Communities, whether rural or urban, Decline of that are engaged in advancing these Partisanship. local measures for the common good, may well be a trifle reluctant to drop it all at the beck and call of the politicians, and to separate for the electoral season into rival camps under the standards "Republican" and "Democrat." Efficiency, rather than partisanship, seems to be the demand of the day. Thus, Massachusetts approves of Governor Crane and his administration as thoroughly as possible, -not so much because he happens to be a Republican as because he has shown himself a thoroughly upright, businesslike, and capable governor of Massachusetts, in whose hands the executive affairs of the commonwealth are so honorably and so ably conducted that everybody admires and nobody finds fault. In New York, Governor Odell has so carried on his administration that many of his strongest supporters belong to the class of independent voters. He has been business-like, and, so far as we know, the Democrats are not really finding any serious fault with him. They are trying to harmonize their factions and find a candidate upon whom all can unite, chiefly because it is their business as politicians to hold the party together for the sake of the future. They will, nevertheless, undoubtedly recognize the spirit of the period by selecting a candidate who, like Mr. Odell, will commend himself to the judgment of the community as an efficient man, and who, if elected, would carry on State affairs in a business-like rather than a partisan manner.

What are

Local issues of various sorts are quite the Party sure, under these circumstances, to Issues? play a larger part than usual in the political campaigns of the present season throughout the country. It is not very easy to find an intelligent man who, in friendly, private conversation, can at present show any great zeal of partisanship. The war with Spain was as much the work of one party as of the other, and the ratification of the treaty by which we acquired the Philippines was not wholly a Republican act. Whatever distinctions certain learned individuals may make, the country as a whole will not now find it easy to make any sharp issue between the parties out of existing differences of opinion as to our present Philippine policy. Some of the Democrats say that we ought to declare to the Filipinos that we intend in the future to give them self-government; but the Republicans reply that we are actually giving them self-government just as fast as it can be forced upon them, and that when you are doing your best to teach a child to walk, there is no particular use in proclaiming to him daily that he shall some time be permitted to

run. Nor will the country be likely to find any radical difference between the parties as respects such a question as how to deal with trusts and great combinations. Experience and study, observation and discussion, are giving us a clearer understanding of these problems every day. Meanwhile, there is no great divergence in the avowals of the two parties on the trust question, and certainly President Roosevelt and the Attorney-General have not hesitated to attempt the enforcement of existing laws. Nor, finally, is there much use in trying any longer to make the tariff question the football of politics. Business men of all parties and all sections arise in their might and demand that the tariff issue serve no longer as a mere party convenience. When the Democratic politicians had their opportunity to reform the tariff a decade ago, they modified it a little here and a little there, but they left it in general what it was before,-namely, a characteristic American high protective tariff. If they were given the opportunity again in the near future, they would mutilate the Dingley schedules a good deal, no doubt; but when they got through, there would remain an American protective tariff. Meanwhile, however, there would have been agitation and uncertainty, with the consequence that various important industries would curtail operations, and with harmful indirect effects extending throughout the business life of the country.

Should the Tariff be Revised?

The

Yet the present tariff is by no means the best that could be devised. principal thing in its favor is the fact that business conditions have adjusted themselves to it, that the Treasury Department understands its qualities as a producer of revenue, and that the reasons for disturbing it are of a general nature rather than practical, specific, and immediately urgent. On the other hand, it is a simple fact that American industrial development has reached that condition of maturity to promote which the protective system was originally devised. We are becoming a great exporting nation, and foreign countries are growing more and more uneasy and disturbed over the invasion of their markets by American goods, while this country keeps up its high barriers against foreign commodities. Furthermore, some at least of our protected industries,-like tin plate, for example, have passed under the control of a partial or almost complete monopoly; and in these cases, it is urged, tariff protection should be considerably reduced, if not altogether withdrawn. The fact is, that the American wage system is no longer dependent chiefly upon the tariff, but upon the efficiency of labor in actual

production. President McKinley, the great apostle of protection, had arrived at the opinion that the time had fully come for a modification of our policy. His last speech at Buffalo was a plea for enlarged commercial relations through a system of reciprocity treaties. Free trade with Cuba and the Philippines would be a good starting point, and reciprocity amounting practically to a zollverein, or commercial union, between the United States and Canada might prove to be an act of the most far-reaching statesmanship. A revision of the iron and steel schedules would not hurt this highly developed American industry, and the same thing might be said of several other schedules. Republican business men in almost every community of the country would like to see some conservative modification of the tariff, provided it could be done without political agitation and clamor, and provided certain members of the United States Senate would not take advantage of the rules of that body to prevent conclusions by interminable debate.

gress. These men had naturally become imbued with the idea that, as a practical matter, any change of the tariff is a difficult thing to bring about, and with the further view-prevailing in conservative Republican circles at Washingtonthat present conditions do not justify a reopening of the tariff question. Governor Cummins, on

GOV. ALBERT B. CUMMINS, OF IOWA.

the other hand, supported by local opinion from almost every part of the State, held tenaciously to the view that if the tariff is not soon revised by Republicans in a cautious and friendly way, it will be revised by anti-protectionists in a hos tile and radical way. Governor Cummins believes that, although it is only five years since the Dingley tariff was adopted, our industrial conditions have made greater changes in this period than in a preceding term of twenty years. The Iowa platform stands by "the historic policy of the Republican party in giving protection to home industries;" but it favors such changes in the tariff from time to time as become advisable through the progress of our industries and their changing relations to the commerce of the world." The platform endorses the policy of reciprocity, and favors "any modification of the tariff schedules that may be required to prevent their affording shelter to monopoly." The Iowa Republicans do not mention any particular sched

SPEAKER HENDERSON: "Hi there! Clear the track! You're scaring my elephant!"

Gov. CUMMINS: "The elephant'll have to get used to it." From the Journal (Minneapolis).

The

Mr. Babcock, of Wisconsin, who is General Party chairman of the Republican CongresAttitude. sional Committee in charge of this year's campaign, has heretofore been exceedingly active in an endeavor to reduce the tariff on articles which enter largely into our éxports, or which are controlled in the domestic market by trusts or combinations of capital. But his position at present is one of general defense of the tariff system, as against Democratic attacks upon it led by Mr. Griggs, of Georgia, chairman of the Democratic campaign committee. The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Shaw of Iowa, while undoubtedly appreciating the fact that business conditions have grown quite away from the Dingley tariff, does not believe it worth while to agitate the subject now, because he sees no prospect of tariff revision until after the next Presidential election, unless, indeed, the Republicans

HON. JAMES M. GRIGGS, OF GEORGIA. (Chairman of the Congressional Democratic Campaign Committee.)

HON. JOSEPH W. BABCOCK, OF WISCONSIN. (Chairman of the Congressional Republican Campaign Committee.)

should be taught quite emphatically in the Congressional elections this fall that the people demand an earlier revision. Undoubtedly, the posi tion now held by such men as Mr. Payne, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Speaker Henderson, and Mr. Grosvenor of the House, and Messrs. Hanna, Aldrich, and other influential leaders in the Senate, is that tariff revision ought not to be undertaken by the Congress to be elected this year, but ought to be deferred for its successor, to be chosen in the Presidential year 1904. The Congressional elections will be held under the new apportionment based upon the census of 1900. Under the new apportionment the total membership of the House will be 386, instead of 357, an increase of 29 members. The object of this change was to enable every State to keep at least its present representation. New York, Illinois, and Texas each gain three members, while Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Minnesota gain two apiece. Fourteen States gain one member each, these States being scattered East, West, North, and South.

Long Island. His plans comprise a twelve days' journey through the New England States, to end. on September 3, and a visit to the West to attend soldiers' reunions, and for some other similar objects, beginning on September 19, and

JUSTICE HORACE GRAY, OF MASSACHUSETTS. (Retiring from the United States Supreme Court.) continuing for two or three weeks. With Congress adjourned, and no very critical problems pending, either of domestic or foreign concern, it has been possible for high government officials, from the President and his cabinet down, to relax somewhat through the summer months. There have been no cabinet changes, and no rumors of any. The most important appointment of last month was that of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to succeed Justice Horace Gray. Several months ago Justice Gray, who is seventy-four years old, was stricken with apoplexy, and it was known that he would not again appear on the bench. Justice Holmes, his successor, has served for twenty years on the bench in Massachusetts, and is sixty-one years old. He is a man of brilliant and varied attainments, and an eminent legal scholar, of a thoroughly independent and modern order of mind. We present elsewhere in this number an interesting sketch of him from the pen of an esteemed contributor,

Mr. Morris. Justice Gray, who now retires, was also Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts when appointed twenty years ago. It has been known for some time that Justice Shiras intended soon to retire from the Supreme Court, and it was authoritatively stated last month that he would resign next spring, having attained the age of seventy years. It was also announced that, with the completion of his threescore and ten years, Dr. Andrew D. White would soon resign as ambassador at Berlin. While no formal announcement was made, it was commonly believed that the position at Berlin would be filled by the transfer thither of some other prominent member of the diplomatic service, those most frequently named being Mr. Charlemagne Tower, now ambassador at St. Petersburg, and Mr. Bellamy Storer, now minister to Spain and recently minister to Belgium. Dr. Andrew D. White is the best known and most conspicuous man in the American foreign service, and his retirement will be much regretted, although his return to the United States will doubtless result in his being drawn into various activities of a literary, educational, and philanthropic nature.

Some

In the domain of political personaliPolitical ties the summer has brought forth litPersonalities. tle of special note or interest. It is to be said, however, that the emphatic voice of the country regarding the value of the services. of Senator Spooner at Washington has had its due weight in Wisconsin. Spooner clubs have been forming all over the State. It is now practically certain that Mr. Spooner will be the Senatorial choice of the Republican members of the new Legislature, without any regard to those qualifications in its endorsement of him that the Republican State platform contains. It does not follow that Governor La Follette's strong support throughout the State has weakened in the least, or that the dominant element of Wisconsin Republicanism is any the less devoted to the proj ects of tax reform and nomination reform that are set forth in this year's platform; but it begins to see the impropriety of forcing local tests upon a Republican like Senator Spooner, whose duties at Washington have nothing to do with State issues at home. The perennial strug gle about Addicks has broken forth with renewed vigor in Delaware, which remains without any representation at all in the United States Senate, through the stubbornness of the Addicks dead. lock. The death of that silent but powerful Republican Senator, Mr. McMillan of Michigan, has made a vacancy for which the ex-Secretary of War, General Alger, was much

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 independent element of Pennsylvania Republicans for his unexpectedly warm and much reiterated eulogies of Senator Quav. 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

THE LATE SENATOR JAMES M'MILLAN, OF MICHIGAN.

GOV. ROBERT M. LA FOLLETTE, WISCONSIN.

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