The eagle., November 07, 1894, Page 12, Image 12

About The eagle. (Silver City, N.M.) 1894-1???

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TUR EAGLE: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1894.
. A STRANGE IMBROGLIO.
Premier Estrup's Contempt for the
Will of the Danish People.
The Close of a Long and Most Curious
l'olltlcal Struggle Characteristics
of the Bismarck of
Denmark.
The late resignation of Jacob Estrup,
prime minister of Denmark, brings to
a close one of the longest and most
curious political struggles of the pres
ent century, says the San . Francisco
Call To understand it it is necessary
to go back nearly thirty years. In lHUO
the present constitution of Denmark
was approved by the monarch. Under
it the executive power was lodged in
the hands of the king and the legis
lative power in those of the diet, con
futing of the landsthing and the
folkesthing. Under this constitution,
in 1875, Jacob Estrup became prime
minister. Five years afterward the
king and his ministry resolved to un
dertake a system of fortifications which
were to cost a large sum of money and
to involve heavy taxation. The folkes
thing which corresponds to our house
of representatives refused to assent
to the project, and took that oppor
tunity of insisting on its right to initi
ate financial measures and to require
the resignation of a ministry which
could not command its support. lloth
demands were negatived by the king,
lie claimed the right of choosing his
ministers without regard to the wishes
of the folkesthing, and he insisted on
framing a budget to suit himself.
Estrup haughtily refused to resign
office.
The dispute ended in a compromise
by which the king yielded everything
except the right to choose his minis
try. Hut in 1881 the quarrel broke out
afresh with increased virulence. Four
times the monarch dissolved the folkes
thing, but at each election the lib
erals gained strength. In 1383 a vote
of want of confidence in Estrup v.a:
passed by a large majority, a:; 1 tin
supplies were reduced to a i:ik'i::i:.n:
before they were voted. EuM.ri vent
on administering the government a:,
though there was no such ln:ly t'.n the
folkesthing in existence. T.'u king ut
terly repudiated the i lea that t.o peo
ple could dictate his choice oí n minis
try, and in retaliation the popular as
sembly threw out every measure which
Ei;trup proposed.
The agitation gained strength until,
in 1885, the folkesthing absolutely re
fused to vote the budget, "n;nl Lft the
obnoxious Estrup ministry wkIiouI
neans to carry on the fovcrr.::ie::t.
The king retorted by dissolving t'.ie
diet. Thus freed from popular inter
ference he and his ministers prsmul
;, "tiled a royal law embodying a list of
impropriations and empowering the
ministry to collect taxes and make all
necessary expenditures for the conduct
;f government. In other words the
constitution was suspended. This ab
i:u:i::l condition of affairs has gone on
ever since. The king and his ministers
fi .'.v.K' a provisional budget, which is
approved by the lantlstlnng, or house
of lords, and is rejected by the folkes
thing. It is nevertheless put into
force, the taxes are collected and the
government is carried on. The pop
ular house protests, but it has never
seen its way to enforce its protests by
an appeal to arms. Whenever a com
promise has been proposed the king
has jnsisted that it should embrace a
bill of indemnity for the unconstitu
tional acts of the past eight years, and
the leaders of the popular party have
always refused to surrender their
right of impeaching the usurping min
isters. The protracted existence of this curi
ous anomaly has been due to various
causes. In the first place there is no
one in Denmark who can compare in
energy and persistency with Jacob
Estrup. lie is like, a rock against
which popular clamor dashes itself
with idle spray, lie is Dot to be moved
by threats or argument. What he has
resolved upon has got to be. And he is
backed up by a house of lords the
landsthing which merely exists to
register his desires. King Christian is
a well-meaning, honest man cf the
liourbon type, lie believes he knows
what is wisest for Denmark far better
than the people do. In political af
fairs he h like Charles II. of Eng
land and Charles X. of France rolled
into one. Personally he is a delightful
man, genial, kindly, familiar with let
ters and art, and a:huiro:l by nil who
come into contact with him. He is the
father of a largo family; one cf his
sons is king of Greece, one of his
daughters is empress of Ilussia, and
another princess of Wales. It niay
safely be assumed tjiat the leaders of
the folkesthing were notified when
they fell out with his majesty that be
fore proceeding to extivuiuies they
had better consider whether England
and Russia might not feel impelled by
family ties to take a hand in the con
troversy. Now at last Estrup lias re
signed and a new minister will prob
ably be disposed to seek his own com
fort by composing his differences with
the people of Denmark.
Duck limning.
It is worthy of note that the Chinese
very, very long ago hatched out their
ducks by artificial heat, and the incu
bators that seem so wonderful to us
at the poultry shows and country fairs
were an old story in the cast long be
fore our great-grandfathers were born.
It is likely, says Harper's Weekly, that
we got the domesticated duck from
China, so long ago that we -know not
when, and the writers on natural his
tory content themselves with telling
us that it is derived from the mallard,
mixed in some cases with the musk
duck and the gadwall, and perhaps
the black duck. The domestication of
the duck has had an effect the oppo
site of that usually produced by civili
zation on man, for the mallard iistriet
ly monogamous. Waterton the nat
uralist assures us, indeed, that the wild
duck is a rarr.t faithful husband, and
remains paired for life, while the
domestic drake is most notoriously polygamous.
VVH-N HEft COAL GIVES OUT.
Then England Will Re Ready to Under
take This Tremendous Project.
The Popular Science Monthly con
tains an article describing a proposed
isthmus or dam across the northern
part of the Irish channel, the main ob
ject being to utilize the current through
this channel for mechanical purposes.
The channel is 300 feet deep dn the av
erage, fifteen miles wide and the tidal
current from the north is eight miles
in hour As a result fifty cubic miles,
or over 200,000,000,000 tons of water,
pass the point where it is proposed to
":uild the dain every day. The rate at
vhich the water moves gives each of .
;.heso tons of water the power of ten
Joot tons, and the power developed Í3
therefore between 150,000,000 and 200,
000,000 horse power. There are hills
near at hand from which the materials
"or the dam can be taken; and shipping
:nay be provided for by locks, or by en
larging certain canals.
If the plan should be successful it
would make England practically inde
pendent of her coal supply; but there
re obstacles in the way. For instance,
ays the Urooklyn Citizen, it would bo
mpossiblo to transmit the electrical
power produced without loss, and
transferring it for more than 100 miles
is at present impracticable. It would
nevertheless be possible to use it in the
Lancashire cotton mills and perhaps in
'.he smelting works of northern Eng
land. Electricity may also be used in
ooking, and if the price of coal rose
omewhat it could be employed for
leating. As an engine requires about
ne ton of coal a year per horse power
to keep it running day and night, it
will he seen that England would in
this new source of power have a substi
tute for her entire coal output. The
jost of the undertaking is estimated at
lOO.OM.OOO; reckoning interest at 5 per
..cut. this would be about 3 centsayear
Cor every horse power produced, or
equal to 3 cents a ton for every ton of
joal displaced. But the cost of utiliz
ing the force would be enormous. It
is doubtful whether this plan is prac
ticable as yet, but it shows how ground
less arc the fears of those who think
that civilization must cease when the
world's coal supply gives out. Mere is
an opportunity to secure horse power
enough to run all the mills and fur
naces in (ireat liritain.
WOMEN AS DOCTORS.
Their Number Increasing in the United
States Well Fitted lor the Work.
Nowhere in the world is there a place
where 1 he modern woman has had and
has such enthusiastic support in all her
ventures as here in America, and the
modern woman has not been slow in
improving the opportunities offered
her. It is hard to mention any field
into which she has not entered to com
pete successfully with the sterner sex,
and in some professions she has com
pletely dethroned man from his former
unquestioned supremacy. There is
perhaps no profession to which the
emancipation of modern woman is
more inclined than the medical. It is
'. i;:.ll" k:i:l t) tell v.-'.iv :.!ie