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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