The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-17

punishment is most humane America i'm
poses fine and Imprisonment upon criminals
not to avenge the wrong done but merely
with view to protect society while full
Of compassion for the erring brother. AS
to the enforcement of laws in general, the
great majority of them are on paper only
Petty thieves punished the big robbers
escape. The lumber trust, for instance is
allowed to rob the nation OF one Of it's
most precious possessions, the forests, but
no judges arm is long enough to reach the
great capitalists that SOW i'll wind for mil
lions and again millions of men and women
TO come.
The hand that heaped up milliards by
most egotistical and often unlawful ex-
ploitation OF commercial conditions is
equally ready to endow universities, asy-
lums, libraries and similar institutions for
the public good. The American dollar is
not always clean, but niggardliness, at
least, cannot be laid at its door. The
American is not really money-mad; making
money is sport with him. The alertness
and enegry born in him ekes him on con-
tinuously to bet and try, to gamble and
speculate. At the same time he is not a
good housekeeper, neither is his wife. And
as to heirs, the average man seldom thinks
of them Again. many millionaires refuse
to leave fortunes to their sons for fear of
encouraging them to idleness. For that
reason he prefers leaving his money for
educational or charitable purposes.
THE LEISURE CLASSES.
The vagaries and tomfooleries of the
smart set, so-called should not be regarded
as typical. The Newport set, which has
been criticised much. is not American
at all. but international, being made up
Of Board of Trade men, spectators, sports
men, fashionable beauties and similar char
acters belonging to an unrecognized leisure
class. Among 100000 people. notable for
abundant mental and physical health. per-
sonal honor and superior diligence, this
handful Of semi-mad men and mad women
is too insignificant for mention. There are
snobs, Of course. loads of them-those dem
ocratic airs every true American delights
in, cannot equal or conceal the fact that
aristocracy Is forming slowly but sure
ly. The Sunday newspapers in Baltimore,
st. Louis. Washington, Chicago and other
great cities make speciality of printing
coats OF arms. The women who can ex-
hibit the portraits of two grandfathers
thinks herself far better than the lady who
Is only sure of one. And those marriage
contracts between dollars and foreign titles.
are they not the essence of organized snob-
berry?
l was astonished and pleased at seeing
evidence of Americas fight against alcohol
ism on all hands. drunken person in the
streets of any American city is curiosity.
There is something great and elevating in
the idea of whole States. parties. societies
and classes joining hands against the most
popular of vices, drunkenness. American
young men are singularly well bred, for the
obvious reason that they are brought up
with the girls and under the influence of
women of refinement education and energy
German young men i'll compare with their
American brethren. How could they, seeing
that they receive their social education at
the beer table?
That a people boasting of so many grand
and epoch-making works in the line of engi-
neering allows its streets, and public works
in general, to resemble those of ill-managed
Oriental countries is no less disgrace than
a puzzle to the foreign observer. Most of
the great American cities nothing short
of prototypes of slovenliness and filthy hab-
it's They have splendid hospitals the med
ical profession is OF the highest character
in the United States, yet the mortality is
far above what it should be.
Discipline in the army and navy is notori-
ously lax, yet the critics of these organi-
cations should not forget that they have
been victorious in every war they ever en-
gagged in. During the war of secession
mistakes succeeded mistakes. many battles
were lost, generals deprived of their rank in
the midst of action. yet the ;mperious North
triumphed over the sanguine South in the
end. And when the Americans have war
commerce and industry go on as If nothing
were happening-nay more. it increases iii
volume. The building of the great Pacific
Railroad continued while war ragged all
around. Do you want better proof Of adj
mirable energy and resourcefulness?
HIS OWN WORST ENEMY
The worst enemy of Americas natural
beauty is the American, who decimated the
Indian and abolished the buffalo and every
other kind of game. But the worst of all
is the objectionable crime of forest de-
struction carried on almost systematically
South and North, East and West. Railways
carry the stranger through miles upon
miles of forest cemeteries, tree cadavers on
/ both sides, as far the eye travels. Pick
nickers think nothing of setting a forest
i
goats to ramble in the woods and devour
the young trees. On every stream saw
mills, cutting up the kernel of the wood
only, The rest, which in Germany and
France would be esteemed of high value,
is wantonly and crirninally burned up.
Those heaps of blackened ashes In the saw
mill yards will come high to the next gen.
Grafton, and higher still to the follow
ing.
Americas scientists are as diligept, push
ing and successful as her merchants, while
her schools and universities are in no way
behind ours. The vast majority of college
boys and girls are ideal students, much
superior to the European article. They have
more earnestness. more ambition and
Quicker perception. American literature is
progressing nobly the lines laid down
by Emerson and the Concord School and is
emancipating itself from sensationalism
and couyentionalities. Walt Whitman is its
prophet. and Herbert Spencer. Tolstoi and
Maeterinck are the foreigners exercising
the greatest influence.
The Americans have made more inven-
tons than any other nation; they have
taught Europe. the whole world. how to live
better and more comfortable lives, how to
save time and health. but for themselves
do not know how to live. They have not
yet discovered the real relation between