The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], February 01, 1915, Page 4, Image 4

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

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THE AGE-HERALD
E. V\. BAH RETT.Editor
Entered at i he Uirmmgnain, Ala.,
postoffice as second class matter undof
act of Congress March 3, 1879.
Daily and Sunday Age-Herald.... $8.d0
Daily and Sunday, per month.70
Daily and Sunday, three months.. 3.UJ
Weekly Age-Herald, per annum... .uJ
Sunday Age-Herald .. 2.U0
A. J. Eaton, Jr., and O. E. Young are
the only authorized traveling repre
sentatives of The Age-Herald in its cir
culation department.
No communication will be published
without its author s name. Rejects 1
manuscript will not De returned unlesu
stamps are enclosed lor that purpose.
Remittances can bo made at currant
rate of exchange. The Age-Herald will
not be responsible for money sent
through the niaJls. Address,
THE AG E-11ERADD.
Birmingham, Ala,
Washington bureau, 207 llibbs build
ing.
European bureau, 6 Henrietta streei
Covent Garden, London.
Eastern business office, Rooms 48 f*»
50, inclusive. Tribune building, Nev\
York city; western business office.
Tribune building, Chicago. The 6. C.
Beckwith Special Agency, agents for
eign advertising.
TELEPHONE
Hell (private eKchnnge connecting all
department*) Main 41HK1.
The crow doth wing n* *wretly a* the
lark when neither I* attended.
•—Merchant of Venice.
BEGINNING THE DAY—Help me,
0 Lord, to remain true to the prin
ciple* of my clldlihood teaching. May
1 not * 11 p away! IHnd me to the great
honcMtle* and the great love* ln
ntllled In me when I wan young. Save
me from dishonoring my parent* and
my teacher* and tlio*c who loved me
and prayed for me. Amen.—II. M. 11.
A Curious Will
Perhaps no other legal document re
veals so many of humanity’s queer
traits as a will. The contents of an
unsual will published in a newspaper
are always eagerly read by students
of human nature, as well as the idly
curious, because sometimes in the
posthumous revelations they make
people who have lived an apparently
humdrum life, going about their daily
tasks in the most prosaic fashion, are
suddenly discovered to be extraordi
nary persons with ideas no one but
their discreet lawyer, perhaps, knew
about. Some men are able to keep
their inner selves hidden from even
their most intimate associates, while
others have friends or relatives so
devoted to them that their eccen
tricities are kept from the knowledge
of the world.
However, there was no attempt
made either by himself or anybody
else, it is believed, to veil the unusual
characteristics of Harold Osgood Bin
ney, a patent lawyer whose eccen
tricities were so pronounced that he
was sent to Blackswell’s Island work
house because he refused to give a
bond of $1000 to keep the peace, after
having been arrested for disorderly
conduct. He made his will while a
prisoner in the workhouse and it was
witnessed by three patients in the
hosptial ward of the institution. He
requested that his body be burned or
devoted to the cause of science. In
case his body were cremated, he re
quested that the ashes be “strewn
in some garden near the seashore,
where its solids may prove of use at
least to the shrubs and flowers.”
^tfter requesting that no needless ex
pense be “wasted on a church cere- ^
mony or on the trappings of woe,” the
testator continues: “I die as I have
lived—a convinced, and I trust, a good
infidel, believing that the last six
verses of the Decalogue would be bet
ter observed without the presence of
the four superstitious ones that pre
cede them.”
As if to support th* theory that '
eccentricity is only another form of 1
egotism, Binney left numerous small 1
bequests to friends and relatives with 1
which to purchase mementoes, among 1
them silver picture frames in which 1
he desired his photograph to be kept
for a stated period of time.
Rural Free Delivery and Economy
Postmaster General Burleson has
administered the affairs of his de
partment with marked economy, and
while his retrenchment has as a rule '
not been at the expense of efficiency 1
some instances are being cited where 1
his cutting down will mean deteriora
tion in service. i
In looking over his extensive field 1
of operation recently to see where he 1
could save Uncle Sam large sums the i
Postmaster General picked out the ru- 1
ml free delivery as a branch that 11
tnight be curtailed and reduce expend
itures about $17,000,000 a year. He
said that the rural carriers were get- 1
ting such large pay that the system
ought to be changed and put on a con
tract basis; but the citizens who are
•erved bj' the rural free delivery in
■parsely settled districts are protest
ing vigorously against the change.
Those who have looked well into the
matter see that it would work no ma
terial hardship in thickly populated
■tates. The farmers living along ru
ral routes would receive their mail just
the same whether the carriers received
aalaries or worked on a contract, but
in the south it would be very different.
It would mean in some cases the dis
I
continuance of the rural free deliver
and in other cases there would be onl
'
(three deliveries a week instead o
daily deliveries.
Few things done by the governmen
for the cultural advancement of th
people have been so beneficent as thi
installation and improvement of thi
rural delivery system. The farme
has been enabled to keep in touch will
the markets daily and with the new:
of the day, to say nothing of othei
advantages that come from a daily
mail service.
It is earnestly hoped that the Post
master General will find some othei
way to economize at the present time
without weakening the free delivery
service in the south.
Crop Campaign Plans Complete
No campaign for arousing populai
interest in any large movement it
Alabama has been so well organizec
as this originating in the Birming
ham Chamber of Commerce to pro
mote agriculture by crop diversifica
tion.
Not only have many well known ex
perts in farm demonstartion work
been enlisted in the cause but large
numbers of business men here and
in other cities in the state are co
operating enthusiastically with the
general committee, for every manu
facturing and mercantile center is
vitally concerned in the progress of
agriculture. Crop diversification will
not only mean more prosperity for the
farmer but it will mean more pros
perity for every business interest in
Alabama.
There is reason to believe that the
money value of the crops raised in
this state this year will exceed the
total valuS of any previous year; and
higher records will follow year by
year. Weather conditions permitting,
there will be an abundant yield of
foodstuffs and a great increase in the
production of hogs and beef cattle.
The farmers now' realize thorough
y the importance of diversification of
:rops. The next thing is learn how
:o diversify in a scientific and busi
less-like manner. Education along
liversification lines 'will have splen
lid results. The first “field” activity
if this great campaign will be next
Wednesday. It will be Jefferson
•ounty day. There will be a meeting
n nearly every large beat, and re
gardless of the weather each meeting
will be well attended. Jefferson is
sure to give a good account of itself.
The campaign for the rest of the
Tate will begin Thursday.
Proposition Growing In Favor
The address which B. P. Yoakum,
hairman of the Frisco lines, delivered
lefore an assemblage of prominent
ind public spirited citizens in New
fork on “The Railroads, Government
Ownership and the Unemployed,”
nade a distinct impression. The
news which the speaker advanced
lad an appeal to the world of
iractical affairs, as well as to the
magination, and the address has been
widely quoted with approval.
Mr. Yoakum’s idea was briefly
his: The United States govern
nent still has in the public domain
ibout 2,000,000,000 acres of land
suitable for agriculture, and if it
vould open a considerable percentage
if these untilled stretches to settlers
here would be a great rush from the
ongested centers with the result that
n a very few years there would be an
mmense increase in the productive re
ources of the nation.
Mr. Yoakum said that it made tit
le difference who owned the rail
oads—whether the government or in
lividuals—for the government vir
ually controlled them. One of the
roubles that would arise from gov
■rnment ownership would be, he
bought, that an immense army of
government officials and employes
vould enter the political arena.
But if the government were to open
ip the public domain for settlement—
ir a large part of it—the railroads
vould begin building new lines to
each the newly developed sections,
['here would be great demand for la
>or of all classes. Mr. Yoakum
hought that nothing that could be
lone or nothing that could happen
vould give such a stimulant to busi
less or so accelerate high record pros
>erity as for the government to act
in his suggestion. Many prominent
lublicists and practical business men
lave commended cordially the Yoa
,um plan. It is feasible and should
eceive consideration in Washington.
mprovement In the Business Situation
A review of last week’s transactions
n the business world shows on the
whole substantial improvement. The
:otton export movement was very
arge and brought the total for the
nonth up to approximately 1,2(>0,000
jales, the largest for any month thus
:ar in the present season, and it is
believed that very large shipments
will be made during February.
In the steel trade contracts for
ouilding material were light, but there
was an encouraging increase in the
release of orders for rails. In Jan
uary orders for 225,000 tons of rails
i
I
' were placed, with 300,000 tons addi
tional pending.
1 The railroads are showing a good
increase in traffic. In December there
1 was a heavy shrinkage in net earn
ings, but the January gross earnings
showed a large increase compared
!'with January of last year.
The increasing movement of cotton
is being appreciably felt by the south
ern lines, and southern railroad stocks
are much stronger on the New York
exchange in consequence of the gen
eral improvement in the cotton situa
tion.
i he indications for February point
to a considerable increase in most
lines of business.
An automobile dubbed the "votes for
women flyer" left Wilmington, Del., last
week for a tour of the state in the in
terests of woman suffrage. The car, tilled
with sufragette speakers, equipped with
a bugler and a bass drummer and car
rying also a plentiful supply of suffra
gette literature, will visit every Impor
tant town In the state. After Airs. John
A. Cranston. Delaware's veteran suf
frage leader, had made a brief address
wishing the speakers godspeed,- to which
a reply was made by Mrs. Edna S.
Latimer, of the Just Government league
of Maryland, the start was made with
the bugle sounding, the drum booming
and many sympathizers cheering. The
first stop was made at Newcastle, where
a successful meeting was held. The
Delaware campaign Is part of the vigor
ous battle being waged at present by the
suffragists In many of the states where
they scent an early victory. Delaware,
being a small state, a whirlwind automo
bile tour is quite practicable there and
does not involve any great hardships,
except the wear and tear on the throats
of the speakers. Such an undertaking
would be out of the question in a state the
size of Texas, for instance, unless the
suffragists were willing to devote a great
deal of time and patience to it.
If a Zeppelin should run out of petrol .
and land in Leicester square an English
correspondent thinks everybody would
want a souvenir. If a Zeppenlin should
merely drop a bomb in Leicester square, ■
however, and then pass on, the situa- i
tion would he different. 1
.-- l
it is reported that the only book that ,
fell from a bookseller’s shelves when
Scarborough was bombarded was one
about Germany. Readers of the future
(
should confer and l%t the world know ,
their opinion.
Villa was slightly wounded by one of
Ids officers recently. Fate plays queer
tricks on a man. After passing safely 1
through countless dangers, Villa may 1
yet die a trivial death.
A visitor to Montgomery says he could
hardly tell what was going on in the :
legislature because of the waving of some
! prodigiously long ears. Of course he ex
aggerated a trifle.
A famous British author is now sub
sisting on a charity donation of $7.50 ]
a week. Unfortunately for him, he was
unable to capitalize the war by writing
poetry about it. I
--*•»- I
in the meantime wheat continues to
behave like a kite without a tail in a ’
high wind, although it stays up better
than a kite would do under similar cir- s
eu instances.
Anna Held ought to make a hit as a '
war nurse, although she could prob- <
ably do more good by warbling songs 1
to the wounded than by trying to bandage
them.
The West Virginia congregation who ,
preached a sermon to their minister, pre- i
surnably got some matters “off their j
chests" that had been there a long time. *
_ t
The correspondent who writes that Paris £
is gay again should wait until this war
is over. Then Paris will probably break c
all previous records for gaiety.
"It is not the size of the watch-dog, f
but the worship of the watchdog that 1
makes militarism," says Israel Zangwill, *
which is a point well taken.
The Kentucky farmer who burned up 1
his 4000-pound crop of tobacco through re
ligious scruples will probably never be t
indicted for “moonshining." 1
Birmingham is to have a vaudeville !
war just at a time when nearly every- j
body else about here, except prohibition
ists, wants peace. t
-...- 1
A young millionaire sued for divorce *,t
by his wife Is very anxious to protect the <
good name of the "other Woman." Quite '
chivalrous, is he not?
An Indiana judge says jealousy is a
proof of love. By the same token, slay
ing one’s affinity is the very last word
in devotion.
With 18,000 "mouth organs" provided
for their entertainment, British soldiers
should find life in the trenches a grand,
sweet song.
POINTED PARAGRAPHS
From the Chicago News.
However, there are many fair singers
who are not blondes.
Heady money is seldom ready when you 1
want to borrow some.
Money you get on the mare doesn’t al- <
ways put her under the wire first.
Nothing is gained by abusing those j
whose opinions differ from your own.
A man may boast of ids ancestors be
cause he lias nothing to look forward to.
It is far easier to acquire a reputa- 1
tion for greatness than it is to make
good. j
Many a woman who doesn't know her (
own mind gives her husband pieces of it. ^
Who ever saw a free show' that didn’t
have some kind of a string attached 1
to it? «
If u man didn’t make an occasional mis
take his friends would have no kicks
coming.
When a woman is able to make some
other woman jealous she realizes that
she bus not lived in vain.
Before congratulating yourself when
you come out on top, bear in mind that 1
the froth on a glass of beer does the ,
same.
Home men find it so difficult to save a '
little money when single that they don’t
even think it worth while to try after
marrying. 1
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
The South’* Brightening Outlook
“In Xew York business circles one hear:
as much now about the improved cottor
situation in the south as was heard Iasi
fall about the south’s bad shape on ac
count of the demoralized condition of thf
market caused by the European war,'
said J. F. Fessenden of the borough ol
I Manhattan.
“When the hostilities started business
. in this country was improving rapidly,
and exceptional prosperity seemed just
ahead of us. But the war spoiled it all.
The last half of the year was hard on
• very branch of business in the east,
but now there is steady recovery. Janu
ary brought very decided improvement,
and as spring approaches the improve
ment will be greater still. The advance
in cotton has certainly been a great thing
for the south, and with good harvests next
.summer the south will he as prosperous
as ever."
Prosperity In I be Northwest
“Great prosperity prevails in the Da
kotas and in the grain growing section
generally,” said Charles H. Ungerman,
president of the Birmingham Packing
company, who has just returned from a
trip which included visits to several
states.
“I was in Chicago, and that city looks
very busy, but manufacturers are still
complaining of dullness. The prosperity
of the wfest, however, should soon be
felt by all lines of business in Chicago.
The receipts of hogs there last week were
immense—the largest, perhaps, ever
known.”
Alnhninn l>«>gs Off to Te\ns
“This week will close the big field
trials," said Percy Clark, “and I saw
the Alabama dogs as they departed from
Courtland in charge of their trainer
and handler, W. D. Gilchrist, bound for
the Texas trials.
“ 'Lewis C. Morris,’ who had the ill
luck to be afflicted with a rising on his
jaw that burst just before his great
heat at Grand Junction—largely to
blame for his losing— was in fine con
dition. ‘Jack Love.’ the brilliant ‘Free
Lance,’ young setter, said to be 'the
fastest thing on four legs,’ owned by
Gordon Moughon, was in Gilchirst's
string. The purses are $1000, and much
interest is felt by dog men of Bir
mingham in the Alabama entries, as
both are backed to win In their
classes—-‘Lewis’ in the all-age, and
■.Jack’ in the derby."
Garden Spot of Alnhumn
“The garden spot of Alabama is the
Tennessee valley," said C. M. Cook, who
is a native of Madison county. “That rich
and fertile section, level as a billiard
table in many places, produces abundant
crops of cotton, corn and haly.
“1 have visited recently along what
was once known as the Memphis and
Charleston railway, through several
counties, and tlie difference between that
section, its homes and its citizens, and
its prosperity, is marked in comparison
with other sections.
“On last Saturday 1 rode over miles of
that beautiful section lying between
Courtland and Decatur, and over a part
of tlie 20,000 acres still owned by the I
heirs of General Wheeler, and it seemed,
another country, as compared to the black
belt; there arc more pretty homes and
signs of thrift and progress, particularly ,
in the towns.
“As I went to se bird dogs of a field
trial class, I was not surprised to see In
two training kennels some 35 dogs—point
ers and setters—of blue blood, and some
world-famed. Major White has some* -10
prospects, and among them some stars.
He owns the amateur derby winner at
Rogers Springs—Jack Davis, Jr. -who, by
the way, is entered in the subscription to
be run at Oneonta February 6.
“\Y. D. Gilchrist, who developed and
won with the two great Birmingham dogs,
‘Lewis Morris' and ‘Jack Love,’ lias 26
splendid types of the setter and pointer
in training for owners all over the
United States, you might say. Mr. Grant,
his trainer, takes great pride in the dogs
directly under his care, and their condi
tion well shows it."
I'ropagnndii for Ciiltle find Sheep
“Tt is to be hoped that while the crop
diversification propaganda is being car
ried on. some attention will be given to
inducing owners of cut-over lands in
Alabama to give attention to cattle graz
ing and sheep raising.” said a man who
takes much interest in the state's growth
and development.
“There are thousands upon thousands
af .acres of 'sawmill lands.’ from which
all the lumber-size timber has been cut,
and some that even the charcoal material
ami growth has been taken from, which
would yield handsome returns In grazing
cattle and as sheep pastures. Three
strands of wire for the cattle, with sheds
and feeding troughs for rough weather,
would be all that would be required; for
the sheep, folds, with dog-proof wire,
and shepperds would be required. I saw
a fine flock of graded-up Southdowns in
north Alabama a few' days ago, and it
reminded me of the Spanish proverb,
‘Where the sheep tread the land turns
to gold.’
“Alabama could make her own beef
and mutton, with a surplus to sell, on
her now uncultivated lands, some of them
a part of large farm holdings, others the
cut-over—now wholly unproductive
lands.”
In the RiiMlncsa World
Henry Clew's, in his Saturday review,
says in part:
“As to general conditions, the ten
dency is rather towards improvement
than otherwise. Confidence lias been
steadily growing because the country
has adjusted itself to the war basis,
because the antagonism to capital shows
signs of abating, because our legis
lators are beginning to realize that at
tacks upon business have been carried
to an injurious degree ami because the
railroad outlook lias improved by the
manifestation of a more considerate
spirit on part of the interstate com
merce commission. Our continued large
export movement and the resulting
favorable balance of trade is likewise an
important factor, inasmuch as it
strengthens our abifity to retain, ;f
not attract gold. At present the excess
of exports over imports is phenomenal:
the only drawback being that dimin
ished imports are having a detrimental
effect upon national revenue. It is much
more desirable that we import merchan
dise than securities in payment for our
exports; because Europe is likely to
resist a gold movement in this direc
tion. and we do not wish an influx of
American securities.
"A more hopeful spirit prevails in
trade circles. Abundant money promises i
to be a powerful stimulant to trade rc- |
covery. The iron industry is still very ■
dull, but 11a leaders preserve an opti- S
mistic front. It cannot grow' worse and
must grow better in time. The textile
trades are more active, and better prices
are being obtained for both cotton and
woolen fabrics. The high price of when'
is exceedingly satisfactory to growers
and holders, the only danger being thai
values may be raised to a dangerous
height, not to speak of the probability
of stimulating undesirable agitation
The higher prices for cotton have ala*
imparted a better feeling in the south;
and the tendency of opinion in all sec
tions of the United states is toward
hopefulness and against the extreme
pessimism which lias so long destroyed
initiative. In about a month Congress
will adjourn, and the wh'ole country will
feel a sense of relief after so much agi
tation appertaining to business affairs.”
WAR ECHOES
New York Tribune: The driblets of
information from the last sea engage
ment now show it to have been one >f
the most important of the war. The
stirring pursuit of the German battle
cruisers, with the overhauling and sink
ing of at least one of the slower units
of the fleet, while submarines and ai:
craft stood about, makes a striking pic
ture. However prosaic war on land may
have become, sea fighting holds its own
as one of the most magnificent and ter
rible of human efforts.
The result fell in with those of the
preceding naval victories of the war.
Speed of vessel and range of big guns
again prevailed. Such factors as weight
i of metal in a broadside or protective
armor seem to have had no bearing on
the result. Given a slight superiority in
speed and a slight superiority in range
of tiie largest guns, a fleet cannot only
win but can win at slight cost. When
two fleets exactly matched in these re
spects engage one another we shall per
haps know to what extent other factors
have influence.
For the first time submarines seem to
have played a considerable part in fleet
manoeuvres. The German submarines
apparently accomplished nothing on th •
offence, which is not remarkable when
we recall that the British ships fought
while traveling at a speed of something
like 29 knots an hour. It was as a de
fensive aid, in connection with mines,
that the under water craft served to
halt the British fleet and save the Ger
man cruisers from further damage.
The whole engagement gives new im
portance to the battle cruiser, a craft
equipped with the heaviest of long
range guns, yet possessing a maximum
of speed. Our own navy is lacking in
vessels of this type, and the lesson of
the North Sea battle deserves our care
ful study.
Corra Harris in the Saturday Evening
Post: One must entertain the highest
admiration for the German women, in
a sense, they are no less the victims
of the Kaiser's army than the women of
Belgium.
They impressed me as the greatest
women of Europe when I was in Ger
many, and the most pathetic in their
bondage to the men. They were by far
the most thoughtful, the most capable
and the most helpless. They had th^
mournful sense of sibyls in regard to
their conditions. They were not hope
ful; they were only patient. They *had
the brains of scholars and philosophers,
the seer spirits of poets. And they
seemed to he moving dumbly through
the life of the nation. They were the
sl.ives of the order of things there.
Only certain employments were open
to them. They could become servants,
field hands, factory workers, shopgirls,
teachers, actresses, medical doctors, and
wives—or prostitutes. There was a small
school just begun at Potsdam for the
purpose of teaching stenography and
typewriting to the girls of impoverished
gentle families, only with tlie hope that
those women might be placed in small
clerical positions in the government of
fices.
I have remembered something I
thought then—that only a terrific na
tional catastrophe could deliver these
unfortunate women from their condi
tion.
At last they have the catastrophe:
this war is the great opportunity for the
women of Germany. And they have met
it with courage. Germany is being bled
to the last drop of lie 1* manhood. So the
women are filling men’s places in every
walk of life. They are no longer at the
bottom, but at the top. They are taking
the places of the male students in the
schools and universities. They are in
tlie banks, they are conducting great
businesses. They are attending to the
sanitary conditions of the towns and
cities. The whole of Berlin is supplied
with milk from the farms just outside
the city. This enormous enterprise has
always been managed by men; but when
they were called out to join their regi
ments the women went in and filled the
places of the men, and Berlin was noi
without her milk supply for a single
day.
TOWN LEFT WITHOUT HOTEL
From the Washington Post.
“Prohibition appears to be a very live
subject in Washington just now. re
marked Daniel Brogan, a prominent
business man of Vale, Ore., at the New
Willard. “Recently people of the 3tate
of Oregon voted for state-wide prohibi
tion in Oregon. This was a big surprise
to the people of southern Oregon, and
when the early returns indicated that
prohibition had carried, it was hard to
believe. The men elected to state and
national office were elected by the
votes of men who did not believe in
prohibition and had these voters known
that the men for whom they voted
would promote the cause of pronibi
tion they would not have voted for
them.
“It has been my experience that no
law against the sale of beer and liquors
can be enforced and wherever prohibi
tion laws are in force business suffers.
I have never tasted beer or whisky or
any other kind of intoxicating drink,
yet I have had it in my house and have
mixed many a cocktail for my friends.
I have a son 27 years old and I do not
believe he has taken more than a dozen
drinks in his life. I told him always
that if he wanted to drink he had it at
hand, but I advised him that it would
do him no good. This, in my opinion,
is the secret of the solution of the
prohibition question Men crave that
which they cannot get. Proper regula
tion of the manufacture and sale of
beer and liquor will be far more ef
fective than prohibition.
“Some years ago I went to Vale,
Ore., a city of 6000 people. I built a
good hotel, furnished it luxuriously,
and the leading people of the town
took -pride in it. They made the notel
th’elr headquarters. Then, under the lo- |
cal option law, the people voted to
close the saloons, and my license was
taken away. I could not afford to keep
the hotel open and it has been closed
for two years, notwithstanding the
protests of my neighbors.”
| STICK TO SEED G$AFT
By BFV.L VINKS
WASHINGTON, January 31.—(Spe
cial.)—Some misguided person
who in an unguarded moment
while no one was looking, broke intc
Congress—suffering under a delusion tha
something ought to be done which
smacked of economy—rose up in tin
House the other day and mildly suggested
that the $1,260,000 annually spent for th€
distribution of seed by members of Con
gress might be dispensed with.
Thereupon a large and exceeding!.,
peeved and Indignant majority of the
membership of said House went right uj
in the air and began to gnaw the hard
wood furnishings of the historic chambet
in a frenzy of protest. For years il
< has been the high privilege and pleasure
of each member of Congress to mail tc
each of his beloved constituents—whc
possesses the requisite qualifications en
titling him to muss up an Australian bal
lot, about F cents’ worth of seed,
ranging in variety from the low-neck
dyspeptic squash to the dwarfed goose
berry. That any sane person could
summon the monumental and colossal
nerve to offer objection to Congress con
ferring this great boon upon the plain
people stands out prominently as one ol
the mysteries of the age. It is inconceiv
able how any one could be so lost to
sentiment, and one thing and another,
that they would seek to deprive the hon
est farmer or artisan of the joy of re
ceiving his little package of seed from
his congressman in Washington.
Think of the unalloyed joy of planting
an early variety of sho-fly geranium in a
carefully prepared bed in the spring tra
la, and after a few weeks of anxious
waiting find that you have developed an
oleander, or a new species of eggplant.
Not only does this bring joy to the
heart of the constituent, but moreover
the very fact that he gets the seed is
conclusive proof that his congressman,
though highly Involved with affairs of
state in Washington, has nevertheless
not been so engrossed but what he has
found time to think of him, and to in
close him this little package of seed, to
gether with his kind regards, as a token
of his esteem.
Someone has suggested that these seed
I serve no earthly purpose but it is simply
another method of pulling the leg of
that benevolent old gentleman, L*ncle
Sam, for 250,000 bones per annum for the
benefit of members of Congress. Perish
the thought. These little seed are scat
tered from Maine to California, and from
the lakes to the gulf, and while the sum
total of their offspring may not add 10
per of their cost to the crop pro
duction of the country, they at least are
productive of a kindly feeling from the
recipients for the donors, which serves
to perpetuate said donors in Congress,
which certainly helps some. If the don
ors were not kept in Congress the peo
ple would be deprived of their services—
faithful public servants would be turned
out on the pasture and public and legis
lative efficiency would totter on its throne
-whatever that is. Thus the people would
he the losers in the long run. It is bet
ter, therefore, that the people should con
tinue to pay for the seed that they are
sending to themselves, although for a
nickel they could probably buy some that
suited them better, in order that the said
seed might bring forth a harvest of gen
erous support for the members of Con
gress under whose frank they are sent,
in order that they can kid themselves Into
retaining his valuable services-and so on
adinfntum.
And let It be recorded that tile move
ment to cut out the annual allowance of
seed was ignomtnlously defeated. The
people's money was again appropriated
to send the people their seed by the peo
ple's representatlves-the gardn seed pro
gramme of converting the plain farmer
to a scientific agriculturist still prevails—
long may it wave.
“SCIENTIFIC BARBARISM”
I-rom the Louisville Courier-Journal.
IT isn't in the least remarkable that
Professor Bergson, addressing the
French Academy of Moral and Po
litical Science, should make the asser
tion that Prussianized Germany repre
sents “the new barbarism” based upon
the mastery of the various branches of
science without the mastery of the soul
which spiritualizes man and makes real
civilization. His descriptive phrases, such
as “scientific barbarism” and “systematic
barbarism,” fall happily, of course, upon
the ears of the special audience to whom
they are primarily addressed. But it is
significant that what he says in the
terms of a philosopher is about what is
being said popularly and to popular au
diences.
Professor Bergson pictures the his
torian of 2015 as looking backward and
viewing the war that is now’ in progress.
“He will say that the notable idea of
the nineteenth century to employ science
for the satisfaction of our material needs
had given the mechanical arts an unex
pected range and procured for man in
less than 50 years more tools than he
had made in the thousands of years lie
bad hitherto passed on earth. Each new
machine was afc new organ for man—an
artificial organ to prolong the term of
his natural organs. In consequence, his
body became suddenly and prodigiously
enlarged, and his soul could not dilate
rapidly enough entirely to contain this
new body. Out of the disproportion rose
moral, social and international problems,
which the majority of peoples sought to
solve by removing discrepancies, by
working toward greater liberty, greater
fraternity, and greater justice than the
world had ever before known. Then
while humanity was engaged in this great
work of civilization, inferior powers—I
had almost said ‘infernal*—were trying
tho inverse experiment.
“What would happen if the mechanical
forces which had been brought to the
point where they could be put at the ser
vice of man should master him and con
vert him into their materiality? , What
would become of the world if this mech
anism should tuke possession of all hu
manity, and if the races, instead of lift
ing themselves freely to a diversity
richer and more harmonious, as persons,
SWEEPING THE SEA FOR MINES
Janies H. Hare in Leslie's.
Most of the crews of the sweepers are
hardy seamen from these coasts. Yes
terday fishing boats brought 10 men
ashore, four of whom were injured, who
had been a part of the crew of the
former Grimsby trawler, the Sweeper.
Four of her crew were lost when flic
went down, after humping into a mine,
and another one died of his injuries
after landing here. The sinking of this
vessel was witnessed by three fisher
men from a distance of 100 yards. Im
mediately after a terrific explosion the
vessel started to go down by the bow
and in 10 minutes she wras at the bot
tom. Two boats were launched and all
the crew who were not killed by the
explosion got off. Various other trawl
ers have been reported to have struck
mines and been destroyed.
Floating mines can be seen from the
deck of a boat and are frequently de
stroyed by rifle fire. Submerged mii.es
are a different proposition. They are
from eight to 12 feet below the surface,
and attached to an anchor by a cable.
They have to be located by trawling
or sweeping, that is dragging cables
through the water at the proper depth
to engage the fastenings that connect
the mines with the anchors. After a
mine is located in this way it has to he
handled with care or it may explode
prematurely.
Sweeping for mines is cold, hard work
at this season of the year. It calls for
good seamenship and plenty of endur
ance, in addition to the courage to face
annihilation at any moment. The fish
ermen of the east coast are the men who
respond to this call from their country.
JAPANESE UMBRELLA TRICK
Feats with an umbrella of the Jap
anese kind, are very common, writes M.
Gintaro In the February Strand. The
juggler throws up a ball, catches it on
the top of an open umbrella, and, by
twistirtg the handle rapidly, causes the
ball to run around the edge of the um
brella. A similar feat is performed with
curtain rings and with coins; the smaller
and lighter coin the more difficult the
feat.
All these feats were originated by a
street performer in Japan. One day,
while passing under the walls of a cas
tle, a small audience collected on the top
of the wall and playfully dropped some
tangerines on to the comedian of the com
pany of struggling jugglers. (No such
company is complete without a comed
ian.) The next day the comedian was
should sink into uniformity, as tilings?
\\ hat would a society be like that obeyed
automatically an order automatically
transmitted; which should rule with its
science and its view of things, and which
should have lost with the sense of justice
the idea of truth? What would such a
humanity be like in which brute force
obtained Instead of moral force? what
new barbarism, tide time a definitive one
would result to stifle sentiments, ideas, in
a word, civilization, which ancient bar
barism held in the germ? What would
happen, to sum up finally, jf the moral
effort of humanity should turn upon itself
at the moment it reached its term, and
if by some diabolical artifice it should
produce, Instead of a spiritualism of mat
ter, a mechanization of mind?"
The Germans, says Bergson, were pre
destined to make the experiment and
prove t lie problem. They had industrial
and military mechanism, unmatched.
I hey tried it, hut "moral forces sudden
ly revealed themselves as creators of
physical force." "The heroic conception
of a little people as to what honor was
enabled it to hold up its head before a
mighty empire." To make a long fore
cast short, the world, having made cer
tain moral progress, and being outraged
a, tlie militaristic idea, formed a battle
front impregnable to Germany. The
greatest military machine was crushed.
That Is about what it is popularly
expected will occur. Reduced to terms
plainer than those of Professor Berg
son, the allies—and such others ns may
from time to time align themselves with
the present allies—will win. But are they
fighting "new barbarism," or merely the
I old Romanism of conservative PrUksla?
[ The principles of the Prussian aristocracy
are inherited directly from Rome. They
a,-e regarded by others than enemies of
the German people, as well as by their
enemies, as being new principles. They
represent nothing more than the logical
polk y of a nation bossed by a military
class witli old-fashioned ideals, despite
tlie intellectual and scientific advance
ment of the race.
Bergson’s "scientific hsrbarism," "sys
tematic barbarism," "new barbarism" is
nothing more than the conservatism of
military Prussia superimposed upon the
enlightenment of progressive Germany.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••■•••••••••••••••••••••«
treated in the same manner, and so he
put up a paper umbrella to shield him
self. The shower of tangerines broke
through the umbrella. Then the leading;
juggler of the company saw his oppor
tunity. He took the umbrella, twisted it
quickly, and, by making it revolve,
caused the tangerines to fly off it. While
lie was doing this he was helped by a
lucky accident. One of the tangerines
rolled around the umbrella once before
dropping on the ground. The juggler
picked up the tangerine and caught it once
more on his revolving umbrella, and thus
the feat was invented. The hardest feat
of all with the umbrella is done with
a Japanese coin which is lighter than an
American cent.
AN ODE: BO A DICK A
By William Cowper.
When the British warrior queen.
Bleeding from the Roman rods,
Sought, with an indignant mien.
Counsel of her country’s gods,
Sage beneath the spreading oak
Sat the Druid, hoary chief;
Every burning word he spoke
Full of rage, and full of grief.
"Princess! If our aged eyes
Weep upon thy matchless wrongs.
’Tis because resentment ties
All the terror of our tongues.
"Rome shall perish—write that word
In the blood that she has spilt—
Perish, hopeless and abhorred,
Deep in ruin as in guilt.
"Rome, for empire far renowned,
Tramples on a thousand states;
Soon her pride shall kiss the ground -
Hark! The Gaul is at her gates!
"Other Romans shall arise.
Heedless of a soldier's name;
Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize.
Harmony the path to fame.
"Then the progeny that springs
From the forests of our land,
Armed with thunder, clad with wings,
Shall a wider world command.
"Regions Caesar never knew
Thy posterity shall sway;
Where his eagles never flew,
None invincible as they.”
Such the bard's prophetic words,
Pregnant with celestial fire.
Bending as lie swept the chords
Of his sweet but aw'ful 1^'re.
She. with all a monarch’s /pride,
Felt them in her bosom) glow; (
j Rushed to battle, fought, \and died;
| Dying, hurled them at tiie foe.
I "Ruffians, pitiless as profid!
Heaven awards the vengeance due;
Empire is on us bestowac}.
Shame and ruin wait forr you.” r
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