total effect of the boycott was are matters for conjecture. But it may safely be said that the movement had some beneficial results, in that it focused attention on the high prices of foodstuffs and influenced a number of important investigations. The price of meat, against which the boycott was directed, does not seem to have been permanently affected; for whereas beef cattle were quoted at about six cents a pound wholesale when the "meat strike" began, the price was seven to seven and a half cents when the boycott ended. The price of hogs has likewise risen materially in this period. While the popular movement against the packers and their business has subsided, as was naturally to be expected, the judicial inquiries into these matters have proceeded and produced some results. The federal grand jury at Chicago, which had been engaged for eight weeks in an exhaustive investigation of the business of the packing companies, returned indictments on March 21 against the National Packing Company, sometimes termed the "Beef Trust," and ten subsidiary concerns. The indictments charge a violation of the Sherman anti-trust law. A bill in equity for the dissolution of the alleged combination, naming the Armour, Morris, Swift, and other companies, and a number of individuals, was also filed by United States District-Attorney Sims. The Government officials apparently regard the National Packing Company as the instrument by which the packers have sought to evade the anti-trust law and perfect their control of the beef business. It is believed that if the National Company can be dissolved, the alleged evils of the combination may be eliminated. Late in February a grand jury in Hudson County, New Jersey, had indicted practically the same companies and twenty-one individual directors, after the collection of a mass of evidence, under the direction of Prosecutor Garven, about the cold storage business. The indictment charged the companies and the individuals. with conspiring to control the supply of meat in order to produce an artificial scarcity and thus increase prices. Should this turn. out to be the case, the New Jersey evidence may be placed at the disposal of the Government for use in its proceedings against the packers. District-Attorney Whitman, of New York County, has also been given access to this evidence with a view to the consideration of the cold storage business by a New York grand jury. THE SENATE COMMITTEE THAT IS INVESTIGATING THE HIGH PRICES OF FOODSTUFFS Left to right: Senator Jas. P. Clark, Arkansas; Senator Jos. F. Johnson, Alabama; Senator Reed Smoot, Utah; Senator Henry C. Lodge, Massachusetts; Senator Jacob II. Gallinger, New Hampshire; Senator Coe I. Crawford, South Dakota; Senator P. F. McCumber, North Dakota; Senator F. M. Simmons, North Carolina Still, the "Cost of Living Now for the Census Meanwhile, the special commit- entitled "Economic Use of Meats in the tee of the Senate appointed to Home." This book shows how to prepare inquire into the cost of living the cheaper cuts of meat, and gives a variety has continued its sessions and heard much of recipes and other information about foodtestimony. Among other things, the com- stuffs. Copies of it may be obtained free by mittee has been repeatedly assured that the applying to the Secretary of Agriculture. packers are not to blame for the high prices, but that the producers are reaping the bulk On the fifteenth day of April, of the profit. One interesting statement that is to say, about two weeks made to the committee was to the effect that after this magazine reaches most the federal meat inspection law was an im- of its readers, Uncle Sam's army of 65,000 portant factor in increasing the price of enumerators will begin to gather statistics meat, for the reason that the cost of the cattle condemned by the government inspectors has been added to the price of the good meat sold. Statistics recently compiled by the Department of Commerce and Labor show that meat prices have advanced in all the principal producing and consuming sections of the world. Fresh meats have advanced less than the salted and preserved goods. This is supposed to be due to reductions effected in the cost of chilling and transporting fresh meats, and to the increased supply in European markets owing to the growth of the system of distribution. The greater advance noted in the prices of fresh mutton over those of fresh beef is said to be due in part to the comparatively slow growth in the world's supply of sheep and the consequent higher price of wool. The interest taken by the Department of Agriculture in the question of reducing the cost of living is shown in the preparation by the Department of a manual for the thirteenth federal census. So quietly has this army been mustered into service that few have been made aware of its existence. Yet its recruits have been enrolled and drilling for many weeks. They will soon invade every city, village, and populated area in the country. In the cities and large towns they are required to complete the population schedules within two weeks, and in the rural districts within thirty days. In some European countries the decennial counting of heads is done more expeditiously, but nowhere are the census schedules so elaborate. Our people are less wonted than the subjects of monarchies to governmental inquisition of any form and once every decade they have to be schooled to submit to a general quizzing at the hands of men chosen from among themselves. The counting of the people is only a part of the work intrusted to the census enumerators. Of the 65,000 enumerators employed on this census, 45,000 will have charge of the agricultural sched-; Mitchell's article contributed to our Februules covering the facts of farm operation' ary number, the new regulations of the Inand equipment. This information will be terior Department for the classifying of coal gathered with regard to the calendar year lands have materially increased the sale price 1909, so far as farm operations are con- of these lands, besides fixing more definitely cerned, and the listing of farm equipment the standards of coal classification. Thus, will be made as of April 15, 1910. The for example, under the old regulation in census of manufactures, mines, and quarries eight widely separated townships, the total covers the calendar year 1909 only, and 1800 special agents for the gathering of these statistics have been at work since the beginning of the current year. Job The Senate passed the Administration's bill for a postal sav area classed as coal lands was 66,320 acres, and the sale price was $288,600, whereas under the new regulation the area in the same eight townships is 126,663 acres and the sale price is $15,777,668,—an increase In organizing the present census in area of over 100 per cent. and in price of A Highly Specialized inquiry more attention than ever over 600 per cent. In the matter of public before has been given to the water-power site withdrawals also a great matter of perfecting the schedules and weigh- advance was made during the year. On ing each question with reference to its pre- March 4, 1909, such withdrawals were in cise significance and scientific value. A force covering vacant public lands on 29 group of trained investigators familiar with rivers in 9 States. New withdrawals have the various branches of expert knowledge been made during the year along 97 rivers which the census will cover was engaged covering land not already withdrawn, and during the greater part of last summer in increasing the total number of States to II. discussing and advising regarding these These power-site withdrawals now cover questions. Their criticism should prove of about 13,000 acres of vacant public lands great value in the final results, which will and 200,000 acres of other lands. show in the information elicited by the inquiries. After the enumerators and special agents have succeeded in obtaining answers to the questions, the enormous labor of tabings-bank system on March 5, ulating and classifying these answers will be after amending it so as to permit the withbegun in the Census Office at Washington. drawal of the deposits from the local banks Much of this labor is now performed by in any exigency involving the credit of the machines, each of which is capable of making National Government, and the investment of about 25,000 tabulations a day. The Census Bureau has installed its own punching and tabulating machines, thereby effecting great money saving to the Government. It is stated that the first announcement of tabulation by cities will be made about June 1. Others will follow from day to day until about August 15, when the count of the principal cities will probably be completed. There will probably be no statement of the details by States and Territories before September 1. A verified statement of the entire enumeration of the country may be made public during the month of September. Postal Banks the funds so withdrawn in securities bearing Europe, went to Khartum to see him as he brought to an end his leadership of a scientific expedition and joined Mrs. Roosevelt and his daughter in their program of several months of European visiting and travel. And Begins His Lecture Tour of Europe A few days after this issue of the REVIEW reaches its readers the ex-President will be again on European soil after nearly a year's absence. On April 2 he is due at Naples and the following day at Rome, where he will be given an almost royal welcome by the Italian monarchs. On the 15th of the present month he will be in the Austrian capital. According to the program as now laid down, Paris will be reached on the 21st. A week will be spent in that city, during which the ex-President will deliver at least one lecture in French before the Sorbonne. From Paris his journey I will take him to Brussels and The Hague, bringing him to Christiania on the 3d, where he will deliver an important lecture before the University in the Norwegian capital. A short visit will be paid to Stockholm, and Mr. Roosevelt and his party will reach Berlin on May 9. He will deliver at the University of Berlin at least one address in Ger Copyright, 1909, by the Newspaper Enterprise Ass'n. EX-PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT ON HIS FAVORITE HORSE (Photographed during his African trip) Mr. Roosevelt The great Smithsonian expediLeaves tion to Africa, headed by exAfrica President Roosevelt, has come to a successful end. It was a fortunate affair, in that its members came through it in safety, and its results were far greater, as respects the National Museum at Washington, than any one had anticipated. Mr. Roosevelt's vigorous and acquisitive mind was occupied not merely with the scientific or sportsmanlike aspects of animal life in Africa but also with everything else of human interest. The narrative of his hunting experiences has now for some months past been appearing in monthly installments in Scribner's Magazine, and meanwhile he has been preparing the addresses that he is soon to give at Berlin, Paris, Oxford, and other European capitals. A large reception committee has been officially appointed to take charge of arrangements for welcoming him home in June. Many news paper men from this country, as well as from THE ROOSEVELT BUST Copyrigin by Harris & Ewing (To be placed in the Vice-Presidential gallery in the Capitol at Washington) man. It is expected that the British metropolis will be reached on May 16, where the Roosevelt party will remain for nearly a month, the return journey to the United States beginning some time before the middle of June. The trip from Khartum down the Nile to Alexandria, where ship was taken for Naples, was thoroughly enjoyed by Mr. Roosevelt, who found much to praise in the British administration of Egypt. He visited the battlefield of Omdurman, inspected the great dam of Assouan at Luxor, and made several addresses to students at different educational institutions. He steadfastly refused to discuss American politics, but permitted himself to express interest in the welcome which is being planned for him upon his return to the United States. Canada and Our With the return to Washington last month of the special tariff Tariff Law commission from its fruitless visit to Ottawa the administration of President Taft found itself confronted with one of the gravest and most vexatious problems it had yet encountered in its foreign relations. This special commission consisted of Mr. John G. Foster, American Consul-General at Ottawa, as chairman; Prof. Henry C. Emory, chairman of the Tariff Board of the Treasury Department, and Mr. Charles. M. Pepper, the commercial expert of the Bureau of Trade Relations in the State Department. The commission had been sent to the Canadian capital to secure from the Dominion Government “most favored nation' treatment in return for the minimum rates of the Payne-Aldrich tariff. The commission, however, received practically no encouragement. It asked the removal of the Canadian export duties on pulp-wood from the crown lands and the general low rates which the Dominion has recently accorded to French imports, for which France has given similar favors. In return for the desired concessions, the commission could offer to Canada only the suspension of the very highest rates of the Payne-Aldrich tariff by special Presidential proclamation. For a number of years the Laurier administration in Canada perseveringly sought tariff concessions at the hands of the American Government and offered favors, but without result. Then Canada began to realize the strength of her position, made possible by her immense natural resources, and turned to other countries for more favorable tariff relations. The Dominion's Trade with Europe After some years of parleying the Canadian discrimination against German goods was brought to an end by an agreement reached in February last, in accordance with which Germany now extends to Canadian products her minimum. rates. Early last month a Franco-Canadian trade treaty was concluded, giving Canadian trade products even better treatment in the French markets than they have in Germany. Because of Great Britain's "favored nation treaties these favorable rates, given by Canada to France, are now automatically extended to thirteen other nations, leaving the United States the only country of the first rank still subject to higher rates. According to the regular tariff scheme of Great Britain and her colonies, Canada's lowest rate is extended to the mother country. These favorable concessions have been regarded in some high tariff quarters in this country as constituting "undue discrimination" against the United States, and it was expected that if no agreement were reached before the end of last month the President would proclaim the maximum rates of the Payne-Aldrich tariff against all dutiable Canadian imports. Canada s Point of View The Canadian reply to these contentions is that, at the present time, the United States actually levies a minimum tax of 45 per cent. on Canadian goods; that this percentage is the same as that officially published in 1908 before the promised "downward revision" of the Payne-Aldrich law; that the new American tariff, the minimum rates of which are "everywhere in the United States regarded as extortionate," has established, for the first time in history, a maximum tariff raising the average tax to 70 per cent., and that it is not certain from the wording of the law whether the extra tax of 25 per cent, would not be imposed on articles now on the free list. Canada, therefore, to escape the PayneAldrich tariff, goes elsewhere for her markets. "We are not willing" (we quote the Toronto Globe) "to give to the United States without corresponding favors most of the advantages which France has bought with valuable concessions." "All the facts exonerate Canada," says the Globe further, from the charge of unfair treatment of her neighbor they show that the facts are on our side, and, moreover, they demonstrate clearly that we have a mightily sustaining power." |