The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-02-05
no pC,,E;NNIAL LEAp-YnAn.

l. = r.
the State.
| Et E -------.------
NO PERENNIAL LEAr-YEAR.
| From the Baltimore News we learn
that Congressman Bedo, OF Minnesota,
In the intervals OF making laws to
guide his country and perusing mss.
sages from his President, has declared
for the eternal leap-year. The Con-
gresham feels that his sex is less than
$3.50 at negotiating matrimonial
alliances. They have been at 1t 1000
years. he says--why he omits the 5o,-
1000 or 100000 years preceding Is not
clear--and the gist OF their story Is
the over-workcd divorce. court. He
feels, accordingly. that they might ar
range these matters better. not IN
France, but In the hair-combing soil
tude of the morning boudoir.
s II Mr. Bede is meditating law en-.
.bodying these hypochondriac views Of
his. we beg him to desist. If he pushes
in despite of this request, we
trust that his bill will obtain q vary
cold reception from Hon. Joe Cannon,
OF Illinois. the law-making body OF the
United States. The Bede theory will
not work at all. First, there are the
women. They have one year out Of
every four to propose to men, as 1t Is.
and they never do 1t. We know sew
eral excellent fellows who have boon
waiting forty years and upwards. per-
feet Barkises, for some lady, or rather
any lady. to put the question. They
have. waited vainly. and SO they Will
wait to their graves. Second, there are
the men. Men WOO because they have
to, not because they want to. Unlike
women. they do not love along the
lines indicated by somebody else's
counting. Suppose a man, In love with
tho lady OF his fancy, were wooed and
proposed to, willy nily, by another.
What could he do? II he accepted her,
{ he would ruin his life and possibly
the other lady's. II he refused her
imagining it We're possible for a gcn-
tleinnn to do such thing-shc would
certainly cry; and that. to many men,
is the most dreadful calamity that fate
can send.
Come to think OF 1t. the Bede propa-
ganda is futile and absurd. whether he
makes 1t into 8. law or not. Women, the
philosophers tell us. do not fall In love
with men. They fall in love with love.
II no love were offered them to fail
In love with. as ruthless Bede suggests.
there would be nothing at all for them
to foil In love with; and soon the
! human race would perish nliserably
from the earth.
~---------- $50
GIVE US A BOARD OF CHARITIES
II was Governor Swanson who
recommended the appointment OF a
commissioner to inspect the jatls and
alinshouses of the State, and 1t Is hard.
4 ~ fair to say that the F'olkes bill
which the author suggested before
the Legislature convened, is a bill to
make q job for some oficc-seeler
The Times-D Dispatch was at first rather
i favorably impressed with the sugges.
ton, but upon further reflection, we
i, are opposed to the substitution of Z
i commissioner for the proposed State
Board Of Charities. DR.. William II
j Drewry and others who have giver
tho question intelligent study favor
. the board. and they have the experience
Of other States to guide them.
i a State Board of Charities would
J BIO dlgnifled body of men
laboring for the good OF humanit,
/ without pay, and 1t would carry Will
. 1t an influence that no paid commits
! sloner could possibly exert. no matter
how good a man he might be. These
, boards have been tried In numerou.
!. States and have proven themselves t
! be most useful. They now exist II
! New York. Ohio. Pennsylvania. Illinois
!, North Carolina, Michigan. Connecticut
Nebraska, Indiana. South Dakota, Cola
j. RADIO, New Hampshire. Tennessee, Mis-
/, souri,, California. Wyoming, Montana
and the District of Columbia. This
influence which they exert" says DR.
s Josiah strong, while almost entlrsl.
: a moral one. is shown by. experience
to be both efficient and useful"
Why discard q system. which ha
been tried and proven, for a doubtful
J, experiment?
ARIS-ANsAW ON RoosEyELT.
h U.s. - -, t IS. -.