The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-05-14
WHAT SHALL WE DO
WITH ADMIRAL DEwEY7
From the Nation BE Presented 10
Him-Ranked With Wellington

AAlAi4-AAdAh win " hGAAlAAfAyus
NEW YORK. May I3-The New York
Times. in an editorial entitled ''what
Shall We DO For Dewey?' this morning
says: What shall We do for the man
who has done 50 much for US? That
is the question that has for a long time
been agiiating the American people. It
Is quite true that according to our prece-
dents, We have not been niggardly IN
recognition Of the great service Of Com
modore" Dewey as he was a year ago
But there is a persistent and prevailing
feeling that we ought to do more; thar
the American nation In some unofficial
and spontaneous way should recognise
the services OF Dewey as the Brltie1 A.
ton officially recognized the services or
Wellington, when II presented him with
the estate Of Strathfeldsay.
Evidently Il win not do TO make any
exclusive acknowledgment OF the SER
vices OF an American hero to whom ali
Americans feel equally grateful. Eyi-
dently Il will not do 10 leave him at The
mercy OF a group OF milllonalres. Evil
IDENTIFY it will not do to exclude from the
national testimonial to the admiral any
American citizen who desires to bear his
part In H. Why not appeal directly TO
the public through its immediate organs
and agents. the newspapers which get
their living by representing its sentI-
ments? There are some 90.000 periodicals
in the United States which are entitled
to transmission as such through the
mails. Among them are 2l19 daily pa
pers. which represent most immediately
and most accurately the sentiment OF the
United States
Let US assume that only one-fourth
part OF these are in a position to act
as collecting and distributing agents for
a national Dewey testimonial and that
each OF these 500 is willing to pledge It.
self to the collection from its readers
and the transmission to the appointed
trustees Of the sum of $500, for that fund.
Surely this estimate is moderate enough
and surely the amount of each indlvid
ual subscription which must be strictly
fixed and limited Is moderate enough
to prevent any newspaper from exploiting
the admiral for the purpose Of adver-
,ising itself. And yet the aggregate Of
the subscriptions would be S2500OO. Ha.f
of this should go to the erection Of
residence for the admiral in whatever
place in the United States he might pre-
fer to put IT and the other half for his
personal use.
"As a matter of fact, We believe that
more than the number Of periodicals we
have named would be willing and eager
10 be included in the project. There Is no
reason why the aggregate should not be
correspondingly Increased, with the rig
orous limitation Of each individual sub
scription 10 $500 so that there should not
be no taint OF self-seeklng or Of adyer-
tiSins In the affair This would be truly
a national and popular subscription. The
admiral would not be at liberty to refuse
il. since 1t would not be the creation Of
an obligation on his part, but only the
recognition Of an obligation on the part
of the nation. He would not be able
to refuse it if the whole amount were
desposied, as it could and should be
deposited, subject to his order before
his arrival upon his native shores.
The president of the United States,
the secretary of state and the secretary
Of the treasury would be appropriate
custodians of the fund and their willing
ness to assume its custody may be taken
for granted"