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KING ALFONSO XIII. AND QUEEN VICTORIA OF SPAIN

Whose marriage was celebrated May 31 and who had a narrow escape from assassination as they
returned from the church

also relied on for the betterment of con-
ditions. But actual operation of these
various schemes seems to be a slow proc-
ess. Possibly the government thinks a
partial solution of its many problems may
be reached by permitting wholesale reduc-
tion by nature of its millions of suffering
people.

The marriage of the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII., to a granddaughter of the late Queen Victoria of The Spanish Royal England, Princess Ena of Marriage Battenberg, was celebrated with great magnificence in Madrid, May 31. The wedding procession started from the royal palace at 9:30 in the morn

the royal coaches, each drawn by eight white horses with gold and silver harness. Some of the coaches were of tortoise-shell, others of mahogany set with panels painted by famous artists. As the royal couple entered the church two hundred choristers intoned a processional hymn. Cardinal Sancha, Archbishop of Toledo, officiated at the ceremony, a special nuncio of the Pope invoking a blessing upon the bride and groom at its conclusion. The Queen, who has taken the name, Victoria, has been received with great enthusiasm by the people of Spain. Fetes to last a week were prepared in celebration of the wedding, after which the King and Queen went to the Spanish Versailles, La Granja.

SERGE MUROMTSEV President of the Douma and a member of the ConstitutionalDemocratic party

The Wedding Tragedy

These joyous proceedings were sadly marred by the attempted assassination of the King. As the procession passed the Governor's house in the Calle Mayor, on the return from the church, a bomb, wrapped in a bouquet of roses, was thrown from a balcony of the opposite house. It fell directly in front of the royal carriage and exploded with great violence, killing twenty-four persons and injuring many others. Fortunately the King and Queen were not not harmed, although the rear wheels and the windows of their carriage were shattered, and one of the horses was killed. It is believed that the course of the missile was somewhat deflected by coming in contact with an electric wire. A fragment of the bomb struck the King on the breast, but only broke the chain of the Portuguese Order of Santiago which he was wearing. King Alfonso and his bride immediately entered another carriage and were rapidly driven to the palace. The assassin was Manuel

Morales, son of a rich manufacturer near Barcelona, who had disowned him. He became infected with anarchistic ideas while studying in Germany. He escaped from Madrid during the confusion incident upon the bomb-throwing, but was recognized in a village a few miles distant. Finding there was no possibility of avoiding arrest, he shot himself through the heart with fatal effect. The bravery of the King and Queen was notable at the time of the tragedy and afterward when they appeared in public, driving and riding without escort.

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Problem majority of two to one it is impossible to predict. As was to be expected it has raised a storm of discussion. Rarely has any subject stirred Englishmen so widely and so profoundly. The propositions of Mr. Birrell's bill naturally reverse the conditions produced by the Education Act of 1902, and it is therefore the Anglicans who are now making fierce and bitter protest against what they term the injustice of the proposed system. On the morning of June 8 thirty-three special trains brought to London twelve thousand Lancashire churchmen who marched in procession headed by the Bishops of London and Manchester, to Albert Hall, to protest against the provisions of the bill. The principal resolution passed at the meeting asserted that the only true safeguard of religious education in the elementary schools is a continuation of the denominational schools. In the opinion of many persons the final solution of the problem will be purely secular instruction by the state, free use of the school buildings being given for denominational religious teaching before and after the regular school hours. The differences of opinion not only between Anglicans and Nonconformists, Roman Catholics and Jews, but even between the various parties within Anglicanism, make a settlement satisfactory to even a majority, a difficult matter. It is a somewhat strange anomaly in consideration of the extremely bitter speeches recently made, that the Archbishops of

Canterbury and York and the Leaders of the Free churches united in signing an

appeal for special prayer on Whit Sunday for Christian unity.

The Nation

The investigation by the federal and various state governments moves on, The Progress of though not altogether the Investigation steadily. The senate has

of Trusts adopted Senator Knox's amendment providing that no "natural person" who has been forced by subpoena by the bureau of corporations to give selfincriminating evidence shall be thereby rendered immune from legal procedure. Had such a law as this foreshadows been on the statute book a few weeks since, Judge Humphrey's decision in regard to the packers would have been impossible. The Standard Oil Company after having been subject to rather severe treatment at the hands of Missouri is now to be still further investigated by Ohio. In Kansas City it has further been disclosed that various shippers who employed a certain agent were accustomed to receive anonymous gifts of cash. But the most sensational move by the government has been the proceedings directed against the packing industries of the country, and particularly Chicago.

The immediate occasion of the agitation must be attributed very largely to the The Govern- novel by Upton Sinclair, ment and the "The Jungle," a piece of

Packers writing which, whatever place it may take as literature, if indeed it is literature in any true sense, is likely to prove a sort of industrial "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The charges made by Mr. Sinclair were so startling that President Roosevelt appointed a commission consisting of Charles P. Neill, Commissioner of Labor, and James B. Reynolds, formerly a settlement worker in New York, to examine the Stock Yards and to report to him. On June 4 the President sent this report to Congress with a characteristically vigorous message. The report vividly specified a number of instances which show that the habits of some of the employees in packing establishments are unsanitary, and that some of the conditions under which they worked should be remedied. The present system of inspection is described as insufficient in that it applies

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ever, the present excitement has passed, people in general will begin to wonder why, if the situation is uniformly as bad as certain instances would seem to indicate, the entire world has not been poi

said to be not "seriously repugnant to cleanliness or wholesomeness." The packers claim that the present agitation is unwarranted and based to a large extent upon exaggerated or false reports. At the same time they are planning and even building bathhouses for their employees as well as providing better sanitary arrangements. They further urge that the agitation will injure the live-stock business throughout the country.

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Proposed Legislation

Senator Beveridge, on May 21, introduced a bill intended to correct such evils as now exist or are claimed to exist. It provides that the Secretary of Agriculture shall have inspectors examine and properly mark animals slaughtered for food, and shall destroy those found to be diseased or in any way unfit for food. They shall see to it further that good sanitary arrangements exist in all packinghouses. Labels of inspection are to be placed on all canned meats. The feeswhich President Roosevelt asserts will not be more than eight cents per animal-are to be fixed by the Secretary of Agriculture and paid by the packers to the federal government. The bill provides for an appeal from the inspector to the Chief of Animal Industries. Violations of the law on the part of firms, persons or corpora

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UPTON SINCLAIR

Author of "The Jungle"

soned. Reforms are undoubtedly needed, but it is hard to believe that the situation is as desperate as a first generalization would argue. We hold no brief for the packers, but common sense would lead one to argue that strong business men are not likely to risk the investment of milions by a deliberate disregard of public health. Simultaneously with the publication of the commissioners' report, the leading packers issued a joint statement affirming that Reply they favor inspection and will coöperate to make it more effective. As an offset to the commissioners' report they call attention to a report of Professors Burrill and Grindley, of the University of Illinois, in which the work of the government inspectors is praised and the condition of the packing establishments

The Packers in

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SOMEWHAT WEARIED

Uncle Sam -"I wish they'd change that tune; it's getting on my

nerves!"

Thorndike in Philadelphia Press

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tions or their officers or agents are made punishable by a fine of $10,000 or imprisonment or both. On May 25 the Senate passed this bill and it is now being considered by the House.

The Pennsylva

the Coal Companies

mission.

At almost any other season of the year no small excitement would have been created by the investigation of nia Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad recently carried on by the Interstate Commerce ComThe investigation revealed the fact that many officers and subordinates of the road have received presents of stock from various coal-mining corporations. William A. Patton, President Cassatt's assistant, who has just retired because of age, admitted that, with President Cassatt's knowledge, he had practically been given six thousand shares of stock in a dozen different coal companies, these shares having a par value of $307,000. The graft varied from this enormous amount to that enjoyed by trainmasters who were paid small sums like $5 to $20. Other witnesses testified to the fact that the Pennsylvania company had not furnished cars enough to enable them to do business, while those coal companies, notably the Keystone Company, whose stock had been properly placed, received the best handling from the Pennsylvania road. Suits involving millions of dollars have

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LOGAN M. BULLITT

Who forced the exposure of grafting in the Pennsylvania Railroad

already been started by shippers on account of losses by such discrimination, while the minority stockholders of the company threaten to demand investigation by the state as to the purchase of supplies. In this connection it is worth noticing that the Carnegie companies received more rebates during the time the Pennsylvania granted rebates than any other shipper. It has been commonly believed that this distinction was enjoyed by the Standard Oil Company. It would be interesting to know how far the development of the Carnegie properties was due to the same procedure which has been regarded as one of the chief causes of the rise of the latter company. President Cassatt asserted that personally he had had no share in the graft, never having received any commission or gift of any kind from any shipper on the Pennsylvania lines or from any He company in which he is interested. has nevertheless acquired stocks to the value of $350,000. Two of the employees who testified to receiving graft have been summarily dismissed by Mr. Cassatt.

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