Life — October 7, 1897 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

VOL. XXX. OCT. 3, 1897. No. 772. a9 WEST THIRTY-FiRST ST., NEW YORK, Published every Thursday. $5.00 year in advance, Postage to foreign countries in the Postal Union, Gi.cgayear extra, Single copies, 10 cents, Rejected contributions will be destroyed un- tess accompanied bya stamped and directed envelope. The illustrations in Live are copyrighted, and are not to be reproduced without special angement with the publishers. Awaiting a Crisis. HE laudable project of electing Mr. Seth Low Mayor of Greater NewYork is not, at this present moment of writing, pro- gressing quite as impetuously as its friends could wish. Mr. Platt’s re- luctance to endorse the nomination of the Citizens’ Union doesn’t seem to abate, and the situation seems to be waiting further developments and some sort of a crisis. In common with a great many worthy citizens, LIFE wants to see some sort of acom- bination that will beat Tammany. Mr. Low's effectuality as a unifying force lags a little, but that was to be expected. He still seems to be the best candidate for voters who want to see the government of Greater New York administered for the bene- fit of the Greater New Yorkers, wh tS OL The Sux and Mr. Low HE attitude of our lively neigh- bor, the Sw, toward Mr, Low is odd and interesting enough to be worth attention. It seems to have transferred to him that comprehert- sive antipathy which it has been used to bestow on Mr. Cleveland. All Mr. Low's acts, motives and intentions seem to the Suto be reprobate. It seems really to believe that he writes bad English, that he has brought Columbia University to the verge of > LIFE: bankruptcy, and that he is a schem- ing rascal who never thought of being a ‘unifying force,” but got himself nominated by the Citizens’ Union for the express purpose of raising hob in New York and injuring the cause of sound money. The Sun assumes that there is only one citizen of New York for whose welfare Mr. Low is truly concerned, and that that citizen is Seth Low. Itclamors daily against him as a selfish and dangerous man, The supposition is tenable that the Sun is assuming, for party purposes, beliefs about Mr. Low that it does not really entertain, but that does not seem to LiFe to be true. It can easier believe that the Sux believes that this ogre of its imagination is the real Low. Is not that queer? But then the Suwa, with all its merits, is a queer journal, and can believe more evil about some good people and more good about some evil people than any newspaper in town. & ~ O ~ m How About Mahan? ONSERVATIVE citizens, who believe that this country has already quite as much of a govern- mental problem on hand as it can manage, are discussing the expedi- ency of procuring an injunction to restrain Captain Mahan from writing magazine articles. Captain Mahan is a scholar and a very agreeable writer, and a good many people read his pieces and regard what he says. It is notorious that he hasa specialty and that it is sea-power, and when he writes he cannot help making out that to become a great sea-power should be the first thought of every considerable nation, and especially of the United States. Just now he is studying the map and pointing out all the good places, like Hawaii and sundry islands of the Caribbean Sea, that Uncle Sam ought to control, and he discovers reasons for going out and grabbing outlying places of strategical importance that are very disquieting for people who want Uncle Sam to mind his own business and give his attention to his domestic problems. If he were a worse writer it wouldn’t be so bad, but to author- ity he joins skill, and some folks feel that the combination is ominous, William's Useful Failings. FRM the newspaper correspond- ents’ point of view the most interesting individual in Europe is the German Emperor. Now that the Sultan is lying low, and the Prince of Wales has come to years of sobri- ety and discretion, William makes more news than any other public character. One of the tales current about him concerns the supposed suicide of Lieutenant Von Hahnke. The story is that William insulted Von Hahnke aboard ship and that the lieutenant drew off and blackened the Emperor's eye, after which he found it expedient tocommit suicide. This story is persistent and abounds in tragic interest. There is also the later one, which represents that William has embezzled the Guelph fund, and another which avers that he is writing a comic opera, and other periodical tales respecting his health of mind and body; to all of which must be added the criti- cisms of his friend, Mr. Poultney Bigelow, who admits in print that he thinks him an ill-advised ruler. Lire concurs in that opinion. The truth is that William governs worse than our Congress does, is more arbitrary than Speaker Reed, hates England worse and sasses her more foolishly than any of our statesmen, and is of real service to America in showing that a Democracy is not the only form of government which is liable at times to embarrass the gov- erned. William has his uses. Long may he be spared to monopolize the dislikes of England, and to demon- strate to despondent Republicans that Monarchy has its drawbacks too. &