Life — March 28, 1889 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“While there's Life there’s Hope.” VOL. XIII. MARCH 28, 1889. No. 326. 28 West TWENTY-THIRD STREET, NEW YORK. Published every Thursday, $5.00 a year in advance, postage free. Single gopies, ro cents. "Back numbers can be had by applying to this office, Vol. L., bound, $15.00; Vol. II., bound, $10.00; Vols. III., IV., V., VI., VIL, vitr., 1X., X., XI. and XIi., bound, or in flat numbers, at regular rates. Rejected contributions will be destroyed unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. Subscribers wishing address changed will greatly facilitate matters by sending old address as well as new. ]|F it be true that Whitelaw Reid loses the English mission because President Harrison considered the tone of the Tribune—as expressed in the foreign despatches of the jamented G. W. Smalley—to be anti-American, Mr. Reid is properly punished, and Mr. Harrison deserves well of the people of the United States. And Messrs. Smalley and Reid together have managed to disgust every real American who reads the foreign despatches in the 777bune. Perhaps it would be a good thing for Americanism, in the long run, however, if Mr. Reid were to go to the Court of St. James. If he carried out the ideas of the lamented Smalley in con- ducting the affairs of his office, he could not help to bring about a re-action in favor of Americanism that would be of inestimable value to our citizens who travel abroad and become impregnated with anti-American ideas. Messrs. Lowell and Phelps have been sufficiently sycophantic as representatives of Americanism in Britain, but Whitelaw Reid, if he believes the heresies he publishes in his news- paper, would be a more servile truckler than either. * * * ODESTY is one of the attributes of true greatness, which is the circumstance that leads us to consider that it is probable that the laurel wreath of fame is being entwined for our distinguished townsman, Mr. Elliott F. Shepard. Magnanimity is also an indication of strength, and Colonel Shepard possesses that. Such reflections as these occur to us naturally upon reading the report in the Mail and Express of the dinner given at the Hamilton Club, in Brooklyn, to the new Secretary of the Navy. Colonel Shepard’s magnanimity is proved by the circum- stance that he attended the dinner, although he firmly believes that the Secretaryship of the Navy should have been his rights; his modesty is indicated by the following paragraph in his own paper: ‘*There were so many dinner gems that reference could not be made to all. A few representative ones, however, are the following. In his speech, which followed that of Secretary Tracy, Col. Elliott F, Shepard sai WE. regret that we have not space to republish Colonel Shepard's brilliant dinner gem, but, as we only quote the sentence to establish our previous statements concern- ing the rare mental traits we have mentioned, we trust the omission will be overlooked. Not so the warrior-editor’s claims upon those who admire modest worth. Colonel Shepard might have termed his address, in the columns of his paper, the most brilliant oratorical effort of modern times. He might have left Secretary Tracy’s address, and those of the other post-prandial speakers, unprinted alto- gether. But,no! Heis content, with shy diffidence, merely to term his masterpiece a dinner gem, and to publish the Secretary's speech first. If this were an isolated instance of the Colonel’s shrinking from doing himself justice, it would not be worth mentioning, perhaps ; but as almost every issue of his paper contains allusions to his personal conduct in which his meritorious deeds are chronicled in the compara- tive rather than the superlative degree of enthusiasm, we feel justified in thus drawing public attention to the matter. * * * HAT august body, the Assembly of this State, has found it necessary to vindicate its dignity by punish- ing the newspaper reporter who first exposed the ceiling swindle and the intention of the legislators to cover up the scandal consequent thereon. It might be a nice point of fact, if, before the reporter was punished for offending the dignity of the Assembly, that body were compelled to prove that it ever had any dignity. It will be borne in mind that the Assembly has not yet punished the rogues who stole some hundreds of thousands of dollars that was supposed to have been used in the construction of the ceiling, and that the investigation has been virtually dropped, in spite of all the efforts of the people and the press to push it to a conclu- sion. It is probable that the guilt of the criminals will never be fixed any nearer than it is at present, but there is acrumb of comfort in the thought that several rascals have been sufficiently smirched so that they can never be elected to the legislature again, or to any other position of trust. * * * HAT a blessing to a community is the presence in it of such a philanthropist as Jay Gould! That pub- lic-spirited and grueless gentleman has written a beauti- fully naive and siinple letter to the Mayor, in which he offers out of the goocness of his heart, to furnish New York with all the rapid transit necessary, if he only be given a large, piece of tine city and certain franchises and privileges of the value of millions, to do it with, Yes, Mr. Gould is a phi- ianthropist, indeed ! comicbooks.com