Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, April 29, 1913, Image 4

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I A THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1913. THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH rOUSYTH ST. • Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of . the Second Class. JAMES R. GRAY, President and Editor. # SUBSCRIPTION PRICE Twelve months Six months Three months The Semi-Weekly Journal Is published on Tuesday and Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes for early delivery. It contains news from all over the world, brought by special leased wires into our office. It has a staff j of distinguished contributors, with strong departments of special value to the home and the farm. Agents warted at every postoffice. Liberal com mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R- BRAD LEY. Circulation Manager. The only traveling representatives we have are J. A. Bryan, R. F. Bolton. C. C. Coyle. L. H. Kim brough and C. T. Yates. We will be responsible only for money paid to the above named traveling repre sentatives. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. The label used for addressing your paper 6hows the time your subscription expires. By renewing at least two weeks before the date on this label, you insure regular service. In ordering paper changed, be sure to mention your old, as ■well as your new address. If on a ‘route please give the route number. We cannot enter subscriptions to begin with back numbers. Remittances should be sent by postal order or registered mail. Address all orders and notices for this de partment to THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta, Ga. Cattle Raising in Georgia. Dr. E. M. Neighbert, director of tbe federal bu reau of animal industry in Georgia and adjacent States, calls attention to tbe fact that some thirty- thousand bead of cattle were recently shipped from Florida to Oklahoma and Kansas, where they will he fattened and then re-sold to this section for three or four times their original cost. What a tremendous saving it would be not only to individual consumers but also to the entire economic interests of the South, if these cattle were fattened and marketed at home! The difference would amount to millions of , dollars a year in our favor. Before this can be done, however, certain practi cal conditions must be met; and one of them, as Dr. Neighbert indicates, is the eradication of the cattle lick. This parasite is the one great foe to Georgia's progress in the live stock and dairying industry- Where it prevails, cattle cannot thrive, cannot be made marketable as beef or desirable for breeding purposes. The majority of Georgia counties are still quarantined against the country at large because they are infested with the cattle tick. It is note worthy, howeVer, that those districts which have duly co-operated with the State and federal author ities have rid themselves of this pest and have been relieved of the quarantine. What they have accom plished, every other country can accomplish and t ereby make itself richer and more progressive. There is another essential to the success of the cattle raising industry; and that is the home pro duction of hay and forage. Georgia soil can pro duce grasses as nutrious as any grown in the west and can produce as cheaply. Cattle breeding will not become profitable or inviting until we take advan tage of these resources and cease shipping supplies from distant sections at high prices. It is doubtful that there is any corner of the Union or of the entire earth which is naturally bet ter suited to cattle raising than Georgia and its neighboring States. This great industry can he con ducted here at a minimum of expense'and a max imum of results. The equable climate makes the problem of winter housing, which in some sections is so serious, practically negligible- The soil will . yield an abundance and variety of the best cattle food. As regards market centers in the East as well as the South, we are most advantageously situated, indeed, every natural circumstance marks Georgia as one of the great beef-producing sections of the country. It is cheering to note that these facts are grad ually impressing themselves upon a larger and : larger number of our people. Farmers generally are • realizing the value of raising enough cattle and other live stock to i^eet their own needs. In fact, there is a constructive tendency to make the farm self- ; sustaining in all its interests. The folly of devoting all the land to cotton and of spending the proceeds oi the money crop for food necessaries is giving way 1 to the wiser policy of producing these supplies at home. Some farmers, notably in north Georgia, are be ginning to specialize on live stock. It is reported that in several counties large tracts of land are be ing converted into sheep or cattle ranges. It should be noted that wherever this is done, the menace of tne cattle tick has first been overcome and plans f„.' the growth of hay have been adopted. Let these i two conditions be met, and Georgia, instead of pay ing high prices for beef, will fill its larder out of its own plenteous resources and at the same time become an expert center- A flock of microbes may uo more damage than a flock of elephants. Georgia’s Corn Clubs The rapid and substantial growth of the Boys’ Corn club movement in Georgia is shown in a report recently issued by the State College of Agriculture. Flourishing clubs are now- organized in one hundred and forty counties, and their aggregate membership is practically ten thousand boys. The significance of this enterprise to the State’s farming interests and to commercial and industrial affairs cannot be overgauged. The Boys’ Corn clubs have not only increased average acre yield of corn and improved the quality of the grain, but they have also aroused new enthusiasm in every field of scientific agriculture. Through their efforts, Georgia is coming to be a greater food-producing State and, therefore, more prosperous and independent. It is also gratifying to note the Girls’ clubs are thriving. Their membership is approximately twen ty-five hundred; and if the College is given adequate means for extending this work, the Girls’ clubs will soon rival those of the boys. American Sentiment On The Canal Toll Question. It has long been evident that the preponderance of thoughtful opinion in the United States is in favor of arbitrating the Panama canal tolls contro versy or, better still, of repealing that clause of the canal act which grants toll exemption to American coastwise shipping- If, nowever, anything were needed further to emphasize this fact, the recent meeting of the American Society of International Law would abundantly suffice. This society, as is well known, includes many of the country’s fore most jurists and others who represent the broadest and truest spirit of our national life. Among its members are Chief Justice White, Oscar S. Strauss, Horace Porter, Secretary of State Bryan, former President Taft and scores of this rank. It is a sig nificant fact that the dominant thought in the speeches and discussions of the society sustained the plea for arbitration or for a repeal of the act which has provoked the pending difference between our Government and Great Britain. The Hay-Pauncefote treaty, which the United States negotiated with England, specifically provides that the canal shall he open on terms of entire com mercial equality to all nations, observing the condi tions therein set forth. This treaty was adopted in order that our government might have a freer hand in the construction and control of the canal than was possible under the Clayton-Bulwer treaty which the later agreement superseded- The Clayton-Bulwer treaty, adopted more than half a century ago, when It was contemplated that an isthmian canal would be built by private enterprise under international supervision, provided that neither the United States nor England should "ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control over the ship canal; that neither country should ever erect or maintain any fortification commanding the vicinity of the canal; that neither nation should ever colonize Central America; that neither country should take advantage of any intimacy, alliance, connection or influence with any country in Central America in order to secure any rights or advantages in regard to com merce and navigation, not possessed by the citizens or subjects of the other.” Such terms were clearly too rigid to warrant the United States government in building a canal on its individual responsibility and at its own expense. They presented divers obstacles and restrictions which it was the purpose of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty to set aside. England renounced certain important privileges it had formerly been assured, and also granted new and larger privileges to the United States- One of the essential conditions on which our Government secured this wider freedom was that which guaranteed entire commercial equal ity to all nations in the use of the canal. The United States is amply warranted in levying tolls, if it will, but it cannot discriminate in favor of any shipping, and remain true to its contract. It cannot honorably or legally exempt American coast wise shipping and at the same time exact tolls of English vessels. The truth la the exemption of American coastwise shipping is in effect a government subsidy to one of the most highly protected of all monopolies. This class of shipping has no more need or right to toll exemption than the steel trust or beef trust to a high protective tariff. That clause of the canal act is of no benefit whatever to the rank and file of the Amerioan people; it ‘is simply another case of gov ernment patronage to a special interest, simply another instance of that unfair and. unreasonable policy of “protection” which the Democratic admin istration is commissioned to reform. It is earnestly to be hoped that Congress will use its earliest opportunity to repeal this indefensible clause of the canal act and thereby save the nation’s honor from a worldwide stain. But sometimes a bore talks to us abfiut ourselves; that is different. Crop reports on the amateur spring gardens wouldn’t be amiss. Latest reports were that Charles W. Morse isn’t suffering any considerable relapse. The Mexican Loan; Will It Do the Work? It remains to be seen whether or not the seven and a half million dollar loan which the Mexican government is said to have floated will place the Huerta regime firmly upon its feet. An impoverish ed treasury has been among Huerta’s heaviest em barrassments and it may be that this sorely needed, though long delayed, assistance' will enable him to carry out a vigorous and effective program. The loan Is said to have been obtained through London bankers and to be secured by the Govern ment’s holdings in the Tehuantepec railroad. Its terms are one year, five per cent interest. Presum ably, the lenders are assured of restore order and of a comparatively speedy return to normal conditions. Their confidence is within itself one of the brightest omens yet offered for the provisional government. • It is nevertheless evident that the temper and drift of Mexican affairs are still uncertain. Felix Diaz, whose bold campaign was so largely responsi ble for the fall of Madero, has withdrawn as a can didate for the presidency and Francisco De La Barra, minister of foreign affairs, has likewise re tired as a candidate for the vice-presidency, each of them giving as a reason for his course the delay of the Congress in fixing a time for the elections. At the same time and because of the same dissatisfac tion, Garcia Granados, minister of the interior, has resigned his post; other cabinet resignations are ex pected to follow. This would seem to indicate a feeling of discon tent among public leaders. Certainly it does not augur well for political peace. It has long been sus pected that the Diaz-Huerta alliance would be dis solved. Both men are exceedingly ambitious and each is in the other’s way. While these differences, suppressed for the time being, are simmering at the capital, the rebels in the north and the south continue to make trouble. Thus far the so-called regular troops have made no considerable headway. Their number does not ex ceed fourteen thousand and it is doubtful that a majority of these would stand squarely by the Huer ta regimfi in a crisis. In this respect, however, the seven and a half million loan will probably have a stimulating and strengthening effect. It is to be hoped that through some means or other, Mexico will soon be placed upon an orderly basis. If Huerta can accomplish this all-important need, he will earn the gratitude ol’ his own people, and the admiration of the world. But proof of what he can do has not yet been given. Georgia’s Urgent Need Of Vital Statistics. Georgia cannot afford longer to neglect the impor tant and intensely practical duty of establishing a system of registration for births, deaths and kindred data. The State’s tardiness in this matter has fre quently been criticised both at home and abroad, but never more intelligently than by Dr. Cressy L. Wil bur, director of the federal bureau of vital statistics. Georgia, as Dr. Wilbur points out, keeps no record either of births or deaths. It is thus lagging behind the progressive States of the Union and is permitting a grjive injustice to its own people. Sanitary and sociological endeavors depend very largely, as he de clares, upon vital statistics in mapping their field and in producing definite and detailed results. Reforms of any character in order to be effective must be more or less specific and must proceed upon an accurate knowledge of real conditions. We must know the sources behind a death rate before we can devise a thoroughgoing plan to reduce the death rate. We must know where evils of any kind arc most pro nounced before we make much headway in remedy ing them. Vital statistics are essential to truly scientific work in the great field of public health and, Indeed, in all efforts to better human conditions. A thor oughgoing registration of deaths and illness will in dicate just what diseases demand most attention and just where they should be most vigorously coped with. Such records will often lead to the discovery oi unhealthful conditions that impede the progress and endanger the life of thousands of people- Furthermore, a Statewide system of vital statis tics would serve to stimulate every county and every town in Georgia to more earnest efforts in behalf of public health. Each community would aspire to a worthy rank in the State’s health record and those that did good work in this respect would receive due and valuable credit. It is to be hoped that at the next session of the General Assembly legislation to this enu will be enacted. There can he no doubt that the great ma jority of thoughtful Georgians realize the benefit which a system of vital statistics would assure, and also the injury which further neglect of this impor tant task would mean. A New Menace in the Balkans. Just when the Balkan fire was considered practi cally out, little Montenegro has blown forth a spark that may kindle a conflagration. Should Austria per sist in its plan to invade the tiny kingdom and to force an evacuation of Scutari at the point of the bayonet, there is no reckoning what the consequence might be. If all the great nations act in concert and adhere to their original demand that Montene gro give up Scutari, the problem will then become comparatively simple; but it is just here that the crucial question arises. It appears in no wise certain that England, Rus sia and France, constituting the Triple Entente, will follow the Austrian lead to the extent of forcibly ex pelling the Montenegrins from territory which the latter have fairly won. Indeed, it is well known that Russia has from the outset been lukewarm in its support of the Powers’ plans with reference to Mon tenegro and the Russian people indignantly oppose a policy that looks to the coercion of their Slav brethren in the Balkans. If, then, Russia should withdraw from the international agreement, England and France would scarcely continue to sustain it; in which event the Triple Alliance, or Austria, Germany and Italy would stand alone. Nor is it entirely probable that Italy and Germany would stick to their ally through all emergencies. Certa.i it is that Italy would he chill toward an adventure that promised it nothing in return for its possible sac rifices. The burden of a campaign against Montenegro would thus fall for the most part on Austria and while the physical demands of this would be small, its political responsibility would be grave, indeed. The fact is it is doubtful that the other Powers would consent to an Austrian campaign in the Balkans or that would consent to a campaign undertaken singly by any one of their number- Austria’s ambition for territory is well known; its every move is watched with suspicion. Its plea for an autonomous Albania is considered merely as a mask to its purpose even tually to take that territory under surveillance. The tone of Austria is now very peremptory. It, in effect, has notified the Powers that they must im mediately take combined measures to turn the Monte negrins out of Scutari or Austria will do it alone. What will be the outcome of such a situation? Will the great nations fall apart on this issue? If so, how will their differences be harmonized? The acutest stage of the Balkan crisis is at hand. Needing an audience for a job lot of hard luck stories, misery loves company. President Wilson will solve the Japanese problem satisfactorily in spite of the colon'1. The so-called baseball trust apparently doesn’t want to undergo the ordeal of being busted. BMsimiess AdmMstratfloini BY 2>R. FRANK CRANE. (Copyright, 1913, by Frank Crane.j * The Mountain School Movement. One of the distinctly Interesting and useful con ventions of the year is that of the teachers and in dustrial school worr.ers in the Southern Appalachian mountain districts, which met yesterday In Atlanta; Two circumstances made the occasion particularly notable. It was a review of ten years of endeavor in this important field of education and it was the first conference of its kind in which representatives of all the churches and all allied interests took part. The need of establishing and maintaining good schools in the remote mountain regions of the South has long been recognized and many independent ef forts to that end have been made- Philanthropists have given substantially to such work. A number of churches have entered this field and hundreds of men and women have dedicated themselves to its service. But the Atlanta conference represents the first effort all these forces to combine their strength and to work out a plan under which they can co-operate for the attainment of their common purpose. For that reason, the convention is distinctive and it should result in more rapid and more uniform progress in the great task of carrying education to the once neglected byways of our Southern country. It is not expected that any one group of workers will lose their identity or will he turned from the particular path they have been following. But it is certain that througli a union of their various enter prises, they will .acquire an impressive status before the country as a whole; they will be able to conve;- more directly and mo.-o strikingly the appeal of their splendid undertaking. When the people of the isolated mountain dis tricts are brought into touch with modern conditions anu with the South’s common life, a vast deal will have been done toward the progress of this entire section. One of the most honored pieces of humbug is the cry of “a business administration.” A mayor is elected claiming to represent the “busi ness element,” and announces that his program will be '‘strictly business” economy and without sentiment and fool reforms. A governor gives forth that he will make the busi ness interests paramount in his plans. Political parties adopt business platforms, with issues of tariff reform or free silver or reduced gov ernmental expenditures. Even the college president, the pastor of the church, and the superintendent of city schools are anxious to be known as “good business men.” Business is all right in its place, which is an im portant one. But also it is a secondary one. What we need everywhere, more than we need a business administration, is a HUMAN ADMINISTRA TION. Business means economy, and economy means lit erally “housekeeping.” Now, good housekeeping de serves attention and praise; but it 'Is not the main thing. It is very necessary that father make a living and good investments and have a paying position; also that mother see to it that eggs and butter are bought cheap, that waste is guarded against, and that food is good and plenty; biit what shall we think of the parents who are so wrapped up in these affairs that they allow their children to be abused, poisoned, stunted, and morally perverted, possibly kidnaped or murdered? The state is but a large family. It is the first concern of a state to see that its citizens have justice, protection in their rights, and relief from their wrongs; and that it3 children ar e properly trained for citi zenship. All this comes before saving and making money. Better a hundred times over that the state go bankrupt than that “one of the least of these” be ‘cheated of justice. Young girls are duped, assaulted, entrapped, and ruined by an organized band of rakehelly cadets in our big cities, while the police guard our “property.” Children of tender age are drafted into factories and their lives stunted, while legislators are busy ar ranging “business” regulations with a lively lobby. The people are not only ill-served, but brow-breaten and abused by our common carriers who declare fat dividends on their transportation of human live stock, while highly paid legislative railway commissions are considering everything else but protecting life and mak ing travel as easy and cheap as possible. The able business folk who occupy the seats of au thority among this people should be reminded that the first purpose of a railroad or street car line or sub way is to carry human beings in safety and in com fort; that the first people to turn to, when the com monwealth needs money, are the common people, and not the bankers; that the first thing to regulate about a theater, “movie,” or other public hall is that in case of fire or panic the audienc shall be able to walk out without trampling one another to death; that the most vital thing about automobiles as far as the gov ernment is concerned is to see that they do not run down pedestrians; that the first building law is safety, and that always and everywhere the life and health of men and women is to be th© state’s chief concern. America, supposedly the world leader in democracy, is more careless of human life, and more contemptu ous of human interests, when they conflict with prop erty interests, than any nation in Europe. Above all, can you conceive of any charge against our lawmakers so terrible £s that they allow rotten and diseased meat, poisoned canned goods and unnutri- tious bread to be publicly sold to families, while chil dren in the streets are tempted to buy candies made of carpenter’s glue and coal tar sweetening? I hope to live long enough to see mayors, governors, and president* elected upon a platform pledging safety and health protection to the people, and to the chil dren of the people support and proper training during adolescence. Without despising ’’ue business efficiency let the state recognize that its only real wealth is in the health and intelligence and industry of its people. Captain Barnacle’s Travelogues BY JOHN H, WISHAK "I have never been able to eat olive oil since the time I had command of the old iron hark Gough,” de clared Captain Barnacle, shoving his plate of salad away, and eyeing the dressing meditatively. "Although it was olives and olive oil that saved us all, I had so much of both it took me months to get the grease out of my system. "On this voyage we were bound from Palermo, Italy, for New Tork, and were loadid with 98,000 cases of green olives. This was a very valuable cargo and I was ordered to make a fast trip if possible. The Gough was one of the old-time iron barks, a stanch and speedy little craft. So when we left the Mediter ranean I was in hopes of a record passage. But luck was against us. First we ran into a hurricane which dismantled the vess and then we ran into a calm belt, just north of the equator. "For three weeks we lay there in that broiling sun, trying to rig up some kind of a jury mast. One morn ing the carpenter rushes up to me and says there’s six feet of water in the hold. My heart sank and 1 gave up for lost, for six feet of water in the hold for an iron ship with no lifeboats left meant sure death. But I went below to investigate and what do you think I founds Why, the ship was half full of pure olive oil,! “Well, sir, I was some surprised. I found that the intense heat of the tropical sun on the sides of the iron ship had made a regular oven out of the hold and that the olives in the cases had . een fried out, the oil running down into the hold. It was a puzzler what to do. All our food had been spoiled, so all we had to eat was these dried olives, mixed with some of the oil, and it wasn’t bad, either. Then I took about five hundred cases of the olives and with a barrel of cement which we had on board I built three masts. I would fix a layer of olive pits and then a layer of cement, and so on until the Gough had masts and spars as fine as when she sailed from Palermo. I had plenty of canvas on hoard, so we were soon under sail again. “Then I had 1 the olive oil drained off into bar rels and canvas bags, and when we reached New York I sold this oil myseU and turned over t. the company the cases of dried lives. And, sir, do you know thej- tried to get the $11,000 which I go for this oil, but I maintained that this belonged to me, as I delivered the cased olives, unopened, with the exception of those used for the masts and spars. Well, do you knojv, they took it to court and I believe the case is still dragging on, for Attorney Tim Healy told me he was going to appeal. But I got my money and the Gough still has her olive seed masts.” JUST SMILES The Crisis in Japan POLITICAL RIOTS. By Frederic J. Haskin “May it please your honor,” said a lawyer, ad dressing one of the judges, “I brought the prisoner from jail on a habeas corpus.” “Well,” said a man, in an undertone, who was standing in the rear of the court, “these lawyers will say anything. I saw the man get out of a taxi at the court door.” * * • “I had always thought the public servants of my own city were U e freshest on earth.” says a New York man, “but a recent ex'perien^e in Kansas City has led to a revision of that notion. “One afternoon I dashed into a railway station of that totfn witli just half a minute to buy my ticket and enter a train for Chicago. 1 dashed through the first gate and, pointing t a certain train, asked hur riedly of the gateman: “ ‘Is that my train?’ “ ‘Well, 1 don’t know.’ replied lie, with exasperating deliberation. ‘Maybe it is. but the cars have the coni- 1 pany's nime on them.’ ”—Harper’s Magazine. * Americans seem greatly astonished over the In sults which Japanese crowds are heaping upon their public officials. It has always been thought through- out the world at large that I _ - everything in Japan worked f from the government downward * instead of from the people up ward, and that officialdom was specially sacred. All this has been true to a great extent on the surface, but underground forces have been at work for a long time to loosen the grip the bureaucrats so long have had on public affairs. Foreigners in general, and Americans in particular, have known little of al this, and even alien resi dents in Japan are surprised at the vehemence with which the Jiji and other influential news papers are lampooning such re vered statesmen and military patriots as Yamagata, Katsura and Terauchi. Th e stoning of Katsura himself and several members of the diet, and the wrecking of several standpat newspaper plants seem quite confounding to the conventional estimate of the Japanese people, but the world forgets that) similar tactics were employed in 1905 to show the disgust of the people with the treaty of Portsmouth which ended the war with Russia. • • • What does make even the expert foreign observer open his ey^s is the fact that the people have suc ceeded in their protest. They not only brought about the downfSTl of the Katsura ministry in less than two months after its inception, but they did so in the face of an imperial rescript from the emperor himself. This particular phase of the situation really is amaz ing. Heretofore a rescript from the throne has been binding law upon th© people, and it has always been supposed that not even a douot of an emperor’s right eousness could be breathed by any loyal subject of the Son of Heaven. All of which goes to show that the Nipponese have had good reason for acting violently and that they are not so very different from the rest of mankind in the way they go after what they want. • * • A long, bitter fight for constitutional rights is the cause of the trouble in Japan. Th© sudden effacing of Prince Katsura and the appointment of Admiral Count Yamamoto to the premiership has not brought complete victory. The people are demanding the large share in governmental affairs guaranteed them by the constitution of 1889 and they are determined that th e cabinet shall be more responsive to the will o. the diet than to the nod of the emperor. Before success crowns their efforts they must crush clan influence on the one hand, and on the other hand they must make worthy the rather unworthy diet which they would exalt. • • • The insistence of th© army on two new divisions, or -40,000 men for Korean defense, in the face of the nation’s virtual bankruptcy, was the immediate cause of th© recent upheaval. Other elements were the ri valry between the army and th$ navy, the hoary feud between the Choshu and the Satsuma clans, and the growth of party politics. The waning influence of the elder statesmen and the fact that the new mikado does not command the worship so freely given to his father, also are factors. But the movement for great er liberty is the prime agency, and it will be well to consider for a moment the constitution which the peo ple wish to strengthen and the governmental form? which that document set up for them nearly a quar ter of a century ago. • • • While Mutsuhito, th© late emperor, was put on the throne in 1868, thus restoring the imperial family to power, and starting the country on the road to prog ress, a constitution was not granted until February 11, 1889. It is modeled after that of th© German em pire, the ministers being responsible only to th© em peror, with consequent discretion in ignoring the diet, which has been done frequently. The emperor’s pre rogatives are: • • • First. Right of convoking, opening, closing or proroguing the imperial diet, and of dissolving th© house of representatives. * Second. Right of issuing any urgency ordinances when the imperial diet is not sitting, to be submitted to it for approval at th© next session. Third. Right of issuing or causing to be issued the ordinances required for putting the laws in operation, or for maintaining peace and order. Fourth. Right of taking the supreme command of the army and navy, and of determining the organiza tion of th© service. Fifth. Right of declaring war, making peace and concluding treaties. Sixth. Right of determining the organization of the governmental department, limiting the functions and fixing the salaries of civil and military officials. Seventh. Right of conferring titles of nobility, hon ors and decorations, and to grant pardons and de crees ofi amnesty. • * * The usual executive, legislative and judicial di visions are provided, the first and last named being appointive, while the legislative is elective. The suf frage is limited. The people elect all the members of the house of representatives, but only 43 of the 371 members of the house of peers, and they are chosen by a select group of wealthy taxpayers in each elec toral district. * * • The upper body of the imperial diet, the house of peers, is composed of fourteen princes of the blood, thirteen princes, thirty marquises, all of whom sit for life upon becoming twenty-five years of age, also seventeen counts, seventy viscounts and sixty-three barons, all of whom are elected for seven years by members of their own orders of nobility. The empe ror appoints 121 men, notable for learning, patriotism, philanthropy or any other worthy trait, regardless of their origin, and who sit for life. The forty-t£ree members who represent the highest taxpayers in th© empire serve seven years. The non-titled members must never exceed the titled ones. The body cannot be dissolved under any circumstances, but can be con vened at any time. , • • • The house of representatives consists of 379 mem bers elected for four years. The electors must be at least twenty-five years old and be paying a direct tax of not less than the equivalent of $5 per annum. Candidates for the house must be at least thirty years of age. Over 300 of the total membership come from the rural districts, the average being one member for every 130,00ft of the population. Members of both houses are in session three months every year, and are paid 2,000 yen ($1,000) per annum besides free passes ana traveling expenses. * * * In case a member is unseated, dies or r©©igris within a year of election the opponent who had the next highest vote succeeds him. There are only 1,600,- 000 voters out of a total population of about 60,000,- 000. Th e averag^ expense of a campaign for a seat in the house is 7,000 yen or $3,500, although in <Jne district in 1908 two rivals spent 50,000 yen each. Th© house meets every'other day, the alternate day being given to committee work. Farmers represent 38 per cent* of tne membership, merchants and manufacturers 12 per cent, lawyers, journalists and authors 22 per cent. The other vocations absorb the rest. At the first election in 1890 the average age of members was forty-two, but it has risen steadily until now a new nan averages forty-eight upon his entry into the house.