The overwhelming Democrati the polls last week was a compl to the Republican party. It may be regarded as an emphatic repudiation by the masues of the Republican policy of the McKinley tariff in the first place, and unrestricted European immigration on the other. It does not mean that the Democratic part; yeraue a policy of free-trade, Mor la it at all probable that. the tariff will be adjusted for revenue ouly—at least not in the immediate future. There is, to be sure, a certain feeling. of distrust and uncertainty in business circles, necessarily attendant upon any radical change in the administration; but surely this uneasiness.will quickly die away and the good sense of the people will assert itself once more, recognising the fact that the manufacturing interests of the country are not all in the hands of Republicans.
The truth is that a great many Republicans voted for Mr. Cleveland because they never favoured the McKinley bill, and they bo-lieved. that the election of Mr. Cleveland would, be a, benefit to the country.
The effect of the McKinley tariff upon our manufacturing industries has been greatly over-estimated. There is no doubt it has stimulated production very much, and in that way has enabled manufacturers to sell gonds at a smaller margin of profit, Moreover, cheap raw materials and improved processes have lessened the cost of production. In this way the high tariff has actually made certain articles, such as wool goods, cottons, iron, and sugar for example, cheaper they ever were before and this result is obviously i dent of the tariffs paid. But it said that it enriches the manufacturers at the expense of the consumers and of the labouring men. The facts are very much exaggerated, The most it has accomplished is that many establishments which were earning little or nothing before, have been paying a net, profit during the past two yours of about six and seven per cent. on their invested capital, and this exclusive of the deterioration of machinery and plant.
and. woollen mills, Cei These figures apply particulary to cotton tainly this is not much to boast of, and probably a few years more of the same pulley would materially reduce even this margin of profit and then there would be ery for more protection, and so on ad infini The labour element in politics is growing in importance. The labourers and the farmers have become imbued with the idea that protection of industries is inimical to their interests, Now they demand the restriction of European immigration, and even the entire stoppage of it for ten years, Some measures of restriction certainly should be adopted, xnd doubtless will be. But the greatest danger before us is in the labour organisations. Nu one can foresee to what extent they may press their demands upon employers. Already the railway trammon on certain roads ure laying plane for a grand strike at the time of the World's Fair, if certain demands are not conceded. Powderly is advocating a closer union among all organisations. The Homestead troubles have again assumed a very serious aspect. The Inburing classes fully organised would be a most powerful and irresponsible element in politics and business, and the problem of ecntrolling them is a very serious one indeed. Not long since a contractor was putting some electric wires in a steamer at New York. In order that she might sail at te appointed time he was obliged to hasten the work and he put on three additional outside men beau could not get union 1aen. All the union men refused to work and the steamer put to sea with the outfit unfinished. But in New Orleans, 25,000. men of many dif trades suddenly went to work as magic. They had been on a strike which cost probably $1,000,000. Many tried to me work but their places were filled. The car drivers who had been earning $50 month for work of twelve hours a day, resumed their places for $40 and sixteen hours a day. This result demonstrates the futility of labour strikes against the power of capital and public opinion, when the latter presents a bold and determined front.
The weather bureau is carrying out some investigations of the meteorological conditions in the upper regions of the atmosphere by means of, balloons. Recently Prof. Hazen made an ascent from Washington to a height of 10,000 feet. The balloon was inflated with pure hydrogen and carried a weight of 370 pounds. At 8,000 feet a stratum of air was met about 1,000 feet thick which was saturated with moisture. The vapour in the air however decreased @uring the ascent up to this point and again above the etdatum of saturation.
The descent was safely made about nine miles from the starting point. At the highest elevation the air was perfectly still, and the temperature at 13°.4.
Some remarkable experiments re' reported from Germany concerning the cholera bacillus, from which it is made to appear that the bacilli may be taken into the stomach without producing the disease and that local or climatic conditions have much to do with epidemics.. Professors Petteukofer and Emmerich have both allowed the bacilli in quantities without discomfort. The result is rather surprising, be less 50 when it it considered not always the bacteria which produce diseases directly, but the products [of bacterial growth are often the active poisons. In many cases ti undoubtedly the case and it may be 0 in cholera, The facts observed do not militate against the assumption that the cholera bacillus is in some way the cause of cholera.
There are always " certain number of persons in a community who are interested in noting strange coincidences. No more remarkable irstanco it seems to me can be found than was published one day last week in the New York Herald merely as two items of news, An item was telegraphed from Paris relating that a man had been accidentally killed during " fei ing exercise, The button of his opponent's foil dropped off and the weapon entered the base of the nose and pierced the brain. At Fall River a. few months since a precisely similar accident occurred, the foil in that case penetrating the man's eye.
There wasin explosion of a nitro-glycerine factory in Ohio last month which affords an iden of the tremendous power of that agent. The sound was heard for twenty miles. A farm-house nearly a mile away was totally wrecked, and another half a mile distant greatly "damaged. A fine plate glass window three miles from the scene was shattered. The disturbance was therefure veyed through the nir for that distance with great force, The rain-makers have been at work firing some very powerful explosive in the air above us, and groutly disturbing the repose of this quiet city. For some reason they operated Into ut night, and aerial bombs at intervals interfered with sleep for several successive nights. Fortunately they have gone to Texas now. But here in Washington it happened to be a dry season and no rain fell after the experiments. The public was then inform-that they were not trying to make rain but only testing " new explosive, I am convinced that the explosions were a success; but just how it is arranged that Il_ make rain in Texas and only poise here is not very clear.
A convention of persons interested in the Nicaragua canal is to be held at New Orleans on the 30th of November, to deter-by mine the imioediate construction of the canal under the protection and control of the United States.
All commercial organi tions in the country are invited to send delegates. Great interest is manifested in the interpre The trial of Count Mitkiewicz before the police court in New York on the charge of obtaining money under false pretences resulted in his discharge, not because of the maculate virtue of the Count, but because, as the Justice put it, to make out case of false pretence, it was necessary to show that the false pretence had been of such a nature as to be reasonably credible," which was rather severe on those who patted with their money so readily, But the end isnot yet! 'The Count has fared pretty well on the whole, for if the charges are true he mulcted one individual of $39,000, and another of $26,000, and still he' wants more. He is to be again arrested and brought before -a higher court. It is said that he mesmerised one of his victims and thus got the $26,000.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.