with whose "vapid, empty and groundless pretentions, the Government of Nicaragua had evidently become tired." Mr. Turpie renewed his pleas for a postponement of the question until the Nicaragua Canal Commission should report, and closed with a motion for postponement of further consideration of the bill until January 10.

The Peoria

There is a growing opinion Herald that the Maritime Canal Comments. Company and Senator Morgan are quite anxious for action to be taken before the Nicaragua Canal Commission, appointed by President McKinley in 1897, has made its report. What that report will be is not even surmised at this writing, but it is hoped that no financial schemes will be advocated which in the end will mean that the United States will pay the bills and a corporation of capitalists will reap the profits. The Peoria Herald thus comments editorially:

Senator Morgan is correct when he says that probably eighty per cent. of the people of the United States are in favor of the construction of the Nicaragua Canal. But we will venture the assertion that ninety per cent. of those who favor it are also in favor of this country building it, without paying anything to promoters of the project. It appears now that, contrary to what has been asserted, no private parties have a concession to build the canal, but that it is conditional, and that the Central American

States are in favor of its being built directly by this Government. Of course, those who tried to procure the exclusive rights never intended to build such a gigantic work. Their intention was to get the Government to do this, while they would reap a great many millions profit for the privilege of allowing it to do so. It is the opinion of the Herald that there has been enough robbery in this direction. The building of the Pacific Railroads-really by the Government, but under the direction and in the name of certain private individuals, who have grown so enormously rich that they even can suspend an act of Congress, as in the case of the Government harbor at San

Pedro, Cal.,-should have taught those who have the interests of the Government in charge that they would better do the thing At least that is the direction in direct. The Herald believes that there will be little which public sentiment is crystalizing now. trouble in getting a measure through Congress, if the necessary arrangements can be made for the Government building, owning. and controlling the work, but there will be trouble when it is proposed to enrich a syndicate and throw away money that might as well be saved to the people. There is no doubt that there is a great deal more anxiety for the building of the Nicaragua Canal now than there was a year ago, owing to our possessions in the Pacific, and this very anxiety will be made use of by the men who want to get rich for nothing. There will doubtless be a strong and very rich lobby, and members of Congress will be approached as they have not been since the old days of the Credit Mobilier. But the people will have their eyes on Congress.

case:

We cannot annex the Philippines without a large increase in our standing army.

If we annex the Philippines, we shall have to conquer the Filipinos by the force of arms, and thereby deny to them what we claim for ourselves—the right of self-government.

We shall surrender the present safe and independent position by which we are guaranteed the tranquility and the fruits of peace, and force ourselves into European

and Asiatic entanglements, implying war and the preparation for war.

We shall become a militant instead of a peace-loving nation.

We shall seek to conquer by the force of arms instead of by our own industry, commerce and superior mentality and civiliza

tion.

We shall be compelled to open the gates and admit the Chinese. Malays and slave laborers who may come from Our new possessions," since the Constitution of the United States forbids the interdiction of the free entry of men and their products between our States and our Territories.

Our Constitution requires the judges of our Federal courts to make their decisions general and applicable to all the States and Territories; and the contracts for the specific enforcement of labor and the performance of personal service will necessarily have to be interpreted in the light of these laws, and may become generally applicable to the workers of the United States. The decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Robertson vs. Baldwin, rendered last year, paves the way for a broader decision on these lines, and increases the peril.

The demand for expansion of trade abroad is based upon the idea that we manufacture to a larger extent than we can consume, when there are so many of our people who are workless, ahungered and ragged.

Expansion of trade abroad has for its basis the contraction of the stomachs of men, women and children at home.

The policy of imperialism is a declaration that self-government has failed, and that the people cannot be trusted; that the dollar is of more conseqence than man, and plutocracy and militarism nobler than humanity. The attempt to divert the attention of our people from the ills from which we suffer at home to foreign questions will fail.

The principles of liberty and justice have been imbibed by our people too many years to permit them to be cheated out of their birthright.

The institutions of our Republic have taken root too deeply in the minds and hearts of our people to permit us to become a nation of conquerors, or to dominate by force of arms a people struggling for liberty and independence.

We do not oppose the development of our industry, the expansion of our commerce, or the power and influence which the United States may exert upon the destinies of the nations of the earth. On the contrary, we realize that the higher intelligence and

standard of the life of the American workers will largely contribute towards attaining the highest pinnacle of industrial and commercial greatness; and these achievements in the paths of peace will glorify the institutions of our Republic, to which the grateful eyes and the yearning hearts of the people of the earth will turn for courage and inspiration to struggle onward and upward, so that the principles of human liberty and human justice may be implanted in their own lands.

America, and particularly American institutions, are not only worthy of our love and veneration because they give us greater freedom than those of any other nation, but the institutions of the United States represent a principle—the great principle of selfgovernment of the people, for the people, by the people-self-restraint as well as great power. This principle we shall only prove ourselves worthy of representing and holding forth as an inspiration for the peoples of other nations to emulate and seek to establish, by manifesting restraint upon ourselves or upon those who would thrust us out of our physical, moral, progressive and powerful sphere into the vortex of imperialism, with all the evils which that term impliesmilitarism, despotism and venality on the one hand; slavery, misery and despair on the other.

The flag of our Republic should float over a free people, and must never form a cloak to hide slavery, barbarism, despotism or tyranny. America, as we know it, with its blessings of peace and stability, must not be hazarded for a new era.

The possessors of the wealth of our country enjoy liberty and freedom, no matter where they may be or wherever they may go. It has always been the hewers of wood and the carriers of water-the wealth producers whose mission it has been not only to struggle for freedom, but to be ever vigilant to maintain the liberty or freedom achieved; and it behooves the representatives of the grand army of labor, in convention assembled, to give vent to the alarm we feel from the dangers threatening us and our entire people, to enter our solemn and emphatic protest against what we already feel, that with the success of the policy of imperialism, the decadence of our Republic will have already set in.

Forever in thine eyes, O Liberty.
Shines that bright light
By which the world is saved:
And tho' they slay us,
We shall trust in thee."

Natural Advantages.

The business men of the South are given to boasting of their natural advantages in manufacturing facilities. Nearly all the cotton in the world is raised at their doors, the areas of coal and iron lands are boundless, labor is so cheap that no civilized country in the world can compete, and the South has thus far escaped the tyranny of labor organizations." All that is needed to make of the South the greatest manufacturing center in the world is capital!

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These boasts are based on facts, and Alabama iron is creating havoc in the iron markets of Europe-pig from Birmingham, Ala., having been sold in Birmingham, Eng., at a lower price than it can be made by the "pauper labor of Europe.

The cotton mills of South Carolina and Georgia have made serious inroads into the business of the cotton mills of New England, resulting in reductions of wages in the New England States-immediately following increase in the tariff. The people of New England seemed to agree that because of the cheap cotton, cheap labor and the absence of any legislation that secured better treatment for the human than for the brute," the Northern cotton manufacturer can reap greater profits in the South than in the New England States.

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One would suppose that possessing these advantages the capitalist in the South would be content, but not so! He demands more profit, and to secure that which his soul craves he reduces the wages of his employes.

Non

The Journal of Labor, of Unionism Atlanta, Ga., ascribes the the Cause. recent reductions of wages in Southern cotton mills to the defenseless-and we may say the senselesscondition of the mill employes in that section. Those poor, innocent-and we may say ignorant-employes have joined in the applause when their masters, often capitalists from the North have boasted of the cheap and independent labor of the South. Those same employes have taken a pride.in the fact that they have "thus far escaped the tyranny of labor organizations." The Atlanta paper mentioned

says:

The barons in control of the Augusta cotton mills have decided that the dividends on their investment are not large enough, and therefore have instituted a cut amounting to from 10 to 25 per cent. in the wages of the operatives, which goes into effect on Monday morning. This, notwithstanding the fact that the raw material from which to produce cotton goods is cheaper than ever before, and the knowledge that big dividends have been the rule in these mills, to which they have erected large additions,

during the past year or two, indicating a high state of prosperity. The most cruel

part of this reduction is that those getting the lowest wages suffer the highest average cut. The superintendents and managers, at from $2,000 to $5,000 per year, are not cut at all, while the poor man, woman or child whose daily wage was 60 cents will now receive only 40 or 50 cents per day. And there is no proportionate reduction of the hours of labor. No class of people in the South receive such low wages as the cotton mill operatives.

It is noted that now the Augusta operatives are brought face to face with a big cut in wages, they are organizing. This is well, but the chances are that if they had kept up a strong organization this cut would never have been proposed. A corporation, be it ever so greedy, will always think twice about attacking an organized body of men or women, whereas if they are only to be contended with individually, they fear nothing and proceed to post notices of wage cuts with little fear of trouble.

It is believed that unless the mill operatives throughout the country go about organizing at once, that they may stand unitedly for a living wage and equitable treatment, the cut inaugurated in Augusta will extend to every cotton manufacturing plant in the South. This will be a great calamity for every one except the foreign stockholders who get the dividends.

The Augusta correspondent of the Evening Journal states that already the merchants are feeling the effect of this cut, some reducing stock and others preparing to retire from business. He says:

"The operatives have the sympathy of the people with them. They cannot see why it has suddenly become necessary to cut wages in order to allow the mills being operated, when during the past twelve months all the mills have made additions to their plants. The King mill has been nearly doubled in size, the Sibley also has built an addition, and all the mills have added to their machinery or otherwise made costly improvements, and none of them have failed to pay their regular dividends. The Graniteville and Vancluse mills, which are not included in the association, will not order a cut, and President Hickman, of these mills, has declared that a wage reduction is not necessary. Hence the belief of the operatives that the mill owners seek to increase their profits at the expense of the hands is shared by many not directly inter

ested. Indirectly everybody in the city feels interested, for the wages of the operatives form a large part of the money put in circulation here, and it is roughly estimated that the cut in wages will amount to a withdrawal of $100,000 from the amount usually spent by the operatives during a year, and this will affect every business. Already large orders for goods have been cancelled by some of the leading merchants in Westend, and others are letting their stocks run down preparatory to going out of business altogether, as they fear that their customers will be unable to meet their regular accounts and thus leave the merchant stranded.

That this cut in wages is unjust and clearly for the purpose of putting larger profits in the pockets of Northern stockholders is conclusively shown by the statement that two of the mills have refused to enter into the wage-cutting compact, and the action of these managers is certainly commendable."

In commenting on on the Profit strike in Southern cotHungry. ton mills, the Tradesman, of Chattanooga, Tenn., one of the best trade journals published, says in its issue of December 1st:

We suspect that owners of Southern mills are more anxious to make money, than they are to win in an alleged conflict with the East and the rest of the world.

And we imagine the mill operatives, in the South, think more of getting wages that will give them a decent living, than they are to assist the masters in "downing creation" in the cotton trade, they working on starvation wages, to help on the game.

The Tradesman knows very little about the merits of the case at Augusta. What we do know is that, unless Southern men and women who have studied the situation there are mistaken, the masters make money for their stockholders, while the operatives are able to keep body and soul together, on their pay, and barely that. This kind of a combination for beating New England and Europe, will cost more than it will come to. Let there be a decently fair divide between the capital which provides the means to the laborer for earning wages, and the laborer who does the work, Justice and fair play are more important than