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The Commoner
VOLUME 13, NUMBER 25
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THE treaty of London, signed by Turkey and
tho Balkan states, is very far-reaching.
Referring to this treaty, a writer in tho Denver
News saya: Under tho terms of tho treaty tho
Ottoman was formed to cede to tho allies and
Albania 60,000 square miles of his European
territory. This virtually drives tho Turk out
of .Europo and leaves him only with a narrow
strip of 5,000 square miles guarding Constanti
nople, tho Bosphorus, tho Dardenelles and tho
Sea of Marmora. Tho "sick man of Europo" has
overy reason for increased illness after his ex
perience in treaty-making in London. It was
only natural to expect that tho pact would not
bo ratified without a strong protest from Monte
negro, the plucky little principality stuck in tho
hills abovo Cettinge bay. For of all of tho
allies that battled against tho continuance of
Turkish authority in Europe, Montenegro,
gauged by her size and resources, was easily the
first in bravery and unselfish sacrifice. Monte
negro's dream of years has been the acquisition
of Scuarti, as an outlet to tho sea as a defense
in times of national poril, and for tho sake of
tho rich stretch of lowlands that surrounds it.
Montenegro won this right by tho conquest of
arms but the bullies of Europe affected to seo
in its retention by Montenegro a menace to
Austro-Hungary stability and they forced its
evacuation under the frowning guns of their
dreadnoughts. The protest of the Montenegrin
delegate, registered after the treaty was signed,
was not alone historic, but pathetically so. "Wo
have signed," said he, "because nothing else
remained for us to do. We are profoundly dis
satisfied with the terms on which we have been
obliged to accept it. Proportionately, my coun
try made greater sacrifices than any of the
allies, yet, after a succesful war, we have been
despoiled of the fruits of our victories. We have
been made tho whipping-boy of Europe." And
he told the precise truth, this representative of
one of the pluckiest races that has ever struggled
anywhere for national honor and tho right to
greater prosperity. The treaty of May 30 last
was the seventh in importance which was signed
in London. All of them had to do with the
regulation of affairs in the Levant and were
closely connected with Turkish and Grecian
affairs. The first was in 1827, when Great
Britain, France and Russia sought to obtain
the independence of Greece, which they did
establish three years later through the second
treaty of London. In 1840 Great Britain, Prus
sia and Russia, unknown to France, arrived
at an understanding "for the pacification of the
Levant," and establishing the heredity of the
Pashalik of Egypt in tho family of Mehemot All.
A year later, almost to a day, Austria, France,
Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and Turkey
reached an agreement to close tho Dardanelles
and the Bosphorus, and in 1863 the same
powers, with tho exception, of course, of Turkey,
forced the cession of the Ionian islands to
Greece. Tho penultimate treaty of London was
in 1871 when Germany, Austria, France, Great
Britain, Italy and Russia, abrogated the neu
trality of the Black sea.
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SENATOR SIMMONS, chairman of the senate
finance committee, has issued the following
statement: "So much has been said in the
press concerning the president's alleged connec
tion with certain amendments recommended by
certain sub-committees of tho finance committeo
that is misleading and erroneous, that in order
that the public may understand tho real facts, I
wish to say that, while tho president has ex
pressed to tho members of the finance com
mittee, as he Is reported to have expressed to
members of the ways and means committeo
when tho bill was in the house, strong views and
convictions with respect to placing on tho free
list both wool and sugar, he has not, so far as
I know, expressed any views aB to tho other pro
visions of tho bill except when his opinion has
been asked, and has not in any way attempted
to dictate to tho committeo. The view current in
tho newspapers to tho effect that a sub-com-mitteo
of tho finance committee had decided to
Tecommendthat wheat and live stock as well as
meat ana nour should go on tho free list at
tho instance and dictation of the president, ia
not correct. So far as I know, tho president
has expressed no opinion with respect to this
matter except that when told of tho probable
action of the sub-committee putting these
articles on the free list, in response to an in
quiry as to his opinion on the subject, he ex
pressed approval. Nor is it truo that the sub
committee adopted the countervailing proviso
with respect to wheat and flour at tho presi
dent's dictation after much discussion, as has
been represented. On the contrary, the presi
dent has expressed no views so far as I know
to the committeo on this subject, and tho com
mittee's action with reference to the counter
vailing duties on these articles was taken at the
same time it was decided to recommend that
they be put on the free list."
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IN an editorial entitled, "Tired of Life," tho
Washington Post, in commenting on a sui
cide prominent in tho current press dispatches,
points out some of tho real underlying causes
that lead to self-destruction. It says: "Eugene
Maggi and his wife, said to be the wealthiest
couple in Switzerland, recently killed them
selves. He was aged 41, and she 35. Together
they were worth $10,000,000, They had no
children. They were tired of life, and so ended
it. This is a rather strange story of riches,
comparative youth, and unbearable discontent
with existence. It could hardly have been a
case of momentary insanity, for two persons
seldom go insane at the same time. Too much
money may have led to satiety, yet that hardly
satisfies the situation. Many theories will be
advanced, any one of which is probably worth
as much as any other. Perhaps they had already
ceased to live, in the true sense. Lacking the
spur of need or the Incentive of further ambi
tion, they may have seen no reason for con
tinuing. Tho absence of children gave them
nothing-to look forward to, either for responsi
bility or comfort. What a blesing it would have
been if these two had been confronted with a
genuine trouble, a positive sorrow, to break the
lethargy that found its only relief in death!
For the Maggis the problem has been solved in
a somewhat forlorn and hopeless way. For
others like afflicted, there remains tho solace of
the day's work, of engrossing self-forgetfulness
in a worthy task, of even intense activity in do
ing nothing. Work may be a blessing or a
curse, as one chooses to view it. In either case
some kind of occupation is necessary if health!
sanity, and an abiding interest in life are to
be maintained. Rightly preached, the gospel of
work is not championed merely for work's sake
It is rather for the exultation that its accomp
lishment brings. The game is worth more than
the candle. Nothing stands still In the living
universe. One grows by what one does. It Is the
living, and not the having lived, that counts.
The closed blade alone gets rusty, and it is only
the closed house that gathers dampness, dust,
disease, and death. A man or a woman must
have something to do. Children force many to
an active and cheerful life. The lonely are
miserable only when they retire within them
selves. The most morbid people ore those that
are isolated from their kind. The sano way is to
wear the harness of honest toil or even honest
frivolity to the end. Then life lasts till the last
breath, and the game holds zest until its natural
end.
& J&
FAG DAY waB celebrated in the different
government departments at Washington
with appropriate ceremonies. Tho Washington
correspondent for the New York Herald says:
In tho state department Mr. Bryan, the secre
tary, made a brief address. At his request
President Wilson agreed to make a speech at
next year's celebration. A double quartette
composed of employes of tho bureau of con
struction and repair of tho navy department
cal ed on tho secretaries of state, war and navv
22? B?5 Patritic airs, such as "America
"Tho Star Spangled Banner," "Dixie" and "Old
Black Joe." Tho exercises opened with the
singing of "America," after which a bripf
Bpeoch was mado by M. D. Schaefer, chief clerk
of tho bureau of construction and repair on
tho birth of tho flag. This was the fi?st cel
celebration of its kind in the government a.
partments. At exercises in the court of the in"
terior department, presided over by Secrph
Lane, Mr. Bryan vividly pictured a world nf
friendly nations among which war would hav
no place. He believed that long steps now were
being taken to Insure universal peace and
added: "Love is a stronger force than fear It
is the proud boast of this nation that our'flae
is loved, rather than feared. No gun ever
mounted is as strong as a great thought. Great
thoughts are the controlling forces of the world
and love is the basis of every great thought"
In an apotheosis to the flag, Mr. Bryan compared
the ideals represented respectively by Christ
and Pilate: "The -power of the unarmed Man
of Galilee is represented by that flag, and no
man will dare to put it on the side of Pilate
who was the embodiment of force. Let us al
ways make it a symbol of the nation's purpose
a purpose pure enough to be represented by
such a flag. The ideals of this nation shall bo
greater than its armament and it always shall
represent a cause so just that it will bear the
blessing of Almighty God."
& & &
BISHOP CANDLER, of the Methodist Epis
copal church, south, spoke recently at At
lanta, Ga and charged that the recently an
nounced gift of one million dollars by Andrew
Carnegie to the Vanderbilt university at Nash
ville, Tenn., is "not a donation, but an effort
to get control over the university property,"
and that money is being offered for this pur
pose. Bishop Candler characterized Mr. Car
negie's offer of a donation to the university as
an "impudent proposal of an agnostic steel
monger." "This loud-heralded gift," Bishop
Candler's statement recites, "on close inspec
tion of its terms appears to be no gift at all, but
a shrewd attempt to get control of a part of
the property of the Vanderbilt university in
order to set up a medical school fashioned ac
cording to the particular ideas of Mr. Carnegie.
Vanderbilt university belongs to the Methodist
Episcopal church, south. The church ownership
having been denied, suit was brought some time
ago to settle the question, and the chancery
court decided every point in the church's favor.
From that decision an appeal was taken and is
now pending in the supreme court of Tennes
see." Bishpp Candler quoted Mr. Carnegie's
letter in which the latter states his objections
to denominational control of colleges and uni
versities and imposes conditions on his donat on
consequent upon determination of the question
of denominational control of the university.
"It appears," 'said Bishop Candler, "also that
the Episcopalians see in this affair an effort to
defeat the proposed medical department of tho
university of the south. If they are correct in
their opinion, Mr. Carnegie is proposing at one
blow to destroy the medical school of tne
Episcopalians and denature the medical schools
of the Methodists and raise on the ruins of ooin
a Carnegieized establishment in his own image
and likeness."
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HE people of the District of Columbia were
Vioii Ar ... i, TTfi Qfotps BUDrerno
court. A Washington dispatch to the WJ
York World says: The federal civil rlgl s aw
was pronounced unconstitutional by the unite
States supreme court. The opinion was unani
mous. It was read by Judge Van Beyanter.
This decision removes the last slender barrier
standing between negroes and discrimination
the matter of public utilities. It was the oniy
legislative thread upon which they could cu
tend for equal accommodations when travel""
by train and boat, in seeking hotel Quarters,
desiring to be served in restaurants, drug bw
and other places and in demanding other e u
privileges with white persons. Some years w.
the supreme cqurt held that congress iiau
ceeded its powers in passing the civil Jig" .
and declared that so far as it interfered W 1 1
rights of a state it was "repugnant.
opinion in reality left the act operative aione
concerned the District of Columbia, the va .
territories and the high seas. The cases
issue involved extending the civil rights u
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