Life — June 4, 1903 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

Vou. XUL JUS 19 West THiery-PrRsT ST, lished © ry Vo contribution accompanied by The illustrations in Lave are copyrighted, and are not to be reproduced. will be returned unless stamped and addressed Prompt notification should be sent by sub- seribers of any change of address. DHE subjects of most acute public concern at this are the massacre of Jews writing in Bessarabia, the bull market in cot- ton, the labor situ- ation, and the b market in we hear about the Bessarabian ma sacres the less able we are to measure Russia's 1 sponsibility for them. sarabia wasa Turkish prov- ‘ nt times, and the Russian element in its v much mixed population is not large. Rus is certainly responsible for the main- tenance of order there, but so in Euro- pean eyes the United States is respon- sible for the maintenance of order in Mississippi, or Kentucky, or Colorado. In those States, as in most of the others, deplorable and embarrassir things sometimes happen, but as the lynching of negroes in Georgia, and of Italiansin Louisiana, and of Chinamen in Wyoming or California is not in- spired from Washington or counte- nanced there, so the massacre Je in Bessarabia was probably spired from St. F stoc Bes- ince up to very rec not’ in- sburg. Perhaps has merely been slow and in- icient in protecting her Jewish sub- jects in her southwestern province Half of all the Jews in the world—six millions of them. ‘e subjects of the Czar. Russia could no more hope to kill off or drive away so many of them than we could hope to kill off or drive away the negroes, One story is that her Jewish subjects are forbidden to *LIFE* own agricultural land, and so being debarred from agricalture, live by trade and money-lending. Being much cleverer and shrewder than the Rus- sian peasants, they are apt to acquire mortgages on the peasants’ property, and as in course of time the peas- ant’s debt far exceeds his powers of payment, a massacre of Jews becomes anecessary process of liquidation, An- other story is that the massacres were begun by religious enthusiasts and con- tinned by robbers, All that is clear is that the Jews were killed and their houses pillaged, that the local police and officials did nothing to protect them, and that the Czar’s government owes Christendom an apology. GTRIKES re still epidemic. Every K city has a lot of them,and they are undoubtedly proving a very e3 Building has been In New York, every one whose intention to construct or alter any kind of edifice could be de- ferred, has put it off. In Chicago the laundry strike continues, and has re- duced the town to an absurd condition of grime. Twelve thousand Chicago hotel employees and eight thousand barbers are at this writing on the eve of quitting work. A great many baker- ies and restauran ‘e closed, and the town is unhappy. Secretary Gage has been back there. He lived there forty years, but says Chicago's lack of attractiveness, compared with other cities, is painful. Dust, cinders and coal smoke bother him there, but he still likes the people. It is too bad pensive visitation. checked everywhere. 2 UT even New York is a place of trial for some good people. Mr. George Vanderbilt, for example, has been spending much money for a year past to make his house on Fifth Avenue a seemly and decorative edifice. Just as it would be approaching completion if all the artisans were not striking, the President of the Borough warns him that his new porte-cochére protrudes far- ther than the law allows and must come down. It isarguable whether the porte- cochére is a thing of much beauty, but Mr. Vanderbilt got leave from one set of authorities to build it, and since he is a decent, public-spirited and law- abiding person, we are sorry to see him bothered. Another affluent gentleman, whos wife lost a string of pearls, offered five thousand dollars for their return. A shop-girl found them, gave them back, and got a hundred dollars. It seems there is a question of law or ethics as to whether the balance of the reward is due the finder, and the question is much discussed in the public prints, to the possible discomposure of the afflu- ent gentleman aforesaid, It must be a considerable trial to own pearls valu- able enough to warrant an offer of five thousand dollars for their recovery when lost. That should be trouble enough without relinquishing the money offered. Ei ay LAUGH T is a relicf to turn from these de- -L pressing topics to consideration of the good fortune of the Golden Cham- Dermaid of Indianapolis, Her name is Lulu Hadley, and she made beds in the English Hotel. But Booker Washing- ton came to her hotel and she refused to make his bed. She lost her job as chambermaid in consequence, but is now a candidate for Vice-President on the Democratic ticket, and the darling of grateful admirers at various points inthe South, Citizens of New Orleans have sent her thousand dollars. Houston, Texas, folks expect to do better still, At las€ accounts, tokens of appreciation were rolling in on her t the rate of five hundred dollars a - and she had opened a bank account. She seems to have stopped making beds precisely at the psychological moment. All the other strikers are green with envy at her success. If the Bessara- bian anti-Semites conld express their feelings by dowering golden chamber- maids, how very much better it would be! It is reasonable to surmise that Mr. Booker Washington will be a popular guest hereafter in the border State hotels. comicbooks.com