Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-16
OTHER LANDS THAN ours.

~ Ivy ~ So W ~
excheauer. Militarism is at the bottom of
the dissensiSn. Premier Asqulth demands
a navy 10 per cent greater than the two
power plan, involving an expenditure this
year OF $4,000 coo for six warships Of the
Dreadnaught type. Mr.. Haldane. secre-
tary Of state for war, insists on a largely
increased and more efficient army. one
Il at will Danish the fears Of invasion
aroused by Lord Roberts speech. Churchill
and Lloyd-George denounce the policy Of
their colleagues as militarism. entirely out
OF harmony with liberal principles. other
cifficulties troop in the wake Of the main
one. The ministry faces a deficit Of about
tlOo,OO,0Oo, and the problem Of meeting that
huge sum taxes the ingenuity of the chan
oellor of the exchequer without the add.
ton of new burdens. I'VE are within
measurable distance of a e2O0Oo,O bud.
get" says the London Saturday Review.
Twenty years ago the national expendi.
ture was GS7,OOO,OO0" Increased expenses
and increased taxation, the latter at least
inevitable, coming on top OF severe in
dustrial and commercial depression.
presents a prospect which would prompt
a stronger and wiser ministry to pause.
Meanwhile, in expectation OF a loan, British
coEsols are selling around 81
An American, who enjoyed the rare priv
iege of witnessing the historic scenes at
tending the opening OF the new Turkish
parliament December II. in a letter to the
New York Times draws a vivid picture of
the appearance Of Sultan Abdul Hamid,
the shorn autoerat of the empire. Abdul's
hour had struck, July "A, 1908, when forced
to sign the decree restoring the constitu-
ton. The later spectacle merely empha'
sized his knell of doom. The silence Of
death fell on the crowded ROOM" says the
correspondent. when Abdul Hamid en-
tered. With his bent form, his hooked
nose, his ashy face, his faded overcoat, and
his tottering steps, the old padishah re-
sembled a perfect Shylock on the stage.
Despite his dyed beard. he looks his full
6S years, even in his carriage, but when
walking, or, rather, shuffling about, he
looks twenty years older. Among the off
Gals where he was seated he exhibited the
pathetic hesitancy of an old man whose
hearing is not good and whose mental APP
paratus is rusty. 1t was q supreme his
torical moment, but the chief actor cannot
be said to have cut an imposing figure.
He is imposing only by his crimes. This
cunning, narrow minded old man, who has
so much innocent blood upon his head.
was now for the first time facing his mas
tiers. He seemed rather to be facing his
judges. He looked like a prisoner on the
dock rather than a ruler blessing his peo'
Pile. He seemed to fear corpses would rise
up before his eyes and 'denounce him
When the padishah turned his eyes In my
direction, Involuntary l shuddered, for
these were the eyes that gloated over the
severed and picked head of Midhat Pasha,
this was the man who had employed $1,000
splao IL CopofapfIpop a1opa Wbn had
been the cause of so many strange disap-
pearances among people who had come to
call on him, of so many bodies found
floating in the Bosphorus."
es
An American commercial traveller on his
first business trip to Europe writes to a
friend in New York about his experience
ION the road in the old world. II want
to tell the boys who go on the road in our
beloved country" he writes, that theirs
Is a life of unalloyed bliss. one continuous
round Of pleasure, in comparison viii that
of the drummers on this side of the big
water. We travel from New York to San
Francisco and from Portland to Key West,
and get along with our own language. One
would have to be a first-class inguist to
do justice to one-tenth of that territory
here. l met a RUNNER in Budapest who
was selling for a German concern. Besides
German, he had to speak several of the
Slavonic tongues, and when he made his
trips to Switzerland and Italy he had TO
speak Italian as well. Worst of all, after
many years of work, this man was making
about 1900 marks q year, and, when you
figure a mark at Is cents, that is not what
one might call without fear of contradict
ton q 'princely stipend"
zee
There is likely to be more truth than
speculation in the Berlin dispatch an
nouncing an understanding between the
British and Turkish governments for mu-
tual protection. 1t is said the former will
give active diplomatic support to the Turk
ish government in its controversies with
European powers. and In return the sultan
as the head of the Mohammedan faith will
use his Influence with the priesthood In
India to support British rule there. The
agreement IL characteristic. Long expert
ence has made British statesmen experts
in handling religious cards in a diplomatic
game. Michael Davitt tells in his history
of the land war in Ireland a quarter Of a
century ago how British diplomacy ex-
erted through Rome influences that for a
while antagonized the Land league and
seriously reldTueu us progress, and not un-
I'll rishmen retaliated by passing UP the
Peters pence collection was Rome induced
10 keep hands off. An understanding with
Great Britain in some form is Of great
Importance to Turkey, strengthening the
hands of the new government and stiffen-
ing the Ottoman backbone in the impending
settlement of the Balkan dispute.
see
Japan is paying the price of being a
world power. Prof. McClintock of the Uni
yersity of Chicago, who has been inyesti-
eating conditions there, says the cost OF
living is very high. and the people are
complaining of the huge war debt. The
government owns the railroads, telegraphs
and telephone lines, and the business men
declare that the experiment has not been
successful" The times are hard and sui
cides more common than ever before. Al
though the government scaled its expenses
and is economizing in every direction, the
huge war debt and It's high interest charge,
coupled with the burden assumed in tax
ing over public utilities, make a load that
all but brushes industry and stagnates en-
teTprise.