Charlton County herald. (Folkston, Ga.) 1898-current, February 27, 1908, Image 6
Ay “Get In Right on Happi p’fd” i appiness P’s é L M 8 LN, | WSRO - By John Farson, Chicago Miilionaire. g HE millicnaire who is unhappy and never smiles would be ' " just as unhappy and without smiles if he was poor. It is ,‘ a matter of temperament, 3 Live in the open air, think kindly of humanity and : make friends. The same care should be used in investing } J money to bring happinessg as is used in investing it to : . bring in more money. How foolish it is to think that yon ; MPERSY 0 get good returns on Happinesgs Preferred by slinging in your coln any old way any old time, You have to watch the bhappiness market just as closely as you watch the market of tape and ticker. That's what brings resuits, : The trouble with the millionaires that are unhappy 1s that they are the kind of men who would be unhappy whether they had -$10,000,000 or only 10 centg. Tat a certain millionaire is unhappy doesn’t necesgarily indicate that he is unhappy because of his wealth, Wealth doesn’t gour a man; he has to be sour by nature, The contented man is the happy man. The contented millionaire is the happy millionaire, The contented pauper is the happy payper. The con tented pauper is really happier than the sour, discontented millionaire. But I don‘t mean to say that every one ought to be perfectly contented al} the time, That would mean that the world would stand still, Isn’t there a poet somewhere | have read that speaks of a noble discontent? Sure. There is a kind of discontent that means progress, but it is mightily different from the discontent that makes you sour, and dry, and warped, and causes you to look with suspicion on every human being ycu meet. e A sl ‘ 9 Future of the Pacific % % By Chauncey Thomas. é o pronn g oA, 0y 0000008 @~ T i generally conceded, 1 believe, by the best and most sar i gighted minds, that the greatest world trade of the future is to be across the Pacific. For centurieg trade centered in the Mediterranean, with the result that the largest and : most important cities of that time were formed on the 000¢oe snhores of Southern Europe and Northern Africa. The dis ; i covery of Ameriea. then a wilderness, centered trade later QOO4 in the Atlantie, and the most important cities of the world then grew up on the ghores of Western Burope and Eastern America, So the cities of the Pacific Coast of America in time will prob ably be in proportnon to the trade across the Pagific, and the trade across an ocean, other things being equal, is in proportion to the number of peopie who live along its borders. To-day the Pacific Coagt of the United States has about one-twelfth as many people as live along the Atlantic seaboard; yet the shores of the Pacific are many times richer in natural resources than are those of the Atlantic. There is hardly any comparison between the sterile hills of New England and the garden valleys of Washington, Oregon and California. California alone is, broadly speaking, two-thirds the size of France, and is easily capable of supporting 20,000,000 people. France supports 40,000,000, Along the lower half of the Western sea-coast, for hundreds of miles, there is but one world harbor—Ban Francisco, This fact alone insures to the Golden Gate a city as large as Paris. or even larger. The growth of this ecity—or any of the citles of the Pacific Coast—will not be sudden, but it will be in exact propor tion to the pressure of population in America, the awakening of Asia—as Japan has awakened--and the development of other Pacific shores.—Success Magazine, el TR LR R e MRS YY) Club Girls and . Ehirking Girts 2 & By Mrs. Sam Small, Wife of Famous CQW Jouthern Evangelist. o/ @p ::.:..:":-‘:..:.-g..:..:.,;. BELIEVE in girls working who have to do so, but others - ’5: who do it merely for pastime, or for finery with which to & I i decorate themselves, onght not to be employed. Did youn % over notice how effeminate are becoming the men whose 4 daughters and wives help support the family? Such men gedediieioiedn lose the strong, noble qualities that the care of a family %:;{g:;;:;g;‘: produces. They become inefficient “nobodies” and effem gl inate, Kvery woman on the globe ought to be interested in the future of the working girl. They are getting no good from the average woman's club. None of these clubs is so useful as formerly. It’s no longer a case of elevation, but one of entertainment. The young girl members are losing all their modesty, and that will not do, because when a 4 man loses his sentiment for a girl he loses his respect. - Man wants 10 hold to the poetieal idea about a girl, She is getting the wrong idea when she thinks he wants her to be his comrade. Club girls and working girls bring on a condition that is deplorable. Their purpose is to get married, and many of them go out to work specially to accomplish that. But they first succeed in reducing .men's wages, marry them, and consequently have less to live on than if they had kept out of the field. Clubs are on the increase, I am sorry to say. There is a club for everything now, and they could accomplish a great deal of good if they were conducted properly. A peculiar thing is that wealthy women are at the head of most clubs, just the same as they fill the presiding chairs in the Daughters of the American Revolution. I can not account for this, but right here we have the poor try ing to emulate the rich, and there is no doubt the poor girls see these wealthy women do things they think are all right for them to follow. The result is that club girls are becoming degenerated and losing their womanly qualities, —JFrom the Home Magazine, ¢ s M!bg Personal immortalily g , ...in the... Light of Recent Science By Dr. Donald Sage Mackay. Q £ vt ~M§; R B S the deeper facts of existence are being traced in ways un -3 known in an earlier day, the man of science now tells us that there is no scientific proof of the impossibility of lite after death. The science of today does not undertake to prove immortality, but neither does she deny it. With the & newer light of recent research before her, she goes thus far at least,andsays: “Scientifically, the doctrine of immortality ' J is not an impossible delusion.” Huxley, for example, in 3 one of his later essays has this so say: “If the belief in im mortality is essential to morality, physical science has nothing to say against the probability of that doctrine. It (physical science) effectually closes the mouthys of those who pretend to refute immortality by objections deduced from merely physical data.” This attitude of Huxley has found even more distinctive affirmation in recent years from such men of scientific attainment as Sir Oliver Lodge, John Fiske, Professors James and Munsterberg of Har vard—all of whom have written sympathetically and hopefully of immortality, not from the standpoint of the Christian believer, but from that of the unbi ased scientist.—From the North American Review. OUR PEOPLE AND THEIR EX-PRESIDENTS. Whatever may be said of the in cidents and developments of our scheme of national life, it must be confessed that its underiying idea of actual popular representation and control, so far as it means direct and concerted action on the part of the unified mass of American citizenghip, is most consistently, if not exclusive ly, exemplified in our chief ezecu tive. The judicial branch of our govern ment is appointive, its incumbents holding by a life tenure at their op tion., The legislative branch is made up of these who are separately chos en by the votes of Congressional dis tricts or by the legislatures of the several States; and whether such a condition was originally contemplat ed or not, the fact is, that as a rule the legisiative conduct of our Sena tors and, Representatives in the Con gress of the United States is very largely controlled by solicitude for the especial interests of their State or district constituencies. At the head of the Ixecutive De. partment stands the President, in whose selection all the voters of the land concurrently participate. lln this regard he represents more near ly, than any other governmental agency the sovereignly and will of the American people. The President Stands For All It is unhappily true that our presidential electorate scheme makes possible the selection of a President through the expressed individual preference of only a minority of those who vote. But notwithstanding such an arrangement, affecting as it does the sole opportunity of a choice of national rulers given to our people acting as whole, we have a contented habit of extolling our government as popular and representative, and ac quieseing with equanimity in the de clared results of a presidential clec tion, if only it has been conducted aceording to prescribed methods. One of the distinguished traits of American character is made manifest in the readiness of our people to re gard as patriotic duty the abandon ment at the end of a presidential canvass of the irritation of clashing party preferences, and the substitu tion in its place of a cheerful accep tance of the outcome, and a sedate appreciation of the faect that the head of our nation stands for all of us, bound to the undisceriminating promotion of every American interest, and inspired by an abiding sympathy with the hopes and aspirations of all | the American people, and a jealous care for all their individual rights and privileges. The general prevalence amo us of such a sentiment furninhhe best and safest evidence that our countrymen can be trusted with the government placed in their keeping; and it admonishes the President in a most solemn way, that in an un selfish consecration to their service, every dictate of duty, honor and high minded manliness commands that he shall purge himself of all peity am bitions, of all reckless self-glorifica tion, and of all toleration of sordid or inequitable scheming. There Jies, however, beyond the re flections which have to do with the relationship between our people and their President another thought strikingly inspiring and impressive. It grows out of the theory upon which the presidential office is built, and presents to the mind a plan of manhood rule under which a sturdy and independent people, grown to be a great nation, with stupendous power and with interests of world wide importance, draws from the; ranks of its aggregated -citizenship | one of its members, who for an allot ted time shall, on behalf of his fel low countrymen, assume the func tions and discharge the duties of the great office which especially stands for them. | At his inauguration he receives no crown save the trust of a confiding people, and he wears no insignia of rank save the robes of genuine Americanism. The mandate of his oflice requires of him obedience to the charter of our government, the enforcement of the rights of every individual entitled to its protection, and an unyielding assertion of our nationality at home and abroad. More Than the Oath of Office. It is this spirit of our institutions and this behest of his countrymen that teach him his duty, even more impressively than his oath of office, whereby he binds his conscience in these words: ‘I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” ‘What has been thus far presented is only introductory to the considera tion of a situation supplemental to the presidential office, which gives emphasis to the democratic senti ment in which this office originated. Reference has been already made to the spirit of our institutions and the mandate of our people, which impress themselves upon our Presi dent during his official term. But a popular mandate not less imperious, and an obresvance of the spirit of our institutions not less obligatory, require that at the termination of his public duties he shall return to the ranks of private citizenship—to reassume the civic obligations be longing to that position, and to take up again the relationship which he as a private citizen owes to the affairs of American life, ) _ This is theoretically the place as signed to an ex-President of the United States; and such a supple ment to presidential work happily supplies a crowning exemplification of the democratic principle permeat ing all that is connected with the presidential office. It may be superfluous, but never theless it is most gratifying, to note how the private lives of eur ex-Presi dents are made grateful and bright by the generous attachment and spon taneous kindness manifested toward them by their fellow countrymen. The American people are the best people in the world; and the honor and respect with which they follow to his retirement one who has served them in the highest office within their gift, illustrate the innate nobility of the American character. In the light of these reflections, the biographer of one of our ear!'y Presidents seems to have unfortunately yielded to the temptation of striking statement when he wrote concerning the sub ject of his sketch, that at the ex piration of his term as President, he “found himself that melancholy pro duct of the American governmental system—an ex-President.” The Obligations of an Ex-President. How can it be that our ‘‘govern mental system” places the President on the highest pinnacle of honor, and yet decrees that as ex-President he‘ is but a “melancholy produect,” doomed to unescapably sad condi tions? lls there neither comfort nor honor in .his release from exhausting presidential labor and perplexity, in the respect and esteem accordedl to him by his fellow citizens on everyv side, and the neighborly welcome that greets him on his return to the fellowship of private station? The truth is, that our people, so far from treating *heir ex-Presi-l dents simply as relics of past hon ors, seem disposed not only to be stow upon them honor and respect, but to continue them in service so far as to interfere seriously with their unrestrained resumption of the occupations of everyday life. | There is a sort of vague, but none the less imperative, feeling abroad in the land that one who has occu pied the great office of President holds in trust for his fellow citizens a certain dignity, which in his con duct and manner of life he is hound to protect against loss or deteriora tion. } Obedience to this obligation, which } can hardly be avoided, limits the ex- | President in his choice of an occupa-l tfion and means of livelihood, andi preseribes for him only such work as in popular judgment is not undig-‘ nified; and it also enforces a scale of living on his part, frequently less in keeping with his financial ability than with popular conceptions of ex presidential propriety. But it is not the restraints to which he is subjected as a mere de positary of the people’s dignity which remind him most directly that his re tirement means something very dif ferent from an absolute rest and freedom from the people's service. He is deluged with newly written books—most of them indifferent or positively worthless—and these he is expected to read and commend for advertising purposes. He is made a target for all manner of pecuniary solicitation, embracing all sorts of ob jects, ranging from large endowment funds and disinterested offers of fabulously profitable investment to pathetic and depressing appeals for the relief of individual distress. He is almost daily importuned to join in the managzement of public or semi-public enterprises which pro fess to be useful or beneficent or charitable. He is persistently urged to make addresses on topics and for purposes that are bewildering, and at times and places that are impos sible. His daily mail furnishes con clusive evidence that his existence is not overlooked by any class or con dition of our people in any corner of our land; and the visitors he re ceives forbid the reflection that he is only a ‘“‘melancholy product” of our governmental system. Washington, writing in 1797 of his life of retirement in Mount Ver non, after detailing certain other oc cupations, adds: ‘‘And this being over, I mount my horse and ride over my farms, which employs me unitil it is time to dress for dinner, at which I ravely miss seeing strange faces, come, as they say, out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word ‘curiosity’ an swer as well? And how different this from having a few social friends at a cheerful board! The usual time of sitting at table, a walk and tea, bring us within the dawn of candle light, previous to which, if not pre vented by company, I resclve that as soon as the glimmering taper sup plies the place of the great lumi nary, I will retire to my writing table and acknowledge the letters I have received; but when the lights are brought, I feel tired and disin _clined to engage in the work, con sidering that the next night will do as well. The next comes, and with it the same causes of postponement and effect, and so on.” Jefferson wrote as follows of his household life as ex-President: © “We had persons from all the States of the Union, from every part of the State, men, women and chil dren—in short, almost every day for at least eight months of the year brought its contingent of guests. People of wealth and fashion, men in office, professional men-—military and civil—lawyers, doctors, Protes tant clergymen, Catholic priests, members of Congress, foreign minis- ters, Indian agents, tonarists, trav elers, artists, strangers, friends. Some came from affection and re spect, some from curiosity, some to give or receive advice or instruction, some from idleness, some because others set the example.” Madison wrote, ten years after'his retirement: “I have rarely during the period of my public life found my time less at my disposal than since I took my leave of it; nor have I the consolation of finding that as my powers of ap plication necessarily decline, the de mands on them proportionately de crease.”’ Some Who Remained Useful. After his retirement from the presidency, Jchn Quincy Adams served in Congress with distinguished ability and usefulness for nearly eighteen years, and literally died in harness. His biographer, referring to his labor in the House of Repre sentatives, wrote: “In his conscientious way he was faithful and industrious to a rare degree. He was never absent and seldom late. He bore unflinchingly the burden of severe committee work and shirked no toil on the plea of age or infirmity. He attended close ly to all the business of the House, and carefully formed his opinion on every question.” It is written of Andrew Jackson after he left the presidency: ‘‘He retained his popularity; hence he was still a .power. It was still worth while to court him and to get his name in favor of a man or a measure. Parton says that office seekers pursued and pestered him up to his last days. Politicians sought to get letters from him which they could use for their purposes.” It can hardly be necessary to seek furiher historical evidence bearing on the obligation and service exacted by our people from their ex-Presidents; additional and conclusive corrobora tion of such evidence is within the observation and knowledge of many persons now living. The conditions which have been detailed naturally lead to the in quiry ‘whether the relationship be tween the American people on the one side and their ex-Presidents on the otbher present an account alto gethier evenly balanced. Does the honor and respect or even the personal affection generous ly accorded by his countrymen, to one who has retired from their high est office, serve the purpose of com plete acquittance on the people’s side of the account? Unquestionably from a sentimental point of view, the honor, respect and affection put to their credit are of infinitely more value than any service that can be performed by an ex-President, and abundantly compensate for any re straint exacted frfom him at their behest. But how stands the account in the light of the necessities of the workaday world which hold us all'in unyielding environment? Mention has already been made of the requirements by the people that the conduet and occupations of their ex-Presidenis should be so restricted that the dignity of the pos'.ion they occupy will be scrupulously main tained. This suggests without argu ment a reciprocal connection be tween the curtailment of opportuni ties of livelihood on one side and a reasonable obligation of indemnifica tion on the other. What Francé Does. Of course no precisely competent evidence in support of this obligation can be gathered from the conduct of countries so different from our own that the head of the mation is retired only by death. The Republic of France, however, presents a paral lel that should not bhe overlooked. Its President receives an annual sal ary amounting to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, together with sixty thousand dollars for the maintenance and furnishing of his official residence, and a like sum to cover the expenses of travel and en tertainment. This is decidedly in the direction of securing a dignified and unperplexed future support to its ex-President. } It is hardly to be supposed that isuch an expenditure as this on ac count of our presidential office would ‘accord with American ideas. Nor ‘need we mention, except to dismiss them as out of the question, the an ‘nual allowances for the support of ‘ruling royal families in other coun tries—amounting to upward of three million dollars in both Great Britain and Germany, more than two mil lions in both Austria and Italy, and upward of seven millions in Russia. It is not so easy, however, to dis miss from our minds the thought that the American nation cannot well afford to disregard entirely the con ditions that confront its retired Presi dents, nor longer to allow herself to be accessory to the pitiful incidents that have frequently cesulted from such conditions. Our national pride should be rude ly touched when we read concerning Thomas Jeffersen, after his retire ‘ment from the presidency: “By degrees Jefferson bhecame a poor man, and indeed worse than poor, since he was involved in pe cuniary embarrassments. Before matters had reached this stage he ' had sold his library to Congress for twenty-three thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars.” Although he expressed himself as desiring nothing from the public Treasury, he accepted pecuniary aid furnished by private subscription, with the pathetic statement: “I have spent three times as much money and given my whole life to my countrymen, and now they nobly come forward in the only way they can and save an old servant from being turned like a dog out-of ' doors.” In a biography of James Monroe, it is stated concerning the period of his ex-presidency: “Monroe throughout his later days was somewhat embarrassed in his pecuniary circumstances, and spent a great deal of time in endeavoring to secure from Congress a just re imbursement for the heavy expense in which he had been involved dur ing his prolonged service abroad. It is truly pitiful to perceive the straits to which so patriotic a servant of the country, against whose financial integrity not a word was uttered, was reduced.” John Quincy Adams, a short time before he retired from the presi dency, and in contemplation of that event, wrote as follows: - “The income of my whole private estate is less than six thousand del lars a year, and I am paying at least two thousand of that for interest on my debt. Finally, upon going out of office in one year from this ‘time, destitute of all means of acquiring property, it will only be by the sacri fice of that which I now possess that I shall be able to support my family.” A Record of Distress. We are told that when General Jackson left Washington in March, 1837, at the end of eight years in the presidency, he was compelied to borrow a considerable sum to settle his accounts of a personal nature— mainly, if not aitogether, due to the insufficiency of his official salary and allowances, together with the current earnings of his plantation, to meet the expenses of the establishment he maintained in the White House. At one time his friends in Ten nessee proposed to relieve him from financial perplexities by private sub scription; but he stoutly refused their aid, and was in debt at the time of his death. It is said of Franklin Pierce that when he retired from the presidency his entire fortune hardly amounted to seventy-two thousand dollars. It is not necessary to intrude upon the sensibilities of those still living by mentioning other instances nearer our own time, which add force to the suggestion that, all things consid ered, something has been overlooked by the American people in the ad justment of the accounts between them and their ex-Presidents. Re publics are not ungrateful-—at least, there is no justification for making such a charge against our republic. But easy-going thoughtlessness is quite another matter. ‘Whatever omission there may be of fair and considerate conduct on the part of our people in their rela tions with their ex-Presidents ought to be made good by a definite and generous provision for all cases alike, based upon motives of justice and fairness, and adequate to the situa tion. The condition is by no means met by the meagre and spasmodic relief occasionally furnished wunder the guigse of a military pension or some other pretext; mor would it be best met by making compensation, al ready accrued or accruing, dependent upon the discharge of senatorial or other official duty. If, in concluding this discussion, a personal word is necessary or per missible in view of the fact that I am the only man now living whe conld at this time profit by the ideas I have advocated, I hope my sincerity will not be questioned when 1 say that I have deait with the subject without the least thought of persomnal interest or desire for personal advan tage. I am not in need of aid from the public Treasury. I hope and be lieve that I have provided for my self and those dependent upon me a comfortable maintenance, within the limits of accustomed prudence and economy, and that those to whom I owe the highest earthly duty will not want when I am gone. These conditions have permitted me to treat with the utmost freedom a topic which involves no personal considerations, and only has to do in my mind with conditions that may arise in the future, but are not at tached to the ex-President of to-day; and I am sure that I am actuated only by an ever-present desire thas the fairness and sense of justice characteristic of Americanism ghall neither fail nor be obscured.— Youth's Companion. Silk Hats For African Dandies. People who wonder what becomes of old silk bats will be surprised to know that, in England, at least, many of them are shipped to Africa. When silk hats get out of style the dealers also have resort to the African trade, which does not mind minor varia tions in shape. 'The negro dandy is thus enabled to appear in Bond sireet headgear at perhaps a tenth of the expense to which the Londoned is put, if he wishes to be in the fash ion.—Leslie’'s Weekly. Last But Not Least. A gentleman seeing a crowd of boys running down the street, going through all kinds of motions, could not make out what they were play ing. Far in the rear was a small boy running as fast as he could. Thea gentleman said, ‘“‘Little chap, what are you playing, and why are you behind?” ““Oh,” he replied, “we are playing automobile, and I am the smell.”’ e e e e e ee e ee e The Largest Army. History tells us of many large armies. Ninus and Semiramis are said to have had armies amomnting to two millions of fighting men. The army of Xerxes is said to have been 1,700,000 foot and 80,000 horse. We ‘are told that the army that Darius opposed to Alezander numbered 1760,000.—New York American.