The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-03-11


sunday TO hear n gentleman. who claimed
TO be n scientist give n little tnlk on
tho effects OF alcohol on the human sys-
tcrr--and after he had completed his
discourse / was told that he never In
ALI his life had taken drink of whis-
key. lie spun fine theory--taiked a
long time and told of the wonderful pro-
rress science had mnde along the line,
but he had no evidence to offer except
heresay evidence and that oftentimes
In not in court.
business and his theory. but II L were
going to take the evidence of the effect
Of whiskcy on the human brain-l mean
now what effect Ii would have as TO
stimulation. etc. ] would rather hear
the evidence Of the man who had been
up against It, The whiskey question IS
one that for a long time has been before
the American people. rs we'll as before
people OF the Eastern world. and i do
not intend 10 settle 1t this morning. In
fact. am not going to Introduce cvi-
dcncc to show what it will do or what
Il Will not do. But 1 am going to say
when a man has been IN against Il; after
ne has formed habit FOR II: after ne
m. been its slave for long tirne-he
knows better than any theorist what 1t
VII do and what It Will not do for him.
The man who has taken the thirty-third
degree in tho corn nkier OF to-day Is
better qualified tn tell me, or TO tell you.
how IL effected his brain and his nerves
than a man who never tasted IT.
I. Is not only in the whisky problem.
hu. In tho drug problem. and in tho
money question. and a whole Ions line of
questions before the people. that book.
such as ! have suggested: Theory VS..
The Real Thing" is needed. and needed
at once. The Real Thing is what the
world ycaTns for, and when n man goes
i'm against that. no matter much In wha,
lne-wildcats or corn likker-he knows
what to do.
If you so back in your dictionary you
will find every now and then n word
recorded and the definition given. and the
Information impaired that tho word Is
now obsolete In other words, the leHi-
cosraphers have found that the world has
given it up-abandoned 1t. so to speak
and It Is no longer good. Again YOU
will find word marked rare" and that
means that 1t is seldom used. And all
the time there arc neologists who are
throwing out now words, gathering them
from the slang at first, and afterwards
adopting them because they are express
sive and because they fill the bill. The
other day I received from gentleman
living in Oregon letter. in which lie
said he liked certain writings. because
the fellow seemed to give everything its
proper "follencc of jestis.'
"Follence OF jestis'-set on to that!
Now, there is nothing in the books that
would show what the man meant; nothing
to Indicate his meanfng-eXcept, j knew
what he meant. and so do you. and yet
he had expressed himself and used a
word that is not in the language. He
liked it because it gave to everything
Its proper folience of jestis"-and he
had expressed himself. fully. clearly and
conciscly. What more could he have
done had he exhausted n dictionary?
What l want to know is. why. in the
name of progression. some enterprsins
scientific gent doesn't revise the Zodiac?
We have had revisions of the Bible; We
have had discussions of one kind and
another on the questions of church; theol
ogy has played an important part in revi-
sion: we have had all sorts of changes
even to an attempt TO revise the tariff
but the twelve signs of the Zodiac still
obtain and the old family almanac Yet
carries the lamb and the goat and the
lobster-just rs it did when I was
boy and YOU were boy--or girl. SO far
l know. the signs are all right yet.
but il looks like We should change IL
Ing up with the procession. The Zodiac
cuts lots of Ice with people who believe
in almanacs and their weather signs
which rarely ever come true and ! sug-
gcst that congressional committee he
appointed TO do something. IL Congress
refuses 10 act 1 think it Is up TO Gov
ornor Swanson and Governor Glenn TO
and at least get up some new signs for
Virginia and North Carolina Zodiac
will he pleased TO receive sealed letters
IN plain envelope OF this subject
have been .s.dyoc.ting for many years
sid am no" going 10 appeal to the great
publicity that Tho Times Dispatch Will
give Inc for my hobby. for seven-ceut
piece. We tried three-cent piece. but
that didn't amount TO inuch--it was al
ways copper or a nickel In most trans
aetions-but seven-cent piece would
really fill n long-felt want. A million
dollars could be issued at cost of n
few thousand and there IS a demand for
such q coin II would help the poor SO
often boy runs an GRAND and you do
not feel like parting with n dime, and q
scysn-cent piece would III in In great
shape. SO many thousands of articles
sFe sent by mali that could be- procured
for seven cents that cannot be made for
I'VE cents and ten cents is too much.
so have always commended that a seven
sent piece would be what VIC long have
sought, even II we haven't mourned be-
cause we got 1t not
1t used 10 be that the copper was
scarce. The nickel was only recognized
IN the east. l recall that twenty years
ago on the Pacific coast everything was
n bt''--tweive ana a half cents-and
1t was a short bit or a long bit If YOU
wanted piece of tobacco and handed
the merchant n quarter you got back a
dime. and If you handed him n dime you
got the same amount of tobacco
In other words there was no smallc