The National tribune., 1910-09-01


the guns viii be sent to the naval fac
rory at Washington.
The negro race lost one of its strong
lest and best friends the other day whel
Prof. Charles c. Cook. of Howard Uni
versity, this city. was drowned in tn
surf at Sea Isle, N. j., last week. Prof
ICook was an expert swimmer, but ven
tured beyond the breaker line, wa
lcaught in an eddy. and before assist
ance could reach him he went down
Prof Cook, who was born here, afte
finishing the local schools entered Cor
nell University. from which he gradual
ed in 1890 with honors. He spent th'
next year in European travel and il
study in Edinburg, oxford and Heidel
| burg. He had been a member of thu
faculty of Howard University since
1891, being at the head of the Depart
ment of English.
There is one father at least who be-
lieves in orders is orders" and thai
if there is law it should be obeyed tC
| the letter, and this father is Col. c. B
| Byrne, Z. S. Army, retired. His son
Charles Lawrence Byrne, is one of the
four West Point cadets ordered by Pres
| ident Taft to be confined to the area
| of the barracks until March 81, 1911
| for his part in the milk punch episode
at West Point. Cadet Byrne had beer
three years at West Point, and under
| stood the rules of the Academy perfect
| ". When Col. Byrne was asked what
| he would do with regard to his son
punishment he replied tersely: Il have
no criticism to make. Discipline must
be maintained" If there were just a
few more fathers like Col. Byrne ii is
hardly possible that there would not
be half as many worthless sons maxi
CO. hn mi N
which they live. Lack of discipline in
early life and, in the home is what
wrecks half of the men and women.
There is being torn down in Wash
ington just now one of its historic build
ngs. Not one of its old buildings, but
a building in which the financial his
tory of the great war of the rebellion
was very largely enacted The build
ing is on 18th street, opposite the
Treasury, and adjoins the Riggs House,
and is known as Jay Cooks old bank. -
The name of Jay Cook was once one to
conjure with. Now it is very largely
forgotten. The building which is being
torn down was erected in the late SOS,
and Jay Cook & Co. moved in. In this
building Jay Cook carried on the stu
pendous financial operations during the
war of the rebellion without which,
some historians have said, the Union
armies could not have been fed nor
paid. In the little old back room, now
covered with cobwebs and faded with
time, for the building has been closed
for years, Cook held many anxious con-
suItations with Secretary of War STAN
ton and other wartime Government Of
iicials. There are those who remember
that President Lincoln was often closet
ed in that little back room with the
great financier when the Union Gov
ernment was embarrassed for ready
cash to keep it's armies in the field.
Cook in that little back room planned
the immense bond issues which were
so greedily taken up by the Northern
States and in Europe, the proceeds of
which enabled the Government to carry
on the war President Lincoln. Secre-
tary Stanton and nearly all the mon
eyed men in Washington kept their
private bank accounts with Jay Cook
& Co. 1t will be remembered, perhaps.
at least by the older generation, that
in the panic of 1873 Jay Cook e. Co.
failed. While Cook had accumulated
an immense fortune in the banking
business, for he had a great banking
concern in Philadelphia also, it never
was said of him that he had made any
thing out of his financial operations
for the Government. When Cook failed
the building was closed for a number
bank, but before the close of the Roose-
welt Administration the historic struc-
ture had its doors nailed up again, and
it has not been opened since until now
it is being leveled with the earth to
make place for sky-scraper.
Sometimes it does us good to remin-
isce a little bit, and this leads us to
remark that Aug. "a, 90 years ago, the
81 NJ
were about 5000 in number landed
from the British vessels on the Pa
tuxent Aug. 20, and on the 24th they
reached the Capital. There were only
about 5000 men available for defense
of Washington in the American army,
and they only had II pieces of artil-
lery So when the British made their
raid on Washington, altho they were
met with splendid resistance, the Amer
lean army was compelled to retreat,
and the Red Coats made a triumphant
entry into Washington and began to
carry out the threat of the commanding
invader, who said: Il will make cow
pasture of these Yankee Capitol
Grounds" Just as soon as the British
got possession of the city they set fire
to the Capitol the White House and
other public E-r:'iiuEr I. was at this
time that Dolly Madison cut the famous
portrait of Washington from its frame,
where it stood in the great East Room
of the White House, and, rolling it up.
had it carted away with the few effects
which she was able to remove from the
White House. The British description
of what went on in the Capital at that
time is as follows:
THE blazing houses, ships and stores,
the report of exploding magazines and
the crash of falling roofs was one of the
finest sights to be conceived. The sky
was brilliantly illuminated by the con-
fla agration. The scene was as striking
and sublime as the burning of st. Sc
bastian's. Toward morning a violent
storm of rain, accompanied by thunder
and lightning, came on, whose flashes
seemed to vie in brilliancy with the
flames which burst from the roofs of
burning houses, while the thunder
drowned the noise of falling walls and
was only interrupted by the occasional
gunpowder as they exploded. one by
one" But we don't look much like a
COW pasture now, don't you know.
President Taft has approved the date.
Dec. IL, for the unvailing of the monu-
ment to Gen. Won Steuben, the Revolu-
Col. Won Steuben, of the General Staff
Won Steuben family, will also be pres
ent at the unvailing.
1t is good to hear a man praising his
own State and its high moral condition.
ernment and slamming its politicians.
Marion Wilson of St JoSanb Mo u,Jn