San Antonio Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 284, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 11, 1911 Page: 6 of 16
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6
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS: WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 11, 1911.
#an Antonio (fxprcss.
By The Express Publishing Compafif.
\N KbNESDAV, OCTOBER 31, 1011.
h.Lici«a iu tiie l'ostotflee ut Sau Autonio, leiss.
as Sec unci-class Matter.
JfORKU.N HlMrsKSa OFFICER.
The John Budd Co.
Eastern office. Brunswick Building, New Ycr».
Western offku*. Tribune Building, Chicago,
111.; Chemical iiuliding. bt. Louis, Mo.
AC.KNIs AMI C!OliKE»l'ONl)KNT8.
Washington. 1). C.—Austin Cunningham.
Austin, Tex.—It rice lloskins, 112 East Sixth
Street, Drlskill Hotel Building. Old phone 1888.
Traveling Agents—VV. C. luyne, c. M. l>ever.
A. .!. henuelds.
F. W i'ntton, Circulation Manager.
Austin Business Office—H. C. liolcombe, li~
Kust sixth Street. Driskill Hotel Building. Old
phone 1888.
J —
TERMS OF fi>| HSC KII'TION.
By carrier— By mail—
Daily, 1 m<>nth...$ .73 Daily, 1 month...! .75
Daily, tf months.. 4.50 Daily, d months.. 4.25
Daily 12 months, u.uo Daily, 12 months. 8.00
Semi-Weekly, tl mo.OOc Semi-Weekly, 111 mo.fl
Suuday ICdltiou, i»y mail. 0 moa., $1; 12 moa.. j»2
'J he postage rules lur mulling The Express are
us follows;
b to 14 pages Ul 62 to 04 pages....A .04
Id to 32 pages 0- 04 to 72 pages 05
Sau Amonio Express Special Newspaper Train
(service inaugurated December 15, 1000) leavw
Internatiouai & ureal Northeru depot at 3:21)
A, in. for Austin, Taylor, Oeorgetowu, liearne
and in termed la re poiuts. This tralu makes -ii
railroad connections eu route. Arrives Austin
0:20 a. m.; Tuyior, tt:36 a. m.; liearne, 11:20 a. *n.
This is the longest run of a newspaper special
train in the entire South, being 102 miles, and
this train Is operated solely lor the beueflt of
The bull Antonio Express.
1UU CITIES OF TEXAS—CENSUS IB 10.
SAN ANTONIO..96,014 Houston 78,800
Dallas W2.1U* Fort Worth 73,31i
! nose will serve the ordinary user in detect-
I iiif; the difference.
Some measure of greater safety in the sale
(f these oils should be adopted by the retail
i ttade at large. Too many mistakes have
i been made at large—some of them by the
grocer and others by the family in which
both kerosene and gasoline are stored in
like cans. A brilliant red storage can for
gasoline out of which the grocer will measure
only gasoline into a similar brilliant red
can at retail, might save to the grocer an
occasional whole family of good customers
which he doesn't really want to lose.
CIRCULATION BOOKS
OPEN TO ADVERTISERS
Csngress shall make bo law • • • abridging
the freedom of speech or ot the press.—Called
Stated Constitution.
Dalhart's deep well is down safely to
1,000 feet and nothing doing. There's time
enough, however, in the next 2,000 feet of
its promoters' intentions.
Seismographs in New Orleans and in
New York yesterday morning registered a
great earthquake shock about 2,000 miles
cway to the south. Safe enough.
A lot of women in Illinois are writing
letters of sympathy for a wife-murderer who
killed only one of his two wives. How many
more women ought to be shot, anyhow?
Today one hundred San Antonio members
cf the Jobbers and Business League will
show themselves to the thirteen towns out
and inclusive of Yoakum. Here's looking!
A Missouri judge has decided that a
preacher, who is a doctor, may not charge
$10 for preaching the funeral sermon over
his dead patient. Certainly not; he should
throw the sermon in free.
Coatesville, Pa., is on the trail of another
negro, while Altoona, Pa., has rushed still
another one to jail just ahead of g mob.
This is too far north, however, to attract
nore than passing attention.
Mr. Taft simply can't live without hopes
of one kind or another. Now he'p hoping
the Panama canal will be completed in July,
1!'13, instead of the appointed January 1,
IMS. That man is a hope reservoir!
No wonder Canada turned down reci-
procity. Of the expected arrival of the
Duke of Connaught as the new Governor
General a dispatch reads: "A special train
carrying his household servants, motor cars
and an immense amount of luggage arrived
yesterday."
(iASOLINE SOLD FOR KEROSENE.
Now that our collective attentions have
been called to fire protection we suggest
that something be done by the retail small
grocer to abridge the risk that so often
comes from his selling a quart of gasoline
instead of a quart of kerosene—and even
vice versa.
In household uses, especially for cleaning
purposes, gasoline is in the commonest use.
Where this highly explosive gas from the
evaporating liquid gasoline may fill a room
in a few minutes to the point of explosion,
the use of the fluid most frequently is in
connection with heating irons, to be used
it pressing out garments that have been
brushed over with the evaporating liquid.
Most persons attempting the use cf gaso-
line as a cleaner, however, are prepared to
use all the care that they are capable of in
keeping clear of open fire. In the main
perhaps, the majority of persons using gaso-
line as a cleaner are more in fear of heat
than the facts warrant. But at the least
this care leaves them on the safe sidj.
In the winter season, however, the modern
kerosene lamp on a library table in the
South may suggest a luxury. On those many
evenings when there is no demand for arti-
ficial heat beyond that which comes from
the brilliant, incandcscent kerosene lamp of
modern type, kerosene is coming back into
favor in many homes. In many of the small
shops, however, the demand for gasoline for
cleaning continues. It has been the experi-
ence of many people in the last few years
that a careless or ignorant grocery clerk
har measured out a can of gasoline where
the purchaser has asked for kerosene for
the lamp; and quite as annoyingly, if not
with such attendant danger, kerosene had
been given out where gasoline has been de-
s.red. It requires a keener nose than most
persons possess to determine which is gaso-
line and which is kerosene, and only the
OCR BOASTED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE.
We don't like to knock our own country
unless someone else whose ancestors helped
run out Indians, starts in on a line of
fool boosting. We have done a lot of that
in our time on just such occasions. In
mis particular instance we are going to join
in with Consul Dewey, who went all the
way to the Island of Java this last summer
in order to attend a fiber congress there
and report to the Department of Agriculture
or. what he could find of interest to the
fiber industry of Porto Rico. Not that
Consul Dewey did any knocking. Far from
it—and much worse—he is an apologist for
our National failing:
Only two automatic machines were shown
for cleaning agave fibers, sisal and con-
tain. One from the United States, well
known as nn excellent machine, but prac-
tically unknown in this region, was not
well installed, It did fair work In some
of its trials, hut altogether its showing
was not entirely satisfactory. It Is un-
fortunate that the company sending the
machine did not also send a nmn familiar
with It to take charge of 11s installation
and operation. The other machine, made
in Germany, much larger and requiring
three times as much power, wtis very care-
fully" Installed by one of the most expert
engineers sent out from the factory. This
machine was adjusted with the nicest per-
fection possible. The employes were well
trained to feed the leaves and take away
the clean fiber. The excellent work which
•it did under these correct conditions won
the admiration of everyone.
It is to be regretted that the splendid
agave fiber-cleaning machines made in the
United States were not better represented,
for planters had come not only from dif-
ferent parts of Java but also from Aus-
tralia and New Guinea for the e?.press pur-
pose of deciding what kind of machine to
purchase for their plantations.
In his mild apology for the incompetent
manufacturers of this particular American
machine, however, could Consul Dewey have
;i\en a harder, left-hand knock to our Na-
tional business incompetence when exhibit-
ed in foreign markets? Could anything
have been sillier than shipping such a ma-
chine so many thousand miles, merely to
leave it to the hands of incompetents to
install and to demonstrate? Yet for anyone
in a convention of American business men—
at home!—to suggest that the American
business man is not the apotheosis of busi-
ness would be to encourage a riot call for
the police.
Manifestly this lack of preparedness of
the average manufacturer abroad has come
about through his protected markets at home
where, with sufficient "gentlemen's agree-
ments" existing on the quiet, he can bleed
his own countrymen to a finish.
Again—quite as manifestly under the cir-
cumstances, however—it should be made as (
part and parcel of any future high protective
tariff forced upon us that our manufactur-
ing beneficiaries remain at home, do busi-
ness at /iome and not shame us as a Nation
wearing dunce caps on blockheads.
taken premise that Uncle Jim Wilson is "so
close to our President." There are indica-
tions that Uncle Jim isn't nearly as close
to the Chief Executive as is Dr. Wiley—and
lir. Wiley's Bureau of Chemistry is passing
en many imported malt liquors with a watch-
ful eye. Some of these foreign beers have
so little alcohol in them that a preservative
is necessary—and Dr. Wiley is awfully down
on preservatives.
In fact, we don't see why the brewers con-
vention in Chicago didn't invite Dr. Wiley
as honorary president and allow Uncle Jim
Wilson to await the President's return with
as much undisturbed equanimity as he can
command.
ARE YOI EATING TOO MUC H?
PRAYING FOR UNCLE JIM WILSON.
As if Uncle James Wilson, Secretary of
the Department of Agriculture, has not trou-
bles enough of his own already, Chicago's
perennial volunteer reformer, Arthur Bur-
rage Farwell is after him now with a hunch
of prayers which Farwell has framed for
use in the Christian churches of the country
for the ten days following Thursday, Octo-
ber 12.
On Thursday in Chicago the International
Brewers' convention will open in the Coli-
seum and Secretary of Agriculture Wilson as
honorary president of the organization will
come out from Washington to attend. Mr.
Wilson so long has been associated with
the best interests of hops and of barley and
other grains for malt mixtures, we hardly
can see how a really big' brewers' conven-
tion could act wisely without Mr. Wilson's
presence and first-hand knowledge. But Air.
A. Buzzage Farwell doesn't mean for the
brewery to hold a convention at all, if pray-
ers will prevent. It seems, however, that
he himself is in doubt of the efficacy of
prayers in keeping the brewers away, so his
special prayer is directed at the Secretary
of Agriculture himself. "It is terrible that
one so close to our President will counte-
nance and even be present at such an exhibi-
tion," exclaimed Mr. Farwell for publication.
All of Mr. Farwell's exclamations are for
publication, however, though copy-readers on
the newspapers have cut scads of them out.
It may have been in anticipation of this
fact that Mr. Farwell framed his prayer para-
graph and distributed it in the Chicago
churches on Sunday:
Let u* also pray for Secretary Wilson.
Lft us pray that he will perceive that there
ran be no real good come of tills brewers'
convention. Let us pray that the light will
descend upon him and he will see that he
lias been mislead; that these brewers have
dnped him Into lending the high dignity
of his office to the promotion of their
scheme* and nets for the unwary.
We can't believe that Mr. A. Buzzage Far-
will's prayer is going to keep even Secretary
Wilson from attendance upon the brewers'
convention. In the first place it doesn't
strike us as much of a prayer, anyhow,
though allowance can be made, as Mr. Far-
well is only a reformed traveling salesman.
More to the point, however, is his mis-
Dr. W. A. Evans, recently resigned health
commissioner of Chicago and the most ag-
gressively active man that city has known
in the office, is conducting a department
"How to Keep Well" for the Chicago Trib-
une. His subject on a recent occasion was
the conservation of human life and the rec-
ognition of human life as a greater asset
than is all the property of the country
through which we reckon the United States
as one of the richest great countries of the
globe. Pointing to the timber, water, coal
and other conservationists as quite right and
quite wise in their way, he declared that the
practitioner of medicine was an older and
still wiser conservationist in his evolving
wisdom to the end of conserving lives al-
ready in the world.
"One way to prevent disease," he writes,
"is to decrease the cost of living. When the
cost of living goes up the amount of pre-
ventable diseases goes up, unless health ac-
tivities increase enough to take care of the
differences."
Yet Dr. Evans has been a strong dissenter
against the American dinner—against the
American habit of overeating. As health
commissioner he has laid stress upon the
diseases which are directly traceable to over-
eating and has remarked that several of these
resultant forms of disease are growing
steadily in acuteness and in the toll which
death cxacts of them, especially in the cities.
a few years ago when pneumonia was almost
epidemic in Chicago he announced that if
the average citizen would cut his diet 40
per cent, pneumonia would take care of
itself.
However, no one knew better at the time
the conditions under which thousands of
men, women and children below the line of
the average eater, went without sufficient
nourishment. There is never a winter in
his home city where the bread line doesn't
form; where a cup of black coffee and a dry
roll are not necessaries of life to those un-
fortunates, standing in the chill street winds
and waiting their turn, shivering.
Regardless of the environments and the
conditions which bring these hungry ones
to the breadline bearing the marks of the
down-and-out, experiments in the public
schools of Chicago have proved that hun-
dreds of children report for study under
compulsory education laws of the State, too
h;ingry to keep their little minds upon dry
books. Which has led to the experiment of
the penny breakfast in many of the schools
in poor neighborhoods. One of the chief
suggestions made by Dr. Evans, bearing
upon both the night bread line and the hun-
gry processions of children at the penny
b"eakfasts, is that economically cheap foods
should be taken up by even National con-
servationists and methods of preparation be
given out for making these cheap foods
most palatable and most nutritious.
Short of any elaborated study of a simple
dietary, however, thousands of people today
may meet their own questionings: What am
I eating for? For sane sustenance Or in
order to please my appetite? Am I over-
eating because' of the sense of taste? If I
were as temperate in food as I am temperate
in drink and in speech, would the high cost
of living disturb me so? How much am I
casting every day to my own physical and
mental harm?
There is room on the part of countless
thousands of families, pressed by the high
cost of living, to determine for themselves
some of these things which have been pro-
posed as student work for some delegated
public body. There is habit in eating as
there is habit in drinking intoxicants, soft
drinks, coffee, tea and a score of kindred
beverages. How much of habit can you cut
rut of meals and still have a sufficiency of
calories to keep you in better condition
than ever you have been before?
But are you willing to experiment?
TEXAS' SUPREME COURT
"If $107,000 isn't enough to nominate a
United States Senator to Wisconsin, how
much is?" asked Inquisitor Pomerene of
Chio in the Stephenson investigation in
Milwaukee. Are we to understand that the
Ohio Senator is shocked about anything?
* CONGRESS SHAM, MAKE NO LAW • • •
AnRllHilNCi THE IRKHIOM OF SPEKG'H OR
OF THE PRESS.—INI I Fl> STATES COM8T1-
TtTlON.
Violence in the Railroad Strike.
The sincerity of the conservative elements of
the striking shopmen in deprecating violence and
lawlessness is not to be doubted Hints, assaults,
destruction of property in connection with the
strike are as fatal practinlly us they nre illegal
snd unjustifiable in theory. Vet news of dis-
oiders and riots conic* from several cities. In
Mississippi the militia bad to be tailed out.
It is not always possible to eontrol mobs of
hot-headed strikers rind strike •svmpathizers."
This is the worst feature --f labor conflicts. The
roughs and hooligans of a community are apt to
commit outrages for whb ii peacenble strikers are
held responsible.
Violence, whether by strikers or so-called sym-
pathizers. must be suppressed sternly and prompt-
ly. Its likelihood is. however, an argument
against strike* and lockouts, an argument for
sobriety, conciliation, mediation and arbitration.
Employe® must reckon with the effect of violence
on their cause; employers cannot ignore it In
their calculations; im- third party has had too
much bitter experience to lose sight of It. The
more irrational. Ill-timed, ill advised a labor
war is. the more prone It is to excite bitterness
god vioAtuce.—Chicago Record lie raid
LINES ON TEXAS PAPERS
As .Indye Brown was appointed chief justice
to fill .Indge Guinea' unexpired let in and Judgs
Ramsey appointed associate Justice to fill Judge
Itrown's unexpired term as associate Justice a^nd
.lud ',. l>ii»rell appointed to fill Judge Williams
unexpired t«'rm, and each appointment holds good
oni\ until the next general election, and an en-
tire Supreme Court must then be elected, It is
possible for the personnel of the court to be then
entirely changed.
In the :• 11• iatv amendment to the < onstltutlon
of iSTti jidopted in 1S1M, it is provided that the
chief liMi'V ind associate justices of the Supreme
Courl shall hold their offices for six years, bin
1t is furtl provided that after the first election
of Judges held under said amendment the terms
of office shall be divided Into three classes and
ut the first session of the court al'ter such elec-
tion the MIces shall draw for the different
classes. :t l that the Judge drawing class one
shall hold office for two years, the Judge draw-
ing clas-s two for four years and the Judge draw-
ing das< three for six years, rnd that there-
after c m !i Judge shall hold office for six years
from his election.
It is \cry evident that, one of the purposes
of this n-tiiutioiuil amendment Is to avoid the
danger ■ I" a change every six years in the per-
sonnel of the court for under this constitutional
plan one Judge is to be elected every two years
and could thus ordinarily only be
changed gradually.
There is much wisdom shown In the plan. The
election < f Judges should be removed from poll-
ties as far as possible and where only one Su-
preme Judge may be elected at each election
the temptation to political combinations is less
than where three are to be chosen.
Where only one Judicial office is to be filled
the minds of the voters naturally focus on the
strongest and best qualified man for the place
and small men, realizing this, do not offer for
the position.
Where three Judicial officers are to be filled
.11 the same time there is great inducement, to
political combinations; obscure men freqenntly
become aspirants, the pushing man may secure
undue prominence over the abler but more modest
candidate and an unseemly political scramble
for a Idgh judicial office may take place.
There 1^ further wisdom evidenced in the con-
stitutional plan. It Is of vast importance that
the symmetry of the law should be preserved.
There is no place on the bench for a Judicial
iconoclast. lie may do more public harm and
destroy more property rights than a professional
burglar.
Where only one judge at a tlmp is elected the
person so elected enters into nn atmosphere of
established Judicial sentiment when he takes bis
seat on the bench and his power to disturb
and destroy is guarded against. The conserv-
atism of the law, so essential to the protection
of liberty and property, is thus preserved. In
addition to this, there is no lawyer who Is a nat-
ural Judge he may be a fairly successful judicial
guesser. but It takes Judicial training to make a
thoroughly safe Judge—and a new man on the
bench should have the aid of the judicial experi-
ence and work of associates a I rend y in the judi-
cial harness to quickly qualify him to well per-
form duties new to him.
The danger of a political scramble for a Judi-
cial place is necessarily Increased where there
is some exciting political issue dominating the
minds of the voters, for then a candidate's real
qualifications are not so much considered as the
extent of his partisan adhesion to one or the
other side of the issue.
The Constitution Intended to minimize that
danger in providing for the election of only one
Supreme judge at each general election.
Owing to the changes in the membership of
the Supreme Court hereinbefore referred to, we
are now confronted with a condition the Consti-
tution Intended to provide against, and this at a
time when we have Just passed through one fierce
political contest over a single Issue and that issue
threatens to dominate in the next election.
What is the duty of the hour, and who nre
most urgently called to its performance?
Speaking for myself only and answering my
own questions, I un hesitating! v say that we
should live close to the Constitution, treat the
situation as if there was but one vacancy to be
filled on the bench tlnirt canned by Judge Ham-
Bey's announcement as I candidate for Governor
—thus carrying into effect the snirit and purpose
of the Constitution, select a candidate for that
vacancy with the proper qualifications and elect
him and the present encumbents. In the selec-
tion of a candidate to fill such vacancy the pro-
hibition issue should be studiously excluded and
aspirants for the office Judged by their Judicial
qualifications and fitness alone. A candidate
who bases his claims to a high Judicial position
upon his record as a prohibitionist or an antl-
prohlbilonist Is unfit to fill (he place. A judge
should decide and administer the law as he'finds
it, be he prohibitionist or antlprohlbitionist, and
no man should be elected to a Judgeship who
stands pledged in advance of his election either
by expression or implication to the decision of
any legal question one way or the other. If a
candidate for a judgeship is a prohibitionist and
that means that he will decide all cases involv-
ing the liquor question against the antlprohibi-
tionists, then the latter will feel Justified In run-
ning a candidate who if elected will decide all
such cases against the prohibitionists and thus
a contest for a judicial office will not only de-
generate into a sordid political contest but into
something worse. If a candidate's views on the
prohibition question will not Influence his course
on the bench and they should not then It mat-
ters nothing to prohibitionist or anti what such
views may lie.
Every man who loves justice and its pure ad-
ministration, every man who believes in an up-
right and impartial judiciary should demand now
that the prohibition issue should be kept out 01
the contest for judicial offices.
The primary responsibility for the selection of
judges of the Supreme Court Is on the lawyers
of the State. They best know the qualifications
of the men who offer for Ihe rosltlon, and on
them Is the urgent duty to see that no one shall
receive their endorsement unless he Is fully quail,
fled. 1 profoundly believe that the people of the
State will not intentionally elect any man to the
Supreme bench who cannot secure the strong
endorsement of his brother members of the bar.
I also believe that no man will worthily fill
the office who cannot secure sii"h an endorse-
ment. The bar should keep up the standard of
the bench and It can only do so by keeping its
own standard high and this it cannot do If It
either drags a Judicial contest into the political
mire or sits Idly by and sees others do so.
The judges of the Supreme Court are paid piti-
fully small salaries ami competent lawyers aspire
to that bench because of the honor If brings and
the opportunity it presents to d » good to their
fellow man by the proper administration of Jus-
tice, but if the standard of the court is so low-
ered that the office will be sought for the salary
alone, the j>eople of Texas will soon find their
highest court filled with inferior lawvers and
justice measured not by "the golden mete wand
of the law but by the elastic cord of human
feeling.
How shall the bar proceed to perform its dutyi
I ersonal .v, 1 am committed to 110 particular
plan, but it has occurred to me and some other
lawyers with whom I have discussed the situa-
tion, that a meeting of the bar of the State at
some convenient central point might be held
at an early day, the question under consideration
carefully and Impartially discussed and some
method adopted, if possible, lo eliminate from
the approaching camapign, so far as the sefee.
tion of judges of the Supreme Court Is concerned,
all Issues save those of fitness and qualification.
I have therefore taken this method of publicly,
expressing my own personal views with the hope
that my fellow members of the bar throughout
the State will give the present situation serious
thought and publicly express their own • views,
all to the end that some concrete action may be
takeu at an early dav. *
THOMAS 11. FRANKLIN.
Could It Happen Again?
The unfortunate Schley-Sampson controversy
revealed an unhealthy state of mind In the navy,
it became apparent that there existed feuds,
cliques, personal animosities, and preferences
quite incompatible with the good of the service.
That there bad been such a state of affairs In
the army, and that not Infrequently, was well
known. It was something of a shock to discover
that the navy was not exempt.
We had been taught to believe that the cardinal
virtue of the training for the profession of arms
was that It made an officer indifferent to every-
thing except the good of the service. It was
supposed that bis devotion to it, was pure and
unselfish, and that for Its sake he was ready to
sacrifice life and all of good that life could give
It was taken for granted that if a hostile fleet
were defeated the rejoicing of the navv man
would be Impersonal. He would say. '"'there's
glory for the navy." Schley was personal when
be said of the Santiago fight that there was
"glory enough for all" who were there.
The model naval officer would not say that it
was because so and so was In command*that the
enemy got the worst of It. nor would he sav
somebody else coubl have handled the ships bet-
ter. He would not try to build up the reputa-
tion of one fellow officer at the expense of the
reputation of another.
noes that unhappy state of mind in the navy
which was In evidence ten years ago still endure r
If there were to be another s«a fight, coubl
there, whatever were the circumstances, grow out
of It such a emitroversy as that of 1901? We
sincerely hope not. Not imtil the officers shall
think of nothing save the greater glory of the
uavy will it l>e the perfect Instmment' of war
Americana w i*b to believe It Tribune,
The Corpus Christ! Caller quite misunderstands
The Express with respect to the new port on
the Texas C»ulf Coast somewhere near the Aransas
Pass channel—the port that will be open to
ocean carriers of deep craft. The Caller, how-
ever. gives some Interesting facts which ^ to
show the Importance of the port. For example,
the claim Is made that Corpus Chrlstl has been
utilizing navigation through the pass for forty
years and that at the present time a steamship
line is in operation to that port. The Caller says;
"This steamship line brings In merchandise at
smaller rates than the railroads charge and takes
out our cotton at a similar saving. This line has
been in steady operation for the last two years,
end the business last year was 10,000 tons. The
present business is only a small Indication of the
traffic that will move through Corpus Chrlstl,
with our new twelve-foot channel, so soon as we
can provide facilities for a more economic and
expeditious handling of freight over our munici-
pal wharf, bids for the construction, of which
arc now being advertised for. Our new facilities
will soon permit the operation of boats of five
times the tonnage capacity of the Pilot Boy, and
that means stl'.: lower freight rates."
When the Corpus Chrlstl channel has a depth
of twenty-five feet the traffic that will move
through that channel will be proportionately
greater and the freight rates lower, of course,
and If the Inner channel can be dredged to twelve
feet why not to twenty-flva feet?
"For thirty years," says the Caller, "Corpus
Chrlstl did a port traffic of ."50,000 tons a year.
The Morgan steamers brought In merchandise,
hardware, etc., and took out cuttle, hides and
other products of the country. They also plied
to Hockport. The water rates of that day were
considerably lower than either the rail or steamer
rates now prevailing.
"Subsequently the railroads came, and by tem-
porary rate-cutting and subsequent purchase, put
the steamers out of business.
"The greatest advantage of the new and en-
larged harbor at Port Aransas !• that it will
admit vessels of much larger tonnage, and ves-
sels of large tonnage can carry freight per ton
per mile much lower than the railroads can,
and the country will get the benefit of the sav-
ing."
MOVING PICTURES—No. 2
BY FREDERIC J. I1ASKIN.
The development of the motion picture from
the crude eye-blinding spectacle of 18'JO to the
finished photoplay of today Is a wonder equaled
only by the rapidity with which the moving pic-
ture sprang into popular favor and employment
in all parts of the world.
On St. Patrick's Day, 1*07, Bob FltasimmonS
wrested the championship of the pugilistic world
fr< m .11111 Corbett In Carson City, Nev. They
fought under the glare of scores of electric lights
placed in the position for the purpose of enabling
the camera men to take moving pictures of the
mill. The resultant films were the first moving
pictures to be widely exhibited in the United
States. They were shown In the big theaters of
the country and left a trail of aching eyes and
frayed nerves from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The pictures jumped, flickered, flashed and did
almost everything possible to make the spectator
close his eyes In self-defense. But they moved I
That was the wonder, and the people risked beau-
ache to see them move.
Now, after the lapse of less than fifteen years,
one may sit before the moving picture screen
and see there all the world real and mimic, lie
may see Mine. Sarah Bernhardt, the foremost
actress of the time, playing Caniille as a photo-
play; he may see the newly crowned George V
receiving the luunage of his people; he may sen
the blrdmeu cleaving the air; ships at sea. wild
beasts in their jungles, children at play, men at
work, plants growing and flowers blooming, and
a thousand and one wonders all in moving pic-
tures. And, if they are of the best, the pictures
do not jump, nor flicker, nor flash.
In the beginning the success of a moving pic-
ture exhibition depended almost wholly upon
the quality of motion. The simple fact that
pictures thrown upon a screen by a stereopticon,
could move, was enough to please the spectator.
Pictures were taken of groups walking on the
street, of men leaving factories at the end of tlie
day's work, of trains rushing by stations, and,
In short, of all kinds of commonplace, every-
day incidents. The pictures, which were at first
exhibited at high prices in large theaters, soon
became a regular end-of-the-programme feature
in vaudeville and stock company theaters.
Either Choice B. Handell or Morris Sheppnra
will be missed from the halls of the Sixty-third
Congress, possibly both, says the Mesquite Mes-
quiter. Either might be re-elected to the popular
branch of the National Legislature, but both can-
not be elected to the Senate, of course—and per-
haps neither will be. But suppose the senatorial
primaries are held In May, as proposed, and
both are defeated there, what would prevent them
from again standing for the House? It may be
assumed that Just no* It Is Senate or nothing
with both Itandell and Sheppard, but If. turned
down for that office, their constituencies should
insist on sending them back to the House Is It
presumable that they would not turn their backs
on their home supporters, provided they had noi
already stipulated that it shouid be the Senate
or nothing and that 1 hey will not get In the way
of others who are trying for the House?
It was given out some time ago that the Com-
missioners Court of Medina County had declined
to co-operate with the Commissioners of Bexar
County and the big irrigation company in the
building of a first-class highway between San
Antonio and the dam site. The Hondo Herald
says no such proposition has been put up to
the .Medina Commissioners Court and. therefore,
no formal action has been taken. But It says
when it Is formally presented, that body can
be depended upon to act intelligently and for
the best interest of all concerned. Which, prob-
ably. may be taken to mean that the Medina
people will do their part In building the road on
the Medina side of the river. Let us hope so,
at any rate.
In the local option election In Hamilton County
last week the pros carried one box by a majority
of four to one and the antls carried another box
by a majority of twelve to one. For ihe first
time in its history the town of Hamilton voted
dry anil the Herald says the impression prevails
that the county is In the prohibition column to
stay, despite the protest of the anti precincts,
where the sentiment against prohibition is over-
whelming.
The fact that so many candidates announced
for tlie* senatorial succession as soon as Bailey
said he would not be a candidate for re-election
is conclusive proof to the Hamlltoif Herald that
Handell never had any show to be elected to
that office. According to the Herald's reasoning
it appears that only Itandell thought, he could
defeat Bailey, while most anybody thinks he can
defeat Handell.
The public quickly grew tired of the common-
place street scenes, and partly In response to
popular demand and partly because of the In-
creasing competition between the several motion
picture concerns, the photoplay, or dramatic ex-
hibition specially posed for the moving picture
camera was evolved. Still having in mind the
psychological appeal of violent motion in pic-
tures. the first crude photoplays nearly all were
"chase pictures." The plot might be anything
at all, if only it introduced a chase. A fleeing
tl ief, pursued by two or three policemen and a
motley collection of "citizens" was a feature of
almost every film.
About the same time the possibilities of the
moving picture as an instrument of instruction
began to be realized, and travel pictures came
into vogue. Motion still being regarded as an
essential, the camera man mounted moving trains,
and as a result the patrons of the theater were
whirled backward and forward through miles
and miles of scenery, little attempt **»cing made
at selection or diversification. Perhaps the first
general use of the moving picture for educa-
tional purposes was political, the Republican Na-
tional campaign committee in 1000 using moving
pictures of scenes and Incidents in tlie Philippine
Islands to support their contention that the
Islands should be retained under American ow ner-
ship.
But still the moving picture had not come Into
Its own. At best it was but the last vaudeville
stunt on the programme in a cheap theater, and
a large percentage of the people usually scurried
out before the pictures began because "they luirt
my eyes."
Then came the "nickelodeon." As for the honor
of Homer's birth, many cities claim to have
cradled the B-cent theater, but perhaps history
will accord it to Memphis. It was the Inspira-
tion of u §oda fountain man. He had bought an
expensive soda fountain and had Installed It in
an old drug store. He soon found that be was
losing monev. .Inst when he seemed to be on
the brink of bankruptcy, his landlord came and
offered him the next door building at a bargain
rental. The building he already had was not
paving, but as be had everything to gain and
nothing to lose, he concluded be would take both
buildings.
The Williamson County tftfn Is not quite so op-
timistic about the Middle Buster railroad which
is projected to run between llelton and George-
town as is the Belton Journal. The last named
paper says the road will be speedily built. The
Sun. quoting this assertion, says, somewhat
doubtingly: "Maybe so, but seein' is believing.'*
The Christine Ledger has discontinued publi-
cation for lack of satisfying support. The plant
will be moved to Fowicrton, a new town which
will be reached by the T'valde «v Crystal Railroad
In a few days, and the. paper will reappear there
as the Fowlerton Reporter.
The Forum sars: "Austin Is. nerhaps. the only
city in all the States where automobile are al-
lowed to hue the sidewalks when turning cor-
ners." No; we have in mind one other.
Representative Garner Is not a candidate for
the United States Senate, so he informs the San
Benito Light. He appears to be very well satis-
fied to remain where be is.
The Houston Chronicle is advising its readers
to do their Christmas shopping now. Have the
Houston merchants got their holiday attractions
on display already?
San Benito is making preparations for a mid-
winter carnival scheduled for the last week in
January.
From Files of The Express
Thirty-five Years Ago Today—1870.
The stockmen about Refugio are Just branding
up their fall calves or gathering cattle to drive
to market. The prices paid for good beef cattle
nt Rockport are a sufficient Inducement to own-
ers to sell everything they can gather, $20 and
$23 being the amouut paid for steers 4 years
old and upward.
♦ ♦ ♦
Boston Corbett, who shot Wilkes Booth, the
slayer of President Lincoln, lives In a little old
forlorn-looking house in Camden, N. J. He is
a hatter and a Methodist preacher as well and
has a number of rough benches In his kitchen
which are used by his congregation.
♦ ♦ ♦
A young Chlcagoan who had an Idea of run-
ning over San Antonio with a small pocket pistol
appeared before Recorder Anderson yesterday
morning, exilressod his regrets and paid a
fine for carrying concealed weapons.
♦ ♦ e
Two Wheeler fc Wilson «ewln* machines for
sale. Apply nt this office.
riflwn l'wi A*o Today—1M«.
A sperliil host train of twelve double-decker
cars passed through San Antonio yesterday en
'route to the City of Mexico.
♦ ♦ ♦
Edison's (treat Invention, the vltascope. will
be at the Grand tomorrow and Monday Tor tne
first time In San Autonio.
♦ ♦ ♦
At the meeting of the Sound Money Club last
night the following "'"nt^rcdlh'Irservl.Mas
citnteiirn sneakers: J. A. Iluektcr, W " . King,
li }• Carter William Aubrey, H. It. It. Ilerti:-
hcrg, (leorge B <'• A. Keller and II. t-
L«n«. ♦ ♦ ♦
IteeelvA1 Henry Terrell of the t.nlf Shore Hall-
way announces change of schedule. Trains will
now leave Nolan Street depot nt 9 a. m. and
return il J P- ^ ^
The do* catchers have closed tl.elr campaign
u4 dofs ut bow permitted t« ran at l*rg%
He cast about for some menus of making it
pay, and Just then a maker of moving pictures
came by. The picture-maker also was In finan-
cial straits, facing ruin. The two men put their
heads together and decided to open a small
theater in the empty building. They Installed
II hundred chairs on a flat floor, put up a canvas
screen, bought a grapliophone and threw open
the doors of the first theater to he devoted ex-
clusively to moving pictures. They asked 10
ceuts admission. It was not forthcoming. They
cut the price (o n nickel and named their theater
the "nickelodeon."
It was a success from the beginning. At the
end of the first year the soda fountain mall and
the moving picture-maker had $35,0tM) in the
hank and were well on the road to fortune. Their
Idea spread like wildfire nil over the country
until now there are no less than 12.(KM) moving
picture theaters in the I'nlted States.
With the multiplication of places devoted to
the exhibition of motion pictures the demand
nil the manufacturers Increased not only in quan-
tity, hut also became more steady anil reliable.
The business of producing films, of distributing
thein, and of exhibiting pictures nil at once
crystallized into a great National enterprise.
The moving picture show from the beginning
had Its thousands and Its tens of thousands of
friends who were willing to pay to sec the pic-
tures, but It very soon developed many powerful
enemies. In many cities, especially the smaller
ores, the retail merchants objected strenuously,
largely on the ground that the nickelodeons
were taking In the pennies that used to go for
candy, although sometimes because of the noise
and disorder occasioned by the now abandoned
practice of stationing barkers with megaphones
nt the entrances to the theaters. In some places
police regulations were made so strict as prac-
tically to amount to prohibition, but as ths
nickelodeons had the public generally on their
side, these annoyances soon passed away.
Then the moving pictures had to run the gant-
let of opposition based upon moral grounds. Vn-
scrupulous und vulgar men sought to make
money by pandering to the lower tnstes and pas-
sions of the people, and moving pictures were
exhibited that were often vulgar, sometimes Im-
moral and occasionally positively Indecent and
criminal. The press and pulpit united to oppose
this evil, and for a time the moving picture sho«»
was subjected to general blanket Indictments.
Good men could see nothing In It hut evil.
The film' makers, getting Into closer organisa-
tion, recognised that theirs was a profitable busi-
ness that was about to lie ruined, and that :t
could be saved only by a strict observance
of the pri prletles. Most of them voluntarily sub-
mitted their pictures to a board of censors com-
posed of persons of the highest standing in
church and society, and for the past four or five
vears the immoral moving picture show In the
I'nlted States has been the rare exception.
Having met successfully the enniltv of rival
business men. and having mended tlu*« manners
so as to merit the l^ora 1 support of moral men,
the moving picture had to win the approval
of people of good taste. As the o-cent theaters
multiplied, the demand for photoplays Increased
proportionately. Stock companies were put to
work and the great film-making concerns pro-
ceeded to turn out play after play for the pic-
tures. , , ,
At first all of them were crude, and many or
them were positively offensive to all persons of
good taste. Oraduslly the "chase" began to he
dropped out. the trick picture was eliminated,
and the producer* began to put forth their best
efforts to uplift, so to speak, the stage of the bt-
dimensions! theater.
And now, despite the preponderance of the
"Western" pictures with their preposterous In-
dians and Impossible cowboy*, and notwithstand-
ing the surplusage of sentimentality and bathos,
the photoplay is distinctly better than It was
a year ago, or even six months ago. and It is ,
getting better every day. The time has already l
come when persons of good taste may venture J
Into the first S cent theater nt hand without a*
much risk of offense as Is Ukeu upon golug lute
• $2 theater.
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San Antonio Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 284, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 11, 1911, newspaper, October 11, 1911; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth431379/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.