The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, May 09, 1913, Page 6, Image 6
l1i,i'"', "ff1? 6 The Commoner. VOLUME 13 NUMBER 18 ' " ""' ,';!.! "u ,.11- fCURBeNT lgSlCm RESIDBNT WILSON presented to a boys' . club of California a handsomo United Statoo flag which had boon purchased for the club by tho members of congress In California. Tho club consisting of forty-seven boys who havo mado high avoragos in tho public schools is making a trip around tho world. Load by tholr band, tho club marched to tho front portico of tho Whlto Houso. Tho president addressed them from tho porch. Ho said: "I am very glad to ofllclato on this occasion and to address a club that bears this name. I dare say you think that schoolmasters are often a bit hard on you in requiring you to do things In order that you may pass tho tests of the school, but I want to warn you that after you got out of school you aro going to have harder schoolmas ters than you over had boforo. For tho world rcqulros that you make good, no matter what happens, and tho man who does things amounts to a great deal moro than tho man who wishes ho might havo done things and who promises that ho will do things. So that as you havo bo gun as an achievement club, you rust finish as an achiovomont club, and in no other way. Tho mon I am sorry for aro tho men who stop and think that they havo accomplished some thing before they stop at tho grave itself. You havo got to havo your socond wind in this world and keep It up until tho last minute. Now, if this flag moans anything, it moans achieve- uw, mum nut unij', uul iu iiiuuiiH nun uuiuuveiiieiic that does not center in oursolves. It Is noth- ing to oo proud of that wo have done a lot for if oursolvos, but it is somothing to bo nroud of that wo havo done it for other people that wo havo Imagination in us, v;o havo size In us, to hold in Us tho imago of our country such as this groat flag stands for. And there is nothing which wo can not achieve, and there is nothing which wo do achieve, that will not leave tho sweetest memories in our minds. Therefore, it Is with tho groatest sense of privilege that I prosent to your roprosontativo this emblem of honor and achievement." & & & THE effects of tho Titanic disaster aro shown by a writer in tho Now York World in this way: Near tho first anniversary of the sink ing of tho Titanic aro two events strongly effec tive of tho influence of that memorable disaster for greater safety in ocean travel. Tho hugo Vaterland, launched recently at Hamburg, will carry eighty-throe lifeboats, and seventy of those can bo launched from either sldo of tho ship and can accommodato the wholo capacity of tho vessel in human freight. No list of tho ship can put out of commission half tho boats. Tho reconstructed Olympic starts on its first voyage with an outersholl to take tho force and damage of such a glancing blow as wrecked tho ir Titanic and leave an inner shell tn iron u afloat. It was held unsinkablo boforo this re construction. It is now callod unsinkablo, but carries moro than doublo its old number of lifeboats in deforenco to tho truth of bitter ex perience as against the claims of marine archi tects. So passes tho modern myth of tho sea. There is no such thing as an unslnkable ship. But at what cost to human life has tho illusion been shattered! THE famous Winstoad, Conn., correspondent is the subject of an interesting story writ ton to tho Cincinnati Times-Star by its New York correspondent: Tho Now York Tribune has a correspondent at Winstoad, Conn., who is "there" every Monday morning with a story of tho type which is a never failing dolight to the oldtimo newspaper man. It is always a per fectly inconsequential item about an animal of extraordinary intelligence! nothing of any great news value, but something ingenious which is likely to bo believed in and remarked upon by anyone who doesn't know, ex-cathedra, that it's eimply a good He. On a recent Monday tho Btory told of the marvelous actions of a collio It ran like this: "Major was taken out for exercise, this morning by his master, on tho boulevard which encircles tho lake. Running ahead, tho dog discovered, just beyond a sharp bend, a giant bouldor, which had been dislodged by the frost and had rolled down into the road. Quickly retracing his stops tho dog got directly in the track of an approaching automobile and barked until tho driver brought tho machine to a stop, within two feet of the boulder, which would either havo wrecked the machine or hurled it Into tho lake, which at this point is seventy foot deep." Tho Tribune telegraph editor, having a sense of humor, printed tho story and wired the correspondent as follows: "Dog story very good. Follow up with interest ing details about Major's other feats of intelli gence." The correspondent was game. He sent a story, thto following day, saying that Major had long been known for his achievements as a hunter. "If his master carries a rifle," tho correspondent wrote, "Major will tree a squir rel. If tho weapon Is a shotgun, he will, with out suggestion or word of command, chase a rabbit. On one occasion, which is vouched for by three reputable citizens, when his master took down a fishing pole Major ran out in tho back yard and began scratching with his for paws, presumably in the effort to dig worms." Tho editor went downstairs and took three drinks. Ho came back and telegraphed tho cor respondent: "Bring Major and his owner to New York office tomorrow. All expenses al lowed. Sunday feature wanted." After this the oditjr smiled and muttered profanity to him self. Tho correspondent replied: "Sorry can not follow instructions. Major is dead. Master prostrated. Ho trained dog to kill snakes, and major picked up blacksnake whip, dropped in front of master's homo yesterday, and shook it until he whipped himself to death." w t5 5 CONCERNING canals, the Albany (N. Y.) correspondent for tho Philadelphia Public Ledger, says: Wo hear so much about tho Panama canal, but do not realize that there is another canal being built in New York state, nine times larger than tho ono in Panama. The enlargement of the Erie canal exceeds the Panama canal and is Teally the greaest project of this kind in the world. The Panama canal covers only a district of fifty miles, whilo the Erie canal extends over 530 miles. It has to cross railroads, skirt cities," make junctions, follow river beds, climb over mountains and drop down through valleys. Fifty-seven locks are being built or are completed in the canal, inen there are ten smaller ones. On tho Panama canal there are but six pairs of locks. At Little Falls there is a lock which is the highest one in the world 40 feet higher than AfeJCiC aM! Gatl,n section of e Panama. At Medina, this canal goes through a gorge 90 feet deep and 500 feet wide. Across this there !0sfijn aqueduct built of concrete with a span of 285 feet and width of 129 feet. Tho Erie canal has 30 dams, while tho Panama canal has Zy three. There are twice as many men bulling the Panama canal as the Erie. The drop of thl Erio canal to tho sea level is 5G3 feet. The drop of the Panama canal is 120 feet. The depth of ?pew na !? 12 feet: that ot the Panama 3G foot. The locks of the Erie canal are worked coV luooToTUC P0Wers' " cost ?1 40 000,000 when completed. The Erie I Linab,lGS00ds t0 b0 transported from the middle of tho continent to New York dtv v water. Work on this canal can bo seer I along tho route. The rreat dnnTa ? J1 hawk and the locks hoIding'Z water bak" and the great excavations at CohoesT whore tho' canal terminates in the Hudson river do no? attract much attention, and yet thev nft 5 5? Gr P0 and "nvoWe engineering problems far beyond those at Panama g & & & "R BhmSINCt Kt0 James Bl'yce'8 accessor as X British ambassador to the TTnitn o tho New York Tribune" says: Fcetil S?ri SSpdqSS5,t?h.Uf V! a VGry different official recoid from that of his predecessor, which hn nart?IthSBheni;t ?,ntiallSgested iTthe re mark that he is "a diplomat and not a states- htoit$F SIP1 slmilai'ly hB d8SSd mmsoii: as a statesman and pot a diplomat For Sir Cecil comes hither with a long and diversified record In almost purely d&aUc work, while Mr. Bryce, with a distinguished career in statesmanship and scholarship, camo as a novice in direct diplomacy. Nevertheless the statesman who was no diplomat proved to bo a liighly successful diplomat after all and there is reason for confident expectation that the diplomat who Is no statesman will display practical statesmanship of a high order. Be tween the two there is another contrast in re spect to their knowledge of this country. Mr. Bryco is known as a scholar and a student of constitutional affairs, while Sir Cecil knows it socially as well as diplomatically. Both kinds of knowledge are of much utility and commend their possessors to sympathetic esteem. tv (w t2r THE New York American, William R. HeaTst's paper, prints the following: " 'I am very strongly of the opinion that California or any other state has the right to regulate the owner ship of property within its borders,' was the answer of Champ Clark to a request from tho New York American for a statement upon tho Japanese situation. Mr. Clark, who was tho guest of William Randolph Hearst, was emphatic in defining his attitude. While unwilling to dis cuss Secretary Bryan's mission to California; he put himself clearly on record as a believer in tho right of the state to work out its own prob lems. It is a question whether the national government has a right to negotiate treaties which interfere with the undeniable right of the state to regulate ownership of its land. That point depends on the interpretation of the con stitution, but to my mind California is within her rights in fixing whatever reasonable restrictions she deems necessary upon the ownership of land by aliens." & & & THE story of a noted negro officeholder is told in the Washington Post by R. A. Jones of Beaufort, S. C. Mr. Jones says: "After longer service under the federal government than per haps any other negro, Robert Smalls, collector of customs at Beaufort, S. C, is slated to bo separated from the national pay roll. Smalls has been in federal employ ever since the war. He may have been out during the Cleveland ad ministrations, but it was only for a short time. He has served continuously in the customs ser vice sinco the McKinley administration. Be cause ho played a prominent part in tho siege of Fort Sumter at the beginning of the civil war, having piloted the federal fleet into the harbor, Smalls was rewarded with a government posi tion, and he liked it so well that he has suc ceeded in keeping himself attached to the ser vice ever since. Now that the democrats have come into power they are determined that Smalls shall be retired, and though the Beau fort office is to be merged with the customs office at Charleston, Smalls will be relieved in order that he may be out of the service and not eligible for transfer. The passing of Smalls as a federal employe removes one of the most noted negroes in southern republican politics." GOMPERS CONTEMTT CASE Following is an Associated Press dispatch: Washington, May 5. Contempt of court judg ments against Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell and Frank Morrison, the labor leaders, for their violation of a court's injunction in the noted Bucks stove and range case, was affirmed today by the district court of appeals, but tho jail sentences imposed were held to have been too severe, so the "court reduced Gompers' sentence rm, ,ne year to tllirty days and decreed that ill a e and Morrison merely should be fined ?500 each. The lower court sentenced Mitchell to nine ni!tllsTand Morrison to six. The supreme court ot the United States undoubtedly will be asked to again roview the decision. Unlike previous decisions in this case, which have been unani mously against the labor leaders, the court of appeals was divided. Chief Justice Sheppard dissented and held that the whole decision should be reversed; that contempt of a federal court was a criminal offense and that the statute ot limitations had run in the case. mi.iA,.ijfc..f H'UJ.'.l.-