The German tariff covers several hundred items, and on a considerable percentage of these the preferential rate is much lower than the regular rate. On wheat the regular rate is 5 marks to the 100 kilograms, and the preferential rate is 3.50 marks on 100 kilograms. On corn the regular rate is 2 marks; preferential rate, 1.60 marks. On meat, ham, bacon, etc., the regular rate is 20 marks; preferential rate, 15 marks. On August 6 the details of a treaty with Great Britain were made public. The principal clauses provide that: Where, on the death of any person holding real property (or property not personal) within the territories of one of With Great Britain. the contracting parties, such real property would, by the laws of the land, pass to a citizen or subject of the other, were he not disqualified by the laws of the country where such real property is situated, such citizen or subject shall be allowed a term of three years in which to sell the same, this term to be reasonably prolonged if circumstances render it necessary, and to withdraw the proceeds thereof, without restraint or interference, and exempt from any successon, probate or administrative duties or charges other than those which may be imposed in like cases upon the citizens or subjects of the country from which such proceeds may be drawn. The citizens or subjects of each of the contracting parties shall have full power to dispose of their personal property within the territories of the other, by testament, donation, or otherwise; and their heirs, being citizens or subjects of the other contracting party, may take possession thereof and dispose of the same at their pleasure, paying such duties only as the citizens or subjects of the country where the property lies shall be liable to pay in like cases. In all that concerns the right of disposing of every kind of property, real or personal, citizens or subjects of each of the high contracting parties shall in the dominions of the other enjoy the rights which are or may be accorded to the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation. On June 5 the details of an extradition treaty with the Argentine Republic were With Argentine. made public, the terms of which were in general similar to those of extradition treaties with other countries. On March 12 was proclaimed a convention between the United States and Chili, the With Chili. provisions of which revive the convention of August 7, 1892, to adjust amicably the claims of citizens of either country agreeing to the convention against the other. On May 7 the President proclaimed a convention with Mexico extending for a period of one year from December 24, 1899, the provisions With Mexico. of the convention of March 1, 1889, to facilitate the execution of the treaty of November 12, 1884, and to avoid difficulties arising from changes in the beds of the Bravo Del Norte and Colorado rivers. On April 28 the President proclaimed a protocol of agreement extending, as to the Philippine Islands, for six months from April 11, 1900, the period fixed in Article IX of With Spain. tention to retain their the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain, signed at Paris December 10, 1898, during which Spanish subjects, natives of the peninsula, may declare their inSpanish nationality. Other reciprocity treaties were pending, but not proclaimed. There was also a Other Treaties. parcels post convention with Nicaragua, concluded March 27, 1900, in the regular form, its provisions being identical with those in force with other countries. TREATY OF PEACE WITH SPAIN. The first movement toward a cessation of the war between the United States and Spain, which began on April 21, 1898, was a proposition on behalf of Spain, submitted by M. Cambon, the French Ambassador at Washington, on July 26. On July 30 a counter proposition was submitted, and on August 9 the Spanish reply was received by the President. On August 12 a protocol was signed by William R. Day, Secretary of State, and Jules Cambon, representing Spain, which was signed by the Queen Regent of Spain on September 11. In accordance with the terms of the protocol President McKinley appointed to negotiate a Treaty of Peace a commission composed of William R. Day, of Ohio, chairman; Cushman K. Davis, of Minnesota; William P. Frye, of Maine; Whitelaw Reid, of New-York, and Edward D. White, of Louisiana. Mr. White, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, declined to serve, and the President appointed George Gray, of Delaware, in his place. The members of the Spanish Commission, as announced on September 18, were Don Eugenio Montero Rios, President of the Senate; Don Buenaventura Abarzuza, Don Jose de Garnica y Diaz, Don Wenceslao Ramirez de Villa Urrutia and Don Rafael Cerero y Saenz. These commissioners met at Paris, holding their first joint convention on October 1. Argument over the various clauses in the treaty of peace continued until November 21, when the American Commissioners presented a final proposition, which was practically an ultimatum. After a brief hesitation the Spanish Commissioners yielded, and on December 10 the Treaty of Peace was signed. The American Commissioners soon returned to the United States, and on December 24 placed the treaty in the hands of the President, who transmitted it to the Senate for ratification. That body received it on January 4, 1899, after the holiday recess, but did not ratify it until February 6. It was signed by the President on February 10, and by the Queen Regent on March 17. The exchange of ratifications was effected at the White House in Washington on April 11, 1899, M. Cambon, the French Ambassador, acting on behalf of Spain. The President's announcement was made public the same day. The payment of $20,000,000 to the Spanish Government, provided for in the Treaty of Peace, was made on May 1, 1899, the first anniversary of the battle of Manila Bay. THE NICARAGUA CANAL. The extension of the jurisdiction of the United States in the West Indies and in the Pacific Ocean in the last two years, with greatly increased political responsibilities and enormous commercial development, having brought the necessity of a ship canal across the American isthmus more forcibly than ever before the United States and the repeated failures of private corporations with concessions to accomplish anything substantial in the line of opening such a waterway, it has practically become the fixed determination of this Government to build a canal as a National work. This being prohibited under the terms of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, it became essential to abrogate that convention, as a preliminary to actual construction, and on February 5, 1900, Secretary Hay, by the President's direction, negotiated the following agreement with Lord Pauncefote: The United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, being desirous to facilitate the construction of a ship canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and to that end remove any objection which may arise out of the convention of April 19, 1850, commonly called the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, to the construction of such canal under the auspices of the Government of the United States, without impairing the "general principle" of neutralization established in Article VIII of that convention, have for that purpose appointed as their plenipotentiaries: The President of the United States, John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States, and Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, the Right Hon. Lord Pauncefote, G. C. B., G. C. M. G., Her Majesty's Ambassador Extradordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States; who, having communicated to each other their full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have agreed upon the following articles: "Article I. It is agreed that the canal may be constructed under the auspices of the Government of the United States, either directly at its own cost, or by gift or loan of money to individuals or corporations, or through subscription to or purchase of stock or shares; and that, subject to the provisions of the present convention, the said Government shall have and enjoy all the rights incident to such construction, as well as of the exclusive right of providing for the regulation and management of the canal. "Article II. The high contracting parties desiring to preserve and maintain the 'general principle' of neutralization established in Article VIII of the Clayton-Bulwer convention adopt, as the basis of such neutralization, the following rules, substantially as embodied in the convention between Great Britain and certain other Powers, signed at Constantinople October 29, 1888, for the free navigation of the Suez Canal; that is to say: 1. The canal shall be free and open, in time of war as in time of peace, to vessels of commerce and of war, of all nations, on terms of entire equality, so that there shall be no discrimination against any nation or its citizens or subjects in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic or otherwise. 2. The canal shall never be blockaded, nor shall any right of war be exercised nor any act of hostility be committed within it. 3. Vessels of war of a belligerent shall not revictual nor take any stores in the canal except so far as may be strictly necessary, and the transit of such vessels through the canal shall be effected with the least possible delay, in accordance with the regulations in force, and with only such intermission as may result from the necessities of the service. Prizes shall be in all respects subject to the same rules as vessels of war of the belligerents. 4. No belligerent shall embark or disembark troops, munitions of war, nor warlike materials in the canal, except in case of accidental hindrance of the transit, and in such case the transit shall be resumed with all possible dispatch. 5. The provisions of this article will apply to waters adjacent to the canal, within three marine miles of either end. Vessels of war of a belligerent shall not remain in such waters longer than twenty-four hours at any one time except in case of distress, and in such case shall depart as soon as possible, but a vessel of war of one belligerent shall not depart within twenty-four hours from the departure of a vessel of war of the other belligerent. 6. The plant, establishments, buildings and all works necessary to the construction, maintenance and operation of the canal shall be deemed to be part thereof, for the purposes of this convention, and in time of war, as in time of peace, shall enjoy complete immunity from attack or injury by belligerents and from acts calculated to impair their usefulness as part of the canal. 7. No fortifications shall be erected commanding the canal or the waters adjacent. The United States, however, shall be at liberty to maintain such military police along the canal as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness and disorder. "Article III. The high contracting parties will, immediately upon the exchange of the ratifications of this convention, bring it to the notice of the other Powers and invite them to adhere to it. "Article IV. The present convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the consent of the Senate thereof, and by Her Britannic Majesty; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington or at London within six months from the date hereof, or earlier if possible." The President submitted this treaty on the day of its conclusion to the Senate for approval, and on March 9 it was favorably reported from the Committee on Foreign Relations with the following amendment inserted at the end of Section 5 of Article II: "It is agreed, however, that none of the immediately foregoing conditions and stipulations in Sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this act shall apply to measures which the United States may find it necessary to take for securing by its own forces the defence of the United States and the maintenance of public order." Reviewing the entire history of negotiation and legislation on the subject of an "1. interoceanic canal, the following propositions are stated as beyond controversy: The Clayton-Bulwer treaty was adopted in the application of the Monroe Doctrine to Central America, and in order to remove an imminent peril to the interests of the United States. 2. That treaty was extant and operative on February 5, 1900, when the Hay-Pauncefote treaty was signed, and up to that moment the Government of the United States was solemnly bound not to own or control a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 3. The policy of neutralization of such a waterway, by whomsoever constructed, has been from the beginning the policy of the United States. 4. In continuance of this policy the Hay-Pauncefote treaty absolves the United States from its obligations not to construct, own or control such an interoceanic waterway, and obtains for it the free consent of Great Britain to such construction and control, while Great Britain remains bound to observe all the provisions of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty and renounces her right to construct and control such a waterway. 5. The treaty relations of the Republic of Nicaragua with other Powers limit her rights of concessions in such a manner that the Hay-Pauncefote treaty secures all the rights and privileges to the United States which the Republic of Nicaragua is legally able to grant, until these treaty relations are terminated." Secretary Hay, for the Government of the United States, and Señor Corea, the Nicaraguan Minister, for his own Government, on December 1, 1900, signed a treaty by which Nicaragua cedes to the United States the necessary rights and privileges within her bestowal for the construction of the Nicaragua Canal. An understanding has also been reached with the Republic of Colombia covering the same rights and privileges for the Panama route as are conveyed by Nicaragua and Costa Rica in the case of the Nicaragua route. Within the last two years all concessions for an interoceanic canal by the Lake Nicaragua route have lapsed by limitation, and the republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua are now free to grant a concession to the United States Government without limitations. The report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, submitted by the President to Congress December 4, 1900, gave as the unanimous conclusion of that body that "the most practicable and feasible route for an isthmian canal, under the control, management and ownership of the United States, is that known as the Nicaragua route." The Commission estimated the cost of that route at $200,540,000, this amount being based on the following figures: Eastern division (from Greytown to Boca San Carlos dam).. Ninety-eight miles of railroad.. $82,662,000 25,425,000 51,680,000 7,350,000 $167,117,000 33,423,000 $200,540,000 This estimate is for a canal suitable for navigation by the largest ships in existence. It provides for a double system of locks, so that navigation can be maintained if one system be closed for repairs or renewals. If a single lockage system is provided the cost will be reduced $19,678,000. Narrowing the bottom one-third will permit a further reduction of $16,949,000. That would bring the estimated cost down to $163,913,000. Concerning the Panama route, the Commission said its natural attraction lies in the combination of a very narrow isthmus with a low summit. The width of the isthmus is less than thirty-five miles, while the summit is barely 300 feet above mean tide. The Commission gives the following estimated cost of completing the route: Panama $7,334,673 10,718,288 10,982,345 2,786,449 295,436 44,378,335 8,496,326 1,169,611 5,720,363 12,366,914 8,500,000 1,124,524 1,448.076 1,929,976 100,000 1,267,500 $118,618,816 23,723,763 $142,342,579 This estimate is capable of reduction to $115,941,215 if single locks and a narrow bottom are adopted. An alternative estimate is submitted, based on having the Allajuela dam built to impound the waters of the upper Chagres. That estimate is $156,378,258. The value of the French work done was estimated at $33,934,463. KENTUCKY'S POLITICAL TROUBLES. The Goebel law, under the title of "An Act to Further Regulate Elections, was offered in the Kentucky Senate by Senator William Goebel February 1, 1898. It was referred to the Committee on Judiciary, of which Mr. Goebel was chairman, and was adopted by a vote of 20 to 15, three Democrats and two Populists voting against it. The House passed it by a vote of 57 to 42 on March 10. It was vetoed by Governor Bradley, but passed both houses over the veto on March 11, immediately becoming a law. Mr. Goebel was nominated for Governor by the Democratic State Convention held in Louisville beginning June 21, 1899, over ex-Attorney-General Parker Watkins Hardin and ex-Representative William J. Stone. Mr. Goebel was behind both in instructed votes, but by combining with Stone he controlled the convention, and after six days of bitter fighting received the nomination. Mr. Goebel justified his law as a necessary party measure. In the campaign which followed he was defeated by the Republican nominee, William Sylvester Taylor, who received a plurality of 2,383 votes. This was certified to by Chairman Pryor and W. T. Ellis, the majority of the State Board of Election Commissioners chosen under the law, they taking the ground that they could only count the votes as returned by the county boards. C. B. Poyntz, the other member, held that the board had judicial powers to review the returns, but was overruled. The vote each candidate received was: Taylor, 193,714 votes; Goebel, 191,333; John Young Brown, Independent Democrat, 12,140. Immediately after issuing the certificates of election Judge Pryor and Mr. Ellis resigned, and the remaining member, Mr. Poyntz, appointed John A. Fulton and Morton K. Youts to be their successors. Governor Bradley claimed the right of appointment, but the courts sustained Mr. Poyntz's appointees as specified in the Goebel law. Mr. Taylor was inaugurated December 12 and on December 14 Senator Goebel announced that he and the candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham, would contest the election before the Legislature, this body being the tribunal assigned for such contests by the constitution. The minor Democratic candidates filed their contests before the State Board of Election Commission, which, under the law, became a contest board. The Legislature selected by lot the committees to hear the contests before them. Of the eleven members of the Goebel-Taylor committee ten were Democrats and one Republican. Of the Beckham-Marshall committee nine were Democrats and two Republicans. Republicans made charges of fraud in connection with the selection of these committees. The contest was hurried through by the Democrats, a rule being adopted making the Speaker of the House chairman of the joint session and giving to the session the right to call up the report of the contest committee at any time. This was the notorious rule No. 11, and was bitterly opposed by the Republicans, as was also another rule making the Speaker of the House chairman of the joint session Instead of the Lieutenant-Governor. The trial of the contestants began January 15. Excitement was increased on January 25 by the appearance of 1,000 armed mountaineers in Frankfort, who held a meeting at noon and adopted resolutions appealing to the Legislature for justice to the Republican candidates. These mountaineers were brought to Frankfort through the agency of Secretary of State Caleb Powers and his predecessor, ex-Secretary Finley. Some were disorderly and were arrested. Most of them left for home that evening. The Legislature had unseated several Republican members of the House and Senate, strengthening the Democratic majority. Sev Goebel was shot in front of the State House on the morning of January 30. eral shots were fired, but no one could tell from what direction. Goebel's wounds The Assassination of Goebel. proved fatal, though not till after he had been declared Governor. Governor Taylor, who had several companies of militia in readiness, ordered them out under command of Adjutant-General Collier, surrounding the Executive building and State House. He also ordered troops from Louisville, Lexington and other places. The contest committees decided to finish the contests at once, and, being refused admission to the State House by the soldiers, adjourned to the City Hall. The Republican counsel refused to appear, and the committees, with the exception of the three Republican members, reported that Senator Goebe! and Mr. Beckham had reIceived the highest number of legal votes. An attempt was made to hold a joint session of the Legislature that night, but this failed. That night Governor Taylor issued a proclamation adjourning the Legislature for one week, to reassemble at London on February 6. The Democratic majority ignored this proclamation, and, claiming that they had held a joint session on the evening of January 31, proclaimed Goebel and Beckham elected. A proclamation from Governor Goebel was immediately issued. Later another legislative joint session was held and the formality of declaring the Democratic contestants elected was again gone through. Senator Goebel died on the evening of February 3 at 6:40 o'clock, and Mr. Beckham was sworn in as Governor. On February 10 Governor Taylor issued a proclama Goebel's Death- Governor. tion reconvening the Legislature in Frankfort February 12. A truce was arranged and two petitions were filed by the Republicans in the Federal court at Cincinnati directed at the State Election Board. These were subsequently dismissed for want of jurisdiction. An appeal was taken to the Federal Supreme Court and again dismissed for the same reason. Governor Taylor then filed suit in the Jefferson Circuit Court for an injunction to restrain Beckham and Adjutant-General Castleman from exercising the duties of Governor and AdjutantGeneral respectively. This suit was followed by a counter suit by Governor Beckham at Georgetown. Finally an agreed suit was made up and heard by Judge Emmett Field of the Common Pleas Division of the Louisville Circuit Court. Judge Field on March 10 decided that the action of the Legislature was not subject to review by the courts. The Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court subsequently rendered similar decisions through Justice Brewer, and Justice Brown of the Supreme Court vigorously dissented. The Supreme Court's decision was announced May 21, 1900. Sessions of the Legislature had been resumed, but were productive of nothing, and the Legislature adjourned sine die at the end of the session. The Democratic members reaffirmed the action of the joint session, declaring Senator Goebel the Governor. Attempts were made to repeal the Goebel law, and Senator-elect Blackburn expressed himself as in favor of its repeal, saying it had cost the party 20,000 votes. A bill was passed appointing a commission for the purpose of apprehending and bringing to justice the assassin or assassins of Senator Goebel and appropriating $100,000 for that purpose. On February 26 the State Election Board returned a decision unseating the minor Republican officials. Upon the announcement the Republicans gave up the offices and the Democrats took possession. On March 9 last Thomas B. Cromwell, a newspaper correspondent of Lexington, swore out warrants against Secretary of State Caleb Powers, his brother John Lay Powers, ex-Secretary of State Charles F. Finley, Policeman Powers, Howard and John Davis, of the Frankfort Capital Square, and W. H. Youtsey Convicted. Culton, a clerk in the Auditor's office. The warrants charged these men with being accessories to the murder of Senator Goebel. Davis and Powers were arrested at Lexington while endeavoring to escape with a squad of soldiers. They had pardons from Governor Taylor, but no attention was paid to them and they were brought to jail in Louisville. Powers had his examining trial before Judge Moore at Frankfort, beginning March 23. He was held to answer before the Grand Jury at Frankfort. Subsequently indictments were returned against the following persons charged with the wilful murder of Governor Goebel: Henry E. Youtsey, Holland Whittaker, Berry Howard, James Howard and "Tallow Dick" Combs, a mulatto barber. The following were indicted as accessories before the fact: Charles Finley, Caleb Powers, John L. Powers and F. Wharton Golden. Indictments charging complicity as conspirators were returned against Governor W. S. Taylor, John Davis and Green Golden. Caleb Powers was tried at Georgetown in August, convicted August 18, and sentenced to life imprisonment; James Howard was tried in Frankfort, and on September 26 was found guilty of firing the fatal shot and sentenced to be hanged, and Henry E. Youtsey was found guilty of being an accessory and given a life sentence on October 20. The other cases have not yet been tried. Appeals have been taken in all the cases. At the June convention of the Democratic party at Lexington it was decided that the Goebel law should be repealed and a non-partisan measure substituted. The Goebel Law Amended. In accordance with this Governor Beckham called an extra session of the Legislature, convening August 28, for the purpose of considering the election law. Some amendments were made to the old law, to take immediate effect, and a new law, House bill No. 18, was adopted by both houses on October 20 and signed by Governor Beckham October 26. The important changes from the old law are that of the three State Election Commissioners one is to be taken from each of the dominant parties upon the recommendation of the State Central Committee and the Clerk of the Court of Appeals, an elective officer, is to act as umpire. The Commissioners are to be appointed by the Governor. They are to appoint the county boards, one from each party, with the Sheriff as umpire. All the boards are to have only ministerial powers, and the law gives the right of appeal in all cases of contests to the courts except in the case of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, which must be tried by the Legislature, as the constitution prescribes. The Goebel law made the boards_supreme, there being no right of appeal to the courts, and the members of the State Board were elected by the Legislature and were all of one party. The new law also provides for an equitable division of election officers. NORTH CAROLINA "RED SHIRT" TROUBLES. On July 31 Congressman J. D. Bellamy, of North Carolina, made a violent verbal attack on Senator Marion Butler, the leader of the Populist campaign, advising that he be expelled from the State. The "Red Shirts," through terrorist measures, controlled the campaign in the State, issuing orders about negroes registering and attending political meetings, and commanding them to stay away from the polls on Election Day. Republicans and Populists were a tacked and assaulted, and it was openly boasted that the presence of the "Red Shirts" prevented at least twenty-five thousand negroes from registering. The "Red Shirt" tactics were successful, a heavy Democratic majority being polled on August 2, the day of the State election, for the State ticket and the constitutional amendment which practically disfranchises the negroes. Several riots occurred on election day and a number of Republicans and Populists were shot and wounded or otherwise injured. The great effort made by Senators Pritchard and Butler to stampede the illiterate white from the Democrats because of the proposed constitutional amendment failed utterly, the prejudice of this class against the negro being too strong to be overcome. Among the measures to shut out Republican votes adopted by the Democrats at places where they were in a majority were demands that the polls be closed while Populists and Republicans were in line, challenging voters, and placing ballots in wrong boxes and refusing to count them. |