The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], January 13, 1915, Page 4, Image 4

About The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950

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THE AGE-HERALD
K. W. BAKHETT.Editor
Entered at the Ulrnungnam, Ala.,
postoffice as second class matter under
act of Congress March 3, 1879.
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the mails. Address,
THE AGE-HERALD,
Birmingham, Ala.
Washington bureau, 207 Hibbs build
ing.
European bureau, 6 Henrietta street,
Covent Garden, London.
Eastern business office, Rooms 48 to
60, ir elusive, Tribune building, New
York city; western business office.
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eign advertising.
TELEPHONE
Bell (private exchaag© connecting nil
departments) Mein 4000.
The devil understands Welsh; and ’tls
no marvel he’a so humorous.
—Henry IV,
| BEGINNING THE DAY—My God,
I ran do so little; I have so little
strength and so little time and so
little wisdom and so little grac*.
Help me, then, to put my little ex
actly where It belongs, to do Just the
thing which Thou hast for me. Guide
me every day, and give me a close
ear for Thy faintest whisper. In
Christ's name. Amen.—H. M. K.
Building Activities This Year
During the present year there will
be much activity in the building trades
here. Many large mercantile structures
are planned, and hundreds of resi
dences are in prospect. Work on some
of the projected buildings will not be
started until the latter part of the
year; but now is the very best time
to build.
Material is cheaper today than it
will be six months hence and labor is
more plentiful. Any building to cost
approximately $5000 can be erected
for at least 20 per cent less now than
it can be when everything in the build
ing line is rushed.
According to all expectations, the
year 1915 will be one of exceptional
prosperity, and just as soon as the
various branches of industrial enter
prise show a marked improvement
Ihe house building record here will rise
to the highest notch.
The prudent man who has money to
pay for a home or to invest in tene
ment property will not hesitate long
in awarding a building contract. By
getting ahead of those who postpone
building operations he will save
enough money to furnish his house
handsomely. A word to the wise should
be sufficient.
An Army Reserve
Secretary of War Garrison is earn
estly endeavoring to increase the ef
ficiency of the army, and next to
strengthening the coast artillery his
desire is to create a reservist force of
25,000 men available for mobilization.
In presenting bis views to the military
committee of the Senate he has made a
strong impression, and since he ex
plains that a reservist branch of the
army—a body of trained soldiers made
up of men who had served terms of
enlistment as regulars, would involve i
no annual expenditure, his plan will <
doubtless be adopted. The reservist i
would only be paid when he was called I
out for field duty. 1
This reservist force would not min
imize the value or the standing of the <
national guard. The guard numbers :
now about 110,000 men. It is smaller
numerically than it was several years
•go but in discipline and efficiency it
• on a much hgher level and is more
closely related to the regular army i
than ever before. With the coast ar
tillery increased by several thousand
men, with a reservist force of 25,000
and the continued efficiency of the na
tional guard the military preparedness
of the United States in the event of
threatened invasion would be greatly
advanced.
The Chamberlain bill now before the
Senate embodies Secretary Garrison’s
ideas. It should be enacted into law
with little delay.
The Newspaper Man
In a recent address before Yale stu
dents Irvin S. Cobb, the humorist and
war correspondent, said that there is
BO such thing as a born writer. “I
don’t believe any literary rooster was
over hatched that could crow the day
ho pipped the shell,” continued Mr.
Cobb. “I do think there are some who
•re born not to be writers. Writing is
• trade to be learned—like bricklaying,
for instance. As in any other trade,
some lesra it faster and some learn it
bettor than others.”
Not being a college graduate him
self, Mr. Cobb is a good example of
the successful newspaper man who
laamed tbs "trade” by experience, al
though bo one who has ever read his
j best work will doubt but that he hac
j gifts to start with which he has since
developed.
Mr. Cobb does not think a college
education necessary to the making of
a good newspaper writer, although he
regrets missing the training and the
experiences it would have given him at
an impressionistic age. Neither does
he scorn the school of journalism, as
a great many old fashioned newspaper
men do. He thinks that a young man
prepared for the “newspaper game”
in a school of journalism “would stand
a better chance eventually of becom
ing a finished newspaper man than
one of “equal ability who had not
taken such a course.”
“One of the best features of a
course in journalism,” declares Mr.
Cobb, “is that it is good as an antidote
for too much study of English. The
tendency of many courses in literature
is to give the idea that the English
language is an end and not a means.”
Furthermore, he thinks that good re
porters are scarce and the good re
porter’s best asset is a good memory.
These facts have been brought out
before but are interesting as coming
from a man who has just won fresh
laurels as a war correspondent after
having established himself as a hu
morist and writer of some of the best
short stories produced in this country
in a decade.
Diversification and Farm Settlers
Few immigrants have settled in the
south in recent years but many north
ern families have sought homes in this
section. The Illinois Central railroad
alone has done a good work in inducing
homeseekers to buy farms in Alabama
and Mississippi.
The cheapness of lands in this state,
compared with the price of lands in
the north, together with the fertility
of the soil and our favorable climatic
conditions should make it easy to bring
farm settlers here.
The work of filling up the waste
places will be greatly advanced when
crop diversification is fully developed.
Several largetracts of land in Alabama
have been purchased recently and di
vided into 40-acre farms. A thrifty
northern farmer who understands in
tensive agriculture can make a 40-aere
tract well improved pay for itself in
three or four years, and in 10 years he
will be known as a rich man in his
community.
Truck farming and poultry farming
in Alabama are still in their infancy.
The few who have given much at
tention to poultry have found it ex
ceptionally profitable. The crop di
versification campaign now in prog
ress will be pushed, and the result will
be a great increase of wealth in Ala
bama. And in connection with that cam
paign the state’s immigration depart
ment and the state’s agricultural de
partment should co-operate with the
railroads and with the farm commit
tee of the Birmingham Chamber of
Commerce in an effort to make Ala
jama one of the greatest agricultural
states in the union.
Effect of Sentiment on Business
The word psychology has been
jverworked in these recent years.
Psychology as a science will always be
studied in the class room, but its
common uso as applied to every phase
jf.life and to every crisis in the
world's affairs often makes one smile.
No one, however, will gainsay the
act that sentiment or psychology or
it titilde of mind plays a helpful part
n business recovery after a period of
o
lepression. But for the optimistic
lentiment manifested by many in
lustrial and financial leaders, the busi
less depression of last fall would have
leen more serious than it was. The
lopeful views expressed from time to
ime and the optimistic forecasts of in
lustrial revival, have had practical re
mits.
Business is improving steadily, and
he more sentiment there is on the
dde of continued recovery the more
apid will be the approach of a new
>ra of prosperity.
Two months ago it was quite usual
o bear prophets of prosperity say that
n the near future all the wheels of in
lustry in important manufacturing
centers would be humming. Since the
lolidays concrete facts have been in
evidence from day to day showing
hat the business situation has actual
ly improved.
Those who have been predicting
that prosperity would be in full swing
in all parts of the country before the
end of the first half of the yeav will
see their prediction fulfilled.
An Ohio legislator would like to see the
railroads compelled to clean the uphol
Btery In their cars. The people who scat
ter billboerds over the landscape should
be interested in legislation to make rail
roads clean their car windows so passen
gers can look out.
Herr Ridder says German-American cit
izens should organize. Herr Ridder seems
to forget that this war won't last forever,
and when It is ended German-American
citizens who have lost their heads will be
st a serious disadvantage In this coun
try.
Processor Taft continues to wear the
amlle that won't come off, but a certain
distinguished citizen of Oyzter Bay is ztlll I
frowning.
—
It Is reported that Immense herds o
caribou, such as once roamed the forest
t>f Maine, may again be found in tha
state after a few years. Hunting guide
and game wardens In the northern par
of Maine and along the Canadian borde:
state that evidences of caribou in lncreas
ing numbers have been found. Such
stories have been current for the pas
tw'o years. Herbert Spencer, a warder
who is located near the St. John waters
says he observed a herd of about 3<
caribou In a certain section on the Maim
side of the St. Lawrence river. The>
belonged to the woodland variety which
do not wander as much as the Newfound
land caribou. Mr. Spencer thinks this
herd has increased from a smaller here
of six or seven animals which he saw six
years ago. Game officials are in doubl
as to whether the herd has survived from
the caribou that were at one time plenti
ful in Maine, or whether they have en
croached on the Maine border from New
Brunswick.
The West Hartlepool citizen who died
of shock following the bombardment by
German cruisers was arguing with his
■wife that such a thing couldn’t possibly
happen when a shell passed through his
house. No wonder he gave up the ghost!
Blease disbands the militia of South
Carolina one week before going out of of
fice. lie seems determined to free every
body in the state whose personal liberty
is in any way restricted.
President Poincare says he can see the
end of the war within a year, which goes
to show that Poincare is either the most
farsighted man of his time or that the
French have invented a 42 centimeter tel
escope.
Turpinite is dangerous to handle, and
that is one of the reasons why it isn’t
being used more in the war. The man
behind the gun should be protected as
much as possible.
Some advertiser overlooked a bet wrhen
he failed to get the brand of cigarette
the captain of the Formidable was smok
ing as his ship went down.
A fancier has succeeded in producing a
chicken with legs so short it seems to be
sitting. A chicken like that isn’t apt to
wander far from home.
The airmen are getting busy in Europe
again, and John Bull is beginning to
quake once more at the prospect of a
Zeppelin invasion.
The creole drama of Argentina is being
rapidly developed, but it is not the sort of
entertainment that appeals to the tired
business man.
The Nobel peace prize is going begging
♦ his year. Why not give it to Secretary
Daniels for his efforts to perfect a lady
like navy?
With Mexico, Haiti, and San Domingo
in form the old world is making con
siderably more than 365 revolutions a year.
A Michigan legislator wants the United
States to buy Mexico from General Villa.
And we call a man like that a “solon.”
The suffragettes would no doubt like to
make their tireless adversary, J. Thomas
Heflin, the stepson of his country.
It s an ill wind that blows no good; even
high wdieat prices may help to develop
corn fed girls.
Sing Sing, according to the latest re
ports, is nothing less than a prison full
of piety.
THE MATES OF ’WARRIORS
From “The Sword of Youth,” by James
Lane Allen, in the Century Magazine.
For are not the most beautiful genera
tions of the women of any race produced
during its long heroic wars? Is it not
what women think of distant jlghting men
that alone carries their natures to c.rtain
loftiest ranges of human expression” Not
such beauty as comes to other women
from thoughts of God—women whose
brows, dedicated to heaven, have the plti
fulness of blanched flowers; whose eyes
are ever turned toward the dust as though
the bold, burning sun were too human a
light, and these could be opened wide
and unafraid only in dark places before
the unsidereal radiance of silver lamps.
But beauty which answers with frank
and full understanding to all there is in
the eyes of men, when these come home
to them, as their saviors and lovers, from
bi ttle plains where blood ran reddest
and fiercest near the very wine presses
of death and the young vineyards of the
slain. Is it nature’s compensation to wom
en for their passionate unfitness to carry
on war that they can yet win its *ietories
as the mates of warriors, who after the
lapse of all Christian centuries are still
to them the foremost and the fullest of
men ?
IF ITALY SHOULD FIGHT
Frank Simonds in the New Republic.
If Italy should enter the war there
would be an instant moral effect which
might bring peace. If this failed, Ger
many would be forced to surrender her
offensive on both fronts and probably to
evacuate not alone Poland and Belgium,
but East Prussia and her trans-Rhenane
tenltories. Prolongation of the war would
probably destroy the Austrian empire,
but Germany might endure all and con
tinue to the end, confident that the dis
solution of Austria must be the first step
in a still more complete unification of
the Germans of Europe.
For Italy this last consideration might
well make her continued neutrality, for
if Austria vanished, she W'ould have to
face a greater Germany determined to re
take Trieste and obtain a window' on the
Adriatic, and at the same time a southern
Slav nation, eager to win back Dal
matia, rtady to challenge Italy’s title to
Albania.
POINTED PARAGRAPHS
From the Chicago News.
Some women act as if they had a
monopoly on goodness.
The hard part about an easy job is the
getting thereof.
Satan never offers to go into partner
ship with a busy man.
Men love women less than they love to
have women love them.
Lazy people usually work overtime
when it oomes to giving advice.
But the income of every married man is
already taxed to the limit.
The more polite two women are when
they meet the more they hate each other.
Let us try to do right at all times.
We’ll not succeed enough to hurt any
thing.
If some men had never been born, some
others might have to work for a living.
When a man says he is “blase” it meuns
that his digestive apparatus isn’t work*
ing as it should. \
The man who thinks a kood deal of his*
wife should not attempt to conceal
thoughts when they arc alone.
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
* —
Diversified Fanning In DeKalb
, *'The farmers of my county are al
ready giving attention to diversified
. crops,” said 6. B. Loyd, merchant ant
farmer of Dawson, DeKalb county
“What we need is better markets foi
our surplus.
“On the fertile heights ©f the Sane
mountain country, we grow corn, oats
peas and sorghum, and make good cot
ton crops. Our county has a large sur
plus crop this year of corn. Now, I am
only offered, on Morris avenue, 71 cent*
per bushel for corn delivered. It will
cost me 11 cents for sacking and freight
thus showing only 60 cents net for it.
That is entirely too low with the mar
kets for grain as high as they are
quoted in the west.
“We are raising some stock but not
many cattle. My brother has 11 Berk
shire brood sows and he gets $5 apiece
for Ills pigs.
“Cotton seed Is bringing $21 per ton;
cotton 7*4 cents. Sorghum has a local
market of 40 cents, but it is limited.”
The Local Orchestra Movement
“I was glad to read in The Age-Her
ald that the local Musician's union,
officially known as the Birmingham
Musical association, had taken steps to
organize a large concert orchestra,”
*uid an old music lover. “There is to
ho an adjourned meeting next Sufiday
afternoon, at which officers of the
Orchestral associaiton will be elected.
One good feature of the plan is an in
vitation to amateur performers as
well as union musicians to join the
orchestra.
*’T was a member of the Orchestral
association about 14 years ago with
Mr. Guckenberger as director, Mr. Les
ser as president, and Prof. Grambs as
vice president. The players were se
lected from the best material available,
and if I remember aright there were
just 20. We had exactly 20 rehearsals
and then gave one concert in the^
O’Brien opera house. The programme
was quite attractive, and included a
Haydn symphony. But the perform
ance was poorly attended and the or
chestra never attempted to give an
other.
“The situation has greatly improved
Fince then. Birmingham has more than
quadrupled and the orchestral talent
ahs Increased steadily. We should be
able now to start with a fairly good
orchestra of 35 or 40. We may be
lacking in violas and French horns,
and two or three other instruments,
but after the orchestra is formed the
needed instruments will possibly be
found before a great while.
“We should bo able to have a few
Sunday afternoon concerts by the or
chestra in the early spring. Sunday
is the only day that professional mu
sicians in large numbers can be as
sembled together.”
Growth of Fraternal Order*
“As seen from the statistics of fra
ternal organizations published in the
New York World Almanac for 1915, ther^
has been growth in membership in all
of them,” said a well known fraternity
man. “For a long time the Masons in the
United States and Canada out numbered
the Odd Fellow’s, but a year or two ago
the Odd Fellows got in the lead. In the
new table of statistics, however, the
Masons have first place again. The mem
bership of the Masonic lodges of the
United States and Canada totaled, ac
cording to the last official reports of
grand lodges, 1,071,427. The Odd Fel
lows in the United States and Canada
had a total membership of 1,609,096.
“The Modern Woodmen of America
came next with 908,139 members. Next
came the Knights of Pythias with 725,
009.
“The World Almanac foots up* the
membership of all the orders and gives
a total of 15,674,220. Many belong to two
or more orders. I once belonged to five.
But America is pre-eminently the coun
try of fraternal societies.”
Picture Show* Hold Public
“Picture shows still hold with tho
public,” said E. N. Colley, “because of
the high class of entertainment at a
minim uni cost to see. When the first
pictures were shown 'twas claimed that
the ilickering lights injured children's
eyes. All this has been removed.
"Another strong feature in a city
such as Birmingham is many visitors
w ish to rest and to be entertained for an
hour. Then many business men need
the relaxation at the noon hour. When
we stop to consider the comfort of a i
W’ell appointed picture show its shelter
and warmth on cold or rainy days, we
then see the reason that the picture
shows still hold their own.”
Prosperity lu the Went
“Cities in the wrest felt little of the
business depression prevailing last fall, |
and for the past seven or eight ■weeks;
most of them have been enjoying a solid
boom,” said H. P. Ainsworth of Philadel
phia.
“I was in San Francisco in December
and found prosperity greatly in evidence
there, and Seattle where I stopped for
a day seemed to be thriving as never be
fore.
“In Chicago I found business ‘spotty.’
Some lines of trade and manufacturing
enterprise were up to normal, but others
were still dull. Everybody in Chicago,
however, talked as if a great rush of
business was expected in the spring
after the lakes were open for navigation.
“There is more business activity in
| St. Louis than there is in Chicago. In
fact, St. Louis seems not to have been
much affected by the general depression.
I have been in business for 22 years, and
in taking a survey at this time I feel I
make no mistake in predicting genuine
prosperity in every section in the very
near future.”
An Early Spring
“We have had as much winter during
the past eight weeks as we usually have
in an entire season, but I believe we will
have an early spring," said an old citizen
who claims to be weatherwise. “I predict
I that we will have one hard freeze in the
last week of January, and one and only
one in February. Ground hog day will be
cloudy, or rather that is my forecast. If
it is raw and gloomy the ground hog
will stay out of his hole, and that will in
dicate the winter is almost gone.”
CHINA’S MIGHTY POPULATION
From “Civilization in China,” by II. A.
Giles.
The population of China has never been
exactly ascertained. The latest census,
taken in 1902, is said to yield a total of
410,000,000. Perhaps 300,000,000 would be a
more nearly correct estimate; even that
would absorb no less than one-fifth of the
human race. From this total it is easy
to estimate that if the Chinese people
were to march past a given point in single
file the procession would never end; long
before the last of the 300,000,000 had passed
►by a new’ generation would have sprung
up to continue the endless line.
WAR ECHOES
Philadelphia Evening Ledger? Ar
American steel company has refused an
order for 300,000 aeroplane darts
for the use of the French. The Evening
Ledger published a picture of this new
instrument of warfare recently. It Is
about eight Inches long, so grooved that
it falls point down, and would, it is said,
Jf it hit a man square on the top of the
head, go straight through him lengthwise.
The order was rejected “for reasons of
neutrality." It might Just as well have
been rejected for reasons of humanity.
The whole world shuddered when bombs
were dropped on Antwerp. Since then
men have become accustomed to such out
rages, which apparently have been perpe
trated by Germans and allies alike. We
can conceive of no emergency which
justify the use of aeroplane darts, resist
less and death-dealing. They can serve
no military purpose. As well poison the
water supply. As the war progresses
cruelty becomes more and more the vogue,
although the W'orld has been so chilled
by outrages that they are accepted as a
matter of course.
Pittsburg Dispatch: While there may be
a certain lack of subjects on which to
praise the course of the Austro-Hungarian
military reporters w’on a decided distinc
tion by giving the truth and telling the
true reason for w'hat w*as done. The
Vienna report of the movements in the
Carpathians struck an unwonted degree of
frankness by declaring that “regard for
the safety of our advance troops obliged
us to fall back on the principal mountain
passes."
This is a violation of military precedent
that the neutral world can heartily ap
plaud. Regard for the welfare of the com
mon soldiers has not characterized this
war as a rule. But to assign it as a cause
for retreating exhibits a novel combina
tion of tender-heartedness and veracity.
It is alleged that the Russian reporters
of war news have not informed that em
pire of Hinderburg’s victory at Tannen
burg. French and German reports have
adopted high-sounding paraphrases to
cover up the confession of a retreat. When
Austria says that they fell back out of
regard for the safety of the troops she
I indulges in a frankness that is not less
I lustrous by reason of Its Infrequency.
Yet why should the military empires
not tell the truth? Experience shows that
the neutral countries may retard it in
reaching their own people. But when the
latter finally do get the facts, the longer
the delay, the more complete the destruc
tion of confidence in the official news.
ALABAMA PE ESS
Talladega Home: Greenville merchants
are practicing what the entire south has I
been preaching. They are insisting that
farmers to whom they make advances
cut the cotton acreage and plant increased
food crops. This plan adopted in every
southern town will put cotton up after it
is planted and it is demonstrated that the
acreage is cut.
Mobile Register: The latest suggestion
is a railroad be built from Birmingham to
the Warrior, a distance of 30 miles, cut
ting the rate to tidewater in half. The
investments would bo $1,000,000, but is
believed would pay directly and indirectly
better than any other million dollars in
any industry in the mineral region. Looks
good to us.
Decaturs Daily: The federated women's
clubs of the state will probably secure
! the child reform legislation they are i
asking for, if it becomes necessary to use
a hairpin to get it.
Huntsville Mercury-Banner: Mr. Hen
derson is correct when he says his elec
tion was an expression of the will of the
people of the state. He stood firmly on
a local option platform and defeated his
opponents—Seed, a pronounced prohibi
tionist, and Comer, who wobbled between
the two—by a large majority.
A REAL WOMAN SOLDIER
From the New York World.
Nc Memorial Day parade will again see
the familiar figure of Kady Brownell
marching in the ranks of the civil war
veterans. It is almost 53 years since as
a bride of 18 she insisted upon going to
the front as a member of her husband’s
regiment, the First Rhode Island volun
teers. It is*only a few months less than
that since she was wounded in the field
and Inter won national fame by her gal
lant conduct under fire at the battle of
Newborn, in North Carolina.
Kady Brownell was not the traditional
Amazpn. the fierce fighting female who
disguises herself in a man’s costume and
makes a male of herself. She wore her
own woman’s uniform of blue flannel
blouse, full short skirt and boots. She
went armed and was a crack shot. It
stands to her record that she was the
only woman rr ember of the Grand Army
of the Republic.
The test testimony to the bravery of
this girl soldier is General Burnside’s let
ter. in which he says: “Mrs. Brownell
was with my command during the^am
paign in North Carolina, and by her ser
vices on the battlefield of Newbern and
in the hospital located there saved many
officers and soldiers from death.” No
womor was ever less heroic In appearance
or more feminine* in manner, but Kady
Brownell stood the test that the army re
quired of its men in years'^gf hard cam
paigning.
TRAINING WOMEN FOR WAR
Frances Frear in Leslie’s.
I English women do not intend to go to
the front, but it is planned to so organ
ize them that they may take the place
and do the work of men who can then be
sent to the front. At a meeting held at
the Mansion house in London, the Wom
en’s Volunteer reserve was organized, the
object of which is, according to the lord
mayor, to provide a trained and highly
efficient body of women whose services
can be offered to the state if required.
Among the things which women may be
trained to do as effectively as men, are
signaling, dispatch riding, telegraphing,
motoring, and camp cooking, thus releas
ing an equal number of men for service
on the firing line. In case of a German
invasion of England, which is not beyond
the range of possibility, it Is probable
that these women will be armed for the
defence of their homes. No experience
could be harder for women than to sit at
home with folded hands while their loved
ones have gone to the front to suffer or
to die. Woman has always done her part
in time of war, in nursing the wounded j
and carrying on the work at home, but
the organization of the women of England
into a volunteer reserve force to serve In
case their country is invaded*-, brings
home the awful realties of war as nothing
else has done.
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES |
A SAD STORY OF LIFE.
A member of the chorus
Who visited a seer
Was told that in six months she would
Be married to a peer.
Such talk should be discounted,
It leads young girls astray;
This maiden bought a lot of things
For which she could not pay.
And when she’d hoped to marry
Her luck was very poor,
For she was doing one-night stands
She’d never done before.
And no one said, “My lady,
His lordship waits below,"
Instead she warbled ragtime songs
And critics panned the show.
SOMETIMES.
“There are exceptions to all rules."
“For instance?”
“Sometimes the best dressed woman in
town has a husband who is the best
dressed man."
" ONE BLESSING.
“Poor Mopson! All his political dreams
have come to naught."
“Well, a man can’t have everything he
wants in this world. Mopson has had the
same cook for 10 years."
ORNITHOLOGICAL PREFERENCES.
A sparrow I would like to be
For I could eat my fill,
And loaf around in some big tree
And never pay a bill.
—Detroit Journal.
A robin I would like to be,
To come forth ere I burst
With food, and hear one claim that he
Alone has seen me first!
—Cleveland Plain Dealer.
l
An eagle I would like to be,
I rise to wildly holler,
So people would be glad to see
My likeness on a dollar.
—Youngstown Telegram.
But there’s one bird I’d hate to be
And that’s the dove of peace,
Because, as far as I can see,
Its troubles never cease.
SIMILAR EXPERIENCES.
“Why are you so anxious to meet
! Blobbs, the explorer?”
“I liavo a fellow feeling for him.” k
“You’ve never been an explorer, hav
you?”
“No, but I understand that he subsist
chiefly on canned goods while away fron
civilization, and as the husband of i
cooking school graduate, I know a thin?
or two about canned goods mj'self. ”
AN INTERRUPTION.
“Fellow citizens,’’ said the master o
ceremonies, “I take pleasure In intro
during to you ’Squire Tompkins. candidaU
for county commissioner. Introducing hin
to you is a mere formality, as he is al
ready known to everyone of you. An<
what is more, you all know where ’Squir*
Tompkins stands.”
“That’s right,” was spoken in a shril
voice from the rear. “He’s been standin’
In front of the postoffice, day in an’ day
out, for nigh on to 16 years!”
WELL FIXED.
“No matter whaT happens, Hudson
seems to take a cheerful view of life.” .
“I believe I could do that, too,” said
the impecunious citizen, “If I could do
as Gadson does.”
“How is that?”
“Look at life over the crest of a million
dollar pile.”
IF SO, WHERE?
Lives there a man
Who doesn’t frown .
When asked to shake
The furnace down?
COMPELLED TO SKIMP. #
V
“Did you have a good dinner last even
ing?”
“No. I’m on a diet.”
“The doctor’s orders?”
“No. The Kaiser’s doing.”
PAUL COOK.
THE MEN IN THE TRENCHES I
From the Houston Post.
REPORTS from Berlin tell us that
the German authorities have is
sued a general order prohibiting
in future troops in the field from frater
nizing with forces of the enemy, as they
did at several points of the war on
Christmas. It is said that to such an ex
tent was this fraternizing carried out
that at one place where the Germans and
British played football Christmas day,
they agreed to suspend hostilities for two
days more.
There is nothing new about troops of
opposing armies fraternizing. It happens
in nearly every war, and was common,
indeed, during the great W'ar between the
sections in the United States.
The ease reported from Berlin is but
one of many that have occurred during
the present war. From the very begin
ning, the men in the trenches have when
opportunities favored suspended hostili
ties long enough to mingle with each
other.
It proves what is well known.
The anger and hatred of the present war
is confined for the most part to the rul
ing classes and the noncombatants.
The men in the field do not hate each
other, and they have never had cause to
hate each other.
Before the first declaration of war on
August 1, the German people were not
bothering themselves about Russia*
France or Belgium, nor even England.
They wanted none of the territory of
these countries and, above all, they had
no desire to kill their inhabitants. The
Russian had no designs on Germany or
Austria. The average citizen'of each of
the belligerent nations only wanted to be
let alone to pursue his vocation and re
main with his loved ones.
The princes, nobles and politicians, how
ever, having nothing to do in the way of
bettering conditions in the world, living
idle and ofttimes vicious lives, indifferent
to the lives and happiness of the toiling
masses of their respective countries, fear
ful lest prolonged peace might jeopardize
their prerogatives and privileges, swayed
by ambitions, jealousies and intrigue,
knowing that they could stir the patriot
ism of the masses and embroil them,
touched the spark that set the world afire.
From a sense of duty and because they
have no other alternative the men In the
trenches fight like' true soldiers all.
They have illustrated time and egain
the splendid virtues of the race, as they
have gone to death by the hundreds of
thousands. They are the men who in the
battle's lull can meet each other as
brothers, not as foes, but as common vic
tims of outworn autocracy, sacrificed to
ignoble ambition and to the everlasting
shame of the princes who have deluged
the earth with blood. .■
. ...
NEW NAMES FOR OLD WARS I
From the Providence Journal.
□ LARGE body ot southern women
representing the United Daugh
ters of the Confederacy has peti
tioned Congress to bestow upon the war
of 1861-05 the official title of "The War
Between the States.’ Objection is made
to the term “Civil War" on curious
grounds. The women set forth the claim
that a civil war is a war between citi
zens of a common country, while our
great internal dissension was between
groups of organized states.
On purely sentimental grounds there
seems to be more reason for their ob
jection to the term “War of the Re
bellion,” although there is hardly sound
logic in their claim that the people'
of the south were not rebels, since they
were "subjects of no power.” Nor is
there a substantial foundation for their
dislike for "War of Secession.” This is
held to be an Insufficient designation in
that it is based merely on the fact that
"the right to secede happened to be in
volved along with our other rights.”
However, it happens that the right of
secession was one of the vital prin
ciples involved and that the war was
fought largely to determine the ques
tion of the preservation or the disrup
tion of the union. Also it is an ines
capable fact that the war was a genuine
"rebellion.” The people of the south
were actually rebels, and it was event
ually proved that they were the subjects
of a power, that of the United States
of America. A war of that precise na
ture is unalterably a rebellion or a
revolution, according to its successful
or unsuccessful outcome, and it should
not be considered that there is any fun
damental reproach in the word “rebel
lion" or the word “rebel.”
However, it must be recognized that
a traditional reproach does attach to tli^
words, in spite of their essential inno
cence, and there must be a strohg sym
pathy with the sentiment that holds
their use objectionable. The people of
the south for a great many years have
been loyal citizens of this country; there
is comparatively little surviving bitter
ness or rancor in any of the states, and
it seems high time to wipe all objec
tionable words and phrases off the slate.
Congress may give some heed to this
petition of may give some heed to this
slderation that is prompted by the or
dinary rules of perfunctory politeness.
It seems doubtful if There Is really any
“official” name for the war in question,
although it Is said that "War of the Re
bellion” is stamped upon the records
compiled by the federal government.
The real name of a war, however, is the
name that designates it in popular
usage, and this one will probably con
tinue to be known through future gen
erations by the majority of the people
as the “Civil War." The use of that term
seems entirely unobjectionable, and the
argument against it Is based on mere
hair-splitting. It may be added that
"the War for the Union” has some ad
vantages. But for the sake of thorough
good feeling Congress might do well to
adopt the superlative of refining
euphemisms, and have all the official
records re-labelled "The Late Unpleas
antness.” I
SWITZERLAND’S ARMY EXPENSIVE
From the Boston Transcript.
Switzerland finds a citizen army any
thing but a cheap defense. In peace
times its annual cost Is about $9,000,000, or
one-third of the national budget. As the
Swiss army has been mobilized for the
enforcement of neutrality ever since the
war began, the bill this year is of stag
gering proportions to the thrifty people of
the little mountain republic. A deficit of
nearly $5,000,000 has to be made up, mainly
due to mobilization. Switzerland’s popu
lation is not very much larger than that
of Massachusetts, but its army has an ag
gregate of 214,000 or thereabouts. Draw
this force from ft people who have been
deprived of one great source of income,
the presence of tourists, and who see no
prospect of an influx of summer visitors,
and we can measure the exactions which
neutrality imposes on a nation that only
asks to be let alone, this time, for it has
fiot forgotten that 100 years ago its neu
trality wag disregarded by allied Prussia,
Russia arid Austria, which were bent on
making a short cut into France.
WHITEFIELD WAS AN ALE DRAWER
From the London ^hronicle. ■>
George Whitfield, whose bicentenary
was celebrated recently, qualified as a
boy for greatness in more than one di
rection. The future evangelist enjoyed
play acting, and performed in girl s
clothes before the mayor and corpora
tion of Gloucester; while by the time he
was 15 he had become an expert ale
drawer in the family public house. These
pursuits, alien to the pulpit, appear, how
ever, to have been converted Into aids to
evangelism. The youthful love of the
stage no doubt helped to develop the tre
mendous histrionic gift which made Lord
Chesterfield, on hearing Whitfield describe
a blind beggar’s fall over a precipice,
spring from his seat and exclaim, "Good
God. he’s gone!'* •
FROM THE “RUBAIYAT”
A book of verses underneath the bough,
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread—and thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness—
O, wilderness were paradise enow!
I some times think that never blows so
red j
The rose as where some buried Caesar
bled;
That every hyacinth the garden wears
Dropt in her lap from some once lovely
head. j
Ah, my beloved, fill the cup that clears
Today of past regrets and future fears;
Tomorrow!—Whjr, tomorrow I may be
Myself with yesterday's sev’n thousand:
years.
•
All, make the most of what we yet may
tpena.
Before wp toe Into the duct deecend;
Bust unto duet, and under duat to lie,
Sane wine, sum eons. Bans staffer, and—
aaus end! j : • >'