Omaha daily bee., 1905-07-22
OTHER LANDS THAN ours.


because the native population Is uneasy.
The natives have been aroused by the fact
that japan has demonstrated that Il can
keep itself from absorption by Europeans.
They have amongst them agitators who
argue that II Japan should be for the
| Japanese, India should be for the Indians.
That's logic. There are perhaps 30o,OOO.OOO
natives Of India. They are governed and
taxed by British oficial and business
class which doesn't exceed 10000. The ma
tives have no voice In the government.
They are dreadfully taxed Moreover, they
are an educated people. Their knowledge
may not match with that Of Europe. Their
| history is thousands Of years older than
Engiand's. In India there are works OF
art that cannot be duplicated by the most
cunning hands OF the west.
India has been looted for more than a
century by the British. Its people have
been patient, bearing except in the out
break OF half century ago the exactions
and burdens put upon them without physi-
cal remonstrance. But now that Japan
has shown the way they are evincing dis
position to insist on being given their own.
1t would be remarkable II tho Russian
japanese war; in which Great Britain has
been virtually the ally of Japan, should
result in the expulsion of the British from
India.
Undeterred by the experience OF other
continental nations. the italian govern
ment has decided TO take over from the
railroad companies the lines leased 70 them
since 1885 and to operate them itself This
is sign of distinct material progress, for
In 1885 the government was not strong
enough 70 manage the network Of lines II
had acquired, either by annexation as I'm
the case Of Lombardy and Venetia, or by
the bankruptcy OF smaller companies in
other provinces. Private enterprise has
done so well. however, that the traffic has
doubled, and as the government has a sur
plus each year, II is now ready to under
take the management Of the property IT.
self, despite the fact that as the London
Speaker points out, in France government
roads are the costliest, and give the least
returns; in Belgium the state is consider
Ing return to private management; in
Switzerland government ownerships is a
disappointment and in Russia the railroads
represent one of the greatest debts burden
Ing the people. In Prussia alone is gov
eminent control a great success, netting
800, 900 year.
In French economy today the most wor-
rying and persistent Question is that of
depopulation. It is not too much to say
that the problem has assumed a very
active aspect of race suicide. The French
themselves are extremely agitated, and
France is flooded with literature in regard
to the subject In Germany, It is pointed
out, there are 100000 more births annually
than in France, and the remark is at
tributed to Count Won Moltke that "every
year by our birth rate we gain a battle
over France" The figures that show the
depopulation trend are startling. hum
dred years ago France had 2s per cent of
the population Of Europe: today It has
only IL per cent. Until 1850 France had
been in point of population the first of
the great European nations; 1t became
the second and today is the sixth, with
Italy closely following, and threatening
to surpass France and leave II the seventh
and last. The National alliance for in
creasing the French population is a So
ciety which was founded in 1896 and is
doing much to point out to everyone the
danger Of depopulation. Among other in
ducements to large families II advocates
the exemption of taxation of families with
more than three children. As to the causes
of this decrease in the birth rate, some
people protest that It is due to the nes
lect of religious practices and beliefs while
others maintain that the burdensome tax
alton of the Frenchman is the cause.
The average tax for each Frenchman is
said to have risen to SOS, while in Russia
1t Is H.14, in England $685. in Italy s1OO4.
In Germany $1l19, and in Austria 31235
When some years ago Germany pur-
chased from Great Britain the island of
a
of German territory in Africa were not
considered too much to pay for it, The
island, indeed, was regarded as of immense
Importance to the Germans by whom it was
fortified to an extent that has made IL
little less impregnable than Gibraltar itself.
Unluckily for its owners their new pos
session is a diminishing one. For centuries
the place has been growing fine by de-
grees, and beautifully less" and the Ger
mans are beginning to realize that some
thing must be done to stop the encroach-
ments of the sea. 1t has now been decided
to build a sea wall which in time will sur
round the island; but there is no certainty
that even this will prove permanently eff
fective. The action of the waves tends
all the time to undermine the shore, and a
notable instance of it's work is a large
rock known, as 1.-THE Monk" which once
formed part OF the island, but is now sep
arated from 1t.
Count Albert Apponyl. the we'll known
Hungarian statesman. publishes in the Lon
don press a long manifesto defining the case
of the Hungarian opposition. Practically II
is an answer to the speech from Herr Tisza,
recently quoted in this journal, The count
says that the Flaw Of 1867 mentions a Hun
garian army as part of the whole army
Jointly TO be commanded and organized by
his majesty In practice no trace of the
Hungarian army was left; unity Of COM
mand and organization was transformed
into uniformity. the German language and
Austrian emblems and flags being intro
duced into the Hungarian as well as into
the Austrian military bodies. 1t is clear
that such a state OF things cannot last for
ever; II we are a nation in the full sense OF
the woodland this is what we are and
mean to be-we cannot permanently be de-
prived of one of the chief branches OF ma
tional life, OF a military establishment bear
ing in its official language and in its em-
blems the stamp OF the Hungarian nation
and the Hungarian state. Nor would the
setting up OF such military establishment
endanger mutual defense, because 1t would
in no way interfere with that unity Of COM
mand and OF inner organization vested IN
! the emperor and king, by means OF which