The independent., 1907-04-04
THE MONTH OF MARCH.


THE MONTH OF MARCH.
Warm dry weather gave the farmers
opportunity to make ready for planting
operations and permitted the market
ing of considerable part of the crop
left over from last year. Business cJn-
tinued brisk. and building operations
in the cities showed no tendency to
decrease.
With speculative business the case
was different The worst slump in
stock values in several years occurred,
shrinkage of about a billion dollars
occurred in a single day. The stability
Of the commercial situation was de-
monstrated by the fact that not a
single business failure followed the
panic In the country outside of New
York business went on exactly as be-
fore.
The beginning of the month found
e. e. Hartman on the witness stand
endeavoring to justify his various
railroad manipulations. In Nebraska
two cent fare went into effect on
the seventh, and all other middle west
legislatures passed or proposed to pass
similar laws. Stricter regulation of
freight rates was general subject
VI lc5 lSidJlOI w I'LL tI1G SLOCk DdIIC
as evidence various prominent rail-
road men seized the occasion to de-
clare that the prosperity Of the rail-
roads was threatened by state legis-
lation, and announced that projected
railroad improvements would be sus-
pended pending a clearing Of the sit
uation. The fact that a general money
stringency existed in the speculative
market was taken by other autnori-
ties to be. the cause of the mar
ket difficulties, and not railroad leg
islation.
The Fifty-ninth congress adjourned
for good on the fourth. One Of it's
last acts was the passage OF the
amendments to the free alcohol law
designed to enable the manufacture
of denatured alsohol on a small scale.
The appropriations totaled over nine
hundred million dollars, a large in
crease over the last session, which
had itself been record breaker on
appropriations up to it's time
Floods in the Ohio river did serious
damage at Pittsburg and other river
towns, incidentally emphasizing the
need Of timber on the hills OF the
Ohio watershed. The most sensational
exhibition of civic corruption since a
Philadelphia council was mobbed into
refusing a gas ordinance was pre-
sented at San Francisco. The inves-
tigation Of political corruption under
the regime of Abraham Ruef resulted
in the return by grand jury Of in
dictments against all but three of the
seventeen supervisors of San Fran
cisco county, against Ruef and Mayor
SchmitZ, and against various business
men and financiers who are alleged
to have resorted to bribery for the
obtaining Of franchises and other val
liable public privileges.
Following the adjournment of con-
greSS numerous congressman made
visits to the canal zone Their
unanimous praise of the conditions ex-
listing and the progress of the work
enlivened the hopes of the friends of
the canal. Presidential gossip began
to achieve prominence. Vice Pdesl-
dent Fairbanks delivered speeches on
various occasions and at most he was
hailed as presidential prospect.
Senator Foraker announced his in
tention to contest with Secretary Taft
for the control of the Ohio delega-
tion, and proposes to hold an cleo
ton Of delegates to a convention which
shall choose between them. 1t was
common talk that President Roost-
welt will not be satisfied TO allow
the nomination to go without light
to an opponent or lukewarm friend
of the square dear policy. He was
said TO hope for the nomination OF
Tafet.
The world abroad was more or less
disorderly. 4 war between Honduras
and Nicaragua IN Central America
proceeded to the point OF the capture
OF the Honduras capital Disorders In
Morocco. involving the murder OF n
French citizen. called French forces
TO that coast. Agrarian disorders
complicated with assaults on the Jews
left Roumanla in a distressed condI-
tion with the trouble not yet over.
The Russian douma met on the fifth
and remained In session quietly
throughout tho month. The new
Transvaal government was installed
with General Botha. n HoeF leader az
s.4