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(AUGUST 25, 1905
The Commoner
.
AUGUST; 30 WILL BE A BUSY DAY
' The Denver News prints, from the pen of
Itobert Ball LL. D., the following:
"Astronomers are at present busily engaged
in making preparations for August 30 next. On
that day therd will be a total eclipse of the sun.
There have been, however, So many total eclipses
.within tho recollection el most of us that the
Question may -well be asked as to why we are to
pay any particular attention to this eclipse among
the number. The reasons are easily stated. In
the first place, the duration of totality at the
best stations is- fairly long. The complete obs
curation of the sun will last for three minutes
and fifty seconds. No doubt under a combination
of favorable circumstances eclipses can and do
sometimes happen in which the duration of the
totality, as it is called, is considerably greater.
In some eclipses it has been Indeed nearly twice
as great. On the other hand, in many total
eclipses which have been deemed worthy the at
tention of the astronomer, the precious seconds
of totality have been barely half as many as
those which will be available August 30.
"The middle of the eclipse, that is, the oc
currence of totality at noon, can be observed in
the north of Spain. There, either at Burgos, or
at a place one-third of the way from Saragossa to
Madrid, or at Merella, there will be good prospect
of clear weather and a view of one of the sub-'
limest of natuval phenomena under the best pos
sible conditions 'for observation."
"The eclipse of August 30 will be visible
to some extent over the whole of Europe and
the greater part of Africa. It will be visible over
the North Atlantic and over a great part of Can
ada, and dpubtless will be noted by many hun
dreds of thousands of observers. It may here
be mentioned that an eclipse of this kind can be
observed on a bright day when the sun is high
in a manner which, though it may not be actually
instructive from a scientific point of view, is cer
tainly pleasing and picturesque. This observa
tion is made, strange to say, not by looking up
to the sun, but by looking down upon the ground.
iWhen the sun throws a shadow of a tree on the
road" the rays of light passing through interstices
between the leaves form bright spots, which,
though we may not ordinarily notice the fact, are
really images of the sun. When a large part of
the disk of the sun is eclipsed then tho bright
part Is reduced to a crescent, and consequently
each of the myriad little solar Images on the
ground presents to us a beautiful crescent.
"A most satisfactory way of observing tho
phenomenon is to obtain the assistance of a
telescope and then to arrange that the image of
the sun shall be thrown on a screon. By this
device. a greatly enlarged image of the sun is
obtained and the excessive brilliancy Is suitably
reduced.
"But the characteristic phenomena which
make eclipses so important are never exhibited
when the phase of tho eclipse is no more than
a partial one. Complete extinction of the sun iH
necessary, or, in other words, it is necessary for
the observer to take up such a position that the
shadow of tho moon shall pass over him as that
shadow sweeps over the earth. It Is with the ob
ject of getting into the track of the shadow that
astronomers are now preparing for a visit either
to Canada, Spain, Tunis or Egypt, for the line
passes through these other countries as well as
through Spain. The wrath of the shadow track
is approximately 100 miles, but toward each end
of the track the duration of the totality di
minishes, so that to see the eclipse under tho
most favorable conditions a position should be
taken as near as possible to the central line.
"At just 12:41 on August 30 the shadow cone
of the moon cast by the sun, after rapidly moving
through space, first strikes the earth. The place
so honored is about Winnipeg, where the rising
sun will be a black globe. The shadow has
fallen on the earth, and now as a black spot about
100 miles in diameter it commences an eastern
rus1; at headlong speed across our continents
and oceans. In two or three minutes after its
arrival it has crossed Hudson's bay, and then,
at just 11:55 o'clock in London, the shadow
launches from the coast of Labrador upon the
Atlantic.
"As the Greenwich clock shows ten minutes
to 1, the sun being now high in the heavens, and
consequently the opportunities for observation
being at their best, the Atlantic journey is over,
and the shadow enters Europe near Cape Finls
tere. For about twenty-five minutes the course
lies through Spain, and then the Mediterranean
is reached. This sea is crossed till Tunis is en
tered about 1:40. Then Egypt is entered at 2:04.
Twenty minutes later thero Is n crossing of tho
Rod sea, and now tho earthly Journey of tho
shadow is drawing to a close, und it onds in
Arabia at 2:32, having occupied two hours and
forty-six minutes in its courso from Canada. At
tl.o onds of Its track tho duration of tho totality
Ik about two minutos, and it Ik nearly double ao
long in tho central part of tho track.
. "Thus at widely distant stations along tho
track elaborate photographic appliances for de
picting the nppoaranco of tho corona and for ob
taining information as to its spectrum will bo
busily engaged. This wide distribution of tho
observing stations makes it highly probable that
even if tho weather be unfavorable in some places
it will not be so in all places.
"Thus some results may bo considered as
practically cortaln, but thero Is another advantage
of a very different kind. Tho duration of tho
total ccllpso under the most favored conditions
still falls somewhat short of four minutes. Thero
is thus but a very brief interval between the
first and the last photograph that one observer
can take. If, however, tho corona be photo
graphed at Labrador by one party and at Egypt
by another, thoro may bo an Interval of as much
as two hours between tho two exposures.
"The importance of this will be appreciated
when we boar in mind one of the principal prob
lems' which it is hoped this eclipse may enable
us to solve. Tho mysterious corona, well shown
in the admirable picture taken on April 16,
1893 Is not a permanent structure. It is
in constant movement, and in the intense
energy of solar activity the movements occur
with such rapidity that in the space of a couplo
of hours such large changes take place as would
bo quite conspicuous on the two photographs
taken at -such an Interval. The experience of
former eclipses has shown this to be tho case,
and it may reasonably be expected that further
light will be gained by the opportunities afforded
August 30. -
"It must be remembered that tho corona i
never visible unless under the rare opportunity
of a total eclipse. The many artificial devices by
which it has been sought to exclude the direct
light of tho sun, and thus render tho faint corona
visible, have novcr yet succeeded. Prescious,
indeed, to those who would penetrate the secrets
of nature are those glorious minutes in tho after
noon of August 30, '1905."
CONSCIENCE AGAINST THE TRUSTS
Charles Edward Russell in his last article in
Everybody's Magazine on "The Greatest Trust in
the World" points out that no remedy for the
trusts will be effective until the public conscience
U educated to the point of recognizing the trust
an morally wrong. Just as long as respectable
people can conspire to rob their fellows through
trust methods without losing caste it will be
difficult to do anything. The failure to enforce
the criminal law against trust magnates has
-created the inlpression that after all the trust is
not really criminal.
The revelations that have been made con
cerning the swindling practiced by the priests of
higli finance is opening the eyes of the public but
the prompt and vigorous enforcement of the
criminal law would do much more.
The churches too, have a part in the edu
cational mark they must teach that grand lar
ceny is as wrong as petit larceny that the rich
man who bankrupts his rival through monopoly
methods is as much an offender as the burglar
that the lawyer who sells his brains to those who
conspire against the public is as guilty as one
who helps to plan a liold-up. When the people
fully understand the subject they will not be
content with an occasional enforcement of the
law; they will demand that all trust magnates
be prosecuted just as they demand the punish
ment of all horse thieves and all house breakers.
Extracts from Mr. Russell's article follow:
"The beef trust, like the oil .trust, was built
fi .1 illegal and prohibited rebates.
"For every rebate granted to tho beef trust,
for every advantage it has enjoyed, for the dis
crimination in rates and facilities that has made
it what it is, some officer of some railroad has
been responsible. These officers would not break
the law for their own profit; they must not break
the law for the profit of tho corporations that
employ them. If they do, they must be regarded
and treated exactly like any other criminals.
We must cease to make any distinction between
corporation crime and individual crime. We
shall have to bring about a state of things in
which it will not be possible for a man that has
confessed to the granting of illegal rebates to
remain in the cabinet of the United States any
more than if he had confessed to murder. We
shall have to ceae to look upon rebate-giving as
a pleasant indiscretion and observe it in its true
light as a sneakjng, despicable, and intolerable
crime. We shall have to see that the rebate
giver is a far worse enemy of society than the
burglar or the pickpocket. We shall have to re
adjust our standards of morality so that there
shall be no condoning of criminality because the
criminal is rich, oris in office, or is liked in pp
litlcal circles. We shall have to Ipok upon a crim
inal as a criminal no matter where we find him.
We shall have to change things so that tho in
terstate commerce commission shall no longer
print in its annual reports those amazing lists
of railroad officers Indicted and never punished.
We shall have to change our methods so that
such men, indicted for rebate-giving, shall not be
immune from prosecution and shall not be able
to invoke for their protection the mysterious In
fluences of Washington, but shall fare exactly
like any other common thieves. Unless we are
willing to do this it will be quite useless to talk
pleasant platitudes about keeping the country's
highways open to all upon equal terms. The of
ficers of our great railroads are very charming
gentlemen, good fellows, of much personal worth;
I cheerfully bear witness to their ability and
efficiency. Many of them ought to be in the
penitentiary, and until we have them there we
shall see no cessation of the practices that build
trusts
"In the next place, we shall have to deal very
frankly with the subject of campaign subscrip
tions and so arrange matters that however noble,
salutary, and desirable for the saving of society
the cause at stake may be, gentlemen that give
to campaign funds will be in a position before
the law no whit different from persons that give
not. For so long as we continue the present
system of exchanging immunity for campaign
funds we may as well save ourselves the trouble
of passing legislation; the trust gentlemen can.
nullify it, whatever it may be. When we learn
of this species of blackmail between the police
and a low, wretched dive-keeper we are properly
shocked and horrified. We shall have to be just
as much shocked and horrified when we hear of
it between a great corporation and a political
party. For the principle Involved in the one case
is exactly the principle involved in the other. The
only difference Is that the blackmail paid by tho
corporation does about one million times as much
harm as the blackmail paid by the dive-keeper.
"For tin only cure that will cure, then, we
come back to the basic feeling of the country.
When that recognizes the trust question as para
mount to all others, when it places the suppress
ing of the trusts above all other consideration,
above personal aggrandizement and above party,
and when it will not tolerate in office any man
that for any reason whatever makes terras with
law-breakers, the whole thing is solved. Some
day, for the fear of public feeling, no politician
will dare to bargain immunity for campaign sub
scriptions, no newspapers will dare to distort facts
for the sake of trust advertising, no railroad
officer will dare to grant rebates and face the
community in which he lives, no prosecuting at
torney will let the statutes He inert and unen
forced. Because in that day we shall see vtfry
clearly the issue we confront:
The life of the trusts or the life of the re
public which?
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