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6 TflE CONSTITUTION CLARK HOWELL Editor ROBY ROBINSON Business Manager the Atlanta FeetafTice ae .<*eead Claw Hlail Matter, sav. 11, 1573. The WEEKLY CONSTITUTION; ontv $: per annum. Clubs of five. SI each; clubs of ten. SI each end a copy to setter-up of olab. WE WANT YOU—The Constitution wants an agent at every postofflce In America. Agent s outfit f-?e an* 4 , good terms. If you are not In a club, we want you to act as agent et your office. Write 1j«. CHANGE HE ADDRESS-When ordering dre«e Gs your raper changed always* give t'.e old as well ae the new address Always give postefficc. county and state. If your paper *• not received regularly, notify u» and we will straight* n the matter. IF YOU SEND US AN ORDER for new sub scribers. please allow us a week to get the names on the list and paper s.arted before you write a complaint, as we are very much ciow ded now. -->O NOT FORGET tn make your renewals In time Watch ycur direction tag and see when your subscription expires. The next •lx mon*h wi.l be full of interest, and you should not miss a single copy of 'The Con stitution Kzenu your urdera at least * week In advance to muke sure. it may not 'ak® ■ a week In every Instance as we use tie greatest diligence to get them on our mail- J The Canal First Criticism Later! I The exact situation of the Panama ' Question as it now stands cannot be ! put more tersely and truthfully than ; it is by Congressman William M. How- I ard, the brilliant eighth district eon- j pressman of this state, in an inter view sent by our Washington corre spondent as follows: Mr. 'toward, ol the eighth dislriet. who Is a mt <>f the •’•i'-uin all'll.' com mittee of th.- hm: a . took tic posit! in that, the ricngnition of the new republic estab lishes it upon a plane where it is perteet ly jpro; et tor this government to negotiate a canal treaty with j- !!■’ is strongly of t ■a. t 111 < '.’.man ro:. 0 is de bitter route, and that however much •a use titer.' may be lor criticism of the precipitate action of President Roosevelt towart the revolutionists the democrats will assume no share os’ responsibility tor that iclicn i; th-j- vote to ratitv the canal t! aty. Senators Bacon and Clay occupy practically the same position as does Congressman Howard. In other words, they are able to realize and ac t upon the broad principle, that the acts of | the president personally, and the at- : tittide of the government upon a great ■ public occasion may lie easily differ- | entiated. If the president shall have j been found to have done wrong, uncon- j ►t Rational ami usurpatory things in j the processes of an international situa- i lion of which the United States is ' the major part, there are times and I ways to deal with his acts without go- ; Ing to the fooiish length of condemn- < Ing the entire course of events and 1 repudiating the things we desire that ' nave subsequently and naturally come ■ to us. without national taint of dis- 1 honor. Such should be the position of all 1 patriots. This Panama issue is one • of too broad, and national a scope to ; lie im; "tied and disci" lited. even it there was —which is i>y no means yet \ proven -a lack of dolibei sit ion ami eti- ■ quette on the par', of the president in doing what th- nation womd have sub- , sequently demanded and which is | -von now in the process o' doing The queer part of the opposition thus far voiced is that no man has yet i put his linger on a single instance that ; in any court of common or interna- I tionai law would condt inn or annul or 1 give just cause for crticism of our action in this Panama case. The fact that Panama had declared her intention to secede on the failure, of the Hay-H<rran treaty was known, in every chancellery of the great na tions two months a.to. Wet. we alone to ignore it. and tr< a. the threat a; hot air? The sending of a war ship to Colon was not a hostile art Its presence was precautionary and called for by our treaty obligations to enforce fret* transit across the isthmus. As it was our ships did not get. to Panama in time to prevent tin- Colombian gun beat from projecting shells into the town and blowing up a couple of Chi namen who were no* good dodgers. . In all this where is titer, a point of evidence that our government was in , ollusion to produce the revolution and the < reation cf the republic of Pan- . Because Jose Marti organized in New York the revolution of 181*4 in Cuba, was it. ever laid to our ■ barge that ho government of the United States aide i and abetted that revolt!- . tion in which we afterwards inter vened and secured the fre . dom of Cuba? Not even Spam ever h r ,night that charge against us. But whether our government's par ticipation at that time was right or wrong, the great central fact stated .... Congressman Howard must he kept in view by democrats, and tuat is that voting in favor of a canal treaty with Panama does not involve any democrat a conclusive approval o: 'I , acts of President Roosevelt that may later ap pear to have been wrong. The treaty t< be submitted to the t.-nyte will embody the results at tained, by whatever means. In Pan ama. and that are now accepted as in- -national res adjudicata by other na tions than our own. On that treaty a democrat can vote “yea” without in tiic slightest degree assuming a share in anv wrong action hereafter to be discovered. and he can so vote without In -he lea. t impeaching thereby his right to criticise Mr. Roosevelt or any •jijdy else who may be considered lia ble to criticism. The canal matter is one of supreim business moment to us and to Pan ania! Both countries are now in a position to treat upon that issue. T'nore is no chance here for quibble a;-d (liidish complaints because the ' v.iis not properly scolloped before It-'c l,thing of it. The duty of the hour to' r-i-k up the government, ratify the tieat'-’. go to digging on the canal umi talk about the if and bitts of », 0 < as*' while the cutting is going on 3* Panama. Giving Colombia a Square Deal. Our government has gone very far in sympathy with Colombia to offer its u-mi offices in amicably adjusting the relations between Colombia and the new nation of Panama. , Colombia, of course, would like to -e'ai.i Panama and make now the bar she refused with contempt a lit tle more than a month ago. But that sort of settlement is now out of the question. Colombia is no longer to be trusted in any detail of the Panama canal question. But there may be a question of Pan ama’s responsibility for her pro rata share of the Colombian public debt of j $15,000,000. English and Holland bond- < holders would like to take Panama st bonds for $5,000,000 and cancel that j amount of Colombian bonds. But Pan ama does not owe that much of the debt —probably does not owe morally a cent of it—-but the United States is willing to act as the friend of both in reaching an adjustment of their mu tual claims and interests. That is more than tills government would do in the case of the two Vir ginias. It helped W< st Virginia to se cede from old Virginia and old Vir ginia is sti’l carrying the whole debt. West Virginia refusing to pay a cent > of it, or allow’ it to go to arbitration. \nd tl'.- United States is making this offer in the face of the fact that in February, 1902. in the conference of the Pan-American republics in the city 'of Mexico, Colombia refused to agree to and be bound by an act. establishing ! arbitration a rule of American in ternational law. Under the circumstances we think Colombia is being given more than a fair deal in the present ciri umstances of the Panama afiair. —■ Republicans Abandon Nee.lo Suffrage The Constitution feels bound to con gratulate the republican leaders, in cluding the president, Congressmen Dick and Crumpacker, upon falling in with Hie Gorman and general southern contention tor “white supremacy in thesi states where only the negro suf frage is a source of danger to good government.” The only difference left between democrats and republicans is one of methods. The general principle that the negro ought to be politically elim inated is admitted in the bills intro duced by Messrs. Dick and Crumpack er from the republican side of the house. General Dick wants an investigation to show what number of congressmen the states of the south would be enti tled to upon the basis of a strictly white suffrage and Mr. Crumpacker wishes, by his bill, the consent on the part of the republican party that the negro shall be disfranchised, provided the south gets no representation in congress on his account. With them the question is not one of defending the right of the negro to vote because he is both a negro and a republican, but the question is how to concent to his disfranchisement and get something in return for it— that is, » larger pro rata representa tion from the northern and western states on a pro rated white basis. Here in tl.c south we resist that tricky method of republican repudia tion of negro suffrage. Since these republicans l:av< come to the point wh- te they consent to his disfranchise ment, they should go back to their ovn prime mis'.alu in the matter and consent to the abolition of the consti tutional amendments that have caused the tr> v.’ le am! have now so greatly bsm comh.muied .'V high republican authurii.it:;.' Th<? iiiv« stigation sought by General Dick should not be resisted, however, by democrats, it is our best and only chance to get the real facts and fig ures of the negro sulfrago question before the American people. If its scope is made '.vide enough to admit what the south can otter of the facts / which inhere in negro suffrage, its , menaces to honest and safe govern n nt and its u.s< 1< ssness to ev< ry ' beneficial and enduring interest, of | the negroes themselves, the investiga- I tion should not be feared —provided. ■ of course, it is to be conducted in a ■ .iii-ctly impatiial ami non-partisan manner. So far as the Crumpacker bill is concerned, it is a bruttim fulmen. ( ongress will never pass it. It would t;*'\. the wisdom and alacrity ol the angels, good or bad, to enforce it, 1 Given its full effect, it. would make , gashes in the shields of northern ; states quite as broad and deep as in j southern - scutcheons. When it comes i into the arena of debate it will be rid- ■ died with such revelations of its folly j as will make its author ashamed of his j own inanity. But the main point to be established : by either or both the measures is now ; inescapable. It. means the nailing of the republicans to the Issue that since tlu y cannot get political profit out. of the negro vote they are willing to sup press it and only ask in return that !!:.■ democrats ./ the smith also forego any prefit from it. But to do this will , require another amendment to the con- I : stitutlon taking away the rights 01 I ! states to be represented in the house 1 01' congress on the basis of inhabit- I ants. Can that be done? Will even | Massachm etts. Ohio and Indiana con- j sent to it? ’s’e think rot. Our Interest in Cuban Trade. The Cuban reciprocity treaty having I passed the lower house of congress on I fhursday is now before the senate. ; There it will have to run the gauntlet ’ of some dilatory tactics, but it will lie i i-.'.iiied and probably the new rates i will not be delayed longer than the , new year. Tlte effect of the treaty will be to i establish many profitable, and perhaps ; permanent, lines of trade between Cuba and this country. With few ex ceptions we make or produce here all that Cuba needs as staple articles of . n'mmeree. Nearly the entire value of her sugar, tobacco, hardwods and other native specialties will be ex changed here for our goods. I For some strange reason, our south ■ ern people have not, seemed to realize . tb*- value of Cuban reciprocity to our | own section. Wc have been consumed 1 with a tear that our Florida fruits, seaboard vegetables, sugar mills and i tobrweo fields would wither and perish i under the baleful competition witli i Cuban products ol the same sort. Such fears are utterly groundless, i So far as sugar ami tobacco are con cerned, we certainly will not get the • domino brand for our coffee or pana tellas for helping down our case noir, 1 any cheaper than we are getting them ; now. As for the other articles, they ! will not count heavily against our bet ter cultivation, packing and refriger ator shipping. The real point, is to get the sßo."bo,U .0 to SIOO,OOO,- 00 of Cuban trade done ,‘n the American mar kets. Why should not the south get a very THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION: ATLANTA, GA., MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1903. AN ISSUE OF DO, DIG OR DEFEAT. The citizens of the country who have kept informed as to Isthmian canal matters know that the canal is purely a business and not an in ternal partisan affair. Any endeavor to make it sound in the latter terms will not be a labor j of patriotism by the leaders of either of the great parties. Botn parties are equally committed to the trade necessity for tho construction of the canal and for the representatives of .either party to foment a partisan breach over the project, which at the furthest can only extend to the methods of procedure, would subject all of them to a clean-cut charge of tin-Americanism and poker-playing politics. The common people of this country, who have come to understand Us value to our commercial expansion want the canal. Colombia had an opportunity to have the United States construct it under marvelously advantageous terms and spurned with contempt the effort of this country, in its mad rush for blood money. All Europe is bound by community of interests in which the United Slates alone can be relied upon to hold a neutral hand to sanction the American ownership and control of the canal. Panama wants the canal and in order to secure it has repudiated al legiance to a grafting recalcitrant, government and proclaimed herself an independent state with international contractual powers. In the midst of these things, which are unquestioned facts, having due recognition by our administration and the chancelleries of nearly all the great interested European nations, it seems our plain duty to go ahead, using the powers that be for (he moment, and making good tho canal! From the Ohio, Missouri and Platte rivers to the South Atlantic and gulf coasts the canal is now of paramount importance. The transconti nental railways combine are even now coercing tho southern people by unbearable freight discriminations and are putting the strangling cord of thugs to the necks of our growing industries, most of which are being operated with tlte ultimate end of supplying South Pacific and Oriental markets. Here in the south we cannot stand for such an inimical policy. To permit mere sentiment and political checker-playing to deprive us of the advantages o£ a speedily bu.il interoceanic canal will not be suf- I iered by the south with patience and supine subserviency. This is a supreme and God-sent occasion lor southern statemanship to assert its wisdom, seership and practical usefulness to this section and the nation at the same time. If this Panama occasion is allowed to become a partisan bone of contention the confusion so creat d between men of all parties will bo worse confounded than any crisis ever forced upon the count./ and it will be then extremely doubtful whether any man now livin', will sur vive to see an interoceanic canal in operation. the republicans, of course, are doing till in their power to urge the democrats of the country to oppose the present canal com e of tho administration. They are sensib eto the tempe” of the country and are shrewd enough to discover tho sign that, a course of obstruction of canal legislatioi or contract, with ■ auaman authorities will give them great advantages in fighting the democracy next year. The time has come to the demo, tats to follow the old commander’s counsel who said: "First find out what your enemy wants you to do and then —don't do it!” To raise technical points and insist upon mere ly constructive conclusions as to the facts in the case will result in putting the democratic party in the attitude demanding a canal for fifty-five years and then refusing it when the getting of it is made pos sible! The fiction about treaty obligations and international law principles of variable interpretations need now to be swept to one side as pure rubbish. The United States are today invited by reasons and nations to stand on the facts of the canal case —to act and not debate —to do and let the tribunal of nations fix tlte sentimental issues and liquidate | the damages ol any dereliction hereafter. Senator Clay, of our own stale, is right when he says: “If Panama, in a legal way, shall become a republic, then we can treat v ,th her to build a canal.” And when Panama shows that she is free and independent, that no Colombian authority abides with h r, that she has a governr:-nt, even though provisional, but looking to a constitutional organiza on, and against which status no Panaman protests or rebels, this g- '■ rnment can treat, will, that extant sovereignty through its executive, of what ever form, and it will be the duty of our president and senate to ratify and enforce any acceptable treaty so made. That canal must be dug; or else the digging will begin in the cemetery of sectional and factional politics! large share of this Cuban trade? Our ' I southern cotton mills make just the • ; sort of cotton goods that are needed ' by almost every man, woman and half- , ■ grown child in Cuba. The goods mad© j . here in Atlanta the finer grades of i .Macon, Griffin, Augusta and Columbus ’ are just the stuff the Cubans will buy : enormously. Our mill men will lose the chance of their lives it they do not at once extend their markets into , Cuba. Take our great flouring mill here I ■ in Atlanta and ask any man why it j i should not ship all its possible output • ito Cuba? Why should Minneapolis, i j shipping through New Orleans and Mo- : i bile, monopolize the flour trade in ’ i Cuba? We have, leather, furniture, candy, 1 cracker and a score of other fixed in- \ : Austrias of our city that could easily . | show advantages to Cuban buyers that ' i cannot be excelled by any other Amer- ! j ican center of trade. Here is a magnificent chance tor the ; Atlanta chamber of commerce to take i up an opportunity of the richest value ; to the export trade of Greater Georgia. The Cubans are a tenacious people and if we can once gain their confidence ; | and patronage we can hold both in-1 ! definitely. i The value of Cuban reciprocity is * surely a thing that should not be over- I looked in Atlanta. Statehood For Oklahoma. Single or double statehood is always a burning issue in the territories of Oklahoma and Indian Territory. Th© Washington politicians of both parties have from the beginning favored single statehood for both while in the terri . tories themselves the prepondent sen timent in each has been for double I > statehood.. The best interests of both \ ' seems to lie logically and strongly in | ! that direction. j Oklahoma has over 400,000 people, j ten times more than Nevada, while ' the Indian Territory has nearly GOO,- 000, or fifteen times the Nevada popu lation. It seems, at first blush, that tlte people of the two territories ought to be homogeneous and contented as I citizens of the same state, but they ; are not. themselves of that mind. The Oklahomans are independent pioneers who invaded their land under Captain Payne and fcrced the government to divide the territory and give them a territorial autonomy, and a delegate in 1 congress. Indian Territory is owned by the Five Nations of Indians, while . men are there by sufferance and such as own land are squaw men. the hus t bands of Indian women. They know nothing fiy study and experience of , any other than t’ ibal governments and ! Indian customs, but there aie plenty of white men there who would run a - state government all right enough. Oklahoma would have been a state : ten years ago had it not been forGro i ver Cleveland who swore with a great. - big D that he would never put his flsh | line autograpn to a bill that would put ’ | “two more silver lunaHcs in the United j States senate.” That objection being i no longer valid Oklahoma, at least, ’ deserves speedy statehood The Sanitary Doll Weevil. It is a wise provision that when j men persist in stubborn follies Provi dence seems to finally take a fad out of ! their pride aud bring them down to a . cold compliance with the common ! sens© they should have used without I being whipped up to it. Heretofore tn the south th. cotton raisers' gospel lias been comprised in the commandments plough umi plant, hoe and weed, pick aud pay the negro, ' the supply man and th*; 1 .tilizer ’ agent. All advice to use better ineth . oils has been sneered at by the farmers \as “the monkey-tali, of m.-Filers.” ■ Reasoned articles that urge them to ! raise cotton by scientific and intensive I methods are treated as eqaalt? funny 1 in words as arc the serio-comi antics i of Alphonse ami Gaston in cartoons. Now the boll weevil has been sent as i a messenger of Divine wisdom to wake the old-fashioned farmers out of their old-fashioned ways. Secretary Wil ; son and the agricultural experta say I that ail the im.ney in th© national treasury will not exterminate these omniverous pests of the cotton field. The boll weevil is the body louse of the plant, and the on y way to keep ; him off is by the proper cultivation of ! clean crops. A dir.y c-op will be de stroyed by this scavenger of t •) cotton j fields, so that, the lazy, do it Hke-dad ! always-did sort of farmer will also i wind up as dad used to do a bank ' nipt, a sheriff-shaved old r ;at and the hired man of his neighbor who worked . his brains as often as he did his bull- ■ tongue plow. , Only the fittest are fit to farm in j cotton these days and the s nth may : yet have reason to thank God for send i ing the boll weevil to put the cotton slovens out of business. Free Trade with Our Colonies. The business men of the Philippine islands are putting up a strong de mand to be given the same tariff treatment that Porto Rico Ims receiv ed. They ou:,ht to make a. case, as the Porto Ricans did. and get from the supreim' court of the Ini' d States a declaration of the unfairness and trade rascality of the Philippines tar iff. And they had better get that de cision quick, ritei’i is no telling when some one of the present court will ad venture into tin? e'err.al shades and I somebody else will get upon the su preme bench with imperialist:? notions of how to deal with colonists. It is one of the most inexplicable things to Ute ordinary American mind wire there should be any tariff be tween countries belonging to us and our home continent with its great need for the trade of those islands. Nearly half the time allowed the Spaniards for equal trade advantages with us in the Philippines is past, and there are no signs that they could beat us off the archipelago on a free trade basis. We think the Manila board of trade men are right and that congress ought to give them the relief they so co gently ask. Why General Wood Is Opposed. It Is gratifying to be informed by well-advised correspondents in Wash ington that the able committee on mil itary affairs in the senate, made up en- ; tirely of old veterans of the civil war, will make short shrift of the crusade against the confirmation of Major Gen eral Leonard Wood. The committee will probably hear patiently what Rathbone and other witnesses may offer and it will bo well for General Wood, the future good of the army and the satisfaction of the country that it. should record their testimonies. It will be well for the country to know that Rathbone was the cause of his own troubles. When General Wood became military governor of Cuba, he called upon all departments of the government to submit their re ports, estimates of receipts and expend itures to his office, to be examined by his chief of staff, and to have their departments supervised by the regular inspectors of his military department. All department of the Cuban mili tary government submitted to these orders implicitly and gracefully, ex cept Rathbone, director general of posts. He had refused to recognize his subordination to General Brooke and he would not do so to Wood. The more so because he had been in triguing industriously to end military supremacy in the Island government and have himself appointed the su preme authority under the title of civil governor of Cuba. General Wood referred the matter to the postmaster general, to whom alone Rathbone claimed he owed re sponsibility. The postmaster general tentatively sided with Rathbone. Gen eral Wood then appealed to President McKinley, as president and command er in chief of the army, who had. erect ed the military government of tho island. Here was the issue at headquarters. Where was Hanna then? Was he not. regarded everywhere as the fidus A< bates and alter ego of President Mc- Kinley? Could he not, if any one, have settled the case there and then for Rathbone’s contention? But he did not. President McKinley saw clearly that Rathbone’s claims were untenable and persistence in his acts would be insubordination. In his view there could be no divided author ity in dealing with the whole sum of Cuban governmental affairs. He sus tained tho orders of General Wood, and right there began the fall of Rath bone. Inspector General Burton had scarcely turned ton pages in the postal records until frauds began to pop up , like jacks in their boxes. General Chaffee, limn chief of staff, found them galore in the official figures ol the de partment of posts. Then followed Bristow and Fosnes, the exits under arrest of Rathbone, Neely, Reeves et id omne genus. The courts were not packed to con vict these culprits. The same judges tried them who wore on the bench when the Rathbone-Neely bunch were rolling around in rubber-tired car- I riages as the leaders of the American j official elite. The claim that General ! Wood persecuted them is balderdash! i But for his act, when leaving the | island, in persuading President Palma to issue a general amnesty to Ameri can offenders in and out of jail, Rath bone would today be doing a fourteen ! year convict term in Las Cabanis in ; stead of posing as a martyr and de ! manding of the United States senate j the humility of an honest and able sol idi or. The Transcontinental Rates. ■ It. is always well to have proposi i tions clearly understood before tho i conflict over them begins. Tn The Constitution of yesterday we have it stated by authority that the transcon tinental railway rates that are strang ling southern industries and sucking our commercial blood are to lie con tinued. No reductions are to be made in i order to foster southern trade > with Pacific ports and the Orient. If > any change is to occur it is to be j more strongly against us than for 116. ; .XII our enterprise, employment of cap- i ital and increase of products are to , be piled upon the altar of the. greed of the transcontinental lines. What is the excuse? There is no excuse! Simply a declaration that our cheapness of manufacture must be loaded with extra freight tolls in order to make our prices at the Pa cific ports equal to the prices demand ed by our New England and northern competitors. That is the whole story in a nutshell. It admits that we can produce cheaper, but it announces that we snail not ship on equal terms with our competitors. It is a hold-up, I pure and simple. i ’ The south has to deal principally with the connections made with the Southern and ’he Union Pacific rail ways. These are the roads whose representatives say that they have been carrying southern goods at a , loss. But in the American Almanac, for 1903, in which the summary of all the important lines in the country is made. what, do we find? Here are the figures: Name of Road Operat’K Ex. Net Earn. S(- "hern Paeif1c..548.093.0/7 $23,146,871 l-nion Pacific.. • 23.738,604 18 950,230 What do you think of that? Docs that showing from official figures prove io you that our two main lines for the shipment of southern goods to the Pacific have been doing a. losing business? ’magine their chief spirits sweating across the plains and the ; Rockies carrying our goods at. a dead i kiss! ■ But the end of this nonsense is nt | hand. The Panama canal treaty will I be ratified and the canal built and hen these sharks of th" transconti nental roads will be found in every ■ of the south, down on their mar row bones, begging for freight at less than canal prices! All for the Nominee. (From The Columbia State.) Apropos of the prophecies that this >r that candidate cannot carry the south, one is reminded of the answer once made by old David B. Atkinson, the wheel horse of Missouri democracy, when ask ed whom Missouri wished for a candidate. “Gentlemen.’’ said ho. “the state of Mis souri will give 60.000 majority to any goldarned democrat you put up.” PORT RECEIPTS EXCESSIVE Figures to Date Exceed Last Three Years and indicate Heavy European Demand For the Great Stapie. Secretary Hester s crop statement for the current week shows the port receipts for the present season have to date ex ceeded the port receipts for a similar period last year and for the three years preceding It. The November receipts of cotton this year for tho first twenty days show a gain over last November’s total receipts of 273,000, a gain over year before last of 247,000 and over 1900 of 374,000. A great deal of this gain has been made during th© past week, the receipts for the week showing a gam over last year of 107.000. over the year before of 133,000 and over 1900 Os 176,000. For convenience the subtractions are mado as follows: Total port receipts for 1903 show a gain of 59,1 16 bales over the same period last year, a gain over year before last of 297,076 bales, and over 1900 a gain of 318,225 bales. In spite of the enormous gains in the receipts, both total and port receipts, the total movement of cotton for the eighty one days that have elapsed of the present season shews a loss of 240.000 bales from last year, a gain of 74,000 bales year be fore last and a gain of 45,000 bales over 1900. The Indications are that the present crop is not being taken by American spin- ' tiers. It Is believed that American mills have less than sixty days’ supply ’>f cot- ; ton and tho reports from the New Eng- i land manufacturing districts say that I business is bad because of high-priced ; cotton, that they are unwilling to pay ths current price for cotton because they think they ought to buy It cheaper. In the faco of this tho European prlco for cotton Is very strong, prices rule high and tho cotton naturally seeks the rorts i for shipment aoroad. This fact Is clearly | established by the enormous increase in i the pert receipts over previous years. A ; greater number of bales reach the [Tirts than in the years when the total move ment was larger than the present season. Now the receipts of cotton at all United States i’< rts will be of vital interest to Constitution subscribers on account of tho great SIO,OOO port receipts contest that is now in its greatest Interest. Estimates | were sent earlj- in the season with ap- ; parent reason, showing the total port ra- ; Plunkett’s Letter AN old man told me yesterday that a very great majority of game birds hatched this year have fallen by banter’s gun or the trappers who sell to tho towns. It was a knowing old man who told me this —only a few weeks of the hunting season now past and the birds all gone. 1 1 This shouid stir eve. 1 y thinking man to I the preservation of our birds. Tho poets | even should turn their rhymes and their ‘ sentiments to tlte end that our birds be j preserved. Brown is more than willing ! to do his part—like many another poet, lie Is glad to spout, and I auk. that we let him spread himself. Here hs goes; God made the seasons—made them righty It is man’s bad conduct if there's bligtit. The leaves may sear, As frost draws near. But there is always ha.ppy cheer Somewhere in sight. From budding spring through winter’s ice, In every land tliero is something nice, if we but strive To keep alive Such things as God would have to thrive, There’d be no vice. These seasons all have each their birds, As sure as spring increases hsrds, And every place Is but a grace By songs and beanties sweet to trace, Idk’e cheering words. I Then shame it is that man finds fun i In dealing death by trap or gun, And sToops to st. al 1 O’er wood and lieid j With dogs along o help reveal | Where sweet birds run. ! \h cruel man, your point of view I Claims all things of earth tor yotf. But you will miss Full many a bliss By standing on such creed as this Till birds are few. Could I find words that would Impart The cruelty of such a heart As feels not pain When it has slain A poor sweet bird tnat only came The season’s part Then 1 am sure that men no more Would shoot th ■ birds theey shot before, But full and free, In jovful glee. They’d sing for you and sing for me— Th-y'd sing iTdm door to door. Thev’d sing bv day and sing by night, And' never cease their singing quite, fill al! would say God bless the day That gave us birds to sing tins way Like ”dld-Bob-Whitc.” The cabbage serpent that there Is just now so much scare about is simply one of the fruits of killing our birds. Ts birds | were here as they used to be there won id ! be no vile serpent In tho cabbage to keep ' neonle from eating them and spending Loney to help along the farmer that raises them. So it is with many another thing. They tell me that out west there has appeared an insect which promises to make cotton raising in that section a failure This is all from kilting the birds and no telling what calamities will be fall us If we keep on in this slaughter. It. Is not country people wito kill the great majority of these birds. The town hunr -1 e s are the ones who slay them without i mercy and without thought of their use ■ fulness. Let a crowd of these town hunt i ers get a sight of a drove of partridges ! I and they follow them to extermination. , i An intellig' nt farmer told me that fruit ! trees would go to blight in Georgia if < there was not greater effort made to ■ save the birds. Already market garden- ; ers have discovered that the birds are j necessary. One of these gardeners is now feeding hogs on as fine cabbage as you ' ever saw just from the scare I '.’.at lias i arisen over the poison worm. No worm ■ could exist if birds were as plentiful as I they used to b<\ The bird laws as they | s'.tnd today are of very little benefit to the saving of birds. The season for hunt ing is only d< layed to make a grand rush when the time does arrive. What we need is a prohibition of killing birds for a I number of years. There will be a great many killed in spite of tjie law. but a big part of the town hunters could be I ceipts figured less than 3,000,000 bale*. The present condition indicates that the port receipts this year to January 12 will exceed the. past years, which have been respectively, 1900, 5.315.879; 1901. 5,279,- 507; 1900, 4,846,741 bales. This Is tho time to file your estimate. It should reanh us during November. W« I hava a. special prize of S2OO up for tha best estimate received during Novem ber. This prize will bo awarded with out any reference to tho nearest prize (estimate for the contest, but only to estimates received during Novem ber. It will bo given in addition to any other prize such estimate may take, or if tho best November estimate should not take any other prize, the S2OO will be awarded alone to that estimate. The price of cotton In all the markets is approximately lie. This is kept up in tile face of tho heavy receipts for No vember. It appears that estimates mads earlier in tho season on the total crop must be excessive to warrant the state of affairs. You are directly interested In Tho Con stitution’s contest, and in its subscrip tion list. Should a circulation of 200,000 be reached before the close of this con test, not only the offer takes up the entire SIO,OOO. but the offer will be doubled. The 200.000 mark could b» | reached In one week by concerted action. ; If every Constitution agent should send la (dub of five, ti'e line will be crossed and the prizes will be doubled. • Should one-half The Constitution agents Send t.m subscribers the Brunei ‘•fßwtft would be produced. Should every sub scriber to The Constitution send a new subscriber the 200,000 mark would be greatly exceeded. It Is the opportunity for an to profit largely by persistent, j concerted action. The streets of Jeru : saleoi were kept clean by every man i sweeping before his own door. The prizes can be doubled by every man doing his own. part. Let us have your subscription orders, estimates and remittances all sent in the same envelope to reach us before next Monday. We will t a care of every or der and estimate that may come and t give instant attention thereto. : Address all orders plainly to The At | lanta Constitution, Atlanta, Ga. suppressed by making the law strenuous enough. I am sure that a great number of young men kill these birds without a. thought of the Importance of keeping them hero. Another great number think that this effort to save the birds is only a whim of a few old “fogies.” I am sure that old people do look upon the matter with more seriousness than young people would bo expected to do, but It .s a knowledge among the old of how the birds used to be as compared with today. Any old person can toll you the.t birds used to come through Georgia in November In such numbers as made them seem like a great cloud in tha distance, and they roared like a storm. In those days droves of pigeons and of black birds and swarms of ducks and geeaa came till tin y broke the trees in light ing. These fed in every field and In the woods till there were precious few of vegetable destroying Insects left. An old man that has seen the day when he could step out any morning before breakfast and return in an hour loaded down with ducks, turkeys, pigeons or birds, just as ho choose to hunt, would be expected to feel the extermination of birds more than the young people who never saw such things, but these young people should profit by the knowledge of the old and give their every effort to stop this ex termination. Just a little while longer and there will be no birds. If I was a candidate my platform would be to stop all hunting of birds. Tlie little game that is secured by these hunters is a matter of no profit, and it strikes me as very sorry “sport” to kill as the town hunters do kill. A young fellow went by yesterday and it pleased him to show his partridges and 'brag on the fact that he killed every one of tho drove. These pointer dogs are nearly too much for the rabbits, much less tho birds. The negroes had much rather have one of these pointers than a hound. The old hound gave varmints a chance, but these pointers “set” 'em in their beds and tho negro gets In his work. Tha other trouble Is that with these pointers trained the hunter may hunt rabbits, but you may ba sure that they will kill birds also, if any come in the way. So, 1 think, it would be a good notion to entirely stop all hunting' with firearms. PARGE PLUNKJ*l r £T. A Diagnosis of Kentucky. (From The Chicago Tribune.) Kentucky’s hills ate full of rills. An i all the rills are lined with stills. And all the stills arc full of gills. And all the gills are full of thrills, And all the thrills are full of kills. You see, the feudists dot the hills, And camp along the little Ills, Convenient to the busy stills, And thir Ing for tho brimming gills. And when the juice his system fills. Each feudist whoops around, and kills. Now, If they’d only stop the stills. They’d cure Kentucky's many ills; Men would bo spared to climb the hilla And operate the busy stills. However, this would mean more gills, And that, of course, would mean more thrills. Resulting in the same old kills. So all the hill.-- and rills and stills. And all the gills and thrills and kills Are splendid for the coffin mills. And make more undertakers’ hills. The Ultimate Absurdity. '1 h R \ Air. ( i ,ker has introduced a bill requiring nelsons charged with lynching to be. tried in fed« ril court. His next bill siiouiu be ,i bill to bv entitled an act to wipe out all state lines, abolish all except f loro! -oui'is, and give the negro control of th " southern colonic /. Unc’e Mark’s Rooters. (From Tiii '..’hattanooga Times.) Is the large:.! office in the gift of th' people of th" l i lted States teally chas ing ['m e Marl: iiaan-? -Jt. Douis Bost Di patch. No, it not; ini that is the i:npr< -- sion bi miter El.-.nn.i seems to be sedu 1< usly trying to spread abroad. Th. oniv people wh. > . img M r . Hann;. ~i" tl’ ’ I'l-eo’kd ’’lily Whit-s” in the south, vi o li.-.v- be. n turned down bv the pr< ~- lci< r.t.