Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-12-28
UPWARD TENDENCY OF FARM PRICES.

desirable and profitable today than for
many years past. With the employment
of modern methods and business prin-
ciples farming presents more alluring
prospects today than for a quarter-cen-
fury. This is just as true in Vermont as
anywhere else in the country. Mark this
prediction The average price of desirable
farm land in this state will be at least 10
percent higher five years from now than
it is to day. The pendulum has begun TO
swing back, and the present tendency is
from urban to rural occupations as offer
ing better prospects for profit and sue
cess.-Rutland News.
5000
LOOTlNG IN PEKlN.
Gen. Chatlees protest to Field Mar
shal Won Wadersee against the looting
which continues in Pekin, apparently
under the direction of the German COM
mander in chief, will be approved most
heartily by the American public, I'M
disturbed by the fact that the stone" of
the letter of protest did not please the
general to whom it was addressed
Some excuses may be found for the sack
of Tientsin and of Pekin which followed
Immediately upon the capture of those
cities by the allied forces. Abandoned
shops and houses were open to the
desires of the soldiers, who plunged into
the Joy of loOting and were unrestraned
at first until the commanders regained
control of their men and perhaps them
selves. TO all this the japanese were
the noteworthy exceptions, the Ameri-
fo11n uyip ha
in RETAINING from the methods of
vandalism. Then comparative order set
tied down upon the Chinese capital and
the period of negotiation and readust-
ment was entered upon.
The next step taken was when, after
the belated arrival of Count Won Walder-
see, the punitive expeditions began,
marked by the bloodshed of non-com-
batants and destruction of villages. See
ing the futlity and the injury of this
course, the Americans refraned from
sharing in the expeditions, although
Offering no protest.
or late surprising reports have multi
piled of an extension of looting in
directions for which no excuse can be
found. From theft by irresponsible in
dividuals it has changed to official theft
by the nations. We are told that cargo
of selected treasures is being shipped to
London for final deposit in the British
museum. More offensive than all the
rest is the sack of the famous astronomical
observatory on the wall of Pekin, the
ponderous and peculiar bronze instru-
ments of which were described hundreds
of years ago by Marco Polo and have
been admired by every traveller since his
time. The French began to remove
these treasures, but are said to have
desisted. Germans, however, under the
protection of company of engineers.
are stripping the observatory, the instru-
ments being destined for Berlin. 1t was
this action which drew forth Gen.
Chaffee's letter of protest to Count Won
Waldersee and the return of the letter
because of its 'tone.'
This official looting of Pellin by the
commander in chief of the allied forces,
the spoils to be sent to the country from
which he comes, is astounding. No
sufficient justification for it could be
found The explanation which comes as
an afterthought from Paris, to the effect
Nh"l AhCot anu oiucI lOOleu treasures OF
Pekin now in the hands of Russian
French and German forces are held as
security for indemnity claimed, to be
returned when claims are settled, is
trivial and unworthy even of the hooters.
Chicago Record.
900
THE PENOBSCOTS.
A great change has come over the
Penobscot Indians since the beginning of
the century, as George j. Varney shows
in his enjoyable article in the latest num-
Der of that bright legal monthly, The
Green Bag
OrOno. the sachem who died in 1901. at
the age OF lib, was picturesquely spoken
or as hunter in three centuries. Thi-
good Orono,' as he was called, is said
10 nave been grandson of the elder
Baron Castine, who, about the middle of
the seventeenth century, married the
daughter of the Tarratine sachem
Madockawando, and settled on the east
side of the bay which bears his name
Aitteon, who succeeded Orono ia the
head craftsmanship, came to Boston in
1911, and. strange to saw killed himself