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THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATZUUTTA, OL, 5 WORTH FOBSTTK RT.
Entered at the Atlanta Poe to trice as Mall Matter of th*
Second Class.
JIXII B. GBAT
President and Editor.
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, THE SEMI WEEKLY JOURNAL Atlanta, Ga.
The Action of the State Committee.
The State Democratic Executive Committee
«uhicb met in Atlanta Saturday to arrange for tbe
■election of Georgia delegates to the ’’National
Democratic Convention at St. Louis dispatched its
business with manifest wisdom and justice. Realis
ing from the present outlook that there is no prob
abillity of more than one name being presented
for the Democratic nomination to the Presidency,
the Committee provided for the selection of dele
gates to St. Louis through a State convention to
be held at Macon on May the third. If more than
one Democratic candidate for the Presidential nom
ination should develop within the next thirty days,
the Committee will order a State primary. Such a
contingency is so remote, however, indeed, so in
conceivable that the convention plan undoubtedly
will obtain; and inasmuch as the Democratic senti
ment and judgment of Georgia is a. unit for Presi
dent Wilson s, nomination,- there is no occasion
whatsoever for the pains and expense of a special
primary.
The method of choosing delegates to the State
invention to be held on May the third is properl?
.est to the Democratic executive committees in the
Individual counties. As a matter of course, the
Democrats in each county will see to it that only
true Democrats are named as delegates to the State
convention. Political traitors and mongrels are en
titled to no voice and will have no voice in the
selection of delegates to St. Louis or .in any other
counsels and acts of Georgia Democracy. From
this time forward the Democratic party in Georgia
is going to be Democratic in procedure as well as
in name and principle. The scalawags who have
been accustomed to sneak into Democratic prima
ries merely to desert the party in ensuing elections
have played their last trick of this kind. Hence
forth they will be treated as the political enemies
they really are.
The meeting of the Committee was mark
ed throughout by a spirit of harmonious
loyalty. Especially significant and gratifying was
Its- resolution indorsing the National Democratic
Administration and commending the splendid
statesmanship and leadership of President \\ llson.
There has never been the shadow of a doubt as to
where Georgia Democracy stands regarding the Wil
son Administration the choice of the party’s
next Presidential nominee. But the earnest procla
mation by the Committee emphasizes anew the con
fidence and esteem in which the State’s Democracy
holds the party’s national leader.
The Road From Erzerum.
Both for military and moral effects ttyj cap
ture of Erzerum by the Russians is accounted a
victor'- of signal importance. Erzerum w-as the
Turks’ chief stronghold in the Caucasus and a
gateway to their Asiatic domain. Its fall thus
quickens and strengthens the whole eastern cam
paign of the Allies and at the same time depresses
the high hopes of the Teutons for an unbroken
and unbreakable road from the North Sea to
Mesopotamia.
It remains to be seen just how swiftly or tell
ingly the Entente armies will follow up their new
advantage, but military observers declare that the
chances are now brighter than ever for the joint
movement of Russian and British forces to strike
Turkey a heavy blow from the rear. Commenting
on the plan of the British to proceed northward
along the Tigris and of the Russians to march
southward through Armenia until the two effected
a junction, a writer in the Evening Post points
out:
- “At first it was the southern movement
that counted. Now it is the threat from the
north. The justification of the plan consists
in the fact that it exercises pressure against the
weakest’flank of the Central Powers on land.”
A decisive stroke against Turkey would break
jpg Teutonic armor and,, perhaps, be the beginning
of the war’s end. The Grand Duke Nicholas’ re
markable achievement at Erzerum. where Im an at
tack of only five days, he took one of the strongest
fortresses in any field, has prepared the way for
just such a stroke. Whatever the ultimate results
may be, it is apparent that the victory of Erzerum
greatly heightens the prestige of the Allies in the
East, the Balkans indirectly included, and sounds a
sharp challenge to Germany's ambitous plans in
that region
Unsettling the Lusitania Case.
Just when hopes were brightest for a settle
ment of the Lusitania case the Central Powers
proclaimed a new submarine policy which throws
the entire issue back to its beclouded and danger
ous beginning.
If Germany and Austria are to sink armed mer
chant snips without’ warning, the principles of law
and humaiyty for which the United States has con
tended will be exposed as much as ever before to
violation. Merchant ships are entitled by centu
ries of international usage to carry arms for defen
sive puriwses. The Central Powers have not yet
explained by what means their submarines can
ascertain whether a merchantman is armed for of
fense instead of merely for defense. Until this and
other needful explanations are forthcoming, Wash
ington suspends decisive judgment and action. In
the meantime, however, the Lusitania case remains
unsettled.
Is Bulgaria Ready to Quit?
Os all the gossip* that buzzes from the Balkans,
none Is more startling than the rumors of a sep
arate peace between Bulgaria and the Allies. That
Czar Ferdinand would make overture# of the kind
or that the Entente Powers would entertain them
seems at this juncture of affairs incredible. Yet,
several dispatches from Athens and other observa
tion centers’Of the Near. East speak of ’’definite ne
gotiations having been opened for 4 change of pol
icy on Bulgaria’s part,” a change that will incline
her to the side of the Central Empires’ foes.
There are no apparent circumstances that would
constrain Bulgaria to such a course. Thus far she
has been singularly fortunate in her military ad
ventures. Unopposed by Rumania or Greece, and
supported by strong Teuton forces, she has carried
out her designs upon Serbia, and has conquered
the territory she coveted. True, the accession of
either Greece or Rumania to the Allies’ cause would
imperil Bulgaria’s position, hut there" is no imme
diate prospect of such an event.
Furthermore, the Entente alliance cannot
promise Bulgaria any compensations or indulgences
for her neutrality or even her active support.
Serbia's sovereignty and territory must be restored,
just as Belgium’s must be restored, if the Entente
fulfills its obligations. There can be no reconcilia
tion, in this war at least, between the rights of
Serbia and the ambitions of Bulgaria. The only
terms which the Entente could afford to consider
in this connection would be terms of surrender.
So the situation appears on the surface. It is
conceivable, however, that Bulgaria, doubting the
sincerity or the ultimate ability of the Central
Empires to make good their pledges to her, con
siders It the part of wisdom to seek some under
standing with the Allies while she may do so to the
best advantage. There have been divers hints,
moreover, that relationships between Bulgaria and
Turkey are threateningly tense. The interests and
ambitions of these two States are naturally and
fundamentally opposed. Soon or late. Germany
will find it impossible to keep them reconciled: it
may be that already she has found it impossible to
do so.
It is noteworthy, too, that Bulgaria’s course
since the beginning of the war has been steered en
tirely by a purpose of bold self-interest. For this,
is not to V e censured. She has been merely an
adventurer among adventurers. She would have
no hesitancy in abandoning her Teuton alliance, if
she felt she could do so safely and to her advantage.
These considerations may tone down the seem
ing impossibility of the latest peace rumors, but
they do not make the rumors at all probable.
• Needs of the Aviation Service.
It has been a matter of common knowledge that
our army aviation service is woefully inadequate.
Senator Robinson, of Arkansas, now charges that
it is also flagrantly inefficient. A thorough investi
gation would be worth while if it served no other
purpose than to impress upon Congress and the
country the need of strengthening this peculiarly
vital, yet strangely neglected branch of the national
defense.
The record of the European war leaves no
shadow of doubt as to the substantial and far-reach
ing military value of the flying machine. In some
respects, indeed, the aeroplane has changed the
tactics of warfare. The fact that there been
no great flanking movements or surprise attacks on
any of the European fronts is due very largely to
vigilance of the aviation corps with which both
camps of the belligerents are well supplied. The
aeroplane fleets can compass difficulties and secure
information which are beyond the power of cavalry.
No sooner does an army begin an important move
ment than the eagle air carriers of the enemy de
tect and report it.
* But suppose a defensive army was without this
protection in the face of a resourceful enemy amply
supplied with aeroplanes. Suppose the United
States army were called upon to resist a determined
attack with no better aviation service than it now
possesses. Tbe result would be extremely unfor
tunate, if not acutally disastrous. Had either side
in the European conflict held a monopoly on air
ships the war probably would have ended long ago.
Not only for scouting, but also as an aid to
range finding in long-distanfce artillery operations,
aeroplane service is invaluable, if not indispensable;
and in this particular the aviator is almost* as im
portant to the navy as to the army.
The United States cannot afford longer to neg
lect this essential branch of its national defense. It
is to be hoped that the deficiencies to which Senator
Robinson directs attention will stimulate interest
and lead to constructive action
Each side of the great war imagines it is fight
ing for freedom. But fate probably has something
to say about that.
The Nicaraguan Treaty.
Whatever may be the facts in Germany's re
ported efforts to obtain a canal route and naval
base in Central America, it is assuring to note the
promise of an early ratification of the pending
treaty between the United States and Nicaragua.
Under this compact we shall secure an 'exclusive
and perpetual right to construct a canal across the
Nicaraguan isthmus, and also naval privileges of
great value in Fonesca Bay.-* These will be power
ful and timely safeguards agaipst European de
signs to encroach on American territory and in
terests. r- t
Furthermore, as the Timer fnigc*sts,
the ratification of this treaty- vtiH lenij to’ strength-*
en our Pan-American relationships, an end greatly
to be desired at this juncture es world affairs.
Washington despatches have alluded frequently of
late to "German activities in seeking to get foot
holds in Haiti. Nicaragua,. Columbia, Paraguay.
Chili and the Danish West Indies.” The «enate
has discussed these reports in executive session.
At a recent hearing on the Nicaraguan treaty be
fore the Senate committee, witnesses are said to
have testified that Germany once offered nine nil
lion dollars for concessions to a Nicaraguan canal.
The United State now can obtain the canal option
and also a naval base in Fonesca Bay for some
three million dollars.
Indications are that the Senile maj-'rity will
ratify the proposed agreement. Certainly it Is the
part of wisdom to lose no time in concluding an
arrangement that may prove some day of inesti
mable value in the defense of Americanism.
The peace overtures reported in Germany don't
seem to have any effect on the actual operations of
the army.
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22; 1916.
To Save the Babies
BY |i ADDINGTON BRUCE.
CHILD conservation is one of the really urgent
problems of our day. And the thing that
will count most of all in helping to solve it
satisfactorily is the education, of mothers.
For maternal ignorance is undoubtedly the
greatest, single factor responsible for the enor
mous toll which death annually exacts among the
babies of the country.
How heavy the exaction is may be appreciated
from the fact that during the interval between
the latest federal census and the one preceding it
2,500,000 babies under one year of age died in the
United States. This is at the rate of 250,000
deaths a year.
Os this appalling infant mortality it has been
estimated that 40 per cent is due to disturbances
of nutrition and to acute intestinal diseases. The
carelessness and ignorance of mothers with re
gard to the feeding of their babies accounts large
ly for the great number of deaths from these
causes.
In a recent address Dr. John L. Morse, speak
ing of the work of the Boston Milk and Baby Hy
geino association, said:
", “It is this 40 per cent which the Milk and
■Baby Hygiene association primarily tries to reach,
and the logical Way is by the encouragement of
maternal nursing, providing clean milk, and teach
ing the mothers how to care for it in their homes,
and to modify it to suit the individual require
ments of their babies. .
"Statistics show that one in every five of bot
tle-fed babies dies before it is one year old, while
only one in every thirty of the breast-fed babies
dies. Thus the breast-fed #baby is given six times
as much chance to live as the bottle-fed baby.
“The reasons why so many bottle-fed babies die
are: Lack of knowledge of mothers in the proper
feeding of babes; dirty milk,"and improp’er care of
the milk in the home.”
Again, many babies perish because their moth
ers are not well informed as to the requirements
for proper clothing. Ignorance regarding venti
lation is another fertile source of trouble.
In England an investigation into mortality
among children less than five years old showed
that deaths from diseases caused by defective de
velopment • and malnutrition were 40 per cenj:
higher in poorly ventilated homes than in well
ventilated ones.
The possibility of disease from uncleanliness
in the house is ignored or unappreciated by many
mothers. In the interest*of the little child, as well
as in the interest of the general familv health,
an unceasing warfare has to be waged against
dirt and dust.
Finally, many mothers need education in the ”
important matter of pre-natal care. Through ig
norance of the precautions tftat should be taken
during pregnancy, thousands of children do not
complete the first month of life.
. Today, fortunately, many agencies are at work
spreading helpful information on all these sub
jects. Tn the United States the government it
self. has taken a hand, through the establishment
of a children’s bureau and through the publica
tion of clearly written manuals for mothers.
Two of these, “Pre-Natal Care” and “Infant
Care,” should be read.and re-read by every-moth
er and prospective mother. To obtain them write
to the director of the Children’s Bureau. United
States Department of Labor, Washington.
' (Copyright, 1916, by H. A. Bruce.)
Blurb
BY DR. FRANK CRANE.
BLURB is the stuff publishers print about their
book. - *
a rule it aims to let the reader, by means
of the paper cover on the book, into the secret of the
author’s greatness.
There has recently come to my desk a mass of blurb
which outbjurbs them all. It is about a book composed
by a preacher. We will call him Jones, Marcus Junius
Jones, because that is not his name.
I do not want to advertise his work. This is not
meanness in me, though. of course, a writing man,
I am a bit jealous of Jones; but it Is because to com
mend him would be to paint the lily or hold a candle to
the sun.
Jones has made a book which we will call “The Key
to the Universe.” It t is published in a little town in
Pennsylvania by a “company” w’hose name I do not
recall to have seen before. Still it must be some com
pany, for they claim to have sold 250,000 of Junes’ pre
vious book.
Jones is a violet by a mossy stone. Meaning he is
modesty itself. Look!
“This book,” allows the publisher, “is the master
piece of literary genius.” Not “a” but “the” master
piece. This needs no proof. The author admits it him
self. *
"It contains,” blurbs the circular, “loftier flights and
deeper dippings of the human imagination than can be
found in all the works of the other writers of the world.”
That, as Emory Storrs would say, is certainly a cathar
tic piece of literature. “Dante, Milton, Shakespeare,
Bunyan, or any other are not excepted.” Jones has ’em
all beat.
"By hundreds of times this book is fuller of new
ideas than the art of printing in the fifteenth century."
Jones surely must have been reading uplift articles and
is putting them into practice.
"This marvelous book,” continues the circular, “is a
monument which marks the height to which human
imagination can reach. For centuries Dante and Milton
have stood unrivalled as producers of imagination liter
ature, but the Rev.. Mr. Jones admittedly surpasses both
Dante and Milton in marvelous powers of imagination.
While the subject matter is clothed in the pleasing garb
of Imaginative art, it makes tremendously capital hits
at monopolistic oppression, political corruption, social
insincerity, educational fallacies, religious superstition,
legal cupidity, medical quackery, etc., etc., etc. There
are also many suggestive hints relating to the possibili
ties of new inventions.”
Then, dow ; n below this gush of humility, is the verse:
• #»**. *f.’
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how 1 wonder what you
are.
Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky!”
•
The star referred to is Jones, his book scintillating
in the literary heavens.
\ The book is illustrated; it "contains nineteen (19)
full-page, especially drawn pictures." They were not
just drawn generally as most pictures are. "People are
hungry for new Each picture in this book satis
fies this hunger, and is alone worth a hundred times the
price of the whole book.”
And just to think >you can get a copy of the “silk
cloth million edition” for one dollar! It’s a plum shame.
"Agents wanted everywhere! People will buy this,
book at sight when they learn how brimful it is of hun
dreds of new ideas relating to politics, trusts, education,
religion, science, inventions, and possibilities of intelli
gerif life on planets, moons, stars, conjets, and suns
hung’all around our own little earth in the boundless
fields of endless space. Send 15 cents at once for a
prospectus, and start making money fast.”
Jones, as has been said, is surely a violet by a mossy
stone. „ . • ,
And his publishers are some blurbers. *
(Copyright, 1916, by Frank Crane.)
Editorial Echoes
A bill before the Virginia Senate to establish a
co-ordinate colle|c for women at the university of
Virginia has been made more likely to pass by an
amendment, prompted by its friends, to withhold
state appropriations until in endowment fund of
1150,000 has been raised by private subscription.
The plans of the promotors look to a modest begin
ning with lines directed toward steady future
growth. The Richmond Times-Dispatch believes
that the bill is in such shape that opposition to ft
has be6n reduced to ‘/those who consider the broad
educational influences of the university should not
be extended to everybody, and those who think
these influences should not be extended ta any
body.” They are father considerable classes.—
Springfield Republican.
PHILIPPINE PROBLEMS. L—Affairs in the Islands.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.- *
WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 16.—The Philippines
today are one of our big national issues. The
islands and their disposition form the center
of a storm of debate and discussion that runs from the
White House, through Congress, to every cross-roads
store. The question they present to us as their owners
and legislators is too well known to need re-statin-g.
In the light of that question, however, their own inter
nal affairs take on a new importance and significance to
the people of the United States. It is thq problems of
the Philippines that make our Philippine problem.
They have questions of all kinds to face, over in the
tropic archipelago that is home to the only Christian
people of the Orient—questions that run from practi
cal politics of -our own domestic variety to the dilem
ma of dealing with wild, pagan tribes of humanity
who have just been coaxed down out of the trefcs, with
fanatic Malay-Mohammedans run amok, imbued
with the soke idea of dying in the slaughter of Chris
tians. The recent progress of the Philippines has
been unprecedented in history. Both Americans and
Filipinos have a record to be proua of, and a record
to be lived up to in dealing with the situation before
them now.
• • •
First in importance, perhaps, is tbe matter of gov
ernment —the constitution of the Philippine legisla
ture. and the causes that led to a tnree-year deadlock
over the budget. But among the Americans of the
islands, at least, the state of the civil service seems
to take precedence over everything else.
We tackled a* big job when the military turned
affairs over to the civil government fifteen years ago,
and we set’ about working it out on a big scale. A
civil service composed almost exclusively of Amer
icans was instituted, and progress along ail lines —
law and order, justice, education, science, economic
development—came faster than the most sanguine had
hoped for. The Americans of the service threw them
selves into the work heart and soul. Then came the
inevitable tragedy of the situation —the fact that the
less Americans the civil service could get along with,
the better.
• • •
According to our* theory of government, no Amer
ican has a right to a place in the Philippine service
which can be adequately filled by a Filipino. The
islands support the civil service, and thus have the
first call on its positions. Washington has always
recognized thi fact, and the service is being "fillpln
ized” as rapidly as possible. As a result, there is a
continual unrest among the Americans. Many of them
have devoted the best years of their life to their work,
and now they must stand aside and let their places be
taken by natives.
The lower ranks of the service are practically all
Filipinos today. The chief justice of the supreme
court and two associate justices are Filipinos. Five
of the nine members <sf the Philippine commission, a
body whose duties correspond to those of our senate,
are Filipinos. The assembly (the lower house) is, of
course, entirely Filipino. As time goes on, more and
more of the higher executive positions in the service
are being filled by natives. This is no more than right;
but it is only natural that many of the Americans
who are still necessary to the efficiency of the system
should be on the continual lookout ror positions else
where, where their future is secure.
• • •
According to most Americans, the result is a lower
ing of efficiency. This is a real dilemma, because the
policy of giving the natives any job they can hold
must Inevitably be continued. Thus, the civil service
problem is a three-fold one. There must be some pro
vision made for the men who have done difficult work
faithfully, and who are now forced out by the princi
ples of our political theory. The Americans still neces
sary to the service must be retained. Finally, there
is the question of whether there are hot certain func
tions of government which natives will be incapable
of fulfilling for many years to come.
© • 4
Pre-eminent among these Is the administration of
the affairs of the so-called non-Christian tribes. The
non-Christian tribes include both the pagans, or hill
people, who have only been won the last decade from
their head-hunting and continual savage warfare, as
well as the Moros of Mindanao and Sulu, warlike Mo
hammedans wlfo terrorized the archipelago for cen
turies. At present the Philippine commission has full
charge of the affairs of these people, who number
probably an eighth of the- total population, and whose
territories embrace a third of the land area of the
archipelago. The purely Filipino assembly has noth
ing to say about them.
The question is basically political, for any change
in the existing arrangement will have to be made by
GOSSIP ABOUT MONEY
BY. JOHN M. OSKISON.
NEW YORK, Feb. 17.—Harrington Emerson is the
third financial doctor called in to diagnose the
case of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific rail
way. He had just published his findings.
The first doctor called in said that to re-establish the
Rock Island’s financial health some 150,000,000 and more
was needed —great allopathic doses ot new capital. The
second agreed that the right remedy was more money,
but his prescription was more moderate. He thought
some $32,000,000 would do.
Now, Mr. Emerson, reporting to Mr. Amster, of the
famous minority committee, which has always been
optimistic about the Rock Island, says that not money,
but systematized economy of operation is needed
to cure the road’s illness. However, in addition to prac
ticing strict economy, Mr. Emerson says that the road
ought to spend by the end of the sear 1919 some
$2,235,000.
Mr. Emerson is among the small group of "efficiency
engineers” who have proved by their deeds that their
theories concerhing saving money by systematizing its
spending are workable. He has done important work in
this line for the Atchison, a competing railroad with the
Rock Island, and for the B. & 0., one of the few eastern
roads that has recently undergone physical and financial
reconstruction. He is a small, gray-haired, very quiet
man, with the precision of speech of a slide rule.
At a meeting of the illuminating engineers the other
evening Mr. Edison paid an unusual and splendid tribute
to a rival. He refused to speak, and commissioned his
secretary to say that he did so in oraer to yield wholly
to his friend, Charles P. Steinmetz.
, Edison's position is secure, of course. More and more
people are coming to know Steinmetz, but Mr. Edison
doesn’t think they are getting to know him and his
works fast enough.
Steinmetz is an electrical wizard of a different sort.
He is dwp.rfecl and humpbacked of body, but his head is
splendid. He sits on a high stool at work, constantly
smoking. He has bushy hair and a beard. He is the
most patient man in the world when conaucting experi
ments.
Back of all of Steinmetz’ investigations is the one
question. How can we get more results for a smaller
price? He is the genius of the great plant of the Gen
eral Electric company at Schenectady, N. Y., and many
hundreds of millions of capital is vitally interested in
what he has discovered about the practical uses of elec
tricity and what he will discover.
If you want to succeed financially nowadays don’t
bother to make anything, produce anything, but learn
how to sell. In the modern philosophy of business any
body can produce the thing everybody ought to buy, but
mighty few can sell it.
An illustration of this modern theory was furnished
the other day when nine employes of the H. W. Johns-
Manville company were made directors of the company
because of the ability they had shown m building up the
company’s sales.
If you read their advertisements you will certainly
have seen descriptions of the H. W. Johns-Manville
products. They’seem to be very numerous, having
largely to do with asbestos, but tending to reach into
all sorts of manufacturing fields. Whatever they could
sell these men took up. It is a great big company and
the money rewards of Its owners ougnt to be great.
• • «
Dr. John Grant Lyman, alias John H. Putnam, is one
get-rich-quick artist with nerve! In spite of a criminal
record that was known in two or tnree cities, and a
friendship with a notorious reformed woman criminal
an act of congress, such as is now pending before the
house of representatives. In its details, however, it is
a question of the civil service, for the men in actual
charge of the wild tribes—the provincial governors—
are Americans. They have won the savages to law
and order and to something approaching social
progress by a combination of tact and reckless cour
age that is an eternal credit to the American nation.
The question arises as to when, if ever, their places
can be filled by Filipinos.
In this connection it is well to note that the term
"Filipino” does not apply to all innabitants of the
Philippines, but only to the Christian peoples who, to
the number of’ some 7,000,000, form about seven
eighths of the population. This class is the only one
capable of administration, and it is from them that
the men to govern the wild tribes will be drawn.
• • •
The Filipinos, through their Hreee political parties,
have declared themselves in favor of the Jones bill,
which provides “a more autonomous government for
the islands.” Most of the Americans are also in favor
of the administrative features of the bill, but in respect
to the actual government of the wild tribes, some of
them express doubt. They point out that between the
Filipinos and the hili men is an enmity centuries old,
and that the Moros hold the fighting abilities of the
Filipinos in contempt. They, say, too, that, unless
checked, certain Filipinos are liable «o take advantage
of the ignorance and’ superstition of the savage to
exploit him, and that the confidence and friendship eo
carefully built up by Americans will be destroyed.
• • •
There seems little doubt that the Moros and the
hill peoples would be a thorn in the side of a purely
Filipino administration. When the provinces of Min
dano and Sulu were recently turnes over from the
military to the civil government, the last activity of
the army was ended, and today our troops in the Phil
ippines are on exactly the same sort of a peace footing
that they occupy In the continental United States. The
Philippine constabulary is maintaining almost perfect
order, but the commissioned officers for the most part
are Americans.
• • •
No critic of American or Filipino iq the islands has
attacked the constabulary. They are a remarkably
able and efficient body of men, recruited both from tjie
Filipinos and the hill peoples. They may be taken as
conclusive proof that the Filipino ’ and his wilder
neighbors have the making of first-rate soldiers when
properly led. The order they are preserving, the 6,000
outlaws killed and the 122,000 captured, show what
they can do. The dozen officers and 200 men killed In
action, the fifty officers and thousand men who died
of disease, show what difficulties they had to contend
with. The question they pose is what they could do
with American officers withdrawn.
• • •
Another problem of the civil service arises in the
matter of salaries. When we first began our educa
tional and administrative work in the islands we fixed
the salaries of the service at figures which would en
able Americans from the United States to live decently
and comfortably. Such Americans had perhaps a
higher standard of living than the native, and cer
tainly a different one. They required many imported
articles, where the Filipino would prefer native prod
ucts. Hence the salaries were set fairly high. Now
that Filipinos are holding these positions, and the posi
tions are multiplying, the service imposes an unneces
sary burden on the country.
• • •
It was considered bad policy to pay a Filipino leas
than an American to do the same worx. As a matter
of fact, it is apparently an inevitable policy. The Fil
ipino can often earn more in the service than out of
it, and hence the man who is needed to develop his
native land prefers the government service—a bad
state of affairs, quite aside from the needless expense.
This problem will have to be faced in the near future.
| ...
Iq the matter of retired American civil servants
there is a bill proposed to pension all tnose of more
than ten years' service who at the end of that time
are drawing $3,000 or more.
• • •
- • The - other--questions have still to be dealt with.
Even to able Americans with years of experience in
insular administration they would be no light ones. If
they'are handed over to the Filipino, he will have a
strenuous tittie* of it.’ The Philippine plank in the
Democratic platform is construed by many to involve
the complete autonomy of the islands at an early date.
If that program is carried into effect, we will give the
islands more than their independence. We will present
them at the same time with some of the toughest
problems that any government ever set out to solve.
living near by, he opened a brokerage office a few
months ago in the financial center of the Wall street
district.
His plan was simple and successful. He picked out
the Ohio Qll company, a former Standard Oil subsidiary
which has recently risen in price from $174 to $260 a
share, and which has paid 7 per cent regularly, with an
extra dividend last quarter of $4.25.
See, said the doctor, this stock is on a 24 per cent a
year dividend basis; at the market price it is cheap. I
will sell it to you on the installment plan; pay me ar
much down as you can, and the rest in installments.
When the whole of the purchase price is paid I will de
liver your stock. By that time it ought to sell for
SI,OOO a share! As bait he got a man named Harkness
into his office, who was, he said, or the Standard Oil
Harknesses.
As the money came in to buy Ohio Oil, Dr. Lyman put
it in the bank; and when the time approached when be.
would have to deliver Ohio Oil shares to his customers,
never having bought any, he drew the money and flitted.
It is said that he departed with several hundred thou
sand dollars. . .
His.courage was equal to keeping bis office on the
same floor with government inspectors, who were looking
for him on account of old sins.
Quips and Quiddities
"I see,” he said, "that coal has gone up again.”
“Has it?” she replied.
“And they’re raising rents,” he continued.
"Well.” she exclaimed, flaring up, “if you wish to
have our engagement broken off say so. I always hate
to have people beat about the bush in a case of this
kind.”
At a meeting of business men a discussion Was
started regarding a banker who has the reputation fbt
hard bargaining, close fistedness and invariably getting,
his pound of flesh.
“Oh. well,” said one man, “he isn’t so bad. I went,
to see him to get a loan of SI,OOO, and he treated me
very courteously.”
“Did he lend you the money*.’*'
"No, he didn’t —but he hesitated a minute.”
• • *
A stranger became one of a group of listeners to a
veteran of many battles. The veteran had about con
cluded a vividly colored narrative of a furious battle tn
which he had taken part. f'
“Just think of it,” exclaimed one of the party, turn
ing to the stranger. "How would you like to stand
with shells bursting all around you?”
“I have been there,” responded the newcomer.
“What? you, too, been a soldier?” .
"No," answered the stranger. “I am an &ctor.”
Short —I thought you were going to. drown that cat.
Long—Well, they say a cat has nine lives, but this
one has twenty, I think. Why, I actually put that cat
into a tub of water and tied a brick round its neck, and
what do you think?
Short —Goodness knows.
Long—Well, this morning when I went to look at
the tub the cat had swallowed all the water and was
sitting on the brick.
Mistress—Do you know, Mary, that I can actually
write my name in the dust on the table?
Mary—Well, madam, that’s more than I can do.
Sure there’s nothing like education after alt"- .
