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Netos of Interest Gathered Here and There
The Glorious Fourth.
Time cannot wither nor changed customs de
stroy the glory of the Fourth of July, the birth
day of a nation born in weakness and desperation,
and destined to be the greatest in the history of
mankind. The Fourth of July is inherently a
glorious day—a red-letter day on the world’s cal
endar. It commemorates an event which was known
at the time to be momentous, and which a century’s
experience has shown to have been incomparably
important in its bearing upon the human race.
This day celebrates- one of those rare occasions
when man rose to the stature of a god, seeing both
past and future, and taking hold of immortality.
Such events, like lofty peaks, loom large above the
plain of history, serving as landmarks for centuries
and pointing to the stars.
Nowhere in the Union does the Fourth of July
inspire and refresh more patriotic memories than
in Washington, where historic experiences are
crowded in its century of life, and where the
voices of those who made and preserved the nation
are echoing still. Here the beginnings of the na
tion take on a reality that is not perceptible in
places remote from the haunts of the founders.
As the nation ripens, it is certain that imposing
memorial celebrations will be held in Washington
on the Fourth of July, voicing with appropriate
ceremony and solemnity the pride and gratitude of
the entire continent. These celebrations, on a na
tional scale, will be mighty expressions of a people’s
joy, and will be remarkable in their divergence
from the scant and perverted observances of recent
years.
Meanwhile, until the nation has thus found its
voice, the Fourth of July will be celebrated by in
dividuals and groups in happy-go-lucky fashion,
with much noise and little reason. The uproar of
the youngsters on this day is better, however, than
no celebration at all. In the process of shooting
firecrackers the children manage to gather an idea
of what it is all about, and if they are spared
from the dangers of the day, they become good,
sound. Americans. There is also a reminder of
boyhood in the smell of firecracker smoke, which
reconciles many an old-timer to the disturbance,
and, perhaps, even inclines him to believe that a
noiseless Fourth of July would be a reflection upon
the memory of the fathers. At any rate, all old
people with youth in their hearts will grin and
bear the racket, and hope for the best.
Hurray for the glorious Fourth of July!—Wash
ington Post.
« *
Pure Pood and Cigarette Legislation
in Illinois.
Illinois is claiming pre-eminence for the merits of
its pure food law which went into effect July 1. It
is held for it that it is one of the most com
prehensive and best constructed statutes in exis
tence. Its enforcement will make the more prac
tical the federal pure food law effective January
1, last, and which needs for its best result that
every state shall respond as Illinois has done with
legislation designed to reach the ends sought in
the federal statute. Among the merits of the Illinois
law are its provisions for its own enforcement, its
provision for a commission to establish food stan
dards, and its stringent provisions in restraint of
adulteration and of misrepresentation as to th<*
contents of a given package. The provision for the
creation of a food commission to fix standards is,
of course, important, and if such a commission is
administered free of politics its contributions to
dietetic knowledge should prove valuable. A
product which is an imitation of another
product must be so declared and, generally speak
ing, plain, commonplace honesty is to be demand
ed in every manufacturer who would offer substi
stutes, however innocuous, to a public too busy
to inquire into the nature of a palatable food of
agreeable texture and color. The sale of preser
vatives is prohibited, and so also is the watering
of milk. A can containing skim milk offered for
The Golden Age for July 11, 190?.
sale must be labeled for what it is, and in case
of one wishing to market renovated butter, also
known as process butter, the nature of this article
must be branded on its package. At the same*
time that this progressive food legislation goes into
effect in Illinois that state is watching the first ef
fects of the enforcement of its anti-cigarette law.
This law, presumably designed to regulate an inju
rious practice of minors, will, for a time at least,
act in prohibition of the popular cigarette by ev
erybody. Litigation instituted by dealers in this
staple of trade is already begun, and in due time
tire highest court will decide what the legal and
popular sentiment is regarding the use of tobacco
in the form of the cigarette. The agreement is uni
versal that the cigarette is harmful as used by
boys, and would better at once be relinquished,
with respect to excessive use, by tens of millions
of men; but whether the powers of the state are
wisely used in attempting to exterminate this little
favorite is not so clear. Be this as it may, the pub
lic, byway of the courts, will receive considerable
information about the sanitary value of an indul
gence almost as common the world over as going to
bed and getting up. To say the least, it is devoutly
to be hoped that the cigarette’s vicious use by out
growing youth may be effectually discouraged.—
The Standard.
•e *
A Freak Year.
From current indications it would appear that
the scriptural prophecy regarding the end of all
things being ushered in by disasters unprecedented
was on the verge of fulfillment.
The Chicago Tribune, a paper with a mania for
collecting grotesque and oftentimes interesting
statistics, publishes the following astonishing record
of the year so far as it has developed:
Though the first half of 1907 has not passed, its
record of casualty already exceeds the total of
1906. There have been thirty-eight railroad acci
dents of more than the ordinary magnitude, in
which 273 persons have been killed and 925 in
jured.
Twenty-three steamers have been wrecked, in
volving the loss of 902 lives.
There have been thirteen mine accidents in which
355 persons have perished.
These casualties have been due to human negli
gence or ignorance in large part, but nature has
been destructive also. Tidal waves have swept away
2,240, earthquakes, 5,100, hurricanes, 530, but cy
clones thus far have been comparatively merciful,
unless there shall prove to have been great loss
of life by the one at Kurrachi, India, last week.
In other cyclones about seventy have been killed.
When to these totals is added the sum of smaller
casualties there can be little doubt that 1907 will
be known in history as the year of disaster.
The cloud has a silver lining, however. The total
of gifts and bequests in all foims of philanthropy
in less than six months of 1907 is larger than the
total for the twelve months of 1906, being SIOB,-
961,589, as compared with $106,281,033. And never
have there been five months during the last twenty
five years in which the total of embezzlement and
various forms of defalcation has been as small as
in this first five months of 1907.
* «
A Week’s Requests of Helen Gould.
Miss Helen Gould was recently requested to sub
scribe to the permanent installation in Nev/ York
of Franz Kaltenborn’s orchestra. After encour
aging Mr. Kaltenborn she gave him an itemized
list of a week’s requests that she had received.
The petitions, if satisfied, would require $100,000,-
000 annually, or about $2,000,000 a week; they
range from a modest plea for some false teeth
at sls a set to an imperious demand for $1,000,-
000 to start a Cuban colony. We read in the New
York Times:
“In the week referred to, Miss Gould received
two hundred and thirty-one requests for money out
right; of these, one hundred and forty left the
amount to her good-will and discretion. They
weren’t particular. More than ninety wanted cash
loans. Sixteen didn’t specify any specific amount;
they just wanted to borrow.
41 Miss Gould was asked in that week for $5,00 to
help form an anti-saloon league in Idaho. She
received forty-three requests for aid for churches,
twenty-seven for educational institutions, and twen
ty-six for libraries. More than thirty were for help
for charitable institutions.
“One man proposed to sell Miss Gould his farm
for $2,600, which he said lie thought was a pretty
good bargain—for her. Four persons, presumably
young women, wanted Miss Gould to help them to
buy trousseaus. Only one named the sum she ex
pected. The others left that to Miss Gould.
“Eleven persons wanted pianos, and twelve want
ed Miss Gould to buy their inventions. One person
wrote a long letter offering to give her the last
chance to buy a ring for $1,200 which was worth
four times that much, if a cent. A girl wanted
to sell her a brooch for SSOO, and still another said
she had a lovely Sevres vase which Miss Gould
4 bein’ it was her,’ might have for SSOO. A son
filled with filial love wanted to erect a monument
to his father. He suggested that Miss Gould con
tribute SSOO toward that worthy end.
44 In the long list there was only one request for
a musical instrument. Somebody wanted an organ,
but another person wanted money with which to
print 2,000 hymnals. Following are some of the
other wants: Bibles, bicycles, a farm and three
cows, one invalid’s chair, enough air pillows to sup
ply a regiment of soldiers, one set of teeth, five
sewing machines and fifteen railway tickets.
“Five persons wanted Miss Gould either to buy
their manuscripts or help to sell them; one wanted
assistance in getting out an opera, and ano: her
help for an oratorio. One person pleaded for help
that he might open a photograph-gallery. He said
that with a gallery opened and paid for his road to
fortune and happiness was clear. Another man said
that if Miss Gould would give him a horse and a
peddler’s cart he would never ask for another
thing.
4 4 More than a hundred letters simply asked for
aid —any kind, money, clothes, false teeth, organs,
or anything else handy. Thirty-four were frank in
asking for old clothes, and three wanted watches.
Seventeen only wanted to see Miss Gould to get
her advice. One asked for a house so that he might
marry his sweetheart. Another simply asked for
the concession to sell Miss Gould’s picture for his
own profit. One wanted a tip on railway stock.
Seven simply wrote that they had named children
after Miss Gould, evidently going on the assump
tion that a word to the wise ought to be enough.
4 4 As to the other wants, these were silk with
which to do some quilting, five sewing-machines,
help to become a medical missionary, money to
enter an old folks’ home, money to help get a pris
oner out of jail, assistance in selling lace and em
broidery, and a donation toward a patriotic
league.”—The Literary Digest.
A feature of our times is the present aggressive
work of those who would make the world better.
The following bit of wisdom from the Sunday School
Times, comes in very appropriately as a part of cur
rent history:
44 N0 man can get higher than himself by depend
ing upon himself alone. And the man has not yet
lived who is, or who ever could be in this world,
satisfied with himself at his best. Yet some still
preach the gospel of ‘ethical culture,’ and urge that
we offer to the ‘other half,’ in city and neighbor
hood settlement work, the opportunity simply to
do their best, helping them to be clean and thrifty,
but rigorously keeping from them any suggestion
of religion or of a Christ who is a Savior. Such ef
fort is like attempting to lift ourselves by our boot
straps. The art of self-lifting has not yet been
discovered. Men want Some One who will lift them
out of themselves. Christ is the only One who en
ables men to do better than their best.”
3