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Show An Independent Paper Published Under :: the Management of T. L. Holman :: EDITORIALS B Y JUDGE C. C. GOOD WIN The Birds THE last month in Utah has been a hard one on the robins, the wrens and the quail have -suffered greatly and the sparrows have had a . hard time to make a living. A little company ; ' of pigeons that have learned to come to a cer tain window for food come now and peck on the window with a look that seems to say: "Can you not see that there is no hope for us unless you help us through?" It is too bad. Everyone should feed the birds in such a winter. Even the sparrows should be fed. If the purpose is to exterminate them, it should not include starving and freezing. And the robins, the jolly, sociable robins, and the quail, they surely should be looked after and i fed. Their loss is a state loss. So innocent are f they, so trusting. The spring will not be spring f without the robins and the quail are a part of the state's food supply. Have The Exposition BOSTON is beginning the agitation for a world's exposition in honor of the landing of the Pilgrims three hundred years ago. This is as it should be, for that landing was in truth a punctuation point in history. Those old Pilgrims were not a perfect set of mortals by a long way, but they were a marvelous, mar-velous, robust crowd nevertheless. They were seeking a land "where they could worship God according to the dictates of their owa conscience," con-science," but the germ of charity for the opinions opin-ions of those who differed with them was not largely developed in their make-up. They had not much use or compassion for any one whose conscience ran in any other groove than their own, which caused them to do many cruel things in their way up toward perfect light. But their " work in the mighty aggregate was something so tremenduous that it may be fairly set down as a i chief factor in the civilization of those nations which we call the enlightened nations of the earth. In this, the soil they were given to cultivate in the new world and the climate they were given to live in were strong factors. $i They were not stronger than were the men who followed Cortez and Pizarro, but they were different. They were determined to keep all the commandments com-mandments and the conditions that surrounded them caused them to see at once that their existence ex-istence depended upon incessant labor. There were no precious metal mines to lure them; there was no soft climate bringing forth spontaneous food supplies, or food in abundance with the most careless cultivation. It was a fight for, life l;ora the beginning, and so with a grim determination they began that fight and with a tenacity of courage and purpose they kept it up until they made a marked impression im-pression on the world. They pushed the little red school house before them into the formidable wilderness and this caused each rising generation to be superior to the one preceding it, and gave a special significance to the reply of Webster -to Jackson, when Jackson was president and Webster accompanied him on a trip through New England. Looking out upon the poor and thin soil, Jackson said: "My God, Webster, what can . people raise out of this soil?" The sombre eyes of Webster glowed as he replied: "They build school houses and raise men, Mr. President." So that work and that discipline for a hundred and fifty years had prepared them, both in the aggregate and as individuals, to look with calmness calm-ness when the mightiest power on earth mar-.shalled mar-.shalled its armies and assembled its fleet to subdue sub-due them. Ever since, out from her schools a contingent of men has spread which has given direction to events in our own country, which, by indirection, has influenced the world, softened the ferocities of wars, given women a new place in the societies so-cieties of nations, made the one man shrink In importance and exalted all men, and vastly reduced re-duced the tyrannies which were the rule only a century ago. So intense was the vitality of old "Eclipse," the wonderful English thoroughbred horse, that he transmitted a black spot on his back through nine generations of colts. We have always thought that was typical ot that race, the fathers and mothers of which in midwinter landed on Plymouth Rock and kneeling kneel-ing awakened that first song of praise on this continent: con-tinent: "Amidst the storm they sang, And the stars heard and the sea; And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang With the anthems of the free." We hope Boston will go on with her preparations prepara-tions for the exposition. It should be held. Since the landing of Columbus on the soil of the new world, not many events have been more important import-ant than the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. Electricity BEFORE us is a most interesting article on the constantly increasing uses to which electricity electric-ity is subjected. It is a reminder of, one of the marvelous facts of history. For thousands of years, electricity as seen in the lightning's flash was but a terror. The ancients assumed that it was the especial agent of Jove to show his power, his approval or disapproval of the works of nations and individuals. individ-uals. Its unexplained nature, the swiftness of its coming, the ruin it wrought, were all incomprehensible incompre-hensible and hence the natural conclusion that it was but the agent of the gods to do their work. That it was but waiting for man to utilize it for his work never crossed their minds. That, despite its fierce manifestations, it was 1 'M ready to serve mankind in a thousand ways they f H could not comprehend. M But of all the elements it has more power and I less pride than any other. It is ready to ring a ' H door bell or bore a decayed tooth. At the same ' H time it moves the mightiest machinery, and now H the United States government is making arrange- H ments to propel some great battleships and to H move its heavy guns by electricity. Still in one sense the ancients were right. It 'fil is the working agent of omnipotence, the power U He calls into service to light and warm and keep i H in jarless motion His worlds, even to the remot- 9 est boundary of His universe. Without it crea- 'H tion would suddenly become dark and cold; all !H vegetation and animal life would die It would JH mean annihilation. gfl Men have learned much of its nature and lil still they actually know about as little of it as IfH did the ancients who watched its power and said HI with, trembling lips: "It is Jove's messenger no fH mortal can measure its power." ill His Attitude On Prohibition H S- OVERNOR BAMBERGER seems determined H - to make a record on extreme prohibition, 11 which is all right, only to assume that a large H portion of the property holders and taxpayers H of the state have no rights which the truly good H have any call to respect jars upon the sensibili- ll ties of old-fashionable people who have old-fash- '! ioned ideas of right and wrong. jH When the first twelve miles of railroad were H built in China it crossed an old graveyard at one H point. The wise populace made such a clamor H about their dead ancestors being disturbed by t H the noise that the government stopped the (work 11 and tore up the rails. But before doing that, jH they paid for the work that had been done and 1H the material" that had been used. They were H "heathen Chinee," but the Christian .people of JH Utah think it unnecessary to make any restitu- H tion when they go out to destroy property and fl make wicked people good by statute. H M As To A Merchant Marine H WE have not heard from Washington since 'H congress assembled the words "merchant H marine." Is there no senator or representative 'I who can at least try to introduce and urge the iH passage of an enlightened shipping law H The president pointed out last summer H (what the Weekly had often done before) that for years our country has been like a great mer- H chant who has no delivery wagon, but his rem- rl edy offered no hope of a restoration of our ?H merchant marine. He seems to think that for ; the government to undertake something which "I private citizens can do infinitely better, and H to meet the deficit thus made by dipping into H the public treasury for the funds, is vastly bet- : ter than to pay a competent company a subsidy IH or a bounty to make up the necessary deficit H that at first would be encountered in running fl ships in competition with the protected ships 1H of Great Britain and Germany. JiH But to ruccessfully restore our merchant ser- ,'M vice oh the seas requires many things. IjH W&BSBBSiwt" " rjftii ii ii mm iggpagrgsaagJJM Bj ' There should be concert of action on the Htj part "'of 'tho men wijo build and sail ships witii) Bi ' great' manufacturers', merchants, bankers and H the government. The ships should bo built, not B bought, for that would involve the mining of the B coal and iron, the converting of the iron in the K ore to steel, and the employment of an army of Bi men on all the work needed to convert the crude H material into ships. Hr Then there should be department stores and Hj . banks in tho countries -with which our best trade B would be looked for, and a sensible, law would B 4rlng around all these things. And now is the B opportune time. There is plenty of money seek- H ing investment; tho need of a merchant marine B to be established on a permanent basis has been H sufficiently demonstrated during the past two H and" a half years; the further need is the more 1 apparent as can be seen by England's prepara- H; tion to take in hand tho ocean commerce of the Hj Atlantic and Japan's preparation to do the same H' in the Pacific. Hi Should someone seriously propose to tear up Hj the tracks of the Great Northern railroad and H; turn the work that road is now doing to the H Canadian Pacific, the man would be put under H surveillance as a man of unsound mind, but it H would be just as sensible as has been our man- H agement of our ocean traffic for the past ritty H years. H And what should be done is so plain a propo- H sltion that any 'business man ought to see it at H a glance. We have paid extra freight on what we H' have sent away to and received from foreign H countries during the past two and a half years H , to subsidize a hundred great steamers for forty Hr years to come, and the "losses on what wo could H' not send away and receive amount to as much H' more. Suppose our shipping had been managed H as Germany managed her's for twenty-five years H before the great war was sprung, what would H; ' .have been our place today? Would not all the u, South American states be looking to New York H as tho world's great commercial center? Hf Their banks in concert with ours handling H the international business; they depending upon H us for a, market, buying from us what they M needed, relying upon our country to carry through H their needed enterprises; our citizens building M their railroads, developing their latent resources , and drawing from us part of the immigration Bt of the old world. Bj As it is we are not much considered and H their children are growing up without knowing j! the American flag when they see it. And we m fondly flatter ourselves with the belief that we H ; are a great people. H General Osterhaus THAT old General Osterhaus, whose death is reported from Berlin, was, a superb soldier R but he never could master the English language B r perfectly. H When the battle opened on Lookout Mountain H he advanced his division so rapidly that General Hj Hooker feared he would disorganize the battle H -line and send an aide (with an order for him B to go slower. Osterhaus read the note, then H turning to the aide, said: "Give my compliments I 1 to the shenerl and tell him if he keep watch H for about ten minutes he will see me make dos H' I rebels hell smell." Tho height was swiftly car- I ii riGd B "Y General Osterhaus was in all respects a great B 'A soldier. From the ranks he rose to the rank B??i "of major general of volunteers, and was retired B t1) -a ibrigadliv -general in the regular army. He (went B.' back t' W8 native land to spend his declining m years; but he left a son who is one of the fore- 1 most officers in our navy and has the warm H affection as vell as tho great respect of his Hi I ' brother officers. I t:it Time To Put On The Brake THAT wiis a tlme'iy and thoughtful speech made 'by Senator Borah last week In which he cautioned the senate against giving blind approval ap-proval to all the president's sayings lest it unconsciously un-consciously approve of something which would insidiously change the whole former policy of the government. The president believes he is always right and, in his naturally obstinate way, wants what he says approved. His re-election will naturally intensify his oelief in himself, and the senate at least should keep a close twatch against possible mistakes that might prove to be very serious. Tho speech of Senator Works was that of a disappointed man but many of his charges cannot can-not ibo refuted, especially that which pictures congress as the catspaw of the president in blindly blind-ly endorsing the president's will. Some of the things done were shameful, like "the. levying of tolls on coast shipping passing through the Panama Pan-ama canal, the elevation of Brandies to the supreme su-preme bench in payment of a political debt, and the driving through congress of the Adamson law to influence an election. That kind of work should cease. Just A Breath IT seems that some of our extreme prohibition Democratic friends have decided that a whiskey breath is prima facie evidence that the owner of the breath has in his possession more or less of the fluid that both exhilirates and intoxicates. Come to think of it, the case is plain. That ought to justify the creation of one more office that of "The Public Official Breath-Smeller." But one demand of the Utah Democracy is that economy and efficiency shall go hand in hand. And what veteran Democrat will be able to sit in judgment on a wretch against whom the suspicion suspic-ion of an intoxicant breath may He? And if one sobers up long enough to be a competent com-petent judge how many breaths could he inhale before all his good resolutions would dissolve into thin air and make him crazy to trace the breath back to where it originated? It looks as though the great new fortune that has come to our Democratic friends would have its trials. The Election Bill HTHE new election act as outlined in the news- papers seems to make it a crime for every man during a campaign to mention politics and to inhibit everything on election day except to vote. There is nothing like fixing the moral status of mankind by statute. Still there seems to be some idiosyncracies in the bill. There is a clause that makes treating a friend punishable. As the lid is to be closed dojwn and riveted on all intoxicants, this clause must be aimed at; the vendors and vendees of buttermilk. Still we are not sure. A good many of the men who sell buttermilk sell in truth a substitute, so it may be just as well to include them. Everybody seems to be included in the possibly pos-sibly bad lot except the sugar trust. To leave that organization out shows that there are a few Democrats who are not ungrateful for favors received, or that perhaps the thought has come to them that they might need the same help in the future. Jackson's Birthday WE notice that more than one Democrat at the banquet on Monday night rererred to the day as Jackson's birthday. The old records fix the date on tho 13th of March and they tell that he was born In the Waxhajw settlement, North Carolina. But there has always been a cloud on the statement for the very, oldest record declares that ho was born onHshipbdaru when his parents were on the voyage to tills country. '. It Is good then to have his birthday definitely fixed on the 8th of January. It settles doubts ' that have been in some people's minds for more than a hundred and twenty years. This exalts his birthday and reduces that little affair at New Orleans as only one of his birthday frolics, or something that would have been a large affair for an ordinary man, but merely a characteristic incident for "Old Hickory." Their "Patronage" Saint NE speaker at the 'banquet on Monday night -' was reputed as referring to Jackson as "our patron saint." Those stupid reporters. Jefferson Jeffer-son is the patron saint of the party, Jackson "the patronage saint." Still who knows? Jackson is the saint most revered just after a successful election of the party, if not just before. His immortal (words: "To the victor belongs the spoils," are remembered remem-bered and bubbles to their lips in a refrain sweeter than a Christmas carol, by millions .of Democrats who could not repeat the Sermon on the Mount to save their lives. That Tax Amendment '"T'HE governor wants a constitutional amend- ment to permit the placing of some officer of the state to fix the valuation of mines for purposes of taxation. We had thought that that fallacy was effectively killed at the polls In November. No-vember. It was a question that was seriously considered consid-ered 'by able men when the constitution was originally framed considered from all points, and unless the present legislature can hear something some-thing new on the subject, our advice would be to keep in mind that mining has transformed Utah from a stock range and vegetable patch, and to leave the present law as it Is. WHY permit the use of sacramental intoxicants? intoxi-cants? Would not grape juice answer every purpose? Why the affected reverence? Had the Saviour postponed His coming, and then come here and attended a marriage up in the 21st ward, and done there what he did in Canaan, under our enlightened law he would have been arrested, "convicted of felony and sent to jail for not less than one year nor more than tjwo years." Why affect a reverence that would make an old-time pharisee laugh? OUR new legislature is in session. Some of the members must be having the same experience expe-rience that the Indiana congressman had. He said: "When I reached the House of Representatives Represen-tatives I kept looking around the stately chamber and saying to myself 'how the mischief did I ever get here?' After being there six months, I got more courage and looking around I asked myself: "How the h 1 did these other fellows get here'?" THE steering committee of Democrats who have taken the legislature In hand have undertaken a big job They are liable to need a new set of branding irons and some extra lariats, for some , of the herd will want to jump the corral before the session Is over. THE war in Europe takes on new brutalities every dav. The treatment of the dead and of prisonerfc llcates that a settled hate Is causing caus-ing the souls . the combatants to gravitate back to barbarism. |