Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], February 12, 1910, Page 2, Image 2

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1929

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
HLl 2 GOODWIN'S WEEKLY j
HS I C. C. GOODWIN, Editor
J. T. GOODWIN, Manager
He ,, L S. GILLHAM, Business Manager
Kflr I PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.
Ht I SUBSCRIPTION PRICE OF GOODWIN'S WEEKLY
Hf Including' postage in tho United States, Canada and
Htf Mexico, $2.00 per year; $1.00 for six months. Sub-
R' scriptions to all foreign countries within tho Postal
Hj, Union, $3.50 per yeai
H, Single copies, 5 cents.
1 Paymonts should bo made by Check, Money
B Order or Registered Letter, payablo to Goodwln'n
H Weekly.
H Address all communications to Goodwin's Weekly.
H , Entered at tho Postofllco at Salt Lalco City,
B Utah, U. S. A., as second-class matter.
B P. O. Boxes, 1274 and 1772.
B Telephones: Bell, 301; Ind., 302.
H 225-22G Commercial Club Bldg., Salt Lake City.
H staunchest ships should ever be permitted to sail.
Hj The ship caught a Hatteras hurricane, and like
Hj the Central America, was beaten to death by the
H pitiless seas. But a new life-preserver has come
( since 1857. When it was clear that the Kentucky
iwas doomed the wireless began to work; to call
"- for help. The noiseless cry was heard and ships
from every direction turned their prows toward
where the ship was sinking; ships of every de
B scrjption merchant steamers, revenue cutters
R and even one great battleship gave up Its deep
Hj sea practice and hurried away to the rescue, and
91 all on board the sinking craft were saved.
H Science is bringing new mercies to the chll-
H; dren of men.
Hv What Of The Aldrich Currency Plan
1 S it not about time for Senator Aldrich to pre
sent his currency bill? In his speeches last au-
H tumn he declared in effect that he had not yet
B agreed with himself what he should present, but
B intimated that he was working upon a measure,
H and it is said that his ambition is to present such
M a measure, as will completely fill the country's
M wants. He evidently is finding it a difficult busl-
M ness. All his life he has given the impression
M that he leans toward wealth, and toward combines
fl oi capital. His work on the new tariff last year
M confirmed this belief among the people. Hence
M there is an impression which amounts almost to a
m belief that whatever his currency plan may finally
M crystalize into, its foundation will rest on interest-
1 bearing bonds, the Interest to be paid by the
m people, thus foreshadowing a perpetual debt, draw-
M ing perpetual interest. But is that what the peo-
M ple want? Was that what the fathers had in mind
m when they made gold and silver the money of tho
M country, and left lo congress the authority to coin
m money and regulate the value thereof? Of course,
M the country has learned much by its experience
M since the fathers lived. One thing they have
M been made to realize, which is that of all cow-
HH ards, gold is the greatest, the one that scents
IH possible trouble first and is first to run to cover.
B' Another thing learned is that when the nation
M was in the very crisis of its life the faith of the
fl people in the integrity and power of the gov-
m ernment caused them to accept its paper, with
m , only a vague promise behind it, as money; and it
M brought the country through. And since then
H - the $346,000,000 ni'llons in greenbacks, has done
H more work than twice that amount in gold has
H- done. Meanwhile the country has Increased three-
H fold in people, five or six-fold in wealth. And
m when the panic was precipitated two years ago,
H could the government have declared that it would,
M for a year to come, pay its running expenses in
H new greenbacks to be taken up and retired when
V the storm should pass, would not relief have come
H instantly?
M Again, our exports to silver countries, which
m ; contain half the inhabitants of the earth, have
H ceased. What is Mr. Aldrich going to do ' to
M restore that trade? Ho knows that if the govern-
Wm ment would rehabilitate the silver produced from
B f
our mines which is not enough to buy the eggs
and chickens which New York City consumes, not
only would that trade be restored in a month,
but that silver would be as good as gold, all the
world around. T6 this he may answer: "We have
too much gold money already. Why add to its
volume a substance which has been condemned?"
Simply to restore our lost trade with the orient,
to increase our trade with Spanish America; to
restore our exchanges, which', at the present rate,
if continued long, will close our mills and fac
tories, and take from our skilled laborers em
ployment. What will happen if that day comes?
And is it not imminent when in China steel rails
are being produced at one-fifteenth the cost of
rails in Pittsburg? In Japan cotton and woolen
goods are being produced at one-eighth the cost
of the same in New England. What will Mr. Al
drich answer the factory men of Rhode Island
when they confront him with these facts?
Congress has passed a law to punish men who
conduct a business which is in restraint of trade.
But Mr. Aldrich helped to put upon the nation's
statute book a law, which in its natural working
has closed our export trade with half the world.
Congress cannot be indicted, but under their oaths
are not congressmen bound to undo that unparal
leled wrong?
No wonder Mr. Aldrich finds obstacles In tho
way of presenting a perfect currency plan to the
country; a plan that will give perfect freedom to
business, and at the same time to hold within it
self the means to arrest panics on the very thres
hold, and keep business running on an even keel.
Muir And The Water-Quzel
JOHN MiUIR is a strange man. He lives in
this generation and takes his part in the
affairs, of men, but his soul must be, so
to speak, a reincarnation. He says he is by
birth a Highland Scotchman, but he is not a
modern Highlander. One would think to read
some of his writings that he belonged to that
age and that clan which was "wild and untam
able as tho rude mountains where they dwell."
Tho ordinary Sierra mountaineer, when he
hears a storm gathering its forces and sending
its calls through the forest, knowing what is com
ing retreats" to his strong house, or descends to
a lower altitude, to wait until its fury Is spent,
but John Muir, with the first notes of the over
ture that signals the quick rising of the curtain
of the clouds upon the grand opera of a mountain
storm, leaves his snug home, goes out to where
he knows the branches of the mighty trees will
soon all be harps which the wild winds will play
upon, and there climbs a tree a hundred feet in
height, that he may not only catch all the tones,
but ride on the swaying tree tops and drink in
the full excitement of the vibrant scene. And
there he will cling and sway and watch and lis
ten for hours, while the tumult lasts, never miss
ing one flashing picture that is painted, nor one
anthem tone which comes when all the forest is
aroused by the exulting winds.
But that does not give any idea of when his
first incarnation was, for he knows, apparently
by instinct, when the mountains were upreared.
When, in the immeasurable past, the Infinite, hav
ing in thought what was to be, set the sunbeams
to work lo pump up tho waters for the winds to
waft inland on the clouds, for the cold to seize
and compress that the moisture might fall in
snow crystals, that this was to go on for ages'
until the time should come when the mass was
to start in flow toward the sea, making here and
there channels for rivers, here and there grinding
down tho shales which should hold the placer
gold, here and there making the soil which was
eventually to raise food to sustain animal life and
flowers to climb beside the windows of the houses
which in' an epoch yet to come, was to be built
by a race to be called men. All this history he
has written. He picked up the alphabet which waB
left upon the rocks, set the letters to words and j
wrote the solemn story. i
It is but natural for a genius of that kind to"
observe and make a note of everything. It .Is
but natural for a nature so wild to he a friend
of dumb creatures. He speaks lovlDgty of the
deer, the mountain sheep, "the beautiful brown
bears." He has a theory that all these creatures
would like to be friends of man, and would be
except that man's cruelty to them has made l
some of them afraid, and others revengeful. It is
the same with the birds and among all there the
water-ouzel seems to be his favorite. He calls
the hlrd the "Ouzel" sometimes, and sometimes
"the water-thrush" (in science the Cinches Meri- f
canus Sw) and thus describes the y -d: "He is f
a singularly joyous and loveable little fellow '
about the size of a robin, clad in a plain water
proof suit of bluish gray, with a tinge of choco
late on the head and shoulders. In form he is
about as smoothly plump and compact as a peb-
ble that has been whirled in a pot-hole, the flow
ing contour of his body being interrupted only
by his strong feet and bill, the crisp wing-tips
and the up-slanted wren-like tail." Looking fur- L
ther to find what there is about the little bird to j
so attract such a man as John Muir, we find the I
bird has a soul like John Muir's. Its home is ;
wherever there is a water fall. Muir says:
"Among all the countless waterfalls I have visit
ed in the course of ten years' exploration in the
Sierra, whether among the ick peaks, or warm
foothills, or in the profound Yosemite canyons
of the middle region, not one was found without j
its Ouzel. No canyon is too cold for this little
bird, none too lonely, provided it is rich in falling
water. Find a fall, or cascade, or rushing rapid
anywhere upon a clear stream, and there you will
surely find its complimentary Ouzel, flitting about
in the spray, diving In foaming eddies, whirling
like a leaf among beaten foam-bells ever vigorous
and enthusiarHc, yet self-contained and neither )
seeking nor uunning your company."
"But his great charm is his singing. Wnen
men are cold and pitying him thinking hovj cold
he must be, he will suddenly dart away, light
upon a half submerged rock and break out into
a song, as joyous as is the larks when J sTib
"mounts to hail the rising sun.' In winter when
other birds are shivering and forlorn, as in suin
mer he sings "sweetly, cheerily, Independent
alike of sunshine and love." And he tones1 his'
voice to accord with the ripple of the stream b''
it soft or loud, lowest in the late Indian slim-w'
mer when the streams are running low, but Hs-"
ing with the winter's storms. The weather does
not matter to him, "dark days and Sundays arefy
the same to him he sings on through all the11
seasons and every kind of storm." Through page a
after page the description runs on and it is fill
poetry. The bird and the man are. evidently in
full accord. They must have, been friends in the
"way back" and returned to earth together.
That reminds us that a pair of robins have
been hanging about a couple of homes In the
eastern part of the city for three weeks past, in
mute protest against the cold. When they begin
to sing, we shall know that the spring is drawing
near.
Peter Cooper
THIS February 12th is noted not only as the
anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lin
coln, but of Darwin, of Admiral Geo. H
Preble, and of Peter Cooper. Darwin, of course,
has his attached place as one of the great lights
of the world. Preble filled at one time or an
other every position, and obtained every title in
the navy. He, too, was an author and historian
of note; it was ho who wrote "Our Flag." But
if not entirely great, we believe that Peter Cooper
was about the most useful man that has lived In
our country since Benjamin Franklin. He grieved
that so many young men and women had never
learned any useful way through which they might