The San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 357, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 16, 1912 Page: 4 of 12
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4
THE SAN ANTONIO LIGHT
iMUsis.d Jaau.ry ts >••• > *
CeMptttIM tm *•" *•!«*’ "S"« •"* Th<
Sen Antonio O»«U*
a»«nli( Bally an<i Huttdoy Mornlnt.
■ttlMlro L.S.M Who f*» •“P®'* “•
■«t«re4 at th. pootofflro alAntonio aa
■MMd.ClaM Manor-
“ 1 CHAKI.ice it.
NAHRIHON I.. »KA< H .
I.Htora • ••** P«nn«W4M.
ai'BMKirTIUh MATK».
Dally end Runday. carrier. 1 maath....« je
Dally and Hunday. '■arrl.r l »r M
Dally and Bunday mall. } "’"".J
Dally and Imao. mall. I yoar <ia 4 „
eanea)
Hunday carrier. 1 year J'q
Runday ynall 1 year 5J
tUngla copy dally or •“’’".Zl- kadraw
It la Important when deelrlnf the addreaa
at >our paper chanted to rlro both old and
new addreer-e Should delivery
plaaae notify ths office. Mlh.r Phon •
MW YitllK' O» F1<’E-The H. < . Beca
With Sporlnl Agency. Tribune hulldlU.
CHICAGO OFFICE—Th. SC. Becawl.n
Special Agency. Tribune building.
The dan Antonio Licht IS on gala at bo’el
end naira atanda throughout the Unit
Addreae ail lettore to THE LIGHT ’’•’B'
LISH1NG COM PANT. Ran Antonio. Trial
CIMCDLATION.
The avenge dally ewerw circulation of
The Ran Anionlo Light daring the twelve
montha ending December 31. 1»U. ™
n.dt« eoplee The net paid dally aware dr-
ealatlon nee HIM coplee.
Daring the month of Deeemher. 1SII. the
average dally ewora elrrahtiloa wae l*.*n
raplee. The net paid dally eworn circulation
waa 11.71V coplea.
DOUBLE THE LOCAL CIRCULA-
TION OF ANY OTHER PAPER
TUESDAY. JANUARY 1«. 1»13.
PROPHECY COME TRUE
On Su n da y The Light ven-
tured on the prediction that in a
short time it would be able to
print announcements of new rail-
roads to be constructed in South-
west Texas and of new connec-
tions. better equipment and fast-
er schedules on the older rail-
roads. The prediction was veri-
fied somewhat quicker than The
Light had anticipated.
Yesterday The Light gave to
the people of Texas the first an-
nouncement of the fact that a
new line of railroad is to be con-
structed from Del Rio via Eagle
sl’ass to Crowther connecting at
the latter point with the main line '
of the San Antonio. Rockport &
Mexico railroad to Tampico and
the City of Mexico.
This will prove a most advan-
tageous connection for the new
railroad and will bring San Anto-
nio in still closer connection with
Del Rio and Eagle Pass. Con-
gratulations are in order all along
the line of the proposed railroad.
The next announcement of im-
proved conditions in Southwest
Texas will not be long in coming.
COLLECT THE TOLLS
One of the problems confront-
ing Congress in legislating for the
Panama canal is the question of
tolls. For some reason not alto-
gether plain many members of
the body are against the collec-
tion of tolls while others take the
stand that free passage is not
warranted owing to the benefits
received by shipping and»the tre-
mendous expenditure of money
made on the enterprise.
The financial aspect of the case
is this: The canal by the time
it is completed will have cost the
United States not less than $400.-
000000 the interest on which will
be $12000000 per annum. The
cost of operation is estimated at
$4000000 per year while military
protection will cost no less than
$10000000 annually. From this
it will be seen that should the
government finally decide to levy
no tolls it would cost this coun-
try every year at least $26000000
to take care of the ditch.
Why this country should make
the world a present qf the huge
sum spent on the canal and then
keep on forever paying for the
privilege of accommodating for-
eign shipping is not altogether
There is absolutely no pre-
cedent for such magnanimity.
The Suez canal and most other
artificial waterways of any im-
portance charge so much per ton
for all shipping accommodated
and it certainly goes without say-
ing tnat had the French Panama
Company succeeded in building
the canal that every vessel using
it would have had to hand-
eomeiy. Just because'the money
spent on the Isthmus is govern-
ment map e y—nobody’s money
irom the point of view of some—'
it is hardly necessary to be so
generous especially when it is
considered that the holders of can-
al bonds will insist that Uncle
Sam meet his obligations.
It is probable that the advo-
cates of th# no-toll policy see in
this economic advantages. What
they are has not been explained
as yet and since American ship-
ping will be quite the smallest
customer of the canal for many
years to come it is really difficult
to ascertain them by inspective
reason. A fair arrangement would
be if all American bottoms doing
an interoceanic business had the
free use of the canal but there is
•
TUESDAY
little that would justify favoring
the passage of foreign vessels free
of toll charges. Wh a t possible
interest can the American taxpay-
er have in a British of German
vessel trading between Europe
and the Far East that he should
donate towards die further handi-
capping of his own non-existent
merchant marine?
In the minds of some free tolls
on the Isthmus may be associated
with matters military but in this
they can hardly be logical. Hav-
ing spent its money in the hu!W-
ing of the canal no power friendly
to .the United States can raise ob-
jection to the latter's intention to
guard its investment. Ohly ul-
terior motive could find in this
cause for complaint.
There is no doubt that tolls wilt
be collected in the canal in the
end. It is not necessary to make
them high enough so as to hate
the investment return a profit
but the least that can be expected
is to have the canal pay its oper-
ating expenses and a fair interest
on the money invested. In the
meantime it will be of consider-
able interest to hear the argument
of the no-toll advocates in Con-
gress and elsewhere.
Every now and then some sci-
entist amateur or professional
causes us to take notice by saying
a few things concerning the age
of man ending usually with the
confession that after all little is
known about the initial appear-
ance of the creature.
It is rather odd that man the
highest manifested intelligence on
"Omf planet should know so little
concerning himself. Positive his-
tory takes us back but 7000 years
archaeological evidence adds an-
other two or possibly three thous-
and years to this and then all be-
comes conjecture. Prehistoric
man has left us but flint arrow-
heads and small parts of his body
to satisfy our craving for knowl-
edge of man's beginning. That
from these not much can be
learned is well known to those
who have attempted to base even
so much an hypothesis on them.
Speculation on the age of man
is a matter for the philosopher
rather than for the anthropologist.
Positive science deals with posi-
tive data while synthetic investi-
gation is limited in range only by
the extent of all that is known
about man. The philologist for
instance can with tolerable accu-
racy fix the date when Sanskrit
'was the common language of the
white race and by tracing its de-
velopment and comparing this
with known factors of time he
can arrive at an approximate date
when the speakers of this lan-
guage broke loose from associa-
tions under which they had been
developed. But the inspective
philosopher can do even better
than that though unfortunately
the result of his labor would not
be more gratifying than the ig-
norance in which we are left ow-
ing to the lack of definite informa-
tion on the subject.
That man is old is a far safer
statement than any specific as-
sertion as to his age. Seven thous-
and years ago certain races had
already reached a plane of civil-
ization from which ours differs
but in degree not in general char-
acter. Government in the Nile
valley had already made consid-
erable progress and along the Eu-
phrates and Tigris some of the
most abstract sciences were
known.
When the Chaldean emerges
out of the historical dawn he has
already divided time in such man-
ner that modern man has been
able only to make a correction of
• minutes—four to the year—on it.
Truly a remarkable thing when
we consider that in our own day
there are in existence tribes
whose methods of time division
are so crude as to hardly deserve
the name. The American Indian
for instance counted moons-only
and while fully aware of the re-
currence of season had no ac-
curate means to determine it in
advance. The solar year unknown
to him was a fact to the Chal-
dean thousands of years ago.
The answer to the question:
How long would it have taken the
American Indian to discover the
solar year unaided ivou 1 <1 of
course partly disclose the time
period needed to have the Semitic
face make a similar discovery.
But who is to answer this ques-
tion? The Aztec may and may
not have known the duration of
the solar year. His zodiac may
have been only the record of luna-
tions. But the fact that he noted
these would in the end have led
to the discovery of the solar year
for he would have found that his
twelve lunar m o n t h s. without
some sort of interregnum would
THE AGE OF MAN
never fit into the seasons as he
must have known them.
And this leads us to the rather
important fact that man prog-
ressed as soon as he made per-
manent record of events. As soon
as he did this one thing led to
another and in comparatively lit-
tle time he entered the domain of
intellectual progress. But how
many centuries elapsed before
man reached the stage in which
the making of records of any kind
appeared necessary to him. For
the reason that we have the pre-
historic man the man w i t h o ut
record of any kind still with us
this is a difficult ouestion to an-
swer. Instances where retrogres-
sion has made isolated tribes rcc-
ordless. in spite of ancestors able
to transmit i d e a a by means of
s y m b o Is arc so common as to
make the whole field of investiga-
tion along this line a veritable
slough of despond.
How old is man is a question
not very dissimilar from: How
old is Ann but not as easily dis-
posed of.
HITCHCOCK’S PLANS
It npw appears that Postmaster
General Hitchcock “started some-
thing” when he proposed to rec-
ommend the acquisition by the
United States government of all
telegraph lines. President Taft
promptly called on Mr. Hitchcock
for an explanation got it evident-
ly and the telegraph companies
now complain of being taken by
surprise. There is no doubt that
the action proposed by the post-
master general was rather sudden
and unexpected. But these are
times when it is really hard to be
original in politics. The idea oc-
curred to Mr. Hitchcock and rath-
er than have it get away from him
he decided to make good use of it.
A statement issued in the white
house however gives a different
colorto the case. Mr. Hitchcock so
it would seem had thought of the
little scheme before submitted it
to the president and finding little
encouragement let it drop only
as we have seen to resurrect it at
an opportune moment. Under the
circumstances we need hardly
gasp in astonishment that rumor
claims the Hitchcock plan to be
somewhat of a coup d’etat for Mr.
Roosevelt.
But why all this excitement?
Merely taking a superficial albeit
logical view of it the average cit-
izen may find it hard to sec why
the government should not o<vn
the telegraph lines. Uncle Sam
operates the postal service with
considerable success and in these
days when rapid mails and quick
telegraph service practically be-
come interdependent the t e 1e-
graph as an adjunct to the mail
would be a good thing. With sen-
timent rapidly developing for the
government ownership of the rail-
roads a little thing like buying
the telegraph lines should not
shock its. Moreover the views of
the socialist would be met by this
arrangement. Ma n y who now
support that party would flop
back into the ranks of the regu-
lars as soon as these important
means of distribution had been
duly placed in the hands of the
government. All we would need
then would be government con-
trol of the means of production
and all would be well notwith-
standing the statement of Presi-
dent Schurman of Cornell Uni-
versity that socialism will not
eliminate poverty.
SAVAGE RABBITS THESE.
From th. Kanaas City Star.
Made desperate by hunger hordes of
famished jackrabbits are raiding the
farm yards and feed lots on western
Kansas ranches according to reports
from that secUon of the state and rob-
bing cattle and other live stock of
their food.
Deprived of their usual food by the
deep snow which covers that section
of the state the rabbits Invade the
farms and graneries and cause great
loss to the ranchmen. Where corn has
been left in the shock or whore hay
has been stocked the little animals
congregate by thousands and. In their
desperate straits cat thousands of dol-
lars’ worth of grain and other feed
that Is greatly needed by the farmers
for their stock.
So numerous are the rabbits that it
is Impossible for the farmers to protect
themselves from them. Thousands of
the animals have been killed and many
thousands of them have died from
starvation but there appears to be
little'diminution In their number.
Some farmers report that the rabbits
have Invaded hog pens and by sheer
force of numbers drive the hogs away
from their feed one farmer whose rep-
utation for truth and veracity Is good
reporting that he saw a drove of rab-
bits Invade his hog pen. take ears of
corn in their jaws and leap back over
the fence and retreat to a safe distance
to devour their loot. A
Horse Versus Motor.
“You still stick to that old 10-year-
old nag of yours I seo. Blithers.” salt.
Dubbleigh. “Why don't you get a mo-
tor?” |
“Well.” said Blithers. "'I’ve sort of
found that there Is more style to i*
1902 model horse than there Is to a
1902 model car. —Harper's Weekly.
THE SAN ANTONIO LIGHT
Marvels of Science
THE JAl’AXEMi:
(By Garrett I*. Ncrvias)
A striking proof of the falsity of
the charge which la frequently made
that the tyBw Japanese civilisation la
only skin deep and la almply imita-
tive la furnished by a recent award
of a medal by the Imperial Academy
of Japan to the astronomer Dr. Ki-
mura.
For some twenty years past the
astronomical nor Id has been intense-
ly Interested ns well as greatly pus-
sled by the phenomenon known as
variation of latitude which arises
from a wabbling of the earth's axis
it furnishes one of the most recon-
dite subjects with which modern
science has to deal and requtrea the
utmost exactitudeof observation and
the keenest power of analysis.
American and European astrono-
mer* were not long In discovering the
two principal mathematical terms by
means of which the Variation could
be represented. But there was some-
thing else which they did not discov-
er although Dr.' Kimura did. He
found that there was another Influ-
ence acting to produce the Irregular
motion of the axis which had not
previously been detected-
At first no one would believe him.
They said that his observations were
incorrect or that hit Instruments
were Imperfect or that He Was the
dupe of deception. But Dr. Kimura
knew exactly what he was about and
■exactly how to prove the accuracy of
his work. He convicted his critics
of having themselves overlooked
something which was apparent
enough when properly studied and
compelled them finally to acknowl-
edge that he was right and that their
own observations embraced the mys-
terious phenomenon although they
had not been acute enough to discov-
er It
The astronomers had adopted for
a measure of the variation of latitude
at any point in longitude the mathe-
matical expression x cos ion. -|- y sin
Ion. Dr. Kimura showed them that
the true expression was x cos Ion. -|-
y sin Ion. -|- x. The discovery Of this
“a" has given Dr. Kimura scientific
immortality.
To explain it in simple form it
means that to the sources of varia-
tion previously known another must
be added which is represented math-
ematically by the term “a." This Is
now generally ascribed to an annual
oscillation of the center of inertia of
the earth having a total swing of
eight or ten feet.’ The delicacy of
the observations needed to detect It
is almost Indescribable and yet enor-
mous consequences to science may re-
sult from the discovery.
To show how link after link makes
up the chain of science. It is Interest-
ing to notice that the latest determi-
nation of the motion of the north end
of the earth’s axis proves that dur-
ing the whole of last year the pole
was swinging In a circle outside that
which it had pursued in 1909 and
that in June 1910 It had got farther
from its mean position than it has
ever been known to go before. Now
previous experience has shown that
after a wide excursion of this kind
the pole is apt to swing in rather
suddenly toward its average place
and many have believed that these
sharp changes In the direction of the
motion are attended with more or
less violent disturbances of the in-
ternal rocks of the globe. It this Is
correct when the north pole starts
toward the center of the circle again
there may be an outbreak of earth-
quakes.
LEAP YEAR LETTERS.
(By Wex Jones.
Dear Jack —Will you come around
to the house tonight? I have some-
thing very important to say to you.
I won't tell you what it is in this let-
ter. but it is a little question that I
want to ask. Clin you guess what it
is? JILL.
Dear Jack—I may as well tell you
that I didn't ask you the question I
had in mind when you called last
night. I wouldn't ask you to come out
just to tell me on what date Columbus
landed in America. It was some-
thing else so If you will drop around
tonight I will let you know what it is.
JILL.
Dear Jack—You must think it aw-
ful silly of me to get you to come all
the way out here just to ask you if
Rudyard Kipling wrote "You great big
beautiful doll.” That wasn't the ques-
tion I wanted to ask you at all so
can't you come around this evening
and let me whisper the real question
to you? JILL.
Dear Jack —I hope you won't be
mad with me for taking up your time
yesterday evening just to ask you if
light travels faster than air. I had an-
other question I wanted to ask you
and I wish you would come to the
house tonight. It is a very important
question. JILL.
Dear Jane—Jack and I aro engaged.
He proposed to me 'last night. You
know it's leap year and I tried to pop
the question for the last six or seven
days but somehow or other I couldn't.
Leap year's no good anyway.
JILL.
Jan-Power and Its Properties.
How many pounds' pressure do we
exert when we bite a mouthful of
food? William Hemmingway. writing
in the current number of Harper's
Weekly answers the question. "By the
use of the gnathodynamometer it has
been found that a pale delicate ane-
mic school girl chews with a -maxi-
mum force of one hundred and fifty
pounds while a big hueky athlete
registered two hundred and fifty."
That is to say a force of about fifty
tons' pressure Is exercised during the
course of a meal.
Explained.
"Helgho!" mghed Mrs. Stoutly. "You
used to sit with your arm around my
waist John but you never do it any
more.”
I m sorry dear” replied Stoutly
"but there are some things that arr
beyond my reach.”—Harper's Was*Tf
All letter* to thia paper that are In-
tsnded for publleatlon must bo signed
by the writer. Mo attention *111 Mpald
Io enonyinuue eomniuniootlons The
publication of a letter does not neeea-
earlly mean that the policy outlined
therein la endorsed by the publishers
To the Editors
I have read with In tercet your edi-
torials In The Light eInce your pur-
chase of the paper. Time and again
I have noticed that you are continual-
■>>rlaclng everything German in the
jAst possible light. And now tonight
Jou make it so strong I feel disposed
to comment on It.
The piece you name (Americanism)
la a peach. You must have been en-
deavoring to educate the Germans to
Amerh-anlam and not the English. The
reaaon the Americana take no notice
of the Perth AmbOy N. J. Incident la
that they know that thia la an iaolated
caae and does not in any unse rep-
resent the English emigrant. The
English Irish and Scotch are proud
to become Americana They Imme-
diately fall in line with American ways
and American manners.
Do the Germans do It? If you think
so go to any German town in America
and If you are an American business
man. you will find them clannish and
not disposed to even speak much leas
do business with them. Let a Ger-
man go to an American town and he
can do aa much business as anybody
no matter what race predominates
English Scotch or any other.
When President Mcklnley called for
volunteers for the Spanish-American
war how many did New Braunfels
send. I have a distinct recollection
that the recruiting offices got nona at
New Braunfels* v
You say that happIfyMhe Garman
becomes a good American citizen by
the time he is entitled to citizenship.
This is an error he is law-abiding and
that la all. There are mkny men
whose grandparents came to this
country from Germany whose wives
and daughters still follow the plow
and who cannot speak the English
language and don't want anythlngun-
less It Is Deutsch as they call It. They
don’t even read your paper for the
same reason. The great mass of them
are too Ignorant to understand your
editorials.
Did you notice that your cumulation
January 11. Austin. Laredo-Del Rio
Yoakum all American towns were In
the lead and where oh where was
New Braunfels?
I have a great respect for any Ger-
man who really becomce an American.
They are first class people but I think
that your editorials should seek to
educate the German to a sense of his
Americanism and not the English a
nation whose subjects become so
steeped in Americanism in a short
time that their nationality Is not even
suspected. '
Your last paragraph states the case
MONDAY.
TUESDAY.
WEDNESDAY.
THURSDAY.
FRIDAY.
Letters To The Light
SILK HAT HARRY RUMMY AND THE GANG
> By TAD —
Harry Gets
an Earful
of Scandal
« ??55 -
As Others View It
More Joy OrRS Ow« Mnnw B*. Etc.
But sven If Woodrow Wilson had in-
quired six years ago If there was not
ooms way In which Mr. Bryan might
be got rid of for all time what of It?
Cannot Mr. Bryan forgot and forgive
the sins of a convert in the gratifica-
tion over his den version ?—Pittsburg
Dispatch.
la Nick Among the Peaalmista Also?
If the announcement from Cincin-
nati that Congressman Longworth Is
’’prepared to go either to defeat or
victory with President Taft" Is war-
ranted It shows that the sx-presldsnt's
son-In-law Is just about as confident
as the president himself.—Boston
Globe.
Oh. Tlief're HhouUng Their Lungs OuL
What has become of thoeo prophets
who declared after the votee had been
counted in the last New York state
election that Colonel Rooaevelt wae
politically dead for all time?—Topeka
State Journal
More Truth Than Poetry.
Governor Harmon eays that there Is
no political significance In his trip
through the west. That was exactly
what Governor Wlleon found out
when he returned from hia.—Philadel-
delphla Inquirer.
Break It Gently to Uncle Jad.
Woodrow Wilson has the nomina-
tion under his belt and the election
in his vest pocket. Even part of the
shouting is over.—Pensacola Journal.
And He Just Loves to Be Annoyed.
T. R. says nothin* annoys him more
than to have reporters hustling after
him everywhere he goea—Pittsburg
Gasette-TImea.
Speaks Right Ont in Meeting.
It ie a peculiarity of Senator La-
Follette that he doeen't keep ue in
doubt ae Colonel Roosevelt doea—St
Louis Globe-Democrat.
Protecting His BoomleL
Next titne he Speake in Michigan
Hon. Robert M. LaFollette wlU do his
own Introducing.—Columbia (8. C.)
State.
as It is. If you can’t be an American
vou have no buslneeg'here and should
be allowed a certain time to make up
your mind and then deported. Hoping
you Will see this matter In Its true
light
CHARLES JORDAN.
JAN. 16. 1919.
Disease and Its Curs
EAltAcHK.
(By Eddy Wolff.)
The cauoee of earache are co many
that they cannot be entered into in
this little article. Sometimes earaches
are caueed by abnormal conditions
within the oar which may or may not
be very serloua Aa a rule however
earachoe are the result of some alight
cause.
Severe cold will cause earache. Bo
will sneeslng. If an attempt Ie made to
smother the sneeze by keeping the
mouth tightly doeed. Thio caueee eon-
eidorable air proesuro within the In-
ner tubeo of the ear. with the reeultlng
pain from the shock.
Wsrm sweet-oil dropped on the end
of a tuft of medicated cotton which
Ie then Inserted Into the ear la an eld
houeehold remedy for earache. Some
authorities have contended that warm
water le better than warm OIL As
the effect of either le only to apply
warmth to the aching part. It will be
found that the cotton alone will ba
sufficient If It is well warmed pre-
vioue to being Inserted into the ear.
It earache ie continuous and can-
not be relieved by these simple meth-
ods It Is probable that the doctor’s
care is necessary.
CONGEUTION IN NEW YORK.
From CsmIsCs Mssssina
New York city hae never been able
to keep up with the demands for
transport facilities When the Brook-
lyn bridge was opened on May 24.
1881 Brooklyn had a population of
only 800000. Today It has a popula-
tion of 1600.000. Elevated railroads
as we know them were not then in ex-
istence; nor was electricity used as a
power for transportation. For six
years pedestrians wore charged a cent
tor crossing the bridge. Mr. John A
Roebling expected that the Brooklyn
bridge would carry leu than ten mil-
lion people per annum but at pres-
ent more than half a million crou the
bridge every twenty-four hours In
1898 the cable can not being euffl-
cient to accommodate the people cross-
ing the bridge many Brooklyn AJactrlc
car lines were put on the roadways As
each roadway Is only eighteen feet
wide one readily sees the congestion
caused by the ever-Increasing vehicu-
lar traffic. The opening of the Man-
hattan bridge has reduced this traffic
one-half has taken trucks away from
the ferries and besides han created a
traffic of its own.
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Diehl, Charles S. & Beach, Harrison L. The San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 357, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 16, 1912, newspaper, January 16, 1912; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1693175/m1/4/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .