Life — November 8, 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. XXXVI. NOY. 8, 1900, No, $30. 19 West Tainry-Finst St., New Yorn. vimublished. every Thursday. 95.00 « year in ad- ee. foreign ‘countries in the Fratal D4 a"year extn. Single current. co Back num bers, after three months foo date vot ‘publication, 2% cents, No contribution will be returned unless accompanied by stamped and addressed envelope. The illustrations in Live are copyrighted, and are not to be reproduced without special arrangement with the publishers, Prompt notification should be sent by sub- soribers of any change of address. Baton, O*E of the good results of election is that, once the polls are closed, it becomes 2, possible once more to dis- cuss things on their merits. The demand for special pleading falls off, Argument ceases to aim at the election of a Presiden- tial candidate and begins to concern itself with policies and their execution. The election has settled who shall be President from 1901 to 1905. It has settled some other important questions, but not our coun- try's foreign policy, noritsfuture course in the Philippines. Nothing but time and Congress will settle that. We must expect to go on working over it, and hearing it debated and discussed, The gain that election has brought is that the discussion will be somewhat more honest; that a good many persons who have affected an interest and convic- tions in the matter of the Philippines which they did not really feel, will concern theinselves with other matters, and a good many others who, for political reasons, had stopped discuss- ing our course in those islands will begin again, The question will have to be thrashed out, whether or not we are going to maintain for ourselves, at huge cost, an Ireland off the coast of Asia, and if not, how we are going to avoid it. A satisfactory conclusion will not be easy to reach, for the snarl is complicated, but the motive for ELPE reaching it is strong, both on moral and financial grounds, and the effort will doubtless be proportionate. There are good people in the country who think our course in the Philip- pines has been the best that was open to us, and that the evil results of it were unavoidable. There are other fairly decent people who think we have made a dreadful mess of things and are still on the wrong tack. Now that election is over it may be possible for persons who hold the former of these views to rid themselves of the idea that those who hold the latter view are traitors and murderers of our soldiers. That change, if it comes, will be timely and very welcome. The argumentum ad hominem has not helped much in the Philippines matter. Ge FTER all, bank robbing is a pro- fession suited only to men of stout hearts and extreme endurance, as well as of exemplary business habits. It may seem an easy way to get rich, but what the newspapers have been tellingof the day-by-day experiences of Mr. Alvord, one of the most brilliantly successful bank robbers that ever lived, tends to dispel that impression. Mr. Alvord has been a very laborious man. To have fun enough with his stealings to make peculation seem to pay, he has had to lead a pretty hard life. We read of his profuse expenditures at Saratoga; of his horse-race, and gambling-house, activities; of his dinners and suppers in the theatre district of this town, But all the time, except when he dared to allow himself a day’s vacation, he was the model of punctuality and industry for the hands employed in his bank. Invariably, when he slept at his sub- urban home, he caught the 7:05 train in the morning. Invariably, when work began at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway he was at his desk. Oh, brethren; let us not be bank robbers. It may seem easy and lucra- tive, but think of the weariness of trying to have fun enough to make it pay, and the horrible pitch of punctu- ality that it would constrain us to maintain! Let us stick to jobs that are less exacting, even though the apparent cash profits are not so great. Qa Bo @ VER in New Jersey the body of a dead factory girl has been passing from coroner to coroner, and four citizens are in jail charged with a crime that has shocked even the most hardened readers of criminal news. None of the scoundrels who have been locked up belongs to what we are used to consider the criminal class. All four of the menare well connected and fairly well-to-do. They were not intentional murderers, Their predicament is due to certain misapprehensions about. pleasuro, and the lengths to which the pursuit of it may be carried. In every large community there are men — young men usually — whose impulse towards enjoyment is strong, and whose notions of what is tolerable and what is not are exceedingly indefi- nite. They will be pretty sure to read whatever the newspapers print about the exploits of these scoundrels in Paterson, and about whatever retribu- tion may overtake them. Let us hope that what they read may be of a nature to arouse them to the inexpediency of profligate courses. The great differ- ence between the Paterson scoundrels and hundreds—perhaps thousands —of other young thugs, is that the Pater- son scoundrels had bad luck and have been caught. It is of importance that they shall be dealt with strictly ac- cording to their legal deserts, that so the egregious iniquity of the games they play may be brought home to others of their sort. jt goes very much against the grain to part with Charles Dudley Warner. One never thought of him as a man whose work was done, yet it was work of important volume as wellas of delightful quality, and it is more than seventy-one years since hecame to Earth to do it. A good man, a good writer, a good citizen ; a man whom thousands of us habitually counted as one of the individualities that made up our world. When we lose such a man it is as though the Eartk had jolted in its spin- ning, and we had felt the jar.