Life — July 2, 1903 — page 8: 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, XL JULY 2, 1903. No. 1079. 1 be returned unless stamped and addressed No contribution accompanied by envelope. The illustrations in Live are copyrighted, and are not to be reproduced, Prompt notification should be sent by sub- scribers of any change of address HE President is not going to protest to the Czar about the massacre of Jews at Kishineff. There are good diplomatic reasons why he shouldn't, and besides, he has had word that the Czar is sincerely put out about the massacre and is using all the means he can to prevent any more What the President will do about the late killing at Belgrade has not at this writing transpired. He might refuse to recog- nize the new King until the murderers of King Alexander and Queen Draga re punished, but the chances are'that he won't, and that our Government will do what the Governments of Europe have done—send King Peter its best wishes, and express hearty disapprobation of the murders which brought him to the throne, The Ser- vian story reads as though it had been written by Anthony Hope with the aid of stimulants. If it had come up from Venezue or from Breathitt County, Kentucky, we wouldn't have thougbt much about it, but our ideas of Europe are closely associated with civilization, and when a European kingdom falls back on the primitive methods of statecraft, and changes masters by a clean sweep of homicide we rub our eyes and wonder if this is lly the twentieth century. But, such occurrences, re after all, Southwestern Europe is still a » LIFE - mighty primitive part of the world, and the raw material of civilization which it keeps in stock, and also ships to us in very large quanti! s about as raw as anything that wears clothes. Owur TION is getting a good many jolts in these days, and just for the moment an observer who held that it was moving backwards could point to a good many indications that seemed to support his opinion. It was really the part of prudence, for example, for our Government not to upbraid the Czar too harshly for letting the Kishinef¥ Jews be massacred, and not to be too exacting in demanding the punishment of the assassins of Belgrade, for we do not succeed in keeping perfect order, or in punishing all crimes of violence at home. We have our race difficulties as well as the Czar, and there isn't so very much to choose between an American mob dealing with negroes and a Messara- bian mob dealing with Jews, e that the Czar’s subjects do murder by wholesale, and our lynchers as yet usually confine their attentions to indi- viduals. As for the killing at Belgrade, it seems to be a time-honored custom in Servia to kill the King, if possible, when it is time for a political change, just as it is the custom in the moun- tains of Kentucky and Tennessee to shoot the Sheriff and as many of his relations as can be sighted when oc- casion seems to invite. They certainly needed a change of kings in Servia, and certainly they need a change of habits in Breathitt. we are probably more orderly than any other seventy millions of folks occupy- ing three million square miles of territory in the world. It takes a long time to civilize the whole of a big country, and then it takes constant effort to keep it civilized. Russia has nearly twice as much population and nearly three times as much territory as we have, and the chances are that, when the last tramp sounds, there will still be parts of Russia that won't be as orderly as Massachusetts. Indeed, it is a question in what condition Massachusetts herself will come to the Day of Judgment, for her hill towns, they tell us,are going backwards, and their people degenerating. We have no positive assurance that even Massa- chusetts may not some time relax her grip on superiority and experience a decline and fall. Newport was once a fairly respectable city. Look at it now! Breathitt County was settled by decent. folks, and its eccentricities of conduct are due to nothing but isolation. When too much society can result in a modern Newport, and too little ina Breathitt, how easy seems the road to the bow- wows ! (THE truth is, the responsibility for the conduct of the world and the behavior of its various peoples is too great a burden for any of us to carry. We have got to let a great many things slide, and throw av spaper, and goon. Let us not lose all our sleep because some Servians have murdered a worthless king. We have troubles of our own. Our ship-building trust sprung a huge leak at its launching, and its crew are struggling vainly at the pumps. Our cotton crop is poor, our corn crop is a problem, there have been bad doings in our Post Office De- partment, stocks are pretty low, strikes greatly abound, and our leisure class tends increasingly to race horses. We have a great deal to do at home—our livings to make, our children to train and educate, our race problems and labor problems to solve, our votes to cast, and our general duties to attend to for our own improvement and the promotion of righteousness. Due tention to these domestic matters wi le: us scant time to spare for getting motes out of the eyes of Europe. comicbooks.com