Items of Interest April 22, 1905 Issue

Items of Interest

The census of the Philippine Islands, the principle object of which was to secure statistics of population and a general knowledge of social conditions as a basis for the establishment of a Philippine Legislature, has been completed. The Legislature is to consist of two houses—the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly. The census enumeration was made in the Spanish language. The total population of the archipelago as returned from 342 independent islands is 7,635,426. Of this number almost seven millions are more or less civilized. The wild tribes form about nine per cent of the entire population.

Ambassador Choate was last week elected "Master of the Bench of the Middle Temple," London. Among English lawyers this is the most distinguished honor that they could confer on any outsider, and it is the first time in several generations that other than an English subject has been elected a bencher in the Middle Temple, one of the oldest Inns of Court in London. This action calls Mr. Choate to the English bar and elects him member of the governing body of the Middle Temple. Five signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of the Middle Temple. Since then, it is said, not a single American has been a member.

At a recent conference between Secretary Taft and the three chiefs of the Panama Canal Commission it was decided to adopt a flat rate tariff for traffic across the Isthmus. Transcontinental railroad interests are said to have favored the prevailing high tariffs in order to equalize rates. It is asserted by some experts that freight can be carried from New York to San Francisco by the Panama Railroad and the water route for $4 per ton, as compared with $9 on all-rail routes.

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