Newspaper Page Text
W> RD 0F LYNCHINGS.
Jr*w Orleans Picayune has been
if'JK an extensive record of the
yncnings which occurred during the
past year. It is extensive, and pur
ports to be entirely accurate. Its
figures show that during the twelve
months just ended there seven
ty-two lynchings in fourteen states.
Os this number, sixty-nine were ne
?ro men, two were white men and
me was a negro woman. The offense
in one instance was triple criminal
assault, in thirteen instances crimi
nal assault, in nineteen cases, at
tempted criminal assault while the
other causes were; fourteen for mur
ler, one for assault and murder, elev
en for attempted murder, one for
murder and robbery, one for dual
murder, three for quadruple murder
and one for quintuple murder. They
were distributed among fourteen
'■Vs as follows: Mississippi, thir-
‘ tyuisiana,, nine, Georgia, nine,
a, ;Sduth Carolina and Texas,
six each, Alabama and North Caroli
na, five; Arkansas, four; Kentucky
and Missouri, three each; Tennessee,
two; Indian Territory and Maryland,
one each. Lovers of the curious
win be interested to know that
tfiie greatest number of lynchings in
one month, which was ten, occurred
in August, and the smallest num
ber, which was one, in December.
For the first time in twenty years
there was a lynching somewhere ev
ery month, November, during all that
score of years, having been free.
It will be noted that, nothwithstand
ing all assertions 7 to the contrary,
among them those of President Roose
velt in his recent annual message, by
far the greatest number of lynch
ings was for criminal assault or the
attempt, which number one-half in
the statistics with which we deal.
While the record for last year was
large, it was far below the average for
the past five years. The range between
1001 and 1905, inclusive, was from
one hundred and thirty-five in the
former year, to sixty-five in the lat
ter, making an average of ninety
seven lynchings annually. Hence,
the average for last year was twenty
five below the average for the five
year period preceding.
* m n
RAISING POSTAL SALARIES.
It has been statistically shown that
the cost of food, which constitutes
about 40 per cent of the total expendi.
tures in the home of the average
working man, has increased 17 1-2
per cent during the past decade. The
increase in wages, which w r ent into
effect among the employes of a num
ber of railroads and other corpora
tions on January Ist, or earlier, will
not entirely compensate for the ad
vance in price of the necessaries of
life. Attention, furthermore, has
been drawn to the fact that men
working on a salary, as distinguished
from wage-earners whose compensa
tion is fixed by the day, have not had
the benefit of this general increase
and a movement seems Jo be gather
ing force to see that justice is done
them. In this connection, First As
sistant Postmaster-General Hitch
cock has made public an appeal to
congress to increase the salary of
employes in the various branches of
the postoftice department. Resigna
tions, he says, are increasing at an
alarming rate, and the standard of
men going into the service is fall
ing off. In tlie first and second-classi
offices more than 12 per cent of the
clerks resigned last year, and 2 1-2
per cent of the letter carriers left
the service. He suggests that for
both clerks and carriers, six grades
be established; the annual salary to
be $609, s<Boo, S9OO, SI,OOO, $l,lOO
and $1,200 respectively, with a sys
tem of advancement according to
length of service, and promotions
based on efficiency above the SI,OOO
grade in first-class offices, and the
S9OO grade in second-class offices.
H H
CONGRESS GETS DOWN TO
WORK.
With the present week the second
session of the fifty-ninth Congress
really settles down to business. Lit
tle mlore was accomplished bdjfore
the holidays 'than the routine of or
ganization, enlivened by a bombard
ment of regular and special messages
from the President.
The discharge of the negro troops
from the Twenty-fifth Infantry for
“'Shooting up Brownsville,” prom
ises to be the leading feature of the
week. Senator Foraker is forcing
the fighting. Senator Lodge is act
ing as administration champion, re
enforced by Senator Culberson. No
body is deceived as to the underly
ing significance of all this “fuss and
feathers,” which is recognized as an
attempt on the part of a certain fac
tion in the Republican party to alien
ate the negro vote from the admin
istration, and to secure that support
for the Foraker faction. This theory
is somewhat complicated however,
by rumors that Secretary Taft, who
has been looked upon, to a certain
extent, as the administration candi
date for President, will be appointed
to succeed Chief Justice Fuller on
the Supreme Court bench.
HMM
EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY LAW
More than usual interest attaches
to the decision of Judge Walter Ev
ans, of the United States Court,
handed down at Louisville, Ky., on
the last day of December. It fell
to him to render the first decision
under the Employers’ Liability Law,
and his decision was that the act was
unconstitutional. The administratrix
of N. C. Brooks brought suit against
the Southern Pacific Railroad for
$25,009 damages for the death of her
husband, who was killed in a rail
road accident. The court held that
the litigation was strictly inter par
tes, with which the Uhited Staes had
no concern. He held that the act of
June 11, 1900, only creates and im
poses upon certain common carriers
liabilities to their employers, and in
no way prescribes rules for carry
ing on traffic among the states. Con
sequently, it in no way regulates such
commerce.
H H
POLICY HOLDERS’ COMMITTEE
PERMANENT.
Announcement is made that in
spite of its ill success ir. the recent
elections, the International Policy
holders’ Committee will be continued
as a permanent organization. A
quarter of a million holders of the
Mutual and New York Life Insur
ance companies cast their ballots in
the support of the committee tickets.
So the leaders regard this as a man
date to continue. The plan of the
THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
committee will be to recognize the
policyholders of the Mutual and
New York Life, in cities and towns
all over the country, forming sub
committees of leading citizens, and
thus preparing a better way. for the
showings at the next election. The
committee will see to it that prose
cutions for claims against existing
officers and directors for their acts
under past administrations, will be
pushed to judgment. It will seek to
secure a rigid investigation of the
affairs of the company, which was
not possible for the Armstrong com
mittee to undertake, and finally it
will attempt to secure remedial legis
lation, correcting defects in the elec
tion machinery of the Armstrong law
that may have developed from tV 4 fi e
recent elections.
CARGO SUBSIDY PREFERRED.
The question of ship subsidy will
come to the front during the
present session of congress and now
that the holidays are over, the. Re
publican leaders are attempting to
find .some common ground on which
to concentrate. The committee hav
ing this matter in charge, has here
tofore been inclined to have a mail
subsidy, but the president seems to
favor a subsidy for cargoes instead.
He holds that , more steamers are, to
a large extent, owned by the great
corporations, whereas, the freighters
are operated by the smaller fellows.
It is probable that the compromise
agreement to agitate for subsidies
only to South America may be ex
tended so as to take in the Philip
pines.
HUM
ENGLISH RAILROADS ABOLISH
REBATES.
When the octopus first put forth
its strength in England in the form
of a soap trust, it was so promptly
and completely squelched that it has
not lifted a tentacle since. Repres
sive law’s w’ere unnecessary, and now,
without waiting to be pommelled in
to good behavior with the Big Stick,
the railroads of the United Kingdom
have entered into an agreement,
which became effective January Ist,
to abolish all private rebates to ship
pers. The agreement has been signed
by all the chairmen, and under its
provisions any company giving re
bates to get traffic is liable to a
heavy fine, payable to the| railway
clearing house.
h n *
LIBERALISM IN FRANCE.
The present government in Franco
will not confine its attention alone
to questions growing out of the sep
aration of Church and State. Pre
mier 'Clemenceau will advocate most
extensive Democratic doctrines. The
Weekly Rest Day law and the Em
ployers’ Inability act, passed in June,
1906, will be supplemented by an
eight-hour labor law, old age pen
sions, the gradual purchase of rail
roads by the state and an income
and inheritance tax. The only cloud
upon the French horizon is the pos
sibility of an unpleasant situation
in Morocco.
A report for year ending May Ist,
1906, shows that 76,553 persons were
injured and 9,<840 killed outright by
the railroads of the country.—Peo
ple’s Voice, Norman, Okla.
Don ’t Smile.
(From the Washington Post.)
To the mail carrier the next few
weeks will be just like being on leave
of absence.
More 'Congressmen would be con
tent with their present salaries but
for the high cost of elections.
The outlook for the ice crop is said
to be splendid. It is always splen
did until the consumer has use for
it.
When the. President started out on
this session’s career of message writ
ing he forgot that he had urged econ
r government printing.
The Kaiser, it is said, will also
fire the neixt Reichstag if it doesn’t
suit him. How that must make Pres
ident Roosevelt feel his limitations.
It is a remarkable thing that the
“look of mingled alarm and worry”
that has been called the “automobile
face” is mostly worn by
*
The Maryland penitentiary is re
ported to have cleared $4,000 last
year. Due, of course, to the fact
that lawyers cleared fewer crimi
nals.
Senator Hansbrough says the coun
try must either slow up or blow up.
With the steam we have up now, it
looks as if we will blow up if we
slow up.
*
A Wisconsin man makes the as
sertion that 10 per cent of the mem
bers of legislative bodies are willing
to be bribed. His estimate is too low
for some legislative bodies.
Mr. Carnegie is now heading a
movement for a national board of
health. If he lives long enough, he
may see this country named the
United States of Carnegie.
•e
Miner Hicks’ lecture on how it
feels to be buried for fifteen days
may prove a welcome change from
Mr. La Follette’s lecture on how it
feels to be canned by the United
States Senate.
From the amount of gossip linking
his name with a New York Senator
ship, it appears that Mr. Root is an
other Cabinet member who finds it
hard to “stay put.”
A plate of hot soup, according to
one physician, will warm and nour
ish a man more than six drinks of
whiskey. But perhaps men do not
drink whiskey for warmth and nour
ishment.
n
Before we drop the discussion of
“trial marriages,” a few words from
Mrs. Fisher-Nixon-Blauvelt - Wilson-
Hanlon, of Danville, Ind., who has
just married for the fifth time, might
be of some interest.
“New York,” says one preacher,
“is wearing the soiled underclothes
of depravity under the white cloak
of respectability.” But that doesn’t
shock New York people so much as
to see a man wearing a silk hat with
a sack coat.
3