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to provide funds for creating a proletariat pensioned by the State. In all this the House of Commons, elected solely for the purpose of preventing any reform of the Tariff which could be interpreted as a return to protection, has taken the lead; and which baulked by the action of the House of Lords, openly backed up a revolutionary movement to abolish the Upper House. More wise than its pretended representatives, the country in no mistakeable terms has refused
to be led into the commencement of what
was intended to be a Revolution,
On much the same lines, through strange. ly in outward appearance directly contrary, has been the action of the Senate in the United States. It was the intention of the founders of the Constitution, that the Sennte, possessed of equal powers with the "House" should act the part of the House of Lords in England of checking the momentary extra vagancies of the more popularly elected chamber, should be in effect a means of appealing from "Philip drunk to Philip Bober." Intended to be elected by the legislatures of the various States, the ten- dency has always been towards making the elections merely popular, and this is doubt less one of the causes of the decline of the Senate. The election is for a long six years, the members retiring in rotation, and this, it was thought, would ensure that individual members would be above the level of temp. tation, and would use their power rigidly in the interests in the nation. So apparently it did for a century; but while the term has proved not long enough to ensure the sole devotion of the individual to the nation, it is long enough to make him impervious to such useful influences as the fear of having to account at some period, it may be to- morrow, for his actions. Long e'er his delinquencies will come before his con- stituents they will have had ample time to forget them. But the individual Senator is peculiarly open to influences in husiness affairs; and indeed his election bas most probably been sought for the sake of using that influence to further the interests of some overgrown corporation in which he is a partner, or is interested. In such a case be is bound by custom to place the dictates of the particular association above the calls of duty to the country at large. It is here that the Senate has ceased to be representative
of the nation as a whole.
The country at large has had much reason to complain of the action of the general policy of protection that has prevailed in the Stites for nearly twenty years. As a whole the nation is dis posed to favour as a policy of Protection. rather than Freetrade. Even the modified Freetrade of the late GROVER CLEVELAND whose motto was Tariff for Revenue, and a free hand to all producers, meets little support in the States, and considering the vagaries into which the upholders of the system in England have gone, the feeling is founded on a large amount of common sense. But that does not prevent a large, perhaps the largest, section of the thinking population from seeing that Protection, even if a blessing, may be so manipulated as to become a curse. This was the feeling of the late President, Mr. ROOSEVELT, and was shared by a large section of his sup. porters. Accordingly 00 Mr. TAFT'S accession to office the frst step of the new President was to call a special session of Congress to take into consideration the Tariff, The House was well disposed in answer to the general feeling to modify the duties so far as this could be done while preserving their general protective nature. The Senate, which has not, as the House of Lords, resigned its right of initiation in
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
monetary bills, came under a different class of inspiration; many of its members were personally interested in one or other of the great Trusts, which so seriously hamper the executive of the States, and others, not themselves personally interested, permitted themselves to be influenced in various ways, more or less discreditable. The end has been that the Senate has produced a counter draft (as little representing the views of the nation as the Licensing Bill, or Education Bill of the present House of Commons did the views of the English people), wherein the acknowledged hardships of
the present Tariff, instead of being done away with or alleviated are made ten times more protec tive and heavier than the present. Mean while, as in England, the revolutionary ac tion of the Senate is bringing the real execu- tive of the country to a standstill. one Chamber passes the other refuses to ratify
What
so that practical legislation is impossible. It is doubtless the case in Englaud that in the majority of cases this is a blessing, Over-legislation has in fact become so much of a curse that the nation at large would bail a rest, but this growing feeling of indif. ference, which certainly exists, has its own dangers.
KA
THE HONGKONG PLAGUE SEASON.
(Daily Press, 15th June.)
511
1897
21
1898
1,820
1,297
1899
1,486
1,064
1900
1,087
766
1901
1,651
1,487
1902
572
382
1903
1,415
1,278
1904
510
376
1905
304
196
893
843
240
123
196 1907 1908
1909
1,037
105 to June 14
We are unable to complete the table as the Medical Reports for 1908 have not yet been published, but a study of the above table June we may expect to see a substantial shows very plainly that after the month of diminution in the prevalence of the disease in Hongkong. To date, only 105 cases have been reported this year, and if the been shown in past years holds good this monthly distribution of cases which has
year, we shall not be wrong in anticipating that this year's total will be lower than any since 1897.
if
Our Peking contemporary is very severe on our Sanitary Board. "In the opinion of the majority of the Chinese people," it says, "the abolition of the Sanitary Board will help a great deal in stopping plague." But it, of course, offers no proof of this ridiculous assertion. Our contemporary, however, does say that:-Sanitation has to be en- "couraged in all countries, but that its "enforcement is the sole method for the Daily News an article on Plague in Hong-which is evidenced by the sanitary con-
We are much surprised to see in the Peking
prevention of plague is strongly doubted, kong suggesting that the disease prevails here as much as ever it did. The article is
"dition in Canton and many cities in South based on
"China. however, does not, in our opinion, warrant a dispatch from Canton which
In these places, plague has never played such havoc as it has done in Hong- the deduction our contemp rary has drawu
kong." If our contemporary were in a from it. The dispatch in question says:-
position to furnish any trustworthy statistics The plague season has come, but nothing and other cities of the mainland we should as to the prevalence of plague in Canton much is heard of it here in Canton save occasional cases which are imported from
be in a better position to form an opinion Hongkong. As usual, when plague first authorities have been able to learn in this on the subject. All that the Hongkong makes its annual appearance in Hongkong, connection is that when plague is bad in the people escape to Canton from the former Hongkong, it is equally prevalent in place where the sanitary laws are so strict that they do not even allow persons to have
Canton,-and vico versa. According to the time to attend to their sick, whereas
our contemporary's information the only here in Canton the Fong Pin Sho has done
cases of plague in Canton this year are more than the outside world knows towards week our correspondent at Canton sent us a cases imported from Hongkong, but last curing plague stricken patients. patients treated by Chinese methods in this individual to the Self-Government Society Plague translation of a letter addressed by an hospital show a high percentage of recovery which drew attention to the prevalence as shown by the returns." However that may of plague in Canton, and stated that be the statement does not justify the conclu
"the siou that plague is as bad in the Colony as ever it was, and much worse than in Canton and other cities of South China. temporary may reply that it has not said as much. True the article does not in so many words but that is the idea say this
which a reader with 10 ledge of the subject would derive from other know- a perusal of the article. It says: "It is evident that the Sanitary authorities, who have been raising the hue and cry for years past are helpless, and that nothing sub- stantial towards obtaining a better method of treatment of the disease has been dis- covered." The prevalence of the disease is one thing and the method of treating it is another. It is very gratifying to be a le to state as a matter of fact that there have been fewer cases of plague in the Colony of Hongkong this season than in any year since the first outbreak of plague in 1894, excepting only the years 1895 and 1897, when very few cases occurred in the Colony. To show the improvement this year we compile the following table:
Year
Total for the
year
44
1895
1896
1,204
Our con-
T til to end of June
18
1,125
number of people who have been countless, and the ep demic is still died through contracting the disease has
city." If this statement is true, the theory spreading rapidly in every part of the
not affected by the sanitary measures taken si exploded that the prevalence of plague is
the greater proportion of the cases rep orted to combat it. It is noteworthy that by far
districts beyond the limits of the city of in the Colony this year have been from Victoria, and we think it may with confidence be said that the comparative freedom of the city is due to the increased attention which is being paid to elementary rules of sanita- tion. How far the encourgement which has been given to the keeping of cats is con- tributing to diminish plague is an interesting question which it is very difficult to answer. but the smallness of the returns is presump, tive evidence of the success of the
experiment.
ably increased recently and the import of The demand for beef in Japan has consider- Australian cows is scarcely sufficient to meet the ever increasing demand. In view of this, Japanese traders at Yinkow have contracted with the traders at Kobe and Tokyo for the Import of Mongolian cows to Japan on a large scale.
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