Editorial JVote and Comment. 
The New Year. 
The stable condition of the country so far as or- 
dinary business is concerned is a matter for sincere 
congratulation, for if not only diverts consideration 
from immediate material needs in a general sense, 
but permits of more devoted attention to the several 
lines of public improvement that have been inaugu- 
rated the past few years, and are progressing, if 
slowly, nevertheless surely. It fits in with certain 
lines of improvement endeavor, to realize that to the 
agricultural development of the country is this sta- 
bility to be attributed. The rise and fall of stocks 
and bonds, always the field of the speculator, and 
not of the legitimate producer or trader, have, now, 
little effect on the tide of prosperity, for the agricul- 
tural interests are the dominant factors of a nation's 
welfare, and once they attain the ruling condition, 
other factors rank in order. It is exceedingly well 
that a determined effort is being made to give prom- 
inence to agricultural education in every grade of 
public schooling, to the end that progress may be as- 
sured to this most important department of national 
upbuilding. 
^ ^ ^ 
Proposed National Park in the Colorado Rockies. 
A movement has been started to establish a na- 
tional park in the forest reserve set apart by the 
government in Colorado. The tract suggested com- 
prises an area of some twelve by twenty-four miles, 
having its gateway at Beulah, twenty-eight miles, 
from Pueblo, which is now connected with the lat- 
ter city by a stage line. It is unsurpassed, accord- 
ing to experts, in mountain scenery of every descrip- 
tion, with the diversified and beautiful flora of Colo- 
rado, together with several natural phenomena equal 
to the Yellowstone district. It is the common com- 
plaint that the Yellowstone is too far distant for the 
general public of even the middle states, and this 
proposed mountain park would be a boon to the con- 
tiguous states. In this broad land we need many 
more national parks and with the reputation of Col- 
orado for salubrity, productiveness, and magnificent 
scenery. This movement should receive abundant sup- 
port. 
^ 
The San Francisco Cemeteries. 
We recorded a short time since the decision of the 
California Supreme Court upholding the city ordi- 
nance of March, 1900, prohibiting interments in the 
city and county of San Francisco after August 1, 1901. 
The trustees of Laurel Hill Cemetery Association, 
believing that the reasons for the ordinance did not 
apply to that cemetery, procured an injunction re- 
straining the enforcement of the ordinance until No- 
vember 13 last, on which date application was again 
made to the authorities for burial permits, which 
were refused. The trustees appear determined not 
to give up the fight, and have issued an address 
to their lot owners accompanied by the report of an 
expert bacteriologist, in which they recite the history 
and conditions of the cemetery and promise to carry 
the case to the highest court in the land. The ques- 
tion involved is one that all cities have to meet, and 
while scientific authorities differ and in some re- 
spects differ widely, as to the effect on the general 
health of the community from cemeteries operated 
in their midst, it would appear that so sweeping an 
ordinance as that of San Francisco unquestionably 
does more or less injustice to cemeteries conducted 
on up-to-date methods and modern rules and regula- 
tions. On the other hand the right of a city to regu- 
late by ordinance conditions intimately associated 
with the public health must be held inviolate against 
either individual or corporate attack, wherever and 
whenever such have been framed under the full light 
of experience and current scientific knowledge and 
suggestion. 
^ ^ ^ 
Li-very Drivers' Strike , Chicago. 
From the labor union standpoint there would ap- 
pear to be no fact of life sacred enough to be held as 
neutral ground, in its frantic efforts to dominate so 
as to secure whatever demands it may choose to 
make. No better evidence of this unjustifiable spirit 
has yet been shown than in the livery drivers’ strike, 
now in progress in Chicago. In its opening days 
the union refused to permit its members to drive 
either the hearse or carriages at funerals, and even 
went so far as to picket residences which the death 
messenger had visited, in order to prevent, if pos- 
sible, the use of vehicles owned by funeral directors 
or liverymen. No such sight was ever seen in any 
metropolitan city of the world as that of funerals 
passing through the streets, the coffins in under- 
takers’ wagons and most of the mourners on foot ; 
and this from the outrageous disregard for public 
rights of a labor union. On the other hand, it is 
well, for the fact of such a disposition on the part 
of labor has awakened public sentiment, and mod- 
ified the quasi sympathy, and more or less apathy,, 
which has permitted defiance of law as character- 
istic of labor ebullitions. The most ardent friend of 
labor now realizes that the line must be drawn be- 
tween right and wrong, as regards public liberty. 
The terrible Iroquois theater calamity compelled a 
truce for the time being, but no settlement of the 
difficulty has yet been made. 
