Life — May 3, 1900 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

“While there is Life there's Hope. VOL. XXXV MAY 3, 1900, No, 912. 19 West Torery. Pinst $1 rn ‘copies, Wo i a e trons 4 No contribution vill be returned unless accompanied by stamped and addressed envelope, The illustrations in Live are copyrighted, ani are not to be reproduced without special arrangement with the publishers, Prompt notification should be sent by sub- soribers of any change of address. HE effort ofourGov- ernment to in- duce the Sul. tan of Turkey to pay about ove bun- dred thousand dollars, long overdue as in- demnity for losses sustained by Ameri- can missionaries in scems a purely conscientious action. Convention time is approaching, yet nobody sug; that there is politics in the Administra- tion's demand. The Sultan bas promised several times to pay up, but doesn't do it. The missionary societies need the money, and Sceretary Hay says they shall have it or he will know the reason why. If the Sultan does not disburse, the Proposition seems to be to use whatever means is necessary to take the money away from him. The means usually employed in such cases are ships of war, We have some ready. If we send a squadron to collect our bill the Sultan's navy tight, and in that case Ameri- can institutions may be subjected to the strain of another great naval victory. In that event we may have more Admirals runniog for President this fall. Worse still, the Sultan may claim that we have destroyed his government, and that it is our duty to take the country and run it. If he appeals in that fashion to the American hair trigger conscience, there “LENE = is little doubt that we sball feel ‘con- strained to annex Turkey, the more soas to leave it loose in Europe would be pretty sure to bring on a general war, Then we should have to thrash the Armenians and others into submission to our rule, and altogether it would prove adisconcerting and expensive business for us, making us rivals of Russia and Great Britain, and raising general trouble. We ought all, therefore, to hope that the Sultan will have the kindness to pay his debt without driving us to harsh measures, and if he happens to be momentarily short ot funds there is little doubt that the necessary sum can be raised fur him in ten minutes in Wali Strect on avy sort of security it may be convenient for him to offer. We can't afford to fight again at pres: nt with any more sick men, who can claim to be beaten and unload on us, %S vip Wit. STREET doesn’t like wars, and would turn very pale at even a remote prospect of a war with Turkey. It bas been bothered enough by the obstinacy of the Boers, and it has troubles of its own besides. Its most recent trouble is a man from Chicago named Gates, who is chairman of the management of a big wire company, and who has talked and otherwise conducted himself in a way very detrimental to the interests of his own stockholders and those in most of the other big steel trusts. Gates, as the newspapers represent him, is a gambler without scruple or sense of public responsibility, He is likened to the late Colonel James Fisk, and felt to be very much wickeder than our other contemporary manipulators of values, His pretminence as a bad man may not stand scrutiny, but as an appareut ex- ample ot the species of microbe that Providence may have raised up to check the excessive multiplication of trusts, he has afforded an interesting object of study both for the speculative and the devout. One reason why the Standard Oil has proved sucha particularly potent and pervasive trust is that it is grounded in religious principles, which, while they do not deter it from timely or desirable spoliation of the Amalekites, do effectu- ally hinder it from cutting the throats of its own stockholders, The basis of public confidence in these great industrial combinations must be the conviction that their managers will not sbear the lambs of their own flock, but will get their wool outside, A trust that can’t be trusted by its owners is no good. HE problem of the government of our Spanish colonies promises to perplex us for a long time to come. The bill passed for Porto Rico provides a tariff of fifteen per cent, of Dingley rates on imports, the money to be used for the expenses of the isiand. It also provides for a local government, which is to bea combination of an elective legislature and a council appointed by the President, with most ot the power in the hands of the council, More objection is now made to the scheme of government than to the tariff. The plan may be modified by future amendments or ruled out alto- gether by the Supreme Court. Great abuses are possible under it, and the best that can be said for it is that it is a definite plan, under which, for the time being, Porto Rico can do business. It will serve as a precedent when the time comes to arrange matters for the Philip- pines, and will give the Supreme Court a chance to say how far the Constitution applies to our recent acquisitions, asf Ne ml ‘ M EANWHILE, as spring advances, Anglo-Saxon civilization is not much more than holding its own. The Philippines are still a source of worry, with few mitigations, and seem as much like a gold brick asever, albeit our labors there go forward with energy and large expenditures of money, and of good work by good men, The most comfort there is for us in our consideration of the Philippines is that after all the British got into a worse scrape than we did, and with less excuse. The longer the job of thrashing the Boers holds out, the fuller is the appreciation of its vast difficulties, and the graver are the doubts of Christen- dom as to whether, after all, the Boers needed to be thrashed. comicbooks.com