The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-12-30

|oPLE ARE DESPERATE
Il Appealed TO the United States
FOR Relief and Ask That the
Equatorial Bard be
suppressed.

WASHINGTON, Dec. go Members
the House Appropriations Commit
sa recommended appropriations
the construction Of the Panama
nal. have received copies Of a cir
ar letter from the lsthmus Of Pan
a petitioning them that something
done to make Maurice Thatcher,
governor Of the canal zone, stop
iting poetry. A note accompanying
circular Letter states copies of It
10 have been sent to President Taft
d other high officials.
'H is not, says the circular letter,
hat we who are helping to dig the
nal have any objection to real po-
n. Quite on the contrary But Gov.
,atcher's poetry has corns on every
Of despite which he feels it his
lty to board incoming steamships
i'd read rhymed address to the
ost distinguished visitor on board.
He did this in the case of the
te President Mott of Chile, and
lie poem was so warm in its eulogy
the Chileans as the most enlight-
he'd people on earth that it is a won
er diplomatic relations between the
nited States and all the other south
merican republics were not abruptly
uspended, pending explanations.
omething should De done at once by
hose in authority at Washington.
1t seems to be the accepted view
the isthmus judging from this
etterthat when the SCARED sides
Il Culebra cut are all adrip with gold
IN moonlight and the lazy, spicy,
ropic breeze rustles among the clus-
Tered palms, Gov. Thatcher, armed
with battery of fountain pens, seeks
he yeranda of his government man
zion on the slope of Ancon Hill, over
looking the broad reaches OF the Paci
he, and wooes the muse. The nex'
iay he summons his subordinates ane
reads TO them the results.
Governor Thatcher's latest outburst
ccording to the circular, is called
Scene at Ancon,' and ripples alont
husly:
prift clouds, drift, far Ger the West
ern sea!
Rift, clouds, rift. in loveliness for me
Blow winds, blow.
Flow tides, flow,
iild all with glory, sun, we ASK Q
! thee!
Smile, hills. smile like the peaks Q
by-and-by;
Pile, hills. pile till thou pierce tn
tropic sky;
Rise, islets, rise
O, this is Paradise!
paradise of beauty that can neve
lie
This would not be so bad, th
letter continues. We're it not that
Dkifted bard, who wet-nurses steal
Ihovel in the day time, has written
parody on the governors poem. whic
e calls Heard at Ancon.' This is II
crow, cocks, crow from sunset unit
dawn;
Bark, dogs, bark in torture unto me-
Moo, cows, moo
'roak, frogs. croak--
Make night a hell, this we owe to "
Toss, martyrs toss, like the sinner b
and-by:;
Pile. pillows pile, till ye stifle eyel
cry:
kise, sufferer, rise
md from out this paradise.
Iurl the brickbat at the poem tn
can never die!'
But the most weighty count in u
betical Indictment against 60
hatcher seems to be with referen
the Chilean poem. The governt
hys the letter. boarded the vess
nd before the formal introducti'
ad been made recited his special
repaired jingle. This is what Ge
hatcher, who gets $4,000 a year.
ouse to live in and pickings, hurl
the Chilian president, who cot
lot understand English.
Tho are loyal, strong and brave?
The Chileans, sir.
fho are masters of the wave?
The Chileans, sir
llo laugh at danger and the gray
no gladly die their land to save.
ho rule where mighty waters lay
The Chileans, sir.
len, here's to Chile, brave and trl
" she tho eagles strength rene
hy she be bathed in heavens de
Continued on page 81