Part 26

Chairman Shonts of the Panama Canal Commission appears before the Senate Interoceanic Canal Committee and tells what work is being done on the Canal. He declares that a great amount of work in the way of improving sanitary conditions and building houses has been completed, and that the actual digging will begin about July 1. Mr. Shonts admits that he is still President of the Clover Leaf Railroad, at the salary of $12,000 per year.

Mayor Billock and the chief of police of Monongahela, Pa., request Gov. Pennypacker to send troops to that place to aid in the capture of a band of anarchists. This is the same band which planned the assassination of Gov. Pennypacker and many other prominent men.

Attorney General Hadley, of Missouri, examines men engaged in the independent oil business at Cleveland, Ohio, in the investigation of the Standard Oil Co. by the State of Missouri.

The New York Legislature proposes investigation of the banking system similar to the insurance investigation made by the Armstrong Committee. The Iowa Legislature proposes an investigation of Iowa insurance companies.

January 27.—The Panama Canal Commission decides in favor of a lock canal. The final decision will be made by Congress.

The House passes the Urgent Deficiency bill making the appropriation to meet the present demands of the Panama Commission. The eight hour law is eliminated so far as foreign labor is concerned.

Insurance Commissioner R. E. Polk, of Tennessee, notifies all of the insurance companies which made contributions to campaign funds to return such funds or discontinue their business in Tennessee.

Counsel for the Beef Trust denies the statements that money was paid newspapermen to write accounts of the present trial favorable to the Trust.

William H. Van Shaick, who was captain of the steamer _General Slocum_, which was burned in the East River, New York City, on June 15, 1904, causing the death of more than one thousand persons, is found guilty of neglect of duty and sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary.

January 29.—The House of Representatives passes the following resolution: “That the President is hereby requested to report to the House all facts within the knowledge of the Interstate Commerce Commission which show or tend to show that there exists at this time, or heretofore within the last twelve months has existed a combination or arrangement between the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Pennsylvania Company, the Norfolk and Western Railway Company, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company, the Northern Central Railway Company and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, or any two or more of said railroad companies, in violation of the act of July 2, 1890.” The resolution was introduced several days ago by Mr. Gillespie, of Texas, and had been referred to a committee which had failed to make a report on it. Seeing that a majority of the railroad congressmen were absent from their seats, Mr. Gillespie put the resolution before the House and had it passed before the railroad men could be rallied.

Senator Heyburn charges that a press agency is maintained at Government expense in the Forestry Bureau. He also states that mining and agricultural interests are being interfered with in Idaho by the Forestry Bureau.

Senator Tillman, of South Carolina, calls up his resolution asking for an investigation of the Chinese boycott. The resolution is referred to a committee.

Secretary Taft asks for a reserve army of 50,000 men, at a cost of $2,000,000 per year. The reserves are to consist of men who have served one term of enlistment in the regular army. They are to be allowed to live wherever they wish in the United States, but to be subject to call by the President of ten days each year for instruction, and on the outbreak of a foreign war to be called into active service.

Attorneys for the Beef Trust testify that Commissioner of Corporations Garfield promised members of the Trust immunity from criminal prosecution if they would give certain information about Trust methods.

At Ormond Beach, Florida, an automobile is driven two miles in 58⅘ seconds.

General Wheeler’s body is buried at Arlington, the National cemetery near Washington, D. C.

The Senate Committee on Territories reports favorably on the Joint Statehood bill.

Secretary Taft states that it will be several years before any contracts for Canal work are let.

January 30.—In response to Congressman Gillespie’s resolution, President Roosevelt asks the Interstate Commerce Commission for a report on the Pennsylvania Railroad merger.

The Hepburn Railroad Rate Regulation bill is taken up by the House of Representatives. A vote on the bill is expected by February 6.

A resolution is introduced in the New Jersey Senate directing the Attorney General of that state to bring suits to forfeit the charters of the Standard Oil and its subsidiary companies.

The earnings of the Steel Trust for the quarter ending December 31, are $35,278,688.

Edward Morris, of Nelson Morris Co., testifies that Commissioner Garfield promised the beef packers immunity from prosecution when he inspected their secret accounts. Samuel McRoberts, Treasurer of Armour & Co., testifies to the same effect.

January 31.—Senator Patterson, of Colorado, a Democrat, makes a speech in the Senate in support of President Roosevelt’s policies in Santo Domingo, Morocco and railroad rate regulation.

The debate on the Hepburn railroad rate regulation bill is continued in the House of Representatives.

Justice Gildersleeve, in the New York Supreme Court, hands down a decision in which he refuses to make H. H. Rogers answer certain questions asked by Attorney General Hadley, in the investigation of Standard Oil methods, until the Missouri courts have decided on a similar case.

February 1.—Republican Senators deny that the President has issued an ultimatum to them on the railroad rate question.

The House of Representatives passes a resolution calling on the Director of the Census for all cotton statistics.

The debate on the Hepburn bill continues in the House.

Lieutenant General Adna R. Chaffee retires from command of the U. S. Army. Major General John C. Bates is nominated to succeed him.

The Democratic Senators are alarmed by Senator Patterson’s speech in favor of the Santo Domingo treaty, and call a caucus for Saturday.

February 2.—The President holds several conferences with Senate leaders on a compromise railroad rate regulation bill. Some of the Republican Senators are opposed to the Hepburn bill which is now before the House.

The Democratic senators threaten to bar all Democrats from future caucuses who support the Santo Domingan treaty.

The joint conference of coal operators and miners, held at Indianapolis, adjourns without reaching an agreement on a wage scale. The failure to reach an agreement is almost sure to result in another great strike, beginning April 1.

The Government wrings an admission from the Beef Trust that the National Packing Co. is simply a “holding” concern. It buys all the cattle, but does all of its business through constituent corporations.

February 3.—The caucus of Democratic senators at Washington adopts a resolution that it is the duty of every Democratic senator to oppose the Santo Domingan treaty.

The National Executive Board of the United Mine Workers decides on a plan to raise $5,000,000 with which to carry on the strike of the coal miners, beginning April 1.

The Panama Canal Commission decides on an 85-foot level lock Canal. It is estimated that a lock Canal will cost $100,000,000 less than a sea-level canal.

February 5.—John F. Wallace, former chief engineer of the Panama Canal Commission, appears before the Senate Committee and explains why he resigned. He claims that incapable men were given greater authority than the chief engineer.

The leaders of the Pennsylvania coal miners are divided on the question of ordering the great strike.

The Democratic members of the House Committee on appropriations make a minority report opposing the appropriation of $600,000 for fortifying Manila and other cities in the Philippines.

The report of the Interstate Commerce Commission shows that the Pennsylvania Railroad really controls the Baltimore and Ohio and several other roads.

February 6.—President Roosevelt urges a modification of the hazing laws at the United States Naval Academy.

Thos. W. Lawson asks Gov. Cummins, of Iowa, to serve on a committee of five to vote New York Life and Mutual Life insurance proxies, given to Lawson by policy-holders.

There seems to be general dissatisfaction among the coal miners over the proposed strike. The miners ask the resignation of the president of the Pittsburg district, and the National President, John Mitchell, is called on to settle the dispute. The mine owners are laying up a reserve supply of 6,500,000 tons to meet the demand in case the strike takes place.

The House of Representatives continues to discuss the Hepburn Railroad Rate bill.

District Attorney Jerome orders witnesses to appear before the New York City Grand Jury with a view to criminal prosecution of the officials of life insurance companies.

The Standard Oil Co. is considering a plan to increase its capital stock from $100,000,000 to $600,000,000.

February 7.—A large number of amendments to the Hepburn Rate Regulation bill are rejected. The bill stands as the House Committee reported it.

The Senate hears evidence against Senator Reed Smoot, the Mormon from Utah. Professor Wolfe, a former Mormon, testifies that the Mormon oath contains the “seed of treason.”

M. Taigny, former French chargé d’affaires who was forced to leave Venezuela, reaches New York City.

Senator Patterson, of Colorado, who bolted the Democratic caucus on the Santo Domingan treaty, introduces a resolution declaring party caucus dictation unconstitutional. Senator Bailey, of Texas, replies to Senator Patterson, and severely criticises the President, the senator and the treaty.

February 8.—John A. McCall, former President of the New York Life Insurance Co., is seriously ill at Lakewood, N. J.

Richard A. McCurdy, former President of the Mutual Life Insurance Co., plans to leave the United States and make his home in Paris.

The New York Life Insurance Company’s “house cleaning” committee reveal that Judge Andrew Hamilton has received $1,347,382 from that company since 1892. This is $283,383 in excess of the total payments disclosed by the Armstrong Committee. The committee recommends legal action against John A. McCall for the recovery of the amount.

Senator La Follette, of Wisconsin, introduces a bill in the Senate making it a penalty for any Government officer, official or employee to accept a railroad pass or franking privilege over telegraph lines.

By a vote of 346 to 7 the House of Representatives passes the Hepburn Railroad Rate Regulation bill just as it came from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and declared by Chairman Hepburn to be exactly in accordance with recommendations of President Roosevelt on the subject.

The House of Representatives passes the General Pension bill for the year ending June 30, 1907. The bill appropriates $140,245,000. Congressman Gardner, of Michigan, declares that when the last pensioner on account of the civil war has disappeared from the rolls, $12,000,000,000 will have been expended.

_Foreign News_

January 8.—Another plot to kill the Czar of Russia is discovered.

The massacre of Jews in Russia is denounced at a public meeting in England.

King Edward dissolves the existing parliament, and orders the polling for the new one to begin January 13 and end January 27.

Negotiations for a settlement between the Bermudez Asphalt Co. and Venezuela again fail. Secretary Root will probably ask Congress to settle the dispute.

A few minor disturbances occur in Russia. Many arrests are made by the police.

St. Pierre-Miquelon agrees to aid Newfoundland in her campaign against American fishermen.

January 9.—A general uprising in Siberia is feared by the Russian Government. Martial law is being extended to more provinces. The peasants continue to burn and pillage in the Baltic provinces. Russia pledges some of her railroads to secure a loan from Paris bankers.

The Japanese Government plans to give $75,000,000 in pensions and bonds to the soldiers and sailors who fought in the war with Russia.

January 11.—The cost of the Russo-Japanese war to Russia reaches $1,050,000,000.

Premier Witte states that the Government will not yield to the revolutionists’ demand for transforming the National Assembly into a Constituent Assembly for the purpose of formulating a constitution.

Russian troops kill 65 revolutionists who attempt to wreck a military train in Livonia. The revolt in Esthonia ends.

The feeling against foreigners is growing stronger in the Southern part of China.

Dispatches from Madrid, Spain, state that there is little fear of a serious difficulty between Germany and France over the Moroccan question.

January 12.—General Morales resigns as President of Santo Domingo, and prepares to leave for Cuba on the U. S. gunboat _Dubuque_.

Venezuela and France sever diplomatic relations. France will push her claims against Venezuela until they are fully recognized.

The worst of the insurrection in Siberia seems to be over. The leading members of the Warsaw revolutionary committee are arrested. Cossacks shell an Armenian seminary at Tiflis, killing more than 300 persons.

German Socialists prepare to hold meetings in Berlin to commemorate the Red Sunday in St. Petersburg, and to protest against suffrage restrictions in Prussia.

Dispatches from London state that the European Powers will aid France in her contentions against Germany on the Moroccan question.

January 13.—A. J. Balfour, former Premier of England and leader of the Unionist party is defeated for re-election to Parliament by T. G. Horridge, Liberal and Free Trader. So far the Liberals and Labor Party have gained eighteen seats over the Unionists in the present election.

Fears prevail in Paris that the Emperor of Germany will be too aggressive in the Moroccan dispute.

January 14.—France recalls her Minister from Venezuela. The French interests are placed in the hands of the American Minister.

The delegates are gathering at Algeciras, Spain, for the conference on the Moroccan question.

Carlos F. Morales, former President of Santo Domingo, reaches San Juan, Porto Rico. He declares in favor of the treaty between Santo Domingo and the United States now before the Senate for ratification.

The Santo Domingan troops rout the rebels in a battle at Guayubin, Santo Domingo.

M. Durnovo is made Minister of the Interior by the Emperor of Russia.

General Nogi is enthusiastically welcomed home by the people of Tokio.

January 15.—The election of members of the British Parliament up to date shows a landslide. The Liberals have elected 132 members while the Unionists have elected thirty.

The peasants are said to be committing all manner of horrible crimes in Orel, Russia. Maj. Gen. Lisooiki is assassinated at Penza. Assassins kill three sergeants of police at Riga. The revolutionists continue to resist the Government in the Caucasus.

Dispatches from Paris state that France will send warships to coerce Venezuela into paying France’s claims.

The Czar starts a movement to reorganize the Church in Russia.

January 16.—The Moroccan conference begins at Algeciras, Spain. The Duke of Almodovar, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, is elected President of the conference.

The Liberals continue to gain over the Unionists in the election now being held in England. John Burns, President of the Local Government Board and a prominent labor leader, is re-elected by 1,800 majority.

St. Petersburg Police raid a meeting of the Workman’s Council and capture 22 members. Revolutionary documents, correspondence and the headquarters from which propaganda is conducted to the army and navy are discovered. In the Caucasus the rebels continue their resistance to the Government.

January 17.—Joseph Chamberlain and his seven candidates are returned to Parliament from Birmingham, England.

M. Fallières, President of the French Senate, is elected President of the French Republic to succeed M. Loubet.

Venezuelan officials prohibit M. Taigny, the French chargé d’affaires, from landing in Venezuela. The heads of the French cable officers at Caracas and La Guayra are also expelled.

January 18.—Delegates to the Moroccan conference agree that the shipping of contraband arms into Morocco must be stopped.

After giving M. Maubourguet the Venezuelan chargé d’affaires, his passport, the French Government has him escorted to the Belgian frontier by special police.

Serious riots occur in Hamburg, Germany, between the police and Socialists. About 20 policemen and 15 Socialists are wounded when the police attempt to disperse a crowd of Socialists erecting a barricade in the street.

The Constitutional Democrats of Russia meet in convention in St. Petersburg.

Trouble continues in the Baltic and Southern Provinces, and the Czar is still afraid to leave his palace.

January 19.—The Constitutional Democrats of Russia vote to take part in the elections to the duma.

Dispatches state that three French warships have appeared off the coast of Venezuela.

The insurgent forces capture Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Vice-president Baquerizo Moreno assumes executive power and will appoint a new Cabinet.

According to advices received at the Japanese Embassy, at Washington, 680,000 persons are starving in the Northern Provinces of Japan. The condition is due to the short rice crops, which is only 15 per cent of the average.

January 20.—The new Government of Ecuador lasts one hour. Baquerizo Moreno is overthrown and General Eloy Alfaro made President. About two hundred persons were killed or wounded during the fighting.

The Venezuelan Government continues to garrison the ports and collect supplies for the troops.

January 22.—Two hundred and twelve men were killed and thirty-six injured by an explosion on the Brazilian warship _Aquidaban_.

After winning a battle in which three hundred men were killed and one hundred wounded, General Alfaro is recognized by all factions as president of Ecuador.

January 23.—The United States leaves France free to act as she sees fit in the Venezuelan case. French warships are reported under way to Venezuela.

The Powers are all using their influence to bring about a reconciliation between France and Germany over the Moroccan dispute.

The steamship _Valencia_, from San Francisco, is driven ashore on the coast of Vancouver Island. Grave fear is felt for the ninety-four passengers and crew of sixty, as the storm is too severe for any vessel to go to the rescue.

Fighting continues in the provinces of Southern Russia, where the rebels are holding their own.

January 24.—Reports state that 139 persons lost their lives in the wreck of the steamer _Valencia_ near Cape Beale, Vancouver Island.

Reports from Algeciras, Spain, indicate that the Powers are inclined to favor Germany’s contention.

The Russian troops are restoring order in the Caucasus, Black Sea and Sidonia district.

The returns of the English elections show 578 members elected to the House of Commons. Of the total, the Liberals returned 312, the Laborites 48, the Nationalists 81, and the Unionists 137.

The revolution in Ecuador spreads. Two provinces are in the hands of the revolutionists.

January 25.—President Castro, of Venezuela, claims that the French Minister, M. Taigny, violated the laws of port in denying Venezuelan police and boarding a French vessel for protection.

Report from the Russian Baltic provinces show that the revolution is by no means suppressed. As soon as the troops capture one town, fighting breaks out in another.

January 26.—General Selivanoff, commander of the Russian troops at Vladivostok, is seriously wounded. The revolution has taken on new life at that place. Count Witte opposes giving any more concessions to the people.

The Cuban Senate appropriates $25,000 with which to buy Miss Alice Roosevelt a wedding present.

Dispatches from French West Africa state that the Sultan of Morocco is endeavoring to get the natives of the Soudan to organize a holy-war against France.

Thirty-seven persons are saved from the steamer, _Valencia_, which was wrecked near Cape Beale, Vancouver’s Island. All 154 persons left on board the vessel were drowned.

The revolution in the Russian Caucasus continues to spread.

France decides to boycott all Venezuelan products before making a naval demonstration.

French and German envoys to the Moroccan conference are holding meetings in hopes of reaching an agreement on the points in dispute.

January 27.—Reports from Vladivostok show that the revolution has not been crushed. St. Petersburg dispatches claim that the revolution in the Russian Baltic provinces is drawing to a close. A fight between troops and revolutionists takes place at Gomel and the town is burned.

Discussion of the dispute of Germany and France continues at Algeciras, Spain.

Twenty-five members of the diplomatic corps at Caracas send a note to the Venezuelan Government disapproving of the treatment of M. Taigny, the French Minister.

Fighting between Raisuli and the Anjera tribesmen is renewed near Tangiers, Morocco.

January 28.—General Linevitch reports that the mutinous sailors at Vladivostok have been disarmed. Reports from Viatka show that school children held a fort against a battalion of Russian soldiers for fifteen hours.

Fighting continues in Morocco. The rebels are victorious in several fights.

January 29.—King Christian IX of Denmark dies suddenly at Copenhagen. The King was the father of Crown Prince Christian Frederick, of Denmark, Alexandra, Queen of England, Dagmar, Dowager Empress of Russia, King George, of Greece, Thyra, the Duchess of Cumberland, and Prince Valdemar of Orleans. He was the grandfather of the Czar of Russia and of King Haakon of Norway.

The Russian authorities again claim that the Vladivostok trouble has been terminated.

President Castro is making active preparations for a war with France.

January 30.—The Russian revolutionists assassinate Gen. Griaznoff, Chief of Staff of the Viceroy of the Caucasus at Tiflis. Tiflis is placed under martial law. Fighting is said to be in progress between the Armenians and Tatars in the Caucasus.

Frederick VIII, eldest son of the late King Christian, is proclaimed King of Denmark.

January 31.—Japan urges England to reorganize her army.

1,000,000 persons are reported starving in Japan

Fierce fighting continues in the Caucasus between Tatars and Armenians.

Russia is seriously divided over the elections to the Duma. Censorship of the press is rigidly enforced.

February 1.—Serious fights take place in Paris between the police and the congregations of Roman Catholic churches. The operation of the new law separating the Church and State causes the trouble.