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mentioned last month as a willing candidate. The Pennsylvania State campaign has brought Judge Pennypacker, the Republican candidate for governor, into much prominence, and he has been a good deal criticised by the more indepen. dent element of Pennsylvania Republicans for his unexpectedly warm and much reiterated eulogies of Senator Quay. It is asserted that this attitude on Judge Pennypacker's part may make votes for his Democratic opponent, exGovernor Pattison. The Democrats of New York seemed as far as ever last month from agreement upon a candidate for governor. Determined efforts were on foot to reorganize Tammany Hall on an anti-Croker basis. Mr. Bryan has continued to be the most prominent figure in national Democratic politics, and he has been making visits and public addresses in the East. He has declared plainly that he is not a candidate for renomination in 1904. He has not, on the other hand, said that he would decline a nomination which might come without any seeking on his part. Of Republican leaders, Senator Hanna. remains the most conspicuous, apart from the President. If he reads the newspapers, he cannot possibly forget that he is regarded all over the country as a probable Republican nominee in case of conditions, -now improbable and unexpected, which might take Mr. Roosevelt out of the field. Governor Crane, of Massachusetts, has been brought into added prominence through the report that he will be asked to manage the next national Republican campaign, Senator

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THE LATE SENATOR JAMES M'MILLAN, OF MICHIGAN.

GOV. ROBERT M. LA FOLLETTE, WISCONSIN.

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that Mr. Bryan might give the weight of his influence to either of these two men in 1904. Judge A. B. Parker, of New York, is another possibility.

Charters.

Mr. Johnson, by the way, now finds Ohio's City himself at the head of a city government whose charter has been found unconstitutional. A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Ohio has condemned and annulled the many enactments relating to the government of particular Ohio cities which have been in evasion of that clause of the State constitution which requires such legislation to be general rather than special in its application. It was necessary to deal with this situation in a special session of the Legislature; and this was accordingly called late in July by Governor Nash, to assemble at Columbus on August 25. Under the constitution it will be permissible to divide Ohio cities into regular groups or classes, and it will be necessary to adopt a uniform general framework of government for all the cities

that belong in the same class. Ohio has thus an opportunity to benefit by the experience of the rest of the country in municipal government, and it is to be hoped that wise results may ac crue from this special session. We believe that experience shows that a very large measure of home rule may well be accorded to the people of our American towns and cities, and that they ought not to be much hampered or restricted in carrying on their affairs and in spending their own money for local improvement. But, above all, it is to be hoped that the Ohio Legislature will be broad-minded enough to adopt such provisions as have been found in practice to aid in the lifting of municipal government out of the ruts of party politics. The National Municipal League, which has for some years past devoted much attention to the reform of municipal charters, and which has a number of influential members in Ohio, has been finding many newspapers of the Buckeye State friendly to its ideas. Its president is the distinguished leader of the bar, Mr. James C. Carter, of New York, and its secretary and executive officer is a wellknown young Philadelphia lawyer and politician, Mr. Clinton Rogers Woodruff.

American

Societies like this league, and like the Municipal League of American Municipalities Progress. (which is an organization of public officials), and the American Park and Outdoor Art Association (which includes in its membership several hundred park commissioners and superintendents, and which recently held a very brilliant annual meeting in Boston), are contributing a very great deal to the advancement of municipal government, and to the improvement and embellishment of our towns. One of the most beautiful and progressive of American municipalities has had the bad luck this year to fall into disgrace through its folly in electing a notoriously unfit man as its chief executive. We refer to Minneapolis, where indictments have followed astounding charges of malfeasance in office, and where the lesson will doubtless be taken to heart and remembered for many years to come. Now that the tendency in American cities is to concentrate authority more and more in the hands of the mayor and a group of department chiefs selected by him, it becomes indispensable that the mayor should be a man of judgment and poise as well as of the highest qualities of personal character. Thus it would be hard to overestimate the value that is accruing week by week to the great metropolis of New York, under its concentrated system of municipal government, from the efficient services of Mayor Seth Low and his appointed heads of the

various branches of the administration.

High tone, business efficiency, genuine public spirit, and interest in municipal progress characterize not merely the mayor's office, but the work of nearly if not quite all of the numerous departments. New York is developing wonderfully, and Mayor Low's administration is contributing in a hundred valuable ways to the city's progress.

Cuba's
Troubles

and Perils.

The situation in Cuba continues to be one fraught with trials, difficulties, and dangers. It is hard to keep the sense of righteous indignation within moderate bounds when one remembers how clear and unmistakable was the moral obligation of Congress last winter to give tariff concessions to Cuba which would have obviated all the existing distress. It is not strange that the Cubans should feel bitterly disaffected toward this country. Nor is it unnatural that their disposition should be to disregard the terms of the Platt amendment as embodied in their constitution, or else to construe them as unfavorably toward this country as possible. In its serious financial plight the Cuban Government is proposing to try to raise a loan of $35,000,000 in gold, the greater part of which is to be used to pay off the soldiers of the insurgent army, with a large slice to be loaned to planters and agriculturalists, to enable them to tide over the present disastrous season. This loan project is, of course, unfortu nate, if not wholly ill advised; but it is hard to see in what other direction Cuba is to find relief. No man of any party ought to be elected to the Congress of the United States this fall who will not admit the duty of entering into a liberal reciprocity arrangement with Cuba, and will not promise to support such a policy. Meanwhile, the Cubans would do well to try to exercise patience, and keep their faith in the people of the United States, who, indeed, are distinctly with President Roosevelt in his Cuban policy, and as distinctly against the behavior of Congress in the last session. The Cuban authorities

in particular will make a mistake if they disregard the obligations that they voluntarily assumed in adopting the Platt amendment. The lower house of the Cuban Congress, for instance, passed a resolution the other day repudiating an arrangement that Governor-General Wood had entered into with the Catholic Church authorities regarding compensation to the Church for certain property. If this resolution should be adopted by the upper house, and become effective, it would be not only in violation of the agreement entered into with the United States, but in defiance of the obligations assumed by the United States in the treaty of peace with Spain.

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There would be no alternative for this country under such circumstances but to interfere, on the ground of its agreement with the government at Madrid.

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Problems of

The separation of Church and Church and State, State." as understood in this country, does not signify antagonism toward ecclesiastical bodies, nor any disposition to confiscate their property. Those settlements arranged in Cuba were in good faith on the part of this government, and the Cubans would do well to accept them as honorable and just, and to study diligently the methods by which we secure to all churches freedom and contentment, while giving none of them a voice in the conduct of the state. The European governments and newspapers seem at a loss to understand the apparently delightful relations between the Government at Washington and the Vatican, in view of the pleasant things that have

From the Independent.
James F. Smith. William H. Taft.

John B. Porter. Bishop Thomas O'Gorman.

GOVERNOR TAFT AND HIS ASSOCIATES IN THE MISSION TO THE VATICAN.

been said on both sides in connection with the visit of Governor Taft to Rome, the friendly exchange of greetings between President Roosevelt and the Pope, and the announcement that all difficulties in the Philippines are in the way of being settled. Europe continues to smile in an amused and superior way at the American statement to the effect that Governor Taft's mission was not a diplomatic one. They fail to understand because the explanation is so simple and easy, whereas they are looking for something more complicated. The United States has no controversy at all with the Vatican, with the Catholic authorities in the Philippines, or with the friars. It has no policy that would lead it to demand the exclusion of any class of men whatsoever from its jurisdiction, whether in the Philippines or in the United States. It had simply a business transaction or two on foot that could be better initiated at Rome than elsewhere. Its position in dealing with the land question was in some ways analogous to that of the British Government in its treatment of the land question in Ireland. Practical conditions made it necessary that the friars, who could no longer live in

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The Friars in the

As to the withdrawal of the Spanish friars from the Philippines, there were Philippines. reasons why on all accounts this was much to be desired. It was also evident, after conference at Rome, that it was neither necessary nor advisable that there should be any specified agreement on this point, but only a friendly understanding of the policy that would actuate the head of the Church. Since under the American rule no church establishment is possible, it is plain enough that the Catholic Church in the Philippines must as soon as possible be brought under the management of ecclesiastics accustomed to the American system; and we have the assurance of Archbishop Ireland and Bishop O'Gor man (who accompanied Judge Taft to Rome) that this is perfectly understood and agreed to at the Vatican. The completion of the negotiations will

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M. FRANÇOIS COPPÉE, THE FRENCH AUTHOR, AND HIS COMPANIONS, PHOTOGRAPHED JUST BEFORE THEIR ARKEST FOR THE PART THEY HAD TAKEN IN THE AGITATION AGAINST THE CLOSING OF THE RELIGIOUS FREE SCHOOLS. M. COPPÉE IS ON THE EXTREME LEFT.

be at Manila, where a papal aelegate will represent the Vatican. The Spanish friars will have no further career in the Philippines, the friars' lands will be paid for honorably at a fair valuation, and religious associations will have neither more nor less position and authority in the Philippines than they have in the United States.

The "Orders"

The position of the United States and and the State its dependencies in the treatment of in France. such questions seems a very fortunate one when compared with the agitation and strife into which other countries are plunged by complicated relations between governmental and ecclesiastical authorities. For example, two great European nations,-namely, France and Eng land,-were last month principally absorbed with topics of this character. Hysterical excitement. prevailed for a time in Paris, and later in more remote provinces of France, over the enforcement by the new ministry of the law relating to associations which was passed under the auspices of Premier Waldeck Rousseau about a year ago. As explained to our readers at that time, this law was aimed at the existence in France of a great number of conventual establishments to which some 30,000 or 40,000 monks belonged and about 135,000 nuns. Some of the orders to

which these persons belonged were duly authorized by law and registered; but many others were not authorized, and there seemed to be many good reasons of public policy why such associations should all conform to the terms of some general law. It is a total mistake to assume that the new associations law contemplated the brutal expulsion of members of religious orders from France. To an American, its requirements would not seem unreasonable. The associations. were asked to apply for registration, and, in doing so, to set forth what we should call the articles of agreement which held them together as a corporate body, and to meet further requirements of a general nature. Rather than meet these requirements, a number of religious orders withdrew altogether from French soil; some that. remained have acted in disregard of the law.

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street demonstrations and no little violent haranguing. The semi-political agitation on behalf of the priesthood naturally led to anti clerical demonstrations on the part of the socialists and advocates of an extreme policy. The Vatican has observed silence throughout this struggle in France. Perhaps it is perceived in Rome that it would be better for the French Catholics in the long run if something like the American system could be worked out. The newspaper reports to the effect that the enforcement of the associations law was likely to lead to a revolution that would overthrow the republic are, of course, absurd. France is accustomed to the ministrations of the many scores of thousands of women who belong to the religious orders, and will not dispense with them. But there is no good reason why their schools should not be registered and authorized, and brought into some sort of conformity to required educational methods and standards. The government ought, however, to have been tactful and tolerant. Religious fanaticism is at least more excusable than fanaticism on behalf of so-called liberalism or secularism. It was not obligatory upon Premier Combes to close all the unlicensed schools carried on by nuns of the teaching orders, but merely permissive. Thousands of these very schools had already shown deference to the new law by entering their applications. It would have been more statesmanlike to avoid conflict by allowing ample time for the law to take effect."

While America has given remarkable The Agitation evidences of late of its progressive in England. spirit in educational matters, and while the French are resolutely working out a more modern school system on an educational rather than an ecclesiastical basis, England has presented the pitiable spectacle of a persistent attempt on the part of the present Tory government to break down the elective public school boards, and to drive the system of elementary education back under the control of the authori

ties of the Church of England. With a huge majority at its back in the House of Commons, the government has, however, been obliged to throw its educational bill over to the next session. The shattered Liberal party had gratefully discovered that the Tory government's slight tax upon imported grain, and its official determination to put the schools under ecclesiastical control, was providing a basis upon which the Liberals could come together again with conviction and enthusiasm. The effective Liberal opposition shown in the House of Commons debates, while calculated to retard somewhat the progress of the measure, was nothing as compared with the object lesson furnished in a special election to fill a vacant Parliamentary seat for the North Leeds district. This constituency had been Conservative by a very large majority; but when its member of the House was promoted to the peerage the other day, the Liberals seized the

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AN ORPHAN CLASS IN A ROMAN CATHOLIC FREE SCHOOL OF PARIS, SUPPRESSED LAST MONTH.

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