About Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1916)
4 THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL ATXUMTTA. GA., 5 IfOITH FOISYTH ST. Entered at the Atlanta Postofrice as Mail Matter of th« Second Class. JAMES B GUY. President and Editor. SUBSCBXPTIOM FBXCE. twelve months ••• Tkc Six months <Oc Three R-onths 8&c The Seml-Weekly Journal Is published on Tuesday end Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes for early delivery. It contains news from all over the world, brought by specia* leased wires into our office It has a staff of distinguished contributors, with strong d.partments of special value to the home and the farm. Agents wanted at every postoffice. Liberal commis sion allowed. Outfit free. Write R- R- BRADLEY. Circulation Manager. The only traveling representatives we have are B. F. Bolton, C C. Coyle. L. H. Kimbrough. Chas H. Woodliff and L. J. Farris. We will be responsible only for money paid o the above-named traveling represeit e lives. ' MOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. The label usea tor your paper ebows the tlms Cur sabsertptlua expire*. By teoewing at least two weeaa tore the data on this label, you Usure regular service. In ordering paper changed, be sure to mention your Ola. as well as your sew address. If oa a route please give the rout* Bunbtr. We cannot enter sutncrtpUons to begin with back Botn , :<n. Bemittance should be sent by postal order or registered mail. Address all orders sod notices for this department vo , THE SBMI-WKEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta, Ge. The President's Warning Words, The President's earnest devotion to the cause of peace gives peculiar forctf to his plea for national defense. Through the most trying period ever known in America's foreign affairs, his steadfast purpose has been to keep the country out of war. While jingoes have clamored and doctrinaires have preached, he has stood unshaken. A less scrupu lous or less able leader would have yielded long ago to the temptations or difficulties of the time. If ever a man earned confidence by the prudence and composure needful in hours of great stress. President Wilson has earned- it. When, therefore, he tells the people that the future is clouded with peril and bids them prepare, they wiil do well to heed. When he. who has proved his desire for peace above things save honor, warns them that an adequate army and navy are Imperative, they dare not ignore his counsel. There are words of significance in his utterances of the past few days: "I cannot tell what the international rela tions of this country will be tomorrow —and I use the word literally. “The dangers we are treading amongst are not of our making and are not under our control. “As your responsible servant. 1 must tell you that the dangers are infinite and constant.” ' “All the time, things have grown more and more difficult to handle. “No man can competently say whether the United States will be drawn into the strug gle or not. “I do not know what a single day may bring forth.’’ In such matters the President sees with a breadth and sureness of insight which no private citizen and no member of Congress can possibly possess. He knows not merely the general drift but all the hidden depths and shoals of our foreign relations. Difficulties and dangers that are sensed but vaguely by others, or are entirely unsuspected, are to him palpable and urgent problems. It is from the clear light of this direct knowledge that he has drawn his opinion concerning our need of military and naval preparation. He would not •peak eo emphatically unless he were constrained by actual conditions to do so. A Congress that failed to heed his appeal would be unworthy of the country's support and traitorous to the first principles of Americanism. A Tragedy of Carelessness. It is a tragic commentary on American careless ness that in this country last year five thousand and eighty-four persons were killed as a result of trespassing on railway premises. The majority of them were not tramps or vagrants, as might be supposed, but citizens of standing and worth; and hundreds of children were among the victims. If news came today that five thousand persons had perished in a storm at sea. or in an earthquake or flood, the nation would tremble with terror and pity. If fifty persons are killed in a railway acci dent, popular sentiment is aghast, and govern mental agencies begin searching investigations. If ten persons are killed in a tenement or factory fire, the community is stirred to a realization of the Med for more rigid building rules and lire preven tion laws. • Yet. every month, according to the report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, more than four hundred lives are lost simply through the careless custom of walking on railway tracks. The. fact that these thousands of deaths are not flashed be fore us as a single dramatic incident does not les sen the dread meaning of the sacrifice. No other country has so appalling a record in this*respect as the United States. In Canada and Europe, there are well enforced laws against tres passing on railroad property, with the result that in those countries fatalities from this cause are Comparatively negligible. Our State Legislature can render no more useful service in human con servation of life than to enact needful laws against a practice that takes so fearful a toll of life. The Richest .Village’on Earth. The classical colon.' of islanders who made their living by taking in one another s washing has a present-da.' parallel in the town of Hibbing, Minnesota. Hibbing, which is known as “the richest village on earth.” polls a vote of a twit one thousand and takes care of eight hundred fifty-five men on the municipal payroll. Presum ably. the foiorn minority of one hundred and forty five who do not share the honors and emoluments of public service are either poor patriots or poor politicians. Hibbing, says a Springfield Republican correspondent, rejoices in more street lights than Cincinnati, and in a single year spends more money than the State of Delaware. The town grave dig gers draw an annual stipend of six thousand three hundred and fifty dollars, while the garbage gath erers are paid in the aggregate one hundred and thirty dollars a day. The explanation of th<s bounteous and freely flowing wealth lies in the fact that Hibbing stands on the richest deposit of Iron ore in America, property owned by the United States Steel Corporation aud situated largely within Hibbing's corporate limits. “By virtue of this.” we are told, "the town has become the scandalous classic of all horrible examples in rampant taxation and unsuperviaed expenditure.” The Tension of the LusiianiaCase. The controversy between Washington and Ber lin over the Lusitania issue seems to be nearing a point beyond which there lies no hope of a peaceful settlement. It may not be true thal Germany has been given a time limit (February the fifth is the date reported by some correspondents) in which to say finally whether she will comply with Amer ican demands, but it is evident that an agreement must be reached*in the near future or not al all, aud that relationships between the two Govern ments are peculiarly tense. Tin* I’nited States in sists on a straightforward disavowal of the Lusitania outrage. German.' thus far has refused to make that moral atonement. The issue is so sharp!} drawn that there can lx* no continued parleying. Nearly nine months have elapsed since the Lusitania was de troyed with a resultant loss of more thau one hundred American lives. Note after note has been exchanged, and Count von Bernstorff aud Secretary Lansing have held a number of so called confidential conferences iu the hope that terms of disavowal mutually satisfactory might be reached. But, on the basic principle involved, Ger many and the United States are no nearer agree ment today than at the outset. While submarine attacks on passenger ships tn the Atlantic and around the British Isles have been abandoned. Ger many has not consented to acknowledge her wrong against law and humanity. She has proposed divers makeshifts to that end and has offered counter propositions, but none of them has sufficed to vin dicate American rights and honor. Two explanations of Berlin’s temporizing policy are suggested. The German Government may fear that a flat disavowal of its naval commander’s act would provoke a serious outburst of hostile opinion at home. Such concessions as already have been made were sharply opposed by the militarist ele ment, and Prussian sentiment is outspokenly bitter against the United States. It is obvious, in the second place, that Germany has delayed a settle ment of the Lusitania issue in the hope of compell ing drastic action on the part of the United States against England’s policy of blockade. By bargain ing with Berlin over the British Orders in Council, our Government, no doubt, could get any kind of disavowal and any amount of indemnity it desired in the Lusitania case. But the President wisely has determined that the issue with Germany and the issue with England shall stand each on its own merits, and that ques tions involving human life shall be disposed of be fore claims for dollars and cents are pressed to the utmost. America has been wonderfully patient in the face of the Lusitania outrage, but there are points at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. The Administration cannot be expected to prolong this urgent issue indefinitely. When President Wilson said in Lis recent New York address, “1 cannot tell what the international relations of this country will be tomorrow —and I use the word lit erally,” he may not have been referring to our relations with Germany, but logically he might well have been. Rat Lore. It is refreshing indeed to find a statistician who passes over the pompous figures of the war to study the short and simple annals of the rat. To learn that the fighting nations owe so many billion dol lars or have lost so many million men appalls the mind and depresses the heart; but to be told by a specialist on the subject that each rat costs the community ten cents a day is a spur to lively thinking. “Just how does that come about?” one asks on being apprised of the remarkable fact. Thus one embarks upon a voyage of self inquiry and speculation that leads to the farthest corners of domestic and moral economy. “Each rat, in collecting its food, costs New York City ten cents a day.” So declares Dr. Victor Geiser. As to the minute and laborious steps by which this discovery was achieved, we are not in formed. Certain it is. however, that science put forth its utmost cunning and that patience girt itself as seldom before; for we may be sure that no rat volunteered the information. The truth was wrested from the rodents crumb by crumb. The cost of living is a jot higher, perhaps, in New York City than in the average American community, but we may reckon conservatively that for the nation as a whole the rat's perGdiem is not less thau nine cents. To be scrupulously safe, however, let’s put it at eight and a half cents. And now perpend. Our expert believes that there is one rat to every two persons. It is, there fore. a simple process of multiplication to figure that, on a basis of a hundred million inhabitants, rats cost this country 1425,000,000 a day, or $153,- 000,000.000 a year, or $1,530,000,000,000 a decade, or (to make the matter perfectly clear), $15,300,000,000,000 a century. Our figures may not be accurate to the dot. but they suffice to show the importance of the rat question and the glory of statistics. z Motor Ways of Georgia. As a guide to automobile travelers and a step toward the establishment of a standard State-wide system of well-kept roads, «he “Motor Way Year Book,” issued today by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, will be of substantial and far-reaching service. More than eleven thousand miles of roads, traversing nearly all the counties and five hundred towns and cities of the State, are logged and mapped. The readings are arranged with an eye to convenience and are supplemented with a wealth of useful data regarding the material and construc tion of the roads, the population of the principal points along the routes, speed and traffic laws, and other circumstances of concern to the motorist. The book thus should prove valuable in encourag ing long-distance automobile travel within the State and also in attracting thousands of tourists from other parts of the country. The possibilities of this kind are manifest when it is noted that thirty thousand or more automobiles are owned in Georgia and that every year at least ten thousand visiting motorists cross its borders. Aside from this, the Chamber of Commerce publication tends to inspire road improvement and to correlate the work of the various counties into a State-wide system. The current “Motor Way Year Book,” which is the first of the annual series planned, includes only those roads which measure up to the Chamber's standards of worth. Roads which hereafter may drop below’ those standards will be omitted from next year's volume, and roads which In the meantime attain them will be entered. The value of having a place in such a record should prove an Incentive to every town and county in Georgia. The uniform standards thus established will lead naturally to inter-county plans and en deavors, and thereby open the way to a State high way commission. THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1916. Bud Dutton’s Dog BY CARL X. GUESS. WHEN it comes to the point of enter taining conventions, I desire to sftj that Stone Mountain is still on the map as, on January 27, wt* had the honor ol en tertaining a joint session of the W ood ('hoppers and Sawyers convention, who met not only for the purpose of discussing, pro and eon. which manner an axe or saw should be used in cutting and sawing wood, but also for the contest in cutting wood, which was entered into by quite a number of the leading delegates present, to p *ove who was the real champion. Arch Hayes, by reason of his long asso ciation with the axe. was Inade master ol ceremonies, and after the business session came to a close at Dutton s wagon yard they left to assemble again at Maloney s Spring, where a sumptuous barbecue awaited them. After partaking of the feed, both in the raw and liquid form, they repaired to the contest grounds, at which place a stack of crossties, seventy-five in number, includ ing the iron spikes, awaited them. The master of ceremonies stated wood or tie chopping would come first, broad axes to be used only. It started with a vim. but was never finished, by reason of the fact that Bud Dutton’s dog, who was also present, run between the legs of Hez Ma loney dragging a beef shank just as Hez was in the act of making the final lick on one of said ties, which caused Hez to bury half of the axe in his own shank and the other half striking an iron spike, glanced off and buried itself in the side of Abe Shinn s head—he being one of the home-town del egates. A little excitement began to rise about this time, and some one more or less threw an old skillet at the dog, which missed, but caught the secretary of said convention full in the face, breaking his jaw and knocking one eye out, and, as he fell backward from the grandstand he car ried a couple of the judges with him, who fell across a cross-cut saw, left in the saw rack by some of the boys who had been putting a razor edge on the teeth to be in readiness for the contest. The judges were pried off the saw teeth and removed to other quarters to be patched together, so as not to fall apart. About this time a free for all fight opened up at the crosstie pile, and talk about your Arm and Hammer brand soda, there was no soda in this, but more Arms and Ham mers than I ever remember seeing. After everybody present had very near slaughter ed each other, I mean among the delegates, medical attention was required. It was found by careful investigation and measure ments that Henry Mackin’s face was mashed in a fraction over two inches caused by a claw hammer, there was nothing left but a small piece of gristle where Rufe High tower once had a nose, and all other parties taking part in the fracas left the battle ground minus three to eight teeth, not con sidering such a small thing as a fractured rib, or three-inch gash on the head. Those who wore teeth set on plates, left there with nothing but the naked gum. Arch Hayes, said it was his desire, above all things, to land the convention of lumber bearers, that is, to put it more plainly, men who occupy the position of bearing off lumber at a saw mill (which is an easy job) to follow this convention, but after due care and sleepless nights thinking over the matter, he had finally come to the conclu sion that the sign in the moon was not just right, and he would wait until the execu tive committee met before giving such an important question his final consideration. We are anticipating a great day if they meet at our town, as there will be a saw mill on hand so the men bearing off lumber can show the town and county just what kind of clerical position they occupy when not in the convention hall debating on deep subjects pertaining thereto. Publicity At staggering expense the world has found out tnat no man is to be entrusted with absolute power. Absolutism is as bad for the man himself as it is for the people under him. Unlimited power breeds every vice in the catalogue. It makes a man vain, intemperate, violent, cruel. The prize monsters of iniquity have not been the skulking criminals at the bottom of society, but the crowned criminals at the top. Vide Timour, Nero, Ivan, the Borgias. Law and order are necessary to civilization. De mocracy is an attempt to secure law and order without flying to the extreme of absolutism. But voting and representative government are not sure cures for tyranny. Shrewd schemers can ma nipulate Demos and make puppets of legislators. Often the liberties of the people have been assassinated under the mask of the republic as in Rome, Florence and Mexico. Not infrequently in the United States have there ex isted conditions under which the people were cheated, ruled and managed by combinations of criminal wealth and crafty politicians. The one thing that tyranny cannot stand against is publicity. The palladium of democracy is not the ballot box but the newspaper. . It is not the voter, it is the reporter, the evil worker fears. t There are some necessary annoyances implied in publicity, and sometimes injustice is wrought, but these are far outweighed by the benefits. Nothing hu man is perfect. But for every good man hurt by vi cious prying or slander a hundred scoundrels are held in leash by the fear of light. The real and efficient check upon the trust is not the Sherman law, nor any sort of law. but publicity. Every concern that offers securities for public sale ought to be compelled to do all business in the public eye. The crimes of trusts need the same secrecy that burglars require. It is in the darkness of secret councils that a X’ew Haven or a Rock Island railroad is looted. One vigor ous, fearless, watchdog newspaper can prevent what not all the prosecuting attorneys and courts can remedy. Turn on the light. One electric street lamp is bet ter than five policemen. The president of the United States has more direct and indirect power perhaps than any earthly monarch, yet we fear not he will abuse his privilege, and we know he will walk carefully, because every day, from his rising up to his lying down, the trained press are watch ing him. the spot-light of publicity unwaveringly plays upon him. The people of this country are not afraid of big business nor of any sort of concentration of power, provided it operates in the light. But of all business that must be done behind closed doors, and which it is not deemed advisable that the public understand, the people are suspicious and Intol erant, and justly so. (Copyright by Frank Crane.) I HIGHER HELP FOR BELGIUM BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. ~~ AMERICA has saved Belgium from starvation. Will America help to keep the intellectual life of Belgium from being crushed out by the war? To answer this question in the affirmative is the aim of a new subcommittee of the Belgian relief fund. The Belgian scholarship committee will try to give the art ists and scientists of Belgium a chance to go on with their life work. • • • Artists and men of science and letters stand first among the classes whose means of livelihood is swept away by war. Art and the pursuit of science are lux uries; when people need bread they cannot pay for pic tures. .Moreover, the arts and sciences are the last lines to recover from war conditions. Reconstruction begins at the bottom; poems and statues and abstruse research are the capstone of the social structure, the products of order and prosperity. Belgian scholarship at present is in a bad way. • • • The artist and educator has a hard time fitting himself into the primitive conditions of war-time. His life has not prepared him to earn a living at any of the manual trades open to untrained men under war conditions. This fact is strikingly shown by the way in which such men have been turned away from the mu nition plants when they-applied for work. They didn't look to the authorities as if they could make munitions —and maybe the authorities were right. • • • The artist type is proverbially improvident, even when he earns a large income. The scientist or edu cator who earns a large income is so rare a bird as to be negligible. Hence few men of the class which the committee hopes to assist have anything in the shape of financial resources laid by. The problem is compli cated bj - the fact that offering such men money is haidly a practical course. Their pressing need is not material, yet they are suffernig from a very real and acute distress, due to the fact that they cannot go on with the work with which their lives are bound up. So the scholarship committee has constituted itself a clear ing house between American universities and the Bel gian victims of the war. • • • Numerous Belgian professors have been engaged by universities in the United States. Chicago, Yale, Princeton, Harvard and George Washington are among the institutions which already have taken the step. A great double good is accomplished by such action. Not only do these Belgian savants get a chance to pursue their careers, but the United States is the richer for their services. Many of them are distinguished in their lines of work, some of them have European reputations. The need for the European point of view in our higher education was recognized long ago, with the es tablishment of the so-called “exchange professorships” between big American and European Institutions. Par ties to such an agreement exchanged professors. A professor from Berlin lectured for a year in Columbia, for instance, while a Columbia professor lectured in Berlin. Under the present arrangement our universi ties get the services of men from the principal univer sities of Belgium. • • * In many cases It is impracticable to the United States to bring the professors whom the war has cut off from their work, and in such cases the committee hopes to help them by means of contributions, in England. Holland, France or wherever they may be. A broader end than the mere assistance of the particular scientist Is often served in this way, for when some of these men stopped work the cause of the advancement of knowledge in their line received ‘a severe blow. • • • The second object of the committee is the raising of a fund toward restoring Belgian universities, museums and libraries after the war. Clearly, the need for such a fund has nothing to do with who eventually wins out in Europe. In any event, the universities will have to resume their work. Besides actual cash, contributions of books are being campaigned for. As soon as the committee has provided for their storage, appeals will be sent to all the American private and public libra ries asking for their duplicate copies. Heads of some of our biggest libraeies have already promised co-oper ation. • • • The various societies in this country which issue periodical publications will be asked for sets of them. DEMOCRATIC STUMBLING BLOCKS | — (New York World.) Democratic members of congress who, in the face of the president’s solemn words, obstinately oppose measures of defense, assume more than a personal responsibility, although that is exceedingly serious. If they shall prove to be as numerous as some of their leaders predict, such preparedness as may be provided for will be due, so far as the house of repre sentatives is concerned, not to the Democratic majority but to the Republican minority. It is these Democratic stumbling blocks at Washington that have made presi dential speech-making necessary. With what spirit can a political organization enter the congressional elections next fall if it is to be confronted at every turh with proof that a vital issue of national honor and safety found it discordant and impotent? When Republicans respond patriotically to the president's appeals, men who call themselves Democrats will hold back or resist at their political peril He knows what he is talking about. That the people be lieve him is shown by the extraordinary enthusiasm with which he is everywhere received. He has no motive to exaggerate. He proposes nothing that does violence to common loyalty, common prudence or com mon sense. Newspapers in Great Britain, a nation which is defiantly obstructing our commerce and rifling our mails, pretend to find in the presidents speeches a warning to Germany. Presently we shall hear from th equally humorous press of Germany, a nation QUIPS AND QUIDDITIES “At least he was original in his proposal. •Did he claim that you were the only girl he ever loved?” “No. He asked me if I'd forego the rignt nightly to demand of him where he had been till this hour ” • • • “Now. Willie, let's be frank with each other. What will you take an evening to let your sister alone while Im with her?” “I can't, take anything. You see, sister has already made me an offer to hang around.”—Life. \ farmer, returning home -late at night, found a man standing beside the house with a lighted lantern in hi” hand. “What are you doing here?” he asked, savagely, suspecting he had caught a criminal. For anwser came a chuckle, and “It’s only me, zur.” The farmer recognized John, his shepherd. “It’s you. John, is it? What on earth are you doing here this time o' night?” Another chuckle. “I'm a-courtln’ Ann, zur.” “And so you’ve come courting with a lantern, you fool. Why, I never took a lantern when I courted your mistress.” ••No. zur. you didn't, zur,” John chuckled. "We can all zee you didn’t, zur. * • • The other day a colored porter in a certain west , store was despatched upon an errand which he was not in sympathy with-that of toting a well-boiled ham down the str V t- The butcher noticed, upon giving the colored man the flam, that the paper was torn. "Sam.” he said to the porter, “be careful of that ham. as the paper is torn and you might drop it in the Str "Aw right, boss.” answered Sam. ’’l ll be purtickurly cah’ful not to drop it.” Not a long while after the butcher found Sam In the basement of the store, chewing away on a small piece of ham. • “What are you doing there, Sam?” asked the butc.ifer. “Well, boss,” answered Sam, “I dropped the ham and Ah jest figured Ah'd bettah eat it and destroy the evidence.” For the library of the university of Louvain, one com plete set of ail the most important books published ii and about America will be part of the contribution, i. possible. Such a set will contribute greatly toward a better understanding in Europe of our American waj of thinking and doing business. • • • Originally, the committee intended also to bring Bel gian students over to the United States, where thej could go on with their studies and learn something about this country at the same time. Several of our universities offered free tuition to such students, but the plan has been put aside because the expense con nected with bringing the young men across the .Atlantic is hardly justified when the money is so badly needed for other sorts of relief work. • • . ■ • The principal Belgian universities are located in Louvain, Ghent, Brussels and Liege. Louvain is the oldest of the four, and perhaps the best known. It was founded 500 years ago by Duke John of Brabant, and ever since that time it has enjoyed first place in the Belgian educational system. Its library included 70,000 volumes, besides several hundred rare manuscripts Back in the sixteenth century it was one of the prin cipal institutions of its kind in Europe, and had 6,000 students. Just before the war, its attendant college” included about 2,000 students. • • • Five professors of Louvain university are now con nected with American colleges. Prof. Carnoy is at Pennsylvania, Dr. Gregoire at Yale, Dr. Van den Ven at Princeton, and Profs. Dupriez and de VY ulf are at Harvard. These men include among their specialties everything from medieval philosophy and the art and civilization of the Orient to political institutions and botany. • • • At the Baltimore branch of the Carnegie institute is Prof. Jules Duesborg, whose specialty is anatomy. Prof. Duesborg hails from the University of Liege, which was known throughout Europe for its work in profes sional lines. Prof. Henri la Fontaino, an authority on international law, formerly connected with the Univer sity of Brussels, is now in San Francisco. Brussels is the great popular university of Belgium. • • • The Belgian State university is located in Ghent. Il is only about a hundred years old, but it was famous for its schools of engineering and the arts, as well as its great library that icluded 300,000 printed volumes besides many manuscripts. Dr. George Sarton of Ghent is now connected with George Washington uni versity, and Prof. Van der Stricht is at Western Re serve, in Cleveland. • • • Besides establishing connections with American uni versities which give them a chance to go on with then investigations, while giving the benefit of their teach ings to American students, it is hoped that men like these may make arrangements to give lectures on their specialties in the United States. Many men of science and letters in Belgium speak English fluently owing to the shortness of the distance that separates the country from England. • • • While the scholarship committee is a branch "of the general Belgium relief fund, the two are quite separate * so far as the bank account goes. People who contrib- ’ ute to Belgian relief may not be concerned about wheth er investigations into Sanscrit derivatives have been cut off or not. Any contribution which goes to the central fund is applied to the relief of actual physical want. The scholarship committee expect to make a direct appeal to, and raise most of their funds from, the classes in this country which correspond to those they are trying to help—the artists, writers and scientists, and those who are particularly Interested in such lines of work. It is expected that American educators and lovers of art will be more concerned than the nation at large about seeing the work carried on, as well as quicker to appreciate the distress of mind caused by an inability to work. , • • • The present turmoil has given American generosity, an unexampled opportunity to apply itself. The coun try has been asked to relieve bodily want, and now it will be called on to save intellectual progress. What ever the cause that brought about their distress, the • state of art and science is of primary concern to the whole human race, of whatever race or nation. # whose murderous submarines have blown international law to atoms, that they are a warning to Great Brit ain. In fact, the president s warning iq to Americans alone. The attitude of both empires toward the United States is sinister and full of danger. We art buffeted because we are weak. _ I The house of representatives of the sixty-dhird congress, elected with Woodrow Wilson in 1912, had a Democratc majority of 143. After two years of har monious and successful labor, house of represen tatives of the sixty-fourth appeared with a Democratic majority reduced to - twenty-nine. Thus, in the face of as creditable a record as a party ever made, 114 Democrats, many of whom had contributed ability and industry as well as votes to the result, were left at home. The most important question before the sixty-fourth congress, now in session, is that of national defense. It is pre-eminently an issue, no matter what differences of opinion there may be as to plans and policies, that should be met and settled reasonably, without much friction and certainly without splits, bolts and betray als. It is not a problem of the doctrinaires. It is a practical question of self-defense. A political party that proves itself incapable of dealing fairly and squarely with such an elementary task of government will have much to answer for when it next confronts the people. We sometimes wonder if there are 114 Democratic members of the present house who want to be among the missing next ‘November. . , Breakfast was being partaken of at a seaside board ing house recently, and it was thought that the “funny man” of the company had expended all his anecdotal loquacity. But it was not so. The irrepressible one raised the cup of tea to his lips, and, after taking a little sip, laid the cup on a chair beside him. Wondering what was the matter, one of the vis itors asked his reason for doing so. This was his opportunity. “Well.” he replied, con fidentially, “the tea is so weak that I am giving it a rest.” • * • • • “There is nothing that women cannot do as well as men.” “Os course,” assented Mr. Meekton earnestly. “But, Henrietta. 1 do hope that none of you will insist on pitching for the home team in a close game.” • • • I am reminded by this story of a funny incident which Mme. Sarah Bernhardt is fond of relating. “It is so long ago,” she told me, “that I recall neither the player nor the play, only the part wherein the scene was spoiled. The hero said to me, ’Do you object to this cigar?’ which he had already lighted and was puf fing vigorously. ’No, no, no!’ I answered, which was the cue for him to tell me the story of his life. He looked at me instead, and said, rolling the cigar be tween his fingers, ‘That, madame, is because you do not have to sAoke it!’ ” ■ • • • Naomi—‘iWhat do you think? Gwendolyn positively refuses to give a talk on Bergson at our club next week.” Diana —“What reason did she give ” Naomi —“None at all! Only said she didn’t know anything about Bergson.”—Judge. • • • “I'm sorry you don't admire Mr. Gumpins,’’ said the tactful woman. “His ancestors were very dis tinguished and estimable people.” “Yes,” replied Miss Cayenne. ’What a misfor tune for his family that so many of them died.”
