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PAGE FOUR t » _ ' ( Summary of Tbents as They Happen Appeal to Governor Hughes. A petition signed by many New York business men has been forward ed to Gov. Hughes at Albany, asking that he empower the Attorney-Gen eral of the State, in person or by one of his deputies, to come to New York county to take charge of the criminal prosecution of officers and directors of the surface, subway and elevated railroad companies who have violated the Penal Code by juggling and destroying books, records, mak ing false reports and stealing mil lions of stockholders’ money. The petition in effect is scathing in crit icism of District-Attorney Jerotne, who has persistently refused to dis turb the traction malefactors time after time, when? evidence of their offenses has been presented to him. It asks the governor to exercise his right to call upon the Attorney-Gen eral to intervene in a scandalous sit uation, and supercede the District- Attorney in taking up a series of crimes, all of public knowledge, which there is every reason to believe will be allowed to go unpunished unless such intervention takes place. Savannah Gets Ready to Receive Im migrants. Savannah is making great prepa rations for the reception of her first cargo of immigrants next month. They will come from Austria, and it is expected there will be about two hundred of them. Council has taken steps to have wharfage facilities fixed up for them and a corps of im migrant inspectors, doctors and oth ers from Washington will be on hand to receive the first immigrants by sea to come to Georgia in a long time. F. P. Sargeant, commissioner general of immigration, is expected to come here to be present when the immigrants arrive. Judge Landis’ Trust in a Thief Jus tified. Two months ago, John E. McCaf frey, a letter-carrier twenty years old, was found guilty of stealing a letter, and Judge Kenesaw M. Landis sentenced him to one year in the House of Correction at Chicago. In imposing the sentence Judge Landis said: ‘ l l am going to give you two months to prepare yourself and wife for this separation. I want you to give me your word of honor that you will at the end of that time go to the House of Correction and give yourself up.” For a moment the young man was dazed by this unusual and unexpected generosity. Then he said: “Your honor, if I am alive I will go to the Bridewell, as you order me to, and give myself up.” He went to work for a construc tion company and saved SIOO in the two months, which he gave to his wife. “I gave my word to Judge Landis that I would give myself up at the Bridewell next Monday,” he said, “and I am going to do it, but it is hard on my wife and the little fel low. ’ ’ WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. “Union Paralysis.” A new disease which threatens to cripple thousands of workingmen has appeared at Chicago. It affects the hands and forearm, and has been pro nounced incurable by Chicago phy sicians. In the medical books the malady is called “Dr. Armbruster’s disease,” but among the labor organ izations as “union paralysis.” It shortens the-tendons of the arm, resulting in a gradual contraction of the fingers, and in some cases a com plete closing of the hand. It is ascribed to strain on the muscles due to the use of modern tools and imple ments. The spread of the disease in Chi cago has been so rapid that the Steamfitters’ Union has started an investigation. Its President, John Mangan, was one of the first to be affected by it. Georgia’s Negro Legislator Quits. W. H. Rogers, of Mclntosh county, the only colored member of the Geor gia Legislature at Atlanta, resigned his seat in the General Assembly. He gave no reason for his action, but it is believed that the passage of the Negro Disfranchisement bill by the last legislature influenced him. Parker Says Congress Should Have Investigated Harriman Fund. Alton B. Parker, Democratic can didate for the presidency in 1904, made the following statement re garding the Harriman fund for Pres ident Roosevelt’s election: “Congress should have performed the services te-4he country that The World and other papers are now at tempting to render it. Senator Tillman introduced a res olution calling for- an investigation of the charge that I deemed it my duty to make in the campaign of 1904. That resolution should have been passed and an opportunity afforded to prove the amounts contributed by tme many various protected industries of the country —the insurance and other gigantic corporations, includ ing the great railroad corporations. This should have been .done, not for the purpose of proving whether my charge was well or ill founded, for surely an investigation was not needed for that purpose after the in surance investigalion, which disclosed a contribution by three companies, out of many aggregating nearly $150,- 000 to swell the Republican campaign chest. Since that happened no man who reads and'is both fair-minded and intelligent can doubt the accu racy cf my statements. But a further and broader investi gation should have been made, cov ering all the great corporations hav ing interests that the Federal Gov ernment could protect or advance, either by the maintenance of exist ing protective statutes, such as the so-called Dingley bill, or by the non enforcement of law, and this to the end that the people might determine whether Federal politics and corpo rate interests shall be divorced or the wicked partnership of the past shall be continued and strengthened by a further assumption of Federal con trol. Such an investigation would have disclosed that contributions were made by corporations whose officers know that within a year —perhaps within thirty days —after election they would have to go to the post master-general for a renewal of their mail-carrying contracts; and, being “practical men,” they realized that the attitude of that official might be affected by the circumstance of a large contribution on the one hand, or by a refusal to contribute at his i equest on the other hand. They had i son to believe that the request for a contribution by the chosen rep resentatives of an administration im plied an agreement to treat them as they had been treated before. For years tariff fed corporations had been solicited for contributions to Republican campaign funds, and they responded generously, and like wise for years the Republican ad ministrations had protected them by tariff duties that enabled them ro ex act from our people a large price for their products than they were demanding from foreigners. Now, what was done with this money ? Much of it was employed to corrupt the voters of doubtful states, until in many of them man hood suffrage has in considerable measure become chattel suffrage. It is evident that it was for that pur pose only that this so-called Harri man ftpid of $260,000 was raised. It was secured on the 29th and 30th days of October and turned over to the National Committee on October Two hundred thousand dollars was then given to the State Commit tee and for what purpose? Obviously in the closing hours of the campaign but one practical use could be made of it, and that was to swell the fund already accumulated to secure beyond peradventure the large floating vote builded up by years of effort to corrupt the electo rate by means of money contributed •by those who were willing to buy favors from those willing to seil them. Court Says Confiscatory. Judges Willson and Audried, in Common Pleas Court at Philadelphia, declared unconstitutional the two ccnt railroad fare law passed by the last legislature. The rate is held to be unreasonable. The decision applies only’ to the County of Philadelphia. The law be comes operative October 1, and in order to have a decision that will cover the entire state, it is the inten tion of the Pennsylvania Railroad to ask the Supreme Court to take action on today’s decision before that date. The law was enacted as a result of agitation during the last political campaign, all parties pledging them selves in favor of such legislation. The railroads, led by the Pennsyl vania and the Reading, made a strong fight against the enactment, but both branches of the legislature passed the bill with practically a unanimous vote. The Pennsylvania was the first to attack the new law, bringing suit to restrain the County of Philadelphia from collecting the fine for violation. The hearing lasted nearly a week, and among the witnesses were Presi dent McCrea and several of the vice presidents of the Pennsylvania Rail road. The contention was that the law was not constitutional, and that the two-cent rate was fixed without any investigation by the legislature as to whether the railroads could make a fair profit under the law, which the company asserted it could not do. All other railroads operating in Pennsylvania brought similar j>ro ceedings in various counties, but no decisions have been rendered, as it ■was understood that the Pennsylva nia’s suit would be made the test case. Cortelyou Isn’t Talking. Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou declined to comment in any way on the statements made by ex-Judge Parker. He said he had no reply to make io any of the specifi cations or charges, or to different pa pers calling upon him to resign as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Cortelyou said several days ago he would give an account of his stewardship in and out of public life at some future date. When asked last night to take the present occa sion to give an account, he declined, and would not specify when the oc casion would arise for his accounting. New Zealand a Dominion Now. A royal proclamation has been is sued at London by which New Zea land is advanced from a colony to a dominion, sharing with Canada this coveted title. Western Union Hides Effects of the Strike. _ The directors of the Western Un ion Telegraph Company declared the usual quarterly dividend, but made no statement of the earnings of the company for the quarter, a failure which conceals the effect of the strike on the finances of the company. The board readopted the resolu tion passed by the Executive Com mittee on Tuesday indorsing and ap proving President Clowry and the other officers for their management of the “late strike.” Among the directors present were J. Pierpont Morgan and Chauncey M. Depew. The meeting lasted near ly half an hour, which is consider ably longer than usual. National President Small, of the telegraphers, said that the fight would be kept up until the meeting of Congress next December, when an at tempt w’ould be made to bring about Government ownership of telegraphs. Fortune for Yale. Archibald Henry Blount, Lord of the Manor of Orleton, Herefordshire, England, has bequeathed $400,000 to \ ale, to be applied as is deemed best for the university. Mr. Blount died in London June 17 last, aged sixty-seven, leaving an es-