Nobody outside of America has any very great idea of the difference between the Republicans and Democrats, or can hope to explain on what particular principles they lit their elections. But this year the Presidential election is going to be harder to grasp as an entity than ever, because side issues appear likely to swamp the others. Governor Cox has been adopted as the Democratic candidate, but hardly is he firmly settled in the position than he is assailed by fellow Democrats as a particular sort of villain in that he wants to nullify, the 18th amendment. To the rest of the world it seems more or less unimportant whether. liquid contains a half or three and a half per cent. of alcohol, for neither would be conspicuously noticed, but to the Prohibitionists it is vital. Governor Cox happens to be for the larger figure, so he has fallen foul of Mr, Bryan and others of his kind. Thus Mr. Bryan, in his mild way of telling off his opibitionists do not object to them having all the alcohol they want. to drink. The law does not say that they cannot buy alcohol, nor does it, limit the amount that they can buy. A pint of alcohol should certainly be enough to satisfy any man, Now we say that the wets can have their pint of alcohol, but they must take with it 199 pints of water ta render it harmless, The correct reply to Mr. Bryan on the part of the others is that his recipe would merely be spoiling two good drinks, and would hardly convert anybody to anything.
The Herald's Seventieth "British journalists in Peking wish you many happy returns." So ran a kindly telegram, dated the 3rd instant, for which we thank the senders cordially. The opportunity also may be taken to thank many friends in and near Shanghai for their congratula tions on the special number and good wishes. The reprint of the "Herald's" first issue appears: to been specially welcome. Naturally it would be among those who find ancestors, of one kind and another, in the list of residents the back page. But for all, more or less, this mother of all the Heralds has evidently some charm to offer. Not least, perhaps, is the stateliness of the language used, a defect, some may say, which successive generations of the paper have never quite overcome. Yet contemporary letters show that the "Herald" of 1850 was not "fournalese" but a faithful reflexion of the ordinary written language of the day. It is strange to think how greatly English has changed in only -70 years and the fact affords fresh proof of the immense vitality of the language.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.