' ' 'I ' The Consemtfre ;
If the Government
EMPLOY DIAZ. of the United
States determines
to hang onto the Philippine Is-
lands and to govern the people
thereof , we recommend President
Diaz , of Mexico , as a man thoroughly
well experienced in governing mixed
races of brown people , and recommend
him for employment by our common Un
cle Samuel as an autocrat of the Philip
pine archipelago. He could be paid a
very large salary and thus a lot of
money , life and trouble be saved. Hiq
experience in dealing with mixed races ,
is far greater and much more satisfac
tory than that of any of the politicians
who have been proposed by the Ameri
can people for executive places in those
islands.
The industri
CROKER ous electric spark has
NOMINATED. flashed us the opinion |
ion of Bndyard
Kipling , who advises America to
intrust the work of subju
gating , the Filipinos to "some high- |
toned despot of unlimited powers. "
Will Richard the Tiger-Hearted , of
Wantage , England , please assume an
innocent expression ? If Oroker really
aspires to rule the little brown men , why
in the name of Great Tammany did he
not voice his desires while yet an
American , instead of crossing the sea to
employ an English breech-clout poli
tician to further his propaganda ?
Croker surely must have been in Kip
ling's mind when his facile pen traced
that potent sentence , for of all the acts
of high-toned depotism ever performed
in America , his has been "the heart to
resolve , the head to contrive and the
hand to execute. " Mr. Groker is nomi
nated.
If a colony of
AN OPPORyoung men who have
TUNITY. been trained to tech
nical callings could
be organized here in the United States
for the purpose of founding a settle
ment in , t ) > 6 republic of Mexico , it
seems to us" that Vsnccess could almost
be assured. The colony should consist
of a thoroughly trained mining engi
ueer , an assayer , a steam fitter and gen
eral plumber , a good architect and
builder , a geologist and irrigation engi
neer , a good pomologist and arboricul
turist , a good blacksmith and machinist ,
a good miller and baker , a dairyman and
a good all-around gardener. These men
shpuld be not to exceed 35 years of age
nor under 25 , and should all be married
to ambitious and helpful women. A
colony thus made up could plant itself
in the'states of Chihuahua of Durango
in the republic of Mexico and achieve
success and fortune beyond all question
in a very few years.
On February 18 ,
PRESIDENT 1902 , it was the pleas-
DIAZ. ure of the editor of
THE CONSERVATIVE
; o be presented to President Diaz by the
American minister at the city of Mexi-
op , Powell Clayton. President Diaz is
72 years of age , but remarkably well
preserved and very vigorous in health ,
joth physical and intellectual. He is
said to be seven-eighth's Indian and one-
eight Spanish. He is about five feet ,
nine inches in height , and of compact ,
muscular build , with great elasticity of
movement of body and alertness of mind.
He speaks very'little English. His wife ,
who is an acco'mplished woman of about
40 , is , however , a' most excellent and
tactful interpreter between her husband
and those who visit him. She is a thor
oughbred Spanish woman , whose maid-
envname was Rubio. She is of very at
tractive person and manners and would
grace the best centers of society in any' '
civilized country.
Porfirio Diaz is a man of remarkable
record and unparalleled as to the length
of his career in public service. On the
day above named , in the course of the
conversation , Madam Clayton , the wife
of the American minister , asked Presi
dent Diaz how old he was when he
entered his * first battle , and he replied
that he was 21. Whereupon Madam
Clayton , with true maternal instinct ,
declared that if she had been his mother
she would not have permitted his pres
ence in a battle at that age. Quickly
President Diaz replied : ' 'But my mother
sent me to the battle and made me go. "
For more than fifty years Diaz has
been in public position in the republic of
Mexico. There is no instance of a simi
lar career among any of his contempora
ries. In fact , THE CONSERVATIVE re-
oallp no man in the present century who
has stood for fifty years in the glare of
public life with the eyes of all his coun
trymen turned upon him and yet defi
antly challenging with success the criti
cisms of the whole world as to his pa
triotism and fidelity to duty.
In a curio cabinet in the room where
our'interview took place were two bul
lets'which Madam Clayton pointed out
as having been extracted by the sur
geons from the body of President Diaz
after a battle which was fought many
years ago. We were all looking with
eager eyes at these trophies of the sur
geon's art , when Madam Diaz with a
bright light in her eyes said : "It is
better that they should be in the cabinet
than in the president. "
Our entire party , consisting of the
editor , his son , Paul Morton , and Mr
Reynolds Morron , were delighted with
the suavity and hospitality which char
acterized President Diaz and his accom
plished and estimable wife. We were
also exceedingly well pleased with the
courtesies extended to us by Minister
Clayton and family , who seem to be
anioug the best liked of all the diplo
matic corps in the city of Mexico. .
If Tillman is the
WHY ? eminent scholar , pol
ished gentleman and
all-around model of manhood that ho is
said to be , and if President Roosevelt is
the uncouth , ill-bred , boorish , ignoramus
described by Tillman's friends , why did
the latter gentleman so far forget his'
dignity , and the good name of the sov
ereign state of South Carolina , as to
consent to dine , in fact , insist upon din-
ngVith the "cheap white trash" at
the White .House ? Tillman's conde
scending to be entertained by Roosevelt
velt is worse than Roosevelt's conde
scending to entertain Booker T. Wash
ington if South Carolina's lieutenant-
governor correctly estimates his uncle's
intellectual and moral qualifications ,
and does not exaggerate the defects of
the president's mind and heart.
Colton says : "Imi-
STOP tation is the sincerest
THIEF ! flattery. " . Emerson re
fers to imitation as
"suicide. " If the feelings of the editor
who sees one of his articles appear in
another publication without proper
credit being given should be allowed to
govern his actions , Emerson's definition
would be the better. It would be sin
cere flattery to the editor from whom
the credit was stolen ; it would be liter
ary suicide for the man who did the
stealing. Borrowing other men's
thoughts is not only thoroughly dishon
est ; it is a confession of the inability of
the thought thief to write anything
worthy of his readers' attention.
There is , however , very little "crab
bing" done by the modern publicist , as
the morale of the profession is extremely-
high , and for the further , and probably
more potent reason that the editorial
highwayman is invariably caught red-
handed , and exposed to the ridicule and
contempt of the profession and ita
clientele ; but there are editors in exist
ence who , when the muse deserts" them ,
when sorrows oppress or torpid livers
depress , open a favored exchange , select
an editorial which pleases their fancy
and is not inconsistent with the policy
of their journal , proceed to credit the
opening lin.es of the article , and then
filch the remainder , forgetting the all-
important quotation marks.
The Conservative has recently been
robbed in this manner by the editor of
a weekly journal of national scope , who
very magnanimously credits the first
paragraph of an editorial and' then pro
ceeds to filch the remainder , idea for
idea and figure of spepoh after figure of
speech , merely changing ' 'precise" ' to
"exact , " and plugging in enough "pack
ing" to prevent the revised 'article from
being branded a plagiarism in toto.
We call this "sincerest flattery" ; we
also call it suicidal to the reputation of
the offending paper and its editor.
