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houses, authorizing a company to construct the long-needed bridge connecting New York City with New Jersey, and to build an approach to this bridge connecting it with the docks on the west side of the city. The representatives of this borough, to their credit, voted against the measure, on the ground that the city's interests were not guarded. The representatives of other districts, however, gave such a majority in favor of the bill that it would have been forced upon the city concerned had not the necessity of the Governor's signature given the citizens of New York an opportunity to protest. No sooner, however, did the news of the bill's passage reach the city than protests came from every quarter where the character of the measure was understood. The strongest of these came from exMayor Hewitt and Comptroller Coler, both of whom pointed out that the bill gave the company practical control of the docks for several miles, and gave it monopoly rights over the immense traffic that passed over them. The city already owns docks to the value of a hundred million dollars—having practically paid for them out of the profits-and both the Comptroller and the ex-Mayor believe that the city itself should build and own the railroad connecting them. Mr. Hewitt, in fact, made this suggestion when he was Mayor and when public ownership proposals were less in the air than now. The formal objections of the city's Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which were offered by the Comptroller, were presented the day following. They showed that the company in question had for six years possessed the right to build the needed bridge, having received it from the National Government in 1894, and that it neither had begun work upon the bridge heretofore nor would it be required to do so under the present act. It received an invaluable franchise for a railway along the water front, without agreeing to build the bridge. Furthermore, it received this franchise in perpetuity, in violation of the provision of the city's charter that all such franchises should revert to the city without cost at the expiration of fifty years; and, finally, the franchise proposed did not even fix the tolls to be charged. The bill did contain the provision that the tolls should be "uniform," but this,

as the Board pointed out, was of little avail, since the ownership of the proposed road by a single railroad company would enable this company, without loss to itself, to fix rates so high as to throttle competition. The Merchants' Association and other business organizations have made similar protests. The veto of the bill by Governor Odell is practically assured.

City Heating Franchises

Central heating stations are becoming so common as to demand attention. Although the first plant of this sort was built at Lockport, N. Y., in 1877, and others were added soon after, it is only within the past few years that the sale of heat has become important. The early stations were constructed as heating plants only; the recent impetus to this service is due to the utilizing of the heat otherwise wasted in the making of electricity. It is fairly well known that only a small percentage of the energy stored in the coal burned under the boiler of an electric-lighting station can be made available as electric current. Few realize, however, that at best only some fifteen per cent. of this energy is utilized, and generally only ten to twelve per cent. The bulk of it is wasted in the form of exhaust steam from the engine cylinders. The exhaust, of course, is greatest in amount when the demand for light is heaviest, and this occurs in winter, when the maximum quantity of artificial heat must be provided. At scores of electric light or combined electric light and railway or other power plants this exhaust steam is now so employed as to add at least forty per cent. to the energy utilized. This is accomplished by the simple process of piping the steam, or the water heated by it, to private consumers. It was thought at first that central heating plants were practicable only for compactly built portions of large or fair-sized cities, but electrical companies are now selling heat in small towns. Among the larger places having central heating plants are Atlanta, Ga., and Seattle, Wash., while in New York City a company has been supplying steam for both heat and power for a number of years. Included in the smaller towns having this service are Delaware,

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and Red Oak, Ia. The cost of service varies with local conditions, such as price of fuel, number of near-by consumers, length and coldness of winters, but a charge of from five to ten dollars a winter for a room of the ordinary size seems to be usual. The attractiveness of the service is not due so much to its low cost as to its freedom from the dirt, labor, and trouble occasioned by the storage and handling of coal, the care of furnaces, and the removal of ashes from private buildings. Then, too, where soft coal is used the smoke nuisance may be lessened by the substitution of a well equipped and operated central station for hundreds or thousands of separate furnace fires, in many of which the combustion is very incomplete. Inasmuch as all these central heating plants must use the public streets for their piping systems, it is evident that there is rapidly coming to the front a new class of municipal franchises. Although all the central heating stations thus far appear to be owned by private companies, probably the day is not far distant when municipal ownership of this service will at least be a subject for earnest discussion.

The Financial Situation

The recently issued Government report on the condition of winter wheat predicted a crop of four hundred and sixty million bushels, if the condition is maintained, as against three hundred and thirty millions last year. While one could hardly expect that this promise would be fulfilled, present indications continue to show the probability of an immense harvest of winter wheat. The corn outlook seems to be even more encouraging, but from all agricultural sections reports are at hand that, despite promising crops, there is a scarcity of hands. These conditions are also characteristic of the Hawaiian sugar plantations, although many Porto Rican laborers have been imported. All agricultural signs seem to point to a combination of large crops and good prices. In other staple markets prices show a tendency to harden. The great expansion of exports continues, and there has been a further increase in railway earnings. Thus the volume of transactions, as reported by bank clearings, has

had a firm foundation for establishing a new high record other than that furnished by such mergers as that long rumored and finally officially proposed last week between the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railways on the one hand, and the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy on the other. On one day of last week the exchange of checks between New York Clearing-House banks reached the aggregate sum of nearly five hundred and fifty million dollars-a settlement effected with balances of only thirteen millions. While the volume of transactions on the Stock Exchange may have been the proximate cause for this enormous increase, optimists say that it is not greater than the real increase of the wealth of the country at large. On several days of the week the volume of daily transactions averaged over two million shares, and on one day Union Pacific Railway represented over six hundred and fifty thousand sharesthe largest number of full shares belonging to a single company ever dealt in on a single day. While buying power so far has represented that part of the country's earnings in excess of the sum which must be devoted to the purchase of necessaries, we believe that there is now a near approach to that line in the upward movement, fixed by the actual and prospective value of securities, which cannot be crossed without the certainty of sharp reaction.

British Consols

Last week the British Government offered to borrow $300,000,000, paying therefor 234 per cent. until 1903 and thereafter 21⁄2 per cent. on its issue of bonds (or consols) at 942. As within the past few years British consols have sold at twenty points higher than this figure, the present quotation, though representing an emergency credit, was attractive enough to invite a sevenfold over-subscription. Thus it is evident that the entire loan could have been placed at a better rate and could all have been placed in England. Nevertheless, Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Chancellor of the Exchequer, had thought wise to offer a part for sale in this country. The popularity of that procedure was evident when, among a multitude of smaller applications, insurance companies sub

scribed for from five to ten million dollars' worth each, and one syndicate offered to take fifty millions. If we turn to the quotations for United States Government bonds, we will note that the return from them is below two per cent. One reason for this apparent advantage to our credit lies in the fact that we allow banks owning our securities to issue currency thereon.

Last week Mr. ConThe Chinese Indemnity: ger, United States The Foreign Side Minister to China, arrived in this country, and was asked for his opinion as to the amount of indemnity which China should pay to the foreign Powers for damages done to their interests during the Boxer outrages. He replied that China could pay three hundred million dollars, accompanying his answer by the statement that it would be necessary for the Government to practice economy, and that the time of payment should be extended over a long term of years. This sum is twenty-five million dollars less than the total indemnity claims submitted by the foreign Ministers at Peking-a reduction from the first reported claims, and largely due to the efforts of Mr. Hay, our Secretary of State, who has now proposed to reduce the indemnity to two hundred millions. His proposal to minimize the indemnities has been received with frank favor by Great Britain, Japan, and Russia, the Powers which, with the United States, performed practically the whole work of rescuing the Legations at Peking last summer. A supplementary proposal comes from Russia to repeat an operation from which that Power has already achieved a somewhat alarming success with China, namely, to advance to the latter country the sum required to pay the indemnities. This sum will not come at all from Russia, but, as before, from France, a Power which must watch its partner reap all the profit while it again bears the burden of the Dual Alliance, for Russia wishes to retain Manchuria as a pledge for the loan, thus securing her ends in that region. The action of Germany has been gratifying in so far as Colonel Hay's proposal has received the approval of Count von Bülow, Imperial Chancellor. As, however, this requires some sacrifices on the part of Germany,

the Chancellor feels that it must first be settled whether or not the other Powers are also ready to make similar sacrifices; if these other Powers will do the same, Germany will reduce her demands. The action of the British representatives at Peking calls for special chronicling and commendation. Sir Ernest Satow, the Minister, and Sir Robert Hart-really a Chinese official, as he is Chinese Commissioner of Maritime Customs-declare that not a penny shall be exacted on behalf of those missions whose representatives have already collected indemnities, and that in any event a money indemnity should either be waived or reduced to moderate proportion, if the Chinese Government will extend the present area for trade. So far as the Powers can agree to substitute wider trade for a money indemnity they will serve both their own interests and those of the Chinese Empire.

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well reply that from the claims of the foreign Powers the value of the thousands of articles stolen or destroyed by foreign soldiers, and an indemnity for the many murders and outrages committed by those soldiers, ought to be deducted. The demand of Germany and France that China should defray the cost of punitive expeditions, which have more than paid for themselves by looting, is monstrous. These Powers are singularly out of place in making such a demand, from the fact that the first named took no part at all and the latter but little part in the relief of the Peking Legations-the pretext for the despatch of foreign troops to China. Yet these two Powers, with all the others save America, England, and Japan, have presented claims for the cost of maintaining their forces in the Chinese Empire since the Legations were relieved. Absurd also is the attitude of the smaller European nations--Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland. Encouraged by the attitude of Germany and France, they have now asked for such enormous individual indemnities in the light of their small military contingents as to awaken a suspicion that they may be the tools of greater Powers. Mr. Hay has now made the pro

posal that the apportionment of the aggregate indemnity should be made only on the basis of the participation of each nation in the rescue of the Peking Legations. The difficulty with this otherwise sensible proposal is evident in the protest by some that the number of the troops of each Power available in China last summer was determined by accident or by the nearness of other possessions. America's part in all the indemnity proceedings is thus seen to be based, not upon greed or upon any estimate of China's power to pay, but upon equity alone.

Dr. Tucker Misrepresented

Last month the New York "Times" reported President Tucker, of Dartmouth, as saying in an address at Boston, "The Christian Church has been set back nobody knows how far by the behavior of

missionaries in China." Dr. Tucker's words on such a subject carry great weight with the thoughtful public, but this statement was so incompatible with all the evidence which we have been able to gather by careful inquiry as to the conduct

and work of American missionaries in China that we were unwilling to accept the "Times" report until it was confirmed by Dr. Tucker himself. At our request he has sent us a copy of his address. Dr. Tucker was speaking on "The Message of the College to the Church," and we quote, from an authorized copy of his address in full, what he said concerning the situation in China:

The past century was a missionary century. It began and contínued under the incentive of motives for the redemption of the world. The saying of young Mills to his college friends, "We ought to carry the Gospel to dark and heathen lands, and we can do it if we will," caught the heart, the conscience, and the faith of the Church. As a result the colleges poured out their wealth of consecrated life into dark and heathen lands. The record of the century has been a continuous record of heroism filling its pages with the names of heroes and martyrs. But, lo! as the century ends they and their work are discredited in the eyes of the world. Christendom has been exposed before paganism. The very nations which have sent out apostles to preach the Gospel have shown that they have not learned how to keep the commandments. What chance has the missionary in China, under the present ethics of Christendom? You recall the proverb, In the presence of arms the laws are silent." It looks as if we must add, "The Gospel also." It is very difficult to know what to say to

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young men in these days of inconsistency and confusion. Suppose a young man of zeal and integrity should ask one of you where he could put his moral power to the best advantage or according to the greatest need to-day, what would you tell him? That would hardly have been an open question at the beginning of the century. Mills gave the true as well as the heroic answer. What has made the difference to-day? The failure of Christendom to support Christianity through its practical moralities. For "Christendom," as was said by Professor Christlieb, "is the world's Bible. Ye are our epistles-known and read of all men."" The Church has been set back nobody knows how long by the behavior of Christian nations in China. And a like result must follow in degree everywhere wherever there is a break between the faith and the morals of Christendom. Therefore I argue that the only sufficient support of sentiment in our college is morality in the Church and the Nation.

To say, as Dr. Tucker does, that "the behavior of the Christian nations in China has set back the Church nobody knows how long," is a very different thing from saying that the conduct of the missionaries in China has set back the Church. By the Christian nations he means Russia, Germany, France, England, and the United States. Happily, the attitude of our Gov

ernment has been such as to earn the

confidence, we think, of the Chinese. We think there is just ground for Dr. Tucker's feeling that the influence of Christian civilization has received a serious blow from the conduct of the soldiers and officers representing some of these so-called Christian nations. The violence, the cruelties, and the barbarities practiced by those who are Christians only by virtue of the fact that they are citizens of countries which have enjoyed benefits of Christian civilization for centuries have made it all the more necessary that the missionaries, who are still heroically doing their humanitarian and self-sacrificing work in China, should live and act in accordance with the highest standards of unselfishness. A sincere love of his fellow-men, demonstrated by his daily attitude towards those even who are injuring him, is the only power which can permanently sustain the missionary in a foreign land among people who instinctively look upon him with suspicion. We sincerely believe that the great body of missionaries in China have done their work No doubt individrelying on this power. ual mistakes have been made, as they are

made by the very best of men in all departments of iife, but all the evidence of the most judicial observers among travelers and officials in China is that the missionaries, as a body, have sacrificed their comfort, their property, and often their lives in carrying out the principles of the Gospel which they are endeavoring to bring to the knowledge of their fellowmen in China.

Korea

Last week the successful conclusion of negotiations for a very large French loan to construct a railway from Seoul, the capital of Korea, to Wiju on the Chinese (now really Russian) frontier was announced. The interest is put at five and a half per cent., and it is asserted that the customs have been hypothecated to France. As the RussoChinese Bank will "finance" the loan, it is easy to see that France's partner in the Dual Alliance has been arranging matters; indeed, it was the objection of Mr. Brown, Director-General of Korean Customs, to pledging the Korean customs as security for this loan which created Russia's desire for his dismissal. The rumor persists that Russia is aiming to take possession of Chinghai Bay, on the Korean coast. With her commercial hoid on Masampo, she would thus control two strategetically fine Korean harbors, and be in a position to thwart some of the plans of Japan. Masampo is a day's steaming from Nagasaki, the great Japanese port. About half-way between them lies the island of Tsushima, which Japan has converted into a fortress. Korea, once the most isolated nation in the world, has now become a storm-center. Englishmen, Americans, and other foreigners are represented among the public officers of its Government (Mr. Brown, for instance), but the transportation, telegraph, cable, and postal facilities are in the hands of the Japanese, who, naturally more interested than any other people in Korean agriculture, mining, industry, and commerce, have provided that Korean civilization should progress on the lines of Japanese development at home. More confidently than ever do the Japanese regard Korea as the proper country for their overflow population and energy; they will not allow Russian aggression there to pass beyond a certain point with

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but natural that the reports of the Boer war should be somewhat pro-British. It is, therefore, of interest to receive a report of the situation from a Boer source, although that source is hostile to everything British. Mr. Montagu White, the representative of the Boers in America, has just returned from Europe, where he met a number of persons from the Boer fighting camps, "which they quitted for legitimate reasons as recently as the end of January, and others from Johannesburg and Pretoria, from which places they have been deported by the British authorities. They one and all tell the same story, namely, that the Boers in the field are determined to fight on to the end, unless their independence is recognized. Even the victims of the reconcentrado system, who are fed upon weevily corn and damaged sugar, share the optimism of those in the field as to the ultimate triumph of their cause." Mr. White declares that the reports concerning illtreatment by Boers of Outlanders and peace envoys are false. "Several men like Lanham, Walker, and others, reported to have been murdered in cold blood, are still alive, and Andreas Wessels, a peace envoy, reported shot by order of General De Wet, is now known to be alive and well." Mr. White claims that the great opportunity for a peaceful settlement was lost after General Cronje surrendered at Paardeberg. "This disaster for a time so disheartened the Boers that had Lord Roberts, instead of insisting on unconditional surrender, offered anything like generous terms, it is certain that peace would have been established long since. On the other hand, the demand for unconditional surrender, and the burning of homesteads, the destruction of crops and gardens, the carrying off of cattle, and, above all, the harrying of the women, prolonged the war." Since then, says Mr. White, "the greatest indignation has been caused among the Boers by the policy of feeding on half-rations those women and children who had relatives at the front."

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