Durango semi-weekly herald., 1903-01-26
THE HISTORIAN 1908.

II is interesting to speculate on
what the historian of half century
hence will have TO say of the year re-
Gently ended Disasters are long re-
membered and possibly the event of
| 1902 upon which he will dwell long
est is the eruption of Mount Pelee, in
which 80 900 or more persons perish
ed. II he is compiling 'Surce
| Book of history he will include in it
the narrative of the priest OF Martin
| ique. published in the Century Maya
zine last summer; an account which.
for simple. dramatic power, is hardly
surpassed in literature-certainly not
by the younger Pinys' record of the
eruption of Vesuvius. which destroyed
Pompei and Herculaneum.
Another event which will claim the
historians attention is Marconis sue
cesstul transmission of messages
across the Atlantic ocean by wireless
telegraphy. This is worthy to be
ranked with the laying of the Atlantic
cable and possibly with the invention
of the telegraph and the telephone.
| II the future chronicler does not
agree with Lord Chesterfield that his
| tory is only "A confused heap of
facts nor with Augustine Birrell,
that 1t is "a pageant. not a philoso-
pher," he may regard the anthracite
coal miners strike and the notable ar.
bitration cases of the year as worthy
of comment. 1t is true, as Sir Leslie
Stephen has somewhere said that I'VE
are saved-or damned, as the case
may be-by our inconsistencies that
a principle accepted by a certain
course of action on one day may be
jauntily rejected the next. The fact
that the public was recognized as an
interested party in the strike may
have no important consequences, and
Europe may go to war instead of to
The Hague tribunal next month. But
the weight of important precedents
has been balanced against the extreme
let alone policy in business and
against the resort to arms to settle
international disputes
In the important railroad strike
of 1894 Mr.. Pullman steadily refused
to admit that the public had any con
cern in the affair and declined all sug
gestions of arbitration, AT the begin
ming of the coal miners strike last
summer Mr.. Baer of the Reading
road took the same position. But the
exigencies of the coal famine convinc.
ed the public that 1t was an interested
party, and the operators finally bow
ed to the storm. The importance OF
the precedent was suggested by the
New York Suns warning that the
pillars were being pulled from be-
meath the temple. II the let alone
policy be considered sacred, the Sun
in the proceedings IA foreshadowing of
new and better theory of political
economy which will give more place
to cooperation and less to a riotous
individualism. International difficult
ties have been settled by arbitration
in other years. but 1902 marks a dis
tinct progress in the general recogni-
tion of The Hague Tribunal as the
supreme court of Christendom,
Other happenings which the his
torian may be expected to mention
briefly are the close of the Boer war.
the coronation of Edward VII, and the
negotiation oil the anSlO-JapaneSe
treaty, the formal ending of the con-
tlict in the Philippines, the establish
ment of the republic of Cuba, and the
death of Cecil Rhodes with the be-
quest for the education of American,
German and colonial students at Ok
ford
1t might be anticipated that he
would note. too, the passing of the 18th
mian canal bill the beginning of the
governments work in reclaiming the
arid lands, the fall of the historic
Campanile in Venice, the recrudes
cence OF the Irish question in Eng
land, the passage of the British edu-
cation bill, the completion of Puck's
girdle around the world in the laying
of the Canadian-Australian cable. and
the return of several unsuccessful po
lar expeditions.
1t is doubtful, however, whether
even half of these events will find
their way into the histories of the fu-
ture. For year, no matter how
long or how momentouS ii seems in
the passing. rapidly dwindles in i'm
portance with the lapse of time
Kansas City Star.