Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], March 11, 1909, Page 10, Image 10

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

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MATTERS ON BEACON HILL.
PURE MILK IS DEMANDED.
“C. C.” the Producers’ Object—Many
Women at the Henrlna —Dlsirlbu- ,
tian of the Corporation Tm—
taind for Slntc Forests —Heath Pen
alty Bill—Against Woman Suffrage.
From Our Special Reporter.
Boston, Thursday. March 4.
One of the crowded committee hearings j
to-day was that before the committee mi
public health on a list of bills for regu
lating the production of milk. One of Ibe
bills put the authority for making regula
tions into the hands of the state board
of health, and another proposed to give
the dairy bureau joint authority with toe
state board in making milk regulations.
These two elements joined forces at tne
beginning of the hearing, when Stoughton
Bell of Cambridge, the leading petitioner
for the last-named proposition. said that
be wanted the first section of his bill
struck out and the first section of me
former bill substituted. There was a
great crowd of women present, and there
had been organized effort to this end by
the subcommittee on milk of the woman s
municipal league, of which Mrs At illimn
Lowell Putnam of Beacon street is chair
man. As'to what the petitioners wanted,
a view different from theirs is that of onr
of the best-known agriculturists of the
state, who said privately, before the hear
ing began, that the purpose of the agitation
was to drive all the farmers out of the
state. Mr Bell said that their purpose
was to secure the two ("s—“cleanliness
and cold”—in the treatment of milk.
The committee on taxation gave a hear
ing on the petition of Representative Hai
gis of Montague for a law that the fran
chise taxes of corporations may be dis
tributed to cities and towns according to
the location of their property. Ue con
ducted the hearing, and in his opening
argument he showed that his own town
would gain nearly SSOOO if the bill became
law. and it would be to the advantage
of many towns in the state. It is true
that such towns are not usually as de
sirable for residential purposes as towns
which do not have manufacturing estab
lishments. Under the present law. by
which the taxes are distributed according
to the residence of the stockholders, the
wealthy places, like Brookline, have a low
rate of taxation, while the towns generally
have much higher rates. The bill was sup
ported by F. W. Pitcher. Judge AV 11.
Edwards and Representative Lyman of
Easthampton, Mayor Avery of Holyoke.
Mr Hill of the state association of asses
sors and a member of the Boston board
of assessors. In opposition there appeared
City Solicitor W. S. Slocum of ^Newton
and City Solicitor Edwin K. Elder of
Medford, who told of the large amount
their cities would suffer if the bill be
came law.
.After the adjournment of the branches
this afternoon an executive session was
held by the committee on constitutional
amendments and they* voted, with the dis
sent of Messrs Holman of Attleboro and
Greenleaf of Boston, to report leave to
withdraw on the petition for general wom
an suffrage, or to amend the constitution
by striking out the word ‘•male.” Repre
sentative Brown of Medford will have
charge of the report in the House.
The committee on the judiciary, with
five dissenters, reported a bill to adopt
the United States law in cases of con
viction of murder in the first degree, by
which the jury can ndd to their verdict
the words "without capital punishment,”
.- nd then the convicted person must bo
sentenced to imprisonment for life.
The committee on ways and moffus re
ported in a new form the bill to increase
the acreage which the state may buy for
forest experimentation, raising the limit
from 4o acres to SO, instead of remov
ing the limit altogether, as was done by
the bill reported by the committee on ag
riculture.
DEER'S DESTRUCTIVE DOINGS.
Farmer* Heavy Sufferers—Orcnimn-
Hons Formed to Protect Their In
terests—Different Remedies Pro-
posed.
From Our Special Reporter.
Boston, Tuesday, March 9.
Western Massachusetts showed a lively
interest in the deer question at the hearing
before the committee on fisheries and
game. One of the bills was that to
permit farmers to shoot the deer on their
farms. Secretary J. L'"i~ Ell-v-rih .4
the state board of agriculture conducted
the case for that bill, and told of the de
struction of orchards and farm crops by
wild deer. George F. Morse of Lancaster
told of the damage done to orchards by the
wild deer in his vicinity. Representative
Kemp of .Springfield told how the deer eat
his garden truck, and do material damage.
Representative Hosmer of Amherst said
that herds of three to five deer come into
the village of Amherst, and the farmers
complain that the deer damage their crops.
Injury is done to small orchards. Repfe
s.otauve Bazeley of Uxbridge told of the
damage done on his own property. The.
deer are increasing rapidly and arc de
stroying orchards seriously. Representa
tive Lyman of Easthampton spoke for
western Hampshire, especially for the hill
towns which he represented. Relief is im
perative. J. F. Harrington of Lunenburg
said that something ought to bo done rtf
ome. for the farmers are suffering
badly by devastation of crops by deer.
Mr Goodwin of Huntington said that
deer do much damage to young chestnut
trees and spoil tie timber. C. O. Richard
son, master of the state grange, said that
there is complaint from all parts of the
slate, but probably there is the most dam
age in Western Massachusetts. Represen
tative Gardner of Westfield spoke for Ihe
rural part of Hampden county. Many ap
peals had come to him that something be
done soon to check the damage by deer.
Ho thought that five western counties
should be included by the bill and Middle
sex also. Organizations have been formed
in Western Massachusetts to combat the
deer evil. Mon from Barnstable and Ply
mouth counties spoke for the bill. Secre
tary Ellsworth said that the bill should be
general and should permit 'hooting by
rifles. A rising vote of those present
showed 22 in favor of the bill and three
against it.
A. F. Kenney of Worcester opposed the
bill because he would not allow a few
men to have a monopoly of shooting.
There should be an open season for deer
■when everybody should be allowed to
shoot with rifles. Farmers who suffer
should keep a shepherd dog to drive the
deer back. Deer are the most timid ani
mals in the world, mid inn be easily driv
en off. Deer can be driven .iff by the
noise of ahotgnns. Mr Goodwin of ’Hunt
ington was ctiliel again by Representative
Gardner of Westfield, who brought our
the point that there was a deep public in
terest ill his part of the state in the qties
tion of protecting the fanners against
deer. A large number of farmers have
taken personal action in the ease and they
feel that something must be done speedily
to stop the damage which the door are
doing to the fanners in large number in
AVosteni Massachusetts.
OTHER LEGISLATIVE DOINGS.
The committee on agriculture nqiorted
5n the House Friday afternoon an appro
priation of $165,105 for the agricultural
college. This large appropriation carries
with It the SBO,OOO for the new building
for thi zoological nnd entomological di -
pnrtmenta, the purchase of the athletic
field mid everything else which was in the
original bill, except Scrntto for the house
for the bond of the department of horti
‘ ulturc. This is remarkable good fortune
for th., college, and now the question is
whether the (ommittoe on ways mid
itueaus, wliidi has the next chance at the
hill, will pass it through. The prospect
is that tins committee will not bo as
friendly ;■* the committee on agriculture,
judging by the past work of the treasury
watchdogs.
11 would he a twice-told tale to repeat
the evidence and arguments Tuesday over
the petition for the division of Sandistield
and setting off a part to Otis, The line of
the hearing was about Ihe same as last
year. There were many statistics about
location, distances, population, area, taxes
nnd so on which were presented last year
and are always brought out in such cases.
O. C. Bidwell of Great Barrington was
counsel for the petitioners and H. C.
Joyner of Great Barrington was counsel
for ihe remonstrants, as last year. Fol
lowing Mr Bidwell came ex-Representa
tive Clarey of Great Barrington and then
Oscar T. Steadman. President Treadway
was the first to speak for the remon
strants. giving reasons like those of last
year against the division, ami he was
followed by R. A. Atwood ami A. L.
Strickland and others. Mr Joyner bringing
out the strong points of objection to the
passage of the bill.
Representative Bolles of Wilbraham,
who was sworn in last week, has been
assigned to a place on the committee on
parishes and religions societies, which has
almost nothing to do, in any event, ami
has it about done by this time in the ses
sion. So the member will ret his salary
without much hard work, and he will draw
f»wt the beginning of the session, just as
tin* widow of his predecessor, if the House
bill gets by the Senate and governor, will
get Mr Wall’s salary for the whole ses
sion.
Owing to the action of Gov Draper this
week, the whole agitation over the sale of
beef infected with tuberculosis will be
made the subject of official report to him
by the state board of health, if Dr Henry
A. Walcott, the chairman, complies with
the governor's request, as of course he. will.
In consequence of this development an
investigating order in the House was laid
over one week without opposition.
The committee on legal affairs reported
a bill that it shall be' unlawful to use a
boat propelled in whole or in part by gas.
gasoline or naphtha unless tne same is
provided with an underwater exhaust muf
fler so constructed and cased as to muffle
in a reasonable manner the noise of the
explosion, under penalty of s2o»
Without any opposition, the bill is going
through the House to prevent the publica
tion of paid reading matter in a form
which wii! deceive the reader as to its
nature, for the bill says that it must be
marked plainly as an advertisement.
A larg«' majority of the House voted
Friday afternoon against the bill to forbid
the use of regular party names in connec
tion with the word independent on a ticket
at an election.
The House bill to amend the corrupt
practices act was killed Monday in the
Senate.
FREDERICK P. FISH NAMED.
Gov Draper Selected Him to Succeed
Carroll D. Wright on State Board
of Education.
Acting Gov Frothingham. presided last
week at the meeting of the ex
ecutive council. Gov Draper had left be
hind a list of nominations to be submitted
to the council, and these were read. Fred
erick I*. Fish of Brookline was nominated
to succeed the late Carroll D. AVright of
Worcester as a member of the state board
of education. Mr Wright was appointed
to the board June 23, 1908, to fill the va
cancy caused by the resignation of Caroline
Hazard, president of Wellesley college,
whose term did not expire till 1910. Other
nominations were as follows: S. Herbert
Wilkins of Salem, trustee Danvers insane
hospital, vice Solon Bancroft, resigned;
Tames T. Joslin of Hudson, triakjustice,
Middlesex county: John T. Hartnett of
Hudson, trial justice, Middlesex county:
John Martin of North Adams, clerk of
district court of northern Berkshire, vice
Edwin B. Cady, deceased.
DAM HEARING AT HARTFORD.
Springfield Men are Present—lm
mediate Action Favored.
From Our Special Reporter.
Hartford, Ct., Tuesday, March 9.
A hearing was given by the committee on
incorporations this afternoon on the peti
tion of the Connecticut River company
for an amendment to its charter allowing
it to build a canal and dam between En
field and Suffield. Many arguments were
made in favor of favorable and immedi
ate action on the part of some company.
Arthur Leete of Enfield favored the
amendment to the Connecticut River com
pany charters if certain amendments were
made to the petition. He would place a
time limit upon the undertaking. Am
brose Clobber of Pittsfield. Mass., spoke
as a member of the Enfield power com
pany and he supported what Mr Leete
had said. The efforts which had been
made Io interest Congress had always re
sulted in surveys, but the company balked
at the reopening of navigation. John R.
Buck was opposed to a too lengthy dis
cussion of the matter, as it was unneces
sary.
Allen Webster of Springfield, represent
ing the association for the advancement
.of navigation, which he said, has 2500
members, did not care whether the Con
necticut River company or the Enfield
power company had the right to do the
work. so long as it was done. Commo
dore Woodward spoke for the amendment,
saying that he could not see where it
would do any harm. He favored a lock
in the dam which would lift a 30-foot
boat as bettor than any other proposal,
but Representative Parker thought this in
line with a pipe dream. William Leete of
Enfield, who represented the Springfield
Iwa rd of trade and the Hartford carpet
•ompany of Thompsonville, favored the
a mendmeni and thought it. ought to be
done by the company which would do it
quickest and best. He said that Spring
field people do nor think that river navi
gation will hurt the railroads, but rather
that it will relieve the pressure. The car
pet company, he said, is anxious to make
use of the power which is right , at its
doors.
It was proposed that the power to col
lect tolls be taken away from the com
pany. a power which it now possesses,
and that the time limit for starting the
work be liinit<*d t/> two years and that
tne time limit for completing the work be
placed at four years.
PARENTS SEEM RECONCILED.
i nuagejnent Announced of Muriel
White, Daughter of Em Bum mi dor.
The engagement was announced at Paris
Tuesday of Muriel White, daughter of
Henry White, the American embassador,
to Fount Herman Schorr Thoss. an officer
of the Royal Prussian cuirassiers.
Miss White met the count only a few
weeks ago while visiting Mrs Reynolds
Hitt, wife of the secretary of the Amer
ican embassy at Berlin. Embasador and
Mrs White were nt that time at Nice, en
tertaining the officers of the American
fleet. The couple saw much of each other
dining Miss White’s short visit in Berlin,
and the count followed the young woman
back to Paris, where he pressed his suit
with such ardor that the engagement was
announced Tuesday.
The count is the eldest of four sons of
Coupt ami Fount ess Seherr Thons of Dob
ran, Prussian Silesia, and he is heir to both
the title and the extensive estates which
the family owns in Silesia. He is 29 and
Miss \\ bile 25 years of age. The mar
riage probably Will occur in May. Count
Seherr 1 lipss is described as a handsome
and dashing officer of sterling qualities.
Ho served for a time as attache to the
German embassy at Vienna. In spite of
the snddcnnesß of the count’s wooing, Em*
bnssador and Mrs White appear to be
completely reconciled tq the match.
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1909.
FROM THE GREAT MIDDLE WEST
GENERAL AND SPECIAL VIEWS.
The Outlook, I'innucial ami Political
—'l’hc Tariff a«<l the —Il-
linois Interests.—XX lint i. DolnK in
Inillnna nnd Ohio—Uitcravy Intel
licence.
1 rein Our Special Correspondent.
Sandusky. 0.. Friday. March 5.
As I am leaving Ohio for the East,
after a sojourn in the great middle West,
—for whieh, as I was told on good au
thority, ihe Atlantic Monthly is now ed
ited by the effete East, it seems proper
that I should take a rapid general sur
vey of ihe situation as 1 have seen it.
financial, political and social, in six im
portant states which are every year grow
ing more important, Doth in fact and in ।
their own modest opinion. 1 leave Mich- I
igau out of view for the present, as 1 do I
not touch on that in my return trip, but
go from here to Elmira and Binghamton
on ihe way to the Uouuectieut valley. All
the country is now agitated politically at
the outset of a new Washington adminis
tration. Nobody in Ohio reallv expects
President Taft to do what Secretary and
Philippine Gov Taft found it expedient
and agreeable to do. and there are some
that look for the return of the blissful
period of Ohio domination, when McKin
ley and Hanna bore sway, and hatched
out a new world jHiwcr with its heart
and claws centered and radiating iu and
from northern Ahbyer. But this is a de
lusion: the Taft period will no more re
peat the Hanna era than it will wave the
Big. Stick high in air, and set in futile ae
tiv ity a new set of soon-to-be frustrated
beginnings.
The tariff and the trusts arc still the
great political issues, as they have been
since McKinley amkllanna died without
doing anything to settle them, and left
them for the perplexing and noisy ex
ploitation and avoidance of Roosevelt.
Exactly how these issues stand now no
body can say; but the new Congress is
expected to indicate. Revision of the tar
iff is earnestly called for all over the mid
dle West, thoug.li there are great pro
tected interests that will stand out and
spend much money to prevent any whole
some revision; while the extravagance of
the Roosevelt administration has brought
the treasury into such a state of deficit
that revenue rather than protection must
be aimed at in any but a bought-and-sold
revision, such as Senator Aldrich stands
for. as he lias done any time these dozen
years. It is gratifying to know that we
have a secretary of the treasury at last
who knows something about finance, and
really understands the working of tariffs,
as none of Roosevelt's short-job secretaries
have seemed to do. The new cabinet is
not built on the good old plan of the
first century of our .republic,—to call into
its councils men who have representa
tive local position: but some of its mem
bers have this character, and few of them
represent the stop-gap ami puss-in-the
corner procedures of Teddy in arranging
his clerks. We may therefore look once
more for advice about the tariff from a
real tariff reformer, which Mr MacVeagh
is. and a temporary one, as the new presi
dent seems to be.
As for the trusts, built up to their pres
ent swollen condition by the natural effect
of our swindling tariff, they are iu Hie
state mentioned by the poet:—
Now has descended a serener hour.
And with Inconstant Fortune, fricuds return.
They are free from the incessant and in
effective nagging of the rampant Roose
velt. and have reached that interlude of
which the afflicted Hebrew desired the
brief presence, when he exclaimed. "Let
me alone till I swallow down my spittle.”
Tim ejections of scorn by the New’ York
Sun and the other aggrieved organs of the
billionaires will temporarily cease, I sup
pose. atid Harper's Weekly can again be
come a journal of civilization and good
literature. But what next in the cam
paign which Roosevelt carried on and
which Taft cannot instantly abandon is a
pressing question. In anticipation of a
letting-up too soon, some of the lowa re
publicans are expecting a new Roosevelt
agitation by the middle of summer; but
that is scarcely probable. The whole coun
try longs for a little rest, and will insist
upon it while the courts are gradually
Untwisting all the cords that tie
The bidden soul of harmony
in judicial interpretation: and the hundred
futile beginnings of the past three or four
years are passing along into endings more
or less desired. It will be years, I sus
pect, before the sleeping mountain lion of
the Roosevelt forests will come forth into
the open nnd utter his familiar noise. Yet
some of the uuterriiied at Washington are
predicting a much earlier declaration of
war on the part of the shouters of the
deposed dynasty.
In spite of the disappointment to many
thousands by the ominous Washington
blizzard, there is a popular feeling that it
served right those wasters of the people's
money who, with a deficit of $10,000,000
a month, squandered half that sum on a
flashy parade at the city named for Wash,
ington who would never have countenanced
any such show on bis own account. A
little refusal on Taft's part to indorse
waste on the brilliant fizzle of yesterday
would have gone much farther than the
few perfunctory words he put into his in
augural as a preface to large demands to
maintain a useless navy.—useful for noth
ing but show,—ami an army that can nev
er have to defeud anything but unjust
claims and a policy of interference anti
intrusion.—as much unlike the policy of
Washington. Jefferson, Monroe and Lin
coln. as the Big Stick is unlike an olive
bram-li. The Sandusky Register of this
morning lias a temperate and sensible col
umn on the inaugural, in course of which
it says;—
i'an it bo possible that President Taft,
looks forward to the rime when he may tie
called upon to send an army somewhere to
enforce the Monroe doctrine? He would
have a first-class navy. To that all of us
agree. But we do not think it necessary to
squander a billion dollars, ns Mr Boosevelt
would have done, if he conld. to build up a
navy that in 10 or 15 years of disuse will be
out of commission, and of no mortal value.
Ohio just now is in the throes of a
quarrel over the liquor interest, largely
represented hire in Sandusky and the
wine island nearby, and which contrived
to get the state Senate on its side. But
the House of Representatives shrewdly
added to the Dean bill, which passed the
Senate, a clause that now makes the wine
makers, brewers and Cincinnati whisky
dealers so angry that they mean to kill
their own bill in the Senate. This is one
of the consequences of the wave of pro
hibition that is sweeping through the
South and is very forcible in the West. It
Ims alarmed Speaker Cannon, and will be
much felt in Ihe new Congress, which
will be far less servile tn the trusts and to
the White House than that which has
just departed nnd left few mourners.
Illinois, which I left behind me yester
day, after a fortnight spent there and in
Wisconsin, has a conglomeration of in
terests, political, sanitary and social, such
as have seldom got mixed up to the extent
that now prevails. The kingpin or key
stone of this arch of combination is Gov
Dolmen, who. after the expenditure of a
million or two of dollars to defeat him
Inst year, will hold the fort for another
four years, unless he slips into the vacant
somitorship of the defeated, disreputable
Hopkins, as he would like to do, but does
not wish to face the censure that would
then fnll upon him. Consequently, the
most, likely person to succeed Hopkins is
Congressman Ixiwdeii, although Hopkins
still boasts his ability to force himself
buck into the Semite by creating a dead
lock in his favor, to replace the legisla
tive deadlock against him which has ex
isted for two mouths past. The eontinu
mice of Dem en in the uovernorxliip seems
to '«• ri"e<'s«iry in order to carry thrmigli
those radical mensure-i for reorganizing
the state charities which he began three
years ago, ami which still ijeed new legis
lation to complete and perfect. It was
the fear that these measures would be car
ried Ihrough which r prompted (in grqpt
part) the millionaire’contributions of last:
year to defeat Deneen,—one “grafter.”
who is believed t<» have made a quarter
million out of the state charities in the
past 10 ^cars. having subscribed about
X 50.000 to the fund raised by Congressman
Lorimer to block ihe nomination of De
neon last year: and. failing that, to elect
the veteran eqpperhotid democrat Steven
son to the chair. Gov Deneen has thus
far taken the advice of the best-informed
men and women in Illinois iu regard to
the management of the state charities, and
has put a stop to a system of political
control which had long existed, and had
reduced Illinois to a very low rank in
inis great interest of public charity. So
much for the past: the grafters and the
>l»oiFinon have been turned out. as was
done in Indiana long since, and in Kansas
more recently. For the futur^. a plan is
before the Legislature to reform the com
mitment. care and supervision of the in
sane, epileptic and tuberculous patients in
Illinois by various measures of classifica
tion. separation ami new construction of
buildings. To this Gov Deneen is pledged,
and if he continues governor he can doubt
less carry it through. Among these now
measures is one reform the absurd jury
system of committing the insane to state
hospitals, and anol her for dividing the
epileptics between the groat state farm at
Kankakee, whore they will have a new
detached hospital, and some other farm in
another part of the state. This Avill re
lieve all l»ut two of the insane hospitals
of the disturbing presence of the epileptic
insane, ami will also remove such persqps
from the county poor-houses, which are
io be reserved for the sane and infirm
poor, and not used for the residence of
children.
To manage the old and the new state
establishments, including that in Cook
county for the insane, which is now being
turned over to the state’s care, a new
board of control is contemplated, salaried
and 'rude responsible for the outlay of
the three or four millions of dollars a year
which these changes involve from the
state treasury; while above this new ad
ministrative board, in a supervisory ca
pacity. the old board of public charities,
unsalaried, will bo continued, with powers
somewhat increased. This plan, if carried
out. will obviate the need of a special
lunacy uommissbm or board of insanity,
such as Massachusetts and New York have
long had. It is a much better plan than
that of a “board of control” with both
administrative pad supervisory powers,
such as lowa has: and it may prove to be
better than the complete separation be
tween state charities and insanity, as now
in Massachusetts, which is a costly
scheme, and avoids undivided responsibil
ity. The new methods of diagnosis, lab
oratory work, instruction of medical stu
dents, etc., in matters of insanity, which
exist in Massachusetts, have been intro
duced at Kankakee and other Illinois hos
pitals. and “psychopathic’’ and receiving
hospitals are there building which promise
well. Dr Green at Kankakee, and the new
state pathologist, Dr Singer, now residing
there, have entered on their work with
the full support of Gov Deneen and the
state board of charities; and the wretched
methods at Kankakee, under the good but
.weak Dr Corbus. have given way to effi
ciency. honesty and innovation. Dr Green,
an Indiana man who had a long and lauda
ble experience in Nebraska, is perhaps
ihe first instance of an expert from farther
West being chosen to reorganize an estab
lishment 590 miles farther east. To bal
ance this. Dr Singer comes from the metro
politan schools and hospitals of London,
with the latest European knowledge and
practice in his mind. The upshot of these
new measures in Illinois will be awaited
with interest elsewhere. The Illinois state
board have committed themselves to ex
travagant hoiK's of cure among the insane:
but time will speed’ily change that optimis
tic turn. Nor will the present tendency to
increase the size of state hospitals long
withstand the lessons of experience, which
teach the localization and diminution ot
such great masses of the insane. They are
artificial aggregated, qeeding much more
land and outdoor employment, which a lo
cal distribution would sdon furnish, as in
Wisconsin aifll Pennsylvania.
The local-option agitatio^ does not yet
assume so much importance in Illinois as
in Indiana and Ohio, where the temper
ance men arc overcoming the brewers and
the liquor interests, as they are doing in
so many southern states. The effect of ail
this local option on the revenues of the
nation and the municipalities is soon to be
seen; but it is likely to require new
forms of taxation, especially at Washing
ton. where the wastefulness of the Roose
velt period is piling up a deficit very bard
to meet, and greatly embarrassing the new
administration. Money is still being
thrown away by the bushel, and few of
the cities or states are really economizing,
but increase rheir debt without much fore
thought. This is not so true of the states
west of the Mississippi, where resources
are ample and taxation is not yet burden
some. as of Illinois and other states. In
Ohio the burden of the state charities in
creases. as it must everywhere, and is not
counteracted so much as in Indiana, where
the abilities and industry of ihe state
board of charities have reorganized the
whole state and county system, and pre
vented much waste of funds. Indiana has
taken the first step in a measure long
talked about.—the sterilization of crim
inals. which is now pra<*tised in at least
one of the state-prisons, and which is sup
posed to check the production of degener
ates. —an increasing crop wherever there
are great cities. The English royal com
mission oil the poor-laws, which has just
reported to Parliament, points out how
thia army of degenerates is bred in En
gland. and pnqjoses laws to check its in
croasc. Ohio has fewer degonerat<s than
regions where the population is less rural
and more urban; but. there are too many
of them in Ohio.
A friend has brought to my notice a very
curious book, published in Baltimore in
1803, under the name of “Public Charac
ters, or Contemporary Biography." which
was a selection from five volumes of the
same title published in London during
several years before 1803. It contains 36
brief sketches of English. Scotch and
American celebrities of the 18th century,
among whom are Jefferson, Bushrod
Washington. Count Rumford, Cowper the
poet, Peter Pindar, Dr Darwin, the grand
father of Charles Darwin. Dr Priestley,
Warren Hastings. Dr Jenner. Ira Allen of
Vermont. Horne Tooke and William God
win. It is, in short, a “Who's ’Who” of
the period, and often very amusing, as
showing how differently posterity has car
timatpd such persons from the character
they bore in their own time. It should be
read both by the admirers and the dc
testers of Roosevelt, both of which
classes would learn something from its
perusal. It would be well to republish
this or make another selection from the
same series of English sketches, omitting
some of these ami substituting others.
'Hie accounts of Pitt. Dundas. Addington,
Cornwallis. Curran and Lord Stanhope
add much to what is generally known of
them; ami the sketches of t'owper, God
win ami Southey are very singular, Gen
Bowles, (he English Cherokee ddef. ap
pears as a hero of romance; and his career
and that of his elder contemporary, St
John de Crevecoour, would make a queer
book of an America® life and fortune, of
which the modern world knows little o m
nothing, and which would excel Cooper’s
novels ami the dialectics of Henry James
m human interest. The career of tin* tw.>
Vermont patriarchs, Ethan and Ira Allen,
would make another book of strange ad
venture and intrigue, with which Dr
Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth, was
slightly mixed up.
The magnetic needle comes to rest point
ing north and south been use the earth
acts ns if it were n great magnet. A
compHM. necille would conic to rest point
ing lengthwise* of a bar magnet placed
under Ihe (ompaKM needle, just as it dors
under tlm inthieme of Ihe earth, h’or this
wwnoii wu think of the earth as a great
magnet. Tin* north pole and the north
star have no intiueAce over the compass
needle.
THE KOBIN'S SONG. «
When the stormy skies of March
O’er a gloomy landscape arch;
And the earth still wears, content,
. Winter's mantle, soiled and rout.
Kobin on the maple tree
Trills a prophecy to me.
As I listen to the song
By the wind sprites borne along.
Scenes of beauty, rare and bright,
Rise and glow before my sight—
Viglous fair of summer flowers.
Sunlit skies and woodland bowers:
Sireainlet murmuring soft am! low
Twixt green banks where willows grow;
LiLnes heavy with perfume.
Roar snow of apple bloom,
Purp> pansy touched with gold,
Lily petals all unrolled;
Buttercups with light aglow.
Shady nooks where violets grow,
Willows bending o’er the ledge.
Harebells bloom lug on the edge;
I ragrance sweet of new-mown hay.
Dew gemmed night and sun crowned day;
ly corn in ranks of green,
Crowned with plumes of silken sheen;
Billowy fields of waving grain.
Rhythmic beat of summer rain,—
1 hese and more arc in the strain
That the robin sings to me
I com the leafless maple tree.
1.. Adelaide Sherman.
Amlicrsf. March 3. 1909.
THE LIBRARY CLUB AT MONSON
INTERESTING TOPICS TAKEN UP.
Louia N. Wltaon of Clark University
Speak, on “The Library From In-
Ml.le and Out."
The regular mid winter meeting of the
W catern Massacffiisetts library dub was
held Tuesday in the Congregational
church at Monson. There were about 75
in attendance, the following places being
represented: East Longmeadow. Westfield,
Amherst, Dalton. Monson, Palmer, Stur
bridge, Brimfield, South Hadley, South
Hadley Falls, Chicopee, Northampton, Hol
yoke, Greenfield. North Adams, Turners
Falls, Montague, Sundertanil, Lenox,
Housatonic, Newport. Vt., and Springfield.
A most cordial welcome was given by
Dr George E. Fuller, a trustee of the
Monson free library, who has been con
nected with the library since 1875. The
problem that he would like to see solved
w as hbw to divert the attention of readers
from cheap novels to works of science,
biography and history.
The morning session was devoted to the
general topic, "The library from inside
and out," consisting of two excellent
papers, “Common sense in. library mat
ters—outside opinion.” by Louis N. Wii
sou, librarian of Clark university, and
Library problems as viewed from with
in.” by Miss Mary L. Saxton of the Hol
yoke public library. 'These tfvo papers
were based upon opinions seen red by send
ing out sets of questions to library users
and workers. Mr Wilson sent out the
following questions: Do you use a library,
mid if so, what kind —college public, pri
vate? Do any existing rules, regulations
or library methods uuduly restrict your
use of it? Can you suggest any changes
in such? Can you offer any suggestions or
criticisms upon the functions of the libra
rian, the attendants, building, rooms, ven
tilation, light, card catalog or any catalog
system, the classification and location of
the books, free access to the books, kind
of books bought or preferred.—or any other
subject pertaining to a library or the use
of books?
Mr Wilson sent out these questions to
2000 people who use libraries, to students,
doctors, judges, book-keepers, telephone
operators, mechanics, factory workers and
many others. As lie received 1743 an
swers out of the 2000, it shows that the
users of our libraries are keenly interested.
There were many such expressions as
by not do things in a common-sense
way?” As to buildings we arc charged
with putting a great deni of money into
ornamental buildings which are often unfit
for library purposes. Art in a library may
be carried to sneh an extreme Hint it may
seriously interfere with the use of the
building for strictly library use. Com
plaint is made that even in our modern
buildings light is poor and ventilation bad.
There is great complaint of the noise in
libraries. It is very difficult to preserve
absolute quiet iu a busy place, and yet
the reader has a right to a quiet place'in
w;hich to read or study. Insufficient pro
vision for the needs of serious students.
But the topic most frequently touched
upon is access to the books. The demand
for open shelves in these answers is unmis
takable. A woman stenographer writes:
“As a child J enjoyed the children’s li
brary. where all the books were on open
shelves. When I grew up I was not al
lowed access to the books in the other
parts of the library. Why this distinction
between children and grown-ups?” Others
write: "It takes too long to catalog your
books, "Too great length of time between
ordering books and securing them,” "De
lay in binding completed files of current
journals." "The less red tape the better."
A judge says: "It is wrong to try to force
people who want to rend novels to read
philosophy or mathematics. Those who
read for pleasure and rest must lie given
what they want, otherwise it will be work
and not rest. In short, if people want
novels, let them have them—good ones.”
A mechanic: "I have nut. used the library
much. Don’t know how. If 1 could go
to the book shelves I might find something
Its a poor library where they won’t let
yfin see what they’ve got. Don't you
think so? ’
As a rule the librarians and attendants
receive only words of praise and commen
dation. Criticism is leveled at library
rules nnd conditions for which the staff
is not directly responsible. A foreman in
n foundry says: "If a Jibrary is ever to
do its full work the librarian must take
advice and help from people in his com:
mnnity who are specialists in lines with
which he is not familiar. There are many
very well-read, intelligent mechanics iu
these days who could tell a librarian how
to get workingmen into the library." A
college graduate, wife and mother, writes:
"After n hard day’s housework I get more
rest and recreation out of a novel than
anything else. I think I am both O l<l
enough and sufficiently well educated to
know what I want to read and I do not
approve of the library rule that limits a
liorrower to one novel. When I want his
tory or economies I will take them: when
I want a novel—or two or three- I see no
reason why the library attendant should
look upon me as a degenerate.”
These expressions of opinion eame from
nil parts of the United States. Mi- Wil
son said in closing: "I cannot help feci
ing that they are the honest, thoughts of
our neighbors, honestly and kindiv ex
pressed, ns n rule. I eannot detect any iil
feeling in any of the answers. The library
has been culled the 'continuation school’
nnd the 'people's university.’ If it is to
be either of these it must not | H . over
sensitive to criticism. We nee,] more of
the spirit of eo-operatiou among librarians,
atid, tor out, I welcome such <-xpressions
of opinion as you have heard read this
nt feinmm. Whether they contain common
sense or not 1 must leave you to decide.”
Miss Saxton’s “Inside view,” which
followed, was likewise the result of replies
to questions sent out to about 40 libraries
in towns and villugot; in the Uonneetieut
valley. Only,a ver? few libraries failed io
respond. Miss Saxton tlinuked all who
Inui helped with these suitisties. The
questions hud to do with book seleetivli
and the principle guiding it, books fur for
eigners, administration, charging systems,
tines, advertising books and library, in
teresting people iu books other than fle-
tiou, librarians' problems, such as liberty
as action, discipline, helps for the librarian,
such as library periodicals, elnb or state
visitors, value of book lists, the relation
of the library to the community, the vil
lage improvement societies, grange ami
clubs, Sunday-school libraries, and work
with schools and children. For general
advertising of the library the local paper
proved to be the medium most largely used.
A regular library visitor would he welcomed
in most all places. Of the three phases
Of a librarian's work, the one of correla
tion with the town's life seems the most
important and the one where most small
libraries are weakest. It is imperative
to choose books wisely, to administer
quietly ami justly, but to he in season
and out of season (though chiefly in sea
sonl in efforts to make the library impress
and express the spirit of the town. This
is the librarian's greatest privilege.
The afternoon session opened with a de
lightful paper, "The library and the chil
dren,” by Miss Eva March Tappan, known
Io sq many as the author of "Robin Hood,
His Book," "Letters from Colonial Chil
ilren,” and many others. She said in part:
Most grown people have forgotten iiow to
read. They turn the leaves of a book, they
comprehend its sentences; but a child's
reading is an entirely different nmtter. A
child opens a book as he wouliFopen the
door into a new world. The places that it
ileseribes nre as real to him as his own
playground. He lives in the book. That
is reading, and such reading makes the book
a power iu the child's life. Our greatest
men look lack to the books they read as
children and say. “Those were what helped
tne on to success.” The boy with books
has learned what other people bav done
and how they have done it. Biography and
history are always helpful. The trouble
with most histories and biographies writ
ten for children is that the beginning is
simple and interesting, but the last half
difficult. The biography that appeals to
children is the one whose author emem
bers that "men are only boys grown tail,”
and has uot forgotten that, even to the dos
ing page the. hero is a very human being.
Children need stories of adventure: give
them imaginative reading also, fairy tales,
folk-lore, poetry. There is little else of
such practical value iu every-day life as
imagination, and the man who is to find out
m-w ways of doing things must have it. The
child must develop character, which is
largely made np of impressions formed by
what is read in childhood. There are a few
classes of stories for children that I should
drop iulo a furnace heated seven times
hotter than ever before. One is the taie
whose heroine is not "appreciated.” who
dies: granting her pardon to those who
have failed to recognize her excellence. Also
the story of the child who is infinitely
wiser than his parents. A large majority
of children must depend upon the pulllie
library for their reading matter. In the
library they may cultivate that delight in
reading which will put joy and happiness
into their lives. Other friends may fail us.
They may be busy or forgetful; but. books,
if ouce our friends, are friends forever.
The last of the afternoon session was
taken up by the discussion of “The best
books of JIK)8 for small libraries,” con
ducted by Hiller C. Wellman, librarian in
Springfield. The basis for this discussion
wus the book list compiled annually by
members of the dub. Some of the books,
not iu the list, l ot mentioned in the dis
cussion, follow: Vance's "Black Bag” and
“Brass Bowl.” Ollivant's "Gentleman,”
Harker's "Miss Esperance and Mr Wyeh
< rly.” Tjcrwix's "Mystery of the Yellow
Room,” Wallace's “Angel Esquire,” Dou
bleday's "Hendock Avenue Mystery.”
Freeman's "Shoulders of Atlas." Mallock’s
"Immortal Soul,” Snaith's "William Jor
dan, Junior," Mitchell's "Red (’ity,”
Pric-stman’s "Art ami Economy in Home
Decoration,” Low’s '‘Chronicle of Fricii l
ships,” Brinton’s "Modern Artists,” Caf
fin's “Child's Guide to Pictures,” Well's
"New AVorlds for Old.” Sarolea’s “Cardi
nal Newman." Brent's “Leadership.”
Dresser's “Physician of the Soul." Hyde's
"Self Measurement.” Funk's "Standard
Bible Dictionary,” Hastings's “Dictionary
of the Bible,” one-volume edition. The
works of Anna Chapin Ray, both for
adults and juvenile readers, were given a
good word. Chambers's books were dis
cussed. The question came up “Will not
some of these books have a very limited
use in a small community?” The opinion
expressed was that the leaders of thought
whose influence was greater and who
passed on their information and inspira
tion to others should have these hooks.
Luncheon was served at 1 o'clock by the
women of the Congregational church.
EARLY RIVER NAVIGATION.
Paper Read at Meeting; of ihe His
torical Society In Greenfield.
The historical society al its meeting Fri
day received four new members. .1. 11.
Sanderson read extracts from the diary of
his great-grandfather, Samuel King, a
Revolutionary soldier. Mrs Lucy Cutler
Kellogg read a paper on “Early local nav
igation.” She mentioned the two wharves
on the Deerfield river not far from the
Cheapside bridge, one. the Abercrombie,
the other the Allen A Root wharf. Boats
coming up the Connecticut touched at the
wharves when conditions were favorable.
Cheapside was at the head of navigation
and formed a port of entry of no mean
proportions, for the towns north and west.
Hartford was the southern terminus of
river navigation, as was the Wells river
district the northern. The first company
was incorporated about 1793.
Ihe company operating on the Connecti
cut river above South Hadley Falls was
known as thy Proprietors of the upper
locks and canal on Connecticut river in
Ihe county of^ Hampshire. The Montagne
canal was built, starting not far from the
New Haven railroad bridge, opposite lite
month of the Deerfield river and came
out above the dam at Turners Falls. The
canal can be traced much of the way to
day. llm business blocks on the west
side ot avenue A. Turners Falls, were built
on tlje old canal. There were nine locks,
live in a series where the canal left the
river, near the Now Haven bridge, that
raised the water 35 feet. That series was
sufficient to overflow the tint where the
Montague City rod company's plant is lo
cated. A reservoir was formed sufficient
to accommodate lf)0 boats waiting to get
through the locks. The boats were term<-d
the oak boats and the (line boats. They
were propelled by poling upstream; some
times in going down sails were used. A
lock was located near the present dam.
I rom Turners Falls to Millers Falls were
two locks, near the mouth of the Millers
river, which enabled boats to miss the
I'rench King rapids. A strip of laud was
acquired for a towpath from the French
King rapids toward Northfield.
In 1831, the Connecticut River steam
boat company began business and estab
lished a through line of fiat boats from
Wells River. Vt„ to Hartford. Ct. The
Ariel Cooley was Cbc only steamer towing
boats from South Hadley Falls and the fool
of the Montague canal, and ip good .stages
of water to the Cheapside wharves. The
company owed six steamers, costing about
S4BOO. which were placed in different
reaches of the etinal. and were able to tow
from four to six tintboats apieee. About
1840 blfltness began to dwindle, and in the
early 'sos the company began to apply
for the rescinding of parts of their char
ter. About 18150 they sold to the Turners
Falls company.
Mrs Kellogg told of the surveys for a
crinal from Boston to Albany, coining
from Boston to the mouth of the Millers
river. A Inter survej was made to Deer
field b.v way of the Montague canal, down
to Deerfield, across the south meadons,
on to Stillwater, and then to the Hoosuc
tunnel by the Deerfield river. Hoosac
monntuiu was to be ent through nt tut ex
pense of $920.8;!2. Troy was to be
reached by way of the Hoosac river. 11l
1841 the tolls for the Montague ennnl
mnonnted to Siq,shii. The} gradually
lOHsened till 1853. when they camo to but
sl<H>, by reason of railway competitioo. In
1855 permission was secured to sell lands
nnd waler-isiwer in whole or part. Iu
1800 the sale took place.
ART AT THE NATION’S CAPITAL.
GREAT WORK OF SAINT GARDENS.
His ••Gi-iet— nt Arlington nnd Ilie Ex
hihiion „ f the Sculptor's Work nt
t he Corcoran Gallery.
I Written by Cx-bmextina Dawes Nahmbb for
~,, , . The Republican.]
1 lie beginnings of art in all countries
were invariably in tombs erected to na
tional heroes or kings. Once in America
ne bad plain and simple slabs, sometimes
erected on legs, in the table form, which
wen- simple, dignified and convincing, Now
ne have descended to a painted tin urcalil
er a granite monstrosity. Where a mon
ument has any degree of beauty, h is
Ct on lied in close proximity to a thou
saml or more other monuments, good, bad
and indifferent. That is the ease iu the
ground allotted to officers at Arlington,
where they crowd closely in the shade of
the line old mansion.
Recently we rode down through the for
est glades of Arlington in n day out of
season, when but few tourists were there
to call our thoughts away from the memo
ries and the sentiment that seemed on
such a day to be nearer and dearer than
at other times. It was a misty day. The
winding Potoinae and the waters' of Hu-
Anacostia lay dimly at onr feet. The
dome of the cnpitol could not be seen but
the Monument rose from the fog like a
gleaming mirage or fautasm.
In a ramshackle barge drawn bv most
sorrowful steeds we rattled down the
slopes, aud a verdant young jehti rattled
oft glibly ami most dolefully the lesson
that he had by heart: "Awticers on the
riulil. ‘Nhsted mon. on the left, fourteen
hundud of ein. Square stones when they
km-w cm. round when they didn't. Span
isli war veterans here. The men of the
Mame there. That circle the confederate
dead. 1 Ins. the men of 1812. There, the
uwlicers, ( rook the Indian tighter. Sheri
dan. Belknap, Burns, Harney. Hazen."
IV e listened a little to his prattle and
wondered meanwhile what ideas he had of
the war ot 1812, aud while we listened We
looked at the regiment of granite and mar
ble of nil shapes and sizes on the one side,
and on the other the simple fields of little
white slubs, standing row after row. in
companies and battalions and regiments,
under the shade of the great forest, trees.
I he ghosts of (lie dead lingered for us,
there, in this simple appealing field of
the slain. If the officers were bereft of
their memorials and were laid at the head
of their companies, if Saint Gaudens’s
Grief could be placed in their midst—
what a grand, impressive place Arlington
might be! aud true art would be there, us
well.
Speaking of that statue, the common
mind refuses to like her. Creepy, say
they, pokerish, dismal. You won't sleep
if yon go there,—and they add. that about
the cemetery there are strange stories
afloat, to wit, that the woman to whom
the monument is erected sits inside of the
bronze itself. To prove it notice the dis
proportion in the length from the hip to
the knee. So much criticism whets onr
curiosity and a pilgrimage is made, a most
dismal journey in street ears on a frosty
day to the cemetery to sec for ourself,
the epitome of Grief. By the way. Saint
Gaudens did not give her that name. She
had not been christened at all. and only
comes by the title through common usage.
Looking at the face one can hardly fell
if Grief be a woman. Indeed, the fea
tures are not feminine but strong, am] (lie
arm lias not the contours of a woman;
and surely grief is sexless.
Grief sits on a rock with a red granite
slab at. the rear. Al) about is a circle of
evergreen trees: spruce aud pine ami
southern holly and laurel. Under the
trees is a stone seat where one cun sit and
gradually come to a realizing sense of the
grandest, most impressive work of an
American sculptor. And if art consists
of the best and truest representation of
that which is noble, beautiful aud im
pressive. then this surely is art. The sim
ple lines of the drapery, so few, and yet
so graceful, the deep sadness of the face,
the visage of one intent on the deepest
mystery of the universe, the sublimity of
the whole, are overpowering, and we come
away from it with a realizing sense that
here at least is a work of art that wilt
rank in ages to come with the masterpieces
of Greek sculpture, and the works of art
that were created in the high Renais
sance.
It has been said by some foreigner,
(Ellen Terry. I think), that every Ameri
can girl has a cast of the Winged Victory
of Samothrace in Iter room. One doubts
it. but if site has, would it. not be as well
to place beside it a cast in small of the
Saint Gaudens Grief? Ami surely this
memorial should lend itself well to the
diminished east within the reach of every
one. A persuasive dealer assured me
that Michael Angelo's Moses was a
“very genteel subject.” Why will not
some enterprising dealer give us, a cast
of Grief? That would surely be human,
as well as “genteel.”
One of the most enjoyable exhibitions
of the season, ami one that was particu
larly noticeable for the beauty of its
-■irrangement. was that of the work of
Saint Gaudens at the Corcoran. To begin
with, there was room enough and to spare,
and so each exhibit had its proper space
and was not crowded. The floors were
spread with rugs of a soft shade of green;
the walls hung with cloth of a deeper
cream than the plaster casts. And thou
the various casts were arranged with con
summate skill. On entering the building
one's attention was immediately centered
ou the Winged Victory of the Sherman
group, placed on tin- first landing of the
stairway to the seeoml floor. A back
ground ot fir trees and dark green rugs ac
contuated the lines of the cast, and seen
thus she seemed a thing of beauty, an m
einplifieation of Victory, a splendid being
of life am] movement. One caught one's
breath at first sight of this thing of
beauty. Then nt the end of one hall wai
the standing Lincoln. At the sides, a small
er plaster east of the Rock (’reek statue
flanked b.v twognmps of Caryatides. Facing
these were the Farrngut. between Dr Mi-
Cosh and Rev Henry Bellows. On the
pillars between the archway were easts
of the heads of Peter Cooper and Chief
.lustice Morrison R. Waite. The contrast,
between the different visages of these va
rious celebrated men was striking, and
it seemed a- if (lie sculptor had not. only
grasped the salient clmrncteristics of each
num, but had placed tlidein the ideal fea
tures of his calling. In Lincoln’s face
there were the traits justice, sorrow, mar
tyrdom, a man of Fate. Then there were
the stern inflexible features of the fighter,
the sailor, the commander of men in Far
ragut. divinity and piet.v in MeCosh and
Bellows, and ftliilauthropy in the face of
Peter Cooper. On the opposite side one
saw the sitting Lincoln, the pathetic Rob
erf Louis Stevenson, the beautiful Amor
Caritas and onr own Puritan. The Winged
Victory mid Amor Caritas may be the
most bemitiful of any of Saint Gaudens'*
work. Iml tile Rock Creek Grief seems
to me to be the most original and greatest
creation of this most original sculptor.
In one of ihe anterooms one found small
er easts not as familinr as those previ
ously mentioned: portrait has reliefs, most
ly. covering n wid? range. One in marble
mid also in bronze, a most bemitiful thing,
of Saint Gtindcns's littTb son; others of
Mrs Stanford White, Mrs Grover Cleve
land. Asa Gray. Mr and Mrs Wayne Mac-
Veagli, Howells, William M. Chase, Jus
tice Gray and many others. Most inter
esting. too, were a group of plaster studies
for the negroes oil the Shaw memorial,
each head showing the stamp of determi
nation to conquer or to die! to give one's
self for one's people! the sadness of death
seemingly foreseen: the palm of martyr
dom about, them. Then there were also a
few cmueos ent when the sculptor was a
boy mid various studies for coins of the
United Slntes. It is a pity that these
easts conld not he permanently gathered
in some gallery biiili especially for them,
as a mcmorinl of America’s only great
sculptor.
An electric organ has now been Invented
mid in it n scries of vibrators take the
place of the reeds. Switches and wagueta
operate the mechanism.