The record-union., 1899-04-10

| Dy not having the couectlOnS properly
supervised and selected. The investiga-
4 tion of the subject has brought to light
the enormous facilities which the pub
/ llshlng houses now have for forcing
i questionable forms of attractive and
sensational literature upon the market
In one popular library Sue and Zola and
even Ned Buntline were found side by
side with Hawthorne and Scott ana
Cooper, and it was further found that
| the demand for such books as Hag-
CARDS She" was far greater than for
unsensational and really meritorious
works of fiction. As an example of the
bookmaking efforts to bring sensation
alisn down to the apprehension of chill
dren Stockton's buccaneers and Pi-5
rates of Our Coast is cited. 1t is pub
lished by a reputable firm, is hand
somely printed and illustrated, and it
contains very much the same order of
literature which years ago the cheap
novelist reveled in. 1t is true, it pur-
ports to be history and is probably ac-
curate, but it is the history of villainy
OF brigandage, throat cutting and
heartless cruelty, very we'll calculated
TO make the young emotions thrill to no
special purpose Now, it is a question
| whether their children might not be
better employed than in reveling in the
exploits of the pirates of the gulf, and
whether this kind of literature made
seductive with art and put forth by a
respectable publishing house, does not
unfit the young mind for the perusal of
a calmer and sweeter form of history
"A standing complaint is made against
what was once called dime novels, but
! 1t is worth asking if the history Of
piracy and crime, even when put UP
in dollar form, is not as bad in its ef-
| fects.
| AN ANSWER TO ANTI-IMPERIAL-
ISM OUT OF HAND.
/ The Oregonian: Leading papers Of
Massachusetts, like the Springfield RE
publican have never ceased to an
nounce that the Government could not
recruit our army to size sufficient to
hold and guard the eonquests of war
The answer to this gloomy anti-expan-
slonlst prediction is the fact that in
Boston recruiting is going on at a rapid
rate. Some 600 men have been enlisted
for the Philippines, which include
| large number of veterans from the Mas
| sachusetts regiments that have been
mustered out since the close of the Gu
ban campaign. The same spirit prevails
| IN New York City and in Alabama.
| where a great part of the Third Ala
| bama express desire to re-enliSt and
to be sent to the Philippines. Nine
| teenthS of the recruits desire to go to
| the Philippines The fighting in the
Philippines has only stimulated the de-
sire for enlistment among the voluu
| teerS who saw service in Cuba and
those who are prompted to enlist by
| the prospect of active service, which
they cannot expect to see in Cuba or
Porto Rico. The military spirit of the
American youth laughs at the pictures
of death and disease presented in the
mugwunp organs of the East
! Death is likely to strike any man any
| day. A brave man dies but once:
coward dies thousand deaths. The
fact that these sturdy young men who
have already tasted military service in
Cuba are anxious to go to Manila is the
| popular answer to the mugwump argyll
ment that '.our young men cannot live
in the Philippines, and they are likely
to get shot Very true; We are all sure
| ultimately to die, either with boots on
or boots off; but what of it? If the
| world had always waited for the VIC
tories of peace, the world would to-day
be despotism.
THE ALLIANCE QUESTION.
Sam Jose Mercury: The German
Americans Of. Chicago have adopted
resolutions in, mass meeting protesting
against any alliance between the Unit
ed States and Great Britain, but the
protest is superfiuous. There will never
be such an alliance, but i'll feeling be-
tween the two is being toned down, and
that is a desirable thing. The best of
feeling exists between the people of
this country and Germany, but SO long
as the German Government persists in
subjeeting American trade in that
country TO all sorts of annoyances and
unreasonable restrictions there is bound
to be more or less friction between the
two Governments.
DISFRANCHISING THE NEGROES.
Humboldt Standard: The Legislature
of North Carolina has passed a law that
will practically disfranchise a large
percentage of the negroes of that State.
The law does not disfranchise them on
account Of race, color, or previous con-
dition of servitude," according to its
letter, but, in reality, it does. Since it
does not violate the constitutional pro-
vision it viii stand the test, and only
those negroes who can come up to its
requirements will be allowed to vote.
The whites say: This is white mans
government" While they have supe-
perior judgment, better education and
nine-tenths Of the property of the State,
they will make it such. Booker Wash
ington urges his race to learn how to
earn money, how to do all sorts of me-
chanica1 work all kinds Of business,
and stay out of politics. He tells them
it is of much more Importance to them
that they know how to earn a dollar
than it is to have the privilege of spend
ing it by sitting beside a white man in
a theater, hotel or railway car. And,
of course, Booker Washington is right
and his race will be all the better and
happier if they follow his advice |
Whether the condition be just is quite |
another thing.
ON THE SIGNATURE LAW
Fresno Republican,: There ought to
be some concert of action, especially |
among the country newspapers. The |
law should either be generally obeyed, |
until a test case is decided, or there |
should be. some agreement in regard to |
cooperation in disobeying it. 1t will |
not do to trust to individual action of |
two or three large newspapers. The |
law affects every issue of every news |
paper and requires positive action, on
the day it goes into effect, by every |
newspaper in the State. The alterna- I
tive of doing nothing, of wait and |