Life — December 23, 1909 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

Wills and Gencrosity “THE Lesson of a Great Generosity, is the title of a piece in the Out- look about the late John S. Kennedy and his will. But “generosity "’ seems hardly the word to apply to dispositions of Very likely Mr. Ken- He gave very right property by will nedy was a generous man. {rely in his lifetime, and was an hon ored and respected Scotsman; but in his will he was no more gencrous than Uncle who, like Mr. Kennedy, left everything he had to posterity A man may show noble qualities in his will, He forgiveness, far-reaching solicitude Russell $ leave bequests that show love, for th him, but he can hardly be gener welfare of those who come afte 1s with what will no longer be his when its dis position is determined. So wills are a test, not so much of lestator’s gener- osity, as of his intelligence, and so, hap pily, we may look for good wills from men who are not generous at all but are intelligent. Mr. Harriman left a huge estaté, and every dollar of it to his wife. That did not mean that he was ungenerous, but simply that he was cut down while all his energies were still engrossed in the work of which his fortune was one result, and before he had any chance to go into the matter of distribution. He had to pass that duty along to those after him, Mr. Sage had no gift at all for distribution, and left all that to Mrs Sage. Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Carne gic have been conspicuously solicitous to get all that was coming to them, and have struck many hard bargains in get- ting it. Neither of them could readily qualify as a generous man. And yet we look for very interesting and intelligent both of them. They will let go of huge piles of money, and they will want that money to count in their favor after they get through with it; and hav- ing leisure for the job and great expe rience they will probably make wise and who came wills fro! interesting and profitable wills. ee ao Apparent Breach of Etiquette in Georgia seems to us that our good friends at Hawkinsville, Georgia, were over- in burning at the stake the Rev John Havard, colored, for shooting Wil- liam D. Booth. It is impossible to find a basis of good judgment for the burn ing in the story as the papers hercabouts have printed it. They relate that the hasty Rev. Havard driving his team of young mules home from Hawkinsville met Brown, a merchant, speeding toward him in his automobile. Havard’s mules were scared, but Brown did not slow up. Havard remonstrated and both men drew pistols and began to shoot. Both were hit. Brown hurried, wounded, to Haw- kinsville in his auto and roused his friends, who called for Havard at his house, took him, wounded, to the scene of the shooting, tied him to a stake and burned him up. This docs not look like a square deal for Havard. To swoop down the road in an auto on a team of young mules comes very close to being assault with intent to kill, Anything that the Rev Mr. Havard may have said to Mr. Brown under such circumstances must be con- sidered justifiable. Both men scem to ave shot frecly. Havard: said that Brown hit him twice before he began to shoot. That may be untrue, but the story as it stands makes Brown and his friends appear like cowardly persons who ought to be in jail waiting a prompt trial for murder and with a fair prospect friends please send ed version of this story, telling what a bad character Havard was, and how old and docile his mules were, and that Prown was only going eight or ten miles an hour and did slow up to pass Havard! “Barbarous Mexico WRITER in the Bankers’ Maga- sine is much exercised about the articles in the American Magazine called “Barbarous Mexico.’ The articles (by Mr. Turner) tell of some appalling abuses that are going on in Mexico, especially anent the expatriation of the Yaqui In- dians to Yucatan, and the system of riculture by slave labor in the Valle Na- cional, Mr. Turner tells of barities that are almost incredible in their fero- city. Fifteen hundred contract slaves a year, he says, are driven to the Valle Nacional, and all but a very few indi viduals of them are worked to death and actually die in the course of cight months. The Bankers’ Magazine writer wants the use of the mails forbidden to the Magazine containing these pieces, because, he says, the pieces and the pictures that go with them are lies, and because they hurt trade between this country and Mexico, imperil the Monroe Doctrine and hurt our investment in the Panama Canal. These reasons are all bad except the first. If the articles are not true, the writer of them and the publisher also might doubtless go to jail to good advan- tage as libellers of Mexico. But if the articles are true President Diaz will doubtless be grateful to Mr. Turner for calling his attention to things that ought to be attended to. Meanwhile, since the articles are very inflaming to the emotions we should like to know whether Mr, Turner is a writer of accurate veracity or an affinity of Upton Sinclair. Tariff Troubles American "I Ss that Teddy has sent into this country a large consignment of lions. tigers, etc. I presume he will have to pay regular tariff duty on them? “Oh, They will come in as free roar material. comicbooks.com