The Chief of Police has sent out a circular (containing a copy of the act that has just been passed) to all milliners and dealers in birds’ feathers.

He intends to punish these merchants if they infringe the law, and then, when the law has had time to be generally known and understood, he intends to arrest all women who still persist in wearing feathers in their hats.

New York passed a similar law last year, but the Governor refused to sign it, because the Forest Commissioners did not approve of it.

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We told you last week that President McKinley was anxious to withhold the letters that had passed between this country and England in reference to the seal question.

Unfortunately his wishes have been thwarted by the publication of Mr. Sherman’s letter to Ambassador Hay.

It is a great pity that this letter found its way into print, for it is most unfriendly in its tone.

It accuses Great Britain of bad faith in her method of carrying out the terms of the Paris treaty.  It declares that at the end of the first year the United States discovered that the provisions of the Paris treaty were not sufficient for the protection of the seals, and that this Government immediately asked England to call a conference and reconsider the matter.

Great Britain put off replying to this request for three years, and now, after all this delay, says that there is nothing to show that seal life is in danger.

Mr. Sherman, in his letter, complains that the English Prime Minister bases his refusal on the report of an English scientist named Prof.  D’Arcy Thompson.  This report Secretary Sherman declares to be so greatly at variance with the reports of Dr. David Starr Jordan and the many observations made by other distinguished naturalists, that he insists that it is not a reliable document, but merely written to suit the political situation.

The publication of this correspondence has called forth much angry comment from England.

The result of the affair has been exactly what the President predicted—­the rousing of unnecessary bad feeling between the two countries.

* * * * *

We have had a slight disagreement with the Moorish Government.

The country of Morocco is situated on the northwest of Africa, and is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean.

The Straits of Gibraltar lie between Morocco and Spain, and the Pillars of Hercules, about which you have probably heard, are the promontories of Europe and Africa which jut out into the Mediterranean Sea at the Straits, and are but eight miles apart.

The European point is called the Rock of Gibraltar; the African, Abyla, or Apes’ Hill, from the number of apes that have made their home on it.

Morocco is ruled by a Sultan, whose authority is supreme.