be done all immigrants who come "under the law." The hostility to the Japanese he insists is "sporadical," "limited to a very few places," discreditable to us as a people and fraught with the gravest consequences. President Roosevelt praises Japan and the Japanese, calls attention to the assistance rendered by the Japanese Red Cross to the sufferers of San Francisco, and maintains that "to shut them out from the public schools is a wicked absurdity." Wherever the federal government has power, he states that it will deal summarily with any small body of wrongdoers who may bring shame upon the great mass of their innocent and rightthinking fellows. He recommends that an act be specifically passed providing for the naturalization of Japanese, that a law be passed enabling the President to enforce the rights of aliens under treaties, and throws down the gauntlet to California by declaring that all of the forces, military and civil, of the United States which he may lawfully employ may be used to insure justice to the Japanese.

Whatever may be the sentiment of San Francisco under the manipulation of orIs the Presi- ganized labor, there can be dent's Position no doubt that the sentiJustifiable? ment of the nation at large is with President Roosevelt in his insistence upon the enforcement of treaty rights. There are nice legal questions involved here, for it is not altogether clear just what power the federal government has to compel a municipality or a legislature to regard treaty rights. But the equity of the case is self-evident. If the federal government enters into treaty relationship guaranteeing any nation the rights enjoyed by the most friendly power, it is impossible to hold for a minute that any state, much less any city, has the right to limit such rights. It is well to bear in mind further in this connection that the recent action of San Francisco in applying a state law against Mongolian school children to Japanese, is simply one phase of a general anti-Japanese policy which has been systematically agitated on the Pacific Coast for the past

SENATOR L. W. LEWIS Author of the resolution introduced into the Iowa legislature calling upon Congress to formulate and propose an amendment providing for the choice of senators by popular vote

two years. It is time that the labor leaders of California were made to realize that California is a part of the United States, and that the entire nation has interests at stake on the Pacific Coast which make it imperative that the Japanese question be treated not as of local interest, but one which affects the conscience and the peace of mind of the nation at large.

and if, as has been surmised, a treaty is in preparation looking to setting limits upon the immigration of Japanese coolies into the United States and of American workmen into Japan, it may have been dictated by wise policy. It is to be hoped that such a treaty is to be something of the near future. Any one who has watched the recent aggressive policy of Japan and seen her high-handed appropriation of Korea, and the anti-foreign effect of her tutelage of China, can not look without apprehension at the inundation of Japanese now sweeping into the Philippines and Hawaii.

The visit of the President to Panama, where he personally observed the work of The President digging the canal, is pic

on a Tour tured on another page. of Inspection The details of the trip are of less importance, however, than the fact that the trip itself was made. For the first time in its history a President of the United States was for more than a few hours on the high seas, out of reach of the government. Thanks, however, to the wireless telegraph, Mr. Roosevelt was in constant touch with Washington and, constructively at least, was in his office. The real significance of the journey is the evidence it gives that the administration is vitally interested in the efficient prosecution of the canal. There have been of late severe strictures placed upon both the method of procedure at the Isthmus and the results there obtained. Especially is this true of the publication by Lindon W. Bates, an engineer of standing. Congress will give the administration reasonable liberty the canal will be dug rapidly. If, however, Congress persists in handicapping the President in his efforts, our position at Panama may become worse than that of France itself, so far as actual results are concerned. We do not fear graft or corruption on the part of those in charge of the work, but if the nation tries to conduct affairs in the style of a town meeting it will be impossible to maintain any consistent policy through the series of years which the gigantic task demands. It is impossible to believe that the President was deceived by a false show of activity. We have a higher respect for the commission and particularly for Mr.

If

Shonts, to say nothing of the President himself, than to believe any of the "yellow" stories which have appeared in the press from amateur investigators or minor officials.

Senatorial

Convention

The past month has been rich in conventions, but none of them was more than The Interstate politically radical that held in Des Moines, December 5. Its purpose was to bring about the election of United State senators by popular vote. Twelve states were represented in its sessions: California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Acceptances to the invitation of Governor Cummins to appoint delegates had been received from the governors of eighteen other states, as follows: Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, Georgia, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and New York. Six of these states-Kansas, Montana, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginiahad appointed delegates. Owing, however, to a number of circumstances, not the least among which was the fact that delegates had to pay their own railroad fare and all contingent expenses, the attendance was not so large as anticipated.

Its Action

represented.

The movement was inaugurated as thoroughly and effectively, however, as though all of the thirty states which had accepted the invitation had been fully Under the name of the Interstate Senatorial Convention permanent organization was effected, with Congressman Jesse B. Strode of Nebraska president, the next meeting to be held, some time this winter, at his call. The following resolution was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That while this convention would much prefer that Congress should submit to the several states a proposed amendment to the Constitution for the election of senators by direct vote of the people, so that the states might pass upon it as a single question, yet, inasmuch as the Senate persistently refuses to submit such an amendment, it therefore earnestly recommends that the legislatures of the several states do, in

pursuance of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, make application to Congress to call a convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Be it further

Resolved, That the president and secretary of this convention be and the same are hereby instructed to transmit duly certified copies of these resolutions to the chairmen of the national committee and of the several state committees of the two leading political parties, also to the governors of the respective states, to each member of Congress, and to the President. That in transmitting the copies to the governors of the states, the president and secretary of this convention shall enclose a letter, urging each of them to lay these resolutions before the legislature of his state.

An executive committee was appointed by President Strode, consisting of the following active workers: Thomas A. Cheshire of Iowa, Thomas J. Kernan of Louisiana, Frank C. Goudy of Colorado, W. R. Ellis of Oregon and C. M. Kimbrough of Indiana. The committee was empowered to prepare an address to the legislature of each state that has not heretofore acted on the subject, requesting the adoption of such resolutions as may be presented from time to time by the Interstate Senatorial Convention, to the end that the election of United States senators by direct vote of the people may soon be an accomplished fact.

War

Weary of evasions of the aw through the "fine" system, which has heretofore The Temperance rendered ineffective all efforts upon the part of in Kansas state officials to stop the sale of liquor, Attorney-General Coleman of Kansas has struck at the root of the trouble with ouster suits against the mayors of four of the principal cities: Mayor Finlay Ross of Wichita, Mayor F. W. O'Donnell of Junction City, Mayor A. D. Kirkwood of Pittsburg and Mayor Peter Everhardy of Leavenworth. There is said to be a case against Mayor Goodlander of Fort Scott ready to file, but for the present tied up on account of political conditions. The mayor of Atchison may be the next one proceeded against, if Topeka gossip be true. Mayor W. W. Rose, of Kansas City, Kansas, who, with the county attorney of Wyandotte county was ousted more than a year ago, was the first municipal executive to feel the hand of the state administration. Since his ousting Mayor Rose has been reëlected, forced to resign, and fined by the Supreme Court of Kansas for contempt in seeking to carry out the policies for which he was first ousted. The charges brought against the mayors figuring in the present ouster proceedings are the same as those brought against Mayor Rose; those of coöperating with the "jointists" in breaking the law, through an understanding by which the liquor sellers were allowed to continue in business upon the payment of a monthly fine. Mayor Rose and at least two of the mayors now subject to ouster proceedings were elected upon campaign promises of "wet" administrations. Attorney-General Coleman and officers of the State Temperance Union, who have been furnishing him with evidence against the mayors, threaten to oust every municipal executive in Kansas if the "fine" system does not go out of use. If these measures are not effective, it is said, proceedings to disincorporate cities which refuse to enforce the prohibitory law will be undertaken. The effects of this crusade upon the part of the state administration have been numerous official "joint smashings" in Kansas City, Kansas, a stricter enforcement of the law in some of the smaller cities, and a considerable agitation for the resubmission of the "prohibition question" to the voters of the state. Senti

ment is still overwhelmingly in favor of the present law, but the agitation in border cities like Atchison, Leavenworth, Kansas City, Kansas, Pittsburg and Wier City, whose residents can step over the line into Missouri to buy liquor, may yet result in an effort to pass in the state legislature at its January session, a resolution resubmitting the question to the voters at a special election.

Second-class Mail Matter

Legislation of the utmost importance to come before Congress during its present session is that looking toward an increase in the rate of postage for secondclass mail from 1 to 4 cents per pound. The ground for this increase is stated to be the deficit in the postal service. But the deficit is not caused by such mail. It is due to a variety of causes, chief among which are the rural free delivery, which costs the government close to thirty million dollars a year, and the abuse of the franking privilege. The postoffice should be paid by the other departments of the government for the service which it is rendering them. We believe in the rural free delivery, and we believe it is the duty of the government to maintain it, but the abuse of the franking system by our Congressmen, either by sending huge packages through the mail or, after the fashion of Congressman Mann, by the use of the mails for personal political purposes, should be prevented by law. Another, though less obvious, source of the deficit is the method of allotting contracts for carrying the mail to the railroads. That method at present involves the making of a contract on the basis of the number of tons of mail carried during a certain number of weeks. The charges for such services are not only higher than those paid by the express companies, but during those weeks in which the tariff rate is being fixed, the weight of mail matter is said to be very much increased by the shipping back and forth between certain points of franked matter. To increase the rate of second-class mail would mean simply that the people would have to pay more for their magazines. As it is, every copy of a magazine sent through the mails pays from 1 to 2 cents a month postage. If the proposed increased rate

that if Philadelphia can not pay respect to living champions of good government, it can at least afford honorable burial to one of the colonial patriots who has been dead so long as to make it possible to do him. honor. On November 22 the remains of James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a man who played a prominent rôle in the creation of the United States of America, were taken from his grave in North Carolina and were buried imposingly in the graveyard of Christ Church in Philadelphia. Any such honor, however belated, is acceptable and it is to be hoped the reformers of Philadelphia will take courage. A hundred years from now they too may be honorably buried. In the meantime they seem to be suffering the fate of most patriots who do not die opportunely.