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imposed on the native lawyers of acquainting themselves with a new code. To the people, as a whole, the new system cannot help but work great benefit, as it assures to the ignorant and helpless peon effective guarantees against the arbitrary acts of the officers of the minor judiciary.

THE POLITICAL CODE.

The

The fundamental and irreconcilable differences between the Spanish and American administrative systems forced upon the commission the task of formulating a political code. In the early stages of civil government in Porto Rico, great inconvenience was caused by the uncertainty as to the relation of the Spanish law, which was continued in force by the Foraker Act, to the new administrative system introduced by the establishment of civil government. political code prepared by the commission, which, with important modifications in the chapters on elections and local government, was adopted by the Legislative Assembly at its last session, covers the entire field of administration. The subjects treated are: Jurisdiction over Persons and Property, Citizenship and Domicile, the Political and Judicial Divisions of Porto Rico, the Legislative Assembly, Executive Officers, Judicial Officers, General Provisions Relating to Different Classes of Officers, Nominations for Insular and Local Officers, Elections, Local Government, Public Safety and Police, Education, Highways and Roads and Public Works, Revenue and Taxation, Miscellaneous Provisions, and the Insular and Local Civil Service.

The most serious question that presented itself was involved in the possibility of assuring to the towns a larger measure of local self-government. The Spanish system is one of extreme centralization, the Governor-General and his agents maintaining minute control over local officials, and to a very large extent directing local policy. No. opportunity was therefore given for the develop. ment of that local initiative and energy which is indispensable to the smooth working of a decen tralized system.

The general principle which has guided the commission throughout the formulation of this code is to place the initiative and the primary responsibility for the performance of local serv ices upon the town officials, but at the same time to reserve to the central government sufficient control to guarantee a definite minimum of efficiency. The code recognizes the fact that the qualities requisite for the successful working of a system of self-government are not of spontaneous growth, but are the result of painfully acquired experience, and of the gradual strengthening of national character.

The fact that the commission, while proceeding in a conservative spirit, has nevertheless succeeded in bringing the Spanish system into harmony with American standards, is at ribute to the elasticity of our institutions. The test is one that we shall have to meet on a far larger scale in the decades to come, and it is well that in our first contact with the new situation the conditions, both political and economic, have been so favorable to a successful issue.

AMENITIES OF CITY PEDESTRIANS.

BY LOUIS WINDMÜLLER.

O corporal exercise is better adapted to promote health, none more reluctantly practiced, than walking. Americans will patiently suffer the indignities that public vehicles inflict. rather than move their feet. They use cars which are close in winter, draughty in summer, to bring them from airless workshops, where they have passed their day, to spend the night in unventilative homes. Ask for directions in any city and you are carefully told what trolley will convey you. When you inquire how to reach your destination afoot, the same courteous stranger is apt to leave you without reply, but with a suggestive shrug of his shoulders; the man who persists in walking where he can ride is considered a fool.

The tortures endured by frequenters of the

trolleys of cities during "rush" hours are excruciating; many passengers could lessen by their absence the pressure, if they would walk all reasonable distances. They rather permit insolent conductors to elbow and jostle them, in a crowded car which jerks at every stop and turn with such violence that hapless strappers are huddled together, or thrown on the knees of compressed sitters, while they must listen to the familiar ejaculations: "Move forward," "Step lively," and "Fares." The pedestrian, independent of motors, strides over comfortable sidewalks and looks with complacent pity on the, often slowly, passing victims of their indolence.

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"Champs Elysees" in Paris and the "Thiergar ten Strasse" in Berlin are frequented by appreciative promenaders. Our parks,—“Central” in

New York, "Lincoln in Chicago, and Fairmount" in Philadelphia,-are chiefly patronized on fine Sundays, by persons who at other times are confined in tenement-house districts. In those retreats they refresh their eyes by the verdure of vegetation and their brains by freedom from agitation. City lungs are a blessing to the poor, who would not find their equal on country highways, if they could reach them.

We may enjoy the beauty of virgin nature in secluded forests when we climb mountains; but the gratification becomes tiresome when we find nobody to share it. Even Mr. Burroughs has been obliged sometimes to content himself with the company of his faithful dog. A comrade is always welcome but not indispensable in streets, where the pleasure of exercise is heightened by ever-changing sights and sounds. The most harmonious cries of street venders are less sweet than the melodies of singing birds; flowers that greet us from windows of houses lack the fragrance of nature. But I consider the melodious chimes of city churches preferable to the thunder of Niagara, and the friendly look of a charming woman to the vista from Pike's Peak. Dickens found in every street of London a subject worthy of description by his marvelous pen; personal observation enabled Victor Hugo to delineate the old streets of Paris, as if he had lived at the time of Quasimodo.

Most Americans dress on streets as they do at home. Even in Washington, uniforms are conspicuous by their absence.

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I remember that policemen and railwaymen objected against donning such livery " until public-spirited citizens, to demonstrate that it would not degrade them, wore it at public functions. But on the streets of Continental Europe uniforms are in evidence wherever you go, and of the young wearers too many are inclined to swagger.

It is amusing to watch the promiscuous variety of teams that pass through our thoroughfares,beer wagons and trucks, ambulances and fire engines, freely intermingle with autos, and in many streets predominate; while in fashionable thoroughfares and parks carriages are in the majority. Vehicles used for business purposes are seldom prohibited in a country ruled by business men. On Rotten Row" in London, the "Cascine" in Florence, a hired hack is not tolerated. Private conveyances and riders absorb the driveways, promenaders the sidewalks.

In no other cities do we find buildings of such different architecture as on the busy streets of Chicago and New York. Squatty houses, built

long ago for residences, have been altered into warehouses, or are being demolished to make room for modern structures; interplaced between them and the storehouses of a past generation, often overshadowing them, are the tall buildings called skyscrapers, that give to narrow streets, where they prevail, a gloomy appearance and a baroque aspect to the rest. The monotonous uniformity of brownstone and brick houses in residential thoroughfares is gradually changing, by the erection of a variety of "American basement" dwellings of a modern and more cheerful exterior.

To "dress" windows of retail shops with seductive taste, an accomplishment the practice of which has always prevailed in Europe, has become more general here; a small dealer is wont to place the best part of his stock with exquisite consideration of color and symmetry on revolving glasses in his showcase, before the astonished eyes of a passing stranger, and thus allure him to enter. The signs which French shopkeepers display are more attractive than ours. Lately shrewd Parisians have returned to the ancient habit of employing artists to design, sometimes to execute, them. This gives to ambitious painters an opportunity to demonstrate the skill of their brush, and makes the thoroughfare more attractive.

The street of one city differs from every other; and almost every one has, to the pedestrian, a peculiar charm of its own. We must not look from the tops of 'buses nor from the windows of cars if we want to know and appreciate an interesting way, we must measure its length with our steps. On Market Street, San Francisco, we meet the original types of our slopers, and freeze on the shady side while we broil in the sun on the other. On Canal Street, New Orleans, we admire the fashions and gait of Creole beauties, and wonder at ships that lie on the elevated Mississippi, above the surface. The "Nevsky Prospect," in St. Petersburg, is crowded with drojkies rapidly driven by unkempt, unwashed Tartars, dressed in long kaftans. On the "Grande Rue de Pera," the only street in Constantinople where we can walk with a certain degree of comfort, we meet almost every human type of the Orient and Occident; but encounter not as many canines as formerly, nor as many as continue to hover on the crooked alleyways of Stamboul.

Method will add to the satisfaction of walking. When I pass an organ or a band of music, I love to measure my steps by the notes I hear; where none are audible, I rehearse those I happen to remember myself. Half a century ago, when I returned with my class in rank and file from an

outing, we kept step to the tunes of some favorite college song, like " Guadeamus;" I have continued this habit, humming any tune adaptable to my step, like "Yankee Doodle" and the stirring battle hymn of Julia Ward Howe. Going with ease, at the rate of three miles an hour, I breathe through my nose to filter the air that enters my lungs and give full play to my swinging arms. I exhale on the second double step the air I inhaled on the first, and lean the back of my neck against my shirt collar, to look into a blue sky or gray clouds, when I veer my eyes from the turmoil of the immediate surroundings.

The Latin advice, Post coenam stabis seu passus mille meabis," I modify by resting after every meal. It is pernicious to strain an overloaded stomach, and I would rather go without food than without walk. Obstacles increase the pleasure, vexations cannot dampen the ardor for the luxury I covet most. Rain or shine, in every degree of heat or cold, I go, when feasible, several hours a day,-twice as long when my spirits are depressed. In warm weather it may increase perspiration, but that is a discomfort which must willingly be borne. H. W. Beecher said: "There are many troubles which you cannot cure by the Bible or hymn book, but which you can cure by perspiration and fresh air." External gymnasiums are scarce; golf and most other outdoor plays require some exertion of the brain. But when we walk we can give the mind a complete rest, and graduate our effort according to our strength. Let those who are feeble walk, at an easy gait, half a mile,-when their muscles strengthen, a mile, -and they will soon find the exercise a pleasure instead of a penance; it will dispel the gloom which they hugged, and their aches will vanish. Air is man's element; he has no more excuse to refrain from walking through it than a fish would have from swimming in

water.

The ruddy cheeks and stalwart figures of policemen, the bright eyes and elastic step of letter carriers, demonstrate the healthfulness of their calling; those whose occupation compels indoor work, like typesetters and tailors, look pale and haggard.

The idle tramp is happier than the busy millionaire; still happier are those who go forth with a distinct aim,-physicians to help the sick, ministers to console the afflicted. The ambulating journeymen of Germany belonged to this class. They formed associations for mutual help and protection. When an apprentice had served his time and was admitted to a guild, he shouldered his knapsack and wandered from place to place over the continent trying to find work. Where he found none the poor traveler was en

tertained free of charge in the hostelry of his craft. Not all were as pretentious as the "Hotel des Brasseurs," the brewer's hall on the market place in Brussels. But all were equally hospitable. When work had been found and finished, he continued his journey with a light heart; as soon as he had acquired sufficient experience and saved enough money to marry, he established himself as " Meister," master of his trade.

A banker, troubled with gout, was obliged yearly to go to Saratoga. Having lost his fortune, he became a broker to support his family; going from house to house, from morning until night, he solicited the orders of his former associates. This proved to be a more efficient cure than water; the gout disappeared, he became healthier and stronger than he had ever been. Another friend, who daily walked to his town office, retired with a competence from active business. He built a manor house on a vast estate, and filling his stables with horses and carriages, he exercised his roadsters to keep them in good condition, but failed to exert himself. Rolling wherever he wanted to go on the luxurious cushions of his vehicles, his blood ceased to circulate, and he lay down to die.

The common excuse of those who preach but fail to practice exercise is want of time; in pursuit of fortune or power they forget their well-being and shorten their days more than they would require for the proper care of their bodies while they live. Pedestrians should combine and form federations like the "League of American Wheelmen," for mutual protection and encour. agement.

Successful authors, men of thought, have been fond of the practice: Walter Scott walked fifteen miles a day, James Russell Lowell never rode where he could walk, William Wordsworth found his promenade more exhilarating than old port. The chief editor of a large daily newspaper marches five miles every night to his distant home, when, at 1:30 in the morning, he leaves his office. President Roosevelt is an ardent walker.

Habitual walking, combined with diet and other corporal discipline, promotes digestion andi inhibits dyspepsia. Obesity, with its consequences, has no terrors for a pedestrian; he can never be troubled with paralysis or apoplexy.

For every ailment, activity in the open air is a more effective remedy than Christian Science, more reliable than patent medicine, and more soothing than physicians' advice. Fitting a sound body to a sound mind, it pacifies a ruffled temper and clears the tired brain of cobwebs.

IN

THE LEADER OF THE MINE WORKERS.

N the August McClure's, Mr. Lincoln Steffens has a brief and very eulogistic sketch of John Mitchell, the President of the United Mine Workers, who is the leading figure in the anthra. cite coal miners' strike.

Mr. Steffens says that Mitchell was against the strike at the beginning; that he thought the hard-coal miners' organization was too new, and that it was composed too largely of men who were foreigners, and who had not yet learned their lesson of self-restraint and sound principles.

So Mitchell was overruled.

Mr. Steffens says, moreover, that Mitchell was decidedly against calling the convention to consider the question of calling out the bituminous miners. The soft-coal workers are under contract, and Mitchell, who had contended in the steel strike that Shaffer had made a mistake in allowing strikers to break contracts, kept the call for the Indianapolis convention in his pocket for six weeks because he believed it was unbusinesslike to consider at all the calling out of the bituminous men, who were satisfied, and working on a basis they had agreed to work on with their employers. He hoped that a settlement could be made in the interval. Mitchell's final action on July 17, in advising the bituminous miners not to strike, is fully in line with Mr. Steffens' ideas of the labor leader's high standards and purposes.

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black eyes steady in a white, smooth face, which, with his habitual clerical garb and sober mien, gives him the appearance of a priest. The breaker boys find him kind; their elders approach him easily, but only on business, which they talk while he listens coldly, giving answers that are soft but short, cast in the form of advice or a direction, with the reason for it. He is never dictatorial, only patient and reasonable. He has no vanity, no fear for his dignity. It is said he is brave. Once during a strike in Pana, Ill., his men set out to attack some non-union men at work behind a stockade with guards who shot to kill. The strikers seized two of their employers, and putting them in front, made them lead the attack. Mitchell heard of it, and running to the scene, rescued the bosses.' His men turned on him in wrath; but he explained, and led off the captives from the furious crowd.

"But it is no one trait, however conspicuous, that will win success for Mitchell, if he wins (and that is a question which may be answered before this article is printed). At present he stands not quite midway between Wall Street and the mines. He has the personal respect of both. When President McKinley was shot, and the news spread to the coal region, the workmen gathered into a mob, crying, Who shot our President?' They dispersed when they learned that it wasn't President Mitchell who was shot. When Mitchell went to New York in 1900 to see J. P. Morgan, the financial head of the coal business, he was not received. This year an associate of Mr. Morgan happened to meet him socially; and when he reported what manner of labor leader Mitchell was, Mr. Morgan received him at his down-town office."

HOW LABOR IS ORGANIZED.

ous victory." Mr. Steffens insists on the fact MR. RAY STANNARD BAKER describes

that Mitchell's policy is so to conduct the business of organized labor that its leaders will have credit with any business man and their contracts of certain value. He represents in the fullest sense the class of labor leader of the new order, who talk little and work hard, and whom the workingmen have turned to because they are leaders who could command, and who knew how to compromise with their employers.

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Such a leader John Mitchell, the young president of the United Mine Workers, is trying to prove himself. He is a small, spare man, with

in the August World's Work the character of representative labor unions and how they per form their functions, and discusses the project of a general federation of labor.

He calls attention to the epoch-making event of the complete unification of the coal miners. This, he thinks, is, with the formation of the United States Steel Corporation, one of the greatest economic events of our time. The United Mine Workers have now the largest membership, and perhaps the greatest influence, of all trade unions ever formed. The member

ship is more than 190,000, supporting a population of nearly a million people, and influencing a much greater number. But it is only the greatest individual instance of the tremendous movement, for to-day every tenth voter in America is a member of a labor organization.

COMMUNITY OF INTEREST IN LABOR UNIONS.

Mr. Baker shows how the familiar idea of the community of interest, which Mr. Morgan and others have applied to the steel factories and railroads, is being carried out on the side of labor. In the councils of the American Federation of Labor are officers of such organizations as the United Mine Workers, the Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Machinists, the Cigarmakers, the Garment Workers, the Iron and Steel Workers, Textile Workers, the Painters, the Clerks, the Coopers, and several score of other national and international unions, representing & membership of 1,250,000 men. A few prominent unions are still outside the combination,-four brotherhoods of the railway workers, the Bricklayers, and the Plasterers, for instance.

CENTRALIZATION OF POWER.

Just as there is a centralization of power in the hands of a few men who are running our railroads and making our steel, so trade-unionism is tending toward centralization of power in national and international unions, each of a single industry, the governing board of which, and especially the president himself, is yearly getting greater power. A few years ago the members of almost any local union,—say, in New York City,-could throw down their tools and strike; but now permission must usually be obtained from the officers of the national organization, who are perhaps located in a distant city.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIT, THE LOCAL
UNION.

"Each local union has the regular officers, including the important business agent (once called 'walking delegate,' a name now generally discarded). One officer, usually the secretary-treasurer or the business agent in large unions, sometimes both, receives a salary equal to the pay which he would get if he worked at his trade, together with small expense allowances. Members are usually required under penalty of fines to attend a meeting of the union once a month, or once in three months, although in some cases, where the unions are very large, no such requirement exists. For instance, Big Six,' New York Typographical Union, including all the printers of the city, would require a very large building to contain its 5,500 members. But this is the largest local

union in America. The cigar makers have no fewer than ten local unions in New York City with a membership of nearly 6,000, an average of 600 members to the union."

INITIATION FEES.

The

The greatest diversity of opinion exists as to initiation fees. In some unions a large fee is collected,-sometimes as high as $50, or $75, or more, on the ground that a man who pays a large sum to get in will be more likely to remain loyal; but other successful unions charge as little as $2, the cigar makers' fee being only $3. dues subsequently collected are usually about one dollar a month, this low payment often including liberal benefits in case of sickness, strike, or death. Many of the unions now use the stamp system in collecting their dues. A little book is presented each week or each month to the treasurer, who pastes in and cancels the official stamps of the union for the amount of the dues paid. It is a sight worth seeing on a Saturday or a Monday to watch the workmen, or their wives, or their children, each with a book, lined up in a long row at the office of the treasurer of certain unions, waiting to pay their dues."

THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR.

Nearly every large city has a central labor union, a body made up of delegates from all or nearly all the local unions of every trade.

"But the greatest of all American organizations is the National Federation, the American Federation of Labor, of which Samuel Gompers is president, with headquarters in Washington. A great combination of national and international unions, with yearly conventions of delegates, a staff of well-paid officers and organizers, an extensively circulated magazine, this federation includes nearly all the great national and international unions. The American Federation of Labor was founded in 1881, and is now made up of eighty-two national and international unions composed of 9,494 local unions, 16 State federations, 206 city central labor unions, and 1,051 local unions not attached to national bodies. The total membership is over 1,250,000,-a body of men united for the single purpose of advancing the cause of labor, and yet taking no political action. This number represents something more than three-quarters of all the trade-unionists in America. The federation is supported by a small tax on affiliated organizations, its receipts last year being about $71,000, its expenses $68,000, mostly for salaries and organizing expenses, and for the annual convention. Its chief work consists in securing legislation in the United States Congress, in harmonizing and directing union

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