Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1900-01-24
/. KING" LEARY or GUAM
How This Versatile Naval officer Is Admin
lstefing Cur New Isle.

It is not strange that among our d.
versely gifted people there should be
found here and there q man with an
aptitude for kingcraft. There have al
ways been plenty Of Americans who
would have reached one, too, If thrones
had been open to competition. But
the division Of labor has not gone that
far and hitherto the deserving person
has stood no chance against the tenth
trSnsmitter of a foolish face. So many
q potential monarch among us has hao
to look on while others muddled the
royal business in way to make MIN
grit his teeth. Such man was Com
mander Leary Of the Boston Navy
Yard till d turn of affairs led the gov
ernment to take him away from rou-
tine duties and anoint him king OF
Guam. Not that there was formal
coronation, for that would have Offend
ed popular sentiment. And as to any
future legends that he was burning
cakes in peasants hut at the time or
that he was at his plough clad only in
q tunic and had to send home for his
toga, we may say in advance that
there Is nothing in them. The one au-
thenticated fact Is that he became
King of Guam.
AS king he has justified the hopes of
all that knew him. There was nothing
Of the Bourbon about him-no blind
ness to the mistakes Of his predeces-
sors. He saw, for example, where men
like Louis the Pious and Edward the
Confessor had failed, and he soon
wrote home that "Having disposed OF
the priests, rapid progress will be made
and no further resistance will be en-
countered" Rapid progress was made
such progress as Is seldom seen in
Pacific archipelago. The people were
lazy and producing just enough food
to keep them alive. In his ukase OF
October 4 he commanded them to plant
cereals and vegetables. He has re-
uuired every adult native to contribute
to the support of the government. He
has compelled each one to maintain
twelve hens and sow. BE has order
ed them to bring their produce to the
palace and sell 1t. In short, he has
started them at the regular, produc-
tlon of wealth out of which they are to
discharge their debts and pay their
taxes.
In this there is a resemblance to the
policy Of Peter the Great but Guam Is
re backward than the Russia of
Peters time, and the reforms are more
sweeping. He may be compared to the
Hohenzollern who beat idlers over the
head with his rattan and made the ap-
pie women knit at their stall. But be-
hind Frederick William was an army
of 10000 men, the best drilled force in
Europe. On the other hand, when the
Navy Department asked the ruler OF
Guam If he wanted more troops he re-
piled that the only thing LIE needed
was an Ice machine. Where other
kings required standing armies he
wanted only ice water. That as IN
American, he felt he must have.
And it is no mere matter Of Issuing
DEGREES. These DEGREES are obeyed
even when they run counter to the
strongest popular traditions. a light
and transitory marriage tie, or no mar
riage tie at all, is one Of these radi-
tions. Yet when the decree went forth
that people should marry, the entire
adult population made rush for
licenses, and the officers had more than
they could do to meet the demand.
These are the rumors that come to US
from Guam, and Of no man is 1t easier
to believe them than of the present
ruler. 1t should encourage them who
fear that we should be unequal to our
new duties. Even for a queer ana
chronistic job like this we can find
our man, and he fits in q good deal
better than the average porphyro'
genituS.