The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-03-26
News Of the World

1t is claimed Japan viii be able
to maintain war for at least eight
cen months without asking for a
foreign loan.
The bituminous coal miners Of
the central district have voted to
accept a 5 per cent reduction and
the threatened strike is averted.
The international board Of fire
Underwriters has appointed a spe-
eial committee to fix uniform fire
rates for all companies members of
the association.
The decision of the United States
supreme court in the Northern Sc
curities case, it is said, will not af-
feet measures for the financial con-
solidation Of the Gould properties
east of the Mississippi, They are
not competing lines, and any ar
rangement for purchasing or leas-
ing would not conflict with state or
federal laws.
At no other time do the columns
of the daily press contain so many
contradictory statements concerning
the true state of affairs as they do in
times of war, and the news submit
ted to the reading public today, CIV
ing detailed accounts of a victorious
battle, may tomorrow turn out to be
a false rumor, or even a most disas-
trous defeat for those who but yes
terday claimed to be the victors.
That Reed Smoot could not have
been elected to the United States
senate without having been first
chosen as an apostle Of the Mormon
church, was asserted by Judge Ogden
Hiles, assistant United States attor-
ney from 1886 to 1890, and later a
judge of the district of Utah, who
was a witness in the Smoot case. In
his testimony Judge Hiles asserted
that polygamy is more common to-
day than ever before.
Harvey Vandine, Peter Nieder-
meyer and Gusta7e Marx, a trio of
Chicago bandits who confessed to
several murders after their capture
following a desperate battle with Of
fcers, have all been sentenced to be
hanged, One of the most daring
crimes committed by the gang was
the murder Of two employees of a
street car company, the men being
shot down as they sat at their desks
without a word of warning.
The second annual report Of the
United States Steel Corporation
1.-THE steel trust) has been made pub
lie. The report shows decrease in
the net earnings of the company for
the past year of $24,137,611. The
report is for the year ending Deem
Der 81, 1908. Last year the undi-
vided profits, after all fixed charges,
including payments of dividends,
repairs and Improvements had been
deducted, amounted to but $12, Boa
$50, as against $34,253,657 for 1909.
At present the cash surplus of the
company is $66,096, 6S2. In the past
two years the company has laid out
S64,5S5,536 for Improvements and
the purchase of new property.
The United States supreme court
has handed down a decision in the
famous Northern Securities merg-
er case, holding that the merger is
illegal. The opinion of the court
was handed down by Justice Har-
Ian, and it upheld the decree of the
circuit court for the district OF
Minnesota in every particular.
Four of the justices dissented from
the five constituting the majority.
The case grew out ola combination
of the Great Northern Railway
Company and the Northern Pacific
railway. In his opinion, which is
very lengthy, Justice Harlan says:
"The government charges that if
the combination was held not to be
in violation of the act of congress,
then all efforts of the national gov
eminent to preserve to the people
the benefit of free competition
among carriers engaged in inter-
state commerce Will be wholly un-
availing, and all trans-continental
lines, indeed, the entire railway
systems of the country, may be abb
sorbed, merged and combined, thus
placing the public at the absolute
mercy Of the holding corporation"
Daniel ]. Sully, the cotton opera
tor, who has for fifteen months been
the biggest figure in the cotton mar
kets of the world, and who has
fbulled" cotton from seven cents a
pound to over seventeen cents, has
failed. The announcement Of Sui
ly's failure caused a panic at all
oyoban1ac ard ri+hin bp1f an