The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-01-12
1oo3-A Notable Year.

of the present their grandchildren will regard q
notable, since so much depends on the fruition of
the seed planted.
If the possibilities developed by the proposad
plan of British fiscal reform should be fully real
lied, the beginning of the campaign for it's adoD-
ton will be deemed by those who come after Us
the most important event of the year just ended,
Whether the plan succeeds or not, the PROPOSAL Of
it has marked an epoch in British history, for if
indicates the beginning of a systematic policy Of
attaching the colonies firmly to the mother coun-
try, and Of consolidating the empire.
Next in Importance, doubtless, is the progress
made toward cutting a canal across the Isthmus
of Panama. The attempt to deal with the Re
public of Colombia failed, and the Department
of Panama revolted and set up an independent
government, because it was determined to have the
canal at any cost. The desires of Panama and
of the United States harmonized; consequently
it did not take long to negotiate a treaty provid-
ing for the construction of the canal by the
United States Government.
The decision of the people of New York to
spend a hundred and one million dollars-a sum
larger than has been spent on any existing canal
for deepening the Erie Canal and its branches
is important as evidence of a popular determine
ton to escape from dependence upon railways by
developing waterways. The laying of a cable
across the Pacific, from San Francisco to Manila,
completing the telegraphic circuit of the globe.
has made the earth smaller by bringing its differ
ent parts into closer communication.
The canal and the Panama Canal will make
war less likely and arbitration more common, al
though recourse to arbitration is now satisfyingly
frequent. The Alaskan boundary has been fixed
by an international commission appointed in con
formity with the provisions of a treaty. France
and Great Britain have agreed to arbitrate many
of their differences, and Brazil and Bolivia, in
stead of going to war over Acre, have come to a
peaceable understanding.
The friendly temper of the year has manifested
itself, further, in the establishment of more in
innate relations'between Italy and Great Britain,
Portugal and Great Britain, and Germany and
Russia. Austria Hungary and Russia are CO
operating, with the consent of the powers, in an
attempt to solve the Macedonian problem, and the
general desire for peace has induced Japan and
Russia to listen to the counsel of those who OBJ
jected to war over Korea.
Servia has passed through a bloody and tragic
revolution. Attempts were made to paclty the
disaffected races in Austria-H Hungary where con
ceSSlOnS nave peen mace 10 te I1unSdIldHo i
specting the use of their language in army tactics.
In Great Britain, the Irish land purchase law
was passed in the hope that it would remove the
cause of much Irish discomfort. The Tsar issued
his reform proclamation because he desired to
remove some of the causes of dissatisfaction
among his subjects.
The United States Government made progress
toward the fulfllment of it's pledges to Cuba by
the withdrawal of soldiers from the island and
by passing the act which makes effective reel
procity with Cuba. It has established a ne"
nouornnaontol donnrtnoont hooareo of the GROWING