davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
Be Prepared for Disappointments

If the report is true that the Russian
delegates to the czars peace congress
have declined to accept the proposition
of England, backed by the United
States, TO neutraize all private prop.
erty at sea in time of war, then we
may well doubt whether the congress
will be substantially productive of
good. This proposition was one of the
three upon which there had existed any
hope of concurrence. Disarmament. the
ostensible object of the conference, was
known to be a practical impossibility
under existing conditions, but there had
been some expectation that in addition
to neutralizing private property afloat
the congress would formulate a limited
plan Of international arbitration and
take some steps to further abridge the
cruetes of war.
The basis of Russia's alleged objec-
tion to the prevention of the seizure of
private property at sea is that it would
| benefit Great Britain in far greater
proportion than any other nation, on
account of England's superior merchant
marine; and by so much contribute to
England's naval supremacy. The Rus
slams argue that so long as England
has the upper hand in the carrying
trade. that long will the liability of
English merchandise to CAPTURE in the
event of war operate as a powerful
leverage in forcing England to keep the
peace. There may be truth in this con-
tention; but if seizure Of private prop
erty af1oat is morally wrong and If its
abolition would, as most intelligent
men claim, be a great forward step
then it does not become the nation
which invoked the peace congress to he
the first to show signs of insincerity.
England may be in the ascendancy to-
day in the ocean carrying trade, but
the very fact of the naturalization of
private property would operate as an
incentive to other nations to compete
more strenuously than heretofore for n
larger share of the salt water COM
merce. We in the United States have
in this question an interest second only
to England's, for though England is
now at the top of the list, our people
do not have to look very far ahead to
foresee the day when the American
merchant marine will be crowding that
of England for first place.
These reports as to Russian attitude
and intentions may be inaccurate.
Friends of civilization may well hope
so. But while wishing for the best re-
suits at The Hague let them also be
prepared for disappointments. The
millennium evidently is not yet
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

north, one In the east, one in the west,
one in the central states and one in
the south. Having selected the ground,
make provision for laying them out into
camp grounds and thoroughly equip
ping them for immediate occupancy.
BY that mean have a complete sewer
system all ready for immediate oper-
alton and waterworks plant that
could be worked by the turning of a
faucet. Then when the time came for
a call to arms the volunteers could be
gathered from all directions and begin
and continue their training without
danger of an epidemic before they had
learned the first rudimentsof soldering.
These camp grounds would not lie idle
until there should be declaration OF
war. They should be used every sum-
mer for the encampment of both regu-
lars and National Guard, and the in
vestment would prove a paying one
even If we never went to war again"
This is the kind of war criticism that
counts
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
The Lash for Wife Beaters.

Governor Roosevelt's recent advocacy
of the whipping post for wife-beaters
aroused various comment some sharp
" censorious but the drift of expert
opinion seems to be in the governors
direction. The Medico-Legal society
of New York has undertaken to secure
from eminent penologists opinions on
this subject and the first instalment
made public shows a Large preponder-
ance in favor of the lash as a cor
rective.
Judge Baldwin, of the Supreme court
of Connecticut, favors it unreservedly.
Says he: mo sentence TO a county
Jail is greatly dreaded by a hardened
criminal. 1t gives him in most cases
an assurance of better housing and OF
better food than he is in the habit OF
gaining by any other mode of eXer-
ton. ON the other hand, whipping is
dreaded by every one, man or child.
Governor buckingham of Connecticut
once stated that no white man had
ever been whipped twice under a ju-
dcial sentence in that state. There
have been many who have gone back
to Jail ten and twenty times"
Chief Justice Lore, of Delaware, in
explaining the use of the whipping
post in that state, notes the states
peculiar geographical situation, serv-
ing to make il the dumping ground of
tramps and vagrants, and says this fact
makes the lash something of a neces-
sity in the states criminal law. "The
second and perhaps controlling rea-
son." he adds, grows out of the test
of experience, that the whipping post
is the most efficient deterrent of crime
known TO our laws. 1t is the most
dreaded of all punishments, and in
applications for mitigation OF sentence
the prayer almost invariably is for the
remission of the whipping. 1t appeals
70 brutallzed nature as no other pun
ishment does. and has made and kept
in the past the criminal classes of Del
aware relatively small in number"
Superintendent Brockway Of the FL
mira reformatory says, more guarded
ly: Beyond question, there is a con-
siderable class of young offenders, in
prison aud out of prison, whose re-
covery to orderly and industrious be-
havior in a free community can be best
accomplished by some proper use of
corporal treatment, The question
will sometimes arise whether young
criminals or prisoners should be sur
rendered TO evil ways, 10 habitual
crime. or be rescued by resort to a
physical application. The fact that
| for a given class OF crimes and pub
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

es for the benent OF its ancestry, will
have good reason to grumble.
-:o:-
The city Of Philadelphia is about to
draw on the future for more than sll000,-
600, and is going TO expend a large part
OF II on works which pcsterity will never
see. For example, $4,000 900 are to be
used for paving and repairing of street,.
Pavements and repairs do not last long
In any city. II would be scarcely more
unfair to tax the future for fireworks for
the coming Fourth of July than for such
improvements as these. The next gem
Grafton and its successor, and so on to
the end of time. will have streets TO pave
ana pavements to repair. There are
other large items In the list of works
proposed that will not be passed along to
posterity with the bill for their construc-
tlon. The bill will go, sure and straight,
but the goods II calls for will have been
consumed on the way.
-:o:--
We do not mention Philadelphia from
any impression that her case is excep-
tional, but simply because 1T is the latest
object lesson in that dubious public mo-
rality which we are considering. other
cities are living on the future, reaching
into the pockets of coming generations
for the means of paving their streets, cd
ucating their children and doing other
things which they ought TO do themselves.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
FOOD ADULTERATIoN.
From the Times-Herald.

From the Times Herald
The senate pure food investigation be-
Ing conducted In this city has proceeded
FAR enough to disclose some startling
facts with reference to the adulteration
of food products. In fact the revelations
already made fully Justify the enactment
by the next congress of a drastic pure
food law that will be stringent enough
in its provisions to protect American con-
sumers from the vast quantities of adul-
terated food products that are annually
dumped into our ports by foreigners who
are not allowed to sell them at home.
o
One of the witnesses before the COM
mttee stated that he ground adultera-
tlons according to orders and that he
furnished a number of retail firms with
mixtures made of ground cocoanut
shells, buckwheat middlings or bran and
other articles" Such things, the wit
ness admitted, made up mixture which
went out on an order for pepper or all
spice. This Is the kind of stuff that Chi
cago is sending out to a certain class of
consumers under various spicy and at
tractive labels. Such disclosures as this
should impel Senator Mason's committee
to searching investigation of firms that
make a business of adulteration.
Next In importance to the revelation of
facts bearing upon the character and cx-
tent of the authorizations is the question
of temedial legislation, and in this con-
nection the testimony of iraeme Stew
art, of W. NJ. Hoyt & Co., is most valu-
able. He recommended that tax should
be imposed in such a way as to keep out
foreign adulterations and that manu-
facturers and jobhers be required to
plainly label all packages and products
so that the retailer and honest shipper
would be protected from frauds. In the
matter of spurious coffee, 1t is believed
that duty Of from to cents a pound
would not only protect the domestic ship
pers but would effectually keep out the
spurious and inferior grades, for the rea-
son that the wholesalers price of pure
coffee is now so low that the poor stuffs
when burdened with a fair impost tax
could not compete with it. 1t is claimed
that the duty on tea has already resulted
in a marked improvement in the quality
OF the tea that is shipped to this country.
In the absence of uniformity In state
legislation upon food adulteration, the
only hope of relief for the consumers and
dealers Is in a national pure food law
framed along the lines suggested by Mr..
Stewart,
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
MoRTGAGING THE FUTURE.
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
Persons who talk glibly about 1.-The con-
sent of the governed and make eloquent
protests against taxation without repre-
sentation' do not hesitate to reach for
ward through many coming decades and
put their hands into the pockets of men
whose great-great-grandpar have not
yet arrived in this breathing world. Ma
tions, states, counties. and cities innum-
cradle are piling up debts and, in so do
ing, are laying taxes on remote posterity.
II Is impossible to avoid legislation and
executive and judicial acts that will ef-
feet the material and moral interests of
the people of coming centuries. Obvi-
ously, We cannot consult with or get the
consent OF generations yet to come. The
present must assume a great measure of
responsibility for the future. But II
would seem only reasonable and honest
that when we tax pnsterity, when We in
cumber posterity's inheritance, we should
use the money thus borrowed in a man
ner that will coIrespondngly enhance the
value of the estate that we shall pass
along to our successors.
-:o:-
For public improvements of an endur-
ing character such as parks, sewers, and
waterworks, IL Is not morally wrong to
divide the expense between the genera
tions that will use them. Their con-
struction makes the real estate of a city
more valuable by increasing not only The
length, but the enjoyment of life The
future will be grateful to the past for
such works even If II has TO pay part
Of their cost. But a posterity loaded
with debts for what its ancestry con-
sumed or wasted, posterity paying tax
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
THE MOTHER OF A SOLDIER.

The mother Of a soldier--hats off to her,
/ say.
Tho mother of q soldier who has gone to
face the fray;
She gave him TO her country with a
blessing on his head
She found his name this morning in the
lonk list of the dead
"Killed-Sergeant Thomas Watkins,
while leading on the rest,
A Bible in his pocket and portrait on
his breast
The mother of a soldier-she gave him to
her land;
She saw him on the transport as he
waved his sun-browned hand;
She kissed him through the tear drops
and told him to be brave;
Her prayers went night and morning
with her boy upon the wave.
The mother Of a soldler-her comfort and
her JOY,
She gave her dearest treasure when she
gave her only boy;
She saw the banners waving, she heard
the people cheer;
She clasped her hands and bravely looked
away to hide a tear.
The mother OF a soldier-Ah! cheer the
hero deed,
And cheer the brave who battle meath
the banner of their creed;
But don't forget the mothers, through
all the lonely years,
That fight the bravest battles on the sun
less field Of tears.
Nay, don't forget the mothers-the
mothers Of our men,
Who see them go and never know that
they'll come back again,
That give them TO their country, to bat
tie and to die,
Because the hughes call them and the
starry banners fly.
The mother OF a soldier-hats. of to her
j say!
Whose head Is bowed in sorrow with its
tender locks OF gray.
She gave without regrettins, though her
old heart sorely bled
When she found his name this morning
in the long list of the dead:
"killed-Sergeant Thomas Watkins,
while leading on the rest,
His dear old mothers portrait clasped
upon his hero breast!
-Folger McKihsey in Baltimore News
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
THAT TRIBUTE TO DEWEY.
From the Washington Post.

run NHe washington fOSt,
As regards the movement with refer
cnce to Admiral Dewey, which, heaven
be praised is now assuming u rational
and decent shape, we should like 10
make one small suggestion. The enthu-
slasm of the American people is intelli.
gtble enough, and It is unquestlonably
creditablc to all of them. lie deserves
much at our hands, and, II we owe him
anything at all, we are under the most
binding obligations to pay that debt In
some fashion that will not distress and
injure him. IL Is now generally under.
stood-thanks to the good sense ana good
feeling of the multitude--that he does not
want, and could not, without serious in
convenience to himself accept the mum.
erous banquets and publications that
have been proposed We have abandoned
the idea of shocking him with ebuli.
tions and undermining his system with
stupid banquets. il remains, therefore
to honor him in some other way, and the
proposition to present him with a house
possesses all the elements of courtesy
and common sense without losing the
smallest touch of enthusiastic gratitude
We cordially support this plan, and shall
encourage 1t I'm every way.
-:o:-
There is just one further word to say
Admiral Dewey does not want and could
not use palace. lie is alone in the
world, with the exception of a son. A
great and gaudy mansion, choked by lux.
urious accessories and lost in space and
room, would be of no use to him what
ever. On the contrary, 1t would be a
grievous burden. If not, indeed. n real
affiiction. Twenty-Five or thirty thou.
sand dollars would secure for him home
In the locality he prefers, and the rest
OF the money subscribed should be in
vested In such manner as to enable him
TO maintain his establishment in proper
style. To invest him with a gorgeous
mansion would be to make him a Sind
bad with the Old Man of the Sea perma.
nently fixed upon his shoulders. We
stand second to none in admiration 81
Dewey as man, a commander, and 6
diplomat. We regard his achievement
as the most brilliant and the most per
feet of the war There can be nothing
too good for him. He deserves 1t all
But the tribute can reach tho point OF
persecution, and we seek to stop it short
of that.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
GRAVITATIoN THE SECRET.

From a Speech by Congressman Dolliver
saw the order in the presidents hand
writing directing our great admiral in
Asia to find the Spanish fleet and capture
or destroy It, but neither the president
nor the navy department expected the
admiral to be able to bunch them. We
expected to be chasing that fleet all over
the Pacific ocean throughout the sum-
mer. and gather the most of them in by
late in the fall at any rate. The fact is
that nobody in particular took us to Ma
nila. When they blew us up in Havana
the law of gravtation did the rest.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
The Ideal and The
Real Peace Plan.
From the Times-Herald.

From the Times Herald.
n N AMERICAN tourist who had
IAN spent many hours in the dream
Iu\ land of Sir Walter Scott while he
I'M was growing up on the shores of
Lake Michigan received the first
great disappointment of his life when he
glanced across the little pond that is
called Loeb Katrine. He could associate
nothing romantic and heroic with such
an insignificant body of water. Natur-
ally and without question he had carried
his own lake standard into the wizards
realm of poetry and fiction and had never
reflected for a moment on the potent
fact that there was no room for n
Michigan in Scotland. The result was
that he had TO rearrange his ideas before
he could again enjoy the literature that
had given him so much pleasure.
o
The illustration is offered as a corrcc-
tive suggestion to those optimistic souls
who have been building up a peace con-
ference out Of the czars proposals. The
gathering which has just met at The
Hague will not touch seriously on the
grander designs of the imperial mani
festo. There will be shrinkage in the
scope of the practical discussions as
great as that which was observed in the
reduction of the imaginary to the real
Loeb Katrine. But this is not to say that
the congress will be absolutely value
less. There are grounds for a reasonable
expectation that it will accomplish some
good, and we may indulge in the reason
able expectation without fear of a Sc
we're disillusionment.
Whether the czar is sincere or not and
whether Germany is hostile or not, the
delegates from so many powers can
hardly separate without having reached
divers beneficial agreements on minor
points, and they may perhaps make sew
| eral important gains in the interest OF
| civilization. If it is not likely that any
| thing will be done toward the restriction
Of armamentS and military expenditures.
there is every prospect that the cause q:
mediation and arbitration will be ad-
yanced and that the laws Of war will
he rendered more humane. This rs the
more probable because in these matters
the congress will not be called upon to
act In a revolutionary spirit. The prin-
| Ciples with which it will deal already
| have a standing in international law.
| Civilized warfare Is an old term and so
| Is international arbitration. There will
| be precedents from which TO argue for a
| greater expansion and a broader recogni-
ton of rules that conduce to peace and to
| the elimination of some of the horrors OF
war.
IT, then, We would regard the confer
| ence Alright we should dissociate it in
| our minds from Utopian schemes and
think of 1t not as of something startling
| ly original but as OF a development in a
series 1t is in this way only that we
can understand it's real worth. 1t will
add a little 10 the work of the past, and
in so doing will strengthen the founda-
tions for the work of the future. For this
much we should be thankful, even IL
disarmament and universal peace seem
| to be as far away from us as ever.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
DREADFUL DAYS FOR JOHN.

From the St. Louis Republic.
If Philadelphia doesn't quit developing
so much wickedness she may lose Mr..
Wanamaker. 1t was hard enough for him
to live with the corroding knowledge of
Quay's plum tree eating away his re-
spect for machine politics, but it was ad-
ditionaly painful for him to discover
that the most colossal counterfeiting
scheme on record had its rendezvous
right in the heart of his home city. One
more disclosure of iniquity such as these
may cause the good man to throw up
the sponge and emigrate TO New Jersey
or Chicago.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

Canadians are deservedly jubilant
over the fact that the dominion is now
confronted by surplus in revenues
instead of deficit. The prosperity Of
Canada will be noted with pleasure in
the United States. where the belief
amounts to conviction that the
United States and Canada will some
day become one
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
SCRANTON, MAY 90, 1899.

The transfer of J. NJ. West. for some
time local representative of the Bar
ber Asphalt company, to Geneva, n,
Y, announced Saturday, 1t is proper to
say, had no connection with the local
controversy over street repairs, but was
in pursuance of a request preferred by
Mr.. West TO the general office In New
York several weeks ago, as the records
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

IL is announced that the social hoy
cott recently inaugurated by the Aus
trian and Belgian ministers at WASH
ington against the Mexican ambassa-
dor, who had hand in the execution
of the Emperor Macmillan. has coll
lapsed. 1t was frowned upon by the
officials Of our state department and
1t was equally repugnant to common
sense. The boycott, by the way, is an
institution which does not thrive in the
United States.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

Edward Atkinson hopes to keep near
the top round of the ladder of fame
by publishing an anti-imperialist freak
paper Friends should advise against
this. George Francis Train once at
tempted the freak paper scheme and it
was a fiat failure. and it is believed
that Train possesses considerable more
originality than Atkinson in his par
ticular line.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
REXFORD'S.
SCRANTON, Nav 20.

SCRANTON, May 20.
Being the only wholesale and re-
tail jewelers. in Scranton explains
why our prices are below other
stores. For instance, a little thing
like collar button: We have a
one-piece unbreakable button, the
back covered with hard enamel,
cannot soil the linen, don't leave a
green decoration on you, either, IS
different shapes. The price-5c
each, soc the dozen.
THE REXFORD CO.,
1872 Wyoming Ave.
Solid gold buttons, 81.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

Gallery playing in public office is a
political investment of very uncertain
and transient dividends. The official
with the courage of his convictions is
the man Of longevity in public affairs.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

good many American citizens who
were entirely willing to hurrah for
Dewey are now quietly edging away
from the Dewey contribution box.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

The number of the malcontents in
Cuba is probably a good deal smaller
than might be inferred from the noise
they make.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
ON FloPE.

Men paint Hope a an angel in thin
clothes,
But tits not so;
Hope Is the hay tieAo'er a donkey's nose,
10 make him 81 Chicago Record.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22
Doesn't Need to Listen.

cousin Josephine hides her deafness
with great tact"
How"
"she talks all the time. Chicago Re-
cord.
The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-22

lie misbehavior there will surely and
quickly follow consequence, easily
appreciated by the offender. would act
as a check to certain misdemeanor Of
fences, but any scheme of penology
whose basis is chiefly deterrent one
cannot, I believe, prove effective IN
preventing crime"
The argument for the whipping post
differs from the argument for the gall
lows. The gallows does not deter peo-
pie from committing the crime 1t is In
tended TO punish; the whipping post
does. The gallows extinguishes all
hope Of reforming the criminal; the
whipping post very often lays the
foundation OF a lasting reform. In
crimes of violence, such as Wife
beating, certain forms of assault and
the Ike, a good lash well applied in
the name Of the law, but not in pub
lie, has proved itself an efficient in
strument of justice. More power to It!