Omaha daily bee., 1911-03-04

The public career Of a. BRAND, retiring
premier Of France, strikingly illustrates
the SOLDERING effect Of responsibility on the
legislative radical Coming Up from the
ranks as a socialstic agitator. for the
time the foremost mouthplece Of that
party. he was the most radical Of radicals
in the chamber. rejoicing whenever his vote
helped to overthrow or cmbarass a ministry
which did not give effect to socialistic
doctrines Becoming member OF the
Clemenceau cabinet, 20 him fell the task
Of enforcing the separatist law sevcring
the union OF church and state. Then FOL
lowed the confiscation Of church property.
the Punishment OF religious orders. the
closing Of religious schools and the DON'T
nancy Of the state IN the spiritual affairs
OF men. The scandals developed by the
liquidation and footing OF church property
taken over by the state exposed the lnfamy
of the proceedings and the dishonesty OF
the agitators This OF Itself was enough
to discredt the movement. but Il was not
all Practically every phase OF II was
characterized by brute force, indifference
| to the religious sentiments OF churchmen
and laity, contempt for things held sacred,
and the unmanly hunting Of nuns from
home and native land. NJ BRAND was
director of or accessory TO these acts
Possibly he was shamed and disguised by
the brutality and dishonesty displayed.
and strove in later years to heal the
wounds Of strife. The fact that he. as re-
sponsible minister, checked the pace OF
the antl-religious crusade is the reason
given why many OF his supporters Joined
the extremists in driving his ministry from
Mora IlFp1yv hp
masks the revengeful spirit Of socialism
against the man who dared employ force
to suppress the railway strike In de-
Tending the conduct Of the government In
| that crisis, Premier BRAND expressed a
determination to uphold the state against
all combinations, sentiment which
severed his relations with the socialists
At AZ years he retires from public life.
weary Of the strife, the treRchery and the
greed Of parties. The irreconcilabIe ele-
ments which carried him into power,
eagerly turned to rend him for UNFOLDING
the multitude against the mob
Senatorial reform is given a leading place
in the Spanish premier's democratic pro-
gram. The upper house Of the Cortes com
prises $50 members, of whom one-half are
elected for term Of five years. The other
half comprises senators for life, nominated
| by the government or holding their seats
eX-offCio, as In the case of certain
grandees, the captains general of the army,
! the archbishops and the presidents OF
| various state councils. or the $50 elective
senator's thirty are designated by the
archbishops, the universities and various
| learned societies. 1t is the liberal conten-
ton that the conservatives are thus in
control Of a permanent majority in the
upper house. NJ Canalejas proposes TO
change this state OF affairs and without
going to the trouble of tampering with the
constitution. The number of ex-officio
seats is to be reduced and the number Of
appontive seats for life is to be CORE
! spondingly increased. The Spanish liberal
ministry, In the exercise of it's normal
powers, hopes to accomplish what the
British liberal ministry is contemplating
as a weapon of last resort only-a whole
sale nomination of peers.
There is renewed agitation in Finland
over two bills now before the Russian
| Duma. One of these deals with the rights
Of Russians in Finland, and its general
tendency is to obliterate the line Of de-
marcation between Russian citizenship and
| Finnish citizenship. This would make 1t
possible to employ Russian officials in
public posts in Finland and thus extend
to the grand duchy that bureaucratic sys-
tenn which is so characteristic Of the
highly centralized Russian administration.
The authors of this bill knew that it would
meet with opposition in Finland on con
stitutional grounds, and, therefore, in
serted a clause that any official who does
| aAN vurfN, sf.,gs A..
prospective law shall be prosecuted in the
st Petersburg district whereby the juris-
diction of a Russian law court would be
extended to Finland. The other Finnish
bill before the Duma concerns the mill
tary question. This bill, which has passed
the committee stage, proposes that Fin
land. in lieu OF providing soldiers, shall
pay to the Russian eXchequer 100000
Finnish marks S25O0,OO0) for this year,
which sum shall be increased annually, I'M
til 1t reaches the amount OF 20 900 900 marks
! $40 ,OO0). This would practically deprive
| the Finnish people OF their constitutional
rights to legislate on military questions
Il
One OF Germany's eminent economists
Prof. BalIod, cheers the government i'm
mensely and confuses its opponents by
demonstrating that the empire is rich
enough to support a much larger military
and naval establishment. The professor
shows by statistics that the private for
tunes Of German subjects have increased
Sl2, 10000 within a decade, and the sta
tistics Of fire insurance companies reveal a
similar increase Of real property. The
/ prosperity of the country is by no means
] limited to the wealthy or upper classes, in,
asmuch as workmen's wages throughout
Germany have increased on an average
/ by As per cent during the last twenty-five
years. From these statistics he draws
the conclusion that the growth of Ger
many's national wealth is such that the
country can continue to spend fortunes
on its naval and military ornaments with
out in any way neglecting the great prob
| lens Of popular education and social re-
form.
/ Six Irish nuns OF the Dominican order