The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-02-12
JOE BOWERS OF PIKE RENowN


Missourians to Honor the Man Who
Made them Famous.
The legislature of the sovereign state
of Missouri has just been legislating.
This in itself may not seem to be an
unusual and memorable thing; for
legislators are elected to legislate, and
they certainly do it, But the legislation
of Missouris recent legislators has not
been by any means parochial in it's
scope, but has dealt with things be-
longing to the higher intellectual life,
and therefore demands more than
local consideration. Two measures that
have lately been enacted relate, re-
spectively, to the domain of science and
to that Of literature.
The first concerns the mathematical
function known to geometricians as
"pi,'' the Greek character of that name
being used to represent it. "Pi' is the
ratio of the radius Of a circle to the
circumference, and has always been
understood to have the value Of three,
plus a long-running decimal Of six or
seven places, we forget which. The
necessity of this running decimal is
due to the fact that the circle can
never be exactly squared; and
mathematician for several centuries
have had to use this rather clumsy
number whose only merit is found in
the fact that it Is automatically
correct. But lately an able Missourian
put forth demonstration to show that
he had finally squared the circle, and
the legislature, wishing to honor local
genius, has declared that hereafter
'pi'' shall no longer stand for run
ming decimal, but for nice, even, con-
venient little number which any one,
even the humblest, can use with per-
feet comfort.
1t was represented to these lawgivers
that the repeating decimal is correct,
and that the convenient little number
is incorrect, and that the greatest
mathematician of the world are at
one on this point. But they said that
this didn't make any difference. The
Missouri man who had squared the
circle might not be much at higher
mathematics, but he was strong,
forceful character, whose home was in
the setting sun, and who was an honor
to Missouri. Moreover, the leading
mathematician of the world are
theoretical dudes, who have nearly all
been educated in college, and are there
fore allied with gold bugs and capita
listic blood-suckers Who else would
think of compelling the down trodden
| farmer to use a long decimal fraction
in his calculations, when he might save
no end of time by substituting a short
one? And if, as the Missouri legis-
lature holds, law Of congress can
make 50 cents worth Of silver equal
| to hundred cents in gold, why can
not a law Of the sovereign state Of Mis-
souri, reduce a little thing like ''pi' to
convenient value? Anyhow, they
weren't going to waste any time in
| discussing the theory of the thing, but
they just went ahead and did it. So
in Missouri the circle has been squared,
not by mathematics, but by legislation.
Having thus fixed up science the
legislators, flushed with success, took
a hand at literary valuations. A
sessions act Of 1897 is officially en-
titled "An act providing for the erect
ion of a monument to Joe Bowers"
The first paragraph of it's long pre-
4 ample reaQS as IolloWS.
Whereas, The true-hearted and H.
lustrious Joe Bowers, late of Pike, has
done more than any thousand men, liv-
ing or dead, real or imaginary, to adj
1ertise the great state of Missouri and
her splendid people, causing our name
and fame to be sung and rung in every
cline, on every sea, in every land; and
Whereas, His soul-stirring ballad,
beginning My name it is Joe Bowers,
has served to rekindle patriotism and
to foster paternal and filial devotion in
the heart of every true Missourian at
home and abroad, as we'll as to enlist
for us the sympathy, interest and re-
spect Of all men of genuine worth the
world over, and the admiration of all
women whose admiration Is worth
having; and
.Whereas, That said Joe Bowers and
his inimitable ballad are the common
property of the state of Missouri and
her people, every county proudly pro-
claiming him as her son and every low
err gladly adopting his song as his own
and all hearts beating in unison with
the poet and the poem
by insinuating that, Joe was possibly q
mythical parsonage, like the gentleman
who struck William Patterson, though
still describing him as "a type Of that
rugged but tender manhood which
characterized one of the most impor.
tant epochs in our country's history
But we are pretty sure that Joe is moi
a myth His name is reasonably goo6
evidence of that. 1t may be accepted
as certain that Joe Bowers Is just az
real as right Bowers or left Bowers
and surely no cultivated Missouriar
will call these mythical. The act Their
provides for a statue of Joe to b.
carved from "the best Missouri gran
ite," and to be erected in the ground:
of the state capitol at Jefferson City
So far so good But here myster,
is sprung upon us in section a, which
begins:
1.-THE money necessary to erect sait
monument shall be raised by voluntary
|, contributions"
That is to say, the people Of Nilsson
ri are by law at last permitted tt
, "arise'' the money for a monument t,
, Joe. There is evidently more in thi
than appears on the surface. Consid
} er the facts for a moment. Joe Bow
ers did more than any other Thousand
man RI odvortico tho uroat stota n