Omaha daily bee., 1910-05-14
In Other Lands
side lights on what IL Trans
piripg Among the Near and
Far Nations OF the Earth.

OF life the range of age reaches almost
from the cradle to the grave. The pat
rlarch Of monarchs is Emperor Francis
Joseph Of Austria, who is nearing four
score years, aid has ruled the dual em-
pire for sixty-tHo years His only rival
I'm years is President Diaz OF Mexico
From their lofty, Oslerized perch the
range OF age runs down to the nursery
of Pu-Yi, the baby emperor of China,
age four whose lung exercise Is coinci-
dent with the awakening Of the empire
Sultan Mira of Persia, age 10, Is the only
other minor with a throne for a plaything.
Second to Francis Joseph I'm length Of
rule is Mutsuhto, mikado of Japan. with
forty-three years to his credit, though only
IS years of age. President Falieres Of
France is 50. two years Older than EN-
peror Menelik of Abyssinia, who regularly
dscredits reports of his death. Emperor
William of Germany now ST. has record
of twenty-five years on the throne, rank
ing fourth in length of reign. King Fred
erick Of Denmark is 81, Sultan Moham-
med Of Turkey. 66, and King Gustave of
Sweden 3d. the same age Of President
Taft. Emperor Nicholas OF all the Rus
sias is only A. and has coupled the throne
sixteen years The rest of the ruling
youngsters are Queen Wilhelmila, 30;
Victor Emmanuel of Italy, II; King Man
uel Of Portugal 2l King Alfonzo Of Spain,
"a, and King Haalion of Norway, SO,
s&%
The grant of a constitution to the cit-
zens of Monaco draws attention to one
Of the few interesting petty rulers in
Europe. Albert /, the reigning prince has
devoted his life TO scientific research, so
the money which the spendthrfts throw
away answers some useful purpose after
all He is one of the foremost authorities
on marine zoology, his solutions of the
Gulf stream problem have been recognized
by the Institute of France, and the ocean
ographic museum which he has founded
has no equal. He is 81 years old, has been
twice married and twice divorced, first to
the Lady Mary Decentralization, whose
story is romantic and pathetic one.
and twenty years later to the Dowager
Duchess of Richelieu. He tired of them
both. He has one child, tho Crown Prince
Louis. Prince Albert divides his time be-
tween his yacht with his remarkable
scientific equipment, his Paris residence in
the Avenue Trocadero and the pink-and-
white palace perched on a rock above the
gaming hall which supports him.
The Russian government recently ordered
the Finnish Diet practically to abdicate
It's constitutional authority by enacting
bill drafted at st. Petersburg giving the
Russian government full legislative control
of Finland. The bill provided that prac-
tically all Finnish legislation should be
made by the Russian Duma, in return for
which Finland should be entitled to send
few delegates to that body. The Finnish
Diet received that bill courteously, and
considered it very carefully, and then, last
week, refused to enact 1t and ordered it to
be returned to the Russian government.
The PRONUNCIATION of the French marriage
law of 1907 has had the desired effect on
matrimony in France. 1t is announced that
the number of weddings last year was the
greatest on record, with the possible excep-
lions of 1913 and 1872. Many men rushed
into welded bliss in 1913 in the hope Of
being able to escape service in the army.
The large number of weddings in 1872 was
accounted for by the ending of the war
with Germany Many couples had been
obliged TO postpone getting married until
The new law is proving particularly effect
i've among the poorer classes and in the
cities. 1t removes the red tape and restrc-
tions that formerly were burdensome if not
prohibitive.
Great Britains new naval program, as
embraced in the estimate for 1910 Just is
sued by the Admiralty, indicates no dis
position to halt in the process of building
up a large establishment An expenditure
of over 500 100000 is contemplated, an in
crease of more than $27, 900 over 1909
This increase is largely accounted for by
constructions authorized by Parliament be-
fore the late dissolution. There are to be
five new large armored ships of the type
popularity known as dreadnaughts, five pro-
tected cruisers, twenty destroyers and a
large number of submarines.
British taxpayers are being called upon
to pay what was in arrears during the
quarrel between the two houses over the
Lloyd George budget. The government
managed to carry on business in the
interim after a fashion, but the new taxes
became operative only recently, but in
many instances are retroactive. Among the
charges which will he painful novelties are
those on motors OF all KINDS. These range
from fl (S5) on motorcycles to GAP ($21O) on
automobiles exceeding 6O-horse power The
proceeds go to road improvement and are
estimated to yield 81, 100000 the first year.
The largest one sum in arrears is that for
the income tax, about S12,O00 900.
The Spanish elections OF last Sunday APP
pear to have given the liberals a good
working majority I'm the Cortes. The lib
erals are divided into several groups, and
fuller details are required to demonstrate
the ability of Premier Canaleias to carry
out his program of reform, which includes
expansion Of popular education. If this
point Is still somewhat in doubt, the burden
of the election as an expression of anti
clerical sentiment Is, however, not open to
question. The republicans who stand apart
from the liberals have made surprising
gains, holding or capturing forty-slX seats
Madrid has gone republican, but that has
happened before.
sTORMPROOF TELEGRAPHING