Evening star., 1938-05-15
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

"Crazes" have beset the people of all
countries from time to time. The Star
n;o, of May II, 1888, thus men,
OiaAAoho tions one that was then
Mania. prevalent:
"The tulip mania of the
seventeenth century, when $2,5O0 were
paid for single bulb, and the South Sea
bubble of the eighteenth, when S5 900 a
share were gladly given for the stock Of
bankrupt corporation, promise to have
a parallel in the nineteenth century in
the diamond speculation which has be-
gun in London. Not only are the stones
bought and sold, but the stock of COM
panies working distant mines is quoted
at fancy figures, which vary according to
the latest finds in the various fields
South Africa is already overrun with
adventurous diamond seekers, like the
gold country on the Pacific slope in 1849
and statistics show that nearly five mil
lion dollars were paid in dividends by
the heavily capitalized concerns at work
there last year. The news has spurred
India to emulation and the Madras
presidency is pouring fourth crystalline
riches at rate quite unsuspected. The
Brazil mines are still to be heard from,
but London is well prepared for any
wonders that may be forthcoming there
Doubtless history will repeat itself and
there will one day come a tremendous
collapse, by the exhaustion either of the
diamondiferous fields or of an over
strained popular enthusiasm"
~ X X
ut is time to call a halt" says The
Star of May II, 1888. ION the practice
Making Shows of 1s1e mhsch ot mas nne arisen OF
Historic Houses. historic structures
and carting them
from place to place for peep-show pur-
poses. 1t seemed as if loud enough
protest had been made in the case of the
proposed removal of Libbey Prison to
Chicago to prevent another enterprise
of the same sort for some time to come,
but today comes the announcement that
Gen. Grants birthplace in Point Pleas
ant, Ohio, is to be removed bodily to
Cincinnati, to be shown, at so much a
head, to the admiring crowds assembled
at the centennial exhibition. Whatever
sentimental interest clusters about such
structure Is destroyed when it is
plucked from its surroundings. Unless
this epidemic of destruction is promptly
checked no one must be surprised at an
offer from some Snowman to the lady
regents of Mount Vernon for the fine old
manor house, to be lugged about the
country like a five-legged calf or the
Paris guillotine of '89, as curiosity to
be gaped at Historic relics of real value
ought to be protected from such treat
ment."
- r -
kansas City is stirred to its center"
says The Star of May H. 1888, "by the
,r,,, agitation of the question
Maroies anu whether the public NOR
Morals. ais are not endangered by
allowing schoolboys to
play marbles for keeps The principals
of the schools have had meeting and
discussed it, one party holding that the
game is one of hazard and that its inf1u-
ence upon plastic-minded youth must be
pernicious; the other contending that it
is primarily game of skill and that it
tends to educate lads faculty for TAX
ing life as it comes. The boys, especially
the poor players, are ready to testify that
such marble playing does not result, like
lottery, according to chance, and on the
oher hand very few are able to regard
it as part of the educational course. If
either one or the other of these views
must be entertained to give the schools
the authority to decide this question of
morals, both boys and parents are apt to
raise finally the question of jurisdiction :"