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was ever a sensible proposition made, it would seem that that of reciprocal free trade in coal between the United States and Canada is one, but the stand patters would have none of it. The Williams bill is as follows: * That there shall not hereafter be levied, collected nor paid any duty on coal the product of the Dominion of Canada when shipped or carried in to the United States. This act shall take effect, however, upon the issuance of a proclamation by the president of the United States setting forth that the government of the Dominion of Canada has removed the duty now levied and collected by it upon coal the product of the United States shipped or carried into the Do minion of Canada from the United States. It is hereby made the duty of the president of the United States to is sue the said proclamation herein pro vided for upon the official ascertain ment of the fact that the Dominion of Canada has removed the duty on coal the product of the United States enter ing the Dominion of Canada. n Proposition to Reform House Rules. A great many members are weary of the stringency of the house rules. Among these is Judge Dorsey W. Shackleford, of Missouri, now coming to be what the late Charles Fremont Cochran of Missouri would have call ed “an old and experienced member.” The general complaint is that the pres ent rules give the speaker entirely too much power. This is claimed by most Democrats and by a few Republicans. Before Colonel William P. Hepburn was made chairman of the committee on interstate and foreign commerce he would deliver a philippic in each con gress against the rules, but since he was made chairman of that committee he has omitted that speech. Whether the chairmanship caused him to quit or whether he came to realize the fu tility of it, I know not. First and last, Judge Shackleford has made several speeches on the subject himself—ex cellent speeches, too, full of fire and vigor. The judge evidently learned to spell out of Webster’s old blue backed speller and took to heart the story of how an old man tried to scare a boy out of his favorite apple tree by throw ing tufts of grass at him. Finding it had no effect, he began to throw rocks, whereupon the boy came down. So the judge, finding that his speeches did not change the situation and with hope still springing in his breast, intro duced a resolution which will do the work if he can get it passed. His res olution is in words and figures as fol lows: Resolved, That rule 10 of the rules of the house of representatives be amended by striking out the following: “Unless otherwise specially ordered by the house the speaker shall appoint at the commencement of each congress the following standing committees — viz.,” and insert in lieu thereof the following: “There shall be selected at the be ginning of each congress a standing committee, to be called ‘committee on organization and order of business.’ The speaker shall not be a member thereof. Said committee shall consist of twelve members, who shall be se lected in the following manner: Im mediately after the election and quali z fication of the speaker the roll shall be called, and each member of the house, when his name is reached, may cast twelve votes, all of which may be for one person or distributed among several, as he may choose. The twelve persons receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected mem bers of said committee. Said mem bers so selected shall organize by the selection of one of their number as chairman. To said committee shall be referred all proposed action touch- - * Ing the rules, joint rules and order of business. Said committee as soon as selected and organized shall proceed to the appointment of the following standing committees —viz.” * Refused a Senate Seat. Ex-United States Senator Benson of Kansas is a peculiar man. He actually refused an election to the United States senate. True, it was only a forty day fragment of a term, but it was an election nevertheless. It will be re membered that when Senator Burton resigned Governor Hoch appointed Benson to serve till the meeting of the legislature, which would elect for both Burton’s unfinished term and for a term of six years. Benson was a candidate for both the short and long terms. When Charlie Curtis walked away with the long term it so disgust ed Benson that he refused the short term. Sic transit gloria mundi. It Hon. Richard Franklin Pettigrew has been in and about Washington much this winter. It is said that he is rich again. He has been rich two or three times before and on his uppers—his physical, not his mental, uppers, for his mentality is never exhausted. It is also said that he is going to be a candidate for the senate again. Wish he may not only be a candidate, but be elected. He would stir up the Re publican menagerie at a great rate, and, goodness knows, it needs stirring up. Dick Pettigrew is a radical of radicals, but a man doesn’t have to indorse all his ideas in order to wish him well. *3 If by a recent resolution of inquiry which Senator Clay of Georgia intro duced into the senate he can actually find out how much our idiotic course as to the Philippines has cost us, he will have rendered the country a most valuable service and will elicit infor mation which will cause American eyes to bulge out so that they can be knocked off with a stick. If old Ben Franklin could come back to earth, his verdict would be that we have paid dearly for our Philippine whistle. As soon as President Roosevelt laid his big stick on their backs the re bellious and voluble Californians be came mild as sucking doves on the Japanese question and even went so far as to vote for their own efface ment. The Democrats in the house, with five or six exceptions, voted against giving the president carte blanche to do as he pleases in immi gration matters and against mixed schools, but the Californians were quiet as lambs. CHAMP CLARK. It H M SOUTH’S WONDERFUL FUTURE. At the close of the terrible civil war which had shaken this great nation to its foundations, the southern section which had been engaged in the tre mendous conflict emerged from the struggle overwhelmed by the vast ma terial forces against which it had con tended, with its lands laid waste, not a few of the cities reduced to ashes, a hundred thousand of its best and brav est sons cold in death, and all its wealth destroyed by the havoc of war or reduced to the simplest elements from which only by the most unremit ting and laborious exertions It would be possible to secure a bare subsist ence. Forty years have passed away since the south laid down its arms and promptly addressed itself to the arts of peace. From that day to the pres ent hard work and devoted exertion have not ceased, and the result is that the south is growing rich, richer than ever it was before, and richer than Its people dreamed it could become. Its development in those forty years, and THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAff. the wonderful results It has attained at the present day, are ably and com prehensively stated in a recent article prepared by the distinguished statisti cal and public economist who con ducts the Baltimore Manufacturers’ Record. The following paragraphs from it are so full of interest and so much to the point that they are given here: “During 1906 the wealth of the south increased $7,300,000 for every day of the year, Sundays included, or a total of $2,690,000,000. The actual increase in assessed value was $1,076,- 479,788, and this was on the average of 40 per cent of the true value. The amazing magnitude of this gain of $7,300,000 a day is strikingly shown by the statement of the London Ex press, which, bemoaning the inability of Great Britain to keep pace with America’s growth, put the increase in Great Britain's wealth at $7,000,000 a week. “Contrast the south’s increase of $7,- 300,000 a day with Great Britain’s $7,- 000,000 a week, and then think of the future. “Great Britain, with comparatively few natural resources, dependent upon the outside world for nearly all its foodstuffs, for much of its iron ore, for all of its cotton, and a large part of its lumber, and with only 10,000 square miles of coal, of which a large portion has been worked out, has 40,- 000,000 people crowded into an area equal to that of less than half of Texas. “On the other hand, look at the south, with the world’s cotton trade in its absolute domination, with 62,000 square miles of virgin coal fields, with iron ore sufficient to duplicate for years to come the whole iron and steel trade of all Europe, with almost limit less soil capabilities already produc ing over 800,000,000 bushels of grain a year and several hundred million dol lars’ worth of diversified farm prod ucts, able to produce foodstuffs for hundreds of millions, able to clothe the world, able to do more manufact uring than that of the whole country today, with millions of available water power, 500,000 horsepower for electri cal transmission being already under development, and when you have cata logued these you have mentioned only a few of the south’s strong points. “Who can measure the limitless pos sibilities of the south? Who can fully grasp the fact that the south is rapid ly pushing forward to the time when its own wealth will exceed all of the vast wealth accumulated by Great Britain through the ages, and by which it dominates the finances of the world? Given a few more years of this rapid advance by the south, and it will be gin to pile up a vast accumulation of capital, whereas now its business is increasing so rapidly that it requires all of its earnings for active business operations. Surely the vision is one to stir every southern heart, for it is, in indeed, a reality.” Let it be understood that the develop ment of southern resources, energy and enterprise has gone on in a con stantly and rapidly multiplying ratio, and at a corresponding rate of growth in the future, and there is, as far as human foresight can go, an absolute certainty that the wonderful >evolu tion will continue and the enormous results that will be realized will far surpass the wildest dreams and soar above the highest flights of the most exuberant fancy. Every force of continental develop ment is now gravitating southward, and the future of our section is beyond the power of computation—Picayune, New Orleans. m n n When a man is known as a confirm ed bachelor it means that a great many girls have assisted at his con firmation. THE BIG SEVEN. The Brooklyn Eagle has divided the United States into seven transporta tion provinces, for each one of which it names a railway magnate as its con trolling figure. It credits these indi viduals with immense political influ ence in their respective regions by reason of their ability to control the wealth and actions of others in addi tion to their own. James J. Hill, Edward H. Harriman, J. Pierpont Morgan, Janies McCrea, William K. Vanderbilt, George J. Gould and William H. Moore own or control 8 per cent of the entire wealth of this country, or 75 per cent of the whole railroad mileage, with a total capitalization and funded debt of SB,- 465,132,586. The annual net earnings of these roads amount to $525,986,748, or 66.78 per cent of the net earnings of all the railroads of the country. While the control of these seven men is not absolute in the whole of the 150,000 miles of roads credited to them, they largely influence the conduct of 33,549 miles which they partially dominate. The great sway whiph these seven men exercise in the industrial pur suits can be realized when it is re membered that the sale or exchange of products of the country depends al most entirely upon 'acilities for dis tribution. Statistics Kr the year 1905 show that the value of manufactures in this country was $15,000,000,000; farm products, $23,000,000,000; im ports $2,000,000,000. In this aspect of the proposition it will be seen that the nearly $9,000,000,000 of railroad values momentously affected the $40,- 000,000,000 of other industrial wealth. Although the processes of consolida tion which have brought these men into control of so vast a situation have been going on for years, it is only of late that compilations of their im mense individual manipulations have been possible, for the reason that un til lately these concentrations had not been completely developed. When consideration is given to the fact that millions of toilers are en gaged in the operation of the railroads and in the business of agricultural pro duction and manufactures, some idea can be had of the mighty power which these seven magnates hold in the in dustrial and commercial life of the country, and Incidentally in politics. It it It RELICS OF CARPET BAG DAYS. San Salvador, Feb. 27.—The na tional assembly today refused a dona tion to Salvador, made by various per sons in the state of North Carolina, to the amount of $500,000. In reject ing this proffered donation the assem bly expressed the opinion that it would be undignified for Salvador to accept the gift. Simmons on the “Donation.” Washington, Feb. 27.—The dona tion of the $500,000 of North Carolina bonds to Salvador which was declined by the national assembly of that coun try according to Senator Simmons, was made by a New York syndicate, headed by Bird S. Coler. Senator Simmons says that the bonds were issued by the “carpet bag” legislature of North Carolina in 1868 and that the state has never received one cent for the securities. The New York syndi cate, he says, has purchased almost the entire issue, amounting to many millions of dollars, at about two cents on the dollar. The bonds have been offered to a number of states and inde pendent governments in order that suit may be brought against North Carolina and the validity of the securi ties passed upon by the supreme court of the United States. South Dakota Keeps Money. Pierre, S. D., Feb. 27.—The bill or dering the return to North Carolina of $30,000 obtained from that state in gratis bonds, was defeated in th® sen ate today by a vote of 25 to 16. 3