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THE COURIER
subject. The high prices of th.se books
were given, showing the necessity of
legislation to place them within the
reach of those dependent upon them.
The proportion of the blind to the rest
of the population in the temperate zone
was given as one to one thousand. The
people of China and India were Bald to
be the most afflicted In this way. The
earlier institutions for the blind were
mentioned, and what had been done for
them in other countries beside our own.
The room set apart for their UBe In the
congressional library at Washington,
which is so perfect in Its appointments,
was described.
Extracts from the recently published
"Life of Helen Keller" were read, show
ing her pleasure In rowing and other
sports and amusements and giving the
unfavorable impressions made upon her
by the noise and narrow streets of a
large city. Samples of the New York
Point alphabet, the best modern method
of printing for the blind and of the writ
ing of the blind themselves by the same
method, were looked at with much In
terest. The leader expressed regret that Miss
Morton, a teacher in the Nebraska Insti
tution for the blind, was unable to be
present and talk to the ladles as she had
expected.
The fact that young girls are fre
quently injured by too vigorous physical
culture exercises, and that modern ath
letics are as likely to harm as to help
young people, is receiving thought and
attention from high sources.
"The Abuses of Athletics In Secondary
Schools for Olrls and Boys" was the topic
discussed at a meeting of the Boston
Physical Educational society held in the
Walker building, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, last week.
Miss ladle Eaton Rill, head of the
physical culture department at Welles
ley, took as her text, "If Advocates of
Athletics are Strenuous. Opponents of
Athletics are Strenuous." She said that
there should be no opposition to out
door sports for g!n, provided they were
carried on properly, but she recognised
that evils were creeping In, and that the
time was ripe to stop them.
Regarding basket-ball, she said that
unless it was carefully supervised, the
game could work havoc with young
girls. She asserted there were too many
Incompetent teachers of athletics in
secondary schools: that a system must
be provided for proper instruction and
that unless the same could be' arranged
athletics for girls and boys should be
prohibited.
Intercollegiate contests, she said,
should be tabooed: likewise interschlas
tlc affairs of skill and strength, which
she said could not be otherwise than
harmful.
Miss Hill severely criticised the society
women who gave a black eye to athletics
by becoming too "sporty" in their efforts
to attract publicity by their fads, as the
sins of the latter had to be borne by the
big majority of women.
In closing. Miss Hill stated that atten
tion of reformers should be centered on
the physical culture developments for
girls, as the boys were not to be com
pared with girls for a minute, since It
was absolutely necessary to have healthy
girls to make good mothers.
Iowa is the only state In the union
which has a state medical society of
women. The state society of Iowa Medi
cal 'Women was organised In 1898, and it
numbers among its members the leading
women physicians of that state. The so
ciety has at present forty-three mem
"bera. It is supplemental to the Iowa
State Medical Society and was organized
by women attending the meetings of
that organization, who felt the necessity
of greater opportunities for consultation
on things of direct Interest to them as
well as to promote sociability among
the medical women of the state.
The constitution provides that the
meetings shall be held In the same city
as the Iowa 8tate Medical society en the
day previous to the opening session; and
that it shall be governed by the same
code of ethics. Without any antagonism
to the Iowa State Medical society, to
which most of its members belong, the
Women's society strives to
"Bring Into closer touch the isolated
medical women over the state, to bind
them together in fraternal helpfulness
toward each other, to encourage them in
the arduous work of their profession, and
to develop a greater interest in the local,
state and national medical societies in
which men and women physicians are
working together In harmony, emulating
each other in good works, and together
advancing the noble profession of medi
cine."
The sixth annual meeting of the society
m be held in Sioux City, on the four
teenth and fifteenth of April. Some of
the subjects which will be discussed are
"Medical Ethics," "Duty of Physicians
to Disseminate Hygienic and Sanitary
Knowledge," "The Prevention of Insan
ity," "The Value of Physical Culture and
Manual Training In Our Public Schools,"
"Acute Illo-Colitis," "Cholera Infantum,"
"Nephritis Albuminoso," "Iritis Spon-gioso."
Wpbadbapttrof
PM Kappa Psl
The national chapter of Phi Kappa Psl
was founded at Washington and Jeffer
son college In 1852, by Judge W. H.
Moore and J. P. T. Lettherman. It Is
now one of the most progressive of the
western fraternities and has chapters In
thlrty-slx of the principal colleges In
the country. Nebraska Alpha of Phi
Kappa Psl was Installed in the Univers
ity of Nebraska on March 22, 1895, and
has enjoyed a very prosperous existence
ever since. There are twenty-six active
members in the local chapter now oc
cupying a large house at the corner of
Sixteenth and K streets. The following
is the active membership:
Don J. McLennan, Burdette Lewis,
Lewis Folts, Alex Hitcbman, Herb
States, Art Scrlbner, Herman Lehmer,
Rex Moorehouse, Charles 2. Angle, Rus
sell Harris, Chas. E. Shlmer, Newton
Buckley, Dean Ringer, Allen Prescott
Phil Bross, Harry Reed, Earnest Allen,
Harry Hargraves, Homer Southwlck,
John J. Ledwlth, Earl Hubbard, George
E. Douglas, Herb McCulloch, Roy E.
Dumont, John K. Morrison, Ralph
Christie. Will Ramsey.
I" Bl'CtnUnnial
In May next two centuries will have
elapsed since Peter the Great founded
St Petersburg, and elaborate prepara
tions are being made to commemorate
with befitting solemnities and festivities
the two-hundreth birthday of the capital
of the vast Muscovite empire, which
ptretches without a break across Europe
through Asia to the Pacific coast. It Is
a celebration which cannot fall to arouse
the most profound Interest and sympathy
far beyond the czar's frontiers, especially
In the United States. For it will serve
to call attention to the fact that the
transformation of RusRia from an orien
tal Into a European power and the
change from Tartar barbarism to west
tern civilization, is of comparatively re
cent date, a circumstance which Is too
frequently forgotten when Russia Is
criticised for being inferior in popular
enlightenment and In national develop
ment to other countries nearer to the
setting sun. In the latter the methods of
government, as well as the economic and
Intellectual condition of the people, are
the result of the gradual growth of a
civilization dating back ten centuries or
more: whereas In Russia only two hun
dred years have passed since Peter the
Great autocratically forced upon the
orientalism of his reluctant subjects a
brand new western civilization, incident
ally endowing the empire with an en
tirely new capital constructed on western
lines, and destined to remain as the
centre of western ideas In Russia.
It Is difficult when one sees St Peters
burg today to realize that two centuries
ago. the territory on which It stands did
not even belong to Russia. The region
between1 Lake Ladoga and the gulf of
Finland formed part of the possessions
of the kingdom of Sweden. Peter the
Great drove the Swedes out of the
country In the winter of 1702 and 1703.
and In May of the latter year laid the
foundation of St Petersburg, which he
described as his "window looking out
into Europe." It was only a monarch
possessed of the Indomitable will and of
the despotic power of Peter the Great
who could ever have aucceded In build
ing a metropolis on a site such as that of
the capital of modern Russia. It is
perched on a swamp on the banks of
the Neva at the mouth of that river, and
when viewed from any lofty height
such as. for Instance, from the dome of
St Isaac's Cathedral, conveys the impres
sion of a huge float laden to the very
water's edge, and riding on the surface
of the waves.
So low, indeed, is the level of the city
that heavy westerly gales from the gulf.
as well as the big floods brought about
by the melting of the Ice and snow In
the spring, are apt to inundate extensive
portions of the town. In fact "0 grave
is the danger to which St Petersburg is
exposed from these Inundations that
whenever the river begins to rise guns
are fired from the fortress of St Peter
and St Paul, In order to warn the oc
cupants of the cellars and basements to
seek refuge upstairs, while the naval au
thorities set to work to establish a sys
tem of boat patrols for the rescue of
those In danger of drowning In the flood
ed streets. There are some who declare
that St. Petersburg is deBtlned some day
or other to be completely engulfed by the
waves, and to be swallowed up by the
waters of the gulf of Finland. But, al
though the city has been subjected to
innumerable Inundations, some of an ex
tremely disastrous character. It has sur
vived all dangers to celebrate its two
hundredth birthday, and may therefore
look forward with a certain degree of
confidence to an existence of at least two
more centuries.
Of course the swampy character of Its
site has from the very outset rendered
St. Petersburg extremely unheal thful, es
pecially at certain seasons of the year.
In fact there Is no capital in Europe
where the death rate is so high. It has
been only by the most wonderful perse
verance that the material obstacles and
difficulties presented by the marshy na
ture of the soil have been overcome, and
until recently a law enacted by Peter the
Great was still In force, requiring every
vessel arriving at St Petersburg to bring
a quantity of stone commensurate with
her tonnage, for use In paving the
streets and in forming the foundations of
buildings, esplanades, etc. Another law
enacted by Peter the Great and which,
of course, has long since become obsolete,
was that exacting of all proprietors of
mere than five hundred serfs in any por
tion of the Russian empire to build a
house at St Petersburg, and to spend the
winter there.
Peter actually went to the length of
Issuing a ukase prohibiting, under the
most dreadful penalities, the construc
tion of stone houses anywhere In his do
minions, save at St Petersburg, and
commanding all provincial authorities to
dispatch every stone mason on whom
they could lay hands to the new metro
polis. Not content with this, he caused
tens of thousands of his subjects to be
conveyed, without any regard to their
wishes or interests, from their homes In
even the most remote portions of his do
minions, to his city at the mouth of the
Neva, depopulating for -the purpose
whole villages and towns. For a long
period forty thousand men were drafted
annually from other provinces to St '
Petersburg, and employed In construct
ing the new capital, Peter superin
tending the work in person, and making
his home In a small cottage, which is
believed to have been the first building
in St Petersburg, and which Is still pre
served on its original site and in its
pristine condition In the Island citadel of
St Peter and St Paul, carefully protect
edby another structure built over and
araund it
The erection of this house was followed
by that of the fortress, which received
the name of Petersburg, and two months
later. In June, 1703, the czar laid the
foundations of the present cathedral of
St Peter and St Paul, in which all the
sovereigns of Russia, with the exception
of Peter II., are entombed, the bodies be
ing deposited under the floor of the ca
thedral, the marble tombs above only
marking the site of the graves. No one
will ever know the Immense number of
lives sacrificed in the construction of St
Petersburg during the reign of Peter the
Great Untold thousands must have
perished. For, In spite of the enormous
numbers whom he had brought to the
city. Its population at his death did not
exceed one hundred thousand. It has
grown to-day to near a million and a
half Inhabitants, in spite of the disad
vantages of every kind to which It has
been subjected, and to its terrible mor
tality. Two things have contributed to retain
for St Petersburg its rank as metropolis
of the empire. The first has been the
fact that until the recent development
of the railroad system St Petersburg
was the great export market for the
Russian empire, the rivers to the south
ward being Interrupted by rapids like
those of the Dnieper and shallows like
those of the Don. Another Important
factor in the growth of St Petersburg
has been the fact that with the excep
tion of Peter n., who preferred Moscow,
and who died there, aU the Russian
monarchs since Peter the Great have
established their residences at St Peters
burg or In Its immediate neighborhood,
and in consequence it has remained the
centre of that system of absolute gov
ernment to which the vast Muscovite
empire is still subject The ends of all
the threads of that colossal administra
tion by means of which the czar exer
cises his rule, from the frontiers of Ger-
A SULTAN OF OUR OWN
i
fifths
ti MfcHssC ) ix
This is an authentic photograph
of his imperial majesty, Hadji Mo
hamed Kirum, sultan of Sulu, who is
under the suzerainty of the United
States. The sultan owns a harem
and Is fond of toys and of robbing
his subjects.
many and Austria to the shores of the
China sea, are concentrated in St. Peters
burg, whence the entire bureaucratic
machinery receives Its direction and im
pulse. Everything throughout the empire
leads up to St Petersburg: every eye,
every thoughCand'aDoveraii, esrery fear
is centered upon it and to a greater ex
tent than any other Western capital Is
St Petersburg the hub of the nation. It
is the headquarters of the political, so
cial, military and administrative life of
all the Russias; and it is probably the
only metropolis in the civilized world
which, owing Its creation to the whim of
one monarch. Is dependent for its exist
ence to-day upon the caprice of another.
For In the same way that Peter the
Great made St Petersburg Nicholas TI.
could unmake it by a mere stroke of
the pen by putting his signature to a
ukase transferring back to Moscow the
seat of the government, the residence of
the sovereign and the dignity of the
metropolis of Russia.
It Is by no means an impossible move,
and In many respects It would be a pop
ular one. Indeed, It has been repeatedly
urged upon the late czar and upon the
present emperor by advisers who pointed
out that the revival of Moscow as the
capital of the empire would bring the au
tocrat Into closer touch with his people,
would promote both their orthodoxy and
their loyalty, would facilitate the admin
istration of the government, since Mos
cow is much more central and less re
mote than St Petersburg, and, above
all, would strengthen the hold of the
crown upon the goodwill of the old aris
tocracy; for the great nobility may be
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