even promise ultimate independence to their inhabitants. The week beginning on the 19th was marked by a number of incisive speeches from members on both sides of the house. The most notable of these speeches was that delivered by Mr. Hoar on the 22d, a carefully prepared address, which recalled the manner, and something of the fire, of the masters of American oratory. The Senator reiterated with powerful emphasis his well-known views on the question of independence for the Filipinos. On the 27th and the 28th there occurred a series of sharp colloquies over the question of closing the debate. It was finally decided that the vote on the bill should be cast at four o'clock on the 3d of June. On the 29th the Senate adopted an amendment proposed by Mr. Lodge, which extends to the Filipinos the provisions of the "Bill of Rights" included in Our constitution,-extends them, that is, with the exception of the clause which gives the right to bear arms and of that which guarantees the right of trial by jury. General debate on the Philippine civil government bill closed on the 31st. At no time during the month did the House take an active part in the discussion of Philippine affairs. However, on the 31st a rather important witness appeared before the House Philippine Committee in the person of Gen. Felipe Buencamino, formerly Aguinaldo's Secretary of War. Buencamino averred that the islands cannot prosper without the benefits of American sovereignty. has no real estate interest in the sugar lands of Cuba. Another witness was Mr. Bryson, the editor of a newspaper in Havana. This gentleman declared that only three-tenths of the Cuban sugar output is produced by native planters, and that the remaining seven-tenths is in the hands of Americans and Spaniards, and principally of the former. Further testimony tended, however, to cast doubt on the statements of Mr. Bryson, and it seems likely that the entire interest of Americans in this year's crops amounts to only one-tenth of its total value. MINOR LEGISLATION.-The bill for the admission of Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico to the Union as States was passed in the House on the 9th, after a debate which had lasted for three days. Two amendments were offered, but they met with a decidedly inhospitable reception. One of these amendments provided for the consolidation of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. The other, which was rejected by an overwhelming majority, had for its objective point the consolidation of Arizona and New Mexico under the ludicrous name of "Montezuma." Mr. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, speaking in defense of this amendment, declared that its object was to prevent the growth of "rotten borough" States. In the course of his remarks he made acrid references to the situation in Nevada, and to that in Delaware, in which latter State, he said, the gas companies elect the Senators. One clause of the bill provides that Oklahoma shall extend its limits so as to include the Indian Territory whenever Congress deems such consolidation wise. CUBA.-During the earlier part of the month the Senate Committee on Cuban Affairs conducted an investigation of the alleged interest of the Sugar Trust in this year's crop. of Cuban sugar. President Havemeyer, of the American Sugar Refining Company, asserted that the Cubans would be the sole beneficiaries of the proposed tariff reduction, if it should become a fact by legislation. Since January 1st, he declared, the Trust had purchased had purchased Cuban sugar in amounts which, if steadily used, would furnish the refineries of the Trust with raw material for a period of not more than twenty days. In previous seasons the Trust had bought about three times as much from the Cuban planters. As the price of raw sugar is regulated by the market at Hamburg, the allegation that the Trust controls the market for Cuban sugar lacks stable foundation. The Trust The House took up the annual Naval Bill on the 13th, and passed it on the 19th. In its final form, the bill makes provision for the construction of two first-class battleships, two first-class armored cruisers, and two gunboats. One vessel of each class is to be built in the navy yards of the Government; the other three may be constructed by private shipbuilders, unless there shall appear to exist among them a combination affecting prices. The bill for the restriction of immigra tion was taken up by the House on the 21st, and was passed on the 29th. The main purpose of this measure is to collect under one head the scattered immigration laws of the United States. However, certain important substitutions and additions were inserted. The list of classes debarred from entering the United States is now extended so as to include polygamists, anarchists, and persons whose passage-money has been paid by another or whose migration has been induced by offers or promises of work in this country. An educational test is to be imposed, and the sale of liquors at the immigrant stations is forbidden. On the 13th President Roosevelt sent a ringing message to Congress in favor of reciprocity with Cuba, which seemed in danger, though a Republican measure, of rejection by the Republican Senate. The message cites the support to Cuban reciprocity given by the late President McKinley and an urgent appeal for help from President Palma, and then declares that fears for ruin to any home industry are baseless, that since Cuba has assumed certain international relations in compliance with our request, we should make economic concessions vital to her well-being in return, and finally that such reciprocity will accord with continuity of policy from the past four years. CHARLES KLAUBER, A. B. CONSTANT, JEAN JOSEPH BENJAMIN.This eminent French painter, born in 1845, died in Paris, May 26th. He early showed indisputable ability in drawing, was sent to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and thereafter studied under the famous Cabanel. At 24 years of age he exhibited at the Salon "Hamlet and the King." which already attracted much attention. But travel in Morocco and the Levant determined his preference during a long period for subjects drawn from those countries, and this choice causes him to be classed with many other illustrious French painters as Orientalist. To this subject belong such works as "Samson and Delilah," "Morocco Prisoners," "Women of the Harem," "Thirst," "Herodias," "Mohammed II.," and "The Last Rebels." The last named, which is reproduced on page 1494, graphically depicts the gloating survey by some Mohammedan ruler of his fallen enemies. Such ghastly scenes of cruelty alternate with others of Oriental luxury and lust. But, though revolting to our modern sense, such scenes still have value and interest; and, above all, appeal to the painter by the opportunities they afford for intense sunlight and shadow with brilliant colors and flowing robes or nude bodies. His ex A later visit to the United States diverted much of Constant's further practice to portraiture. Among famous sitters to him may be mentioned Jay Gould, Bradley Martin, . Emmanuel Aragó, Lord Dufferin, Mme. Calvé, and, best known of all, Queen Victoria upon her throne in the House of Lords, which obtained the Grand Prix at the Paris Exhibition in 1900. quisite portrait of his son, Andre, had gained for him the Grand Medal of Honor at a previous Salon, and in 1878 he had been made a member of the Legion of Honor, to become an officer in 1884. Constant was, in the main, a classicist; but, far from belonging to the strict type of his teacher, Cabanel, he did not fail to learn from other schools-romanticist, realist and impressionist-much that they had to offer. His fondness for bloody scenes followed a temporary fashion of genre féroce in France, which led the critics to deride the Salon as another Paris morgue. Most of the men that shared in this movement are little known now. Muther condemns them, not because bloody scenes are always inappropriate in art, but because such scenes do not make good art when treated in the cold, classic style, whose embellishments, gained by anatomical studies and correct draughtmanship, deprive the horrible scene of naturalism and directness. A Review. R BY LYMAN B. GLOVER. Dramatic and Musical Critic, "The Chicago Record-Herald." EVIEWING the dramatic season which ended officially, if not de facto, early in June, one is struck by the absence from the list of notable productions and important plays. Owing to the great prosperity which is shared by all the industries and arts in this country, the season has established a record of financial success for the theaters which is believed to be unexampled. MRS PATRICK CAMPBELL. Mr. Hayman, president of the syndicate which holds the bulk of important theatrical interests in a grip of iron, expresses the belief that the income of the theaters in the United States during the past season aggregated no less than twenty million dollars and I do not know of anyone more competent to talk figures on this subject than he is. The syndicate for which he commonly speaks is a unique outgrowth of modern business methods and is regarded by many as a dangerous and dictatorial element in the field of theatrical endeavor. Whether a trust or not in the exact legal sense, it commands the situation in this field with precisely the same unrelenting determination that is exhibited in their respective departments by the steel, sugar, beef or petroleum trusts, and consequently is in a position to name figures and state facts if anybody can. But however grand the total income of the theaters may have been it is a painful reflection that the season was marked by very few new dramatic productions which were of any special consequence. Mr. Irving, Miss Marlowe, Miss Allen, Mme. Modjeska, Mr. Crane, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Gillette, Mr. Goodwin and some of the other stars had nothing new to offer. Mr. Drew, Miss Adams, Miss Barrymore, David Warfield, Mrs. Fiske, Miss Bingham and Miss Russell played indifferent or trifling comedies which can only be remembered with a sense of regret that so much time and talent should have been wasted on dramatic fripperies that have no permanent and little ephemeral value. Mrs. Patrick Campbell introduced her self to American audiences in doleful and morbid plays with which we were already familiar, adding two or three valueless and dismal eccentricities such as "Beyond Human Power," "Mariana," and "Pelleas and Melisande" as a sop to those who pose and with a view perhaps to demonstrating how foolish a smart woman can be when she once starts out to ride an impossible fad at a hand gallop. Mrs. Campbell's first American tour was a decided event on many accounts and in speaking with abrupt derision of her plays. I have no intention of belittling the actress. For ten years a conspicuous figure on the London stage, it would be quite too much to assume that she owed her artistic vogue to chance. In addition to a striking personality she possesses an artistic temperament, acute imagination, elegance of pose, refined utterance and an undeniable appreciation of dramatic color. Her play of emotion is superficial and restrained rather than ardent and she is evidently inclined to repress a quick sense of humor which should inform her that such plays as "The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith." and "Beyond Human Power" are simply absurd when made use of for alleged purposes of entertainment. The idea of paying to see dull, insipid, meaningless and utterly uninteresting exhibitions of degenerate humanity in various stages of unwholesome mania is ridiculous. is I prefer to think that Mrs. Campbell, who a smart, shrewd woman, knows this very well. Indeed there is doubtless method in her madness, and cool calculation in her choice of subject. Appealing to American society to whom she was consigned by perfumed bills of lading and letters of credit from England, she was well aware that to a swarm of faddists and poseurs, which nearly all society people are nothing would make so deep an impression as the gospel of theatric and dramatic despair which the so-called common people would not accept at any price. It is the constant anxiety of the "upper classes," as those of exceptional wealth are called, to find an exclusive form of entertainment in which the multitudes either cannot or will not engage with them and fad plays fill the bill admirably. Mrs. Campbell created the impression that a very pretty talent was being wasted on dead sea fruit-wasted none the less in spite of the fact that her financial success was very great. The box office may be a very convenient measure of success, but if accepted as the standard, Weber & Fields and the Rogers Brothers would stand in the front rank. Mrs. Campbell helped to make an American holiday during a very dull season and for this our thanks are due, but she added nothing to our stock and store of dramatic traditions nor to our knowledge of an artistic craft which is already well represented in this country. ** * Without intending to join in any chorus. of pessimism, which is so easy to sing that the least informed observer of dramatic events can contribute to the ensemble, I RICHARD MANSFIELD. must admit that as we dip into the facts the season just closed barely escapes being poverty stricken in its results. Several revivals improved the average to some extent, one of the best and most commendable being the "Francesca da Rimini" with which Mr. Otis Skinner conquered new admiration and gained also a financial reward. But I do not recall more than three new plays and dramatic productions which bore the mark of conspicuous excellence. Indeed there is scarcely any risk at all in pitching upon "Beaucaire" by Booth Tarkington, "If I Were King" by Justin Huntly McCarthy and "Du Barry" by David Be lasco, as the three foremost efforts of the season just closed. If any other play de serves to rank with this trio in scope. elegance or dramatic value, I do not know the name of it. In "Beaucaire" Mr. Mansfield found op portunity for one of those delightful comedy creations in which he is unique. The play is but a daintily upholstered bit of comedy romance set in the days of Beau Nash, but it possesses atmosphere, fine sentiment. grace of manner and excellent characterization. Mr. Sothern, who scored a failure early in the season with "Richard Lovelace." a play by Lawrence Irving, retrieved his fortune with "If I Were King," a showy, MISS VIOLA ALLEN. A Jan To Hebback." mand" nicely played by John Drew; "Quality Street," in which Maude Adams dissipated much of the favorable impression created by "The Little Minister," and "The Girl and The Judge," which Annie Russell made interesting, but not artistic, were perhaps the most conspicuous new plays aside from these I have already mentioned. That either one of the number will ever be heard of again except as chance material for second or third rate companies is not at all likely. They belong to the dramatic ephemera not ranking very high even in this classification, and do not serve to increase our pride in the contemporaneous drama. Those who are chronic pessimists prefer to find in this dead level of commonplace an evidence that the drama is steadily declining in consequence along with acting ability and public taste. Such a conclusion, however, would be rank nonsense. In the drama as in literature, art or industry, there are lean years and fat ones. When his crop fails the farmer says a few things in choice English to relieve his mind, but does not instantly rush to the conclusion that nature has gone permanently out of business and will never produce another crop. When the year's issue of literature is confined to an inordinate amount of brilliantly bound verbiage containing no enduring germ of beauty er truth and made only to sell to those who dearly love to be sold, the world does not despair of something better next season. Here then we have one English an! two American plans to share the hars of a them there is n thing which re may turn Just now there is an enormous demand for dramatic material and a corresponding deficiency in the supply. We are in the midst of a lean period, and while the public accepts half a loaf of dramatic entertainment in preference to none at all, it neither gives up hope of something better nor joins in the belief that there will never again be a fat year with masterpieces as an occainal variety. Reflecting on dramatic history we observe that great plavs have been extremely rare. Only a few writers have produced works that gained a place in the standard repertory and it is not worth while to grow impatient when masterpieces fail to appear. The stage is for all time and is certain to follow the ebb and flow of general literature. When the writers begin once again to pre luce great books we may be very sure the dramatists will also be heard frm in a notable manner. Two interesting and rather unusual features of the closing dramatic season were with enthusiasm. "The Second in Com- revivals of plays belonging to the standard |