678 



ROUMANIA. 



RULE OP THE ROAD. 



and 7,960,771 other pieces. The receipts were 

 3,650,123 francs, besides 2,498.919 francs from 

 telegrams, and the expense of both services was 

 7,960,771 francs. 



European Commission of the Danube. 

 The receipts of the International Commission 

 created in 1878 for the regulation of the Danube 

 were 3,381,445 francs in 1892, and the expenses 

 were 2,235,067 francs. The surplus on hand, in- 

 cluding reserve and pension funds, was 2,628,993 

 francs. The number of freight vessels that 

 cleared the Sulina mouth during the year was 

 1,532, of 1,427,087 tons, of which 1,124, of 1,349,- 

 715 tons, were steamers. Of the total tonnage, 

 866,758 tons were British, 199,491 Greek, 82,804 

 Austrian, 76,075 Turkish, 50,048 Italian, 49,095 

 Norwegian, 39,177 French, 33,352 Russian, 26,- 

 285 German, and 3,602 Dutch, Spanish, Rou- 

 manian, etc. The export of wheat was 4,031,000 ; 

 of rye, 575,000; of maize, 3,231,000; of barley, 

 1,215,000 quarters. 



Legislation. Among other measures that 

 became law during the session that was closed in 

 the beginning of June, 1893, were important re- 

 forms relating to local administration, to the 

 clergy, and to popular education. A law regu- 

 lating agrarian contracts, designed to alle- 

 viate the hardships and the discontent of 

 the rural population, embodies principles which 

 the Old Conservatives were strong enough to 

 resist when they were in opposition, but 

 but which Catargi now induced them to accept. 

 Jonesco worked out a reform measure extend- 

 ing and organizing primary education. A 

 bill dealing with the forestry, agricultural, 

 and commercial schools was amended by Anti- 

 Semites so as to restrict gratuitous instruction 

 to Roumanian citizens, and to exclude foreigners 

 from the industrial schools altogether. Carp ob- 

 jected strongly to the exclusion of foreigners 

 and Roumanian Jews, who are also foreigners ac- 

 cording to the law, though they are obliged to 

 serve their time in the army, where they can not 

 be promoted even to be noncommissioned offi- 

 cers. The Liberals, outdone in popular measures 

 by the Juni mists, allied themselves with the ex- 

 treme Democrats, led by N. Fleva, who took ad- 

 vantage of a well-intended but complicated bill 

 to equalize and regulate the municipal taxes on 

 articles of consumption to start an agitation 

 against the ministry that resulted in riot and 

 bloodshed in Bucharest. 



The town councils have raised a large part of 

 the local revenues by imposing taxes on articles 

 of food and drink brought in from outside. The 

 ministry framed a bill prescribing maximum 

 rates, and making the tax on consumption 

 applicable also to articles, such as liquors, pro- 

 duced in the towns. The local tradesmen, ex- 

 cited by the harangues of the Liberal Opposition, 

 held mass meetings and arranged demonstra- 

 tions, and, when the bill came up for discussion, 

 inarched to the legislative hall and presented a 

 monster petition. The President of the Chamber, 

 Gen. Mano, promised that the petition would be 

 considered ; but when the Chamber proceeded to 

 discuss the bill and the police cleared the hall, 

 the people began to throw stones and assault the 

 police and the ministers and Deputies when 

 they appeared on the street. The mounted 

 police dispersed the mob, and when the riot was 



renewed on the following day it was suppressed 

 by the regular troops. 



RULE OF THE ROAD. A law has been de- 

 nned to be "a rule of action prescribing what is 

 right and prohibiting what is wrong." Under the 

 law popularly known as the Rule of the Road 

 are included the regulations concerning passage 

 from place to place on land, and the rules regu- 

 lating lights, signals, steering, and sailing on the 

 water. The rule of the road is one of those laws 

 to which we yield instinctive obedience con- 

 stantly in daily life ; and when we are walking 

 through the streets, riding or driving on the 

 highways, or traveling by railroad, steamboat, 

 or sailing vessel, it is the rule of the road that 

 protects us from injury to person and property. 



For Pedestrians. The rule of the road for 

 foot passengers requires them to keep to the 

 right of the footpath or highroad. This pro- 

 vision of the law follows a custom dating from 

 time immemorial. Primitive man always turns 

 to the right, for it is in the right hand that men 

 carry their weapons or their burdens, and turn- 

 ing to the right obviates the danger of the two 

 burdens colliding. So far as we know, the first 

 actual enactment giving the force of law to this 

 custom is several centuries old, dating from the 

 time when Pope Boniface, to prevent accidents 

 among the vast concourse of pilgrims nocking 

 to Rome, gave orders that in crossing the bridges 

 the people should keep to the right-hand foot- 

 way, leaving the left side to persons going in the 

 opposite direction. This differs little from our 

 plan, which is to take either footway we please, 

 but to keep to the right-hand moiety of it. And 

 if, by reason of our keeping to the left, we come 

 into collision with another person who is keeping 

 to the right, we are responsible for any damage 

 that results. The rule of the road is more fre- 

 quently violated by women, either from their 

 ignorance or from their desire to look into the 

 shop windows. In every civilized country the 

 rule of the road for pedestrians is the same, ex- 

 cept that among the German nations officers of 

 the military service have the right of way, and 

 they may keep to the right or left as they choose, 

 and others must give place to them. 



For Equestrians and Vehicles. But the 

 carriage ways are more important than the foot- 

 ways in the matter of the rule of the road. The 

 speed with which horsemen and vehicles move, 

 and the serious results of any collision between 

 them, must have created in the very earliest 

 times some kind of system. In the United States 

 the power to regulate all traffic or passage on 

 land (unless it be interstate commerce) is in- 

 herent in the several States, and the General 

 Government has no authority to prescribe laws 

 on the subject. In all the States the rules of 

 the road are identical : When we meet persons 

 coming the opposite way we must turn to the 

 right, and in passing any one whom we have 

 overtaken we must pass to the left. Equestri- 

 ans, vehicles, and foot passengers have equal 

 rights to the road, and each must respect the 

 rights of the others. Some of the States have 

 special statutes on this subject ; others have held 

 the custom to be part of the common law. 



While the generality of pedestrians in all 

 countries keep to the right, there are some coun- 

 tries in which drivers and riders keep to the left. 



