Twice-a-week telegraph. (Macon, Ga.) 1899-19??, January 18, 1907, Image 4

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THE TWICE-A-WEEK TELEGRAPH FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 190T. THE HUH TELEGRAPH PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING AND TWICE A WEEK BY THE MACON TELEGRAPH PUBLISH ING COMPANY. 563 MULBERRY BfREET, MACON. GA. C. R. PENDLETON, President ARCHAEOLOGIC TREASURE TROVE. A Otrman scientific expedition led $»y Dr. von T>»eoq and his assistant, Mr. Bartus, after seven months of hard labor. has made a groat find of buried ancient literature at Turfan calculated. It is said, to delight the soul of the antiquarian to the last degree. The discovery, it Is claimed, marks an epoch in archaeology, nnd the many languages that are employed in the manuscripts Indicates that it must be the reading room of the Tower of Babel that the archaeologists have lighted ©n. The New York Tribune says: The manuscripts found are not on papyrus, but on paper, leather and wood, and are, therefore, in far better condition than most papyri. There are no fewer than ten languages, besides a number of variant dialetee. Home of them arc Aryan, seme Semitic and some a combination of the two. Two of the languages, Central Aslan (Brah min and Nagari, were hitherto practically unknown. A third. Tnngut, haa hitherto been known only in a few rock Inscriptions in Tibet. A fourth, which appears to be related to Syriac, was hitherto entirely unknown, and its existence was never before suspected. The Manlchaean manuscripts found are writfen In modified Syriac charac ters, but In the Middle Persian lan guage, and are said to equal.In vol ume the entire mass of Middle Persian writings hitherto known to exist. Other manuscripts are in Chinese, Tibetan, Syriac, Ulghur and the Krtk-Turkish, or Ur- Turklsh, the primitive Turkish language, the alphabet of which bears a curious resemblance to the undent Norse This Intensely Interesting discov ery should throw some light upon the history of that little known part of the world between the Oxus and the Irtish. Readers of Firdusi will recall various refer ences to it which indloutr its great Importance tn the days of Chosroes and suggest that it was then pre cisely what these dtecoverles pro claim it to have been, a meeting place of many tribes and nations, the cosmopolls of Asia. There Per sian, Turk, Mongol and Tartar met nnd strove, and there was, espe cially, the point of Impact or of junction of China at the east. of Persia at the West and of Htndos- lan at lhe south. We should also iesrn something more of Mani and the great religious system which he founded or revived, and perhaps through him also of that still greater and no less shadowy pi;ophot, Zoroaster. When we re call that Manichaean writings were first discovered and deciphered only three or four years ago, the interest of this great find of them Is evident. The discovery gives hope that the burled ruins of the Old World may yet be made to surrender other treasures, perhaps entirely unknown and unlooked for, or. like the lost books of Livy or the poems of Sappho, known to us through repute, but long deemed to have been irretrievably lost to the modern world. This will all prove wonderful and Interesting enough doubtless to the dry-as-dust antiquarians who are more concerned with dead and forgotten languages and literatures than with current books and affairs, but the av erage man will only sigh to think how many fresh and interesting volumes he at hand unopened because life ts too short and busy and the making of books too endless to permit of even a passing acquaintance with them. A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. j "What is Esperanto?” asks th" North American Review In the number for (he first half of January, and the mag azine enlists Dr. L. L. Zamenhof, of Warsaw, an auth riry on the subject presumably, to lei! us about it. Elim inating the Doctor's preliminary ecstatic thrills and flourishes at the mere mention of the magic name, we note when he calms down to a concrete statement that he says: "Esperanto is a neutral language, extraordinarily ease to learn, the property of no par ticular nation, but bc-longlng with equal right to the whole world,” and \ve take it that it is the revival under another name of the Volpuk which 'ifiicted the world some quarter of a ■ tturv ago. but which, if our impression Is ■ o.-rect, never r< tliy took hold of it. Rut Esperanto—if wc are to believe the Doctor, and we really don’t know any reason why we should not give him carte blanche to draw against our stock of credulity—has not only taken hold of the world but it has gotten its fangs in so deep on the universal cu ticle that no cataclysm in nature or elemental conflict known to experience can shake it loose. “Go :o one of the Universal Congresses (which occur an nually)” he says, and “there you will of accession, also reminded the States of the North that the Constitutional provision for tit'- lelivery up fugi tive slaves was as binding in law and in honor as any >uier. and called for •he repeal of the nullifying enactments. President Buchanan in his message to Congress in December, 1*6.•. • om- plained of the same, or similar, and even more defiant nullifying enactments provided by Northern State Legisla tures. In each case the protest was useless. The men of the more powerful North ern section harkened ir. re and more to the "higher law" (than the Consii- the negro to graprle lions. His illustratio eism of the Preside: ilh great ques was the eriti- by the negro . I ind were not their crusade until they had not only freed the slaves but had given them the ballot and placed them in political au thority over their former masters. Later on nature was allowed to assert itself, cut certain results of this cru sade. and results that were the least expected, are still with us. Calhoun lboked Into .the future with a tar-seeing eye. but even his prophetic soul did not dream of what would come to pass by the time his great-grand daughter reached woman's estate. He would scarcely have believed that the man who appointed a negro as collec tor of :he port of Charleston, who see assembled thousands of persons of J preached the opening of the "door of the most widely divergent nationali ties. from all quarters of the globe, conversing with one another admirably, understanding each other excellently. Already Esperanto has a. fairly large literature,” he tells us. "More than thirty different journals are puhiished in that language; many thousands of persons all over the world correspond and converse by means of it. Tn almost every city of Europe, as well as in other parts of the world, Esperanto clubs have been established.” Then “not only is Esperanto a neutral lan guage, but it is also musical, flexible, rich and wonderfully easy. In a few weeks, at the most, every one is able to master it completely and to speak it fluently.” Finally. "Esperanto hopes to become merely the uniting interna- i tional language in those regions where various tongues are struggling for su premacy, or where one nationality is trying to force its iangnage upon an other. Esperanto will never disturb the inner life of nations, tt will never aim to-force Itself upon those who do not need it, for Esperanto Is, and will always remain, the language of free dom. neutrality and International jus tice.” Glorious Esperanto! And it is of fered to Americans by the Doctor, who we suspect, although it is not stated, to be its author and creator, without money and without price. He mag nanimously exclaims: Oh, Americans, this language, whose ideal is the future union of mankind, we band on to you in the name of freedom, peace nnd jus tice, for which the forefathers of most of you suffered so much. Thanks awfully. But our recent unfortunate venture into “simplified” spelling does not encourage us In the Impulse to hastily embrace Esperanto, which Is but another name for "slm- pltfled” language. “BAND BOX 80LDIERS.” During the debate in the Senate Monday on the President’s power to dismiss riotous soldiers. Senator Bacon had the precedent for the President’s action established by Governor Till man himself in the "Darlington Whis ky War,” as quoted in an editorial In NOT VERY POLITIC. There Is a Roosevelt third-term "na tional” league in Chicago and already it is distributing "literature” and ar guing the matter with a strenuosity worthy of Its hero in his best days. We are assured on the authority of a person whose name Is quite new to us that: "Wall street has agreed that President Roosevelt has be nominated by acclamation for the third term. This is the opinion I have formed after hearing expressions from some of the leading financiers of the country, and who two years ago were saying some hard things about the President. They seem to have changed their minds now, and are anxious that Mr. Roosevelt be the next President on account of his foresight. I believe that the financial safe man. hope” and the granting of "a square deal”—that this man, although re garded as the most popular of all the Presidents, should nbw be virtually on trial because he has offended 'the ne groes who hold the balance of power in the Republican party, his offense consisting in an effort to protect so ciety in the only way possible from rioters and murderers wearing the uni form of United Sta'tfs soldiers! Nor did it occur to Calhoun, per haps, that owing to his genius and fame his great-granddaughter would occupy an enviable social position which would not otherwise be hers. Even after hundreds of years there is a noble family in France that owes its position to the fact of descent from the peasant brother of the heroine and martyr, Jeanne d’Arc. The leaders and the heroes among men make a place not only for themselves but those of their blood who come after them. This is the old fashion—this social dominance of families founded by the great. The new fashion provides for the social dominance of ' people who have made millions packing pork and who get divorces as often as they , run over, pedestrians with their automo biles. The old fashion, though it may not in all respects be quite "American,” is more to the taste of conservative and thoughtful men. mass .meeting at Boston. "The President of the United States, of 11 Presidents who have sat in that j chair -ince the- ci jsc of :'ae civil war,” he said, "has manifested more plainly and decidedly a Jis: c sit ion to lift up and encourage the colored race by ele- ! v .ting them on all occasions when he ! J could to positions of honor and trust under the. Government.” A negro he said, held the most lu- ! : err.tive Federal office in Florida, as ' ' collector of internal revenue; the col lector of customs at Savannah, Ga., was i: negro, and the collector of in- j ternal revenue of the State of Georgia was a negro, and every one knew the light which the Senate had made ! against Dr. Crum, a negro, made col- . lector of the port at Charleston. S. C. | "But," added Mr. Mallory, "the pa- : trlots of Boston, who probably are the best representatives of the colored race in this country, the most enlightened , and highly educated, allow themselves i to be carried away by the passion of ■ the moment, unable to look fairly and squarely at a proposition which should | be judged justly and honestly, forget j that they are under great obligations ! ; to the President, and send forth a de- j : nunciation of the best friend they have j ! ever had in that office. They will al- j j low passion to get the better of their 1 | judgment on almost all occasions.” ! It may be fairly doubted if it was so i much a matter of passion as it was i the cropping out of'this peculiar negro ! trait which has been referred to. While ! President Roosevelt had dealt with the negro soldiers on their own re- ] sponsibiliitv as individuals and equals : and had disciplined them for conduct : fatal to them as a military body. Sena tor Tillmah in capriciously opposing the President's course, abused the ne groes without stint and indiscriml- ! nately as a race nnd won their favor j and applause. In effecting this result ; it must be accorded to Senator Till- ! man that, however cantankerous and | hurtful his course in this matter is. he has demonstrated the truth of his claim ito understand the negro charac ter better than President Roosevelt— to the negro's everlasting undoing. Booker T. Washington, who Is not all negro, and who thoroughly under stands this defect in the race charac ter, advised the negroes against mak ing this fatal blunder and exhibition of themselves, but there* is no power to correct a race’s limitations by point ing them out. The race concerned can’t even see them. some $100,000, only $29,000 more than the Hannah Ellas assessment, while Oliver H. P. Belmont, having no subway to give the wolf access to his door, has to pay on $200,000. According to these published figures. J. Pierpont Morgan, the thundcrer of high finance, has backed with $400,000 his bull raid of art treasures of ail Europe. D. Willis James, who is not known ever to have morganeered a con- rinent, is assessed for the same sum. which happens to be twice the allotment falling to Jacob H. Schiff and four times :hat of Jas. Stillman. But Mr. Stillman’s doc tors' bills have probably been very heavy of late. The Rev. Dr. Morgan Dlx at $S0,- 000 is $5,000 beUer than John E. Parsons, of 'the Sugar Trust. Maj. Richard T. Wilson invites compas sion in the $50,000 class. And how in the world does Charles G. Gates muster nerve to “bet a million’’ when $50,000 is his acknowledged I equipment, and father’s is only j $250,000? ; Front this it would appear that while i Mr. Carnegie is industriously seeking channels ithrough which to distribute some part of his many millions before ; he dies, he does not care to divert any j considerable portion of it to the pur pose of tax-paying, and Mr. Rockefel ler has a great many more millions to give away to colleges than he has to pay taxes on. NEGRO TRAIT The ^substantiality and fame commented LLUSTRATED. of popularity by Lord Mansfield more ithan a century ago and by many another since was perhaps never more absurdly illustrated than it is by one phase of the Brownsville de bate in Washington. It is recorded as a fact that the galleries in the Senate chamber, chiefly decupled by negroes, were with Tillman, the professional negro-batter, without reserve in his attack on President Roosevelt, the man, who has done more and gone farther in his zeal for uplifting the negro, however mistaken it may be, than any other of his day and time. And right here. It may be noted, there, is a psy chological itrait of the negro character Involved which Tillman, in common with Southerners generally, appreciate, and which Is what he has reference to when he says President Roosevelt does not understand the negro character. It is a matter of somewhat common observation in the Sou'th that better results are obtained from the negro by ill-treatment and abuse, pretended if not real, than by much kindness and consideration. There was more in the old prevalent Southern habit of “cuss ing” at a negro, tthat has been often noted, than the mere inclination to ap pear rough and profane. The average The Telegraph the other day. put in the record. Senator Tillman’s reply to i ,nterests regard him as this point blank stultification of his ! ,hat ho should be placed in the great present position demonstrates the fu- ! off,ce ' and they are going to do their | r ' egr0 worships the big, bluff. utmost to persuade him that it Is his j blusterous fellow who greets him with patriotic duty to accept the nomina- I a hearty curse, who never addresses tl 0n ,” | him except as “nigger” and who will In these trust-busting times, in these j P er haps toss him a coin'on occasion tillty of regarding him seriously In this matter. He Justified his action in “dismissing without honor” a. high- •jforited company of South Carolina volunteer troops, who chose to resign rather than perform acts of espionage under bis orders, by the explanation that they were “ band box soldiers.’ who wanted their uniforms and brass buttons to help them with the girls.” Ergo, by Mr. Tillman's logic, they were not entitled to equal legal rights with the “lawless, brutal, murderous gang of cut-throats,” as he terms them, who “shot up” Brownsville. In history, romance and song men have alwaysj»een inspired to the high est feats of valor and chivalry by the j motive of winning woman's approval. It is an inspiration that not only in cites, and has always incited to great Seeds, but It is one that most surely keeps clean the souls of men from sor did, mean and bestial deeds. Whether It be put in Tillman's homely phrase of “helping them with the girls.” or ex pressed in the exaggerated language of Cervantes' inspired lunatic, the Knight of La Mancha, the desire of pleasing woman will ever be the highest merely earthly Incentive of man. Such as are inspired by less elevated motives may be qualified to appreciate the prece dence given the negro assassins of Brownsville, in Senator Tillman's view, over the “band box” soldiers of South Carolina. days of denunciation of the “yellow rich." it does not strike us as very politic to stamp a third-term Roose velt or a third-term anybody else with the approval of "Wan street." Nor does it look as if Mr. Roosevelt enjoys that approval in any very bountiful measure, if we are to Judge from the recent acid utterances of certain New York newspapers. With all due respect to the mighty power centered in Wall street, we ven ture to express the opinion that under present conditions the third-term boomers would make more hay by de scribing CMr. Roosevelt as a champion of “the people” than as a favorite of “high financiers.” Guggenheim has entered the United States Senate. What's in a name? The concensus of opinion agrees that It is not that Tillman loves the negro leas, bat he hates Roosevelt more. CALHOUN AND THE NEW FASH IONS. A great-granddaughter of John C. Calhoun was introduced into Charles ton society last week, the affair being j the most brilliant of its kind, according j to the dispatches, that the oid city has j seen for years, “a great throng retire- j sentatlve of the distinguished families j of Charleston and the old South” filling ' i lhe home of the debutante's parents. Fifty-seven years have passed since , Calhoun made his las* speech in the , Senate, a speech reproaching the j Northern States for their enactments i repudiating the Constitutional provis- ! ion for the return of fugitive slaves, and predicting a disruption of the Union should they fall tb do this act of justice. Three days later Daniel Webster, while disapproving the threat more as a salve to his own conscience than in conciliation of the negro. But let some misguided, unfortunate wh’te man come along and call him “Mister” Johnson, Brown, or what-not, and oth erwise undertake to treat him as an equal, and immediately he creates a cold, reserved and suspicious “coon,” who if he affiliates with him at all will quickly become impudent and take lib erties that canned be endured. So well understood is this trait tn the South that it may be reduced as an axiomatic sentiment among negroes that a white man who is no better than a negro is not as good as a negro. To return to the Washington illustration of this trait, the Post of tha't city, describing the scene, says: The most curious thing about the Brownsville debate was the evident approval of Senator Till man on the part of the negro por tion of the Senate’s audience. Mr. Tillman is known throughout the length and breadth of the country as a negro hater—or "nigger." as he puts it—and he has never hesi tated to say thah <he black race must be kept in virtual subjection to the whites. But his declaration that the negro soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Infantry were dis charged from the army in violation of law has pleased the colored peo ple of Washington, at '.east to a de gree that has made the pitchfork statesman one of their heroes. And Senator Mallory, of Florida, sup porting the President in the discharge of the murderous body of negro troops, "digressed to call attention no what he regarded as the best illustration that could be given of the incompetency of THE SERVICE PENSION BILL. The service pension bill passed by the Senate last week has at least one merit. It legalizes the service pension order of President Roosevelt which has been in force about three years, we believe, and helped materially to ward bringing out the great vote -that was polled for the unusually popular Presidential candidate of 1904. It also has the merit of including survivors of the Mexican war as well as the survivors of the Union side of the war of 1861-5. This will benefit a few elderly Southerners. Probably more Southerners than Northerners will profit by this Mexican war pro vision, as there were more of the for mer than of the latter engaged in that war. After some discussion the words in the bill, “War of the Rebellion,” were changed to “Civil War.” Senators Ba con, Money and Patterson contended that it was a “War B'etween the States,” but so large a concession was not to be expected. “Civil War” is not an accurate term, but it is more accu rate and more desirable than “Rebel lion.” The bill grants a pension of $12 a month to survivors of the Civil and Mexican wars who have reached the age of 62, $15 to those who are 70 : years of age, and $20 to those who are j 75 or over. I't is estimated that if the ! bill becomes a law it will increase the ! | pension expenditure of the country to : the extent of about $6,000,000 annually, ! while the commissioner of pensions ] thinks that the Increase will be be- i tween $10,000,000 and $15,000,000 a year, j How much has already been added j to "he annual pension expenditure by the service pension arrangement put in ! force by Executive order is not stated. IS THAT ANY REASON? To show that ':he President was him self “responsible” for the outrages committed by negro soldiers. Senator Tillman quoted as follows from an ut terance of the President a year ago: “The uniform of the enlisted man is a badge of honor. It entitles him to peculiar consideration—It shows that in the great majority of eases he has learned those habits of self-command, of self-rer.tralnt, of obedience and of fearlessness in ■the face of danger, which put him above most of hi? fellows who have not possessed similar privileges. To strive to discriminate against him in any way is literally an in famy: for it is in reality one of the most serious offenses which can be committed against the stability and greatness of our nation.” Let it be granted that the President has done harm by this and other utter ances. Is that any reason why he should not make an effort to undo the mischief, or why he should not receive the supp’ort of the country, including even ‘that of Tillman himself? The Telegraph has ho special ad miration for Senator Spooner, but we exftend to him our distinguished con sideration for the few straight jolts and jabs from the shoulder that sepa rated Tillman from his wind in the Senate Tuesday and called for the count over that worthy's prostralte form. The South is under obligation to the Wisconsin Senator for defending her from Tillman’s reckless misrepre sentation. NEW YORK’S RICH ON TAX LIST. | What principle is it in human na- j ture that prompts the family univer sally to dodge an obligation or debt even when the natural'disposition may lie generous to a fault. Many a mar. has been known, both in every one’s experience and in history, who would give away his last cent, but who would : not pay a simple debt without compul sion. Tills singularity Is more fre- I quently illustrated in tax-dodging than j anything else, and nowhere so strongly j apparently as In New York. with its hundreds of intensely wealthy men. Notwithstanding this generally ac- cepted fact the personal tax list for 1207 reveals a "pitiful state of poverty” among the supposedly rich people in 1 New York. Analyzing this list in some measure -the World says: It appears that the- city has only five real millionaires to its name, so far as personal property is con cerned. Mr. Carnegie standing at the head with $3,000,000 and being followed in order of assessment by John D. Rockefeller ($2,'500.000). Mrs. Russei! Sage < $2,000,000), Alice G. Vanderbilt and William K. Vanderbilt ($1,000,000 each). William Rockefeller's meagre portion is $350,000. and H. H. Rog ers’ is $30,000 less, showing that Standard Oii is a gay deceiver ever and plays favorites unblushingly. August; Belmont clings to a ione- HYPOCRISY. John D.. jr.; preached on hypocrisy to the Bible class of Fifth Avenue Baptist church, New York, last Sun day. He said he did not regard hy pocrisy as the worst of sins, and illus trated as follows: “It is frequently the case that men refuse to join the church, giv ing as their excuse that there are others in it who are not what they should be. They say that they are not good enough, and put off join ing a ch-urch. I think the man in the church who makes his mis takes and his falls from righteous ness, but who stays in the church and keeps on trying to do better, is better off than the man who stays outside of the church. Of course every high-minded man looks down on a hypocrite, but I do not know that hypocrisy is the worst of sins.” No, It Is not the worst. It is not as bad as murder, for example; and yet it is possible to conceive of a man who, in a fit of sudden, engulfing pas sion, strikes' down another, who then bitterly repents, and who both before and after the deed is a better man at heart than the wolf that deliberately wears sheep’s clothing for the sake of furthering selfish and evil purposes. According to the New York Times’ report, in the regular Sunday bulletin issued by the church, of which the Rockefellers, father and son, are mem bers, the following appeal appeared on the same day that ’the discourse on hypocrisy was delivered: Will some friend interested in our Armitage Sunday school pri mary class contribute a small fold ing bed or cot, with mattress, for the use of one of our loyal little pupils, who comes every Sunday from One Hundred and Thirty- fourth street? The child, almost an invalid from heart trouble—is obliged to sleep across a bed with her mother and little sister. Mrs. Coles or Mr. Hillyer will be glad to receive the money necessary for the bed. which means comfort and a greater degree of health to the little one. Surely this youngest and frailest at tendant at Mr. Roockefeiler's Sunday school will not be permitted longer to lack for a bed to sleep on. GOV. D. C. HEYWARD’S FORBEARS. The following highly pertinent remarks are taken from the es teemed Aiken Recorder: “Gover nor Heyward will go out of office tomorrow. During the four years of his incumbency he has made one of the best Governors South Caro lina has ever had. Although a member of a family always of so cial distinction and wealth, he is the only one of his name who has ever sought or held office in this State. He not only broke his own family record, but restored the high Gubernatorial standard for which South Carolina was conspic uous previous to 1890. It can be truly said of Governor Hayward that ho is too good a man to leave politics. There is need for such men.”—Charleston News and Cour ier. The early history of South Carolina will refute the statement that Governor Duncan Clinch Heyward “is the only one of his name” who has "ever held office in this State” (South Carolina), as his middle and maternal name, "Clinch,” will indicate his descent from a family of public service and distinc- j tlon in Georgia. The Heywards of South Carolina were originally English officers in the King's service, if our impression is correct, long before the Revolutionary period. When the colo nies revolted Thomas Heyward, jr., was sent as a member of Congress from South Carolina and was one of ; the four members from that State who signed the Declaration of Independence. He was the captain of one of the first | military companies raised in Charles- j ton for service in the war waged to | make good the claims of the declara tion, and he was known by the title j of Judge Heyward after the independ- j ence of the States was finally estab- ! fished. . Governor D. C. Heyward is a direct descendant of Nathaniel Hey ward. who was a half brother of Thomas Heyward, jr. But he pecu liarly prides himself on his descent, through his mother's side of his house, from Gen. Duncan L. Clinch, of Geor gia. who distinguished himself in the I war with the Seminole Indians in Flor- | ida, and was a member of Congress ! from this Statfe in 1S43-45. "Wonder is expressed that Governor j Heyward, who has Just retired from j the office after a brilliant and eminent- | ly sane administration of two terms, should have so distinguished himself, in view of the fact that previous to his election as Governor he had been sim ply a young rice planter, without pre tension to public service or training. And to emphasize this phenomena, as it were, the point is made that his heredity was without such bias or pre disposition. This point is effectually disposed of, we think, by the showing that Governor Heyward’s ancestors were habituated to military service and command as far back as anterior to the Revolution. But a circumstance that is lost sight of is that life on the large Southern plantations “before the war,” to which Governor Heyward’s people were hab ituated, was in itself a training in the government and administration of af fairs on a scale sufficient to acquire the principles involved. To this school of command is attributed the appar ently spontaneous rise of so many nat ural born leaders on the Southern side in the “War Between the States.” It is marveled at that Wade Hampton, for instance, should have developed so quickly into a great cavalry leader, without previous military training or any experience except that obtained in the free outdoor life on a Southern plantation. Yet It was doubtless due to this very experience and manner of fife that he fell naturally into the po sition of a commander of cavalry. In stances of a kindred nature might be multiplied indefinitely. President Roosevelt is not in the habit of acting hastily and without sufficient forethought, it is quite true that he is too apt to act first and reflect after ward. But wo submit that in this mat ter he followed the only course that was open to him. and in view of the issues at stake, he should receive the country's support. Even granting that two, or a dozen, or fifty, of the negro soldiers were absolutely guiltless in every respect—which is granting more than anybody should ask—it is better that, these be dropped from the army than that nothing be done and the President be defeated by a “conspiracy of silence,” the service he demoralized, and innocent citizens be left exposed to the insolent brutalities of a band of ruffians who have dishonored the uniform of United • States soldiers. That is all. UNFAIR CRITICISM. •Commenting on the President’s last message on the Brownsville affair, the New York Times says: “ . . . Murder was done, and other murders attempted, and the acts committed by the men en gaged in the foray were so out rageous that no penalty short of hanging or long terms of imprison ment would be considered ade quate. If the President had put the three companies under deten tion, if he had begun a rigorous inquiry, prolonged for months, if necessary, opening up every dis coverable source of evidence and neglecting no means of getting at the truth In order that the riotous spirit and murderous acts of the soldiers might be duly punished, the country would have said that he had gone about the task in the right way. By his hasty dismissal of all the soldiers of the three companies he made a searching investigation impossible an' cheated justice by the infliction of a miserably insufficient penalty upon the guilty. That was the President’s worst mistake, and that it was a mistake he is not yet ready to admit.” This Is as fair and as pointed as any of the criticisms of the President’s course. It is a repetition of the fa miliar argument: the punishment meted out by the President was wholly inadequate as far as the guilty ones were concerned, but at the same time outrageously unjust to “the innocent,” or those who took no part in the shooting. But Is not a wholly inadequate pun ishment of the guilty better than no punishment at all? Was it not neces sary to take, positive action (even if the detection of the guilty was impos sible) for the sake of discipline in the army and for the protection of so ciety? This is a point that the critics never mention. They content them selves with insisting that the President should have detected the guilty and then punished them alone. TJiey re fuse to credit the War Department with the serious and prolonged efforts that were made to detect the guilty. Brownsville was “shot up” in August, the negro troops were dismissed in No vember, and the efforts to break down the "conspiracy of silence” were de scribed in Secretary Taft’s report. As for the “innocent,” not one of the whole battalion may be correctly so described. The great majority were, inocent of the shooting, but in the end all were guilty of the "conspiracy of silence.” It is safe to conclude that there was not one who could not have told more than he consented to tell, for there was time for the story to spread to every member of the bat talion before any investigation was made. Considering all that is at stake, it may be said that the so-called “in nocent” fully deserve the punishment they have received and that, although the "guilty” deserve hanging, it is bet ter merely to cast them out of the army than not to punish them at all. The Telegraph is the last newspaper in the United States to contend that 1 AN OBSERVER FROM SOUTH AFRICA. Mr. Pickstone, an Englishman from Capetown, South Africa, is visiting the Southern States and has been inter viewed in Atlanta in regard to his mis sion to this section to study the negro question and the relations of the two races. He states that the white peo ple of South Africa are much dis turbed over the race question there, and that lie is in the South to find out how it is that tho two races have got along so well and so prosperously. From what he lias already Darned and observed of American negroes, Mr. Pickstone is convinced, lie says, that there is no material difference be-' tween them and the barbarous natives of. South Africa. Having lived as a farmer for fifteen years In Cape Col ony. he should be well informed, but ho doubtless means that our negroes have the same instincts rather than that they as a whole occupy tho same low level of civilization as tho Kaffirs. He would surely admit that the in dustrial school of American slavery lifted the African savage to a higher piano. The Southern negroes of 1S60, to say nothing of the Southern negroes of 1900, were farther along in the scale of evolution than the savages which the slave traders of New Eng land landed naked on our shores. From what we read of tho condition of the natives in the British colonies of South Africa, It would appear that the condition of Southern negro farm ers and tenant farriers is vastly better. The latter have freer and superior op portunities for bettering their condi tion. Air. Pickstone will probably find that this, and a tolerant kindliness to ward negroes who work on the part of the better element of the Southern whites, accounts for the fact that the two races on the whole "get along so well,” in spite of the inevitable difficul ties of an abnormal situation. On Friday of last week Senator Daniel, the old man eloquent, of Vir ginia, made a logical Constitutional ar gument on the power of the President under the Articles of War to discharge soldiers and neither the press or tile public paid any but the briefest atten tion to it. Saturday Senator Tillman made an incoherent speech, supposed to be addressed to the same question, in which he referred to some patent and disagreeable truths, which served no useful purpose to stir up. and tho public and the press have been talking of little else since. How do you ac count for it? We observe that the Associated Press persists in referring to It as the “Brownsville affray,” and many of our Southern contemporaries are following the news agency's lead. The legal and popular interpretation of an “affray” is mutual fighting on the part of two or more persons. In the absence of any evidence or allegation of offensive ac tion on the part of the Brownsville people on the night that they were shot into, we submit that this is an unwarranted reflection on them. The St. James Gazette (London), discussing the spectacle the Senator from South Carolina has made of him self, suggests the need of a padded cell for the Tillmans of this world, and. adds: “We know very well what it is to suffer from that verbal hemorrhage of demagogues for which no styptic can apparently be found, and we have seen damage that is done by their frothy violence. But America once” more seems in a fair way to lick crea tion even in this respect.” Mrs. Potter Palmer, of Chicago, threw open her home in an effort to bring the millionaires and the work ingmen together. If a combination be tween these two autocratic elements should be consummated it will be the finishing blow to the common people who are already making a losing fight in the struggle to live. Ulr. Foraker claims that the negro shooters cannot get a. hearing. Well, the country is listening to hear what he has to say for them. Why doesn't he say it? “Doubtless the race question Is one that the South must settle, but Till man and Vardaman and Jeff Davis do not represent the bes‘ Southern senti ment on the subject,” wisely observes the Philadelphia Record. Mrs. Russell Sage has given "Simple Life” calendars to 1.500 sailors in the United States navy. Thus does “Uncle” Russ' widow lavish his hard-earned dollars in charity. , We don’t hear so much about dena tured alcohol since it became an ac complished fact. Any hitch in th© process ? INDISTINCT PRINT