Life — January 26, 1899 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

ew Yous. year tn ad Published every Thursday. $5.1 the Postal co. Postage to foreign cor Union, etbt'a year extra, Sinale current coplea, WOcents. ‘Back numbers, after three months from date of publication, 25 cents. No contribution will be returned unless accompanied by stamped and addressed envelope. The illustrations in Lree are copyrighted, and are not to be reproduced without special arrangement with the publishers. Prompt notification shontid be sent by sub- seribers of any change of address. my TE appointment as Ambas- S, sador to England comes 2“ @ to Mr. Joseph Choate like a . _ large red apple to the boy who has been good, Mr. Choate has been good. He is charged with being a cor- poration lawyer, and is held by some persons to be lack- ing in decp convictions, but every able lawyer is more or less of a corporation lawyer nowa- days, and Mr. Choate’s convictions, whether they are deep or not, are usually equal to an emergency, and bave been drawo upon on a good many important and trying occasions. There is ample warrant to congratu- late the Queen and her Ministers, the Lord Mayor of London, and all our other friends over there, on the prospect of becoming better acquainted with Mr. Choate, He is a scholer; he is a gentle- man, and a wit, and an orator beside No American combines more effectively than he the suariter tn modo with the Sortiter in re. He understands forks and finger-bowls, and all the apparatus of polito life; knows history, law and poetry, and can quote the Latin authors without the book. It is even believed that in the course of a luborious and com paratively frugal life he has been able to accumulate such a competence as will enable him to eke out the somewhat in- sufficient wages which Uncle Sam will pay him, and live as betits his office, without severe pecun We believe our British kinsmen will be greatly pleased with Mr. Choate, aud doubtless he will reciprocate their esteem; and yet he is nota man to be run away with by affection for new friends, be the LIFE friends ever so cordial and his regard for them ever so sincere, There is just one cause for anxiety on the new Ambassador’s account. It is possible that he may point bis jokes a little too fine for the London market. Sometimes he bas done that here at home. We understand the British like theirs somewhat blunt, pial well driven home. INCE New York has been repre- <7 sented in the Senate by Messrs. Murphy and Platt there have been fre- quent intimations that the opinions and interests of the Empire State found very inadequate expression. New York has felt that, considering her importance as a taxpayer, her sentiments were entitled to much fuller demonstration than they received. Now that itis settled that Mr. Depew will be Senator Murphy’s suc- cessor, all that will be changed. We all know that Mr. Depew can talk to beat the band, and we shall be very much interested in observing the use that he will make of his gifts of oral communi- cation, There are those who believe him to be a superficial thinker, and more con- cerned with the ornamental and finan- cially remuncrative sides of life than with deep moralities or the fundamentals of statecraft. Such persons do not expect great things of hin asa Senator. Let us hope they may be disappointed. What we hope to see him do is to tighten his waistband, plant his cymbal on the shell of the big drum, and smite it forall he is worth. No tinkling will do for us, Better a voiceless Senator than that. What we want of Mr. Depew isto boom, and Heaven send that he may boom in the right key. Tis is coming out pretty clearly that a strong sentiment in the country favors the assumption of the same atti- tude towards the Philippines that we have assumed towards Cuba. To put an end to Spanish rule in those islands seemed under al! the circumstances to be necessary. A great majority of the American people approve of what has so far been done to that end. There is pretty general agreement that we must maintain for a time a military govern- ment in tae Philippines, to take the place of the Spanish authority which bas been overthrown, About nothing that has actually been done so far is there any importabt measure of dissatisfaction. It is about our ultimate intentions that opinions differ, one side holding to annex- ation and an avowed intention tu govern the islands as a dependency, the other disclaiming any desire to hold them longer than may be necessary to enable their people to develop competent leaders of their own and demonstrate a capacity to take care of themselves. It may be that the practical difference between these two attitudes is unimportant. It may be that the Filipinos will need to be kept in leading strings indefinitely. Let us hope not. Buteven if that turns out to be the case, the possibility of it does not compel us to assume more than a temporary and provisional responsibility for the islands at the start, Just and wise intentions do not always of themselves determine re- sults, but they are good as far as they will go, and they are far better to start with than mistaken ones, the —= T= surprising vigor of General Eagan’s testimony before the War Investigating Committee certainly be- tokened firm confidence in the quality of the food furnished to our soldiers dur- ingthelate war, General Eagan believes in his beef, and that is very well as far as it goes. The general public knows no more about that beef than it did when General Miles began discussing it, but it knows very much more about General Eagan and his abilities as a blackguard, and it very much regrets this sccession of knowledge. If Gencral Miles said, in effect, that General Eagan didn’t know his business, General Eagan was entitled to say, in effect. that General Miles did not speak the truth; but he was by no means entitled to mortify the American people by abusing his privilege as a wit- ness to make an indecent exposure of his mind and manners, Let the two Gen- erals have their fight out, and may the best man win; but let the fight be decently conducted. The charge that General Miles has hurt the American beef business by his complaints is absurd, If the beef was bad, he did right to say so.