A W eek ly N ew sp ap er a n d R ev iew .
d u m VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
From the B r i e f o j H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, i 8 jo .
V ol. 90. No. 3000. L ondon, N ovember 6, 1897.
P r ic e sd ., b y P o s t
[R e g i s t e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l P o s t O f f i c e a s a N ew s p a p e r .
CONTENTS.
C hronicle of thf. W ere ♦ Page
The New York Mayoralty— M i. Henry George — The French Chamber and Compensation to Workmen— The Origin of Free Trade — Its Results— German as Mark Twain Sees I t— The Engineering Dispute— The Chances of a Conference— The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Currency — Bye - Election at Barnsley — Scientific Robbery in Piccadilly— The Lancashire Cotton Trade— The War on the Indian Frontier — England and France in West A f r i c a . . ........................... . . 717 L e a d e r s :
The London School Board . . 721 The Premier Colony . . . . 722 The Attitudes of Catholics Towards
Pentateuch Criticism . . . . 723
The Cardinal at Arles . . . . 726 Cardinal Vaughan on the School
Page
Board Election . . . . . . 727 N o t e s . . 728 R e v ie w s :
The Metre of the Book of Job . . 720 How the Pope is Elected . . 730 Miss Providence . . . . . . 730 The Life of Mère Marie de la
Providence . . . . . . 731 University Intelligence . . . . 731 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :
Rome :— (From Our Own Corre
spondent) . . . . M — 733 News from Ireland _ _ 735 News from F ra n c e ......................... 736
L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it o r
Page
Mr. Lacey and Bishop Auxentius 737 The Holy Father’s Prayer for
England The Late Abbess o f Stanbrook The See of Arles .. The Old Church, Manchester Catholic Chaplains for the Navy Irish Distressed Ladies Fund To Ritualistic Protestants St. Winefride A West African Mission^ . . The School Board Election
737 738 738 738 73S 733 739739. 739739
The Dominican Fathers The Claims of the Bishop o f Biistol 740 Catholics and the Middleton E lec
tion The Lovat Peerage . . M a r r ia g e S o c ia l a n d P o l i t i c a l . .
739
74T 743 744 7 44
S U P P L E M E N T . Page N ews * rom t h e S c h o o l s :
The Irish University^ Question . . 749 The Denominationalist Position.. 750 The Case of a Deaf Child . . 750 Football:
Beaumont College v . Royal
M ilitary College, Sandhurst 751 Wimbledon College v . _St.
George’s College, Weybridge 7$r N ew s from t h e D io ceses Westminster . .
Southwark . . . . Liverpool Nottingham .. Shrewsbury . . Argyll and the Isles , . . . St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne 753 Silver Jubilee o f Cardinal Vaughan 754 The Irish University Question . . 754 The Teachers and the Cardinal . . 755
7Sr 752 752 752 752 • 753
Rejected MS. cannot be returned unless accompanied with addres and postage.
C H R O N I C L E O F T H E W E E K .
THE NEW YORK MAYORALTY. T
'H E great election is over, and Judge
Van Wyck, the nominee of Tammany, has triumphed. The result mainly concerns the city of New Y o rk ; it is for us only to note that the party of reform has been disastrously defeated, and we suppose “ the people love to have'it so.” The figures were : Judge Van Wyck, 235,181 votes; Mr. •Seth Low, 149,873 ; General Tracy, 101,823; and Mr. Henry George, junior, 20,727. Long before the polling was over the Tammany Boss, Mr. Croker, was able to issue a confident statement that Tammany had won all along the line, and that the friends 'o f reform had been beaten in almost every district. The D a ily News correspondent thinks the success of Tammany is due to the division in the opposition vote between Mr. Low and the regular Republican candidate, General Tracy. “ Their votes combined would have carried the city easily. Mr. George’s vote virtually disappeared after his death. Tammany polled the full Democratic vote in all parts of the city. The result is a great set-back to honest government in every city of the country. The reformers tried to destroy the political bosses, but were not strong enough to defeat those o f both parties combined. The Republican boss put up General Tracy as a candidate for the sole purpose of drawing votes from Mr. Low, and succeeded thus in helping the Democratic boss to perpetuate his power.” On the other hand Judge Van Wyck has made the following statement: “ I never doubted that Tammany would win. Our victory is owing to the fact that the people would not be influenced by the false issues raised. The recent attempt to stampede the Irish-American voters from Tammany by attacks on Mr. Croker, and by the absurd stories regarding his friendship for the Prince of Wales, proved a dismal failure. The -unjust statements of London newspaper correspondents concerning the alleged corruption of Tammany were equally futile as a campaign cry. The election is a refutation of the repeated charge that the Tammany officials have been corruptionists. The new administration will give New York the best government the city has ever had. Every office will be filled with capable men. Birth or nationality will make no difference. Citizens of all nationalities will stand on the same level, and the government will be administered for the people.” It will be seen that Mr. Low and General Tracy together scarcely polled more than the Tammany hero. The death of Mr. Henry George seems to have been a gain for Judge Van Wyck. The moment the strong personality of the socialist candidate was removed, the mass o f supporters, forgetful of all his denunciations of Tammany, fell back into their accustomed allegiance. His son, an insignificant and unknown person, even on the morrow of his father’s tragic death, could take only a remnant o f the party to the polls.
It is hardly likely that if Mr. George had
— Mr . h e n r y lived the result of the contest would have been g e o r g e . different. The Tammany majority would not have been quite so decisive, but that would have been all. Mr. George died on Friday morning quite suddenly, and seems to have been killed by overwork and exhaustion. To the last he commanded the respect which is due to honesty o f purpose even in the case of a mischievous fanatic. Mr. George was born in Philadelphia in 1837. In early life he went to sea, but in 1858 settled in California and edited several papers published on the Pacific coast. It is said that meditation upon the waste of public property represented by the lavish grants of land to pioneer railway companies led to his writing Progress and Poverty in 1879. The book at once became famous. Its scope is best indicated in the words of its author: “ We have traced,” he said in a passage which summarizes his views, “ the unequal distribution of wealth which is the curse and menace of modern civilization to the institution of private property in land. We have seen that, as long as this institution exists, no increase in productive power can permanently benefit the masses ; but, on the contrary, must tend to still further depress their condition. We have examined all the remedies, short of the abolition of private property in land, which are currently relied on or proposed for the relief of poverty and the better distribution o f wealth, and have found them all inefficacious or impracticable. There is but one way to remove its cause— land must be made common property.” As this would give a needless shock to present customs and habits of thought, Mr. George would substitute an impôt unique payable by rent. Thus spoke the prophet of 1879 as to the consequences : “ What I, therefore, propose as the simple and sovereign remedy which will raise wages, increase the earnings of capital, extirpate pauperism, abolish poverty, give remunerative employment to whoever wishes it, afford free scope to human powers, lessen crime, elevate morals,
N e w S e r i e s . V o l . L V I I I . , N o . 2 .3 09.
