Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1903-01-10

cupatiOn. In reulity, no man KNOWS |
what he would do II he were possessed |
Of riches. and that fact ought to make |
one charitable-at oil events Just--to. |
ward those who are indeed million !
aires. The follies of young men of |
wealth get all the publicity they de.
serve. 1t Is often another matter with
the industry, the energy. the faithful !
performance of duty by those who are
matching exceptional opportunities
with exceptional efforts. The Russian
prince who lately visited this country
expressed. OH his return to Europe. his
surprise at the large number of rich
young men here who work actually
work every day-in offices, banks or
factories. And yet no one showed him
the improvements which Mr.. Cornelius
Vanderbilt has made In the locomotive,
or the stcam-turbine which MFR. John
Jacob Aston has invented, or Mr.. Peter
Cooper Hewitt's lamp. He had not
even a glimpse of the amount of work
Mr.. George Gould does In day. or the
to which Miss Helen Gould gives her
time and her personal service, as well
as her money. What would you do II
you had a million dollars? The man
who criticises the idle rich" should
first lie sure that It Is not alone the
lack of money which keeps him out Of
the category.
If we are to sterilize the mouth.
pieces Of telephones, every day. to kill
the bacteria and prevent infection. and
are to scrub the door knobs every day
for the same reason. why not he con.
sistcnt and 20 Oh scrubbing and scrub
bling everything with which we come
in contact? If these bacteria must be
cleaned out once II day, why not once
an hour. or once u minute? The pes.
tiferOus things are apt to get In amy
second. or course. everybody knows
that drinking water must he not only
boiled. but distilled. We have all often
enough been warned that handsl,ak.
Ing IL dangerous and kissing deadly.
All Of which warning we have all duly
observed, of course. Now. after hnv-
Ing long and vlrtuOusly refrained from
water as God made 1t and from the
other enticeinents. 1t IN hard to be In.
formed by the bactcriOlOgists that we
still are In mOmentary danger from
microbes unless we scrub, scrub. scrub.
And when we get used to the scrub
hing and learn to look upon 1t ms u
matter Of course instead of hardship.
may not the microbes steal another
march upon us through the scrub
brushY Maybe we shall have to stcr.
ilize the soap and then sterlllze the
sterilizer. Psychologists are insatlu
bic. They never know where to stop.
But their demands. II fully accetled to.
would leave us no time to make u liv.
Ing. 1t would be scrub. scrub with us
all the time. And while saving our
selves from death from microbes. We
would die Of starvation. The farmer.
instead of blowing. would put In all
his time killing the microbes on his
plOw handles: the butcher. instead OF
killing beef. would never cease to scOur
his knife and cleaver. ana there would
be nothing produced to cnt. This sort
Of thing may very easily be carried too
far. The bacteri0logists must learn to
draw the line somewhere. We shall
soon become as ridiculous as the old
snlemitcs In the days OF witchcraft.
During the Boxer outbreak In China,
when the allied troops were marching
up from Tientsin to the relief of Pekin.
the German ana Russian soldiers sang
as they marched. 10 the American
newspaper men and, indeed, to many
of the officers Of the United States
army this was q new phase of military
life. The ranks of men swinging along
to the stirring measures of their nn-
tiOnal airs, or other patriotic songs or
hymns, made an impression not easily
forgotten. The American generals who
attended the German army maneuvers
last fall commented on the singing Of
the soldiers. AS the regiments Of big,
bearded Germans marched pnst them
In the. night, keeping time to "Die
Wacht am Rhein." the Americans felt
that here was more than II casual man.
Hesitation OF the spirit of musical
people. 1t was something deeper; some
thing which makes for love of country
and stronger national spirit. With
these incidents In mind Il II interest
Ing to notice that the adjutant general
of the United States army In his latest
report suggests similar practice fol-
American soldiers. Let each regiment
have Its own song, he says, ana let the
enlisted men Of the army gurrisOns gel
together evenings and devote u part Oi
their spare time to the practice of vOca
music. To some extent this has nlread I,
been done by the marine corps, and Il
general extension of the custom would
1t is believed, both interest the soldiers
and keep them from the evil resorts
! with which our army posts are too Of
ten surrounded. Quite In keeping with
this suggestion Is the work of board
of officers ut West Point now engaged
In compiling a collection OF songs relat
Ing to the army, the navy and tn,
marine corps. 1t Is the intention ia
publish some day In u volume tn,
words and airs of all the songs worth
preserving which relate to these tire,
arms Of the service. One hopes that
this will be done, and that the sugges
ton OF the adjutant general will bear
, fruit. The best band that ever played
cannot animate body of marching