Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-30
OTHER LANDS THAN OURS.

Astonishing results. often changing the
course OF history, have their origin in APP
parently slight causes. When Emperor
william consented to the publication OF his
views on public affairs in a London news
paper he had no intention of placing a
bomb under the divine tight Of kings and
light the fuse. But the unexpected hap
pencd. The semi-divinity with which the
emperor cloaked himself was rent asunder
by the indignant storm of criticism which
swept over the empire. revealing the en-
peror as an ordinary mortal. Public wrath
generated by years of censorship and prose-
cution poured out such a flood that "lese
majestic was swept from its moorings and
stranded. Not a single prosecution has
been undertaken since the emperor con-
scented to talk less, think more and muzzle
his publicity bureau. Freedom of public
expression has succeeded the reign Of ter
ror which successful prosecution engen-
dered in years past. Having broken away
from the tradition OF centuries, the Ger
man people seem determined to MAINTAIN
the advantage. Realizing that liberty Is
not license. they show admirable restraint,
and are not abusing the right regained.
Equally impressive is the effect on the en-
peror. He is no longer the critical monarch
of other days. interviewers are turned
away at the palace gates. the daily court
circular has been suspended and only a
brief memorandum of the emperor's activi-
ties are now published semi-weekly. The
result is silent revolution in the palace
springing from a revolutionary outburst in
the country.
Discussing the economic features of the
,,,,or,a,t In rpaat pFitain
Sydney Brooks, the London correspondent,
in a paper in Harper's Bazaar, points out
that the discomfort manifested has its basis
in the disparity of wages paid men and
women for like work. Mr.. Brooks shows
there are 100000 women earning a living
in the kingdom. I'm some trade unions
they outnumber the men. The cotton
unions alone have 5000 women members.
1t is among this great body of industrial
workers that the suffrage movement finds
most of it's most determined advocates.
This is especially the case in the northern
counties. where women have organized
trade unions and cooperative societies,
fasten eagerly upon social and economic
problems, largely helped to found the labor
party and at the last general election sub
scribed enough from their collective funds
to pay the expenses of one of the labor
representatives The agitation for the
franchise has at least done this much good
it has directed the attention of the coun-
try toward the problems OF women's work
and wages. People are beginning to realize
that while sweating is at all times and
under all circumstances an abomination, 1t
is ten times more abominable when women
are it's victims. They are beginning to ask
themselves why women who do the same
--z-t --z ,-I IL, t. o- rr,n aha.a1I ha
paid much less. The average of women's
wages in the cotton trade is $3.50 a week
a sum that even an unskilled male laborer
would scorn to accept; and the cotton
trade, on the whole. is a well paid one.
The suffragists are undoubtedly right when
they urge that one very important reason
why the wages of men have risen by from
50 to 100 per cent in the last sixty years is
that they have had the vote and that one
very important reason why women's wages
have either remained stationary or have
grown less is that they have no votes
so
In seeking ways and means OF meeting
the expected large deficit in the revenues
OF Great Britain the Westminster Review
seriously urges a tax on bachelors, and pre-
sents instructive facts in support of the
proposition. 1t is shown that the bachelor
fraternity has greatly increased in numbers
and is not contributing its due proportion
to the maintenance and perpetuity of the
empire. Statistics show that i'm London In
1871 the proportion OF bachelors In 1000
males aged IS and upward was 1856. In
1901 the proportion had risen to 41. The
figures for spinsters are in each case a
little higher. and says the official reports.
the proportion for both bachelors and
4.- g...oaeo1 Of oil anaa Tn the
whole United Kingdom the proportion OF
bachelors of twenty years and upward in
creased twenty in the thousand between
1871 and 1901. 1t is contended that bachelor
hood does not promote the strength and
security Of the state and should be sub
! jected TO penalties designed to discourage II.
How are the bachelors to be reached by
special taxation? The Review suggests a
special tax on those bachelors possessed Of
a certain income. beginning st-the age Of
% or % and remaining in force till 20 or so.
sss
The occident might with profit put In
p~ractlce some ideas from the orient in ex-
! change for those urged upon the s0-called
backward nations" Among those that
viii bear transplanting is the principle EN-
bodied in the new laws OF Japan, that
punishment eXpiates a crime" The laws
provide for the protection OF a released con-
wet from social ostracism and for assist
ance 10 him after his restoration to liberty.
When a man has forged a note, so the Jap
anese contend, and has served a term in
prison, his offense stands cancelled and the
Japanese statutes are framed so that this
cancellation shall be actually as well as
nominaliy effective. Thus the refusal Of
employment to q former convict is pun