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Nelvs and Vie ins From All Around THE HAGUE CONFERENCE. (The Nashville Banner.) It seems now certain that the next Hague conference will be held in June of this year, and the matter is engag ing the attention of the several pow ers. There has been only one meeting of the conference. That was held in 1898, at which time a permanent In ternational Court of Arbitration was created, which has, from time to time, settled some international questions. This court of arbitration, however, can consider and settle only such specified controversies as are submitted to it, and has not the power to formulate principles and incorporate them in international law. An effort was made in 1904 to se cure another holding of a conference by the representatives of the powers. This was urged by thhe interparlia mentary union, composed of legislators of fifteen different nations, held in St. Louis that year, and the United States government took the initiative in suggesting such a conference, with the approval of the signatory powers, except Russia, a nation that was then engaged in the war with Japan, but as soon as that war was ended, Russia, through her ambassador at Washing ton, proposed that the time had come for a second conference at The Hague. President Roosevelt at once accepted the suggestion, but as he had previous ly taken the leadership in the matter of urging a conference, he transferred the initiative to the Czar, giving the move ment, however, his thorough approval. THE PEOPLE SELECT SENATORS. (Sanilac Farmer.) For the present, direct election of United States senators in Michigan is held up by politicians who are postponing the reform for as long a time as the people permit. But it is on the way, and perhaps in the course of two or three years it will have been permanently established in this state. Sixteen states now elect their sen ators by direct vote of the people. These states are Oregon, Wisconsin, Illinois, North Dakota, Missouri, Vir ginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Flor ida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Ar kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Oklahoma. All the other states are considering the subject, with a well defined movement in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, lowa, Kansas and Maryland. The house of representatives of Pennsylvania by a vote of 146 to 15 passed the bill legalizing the popular vote on United States senators, and the senate is expected to pass the bill. If it does, 17 states will have adopted the needed reform. “BEN HUR’S” LONG RUN. (The New York World.) The two thousand five hundredth performance of “Ben Hur,” original ly produced at Broadway theatre, was given recently at the Academy of Music. In honor of the occasion Illus trated copies of Gen. "Lew” Wallace’s novel were presented to women pat rons. The house was packed and the audience applauded again and again the famous chariot race scene. Ev en in these days of long runs the record of "Ben Hur” Is remarkable, and the fact that the attendance is as large now as in the first season is more wonderful still. A supper was served the company en the stage af ter the performance. * WATSON'S WErffIIRHISIfeONIAN. WAS PIERCE’S SECRETARY. (The Washington Herald.) Sidney Webster, the recipient of E. H. Harriman’s two-year-old letter, pub lication of which last week created such a hullabaloo, was the private secretary of President Franklin Pierce ’way back in the ’so’s. Mr. Webster had studied law under the great New Hampshire Democrat, and when Gen. Pierce was called to the presidency he brought the young lawyer along to Washington as his private secreta ry. Stuyvesant Fish’s father, Ham ilton Fish, afterward Grant’s secre tary of state, was then a senator from New York, and a few years after, when Mr. Webster had opened a law office in New York, where he has ever since resided, he married Hamilton Fish’s eldest daughter. Curiously enough, he was the mentor for both his brother-in-law, Stuyvesant Fish, and E. H. Harriman, and was directly instrumental in making them mem bers of the board of directors of the Illinois Central Railroad, from the presidency of which Mr. Harriman re cently ousted Mr. Fish. Although still a stanch Democrat of the old school, Mr. Webster has taken no active part in politics for many years. He is de scended directly from the stock that produced the great Daniel. THE CONGRESS OF PEACE. (New York American.) In some ways the congress of peace in New York city may be even more significant than the conference to be held at The Hague in June. On Thursday of this week Baron Rosen, the Russian ambassador, delivered to Secretary Root a circular announc ing that a number of the nations had reserved the right to withdraw from any discussion at The Hague which might commit them to a policy not in keeping with their military programs. The New York gathering, which will have delegates from many countries, will not be restricted in its discussions. The conference may more clearly re flect international sentiment on this movement to minimize the possibility of war than the more conventional peace parliament at The Hague. ITALY’S DWINDLING PEOPLE. (London Globe.) Some strikingly curious population statistics are now being published in Rome. Some years ago the Italian population was one of the most prolific in Europe, and in one period of twenty years increased from 28,000,000 to 33,- 000,000. Now the tendency is strongly in the opposite direction, while, at the same time, emigration, which now reaches a million souls a year, is leav ing whole rural districts depopulated. The annual increase has declined from 7.38 per 1,000 in 1901 to 6.1 in 1906. In the flourishing industrial districts there is some progressive increase, but in the rural provinces, like La buan, Apulia, Sicily and the Campagna it dwindles down as low as 1.1 per I, LIVING AT THE CAPITAL. (The El Paso Herald.) Senators and members of congress are rebelling against the cost of living in Washington. Elaborate entertain ing was inaugurated during the Cleve land administration, and the power of millions was felt and set the pace. Thirty thousand dollars a year is considered a very modest outlay for the maintenance of a family of high flyers ia the national capital. FREEDOM FOR TAR HEELS. (Wilmington Messenger.) “What shall be the composition of the next state Democratic convention, has already become a question of great interest to the people. The question is being discussed by the press in all parts of the state. There is an in creasing demand that it shall be one representative of the Democracy of the state, not composed of the followers of any particular faction or clique; that it shall be as broad as are the prin ciples of the party. The people are tired of being ruled and whipped into line by a few men who claim to be the party managers. They are tired of waiting for that emancipation from bossism in the party which they were promised by the stump speakers in the constitutional amendment cam paign in 1900, and if they are not vol untarily given the freedom promised then they will take it —by force if necessary—freedom within party lines to think and act for themselves and not be held in submission by a few self-constituted bosses. The freedom of thought and action within the par ty Is what was held out to them if that constitutional amendment was adopted. To free themselves from boss rule they voted for the amendment and hardly before the counting of the bal lots was completed the old bosses began to crack the whips over their heads and with the old-time cry of negro domination (to get rid of which they supported the amendment) to frighten them back into abject submis sion to their domination. This fac tional rule, instead of being abandoned as was expected, has become more and more despotic till it has become merely a question as to how much longer the people will submit to it. There is a remedy for the evil and its application lies with the people themselves and the time has come, we believe, when they will apply that rem edy. It can be done within the party and there is where it should be and will be done. It is for the people to take charge of their own political af fairs and to manage their party for themselves.” RESULT OF TWO-CENT FARES. (The Philadelphia Press.) The shares of every railroad affect ed by the 2-cent-a-mile passenger fare law rose Saturday, the day after the act was signed. It is pretty clear that those who buy and sell these shares and those who own them do not believe that 2 cents a mile will be either ruinous or without profit. The rate has come here and is coming over the country without causing apprehension or arous ing alarm in the stock market. Whether the reduction stands or not is for the courts to decide, but the public of shareholders accepts it, thus far, without anxiety. GEN. WOOD’S BIG LEAP. (Florida Times-Union.) Gen. Leonard Wood now succeeds Grant, at New York, and takes the place most coveted in the army. Soon he will take the final step and become the premier soldier of a great instance —an instance, never equaled before save by the favorite of a despot, of the meteoric rise of a soldier without a war. For, even in Cuba, Col. Wood stood aside to let Roosevelt shine at the head of his regiment, and it may be said Wood never had experience ia war save as a physioian! STUDY OF THE NEGRO. An important investigation of the negro in slavery and freedom is now being made by the department of eco nomics and sociology of the Carne gie Institution of Washington, which was founded by Andrew Carnegie. This investigation will be of great im portance of the negro as well as the white race, as it will show what the negro has done and what he is capable of doing. The work is being con ducted by Alfred Holt Stone, an edu cated business man from Mississippi, who is a thorough, impartial and can did student of the economic develop ment growing out of negro slavery and the work of the negro under con ditions of freedom. Mr. Stone has outlined a treatment, which is reasonably exhaustive, relat ing to the economic life of the Ameri can negro, without trespassing on. either the political or social aspects of the topics. He recognizes the diffi culty of treating the one as separated from the other two topics, but the de sirability of such a method is believed to more than outweigh the difficulties involved in its execution. Mr. Stone will treat of the condition of laboring classes during the Ameri can colonial period—the introduction of negro slavery into America as an economic factor. He will also investi gate the efforts to utilize slave labor in manufacturing and other industrial enterprises. His work will constitute an exceedingly important and novel feature in American economic history. He will also treat of the negro as a free man, the result and development of negro industrial schools, their effect with reference to local economic conditions, the negro land owner and all such topics as will bring out clearly and fully the whole industrial relation of the negro to economic conditions. This investigation will be compre hensive in its scope, and it will be at least a year before such progress has been made as will justify a report on this Important subject. GREAT RAILWAY PROFITS. (New York American.) A preliminary report of the income account of railways in the United States, issued by the interstate com merce commission, reveals that the statements of the big companies are not based upon facts. This government report shows that in the history of American railways no earnings in any previous year com pare with the record of 1906. The operating expenses in 1906 left a net earning for the combined com panies of >787,596,877. The average profit per mile to the companies was $3,580. These are the carriers now protesting against carrying American passengers for two cents a mile. EASIER THAN FILIBUSTERING. (The New York Herald.) The Platt amendment gives the United States a right which all intelli gent Cubans recognize—of interven tion and of supervision for the guar antee of stable government and finan cial credit. The only hope for Cuba lies in our exercising this right by the establishment of a protectorate. OLDER THAN THE OLD COUNTRY. (The Salt Lake Tribune.) If American millionaires continue to bring ancient collections over here, this country will soon be elder than the eld country.