THE CHRONICLE.

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Proposed New States. For many months a statehood bill was pending in Congress. As passed by the House, it originally provided for the admission of Oklahoma and Indian Territory into the Union as one State under the name of Oklahoma, and for the joint admission of Arizona and New Mexico Territories under the name of Arizona. The bill was amended in the Senate and went to the Committee on Territories. There was apparently no objection to the joint statehood of the first two territories; but the peoples of New Mexico and Arizona, especially the latter, insisted on separate statehood. The population of New Mexico is mostly of Mexican descent, their thrift and morals have been highly eulogized by United States officials differing from them in religion, and their American lineage is much longer than that of the settlers in Arizona. Yet the latter people prefer to stay out of the Union rather than be associated with the New Mexicans. One Senator, speaking against the bill, declared that "Congress had no right to place Arizona, populated chiefly by Americans, at the mercy of the Mexican population of New Mexico, which so greatly outnumbered that of Arizona that New Mexico could dictate the constitution of the new State, and could even make a -constitutional convention composed almost entirely of delegates of one religion." It was finally proposed to admit Oklahoma at this session and defer the admission of Arizona and New Mexico until the will of both peoples could be expressed by vote. The animus of Arizona towards New Mexicans was clearly shown in the incident of the orphans sent out last October from New York in care of the Sisters of Charity and placed in Catholic families. The children were forcibly taken from the Mexicans and given to Americans; a legal form of adoption was enacted, and the appeal of the New York Foundling Asylum for their recovery was refused by the Supreme Court of Arizona. Appeal has been made to the United States Supreme Court against this decision.

The Treaties. By a vote of 50 to 9 the Senate on February 11 amended and ratified the arbitration treaties that had been negotiated by the State Department with Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. This action effectually killed the treaties, as the President had notified Senator Cullom, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, that any amendment made in the treaties would nullify them and he could not submit them thus changed to the signatory Powers. The amended clause provided that "in each individual case the high contracting parties, before appealing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, shall conclude a special agreement, defining clearly the matter in dispute, the scope of the powers of the arbitrators and the periods

to be fixed for the formation of the arbitral tribunal and the several stages of the procedure." In the amendment the word treaty was substituted for agreement, so as to bring all such disputes within the treatymaking power of the Senate, a prerogative of which, under the Constitution, that body has always been most jealous. The senators believed that the treaties as proposed would place with the Chief Executive the power to bind the people and Government to the arbitration of some question that might affect the honor, the vital interests or the independence of the Republic.

The Case of the Mormons. All the testimony in the prosecution of Senator Smoot, of Utah, was concluded by February 15, after the case had been before the Senate Committee for more than a year. The Senate was not at all satisfied that the testimony was sufficiently complete, as Mormon witnesses were too reserved in testifying, or they could not be found when summoned. It is probable that investigation will be resumed in Utah after the opening of the next session of Congress. Whatever be said of Mr. Smoot's personal character and morals, the fact that he was an apostle of a sect polygamous in practice and in principle inclined many to oppose his retention in the Senate. A prominent Presbyterian minister of Salt Lake City openly charged that men like Smoot were kept out of polygamy by the Mormons for the purpose of shielding the majority who practise it in violation of the condition by which Utah was admitted into the Union. He called their priesthood a secret and treasonable organization."

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Federation of Catholic Societies.-The Executive Board will hold its semi-annual meeting in New Orleans March 4 and 5, and on the latter date the Louisiana societies will hold a public meeting in the interests of federation. On the invitation of His Eminence the Cardinal, the Federation is to be organized in Maryland. Everywhere the strength of union is being demonstrated by the success which attends any concerted action of the societies. Their influence was used to correct public abuses in Ohio, Kansas, California, New York and other States within the past two months, and the fact has elicited many marks of encouragement from the American hierarchy. The County Federation lately formed in Brooklyn promises to be very numerous and active.

The Catholic University. The recent financial difficulties have been practically overcome. The Waggaman collection of paintings and works of art, which was valued at $600,000, brought not much more than half that amount ($341,538) at auction in New York. But many distinguished friends have offered contributions, and these, with the very promising collection held in the churches two months ago, will, it is hoped, make up the deficit. February 1, Dr. Charles P. Neill, Professor of Economics, succeeded Hon. Carroll D. Wright as Commissioner of Labor. Commissioner Neill was an official on the Anthracite Strike Committee in 1902, and in 1903 was chosen as Recorder of the Commission that arbitrated similar strikes in Alabama. Two of the members of the Faculty

of the University, Doctors Edward A. Pace and Thomas J. Shahan, are on the Board of Editors of the Catholic Encyclopædia, and several of the professors will be among its contributors.

The Philippines.-The Philippine Commission acceding to the request of 90 per cent. of the people, declared December 8 a legal holiday in the Islands, for as such it had been kept for centuries in honor of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the Philippines. Some American Protestant missionaries objected strongly to this, and even carried their objection to Washington, but the government replied that the legalizing of holidays belonged entirely to the authorities at Manila. The sentiment of our government, expressed by the Secretary of War to the Ways and Means Committee January 28, is for granting independence to the Filipinos "when they have a reasonable public opinion which will restrain radicalism, when inter-island communication has been established, and when conditions generally have become settled.

The Delegate Apostolic, Archbishop Agius, arrived at Manila February 6, and was given a most enthusiastic reception by officials, ecclesiastics and people.

The entire Philippine Exhibit, making fifteen carloads, has been transferred from the St. Louis Fair Grounds to the American Museum of Natural History, New York, where it will occupy six halls on the main floor. It is considered complete in all details, illustrating every occupation of the people and every phase of their development.

Honored by Monuments.-In Statuary Hall, at the National Capitol, a statue of Hon. John J. Ingalls was unveiled January 21 and presented, with commemorative addresses, by the State of Kansas, which he had represented in the United States Senate for eighteen years. He left Massachusetts for Kansas in 1858, three years before that State entered the Union, and he soon became its foremost orator and statesman.

February 17 a like honor was conferred for the first time upon a woman, Miss Frances E. Willard, by her adopted State, Illinois. Miss Willard was long known as the head of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and an earnest worker for social purity. Texas, too, has just presented statues of Austin and Houston, the founders of that State.

Father Junipero Serra appears to be the first choice of California for one of her places in Statuary Hall. The second is in dispute.

A bill has been introduced at Washington to erect a monument to Commodore John Barry, and it is also proposed to erect in the District of Columbia a statue of L'Enfant, the architect and designer of the Nation's Capital City.

At Auriesville, in the State of New York, a memorial chapel will be erected to honor Father Isaac Jogues and the pioneer missionaries of New York and Canada. It will be on the site of Father Jogues' martyrdom, once called Ossernenon.

Alabama is to honor Father Ryan, the poet-priest, and Montana the brave General Meagher.

Clergy and Hierarchy. The Propaganda has nominated Very Rev. Thomas F. Hickey, Vicar-General of the Diocese of Rochester, as Coadjutor to Bishop McQuaid, with right of succession. Dr. Hickey is a native of Rochester and was ordained by the present venerable Bishop twenty-one years ago.

Archbishop Moeller, of Cincinnati, was solemnly invested with the sacred pallium on February 15. His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons officiated and preached the sermon; Bishop Hartley, of Columbus, celebrated the pontifical Mass preceding the ceremony of investiture.

Bishop Hoban, of Scranton, has filed a legal protest against the incorporation of a schismatical church at Nanticoke, Pa., to be called the National Polish Church. He objected that such a title would be misleading to Catholics and to the public generally.

Mgr. John I. Barrett, of Brooklyn, has been made a Domestic Prelate by His Holiness, Pius X.

The government has appointed Rev. George J. Waring, of Dubuque, to succeed Father Vattman as an army chaplain, and Rev. J. M. McGinty, of New York, as naval chaplain on the receiving ship Franklin at Norfolk, Va. It is said that the sailors in our navy are Catholic by a slight majority, and that for one ship provided with a chaplain there are nine still unprovided for.

Death of a Diplomat.-The death at Paris, a few weeks ago, of Hon. Anthony M. Keiley, brother of Bishop Keiley, of Savannah, recalled an incident between this government and Italy during President Cleveland's first administration. Mr. Keiley was appointed ambassador to Italy, but objection was made because he had protested against the spoliation of the Church by Victor Emmanuel in 1871. He was transferred to Vienna, but the Dreibund caused objection there also. Our government would have broken diplomatic relations rather than yield for the trivial reasons alleged by Austria, but Mr. Keiley again modestly withdrew to avoid complications. He was thereafter sent as Chief Judge of the International Court of Appeals at Cairo, Egypt, in which position he continued up to 1902.

ITALY.

Italy at the Parting of the Ways. Such is the theme treated by the Civiltà at the beginning of this year. The occasion was the part recently taken by Italian Catholics in the national elections, which threatened to be controlled by socialism. Catholic intervention was hailed in places with a certain joy, in general with satisfaction. This, with many other signs, indicates a new spirit in revolutionary and government circles. The government, with its supporters and powerful resources, has been hitherto allied with revolutionary anti-clericalism, which has made use of every means-press, schools, laws, etc.-to injure Catholicism. After fifty years this fierce campaign is substantially a failure; the mass of the Italians are still religious, while destructive socialism,

the natural and direct fruit of the anti-clerical movement, menaces the throne and public order. The tone of the reputable press, of leading political men, of officials, has become conciliatory. The old anti-papal spirit has declined. In fact there is a very perceptible tendency to make friends with Pope Pius and the Church. It has not been sufficiently noticed to what a degree the later efforts of the anti-clericals have failed. The campaign against the religious orders, the divorce legislation, the congress of freethinkers, etc., went under, one is tempted to say, as if by magic. Freemasonry, hitherto omnipotent, has become vastly discredited, particularly by financial dishonesty, such as that of Signor Nasi, the Minister of Public Instruction. It is, no doubt, the dawn of a new era, and Italian Catholics are sure to make the most of it. At present their leaders turn them towards social action-local elections, anti-socialism, religious and social interests of the masses-and not to the formation of an independent political party. Thus by their works they shall be known, and the best and most intelligent of their opponents will soon realize how much they need their assistance.

The New Bishop of Bergamo.-Bergamo is one of the leading dioceses in Italy for its faith and social works. We referred to it in our last MESSENGER (p. 205). It has now received for its bishop a prelate whose name is a synonym for social Apostolic activity. Mgr. Radini-Tedeschi is the intimate friend of Count Medolago, the Catholic leader, and of the other Catholic chiefs. He was consecrated by the Pope himself at the Vatican on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the Prince-Bishop of Geneva (January 29). The new bishop is only forty-eight years of age. He has great talent, activity, eloquence, with a noble and attractive presence. He speaks French as he does his native Italian. He comes of an old and loyal family of Piacenza. His father, Count Charles Radini-Tedeschi, now eighty years of age, is head of the judicial section of the Work of Congresses. Mgr. Radini-Tedeschi studied at Genoa and Bergamo. Later he won his doctorate in theology and in canon and civil law with great distinction. His bishop, Mgr. Scalabrini, made him professor of canon law in his seminary of Piacenza. While here he wrote a commentary on St. Thomas, and works on Italian and Latin literature and on natural science. Nine years afterwards he was called to Rome, where he begged to be allowed to devote himself to the service of his fellowmen instead of diplomacy. Since then his great work for Catholic youth, priests, pilgrimages, etc., is well known.

The Roman Patriciate at the Vatican.-On January 25 the families of the Patriciate and Roman nobility paid their annual visit to the Vatican in order to offer to the Holy Father their good wishes for the year just begun. Prince Mark Anthony Colonna, Assistant at the Papal Throne, read their address. Obeying, they said, the Holy Father's counsel, their constant care would be to be faithful to all family duties and relations in a truly Christian spirit-whether in the life of home, the training of children, their relations with persons employed. All