Life — October 10, 1901 — 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.” XXXVI. OCT. 10, 1901. No. 988. 19 West Taixty-Finst St., New Yorke. vou. Popiished every Thursday . $5.00 n year tn ag co. Hostage to foreign countries in the Postal 104 a Fear extra, | Single current co; numbers. after three months Gate vf publications Seen 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 #ub- seribers of any change of address. ples, HE 1 man who killed President. McKiu= ley has had fair and decent. trial, and we are likely to hear very-litfle more about him, except that in abont three weeks the an- nouncement will be made that¢he is doad. The most interest- * ing thing that has been made public abont him was that on his way to Anburn ho said he was sorry for what he had done, and when he got to the prison gate he collapsed entirely, and had to be dragged in. Poor wretch! Why didsnch a creature. ! commit a crinte so unutterably dispro- portionate to his capacity? If we had the lively sense Of thé existence of a per- sonal devil that sonre’of our forebears had, we would say thitt:Satan, finding his mind undefended, had entered into it and directed and controlled the creature's action. That wonld account for everything. But we don't take the Devil seriously any more, and being prone to regard him as hardly more than a figure of speech, we can’t make any serious use of him in our reasoning. It is a pity on many accounts that we have so impoverished our mental re- sources. Recounting the inception of & momentous crime, a writer still familiar to the readers of Christendom begins: ‘Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot." With all the enlightenment that we think we “issue is Croker. LIFE possess, we have not got much ahead of that method of statement. Since the murder was done on September sixth there has been a strong and rea- sonable desire to bring responsibility for it home to some one adequately amenable to correction. That desire has led to activity on the part of the police, toa good deal of miscellaneous recrimination not clearly warranted by facts, and to some sharp pursuit of evil-doers that will do no harm whether it has special justification or not. But, so far, as a whole the desire has been baffled ; search for special inotive and direct instigation has failed, and the Bible words describe as wellas any words of ours the mental process that led up to assassination. \TEW YORK is very, very dirty. The streets are torn up to an unusual extent on account of the under- ground railroad, but even the streets that are not torn up are neglected. Housekeepers dust and dust, and sigh for a week of the good Colonel Waring. The city is neglected. The Brooklyn Bridge is suffering for want of decent care, The police are corrupt. The city government as a whole is inefficient except in its relations to Tammany Hall. As a means of support to Tam- many Hall it incredibly efficient. Eketion day is near at hand. The So Dr. Low puts it, and Dr. Low is right. Croker, a non- resident landlord, owns the city politi- cally and governs it in his own interest and in the interest of his abettors. That is a shameful state of things. It is not only shameful, but it isa dirty, costly, highly inconvenient state of things. The clements in the town that want honest and intelligent govern- ment are pretty well united this year. Dr. Low is their candidate. He would make a good mayor, and the group of organizations which have united in support of him are far more fit to be put in charge of New York than Tam- many Hall can ever be. If we can elect Dr. Low, we shall have clean streets again, pillage will be checked, public property will be decently cared for, the renovation of the police depart- ment will begin, we shall be relieved from the disgrace and inconvenience of Croker and his rule, and everything connected with city government will take aturn for the better. The govern- ment of the City of New York is a matter of national concern. To gain and keep good government here is to hold up the hands of the righteous in every city in the land. Good men and decent politicians everywhere will take fresh courage if they see Low chosen Mayor of New York. \. OTHING definite seems to have been accomplished as yet for the release of Miss Stone, the American missionary lady who is held for ransom by brigands in a remote and hilly part of Bulgaria. Word is said to have come from Miss Stone that the brig- ands have used her well, and recently sent to Constantinople for films for her camera, but other accounts are less reassuring. The brigaunds are willing togive her up for twenty-five thousand pounds (Turkish), which amounts to one hundred and ten thousand dollars. Of course this is an absurd price, being more than five times as much as Mr. Cudahy paid for hisson. The American Board says it would bea bad precedent to pay a ransom for a missionary since it would put a premiam on stolen missionaries, and make the cost of missions probibitory. There is reasonableness in that view, but that dozsn’t help Miss Stone, whose caso seems mighty embarrassing. If the brigands would consider an exchange of Miss Stone for Dr. Judson Smith, Secretary of the American Board, it would be good business for them, and arelief to the minds of all of us. Dr. Smith is much too gallant a gentleman not to welcome such a proposal. Mean- while the Board is much exercised ; the State Department is doing all it knows, and the general public is deeply concerned. If those brigands know what is good for them, they will send that missionary lady back. She is safer with them than they will be if harm comes to her. comicbooks.com