Traffic Association, which covers all the territory east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio-the result may be a modification of the apparently sweeping character of the decision of March 22 so as to legalize the operations of the association. Already, too, has relief been sought through legislation to counteract the effects of the decision of March 22. On March 30 Senator Foraker of Ohio introduced a bill amending the Interstate Commerce act so as to render it lawful for railroad associations to enter into pools under certain conditions (see review of the work of congress, p. 125).

Texas Anti-Trust Law Void.-On February 16 the Texas Anti-Trust law was declared null and void by Judge Charles Swain of the United States district court for the northern district of Texas.

The law was passed by the state legislature on March 3, 1889, and entitled

"An act to define trades, and proper penalties and punishment of corporations, firms, and associations of persons connected with them, and to promote free competition in the state of Texas."

Under this law an indictment had been found against one William Grice on the charge that he, with others, "did unlawfully agree, combine, conspire, confederate, and engage with William B. Hawkins and divers other persons in McLennan county, Tex., in a conspiracy against trade." A capias had been issued upon this indietment, and Grice "restrained of his liberty." It was upon a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of Grice that Judge Swain delivered his opinion declaring null and void the law under which the indictment had been found.

The law forbade all combinations to raise or lower prices, except of agricultural products and labor. In the opinion handed down the judge shows very clearly that this denies the constitutional guaranty of the equal rights of citizens before the law, and is a vicious class legislation which forbids twenty per cent of the population to do what it allows eighty per cent to do. It is a law which deprives the citizen of all his rights of contract, and which seeks to divide citizens, not exactly by the calling they follow, but by the sort of property they hold, and has no good excuse in morals, and no warrant in the | constitution of state or nation. "If there is any one thing evident from a careful study of the act," says Judge Swain, "it is that it is aimed to favor the agricultural class, and is against the merchant and mechanic and all the others, without either reason or justice."

The judge quotes as bearing on the case, the language used by Judge Catron of Tennessee in two early cases, viz.:-Wally vs. Kennedy 2, Yerger, 555; and Van Zandt vs. Waddell, same volume, 270:

The rights of every citizen must stand or fall by the same rule of law that governs every other member of the body politic or land under similar circumstances; and every partial or private law which directly proposes to de stroy or affect individual rights, or does the same thing by affording remedies leading to similar consequences, is unconstitutional and void. Were it otherwise, odious individuals or corporate bodies would be governed by one law: the most of the community, and those who made the law, by another; whereas a like and general law affecting the whole community equally could not have been passed.

"The idea of people through their representatives making laws whereby are swept away the life, liberty, and property of one or a few citizens, by which neither the representatives nor their other constituents are willing to be bound, is too odious to be tolerated in any government where freedom has a name. Such abuses resulted in the adoption of the Magna Charta in England, which is and for centuries has been the foundation of English liberty. Its infraction was a leading cause why we separated from that country; and its value as a fundamental rule for the protection of the citizen against legislative usurpation was the reason of its adoption as a part of our constitution."

Power to Tax Corporations.-In two tax cases coming one from Ohio and the other from Indiana, the United States supreme court, on February 1, gave decisions in effect upholding the right of states to tax capital stock values of foreign corporations claiming to be engaged in interstate commerce, and to impose penalties upon corporations delinquent in tax-paying.

IMPORTANT STATISTICS.

Progress in the South.-The following statistics. regarding the educational and material progress of the Southern states in recent years, have been compiled by Mr. George W. Ochs of Chattanooga, Tenn.:

The revenues for school purposes in the Central Southern states in 1870 were $2,500,000, in 1894 over $11,000,000; the school attend. ance was in 1894, 2,800,000, against 860,000 in 1870. In 1870 there were 14,000 school houses and 15,000 teachers; in 1894, 50,000 teachers and 53,000 school houses. In 1894 the percentage of enrollment at the public schools to the entire population was 21.68 in the South Atlantic states, 23.49 in the South Central states, 21.50 in the North Atlantic states, 19.11 in the Western states, 25 in the North Central states. In 1890 the total enrollment to population in the schools of the South was twenty-two per cent, against about eleven per cent in the decade preceding.

In material development the figures are equally amazing. In the group of Southern states composing the Confederacy, the following statistics are from the official record:

In 1880 the South mined 2,500,000 tons of coal, against 15,000,000 in 1890; in 1880 the mineral output of the South was valued at $7,000,000; in 1890, $58,000,000; in 1880 the South smelted 200,000 tons of iron; in 1890, 1,644,000 tons.

The value of farm lands, farming implements, and live stock increased in the twenty years nearly $750,000,000; banking capital increased in about the same proportion.

In 1880 it cost $11.92 a ton at the furnace bank to make iron in the South, which is to-day made at the cost of $5.20 a ton; and in the past seven months the Southern smelters have sent to European markets nearly 100,000 tons of Southern irons, underbidding the furnaces of Belgium and Germany; Southern cottons now clothe the almond-eyed Mongolian; Southern plows now break the glebe in Argentina; Southern marble adorns the palaces of European princes; and Southern cast-iron pipes underlie the streets of far-off Yokohama.

Merchant Marines.-Great Britain is far ahead of all other nations in the number and tonnage of shipping vessels.

The various merchant marines of the world, in vessels of 100 tons or more, comprise 29,880 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 25,614,089, of which 11,880 vessels, with tonnage of 13,359,026, are British.

In the totals of all kinds of vessels, the second place is held by the United States, which has 3,215 vessels, of 2,334,725 tons. The nearest competitors are Norway, with 2,902 vessels of 1,669,468 tons, and Germany, with 1,657, of 1,943,751. France comes next, with 1,157, of 1,129,575. Italy, Russia, Sweden, and Turkey have each more than 1,000 vessels, indeed Sweden has more than France, but none of them has nearly 1,000,000 tonnage.

In the class of wooden and composite steamers the United States greatly leads all, with 222 of 158,000 tons, against 180 of 41,484 tons in Japan, the nearest rival. In tonnage of this class the United States outstrips even the British empire, the latter having 402 vessels, but of only 108,036 tons. Of iron steamers we have 249, of 390,794 tons, and are surpassed by France and Germany in both numbers and tonnage, and by Norway, Sweden, and Spain in the former but not in the latter respect. Of steel steamers we have 209, of 455,833 tons, and are surpassed in both respects only by Germany, Norway having more vessels but less tonnage. The totals of all steam craft in the United States are, then, 680 vessels, of 1,005,459 tons. We are surpassed only by Germany, with 984 vessels, of 1,436.539 tons, and are approached only by Norway in number of vessels, 638, and by France in tonnage, 930,785. All the rest are far behind.

In sailing craft of wood and composite structure the United States leads the world, surpassing even the British empire. The figures are; United States, 2,511 vessels, of 1,193,379 tons; British empire (colonies included), 2,314, of 708,550 tons; Norway, 2,156, of 1,042,084 tons. In iron sailing craft our sixteen, of 16,863 tons, are so far behind Germany's 185, of 199,455 tons, as to be quite out of reckoning. We are also surpassed in both numbers and size by France, Norway. Denmark, and Holland, and by Argentina and Italy in numbers, and just equalled by Sweden in numbers. Our eight steel sailing vessels, of 19,024 tons, are vastly distanced by Germany's fleet, surpassed in numbers and tonnage by the fleets of Holland,

France, Italy, and Norway and in numbers by those of Argentina and Denmark. In the grand total of all kinds of sailing craft the United States leads all the world excepting the British empire, but is closely pressed by Norway, the figures being: United States, 2,535 vessels of 1,229,266 tons, and Norway, 2,264, of 1,142,984 tons. All the rest are completely distanced.

Iron Production.-The following table shows the total production in gross tons of pig-iron in the United States during 1896, as compared with the three preceding

Gold Production.-In 1896 the United States produced nearly $5,000,000 worth of gold more than in 1895. According to an estimate of Mr. Preston, director of the mint, made at the end of the year, the production of the country last year was $51,500,000. An increase of about

$12,000,000 over 1895 was also estimated in the world's total production. The troubles in the Transvaal, the great strike at Leadville, Colo., and the closing of some of the largest mines in the Cripple Creek district, interfered seriously with mining operations. The production of silver is estimated to have decreased during the year by about two and a-half or three million ounces.

Debts of Various Nations.-The growth of national. debts in the leading countries of the world is shown in round numbers in the following table, the figures of to-day being compared with those of twenty years ago:

Japan and the Argentine Republic belong to the states that have in recent years been contracting debts on a large scale, the former now having $235,000,000 and the latter $370,000,000. Borrowers on a somewhat smaller scale are Belgium with a debt of $445,000,000, Holland with $460,000,000, Canada with $255,000,000, an increase of $100,000,000 since 1875. The total debt of Great Britain including the colonies is $5,485,000,000, a sum almost equal to the debt of France.

One reason for the enormous increase of national debts is probably the fact that money is now much cheaper than it was twenty years ago. At present the total sum of interest to be paid on national debts is $1,115,000,000, while twenty years ago it was $1,000,000,000, although the total debt at that time was $5,000,000,000 less than it is at present. In 1875 Spain and Mexico paid as high as 15 and 18 per cent interest. Although the national debt of France is so enormous, yet it pays comparatively the smallest amount of interest money, namely, $185,000,000, while Great Britain pays annually $125,000,000; Russia, $120,000,000; Italy, $117,000,000; Spain, $56,000,000; Austria-Hungary as much as $186,000,000. The latter country accordingly pays more interest than France, although the French debt is twice as large as that of the Austrian empire. It is interesting to note that each inhabitant of France must, on the average, pay each year $4.75 interest on the national debt; each Russian, $1.20; each Englishman, $3.15; each Austrian, $7.50; each Italian, $3.80; each Spaniard, $3.25; each American, 42 cents; and each German, 33 cents.

Newspaper Circulation.-A recent estimate of the annual circulation of newspapers in the world, gives the aggregate as 12,000,000,000 copies.

If piled upon one another and pressed down, they would reach to a height of nearly 500 miles. Supposing that, on an average, a person reads his paper five minutes each day, then altogether each year there is spent in the perusal of these outputs of the press a time equivalent to about 100,000 years. It is estimated that the yearly output consumes 781,250 tons of paper; and that if the copies were produced at the rate of one each second, they would require 333 years for their production. If spread out, they would cover nearly 10,500 square miles.