National.

The feature of the Fourth of July observance at Paris was the banquet of the American Chamber of Commerce at the Hotel Quai d'Orsay, at which Ambassador McCormick discussed "Our National Housecleaning." At London three thousand persons, mostly Americans, attended the Fourth of July reception at the American Embassy, Dorchester House. At Pekin on the Fourth the American Consul, Thomas Sammons, gave a banquet to the Viceroy of Mukden, Count Matsura, the new Japanese Minister to China, M. Hayashi, and other prominent Japanese and Chinese officials. At Vienna for the first time in several years Independence Day was celebrated under the auspices of the American Embassy. The Viennese American Medical Association had arranged a baseball game, dinner, and dancing at a lovely spot near Vienna, where numerous other Americans, on invitation of the Embassy, gathered and spend the remainder of the day in enjoyment. At Copenhagen American tourists and the American colony celebrated the Fourth of July. The reception at the American legation was well attended. Several dinners were given by Danish Americans, at which King Frederick and President Roosevelt were toasted.

William J. Bryan was the guest of honor at the annual Independence Day dinner of the American Society at the Hotel Cecil, London, on the Fourth. Mr. Bryan, who read his speech, said in part:—

"To doubt the dynamic power of righteousness is infidelity to truth itself. That nation which is unwilling to trust its cause to the universal conscience, or which shrinks from the presentation of its claims before a tribunal where reason holds sway, betrays a lack of faith in the soundness of its position.

"The Christian nations must lead the movement for the promotion of peace, not only because they are enlisted under the banner of the Prince of Peace, but also because they have attained such a degree of intelligence that they can no longer take pride in a purely physical victory. The belief that moral questions can be settled by the shedding of human blood is a relic of barbarism.

"I venture to suggest that the world's peace would be greatly promoted by an agreement among the leading nations that no declaration of war should be made until the submission of the question in controversy to an impartial court for investigation, each nation reserving the right to accept or reject the decision. The preliminary investigation would in almost every instance insure an amicable settlement, and the reserved rights would be a sufficient protection against any possible injustice."

The Chicago Tribune, on the 5th, published its ninth annual summary of the deaths and injuries caused throughout the United States by celebration of the Declaration of Independence. The figures were as follows: Dead, 38. By fireworks, 9; by cannon, 1; by firearms, 11; by explosives, 7; by toy pistols, 4; by runaway, 1; by drowning, 5. Injured, 2.789. By fireworks, 1,099; by cannon, 261; by firearms, 393; by explosives, 697; by toy pistols, 304; by runaways, 35. Fire loss, $66,450. Last year forty-two persons were killed outright. The number of injured this year is in excess of last year's figures by 358.

In his Fourth of July oration at Oyster Bay President Roosevelt said: "Distrust as a demagogue the man who talks only of the wrong done by men of wealth. Distrust as a demagogue the man who measures iniquity by the purse. Measure iniquity by the heart, whether a man's purse be full or empty, partly full or partly empty. If the man is a decent man, whether well off or not well off, stand by him; if he is not a decent man stand against him, whether he be rich or poor. Stand against him in no spirit of vengeance, but only with the resolute purpose to make him act as decent citizens must act if this republic is to be."

A statement of the work of the House of Representatives during the first session of the Fifty-Ninth Congress, just closed, shows there were 4,501 bills passed and 362 left undisposed of. The total number of laws enacted by this Congress is given officially as 3,989, while the Fifty-Eighth Congress in both sessions enacted a total of 2,160 laws.

Entries for the Glidden Trophy Tour, Buffalo, N. Y., to Bretton Woods, N. H., July 12 to 28 inclusive, closed on the 3d, with 67 automobiles, carrying 260 passengers, in the list. There are 32 different makes of cars. Only four of these are foreign, an English Daimler, a Napier, Clement-Bayard, and Darracq.

Investigation into land frauds throughout the States having public lands within their borders has been resumed by a force of fifteen special agents of the Interior Department, who have been furloughed during the past three months on account of lack of funds, the appropriation having been exhausted.

One hundred and sixty-six settlements have been effected by fire insurance companies in San Francisco. On the same basis of adjustment it is estimated that more than $100,000,000 will be paid in coin to fire losers.

Turbines will not be installed in the South Carolina and Michigan, if the recommendation of the Board of Construction of the Navy Department is approved by the Secretary of the Navy.

Foreign.

The Russian Government's approved agrarian bill has been introduced in the lower House of Parliament and published in the Official Messenger. The Government makes the following propositions:

To distribute upon "favorable terms" all the arable land in European Russia to the peasants who have not sufficient land; to purchase for the account of the State the land which private owners are willing to sell; to sell such lands to the peasants on reasonable terms, even if this involves the assumption by the State of the difference in the cost and the selling price; to establish the principle that new as well as old peasants' lands are not salable to persons not belonging to the peasant class, besides exempting the land from seizure for debt; to assist immigrants to reach Siberia and Central Asia, and to help them in installing themselves there, not only by allotments of land, but by the building of Government roads; to make arrangements for the sale of lands the immigrants leave behind them, for the benefit of these immigrants; the rigorous improvement of agriculture, correcting the inequalities in plots of land, etc., and the right of the distribution of the lands severally where desired.

Sir Frederick Nicholson, K. C. I. E., who has come to America from India on a special mission for the Indian Government, is investigating American fisheries and fish-culture, with a view of enabling his home Government to develop the deep-sea fishing industry on the west coast of India as a means of increasing the native food-supply.

The crew representing the Club Nautique de Gand (Belgium) on July 5 defeated Trinity Hall, Cambridge, by three lengths in the final for the grand challenge cup. The cup thus leaves England for the first time in its history.

Emperor William, in a Mercedes automobile, successfully raced the Hamburg-Kiel express train recently, covering seventy-five miles in ninety-nine minutes. The express, which makes one stop, was eight minutes behind.

A son, an heir in direct line to the German throne, was born to Crown Princess Frederick William at Berlin on the Fourth.

The estimated revenue of the Government of India for 1905-6 is £84,854,140 and the expenditure £82,867,916.

Industrial and Commercial.

The Bourne Mills Corporation of Fall River, Mass., paid its thirty-third regular semi-annual profit-sharing divident to its operatives on the 3d. It was five per cent upon the wages for the past six months, and it was paid in gold. In a circular issued to the operatives with the envelopes containing the dividends, the treasurer said in part,—

"The time is going by when a manufacturer must take his profits out of the wages of his employes. On the contrary, we are looking for help that can manage machinery so as to get more wages and more profit out of it. That is true of every position from the bottom to the top, as well as from the top to the bottom. No wise employer will hesitate to pay the highest price for that sort of help. It is this idea which makes a scheme of profit-sharing practicable and profitable. The time is going by when any kind of business that is honorable depends for success upon taking advantage unfairly of employes or customers either; indeed, he succeeds best who gives the best for the money."

It is computed that in a short time San Francisco will be using more cement in one day in its rebuilding than all the States of the Union were using a decade ago. One of the large construction concerns of that city has engaged one thousand barrels of cement a day to be delivered in August. Later in the year it is expected that the demand will be such that the same firm will have to use ten thousand barrels a day, or about seventy carloads. This cement will be needed in the erection of about $5,000,000 worth of buildings.

In 1880 the United States produced 3,800,000 tons of pig-iron; last year the total production was nearly 23,000,000 long tons, or a little over six times as much. In 1880 the total output of Portland cement in the United States was 42,000 barrels; last year it was 34,000,000 barrels, or over eight hundred times as much.

The Fall River Iron Works, controlled by M. C. D. Borden of New York, comprising seven mills, announces a general advance in wages beginning on Monday of this week. This affects about five thousand hands.