no criticism
OF bull fighting itself. 1t will doubtless
be much less humiliating for Spain to
avow the mature conclusion that bull |
fighting on Sunday is reprehensible
than to confess that bull fighting on
any Cay is a cruel and cowardly sport.
And what. incidentally, is the Insti-
tute of Social Reform. that its decisions
can strike death blows at national Gus
toms established for ages? We do not
remember to have heard Of this body
before. but Spain is to he envied for its
possession.
Prussian paternalism has done at
least one good thing in relieving the
anxieties of parents rs TO the deadly
periis to which school children are ex- |:
posed from microbes in the ink" used
in the classrooms. There is no doubt
tnat many unsanitary practices in
whlch boys and girls have INDUCED in
IN school. as, for instance. the primitive
ana well-nigh universal method of
cieaning states with saliva. have justi-
ned the campaigns Of reform which :
nave been more or less successfully (
wased. Switzerland few years ago !
developed new terror for anxious
mothers. the deaths Of several children
being attributed to repeated pricks
from pens dipped in ink containing :
moids and other harmful bacteria
There was no scientific testimony TO 4
back up the indictment against the 9
inks, but Prussian anxieties were Q
aroused and a government commission
was created to probe the question 70 q
the bottom, or, perhaps 1t would % p
better to- say, the ink to the dres1 7 Z
These experts found that the inks M In
stead Of being source Of danger, Vs. be
unusually sterile. owing to the tann0 IS
acid in most samples. Eys6sthe so -, T,
mon inks, made from vegetahae e ~. g
were declared to posgs nne1 III ~ g s; 4