Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-17
OTHER LANDS THAN ouRs.

A
OTHER AMI THAN ours.
-
The powder magazines Of Europe are
safe for the present. Servia and Mon
t%enegru. after ten days Of fuming and
threatening. have sobered up some, and in
Difference to the wishes OF the powers and
to escape a whipping, have muzzled their
Hobsons, and put tho lid on Belgrade and
Cetigne. The most important development
Of the situation is the tentative agreement
Of England, France and Russia on the
questions to be considered by the confer
enCe of the powers required to be called,
under the terms OF the treaty of Berlin,
whenever the status of the Turkish empire
is affected. The scope of the conference
takes a wider range than the independence
of Bulgaria and the annexation OF Bosnia
and Herzegovina by Austria. The agree
ment by the three powers named implies
acceptance as accomplished facts of the
acts of Austria and Bulgaria, leaving for
adjustment only financial matters and re-
casting of the Berlin treaty map. Ger
many with Bismarck at the helm was a
mighty factor in making of the original
Berlin treaty, and is most likely to be a
determining power at the coming revision.
! W llh pbHAblpi ~ VIII AuhO Ii AbA hboANA'
Up to the present it's hand has not been un-
covered. 1t is probable Germany upholds
Austria and Bulgaria. Perhaps the know
ledge of Germany's position influenced in
no small degree the ready acceptance by
other powers of the suggestion that what
is done should not be undone. However,
so long as the powers agree to talk 1t over
and give their diplomats a chance to earn
their salaries, the Balkan war scare may
be safely laid on the shelf for the time
being.
Rarely has a british ministry faced a
| graver crisis than that which marks the OPP
ening Of the autumn session of Parliament.
The aggressive activity and violence of the
surfragettes, in surrounding Parliament
house and mobbing the members ordinarily
would constitute a grievence worthy of
attention, but it becomes a momentary i-
ritant compared with the acute distress
OF the unemployed. The number Of men
out of work in Great Britain Is enormous,
aggregating 100000 in the ten largest cities.
Every resource of the authorities in the
way of publis Improvements has been called
into action to provide employment and re-
lieve the distress, but the situation is be-
yond the ability of the local authorities
to cope with. To relieve the grave stu
alton in some degree the ministry has
abandoned its policy Of economy in arma-
ments and has ordered the resumption OF
naval construction on a large scale. The
army will also be increased. Other mea-
sures designed to afford relief will be
given immediate consideration. How
alarming the condition Of the unemployed
is may be inferred from the fact that the
chancellor of the exchequer, David Lloyd
George, drew attention to it in a sensa-
tional public address in which he scored
the idle rich and their obstructive assem-
bly,, the House of Lords. Unless the latter
body co-operates with the House of Com
mons in e~nacting measures of economic
and social reform the chancellor predicted
that the wealthy would be the sufferers.
''There is nothing capital need fear" he
said. warningly, so much as the despair
Of the multitude
A convention of representatives of the
various divisions of the British South
African colony is in session at Durham for
the purpose of drafting a constitution for
the government of the united common
wealth. The political complexion of the
convention is Dutch, but there is no dis
position to overawe the strong British
minority. Indeed, there is manifest at the
outset a racial unity as strong as that
shown in the first legislative assembly at
Pretoria under British supremacy. Besides
the unity of sentiment forged by common
interest, a greater force is leavening the
racial lump. 1T is the ou~tspoken deter
mination to safeguard the supremacy of
the white man on the southern end of the
dark continent. The color line is to be
drawn and embodied in the organic law Of
the confederation, but in what form has
not yet developed. Not only South Africa,
but German East Africa as well fear an
eventual uprising of the native races,
egged on by systematic aggressions Of the
whites, and every move by the latter aims
to safeguard all that has been acquired
and all that may be annexed in the flu
ture.
A Paris correspondent of a London paper
bids possessers of a champagne thirst
cheer up and take heart, for the grape
crop of France is not as big a failure
as reported. "AIl the champagne sellers"
he writes, have huge cellars in which
they store large quantities of wine every
good year, and the reserve stock this year
is at least 112, 900. 600 bottles, or very nearly
the entire quantity which will be sold
during the next four years. In other
words, If the champagne district were to
produce no wine at all until 1913, every
body who so wished would be able to
drink champagne and would not have TO
pay much more than the current prices
for it,"
The German town of KlingsbeTg, near
Aschaffenberg, Bavaria, is an ideal place
for old age pensions. In addition to having
no rates to pay for the upkeep of the
town, those actually born in the parish
receive from the municipality SOL a year.
This sun il invested regularly at, say,
9 per cent, would entitle the owner to re-
ceive about $500 at the age of so. Were
it not necessary that the inhabitants should
prove birth in the parish before becoming
entitled to this payment the popularity of
Kingsberg as a place of residence would
doubtless be enormous.
Fastidious Britons can no longer point
the finger of scorn at American shirt