Chapter 1

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VOL. 1 JULY 15, 1897. NO. 36

It is reported from Thessaly that the Turks are ruining the country.

The correspondent who sent the news, having managed to escape the notice of the Turkish officials, claims to have made a personal examination of the state of affairs in the city of Larissa.

He found that all the houses, except those inhabited by Mohammedans, had been stripped of their contents, and he was informed on the best authority that many car-loads of plunder had been sent by the soldiers to the Turkish town of Elassonna.

In Turnavo, another city of Thessaly, the same condition of affairs exists as in Larissa. Here, however, the inhabitants had some warning of the coming of the Turks, and had time to remove many of their valuables before the enemy arrived.

The condition of Thessaly is desperate. The harvests are rotting in the fields. The peasants dare not attempt to gather them in, for fear of the Turkish soldiers, who, under pretence of seeking for arms, beat them unmercifully until they hand over what money or valuables they have.

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The governorship of Crete has been offered to Monsieur Droz, the ex-president of Switzerland.

It is said that he has accepted on condition that he is first to be given an opportunity of seeing how he can get along with the Cretans.

* * * * *

The latest report from Cuba is that General Gomez has been wounded, and some say killed.

There was a fight in the province of Puerto Principe, and during the action General Gomez's horse was killed under him and the old soldier wounded.

The whole story comes from the Spanish side, and so the Cubans, before being disturbed by the news, are waiting for it to be confirmed.

The insurgents have been very active during the last few days.

It is reported that they have had the good fortune to intercept a couple of valuable Spanish expeditions, securing in one a prize of $200,000, and in the other $3,000 in cash, $1,700 worth of medicines and two carts laden with provisions.

We are, however, sorry to tell you that the Cubans are beginning to adopt the same cruel methods toward the Spaniards that the Spaniards have been using against them.

A coach full of travellers was journeying with the expedition that carried the medicines and provisions. The Cubans outnumbered the party, and took them all prisoners. A woman and a little child who were of the party were treated kindly and set at liberty, but every Spanish soldier and every man with the expedition was put to death.

If the Cubans continue to practise these cruelties they will lose the strong sympathy which their bravery has so far gained for them.

Many Spanish soldiers are still deserting to the Cuban lines. The deserters say that life is unbearable in the Spanish army. The soldiers are roughly treated, have scarcely anything to eat, and receive their pay in worthless paper money.

One entire battalion mutinied a short while ago, and refused to accept this paper money. The colonel had to give the soldiers his solemn promise that their pay should be given them half in gold and half in silver before they would consent to return to duty.

It is stated that the sum of $50,000,000 is needed for the payment of the soldiers, and that there is little hope of getting it from Spain, because the Rothschilds will not lend the Government any more money unless Spain sacrifices the income of the famous Almaden quicksilver mines for twenty years.

The Rothschilds are the greatest and richest bankers in the world.

This firm has branch houses in all the great capitals in Europe, and has probably lent money to every government on the continent.

If a war is contemplated, and a nation needs a large sum of ready money to make preparations, it is to the Rothschilds that its government generally turns.

When good security is offered there is never any trouble in getting money from them, but if the security is not of the best they never find themselves in a position to lend the money.

In 1870, Spain, needing money, applied to the Rothschilds and obtained what she needed because she offered as security for the repayment of the loan a lease of the Almaden mines for a term of thirty years.

These mines are said to be the greatest quicksilver mines in the world, and yield an immense profit.

The Rothschilds worked the mines and realized their profits, the Spanish Government receiving a royalty of so much money for each flask of quicksilver sold.

This royalty, in the twenty-six years the bankers have been working the mines, has amounted to thirty-six millions of dollars.

The contract with the Spanish Government expires in 1900, and so when Spain needed money for the Cuban war and applied to the Rothschilds for it, the bankers were very willing to lend it, asking in return that their lease of the mines be extended for another term of twenty years.

This, Spain was unwilling to do.

She had been informed by her engineers that if she could get the control of the mines into her own hands, she could realize a yearly income from them of $6,000,000.

The Government therefore decided that the lease could not be granted, and the Rothschilds on their part said that they could not accommodate Spain with the required money, and so the last loan for the Cuban war had to be obtained from other sources.

Spain is again in need of money. If she decides to grant a new lease of the mines she can obtain it readily.

If she does not make this arrangement, it is said that she will be obliged to come to terms with Cuba for lack of funds to fight her.

A plan to raise money for Cuba has been started in this country.

A silver coin has been struck off, which is to be sold in the United States, and the proceeds used to buy arms for Cuba.

The coin is about the size of a silver dollar, one side bearing the head of the Goddess of Liberty, and the reverse the arms of Cuba. Its price will be one dollar.

Ten thousand of these coins are to be ready during the first week in July, and the Cubans have made arrangements for a further three millions to be coined if they are required.

* * * * *

The fate of Gen. Rius Rivera is not absolutely decided.

He was tried by court-martial in the Cabanas fortress and was condemned to be shot.

A cablegram was received by General Weyler from Madrid, ordering him to delay the execution on account of the feeling in the United States.

General Weyler is said to have cabled back that the United States should not interfere with prisoners who are not Americans, and to have requested that he be allowed to carry out the sentence of the court, because the punishing of General Rivera would have a very desirable effect on the insurgents.

A Cabinet council has been called in Madrid, and the question is being carefully discussed. The decision is anxiously awaited.

A letter has been received from General Lee saying that food purchased with the Relief Fund is being distributed to the needy Americans.

* * * * *

The _Dauntless_ is certainly a very lucky little vessel.

We told you last week how she had been captured by the cutter _McLean_, in consequence of an accident to her machinery.

The crew of the _Dauntless_ were of course arrested with her, and were brought to Key West for trial.

To everybody's surprise they have been discharged on the ground that there was no evidence to prove they were engaged in fitting out a filibustering expedition.

The Madrid newspapers are saying very bitter things about the United States for not punishing the persons connected with these affairs. They declare that we make a pretence of taking them prisoners to satisfy Spain, and then set them at liberty to please ourselves.

* * * * *

It would seem that the reports from the Philippine Islands are as unreliable as those from Cuba.

It was only last week that we heard that the rebellion was on a stronger footing than ever, and that there was little chance that it would soon be put down.

This week a steamer from Japan brings the news that the Governor-General of the Philippines has issued a proclamation that the rebellion is at an end, and announcing that Spanish rule had been re-established.

It will be interesting to know whether this is really true or merely a statement of the same kind as those General Weyler has been making for so many months.

* * * * *

A curious experiment is being tried in Tennessee.

A co-operative town has been established by a few workingmen, and from all accounts it seems to be a great success.

The town is called Ruskin, and at the present time has seventy families in it.

In this town all men are considered equal, every man, and woman too, receiving the same amount of wage for his labor, whether it be skilled or unskilled. The school teacher receives the same pay as the day laborer; all stand on an equal footing.

When a man wishes to go and live in Ruskin, he has first to ask for permission to settle there. The Ruskinites own their town, and are careful not to allow any people to settle in it who are not likely to be agreeable to them.

To every person who wishes to join them they send a list of questions, asking the would-be settler what his ideas are on certain points.

If the answers are unsatisfactory, the applicant is told that there is no room for him in Ruskin.

If, however, his ideas agree with those of the rest of the community, his name is put up for membership, and he is elected by ballot, as he would be to a club.

When elected, the new member is obliged to pay an initiation fee of $500 toward the general funds of the town, and he and his family are then welcome to join the settlement as soon as they see fit.

When they arrive they are given a house and lot rent free. There are no taxes to pay in Ruskin; everything is free but furniture and food. Schools and school-books, doctors, medicines, all are free; the family washing is even undertaken by the community free of charge.

In return for these advantages the family is required to work.

The father must be willing to do any task that is assigned to him, without complaint. It does not matter if he has never handled a spade in his life, he must dig if required to, and dig to the best of his ability.

The payment in Ruskin is not in dollars and cents, but hours' labor, notes of one, five, and ten hours' value being printed, and passing for currency in the town.

The community allows each man the value of fifty hours' labor a week, his wife the same amount, and his children twenty hours each.

The husband is required to work the full time for the community; the wife is allowed four hours of the day to work for her home, and need only give five hours to the general good. The four hours that she spends in her housework are, however, credited to her as hours of labor, because she is benefiting the community by keeping an orderly home.

In the same way the twenty hours' weekly labor for which the children are paid are the hours they spend in school. By going to school and learning they, too, are benefiting the community, so that their labor is also for the general good.

When school is over, children who wish to do so can wait on table in the community dining-hall, and then they earn more time-checks.

These checks can be exchanged at the general store for goods, the prices of articles not being reckoned at so many cents but at so many hours of labor.

The Ruskin people seem to be hopeful that they have solved the problem of living.

A similar experiment is to be tried under the management of Eugene Debs. He is the man who led the strikers in Chicago, got into trouble with the authorities, and was finally sent to prison.

Debs proposes to start a co-operative town in the West, taking one hundred thousand men and women along with him to settle it.

He is going to build factories and start all kinds of industries, which are to belong to all the people in common, the profits and the losses to be shared by all the citizens alike.

Peace and prosperity are promised to all who will enter this ideal town. It will be interesting to watch the experiment and see just what results can be achieved.

* * * * *

Foreign governments are beginning to be heard from on the subject of the annexation of Hawaii.

A member of the English House of Commons has asked the Government whether it intends to allow this very important coaling-station to pass out of its reach without protest.

The Secretary of the Foreign Office replied that no decision had as yet been reached by the United States, and therefore the Government did not see that any action was necessary at present.

The Secretary went on to state that the English ministers would be careful that none of the rights of British subjects were interfered with.

Russia, on her part, has stated that she thinks that the annexation of Hawaii may be followed by the seizure of Cuba, and considers it a step very dangerous to Europe. She will not, however, join with Japan in her protest.

A report was circulated that Spain and Japan were forming an alliance to resist the annexation of the Sandwich Islands, but this report has been denied.

The German Emperor is said to have declared that he fears the interference of the United States with European affairs if she is allowed to extend her territory in this way.

With all these more or less unfriendly comments there has been but the one serious objection to the project, and that has come from Japan.

The State Department has replied to the protest from the Japanese minister. The Department refuses to allow the claim that the treaty between Japan and Hawaii was a perpetual treaty. The refusal was based on the grounds that we gave you last week.

The Japanese protest also declares that there are twenty-five thousand of her people resident in the Sandwich Islands who have earned the right to become citizens, and our Government is asked what it proposes to do about these people in case the treaty is ratified.

In replying to this point the State Department refused to give any definite answer, saying that it was a matter to be settled by Congress or the courts.

This reply was sent to the Japanese minister, who immediately cabled it to his Government.

The next step in this matter must be taken by Japan, and there is a good deal of anxiety as to what it will be.

The arrival of the steamer from Honolulu was eagerly watched for, as it was thought that the news from Hawaii might give some idea of the temper of the Japanese.

Every one was therefore very delighted to learn that the Japanese had taken no aggressive steps.

The steamer brought news of a slight alarm in Honolulu, but it had amounted to nothing.

A report had been spread that the Japanese warship _Naniwa_ was about to land her marines and take possession of the Hawaiian Government buildings and custom-house.

The news soon reached Admiral Beardslee, who is in command of the cruiser _Philadelphia_.

Since the _Philadelphia_ has been in port the Admiral has held weekly drills of the crews of his own ship, and also of the _Marion_, which has long been on the Hawaiian station.

At the time the news reached him, the crews were ashore drilling.

The Admiral sent an order for them to hurry back to their ships and be in readiness to prevent any such action on the part of the Japanese.

When the Japanese minister heard of the matter, he made light of it, and declared that there had never been any idea of landing marines from the Japanese warship.

The people of Honolulu say that the report was true nevertheless, and that the prompt action of Admiral Beardslee prevented it from being carried out.

It seems that the Japanese minister in Hawaii is maintaining that he has not yet received any reply to his letter to the Hawaiian Government.