The Daily Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 256, Ed. 1 Friday, September 13, 1907 Page: 4 of 12
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THE SAN ANTONIO DAILY EXPRESS: FRIDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 13. 1007.
X
MOOR
rni
_ ostofflce at San Antonio,
s Second-Class Mutter.
rt xpreiw Publishing Company.
TELEPHONES:
.orlal Room, Both '"0
jNlncoB Office, Both
Society Editor, Old 2*"
SPECIAL AGENTS AND CORRESPOND-
ENTS:
^<■ w York Office: Room 628, 150 Nassau
.Street—John P. Hiniut. Malinger.
' Washington, D. C.—Otto i'rueger, Itoom
6, Kimball Hull<llii£.
AiiBtln. Tex.—Glenn Frleer.
C. V. Holland, Genera) Traveling Agent.
August F. Seay, Traveling Agent.
We
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Dally, city, carrier, 1 month 5 -7®
Dally, mall, 1 month 'J
Dally, mall, 3 months
Dally, mall, 6 months J-*®
Daily, mail, 1 year.. S.OO
Sunday Kditlon, 1 year 2-00
Seml-VVcekly, 1 year
Terms Strictly In Advance.
POSTAGE RATES.
The postage rates for mailing The Ex-
press are as follows: S to 14 pages, lc;
18 to 32 pages, 2c; 34 to 50 pages, 3c.
POPULATION OF TEXAS CITIES.
The population of the seven largest
cities of Texas on June 30, 1908, as esti-
mated by the United States Census Bu-
reau, Is as follows:
6an Antonio 62,711
Houston 53,132
Dallas 52,793
Galveston 34,386
Fort Worth 27,096
Austin 25,092
Waco 24,443
Systematic Accounting.
The comptroller of the city of
Rochester, N. Y., has issued a com-
parative general balance sheet which
presents In condensed form the valua-
tions of the various properties that
the city owns as the result of its ex-
penditure of city taxes.
The statement slipws in detail the
value of fixed properties at the end
of the calendar years 1U05 and 1906,
■with the Increase or decrease, Includ-
ing parks, bridges, pavements, public
industries, cash on hand and amounts
due, and liabilities, both floating and
bonded.
The statement is so complete and
perspicuous that the citizen after go-
ing over it may be as familiar with
the financial and business status of
the municipality as is the comptroller
liimself, for the record is an open
page which anyone may read and
understand. Accompanying the state-
ment. sent to The Express Is a not"
explaining that the system of keeping
(accounts in Rochester enables the
comptroller to know exactly the
amount of money annually spent for
each kind of work and the amount is
added at the close of the year to the
proper group. All properties of tho
city are depreciated, as is done in
large industrial corporations, so that
the balance sheet represents, as
nearly as may be ascertained, tho
value of properties at the end of eacn
jear. The depreciation is based upon
estimates as to the life of the differ-
ent kinds of properties. l,and valua-
tions are not depreciated, only build-
ings, sewers, pavements, bridges, etc.
"In recent years," says the ex-
planatory note, "a strong movement
has grown up in the United States
towards improving the methods of
Pccounting of its cities. In one Statu
where such a method has been es-
tablished, at the end of the fourth
year every tax was reduced at least
26 per cent. Whether it would be
possible to make as great a reduction
in all cities, it is impossible, of
course, to state, but without doubt
a very great saving could be made if
uniform methods of accounting were
adopted."
It certainly looks like a business
administration when the system of
accounting is such that a balance
sheet may be drawn off which glvun
in minutest detail such a complete
exhibit of the city's assets, resource^
and liabilities and comparative in-
creases and decreases.
Increased Pay for the Army.
Col. Charles J. Crane, Adjutant
General at Fort Sam Houston, con-
tributes to the current number of the
Journal of tho Military Service Insti-
tution a paper oil the needs of the
infantry.
The needs include, besides an in-
crease of pay, an increase of officers
sufficient to supply the details tor tho
general staff, the personal staff of
general officers, for instructors at
service schools and the Military
Academy, for military attaches, lor
recruiting service, etc.
Another need of the infantry sug-
gested by Colonel Crane is the pres-
tnce in Washington of a representa-
tive of the infantry to properly rep-
resent the largest and'most important
branch of the Army whenever there
arises any question affecting the ad-
ministration of the military schools.
The representative at the seat of gov-
ernment, it is suggested, should be
designated as "chief of Infantry,"
■hould be appointed by the President
from the colonels and lieutenant
colonels of infantry and should have
the rank, grade and emoluments of
brigadier general and retire after six
years.
Colonel Crane seems to think that
the infantry has not had a perfectly
& ^ /
fuir deal In the distribution of special
favors and that some advautuge
might; accrue from co-operuUou on
the part of the Infantry officers and
the appointment of an infantry chief
ut Washington.
With rcspoct to an increase of pay
to meet the increased cost of liviiut,
he Inclines to tho opinion that this
might bo most readily obtained from
Cougress if advocated in the form of
an allowance for rations and one for
clothing and equipments, yet ho
would prefer the equivalent in money,
because the equalization of pay would
be less difficult than by the allow
m.ce system.
Col. Robert R. Stevens, Chief tjuar-
termaster at Fort Sam Houston,
thinks tho pay of army offlcei'3
should bo increased because present
conditions make so much greater de-
mand upon his income than had to
bo met before the acquisition of tho
far-off Islands and the consequent
longer distance between stations and
the more frequent changes, because
the clothing which army regulations
require them to buy, as well as their
food, costs so much more than for-
merly, and because the railroads no
longer transport them and their
household effects free of charge, as
they formerly did.
Congress will be asked to increase
the pay of the Army at tho next ses-
sion, and when the facts are brought
to bear there is a strong probability
that; the request will be granted.
Progress of the Liquor Law.
El Paso, from being one of the
toughest towns in Texas, is in a fail-
way to become one of the most clr-
cumpsect. First, the gambling —
which was practically unrestricted for
a long time—was completely driven
cut, and then the saloons, which had
been In the habit of ignoring all stat-
utory or police regulation, began to
observe the law in letter and spirit.
Now I he saloon men's organization
of that city has expelled a member
for vinlntion of the Sunday law and
a property owner is threatened with
prosecution for renting premises to
improper persons in a tough district.
The breweries in some localities and
the Wholesale Liquor Dealers Associ-
ation in other localities have advised
strict compliance with the Baskin-Mc-
Gregor law as being for the best inter-
ests of the liquor men; and now, with
the saloonkeepers organizing to secure
enforcement of the law. there ap-
pears to be a fair prospect that the
matter of regulating the saloorts will
leach such a satisfactory stage after
awhile that opposition to the .saloon
interests will be swept away by Im-
provement in the conduct of those
that are responsible for the anti-
saloon sentiment, and there may
come a time when there will be no
more agitation of Prohibition and
anti-Prohibition.
The saloon men are beginning to
understand the situation better thaa
they did aforetime, and while veiy
properly insisting upon what they
conceive to be their legitimate dues,
they are preparing to meet the issue
intelligently and in accordance with
their best Interest.
Congressman Burton is to be the
Republican opponent of Tom John-
son for Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio,
in the coming municipal election in
(hat. city. Mr. Johnson has beeii
Mayor several successive terms and
has heretofore seemed Invincible,
but he probably has not before been
opposed by so strong a man as Bur-
ton. As chairman of the Committee
on Rivers and Harbors, Mr. Burton
lias been .if great benefit to the
waterway iuterestn of the country,
and his retinement from Congress?
will be a mutter of much regret.
The Dallas Times-Herald, referring
to trusts, notes that the Farmers
Union has fixed the price of cotton
and has issued orders to its mem-
bers ail along the line to hold the
staple. "It takes a trust to fight
a trust. Labor has a trust, the
Farmers' Union has a trust, the pie-
eaters have a trust and the politi-
cians have a trust. The consumers
have no trust and so the consumers
pay the freight," says the Times-
Herald. It is the consumer who gets
the worst of it every time.
If the Texas railroads have suf-
ficient equipment and motive power
to handle all the business offering,
as some of the representatives are
said to have asserted, there need
be little apprehension of such con-
gestion of traffic during the busy
season as has been known afore-
time. It was stated last winter that
numbers of cars and locomotives had
been ordered, and the supposition is
that these will be available by the
time the rush begins.
A McAlester, I. T., man has fur-
nished |12,400 to be used in printing
the ballots for the new State's first
election. He says the State or Con-
gress can return him the money or
be will donate it if nccessary. A
man In McAlester recently bought a
gold brick worth something over
$20,000, according to a bogus Govern-
ment assayer, and he got it at tho
ridiculously low price of $8000. This
is the same gentleman.
WHAT THE STATE PAPERS SAY
The financial situation in New
\ork must have Improved very
greatly or the report which gained
currency some time ago that tho
city was unable to dispose of a new
issue of bonds must have been in-
accurate. The bids, which have just
been opened, show a heavy over-
subscription at a good premium.
Maybe Wall Street influences weie
interested in making it appear that
money is scarce.
Williamson County, with a record
of 3ii,fi00 bales of cotton last season,
will not gather to exceed 18,000 bales
this year, according to a reliable au
thorlty. This is one of the banner
counties of the Stale In average
years, aud the question for the cot-
ton buyer with bearish inclinations
to determine is whether or not lie
had best gather in the fleecy staple
now instead of waiting for it to get
cheaper.
it is evident that California is so
far from Washington that land hunt-
ers have not heard that they were
not allowed to get possession of Gov-
ernment land by fraud. The Depart-
ment will shortly proceed against
parties who recently illegally fenced
2000 acres in the Imperial Valley and
burned the houses of two squatters
who had locations on the land.
The Milwaukee Sentinel has been
called down by some of its exchanges
for printing a story auout a woman
who tried to commit suicide by
swallowing two $20 bills. The real
absurdity of the story did not occur
to the Sentinel until someone asked
why a woman with $40 in money to
bpend as she pleased would want (o
die.
The Texas State Press Association
will meet at Mineral Wells in May,
when it is expected that the mem-
bers will have a good deal to say
about tho anti pass law, especially
that provision of it which denies the
right of contract between railroads
and newspapers In the exchange of
transportation for advertising space.
The total American cotton crop
for the season ended Aug. 31 was
1V511,000 bales, and of this total
Texas and Indian Territory are cred-
ited with 4,503,000 bales, about one-
Ihird of the whole. Texas raised
nearly as much cotton as all the other
States, with the exception of Georgia.
Mississippi and Louisiana, combined.
The authorities should take charge
of the tobacco show which begins
its annual exhibition In Madison
Square Garden, t New York city,
Monday. As an inducement for an
attendance It will award prizes ever./
afternoon and evening to men who
smoke the greatest number of cigars
in a given period.
News comes from New York that
Mike Thomas, the Texan who went
to New York to trade in cotton last
July, has cleaned up a cool million
already. If this be true, Mr. Thomas
possibly has no complaint to lodge
against the Thirtieth Legislature for
ousting the cotton exchanges from
Texas.
Even at this early season Texas
is full of homeseekers and investors
anil the hope of the Five Million
Cldb will be realized long before
1610. The next decennial census
will give Texas a population far ex-
ceeding five millions, according to
I he preuent outlook.
Stranger Than Fiction.
She whs a pretty little nurse, and he
a guy old millionaire;
They brought him to her ward because
his gyitem wnt in bad repair.
Day after day she rame and went. with
footsteps light iia flakes of snow;
With cool, soft hands she touched his
brow, Ills every wish she seemed
tu know.
If be bad t »cn a dimpled babe and she
his mother, young and glad.
His treatment could never have been
more tender than the care he had.
Her eyes were deep and dark and soft,
her face an artist would have
pra iped;
Whenever she went tripping; past the sick
ones turned and gladly gazed.
The rich mnn's Ills drew less and less,
and so the doctors came one day
And loot ed nlm nver and declared 'twa.i
tl.oe for him to go away.
He rose and went, well pleased. Indeed,
that ho was tnce more well and
strong;
But strange to say be didn't take the
pretty little nurse along.
P. S.-Perhaps It ought to be explained
that he—the grizzled millionaire-
Was married when they put him in the
pretty llttlj nurse's oare.
-8. E. Klser.
Reflections of a Bachelor.
There Is no idiot like the one that be-
lieves a girl loves him because she says
so.
Rather than use hi* mouth for public
oratory a man would be more useful
chewing gum.
A woman is satisfied to smile over good
news unless it is so gojd she has to cry
really to enjoy it.
A girl never dares to climb a ladder
unless she knew beforenand she was go-
ing to do ft so she could drees for It.—
New York Press.
The Roller Variety.
Build a sidewalk and then you will
be able to look out of the front win-
dow with pleasure and satisfaction.- I>eu-
ison Mr raid.
Also tli€* small children of the neigh-
borhood will come and skate on It and
you will bt* able to improve your vocab-
ulary.
♦ ♦ ♦
The World Were Paradise Enow.
The newspaper business is like any
other business. It tak»*s cash to run it.
Our only capital is a hole in each pocket
and an unlimited supply of nerve. Manor
Progressive Age.
With plenty of chewing tobacco, time
and rest, what more could any man
desire? After all. what's the use?
♦ ♦ ♦
Hint to Brumby.
There is Aunshlu* et.ough in Presidio
County to cure millions of people who
are dying by inchc-s in the ignited States.
It has ( alifornla skinned a Mock. - Mnr-
fu New Kra.
Then why & 11 this to <lo over the
Brumby exclusion act? The State Health
Officer might find a solution of hii
troubles bv Riving his "undesirable Utl-
seiiB" through tickets to Presidio.
♦ ♦ ♦
Establishing a Record.
Two weddings on the same day. Can
you beat It'.'—Yoakum Herald.
It is a record, perhaps, and .shows that
Yoakum is progressing matrimonially.
The attention of our honored President,
however, will never turn Yoakum wards
rntll a new record is established. He
advocates anti-race suicide and loves to
hear that one simple little word, im-
plying the duality, "twins."
♦ ♦ ♦
Educate the Voter.
Instead of urging the question, "What
is a Democrat?" why not discuss "Why
a Democrat?"
Far more pertinent Is the question of
"Why a Democrat?" With Taft urging
that the Democrats of tho South really
entertain views which coincide with
those of the Republican party, the Dem-
ocracy of this section should know why.
The educatl >n of the party constituent
who has taken only a. medlocrc interest
should not be neglected.
♦ +- +
It Was Not a Snake.
A Baltimore man is laboring under the
delusion that he has a 11/e frog in his
stomach. Some one shouid inform him
that frogs can not live in a whiskey
lank.—Kiilecn Messenger.
This certainly hints at a reflection on
the manhood of Killeen. Is it possible
that Editor Bennett would scatter broad-
cast the impression that Hie patriotic
stomach3 ol Kiilecn have been converted
to mere receptacles for the rye? In Bal-
timore, as in cities of this State, there
are some persons who drink soda water.
Ha* Kiilecn fallen belo*v the standard?
♦ 4-4
The Higher Education.
Soon the sweet girl graduate will be-
gin to carry out her ideals in the country
school room, and a fine field it is to
cultivate patience and accumulate a store
of varied experiences, from being called
to sit up with a corpse to "amusing the
baby at meetin.' "—Corpus Christi Texas
Sun.
And later, when The Man comes into
her life, it is to be hoped that these
same experiences will have perfected her
in Hie art of making pies like mother
made, will have taught her to overlook
tho strained look of the morning after
iiud will make her forget the time hon-
ored question, "Whe./e were you last
night?"
High Life in thy East.
Hecretary Taft, under pretense of at-
tending the opening of the first Philip-
pine National Assembly, is about to trot
around the nobs* Wes the Ides bor-
rowed from W. J. Bryan? Will he go
on the platform when lie returns and t«-ll
of the Old World's highways?—Belton
Journal-Reporter.
After the heavy-weight Sesretary of
Peace has viewed the elevation of the
Japanese flag in Chinese territory, has
witnessed the effective manner In which
a bomb scatters portions of a Russian
official through the circumambient atmos-
phere, has been charged quadruple rates
by a Chinese coolie, it Is more probable
that he will essuy an oratorical effort on
tho "High Ways of tho Old World."
♦-
Standpoint of Economy.
The editor of the Blade has been an
advocate of two-cenWfare for a long time
and hopes to see it universal before
many years. Three cents a mile Is too
much for people to pay for riding on
trains and we believe it would be bet-
ter for all the roads In Texas as well
as all the people, If the two-cent rate
was in force in this State—Lampasas
Blade.
"Riding on trains" is expensive since
the anti-pass law became effective, but
it is unique, to say the least, for a man
to acknowledge outright that he favors
a reduction merely on economical
grounds.. Many other things are to be
considered before the advisibility of the
two-cent fare la substantiated; but, now
that you mention it, it Is to be wondered
whether His Excellency, Tom Campbell,
is thinking of the eighty cents he will
save every time lie takes an outing at
Chrystal lnko or if Colquitt is now
reduced to counting his change.
4 4 4
American Adoration of Brawn.
The Ladonia News desires for that
town a brick plant, a cannig factory,
a cotton mill and other good things. Con-
sidering that those folks paid a ball
player $K.;i0 for a home run tlie other day
money is plentiful over there, and the
News should have no trouble in getting
all the factories it mentions and then
some.—Paris Morning News.
It is probable that It will encounter
more trouble securing money for the fac-
tories and municipal improvements. The
American public is sincere in its admir-
ation of all things athletic, and is more
ready to reward the "strenuous" citizen
than it is the industrious one. Only
the other day a fund was raised in a
Southern city for the benefit of the wife
of a ball player, accidentally killed. This
man probably never brought a dollar into
tho city, never worked a day in the city
and, in fact, was dependent on the cit-
izenship of the municipality for his daily
bread. It is acknowledged that Ills wife
should have tho money and, in fact, it
is to be deplored that the sum was not
larger, but, still, the question arises:
"If this man had been merely a hard-
working citizen, would the purse have
been raised?"
^ TOPICS OF THE TIMES ^ n*
Mr. Roosevelt as an Editor.
A story which is not without the "hu-
man interest" color has recently been
circulated arour.d New York and has
not yet received denial from Oyster Bay.
It is as short and simple as the annals
of the poor, being merely that when his
Presidential term has expired Mr. Roose-
velt will become editor of the New York
Tribune.
It would be a distinction for Mr.
Roosevelt and for the Tribune also
were such a relation to b* established,
but tho-Tlmes inclines to the belief that
tho tale was started by the nature fak-
ers. The nominal editor of the paper
founded bv Horace Greeley, now Am-
bassador to the Court of St. James,
would not lightly yield his prerogative,
even to the man who furnishes nlm a
chance to astonish ever lavish London
by the imperial banquets which arc
everyday affairs at Dorchester House.
To be editor of the Tribune is quite
as honorable and elevated a part as to
be president of Harvard University or a
member of the United States Senate,
from New York, both of which positions
already have been assigned to President
Roosevelt when he shall again be Mr.
Roosevelt, and it is altogether unlikely
that Editor Held is ready to relinquish
Ills authority.
The Roosevelt mind is not judicial.
Temperamentally the President is a
fighter. He is very apt to be unfair
and to lose his pois^. No good editor
Is tho one or does the other. The idleal
editor is the best-balanced of men. Ha
is as impartial as a statue of Justice
and as calm as a Stilton cheese.
The rumor may be dismissed as either
idle or foolish, but it has the shining
mailt of being interesting even though
untrue.—yt. Louis Times.
Mr. Harriman's Discovery.
While Mr. Peary and Mr. Wellnian
delay their voyage of discovery Mr.
Hsrriman has completed his. And he
has found something which will bring
a great deal more of a chill to New
York than the North Pole will bring-
to that town when it ?s found. He has
made the discovery that New York Is
only an Incident of tills country. The
New York papers are reporting Ihe dis-
covery as a genuine sensation, as it un-
doubtedly is—in New York. It is set
out with a degree of display and ex-
travagance which it will not be easy to
beat when the North Poie is at last
found in the place it has been for a long
time. Such a discovery, if ever made,
can be no more startling to New York
than the discovery of the West made
by Mr. Harriman. It will have in it
no more of the element of news than
the news Mr. Harriman is now telling.
When the Pole is found in the neighbor-
hood of 90 degrees North, it will be
realized it was there first. Mr. Harri-
man has discovered the greatness of
the West, tut it had to be here-to bo
discovered. It has been here for a long
time.
Mr. Cleveland never got more satisfac-
tion out of the discovery of an old
truism than Mr. Harriman gets out of
his discovery of the prodigious, pal-
pitating West. And he has a fine nose
for news. Not until he reached New
York did he announce his discovery.
As there will bo no occasion for issuing
an extra at the North Pole on the day
of the discovery, so Mr. Harriman saw
no necessity for talking Venice to the
Venetians, cr crying "JSureka!" any-
where this side of Buffalo. His order
to put him off at Buffalo must have
been for the purpose of announcing his
d'seovery there. For it was during'his
stnv there that he broke the silence
which had attended him all the way
East from the Pacific coast. He bab-
bled of green fields to a reporter, and
talked of the beauty, immensity and
wealth of unknown lands towards the
setting sun. much as tho Irlquois chiefs
in that vicinity talked to the French
explorers moving west along the great
lakes more than two centuries ago. It
is a revelation to all New York, and
to the IBfKrldl city *t the mouth of the
Hudson it should only be told on tho
installment plan of the half i.our extra.
If told all at once ii could not be be-
lieved in Manhattan, even told by Mr.
Harriman, who has been blackballed by
the Ananias Club as ineligible to mem-
bership.
"I've been out In a big country, young
man." said Mr. Harriman to tlie re-
porter. "I've been serine bigger thing-?
than skyscrapers. New \orkeis seem to
think that the busy men of the. country,
the men who do things, shape all their
movements by Wall Street. But what
sort of a reflector is 'the street?' It's
a false on*, I tell you. I went to Texas,
an empire wealthier than many coun-
tries of the Old' World. The other
Southern and Southwestern States are
also making much money, and the whola
country is booming." He based his
opinion that there is no danger of a
panic upon "the material and not the
speculative wealth" of th-» country, and
was careful to add that it is this, and
not the return of Mr. Morgan from Eu-
rope, upon which our financial security
rests. This will be regarded as another
great discovery In New York, which
has always thought that no financial
crisis has ever been met and passed
without the intervention of one or more
of her citizens. New York once hadi a
famous ditty telling of how, when this
country was discovered, it was one of
her most eminent citizens, Mr. Dooley,
who acted as chairman of a reception
committee which met the discoverers
on landing. It does not appear that re-
ception committees or brass bands, have
met Mr. Harriman on his voyage of dis-
covery to rhe West, but none the less
he has his discoveries well charted, and
the nroflle map he draws Is on* which
might well encourage other New York-
ers to further explorations of a great
and strange land.—St. Louis Globe-Dem-
ocrat.
"Public Policy" of Anti-Pass Act.
The view of Mr. Pollard of the Attor-
ney General's office is that the Legisla-
ture did not intend by its anti-pass law
to abrogate contracts already made, in
which respect he concurs with tha
oninlon so charitably expressed by Judge
Kit troll In the case Involving a contract
between the Southern Pacific Railroad
Company and tho Wells-Fargo Company.
The Thirtieth Legislature used the Eng-
llsh language with such a notable lack
of precision that no one may be sure,
knowing its intent, what it really diid.
just what it tried to do. Still the view
expressed by Mr. Pollard as to the ef-
fect of the law on contracts already
made is "in agreement with an opinion
frequently voiced bv the News.
In accordance with a lawyer's practice
of giving no more information than he
is asked for. Mr. Pollard volunteers no
opinion as to whehter the legislature
has authority to forbid the sale of trans-
portation for advertising space. That is
the only question of any consequence.
No one—not even the railroad attorneys,
we fancy—believed that the legislature
had invalidated such advertising eon-
tracts as had been made before the pas-
sage of the law. but there is much
curiosity to know whether the Legisla-
ture can forbid the renewal of these
contracts. As for itself, the News can
contemplate the discontinuance of those
contracts with perfect equanimity, nor
does it believe the papers of the State
generally would suffer in any material
way from their discontinuance. It does
net regard tho denial of this right as
likely to work any serious hardship on
the newspapers: but the question is an
Impoitant one in the abstract. It will
be 'mportant. In other words, to know
in a very particular and definite way to
Just what extent the right ctf contract is
subject to the whim of the Legislature.
We say whin, for the reason that in try-
ing to deprive the newspapers of the
r*ght to exchange one thinir of value for
another it was apparent that the Legis-
lature was merely yielding to a passion,
venting its tpleen.
Home of the Tewyers tell us th^t the
legislature may abridge ihe rignt of
contract in the exercise of its police
power. But as we understand it, it may
WON'T THEY I3E SURPRISED?
. in"
i&Uu' Ay , /JC A? 0\\lP
ElihU
TVP 3.C
r*i
Ar«i irr
-SI. I/mls <"51nhe-lVmoeart.
exorcise that power only to subserve
"public policy. "Public policy" Ik a term
of much elasticity; but the public policy
which produced the antt-pasa lav; is
preltv clear. It was made up of two
beliefs. One was that it Is a discrimina-
tion to allow one man to ride free and
charge his neighbor; and the other was
that ihe giving of passes to men whose
duty it is to make, construe and execute
laws is a corrupting Influence. Thes«i
n-e beliefs that make the "public policy'
of foe nntl-;mss law.
We think it will be difficult for the
fTtntc to show that the newspapers come
within Its embrace. Certainly their
own. is and editors do not ride free,
since they give something of value to
the railroads lor th- tickets they use.
H will have to be shown then, that the
newspapers themselves are or are likely
to be corrupted by tfie transportation.
Since th. y give value for It In tho way
of advertising space needed by the rail-
roads they are under no such obligation
lis could make them complaisant to the
wishes of the railroads. And if that be
net regarded as a sufficient answer, then
the course of the newspapers mav be of-
fered confidentially as evidence that
such transportation as they have re-
ceived has riot Inclined them to favor
the railroads In any controversy they
have hal. The files of their papers
will show that they have opposed the
railroads pretty stoutly all along the
llnr. . ... .
The News thinks that tne committee of
the State Press Association acted wisely
In' resolving to learn just how far the
Legislature may go under the pretex of
"public policy."—DaUas News.
MR. TAFT'S OPPORTUNITY.
Conditions in the Philippines Likely
to Advance His Interests.
The ability, tact anfl executive capac-
ity of Secretary Taft is beyond dispute;
but his departure at this time for Japan
possesses a signifl-an^e far deeper than
that of a mere paslirg cal*. en route to
Manila.
Can It he that lv Is going to Japan
with a suggestion fiat the Mikado^buy
the islands?
Many guesses h *e much less plausible.
There are sood reasons for believing
that .lapari hiis heei sounded upon this
question. One or I wo feelers were put
out at various points within the past
year—notably durlt.g Jamestown cere-
monies.
Prior io that ti m a consensus of opin-
ion had been obt lined frctn the Fili-
pinos therp^elves. Ch^v are as iirllffer-
er.t to American protect In as are the
Cubans-about .vbom I had something
to say en Sunday.
One of the curinsltles of our recent
attempts at colonial adminlstrr.tion Is
that we dw not miike friends with an-
nexed fir conquered peoples. To state the
fuel, Hawaii would as lief b> urjler
Jap.'inese rule ,-,s that of the 1'nited
States. The Phtli ipin'.-s are a seething
mass of discontent
Porto Rico Is supine but bitterly an-
tagonistic. Her pi"i]>|> have been shame-
fully treated The causes are too base
and commercial to mention In this col-
umn. If she possessed arefl and the
population, Porto Rico would be in open
rebellion at t-.ls minute. Tlil-s Is due to
the vested intereits too busily employed
"protecting" Hie sugar, tobacco and
other tropical moiopolleu to give atten-
tion to ihe neglected anrti long suffering
people of the little Island tiiat. has come
under our control.
But. seriously, if Secretary Taft can
c include an arrangement by which tlie
incubus ef the Philippine tslartds will he
lifted front our shoulders he will have
the indorsement of Congress and the
gratitude of the American people of all
jartles.
No sure' path to the White House
ever was blazed out! It is not a "trail,"
but a grsit highway.
Think of the Idea before von smile;
The Democratic party is estopped from
criticism. In and out of conventions. In
times of good and of evil report, the
Democrats of the country have repro-
betedi the acquisition and the retention
of tl es.j faraway Islands of discontent,
danger and Inutility.
In the Republican party also the
toncii'* of criticism has not been stilled.
Men In Congress, unde- til" lash of pa-
tronage, have not. spoken their true feel-
ings. Thev 'have had opinions that
found ready expression among their
constituents ond trusted friends. Not
all of them, bv nnv means, are upon the
side of the administration in his on-
slaught upon certain corporations that
had pet out to own the country. Until
certain trust-rlditen States, like Rhode
Island. New York, Indiana. West Vir-
eini-i and Nevada, are bereft of power
to send servants of the "interests" to
the Ilr,u«e and the Senate, these sec-
tions of the nation will h" "represented"
hv men who are onposed to any and
every measure that the present adminis-
tration shall denominate.
Put behind Secretary Taft tn this mar-
velous undertaking, upon which he is
about to set out, will be the great mass
of the American people. If he can un-
load th'^ Philippines. William H. Taft
can have any reward he usks.— Julius
Chambers, ir. th.; Brooklyn Kaglc.
OWEN DAVIS, "THRILLER" KING.
Harvard Graduate Has Written 76
Melodramas and Has 18 On.
"Appeal to the primitive emotions of
humanity and you have the secret of
writing successful melodrama.'1 said
Owen Davis, .lust at present busied with
the rehearsals of some xight companies
in eight different new melodramas from
his pen.
"I will have Beventeen melodramas on
the road this season, eight of which arc
new.
"You know the life of tho melodrama,
is short It scarcely runs beyond a sea-
son.
"There ure rare ones which do. I have
two out now—'Chinatown Charley," in Its
fourth year, ana 'Nellie, the Beautiful
Clonk Model/ in Its third.
"Managers, howpver, do not care to run
short of melodramas, and thev keep the
playwright working overtime in order to
have a ready-made supply in cas* one
falls.
The name hii* a great deal to do with
th# success of a play of this kind'.
"Take, (or instance, 'Nellie, the Beau-
tiful cloak Model.' There is not a su-
perfluous word in chat title. It could not
bo called 'The Cloak Model.' Such a title
has no individuality. Vou couldn't call
it 'The Beautiful Cloak Model,' because
It still lacks character. But when you
call It 'Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model,"
it means something to every eye. To the
mind and imagination spring up a fund
of incidents relative t<» Just what the tltlA
means, and th* crowds go in to see just
what Nellie, possessed of beauty, which
causes her io be set upon a pedestal as
a model of all that is perfect in woman,
does,
"I have another play, running at pies-
ent in Pittsburg, called 'Edna, the Pretty
Typewriter.' You see tlie significance of
the adjective pretty* instead of 'beauti-
ful' or 'handsome.' 'Pretty' is an ad-
jective universally applied to typewriter
girls. We don't wish to change what the
vast bulk of humanity call her.
"The audiences whj pack the melo-
drama house? really believe what Is
transpiring, no matter how Impossible
some action of the play may be. 1 went,
down to the Thalia Theater on the open-
ing night of my 'Convict £99' and sat in
the audience. There is a scene where a
woman has a fight with a convict in a
cellar. There is nothing in it but a tabh
on which is burning n lamp. Durinsf the
quarrel the lamp is put out and the
woman, for safety, gets under the table.
The criminal whips out a gun and shoots
at the four corners of the room to find
out where site is. By some accident the
footlights, which should have gone out,
were turned down only three-quarters.
Th* woman wan plainly visible to the
villian, yet he shot j^t the other three
corners of the room, and when it catno
time for the fourth corner to be shot at
the woman screamed.
"A young woman leaned over to the
one sitting next to me and asked: 'What
is the matter with him? Why don't h<»
shoot her?' 'Ah! don't you see he ij
blind?*
"A Hroad^ay auditor would never
make such a remark.
'I have running at the Fourteenth
Street Theater a play called 'A Chorus
Girl's lAirk in New York."
"In this play I depict all possible condi-
tions of the chorus girl. 1 take tho au-
dience behind the scenes and show the
dressing rooms, but 1 dare not show the
girls as thev appeared In the Chorus
tindy.' which ran so long at the Haekett
Theater. 1'p there the girls appeared- in
npglige^ bordering on the Eve "ostumo
of old. But you couldn't do that down
at the Fourteenth street Theater
"These audiences go to see melodrama,
for the honest purpose of seeing virtue
triumph over vice. They don't care to
see the vice in its bafd form, but Just
the villiany that it leads to.
"When I feel that T can get over the
footlights the belief that th«» leading man
is good and virtuous, and that his love
for the heroine is so strong that he will
sacrifice his very last breath to win her
and rescue her from the pitfalls of the
wicked' world, then T know I have suc-
cess.
"When I know that the primitive emo-
tion of my audience lias been touched,
then I throw in my guns, cannons, horse
races, mill wheels, buzz saws, train
wrecks, snowstorms, boat races and all
the other mechanical effects which are
known as the •thrillers.'
"In order,for me to get this heart feel-
ing T must fe?l It myself, and, strange
as It may sound to you I do feel It In-
tensely.
"Some of my characters I grow to love
as if they were the real living presence
and were my companions In cally life.
"And let me state right >ere that I feel
certain the dramatic critics of this coun-
try make the grave mistake of treating
the melodrama in a humorous manner.
Kspeclally the .critics who are on those
papers which appeal strongly /to tho
masses from whom they derive their
large circulations.
"They miiis the vital point. In not tak-
ing into consideration the audience that
goes to the melodrama. They love that
style of amusement and they idolize the.
characters create1! for their amusement.
They believe in them, and I have known
instances where they have modeled their
lives after them.
"I further know that they feel keenly
hurt when they pick up the paper that
they swear by, because It heralds Itself
as the champion of the people.' and find
therein the dramatic critic treating the
play they viewed and considered inspir-
ing to their souls, as a tumorous, discon-
nected lot of thrilling adventures of
stagey actors. This is wrong.
"I am a graduate of Harvard Univer-
sity of the class of *93 in mining engin-
eering. I am a bachelor of arts and
sciences. I have written for all the
scientific and literary magazines in this
country, and have devoted the last ten
years to the writing of plays of all
grades.
' T first came to New York with Greek
plays for production, a*id went the entire
length of the long line of managers in
this city. They all turned me down. This
went on until I came to the starving
?olnt. and I coached football teams for
inv living. I finally got a remark out
of a manager which ran something liki
this: 'Why don't you write something
thrilling with strong, plain wortfs and
figghtlng action?' This was my cue. and
I have been turning out these thrillers
ever since, until I love the work and
hope to improve conditions of melodrama
before I quit It.
"That there Is a good living in it can-
not be denied. I have not been anywhere
near the starving point for a very long
time." Here Mr. Davis declined to ssy
what his Income was. He did say, how-
ever, that one of his plays, "The Gam-
bler of the West," earned for him $35,000
last season. Mr Davis has ha6 pro-
duced in ten years seventy-six plavs sn-1
has written so many he forgets the
names of them.—New York World.
Th« Modest Brother.
Ef ever I git to th* promised land
I'll want no serenndin'—
No hymns that's played by a heavenly
band
An* never no drese paradin !
I'll never as kwhat the program Is,
^er rear it would make me shiver:
W hen Gabriel tackles that horn o' his,
Oh. its then I'll cruwl to kiver.
•-^Hanta Constitution.
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The Daily Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 256, Ed. 1 Friday, September 13, 1907, newspaper, September 13, 1907; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth442091/m1/4/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.