The Washington herald., 1911-10-08
TIMELY TOPICS.

New York has the re1erenoum IN
working order. Proposals to amend the
State constitution and to contract pub
lie debt are being submitted to the
voters. The first matter to come before
the public is law authorizing $4,000
600 bond issue for barge canal terminals.
1t is advertised in the papers, and con-
tains about 1200O words, taking up some-
thing like two pages. How many, who
are 70 vote on the proposition. will take
the time to read 1t in the busy city?
How many will decide on general prin-
ciples?
A New York magistrate boasts that he
has sent a millionaire to Blackwells Is
land workhouse for insulting a woman,
but he refuses to disclose the mans
name, and the prison officials know him
only by the name he has assumed. Is
this comprehensive justice? II any one
has been guilty of an offense against
woman calling for a workhouse sentence.
Is he entitled to the privilege Of conni-
vance to withhold his name? A million
aire who has fnsulted a woman Is just
as great an offender against the law as
poor man, for whom the law does not
entertain special consideration. 1t does
not seem the proper thing for a police
judge to exert himself TO throw the shell
tering cloak Of secret around any man.
be he rich or porr.
Federal District Attorney Wise, Of New
York. asserts that the bank clerks who
testified against Morse have been unable
to procure positions ever since in other
banks. He declares that bankers wish
to discourage subordinates from telling
what they may know about certain
! transactions. The bank directors, on the
| other hand, claim that these men are
not to be trusted because they did not
at once communicate their information
or suspicious. Which of these state
ments Is right?
1t is difficult 70 determine whether pop
ular election OF United States Senators
is right or wrong. when Lorimer was
chosen by a legislature and Stephenson
was elected by the primary system.
The British war ship Royal Sovereign.
which has now passed into the sale" list,
attracted as much if not more attention
IN the naval world when it was launched
in 1891 as did the Dreadnought of a gem
!
ways has been considered the prototype
! of the modern battle ship. In her design
the admiralty embodied various ideas
which heretofore had been expressed
ra ther imperfectly or tentatively in the
Nile. Benbow. Devastation. Hero. and
the freak monitor Hekate. with the
advent of the Royal Sovereign, the high
freeboard battle ship came to stay. That
type was greatly criticised when the
! Resolution. on her maiden trip. in
heavy gale. rolled so much that the
captain had to return to port. Slight
notifications. however. rendered these
ships the most stable gun platforms Of
their day.
II is not true that the people defeated
the commission form Of government at
Atlanta. They did not and they could
not, because 1t was not the issue The
plan there provided for two bodies. an ad-
mnistrative one of five and legislative
one OF ten. thus completely obliterating
the chief consideration, which is direct
responsibility. The proposition was not
the commission plan at all and was load
ed down with sXtraneous provisions One
was that no one could belong to the ad-
ministrative body who had any interest
in utility corporation. Another. that
no one could hold any position in that
city who is related in the third degree
by blood or marriage, to any member OF
the administrative council. While this
is not a bad proposition. it was too rad
IcaL 1t did not appeal to the voters
These features. together with the propos-
ed double-headed plan. took the question
cut Of the commission form controversy