CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER IVHistorical Events of the 20th CenturyThe senior class of the Diana Seminary were assembled in the auditorium, listening in a trance of respectful attention to Professor Cielo Allenson. He had just begun his review of the historical events of the 20th Century, now and then giving his individual comments upon the subjects presented.1900An Era of False ProsperityWith the beginning of the 20th Century was inaugurated an era of false prosperity. The Census Bureau at that time furnishes statistics and comments upon the wonderfully perceptible decrease of the criminal classes, called foot-pads, sneak thieves and highwaymen, which was attributed chiefly to the existing national prosperity. It overlooks the fact, however, that a new species of miscreants,comparatively more dangerous, had begun to thrive like mushrooms in prolific numbers,—that of so-calledcommercial brigandsorfinancial buccaneerswho, under fascinating and attractive names, such as mining syndicates with their fabulous deposits of gold, offering bucketfuls of shares for a dime; banking and building loan associations, with palatial homes thrown in gratis to every subscriber; promoters of illusionary inventions, seeking shareholders, which would make them millionaires in the twinkling of an eye.Alchemists who, with their artful empyrics of legerdemain, transmuted base metals into gold, and were willing to dispose of their precious wares for pennies; Wall Street and race-track spiders posing as benevolent philanthropists, scattering fortunes right and left to every applicant, sapped the avaricious, sottish public of its dearly bought earnings. Strange to say, despite many colossal exposures and failures, as these adroit swindlers grew more subtle and audacious, the more the gambling-crazed public rushed to their destruction.The effect was appalling. In consequenceof the depredations of these pirates of industries, the reputable business and financial firms were the greatest sufferers. Their legitimate transactions were paralyzed to such a tremendous degree that they were compelled to devise ways and means to counteract its evils. In 1908, after mature deliberation at a general convention in Washington, it was decided to raise ample funds and create a bureau under the auspices of the Federal Government called theBureau of Frauds and Swindles. The duties imposed upon its officers were the ferreting out and prosecuting of the wild-cat schemes and to warn the public against them.The measure, being approved by the National Government, had the desired effect of freeing to a great degree the financial world from its parasites of industrial malefactors, and to some extent established again the stability and integrity of honorable financiers, in the meanwhile safeguarding foolish persons from being fleeced out of their savings.1902The Cataclysm at MartiniqueSt. Pierre, Martinique, was destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount Peleé, on theeighth day of May. In a few minutes more than thirty thousand human beings were hurled into eternity.1908The Mormon QuestionThe anti-plural wives laws were enforced to the letter. Its emphatic application to all members of the sect was brought about principally by the Women’s Clubs, whose persistent and overwhelming aggressiveness played an important factor in the stamping out of this demoralizing and materialistic religion. In this era of civilization the existence of a religious organization of this character, like a cancerous growth, was threatening to debase womanhood and lead the communities to unbridled licentiousness.1909Capital and LaborEvery new movement, be it religious, political or economic, has its birth like a volcano, and unionism was no exception to this rule. The labor unions at first had their violent agitators who, possessing greater physical than mental calibre, laid the crude foundation of aforce in an arbitrary manner that consequently had its gradual evolution of development.Their constant conflicts with capital were characterized by an unreasonable amount of physical argument which resulted in more or less disastrous denouements, but these very acts of lawlessness and disturbances awakened a third party, the consumers in general, who were equally affected by the disturbances between capital and labor and brought about a realization of the true relative positions.Labor certainly has its unalienable rights and was entitled to due consideration and justice. However, like the negative and positive poles of electricity, which are both essential in order that a circuit of effective force be generated, capital and labor likewise had their dual relative values of importance, without which there could be no constancy of harmonious production.By the gradual awakening of both capital and labor to their true limitations, the questions involved began to assume a more intelligent basis under the codes of arbitration. At the same time the violent agitators of labor were succeeded in the trend of this onwarddevelopment by more intelligent organizers. These latter were merged into accomplished, rational leaders and, through the efficient medium of the ballot box, into national representatives. Consequently, the more dignified, orderly and responsible labor became, the more the workers became entitled to the benefits of their labor.A Department of Capital and Labor which, so far, had been merely probationary now became a permanent institution at the Capitol and in every State of the Union as well.1910The Expense of LivingIt is one of the strangest inconsistencies of social problems, that although political economists and scholars have preached the doctrine, that inventions and improved methods in mechanical lines contribute to the blessings of mankind by cheapening the necessities of life, yet in spite of their plausible declarations, the cost of living year by year grew higher and higher, entailing untold suffering and despair among the poorer classes.The cause of this lamentable perversion wasdue to a certain clique of unscrupulous progeny of Mammon, called trusts and corporations, who, being blinded with an insatiable desire for pelf and lust, and stupefied with a frenzied avarice, monopolized all the necessities of life. The vast occidental domain of our country was of unlimited resources and was capable of producing in abundance the products which they “cornered.” Themodus operandiof their rapacious operations were manifold. They limited the output of Nature’s bounty in order to keep them at prohibitive values, and at the same time deprived hosts of sons of toil of earning their livelihood. They kept at their inoperative mercy—by their abominable tactics of purchase—the producer from receiving his just share, and they also mulcted the helpless consumer by the unlimited inflation of their capital stock and fictitious expenses until at length the burden of their avarice became unendurable.Although attempts have repeatedly been made by sincere executives of the Nation, by the advocation of measures for curbing the rapacity of these trusts, their endeavors met with failure on account of the vague and flexiblelaws already in existence, and by the array of sycophantic traitors in high circles who prevented any legislation which was conducive to the tranquility and welfare of the masses. At last, only after a series of sanguinary demonstrations by the people which almost endangered the stability of the republic, they were compelled to yield.By the passage of clearly defined laws the career of their nefarious system of spoliation was brought to an end. One of the most efficacious laws passed was the creation of a body of competent men of supreme power who appraised approximately the capitalization of these concerns and licensed them as such under oath. The States in the meantime assumed the power of fixing a maximum value for which their commodities might be placed on the market. By the above legislations the inflation of their capital and extortion from the consumer were made securely impossible.1911Death of an Eminent ScholarProfessor Henry Richfield, a profound scholar, and the author of “How to Get Rich”—aponderous work in twelve octavo volumes—passed away in an attic, in abject penury and squalor.1912The Annihilation of MosquitoesAlthough the mortality statistics in the United States for last year reached the round number of two million persons from various diseases, among them chiefly from consumption, pneumonia, typhoid fever and epidemics of smallpox and diphtheria, a few sporadic cases of death were recorded resulting from mosquito bites, which gave grave concern to the medical fraternity.The outcome of this alarm was the calling of a general conference of bacteriological experts. The mosquito, that had hitherto enjoyed unbridled freedom since the creation of his race, was now looked upon as the arch enemy of mankind. A noted philanthropist, interested in oil wells and having on hand a great bulk of unmarketable crude petroleum, donated a large sum for research in order to discover ways and means of curbing the ravages of these nefarious pests which threatened the annihilation of the human race.It was decided by the savants, that the distribution of crude petroleum in stagnant pools and humid marshes, was the only effective method for the extermination of mosquito life. The distribution of greenbacks for their valuable services, (notwithstanding the fact that under the microscope they were found to contain two hundred and fifty-seven diseases and thirty-eight million microbes to the square inch), were grabbed with unprecedented avidity by these same specialists.1913Child LaborThe dwarfing and crippling of the mental, moral and physical growth of tender children, by the avaricious employers, and its baleful consequence of peopling the community with moral and bodily degenerates, devoid of the desirable elements of good citizenship, had become so appallingly flagrant that a general sentiment of the people was aroused in a mighty protest to the Federal authorities.Thanks to the aggressive and strenuous legislative warfare of Labor Unions in every State, aided by the persistent moral agitationof Women’s Clubs all over the country, child labor was entirely abolished in many channels of industries, such as mills, factories, collieries and plantations. In more gentle occupations the employment of minors, was placed on a healthier and more humane basis than had ever before been the case.1914The Great Radium SwindleThe fabulously high price of this metal had awakened the cupidity of a coterie of adroit schemers who, had palmed off on unsuspecting men of science, a rank substitute which cost only a trifle to manufacture.After securing an enormous sum of money, the schemers had decamped to parts unknown.It was discovered that the spurious metal thus disposed was nothing more than a highly compressed form of phosphorous.1915Death of an Eminent PhysicianDr. Wisehardt, the brilliant young physician and surgeon who discovered the electro-magnetic germ-cells of life, and invented methods to prolong life itself by the cultivation of thesecells, died in the 27th year of his age from premature senility.1916A Tidal WaveThe most memorable event of this year was a gigantic tidal wave of tremendous height, which swept over the lower coast of Florida. In a few minutes it inundated and destroyed a vast area of the coast, doing incalculable damage to shipping. It was estimated that nearly fifteen thousand persons lost their lives in this cataclysm.1917War Between United States and ColumbiaThe stubborn attitude of the Central American Republic, Columbia, towards the United States, by her menacing antagonism to the construction of the interoceanic canal, gradually created a breach of the peace that led ultimately to a forcible demonstration by the United States, and precipitated the invasion by the latter of the Republic of Panama.Peace was re-established after a crushing defeat of the Columbians. The famous waterway,the Republic of Panama, then became United States territory, by annexation.1918The Women’s ClubsThe Women’s Clubs which, during their first inception, were the subject of much ridicule, and the proceedings of their meetings a theme for ribald jokes in the secular press, gradually developed into such gigantic proportions that their influence became a powerful factor in every public question of the day, and in fact so continues unabated unto this day.The last Federal statistics show more than two thousand Institutions in the form of sanitariums, refuges, technical schools of practical utility, entirely under the auspices of Club Women. The constitutions of these laudable organizations “invariably stand for something which is ennobling” and their achievements are monumental tributes to the upward trend of womanhood.There was, however, a crucial period in their affairs worth mentioning. Some of these noble but over-zealous women of that period, in their exuberant enthusiasm for woman’s rights, forgettingthe limitations of their sex,—considered by the greatest thinkers of the past ages to be the sphere of Home,—agitated a propaganda of political equality or suffrage and, from time to time, created a stir among their organizations until at last, in 1918, the National Federation of Women’s Clubs decided to hold a conclave in order to decide the following momentous question: “Should Women Enter Politics?”More than four thousand five hundred delegates from all over the Union assembled at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. Sympathizers of the suffragists with their eloquence tried to railroad through a measure in their behalf, but equally able leaders of the opposition—benefitted by the warning of Sages—succeeded in counterbalancing the efforts of their fair antagonists.After a heated symposium the question was put to a vote, which resulted decisively in a victory for those who opposed the movement. It was further voted, that they should confine all their energies to civic, educational and humanitarian channels and things pertaining to Home. This was a most happy and wise decision,for the world at large needs mothers who will beget and nurse a Florence Nightingale, a Clara Barton, a Washington or a Lincoln, rather than mothers who would become a Jezebel, a Delilah or a Cleopatra.1919The TornadoA cyclonic tornado of intense velocity and destructive force struck New York City, demolishing in its path, in the shape of a semi-circle from the Battery to Twenty-third Street, West, two hundred and seventy-five buildings. Fortunately, the day being a holiday, the loss of life was comparatively small.1920The Power of the PressThrough emancipation from its shackles of monarchic censorship and subserviency to despotic masters, the upward rise of the Press to usefulness and power was without a parallel—a power to which even Napoleon Bonaparte was sensible when he said, “I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets.” But like everything else in the universe, the Press also had its dual potentiality.Like a two-edged sword, it could be wielded for good or evil. In the bands of an unscrupulous politician it was a treacherous weapon, while in the control of the righteous citizen a tremendous power for good.Thus the Press for many decades, subsidized by the traitorous capitalist and under the guise of a pious mask, catered to the evil designs of the plutocracy until the gradual awakening of the people through the independent press at last understood their hypocrisy.The independent press, however, attained its highest degree of efficiency by the establishment of the College of Journalism. Its foundation slogan,publicityon all political and economic questions, had created a force of trained journalists—a force “mightier than the sword” and in a manner far more penetrating than the X-ray—pledged to defend the rights of the citizens. By an educational propaganda it taught the masses how to eradicate existing evils by the mere exercise of their unalienable right, the ballot box. Indeed in a government “of the people, for the people and by the people,” resort to force or revolution was absolutely unnecessary, while these twomost effectual weapons the world had ever seen, the voting power and the free press, were at their command.1921Balloons and AirshipsStrange to say, from the time of Archytas of Tarantum to Otto Lilienthal, and fromMontgolfierBros. to Santos Dumont, Bell, Maxim and Langley, very little or no progress had been made in practical and safe aerial navigation.Though all these inventors, whether cranks with a smattering of mechanical knowledge, or veritable savants and scientists, efficient in physics according to their own accounts, had studied the subject of aerial flight from the fowls of the air, the failure of their experiments showed that they were far from grasping the mysteries of that subtle sagacity and subconsciousness of the birds, by which they balanced themselves against the currents and velocity of the winds, and by their intuitive sensitiveness, utilized to the fullest extent their vast number of muscles and feathers with such marvelous subtlety.Like the Italian alchemist in the middle ages, who had constructed the wings of his flying machine with feathers gathered from a dunghill, and who, when attempting to fly, had found himself dumped, by a strange sympathetic affinity, on the very dunghill from which he had gathered the feathers, the efforts likewise, of these illustrious experimenters were crowned by successful failures, by a similar force of attraction, their apparatus either alighting on the branches of trees, or diving into the waters like ducks.At the beginning of the 20th Century, the consensus of scientific opinion had reached the conclusion, that the successful flying machine of the future would be one, which would be heavier than air and with either a very small balloon or none at all. The various forms of balloons and flying craft, exhibited at the St. Louis exposition became an incentive for renewed efforts by scientists to solve the problem of aerial flight and continued with unremitting zest for nearly a quarter of a century.It was in the early part of 1919 that the science of aeronautics was radically improved by the discovery of a process for hardeningand soldering of Aluminum, by which comparatively light but strong framework and machinery were constructed, and thus gradually the elimination of inflated balloons had become possible.1922The Flood in Mississippi ValleyIn the spring of this year the Mississippi Valley was flooded and submerged by terrible cloudbursts which, combined with melting of snows on the mountains, and subsequent bursting of dams and levees, devastated a vast area. According to records the lives lost in the inundated districts reached the total of sixty thousand.1923Uniform Divorce LawsThe unprecedented increase of divorces all over the United States and the attendant scandalous proceedings at the courts had reached such a maximum, and its baneful influence on the public morals had developed into such a point of danger that, a great awakening among the clergy and lawmakers of the nation wasthe result. At a conclave of representatives of the legal profession from every State in the Union, was promulgated a uniform divorce law for the United States of America.1924The Zionist MovementorThe Bursting of the Zion BubbleThe Zionist movement which for thirty years past gained more than two million converts and within that period had collected more than fifteen million dollars, was declared impracticable and illusionary!The estimable originators of this sentimental movement,Herzl, Nordau, Zangwill and others, although beyond the shadow of a doubt sincere and well-meaning, through the intensity of their zeal for the amelioration of their less fortunate brethren, were entirely blindfolded to the intricacies of politics and the eventful history of the Jewish race, from an ethnological and psychological point of view.Some of these true yet misguided philanthropists had passed away and other leaders, less impressed with the object of the society, hadtaken their places. As the Jews are not a pioneer race, the magnanimous scheme of the British government to place them upon a tract of virgin soil at Uganda, in Central Africa, for the purpose of colonization proved chaotic failure, on account of both sociological and economic reasons.The idea also of establishing a Jewish principality in Palestine, under an absolutely despotic and semi-barbarous government—which butchered her subjectsad libitum—was so ridiculous in the extreme, that the questions had become the laughing stock at the politicalsanctus sanctorumsof various governments.In 1923 a tremendous agitation was brought about by the leaders of the opposition, and those in power of the movement were challenged to public debate. The question grew to such proportions that it became a subject for discussion in every orthodox and gentile pulpit In the press, sociologists, ethnologists and anthropologists took part in the ephemeral arena and analyzed every phase of the subject, relating to the Hebrew race and the Zionist movement, laying bare every fact without reserve.It was stated by the opposition that though a stream of money had been pouring in from every quarter of the globe year after year, for the cause, no result as yet had been obtained, that great sums had been spent in salaries of the officials and at the dilly-dallying, corrupt courts of the Turkish Sultan.A learned sociologist likened the Hebrews to a parasitic plant, which derived its existence from the living sap of another. “An Israelite” he declared, “can only exist favorably amongst civilized centres of Christian and gentile communities; that whenever a colony of Hebrews were isolated by themselves, they would inevitably and gradually retrograde, impoverish and at last form a ghetto of misery and squalor.”Another ethnologist of repute expounded the fact, that the Jews were the life and essence of commercial activity and consequently formed an integral part of a prosperouscommonwealth. Sublimely industrious, instinctively provident and economical by nature, the Jews were persecuted because of their inherent virtues. He proved by clever historical documents, that their expulsion from Babylon, Egypt, Spain, Russia or wherever their rightswere abrogated, were the fundamental causes of the decadence of these countries from which they were expelled.Others accused the Hebrews of perverting the Golden Rule, of taking advantage of others by their inborn instinct of commercial sagacity, which well nigh approached unscrupulousness and that, being a mere commercial people, their patriotism could well be challenged. Many others advised, however, a propaganda of judicious assimilation of the Israelite with the Christians, contending that the sum total of their virtues and faults was the same as that of their Christian brethren. Meanwhile they advised the Jews that “wherever they lived they ought to make there, their Zions and temples.”After much heated argument and discussion which occupied several days, they at last arrived at the conclusion that the Zionist movement was chimerical! The balance of the funds amounting to many million dollars were voted for the establishment of technical and commercial schools for Israelites and for a fund to aid the judicious emigration of the Jews from ill-favored and congested districts to more favorable localities.1925–26The Anglo-American AllianceThe Anglo-American Alliance, by which these two foremost nations of the earth were brought into a happy, fraternal union, and for the achievement of which for nearly a quarter of a century there had been a great effort, in this year had become an accomplished fact!It was celebrated in a manner unprecedented in the annals of the World’s history. Having a profound and far reaching effect, it became an ultimatum for other nations to keep the peace, and goaded them toward the adoption of similar laws, in order to secure the same reciprocal blessings of universal brotherhood.Much credit was due to that eminent English statesman, now Lord Cunningham, through whose tactful diplomacy this long-sought commercial, social, offensive and defensive alliance became a reality. “I am restrained,” said the Professor, looking in the direction of Aurora Cunningham, “to avoid eulogizing him as he justly deserves, for obvious reasons.”At this sentence the students, under the impulse of a sudden admiration, arose to theirfeet en masse, and, glancing smilingly at Aurora, began rapturously to clap their hands.This interruption of sympathetic appreciation was brought to a close, by a ringing cry of the Seminary yell: “Dee, Dee, Ya, Ya, Na, Na, Diana. Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!”Aurora, blushing deeply, gracefully bowed her acknowledgement and in due form the class was dismissed for the day.

CHAPTER IVHistorical Events of the 20th Century

The senior class of the Diana Seminary were assembled in the auditorium, listening in a trance of respectful attention to Professor Cielo Allenson. He had just begun his review of the historical events of the 20th Century, now and then giving his individual comments upon the subjects presented.1900An Era of False ProsperityWith the beginning of the 20th Century was inaugurated an era of false prosperity. The Census Bureau at that time furnishes statistics and comments upon the wonderfully perceptible decrease of the criminal classes, called foot-pads, sneak thieves and highwaymen, which was attributed chiefly to the existing national prosperity. It overlooks the fact, however, that a new species of miscreants,comparatively more dangerous, had begun to thrive like mushrooms in prolific numbers,—that of so-calledcommercial brigandsorfinancial buccaneerswho, under fascinating and attractive names, such as mining syndicates with their fabulous deposits of gold, offering bucketfuls of shares for a dime; banking and building loan associations, with palatial homes thrown in gratis to every subscriber; promoters of illusionary inventions, seeking shareholders, which would make them millionaires in the twinkling of an eye.Alchemists who, with their artful empyrics of legerdemain, transmuted base metals into gold, and were willing to dispose of their precious wares for pennies; Wall Street and race-track spiders posing as benevolent philanthropists, scattering fortunes right and left to every applicant, sapped the avaricious, sottish public of its dearly bought earnings. Strange to say, despite many colossal exposures and failures, as these adroit swindlers grew more subtle and audacious, the more the gambling-crazed public rushed to their destruction.The effect was appalling. In consequenceof the depredations of these pirates of industries, the reputable business and financial firms were the greatest sufferers. Their legitimate transactions were paralyzed to such a tremendous degree that they were compelled to devise ways and means to counteract its evils. In 1908, after mature deliberation at a general convention in Washington, it was decided to raise ample funds and create a bureau under the auspices of the Federal Government called theBureau of Frauds and Swindles. The duties imposed upon its officers were the ferreting out and prosecuting of the wild-cat schemes and to warn the public against them.The measure, being approved by the National Government, had the desired effect of freeing to a great degree the financial world from its parasites of industrial malefactors, and to some extent established again the stability and integrity of honorable financiers, in the meanwhile safeguarding foolish persons from being fleeced out of their savings.1902The Cataclysm at MartiniqueSt. Pierre, Martinique, was destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount Peleé, on theeighth day of May. In a few minutes more than thirty thousand human beings were hurled into eternity.1908The Mormon QuestionThe anti-plural wives laws were enforced to the letter. Its emphatic application to all members of the sect was brought about principally by the Women’s Clubs, whose persistent and overwhelming aggressiveness played an important factor in the stamping out of this demoralizing and materialistic religion. In this era of civilization the existence of a religious organization of this character, like a cancerous growth, was threatening to debase womanhood and lead the communities to unbridled licentiousness.1909Capital and LaborEvery new movement, be it religious, political or economic, has its birth like a volcano, and unionism was no exception to this rule. The labor unions at first had their violent agitators who, possessing greater physical than mental calibre, laid the crude foundation of aforce in an arbitrary manner that consequently had its gradual evolution of development.Their constant conflicts with capital were characterized by an unreasonable amount of physical argument which resulted in more or less disastrous denouements, but these very acts of lawlessness and disturbances awakened a third party, the consumers in general, who were equally affected by the disturbances between capital and labor and brought about a realization of the true relative positions.Labor certainly has its unalienable rights and was entitled to due consideration and justice. However, like the negative and positive poles of electricity, which are both essential in order that a circuit of effective force be generated, capital and labor likewise had their dual relative values of importance, without which there could be no constancy of harmonious production.By the gradual awakening of both capital and labor to their true limitations, the questions involved began to assume a more intelligent basis under the codes of arbitration. At the same time the violent agitators of labor were succeeded in the trend of this onwarddevelopment by more intelligent organizers. These latter were merged into accomplished, rational leaders and, through the efficient medium of the ballot box, into national representatives. Consequently, the more dignified, orderly and responsible labor became, the more the workers became entitled to the benefits of their labor.A Department of Capital and Labor which, so far, had been merely probationary now became a permanent institution at the Capitol and in every State of the Union as well.1910The Expense of LivingIt is one of the strangest inconsistencies of social problems, that although political economists and scholars have preached the doctrine, that inventions and improved methods in mechanical lines contribute to the blessings of mankind by cheapening the necessities of life, yet in spite of their plausible declarations, the cost of living year by year grew higher and higher, entailing untold suffering and despair among the poorer classes.The cause of this lamentable perversion wasdue to a certain clique of unscrupulous progeny of Mammon, called trusts and corporations, who, being blinded with an insatiable desire for pelf and lust, and stupefied with a frenzied avarice, monopolized all the necessities of life. The vast occidental domain of our country was of unlimited resources and was capable of producing in abundance the products which they “cornered.” Themodus operandiof their rapacious operations were manifold. They limited the output of Nature’s bounty in order to keep them at prohibitive values, and at the same time deprived hosts of sons of toil of earning their livelihood. They kept at their inoperative mercy—by their abominable tactics of purchase—the producer from receiving his just share, and they also mulcted the helpless consumer by the unlimited inflation of their capital stock and fictitious expenses until at length the burden of their avarice became unendurable.Although attempts have repeatedly been made by sincere executives of the Nation, by the advocation of measures for curbing the rapacity of these trusts, their endeavors met with failure on account of the vague and flexiblelaws already in existence, and by the array of sycophantic traitors in high circles who prevented any legislation which was conducive to the tranquility and welfare of the masses. At last, only after a series of sanguinary demonstrations by the people which almost endangered the stability of the republic, they were compelled to yield.By the passage of clearly defined laws the career of their nefarious system of spoliation was brought to an end. One of the most efficacious laws passed was the creation of a body of competent men of supreme power who appraised approximately the capitalization of these concerns and licensed them as such under oath. The States in the meantime assumed the power of fixing a maximum value for which their commodities might be placed on the market. By the above legislations the inflation of their capital and extortion from the consumer were made securely impossible.1911Death of an Eminent ScholarProfessor Henry Richfield, a profound scholar, and the author of “How to Get Rich”—aponderous work in twelve octavo volumes—passed away in an attic, in abject penury and squalor.1912The Annihilation of MosquitoesAlthough the mortality statistics in the United States for last year reached the round number of two million persons from various diseases, among them chiefly from consumption, pneumonia, typhoid fever and epidemics of smallpox and diphtheria, a few sporadic cases of death were recorded resulting from mosquito bites, which gave grave concern to the medical fraternity.The outcome of this alarm was the calling of a general conference of bacteriological experts. The mosquito, that had hitherto enjoyed unbridled freedom since the creation of his race, was now looked upon as the arch enemy of mankind. A noted philanthropist, interested in oil wells and having on hand a great bulk of unmarketable crude petroleum, donated a large sum for research in order to discover ways and means of curbing the ravages of these nefarious pests which threatened the annihilation of the human race.It was decided by the savants, that the distribution of crude petroleum in stagnant pools and humid marshes, was the only effective method for the extermination of mosquito life. The distribution of greenbacks for their valuable services, (notwithstanding the fact that under the microscope they were found to contain two hundred and fifty-seven diseases and thirty-eight million microbes to the square inch), were grabbed with unprecedented avidity by these same specialists.1913Child LaborThe dwarfing and crippling of the mental, moral and physical growth of tender children, by the avaricious employers, and its baleful consequence of peopling the community with moral and bodily degenerates, devoid of the desirable elements of good citizenship, had become so appallingly flagrant that a general sentiment of the people was aroused in a mighty protest to the Federal authorities.Thanks to the aggressive and strenuous legislative warfare of Labor Unions in every State, aided by the persistent moral agitationof Women’s Clubs all over the country, child labor was entirely abolished in many channels of industries, such as mills, factories, collieries and plantations. In more gentle occupations the employment of minors, was placed on a healthier and more humane basis than had ever before been the case.1914The Great Radium SwindleThe fabulously high price of this metal had awakened the cupidity of a coterie of adroit schemers who, had palmed off on unsuspecting men of science, a rank substitute which cost only a trifle to manufacture.After securing an enormous sum of money, the schemers had decamped to parts unknown.It was discovered that the spurious metal thus disposed was nothing more than a highly compressed form of phosphorous.1915Death of an Eminent PhysicianDr. Wisehardt, the brilliant young physician and surgeon who discovered the electro-magnetic germ-cells of life, and invented methods to prolong life itself by the cultivation of thesecells, died in the 27th year of his age from premature senility.1916A Tidal WaveThe most memorable event of this year was a gigantic tidal wave of tremendous height, which swept over the lower coast of Florida. In a few minutes it inundated and destroyed a vast area of the coast, doing incalculable damage to shipping. It was estimated that nearly fifteen thousand persons lost their lives in this cataclysm.1917War Between United States and ColumbiaThe stubborn attitude of the Central American Republic, Columbia, towards the United States, by her menacing antagonism to the construction of the interoceanic canal, gradually created a breach of the peace that led ultimately to a forcible demonstration by the United States, and precipitated the invasion by the latter of the Republic of Panama.Peace was re-established after a crushing defeat of the Columbians. The famous waterway,the Republic of Panama, then became United States territory, by annexation.1918The Women’s ClubsThe Women’s Clubs which, during their first inception, were the subject of much ridicule, and the proceedings of their meetings a theme for ribald jokes in the secular press, gradually developed into such gigantic proportions that their influence became a powerful factor in every public question of the day, and in fact so continues unabated unto this day.The last Federal statistics show more than two thousand Institutions in the form of sanitariums, refuges, technical schools of practical utility, entirely under the auspices of Club Women. The constitutions of these laudable organizations “invariably stand for something which is ennobling” and their achievements are monumental tributes to the upward trend of womanhood.There was, however, a crucial period in their affairs worth mentioning. Some of these noble but over-zealous women of that period, in their exuberant enthusiasm for woman’s rights, forgettingthe limitations of their sex,—considered by the greatest thinkers of the past ages to be the sphere of Home,—agitated a propaganda of political equality or suffrage and, from time to time, created a stir among their organizations until at last, in 1918, the National Federation of Women’s Clubs decided to hold a conclave in order to decide the following momentous question: “Should Women Enter Politics?”More than four thousand five hundred delegates from all over the Union assembled at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. Sympathizers of the suffragists with their eloquence tried to railroad through a measure in their behalf, but equally able leaders of the opposition—benefitted by the warning of Sages—succeeded in counterbalancing the efforts of their fair antagonists.After a heated symposium the question was put to a vote, which resulted decisively in a victory for those who opposed the movement. It was further voted, that they should confine all their energies to civic, educational and humanitarian channels and things pertaining to Home. This was a most happy and wise decision,for the world at large needs mothers who will beget and nurse a Florence Nightingale, a Clara Barton, a Washington or a Lincoln, rather than mothers who would become a Jezebel, a Delilah or a Cleopatra.1919The TornadoA cyclonic tornado of intense velocity and destructive force struck New York City, demolishing in its path, in the shape of a semi-circle from the Battery to Twenty-third Street, West, two hundred and seventy-five buildings. Fortunately, the day being a holiday, the loss of life was comparatively small.1920The Power of the PressThrough emancipation from its shackles of monarchic censorship and subserviency to despotic masters, the upward rise of the Press to usefulness and power was without a parallel—a power to which even Napoleon Bonaparte was sensible when he said, “I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets.” But like everything else in the universe, the Press also had its dual potentiality.Like a two-edged sword, it could be wielded for good or evil. In the bands of an unscrupulous politician it was a treacherous weapon, while in the control of the righteous citizen a tremendous power for good.Thus the Press for many decades, subsidized by the traitorous capitalist and under the guise of a pious mask, catered to the evil designs of the plutocracy until the gradual awakening of the people through the independent press at last understood their hypocrisy.The independent press, however, attained its highest degree of efficiency by the establishment of the College of Journalism. Its foundation slogan,publicityon all political and economic questions, had created a force of trained journalists—a force “mightier than the sword” and in a manner far more penetrating than the X-ray—pledged to defend the rights of the citizens. By an educational propaganda it taught the masses how to eradicate existing evils by the mere exercise of their unalienable right, the ballot box. Indeed in a government “of the people, for the people and by the people,” resort to force or revolution was absolutely unnecessary, while these twomost effectual weapons the world had ever seen, the voting power and the free press, were at their command.1921Balloons and AirshipsStrange to say, from the time of Archytas of Tarantum to Otto Lilienthal, and fromMontgolfierBros. to Santos Dumont, Bell, Maxim and Langley, very little or no progress had been made in practical and safe aerial navigation.Though all these inventors, whether cranks with a smattering of mechanical knowledge, or veritable savants and scientists, efficient in physics according to their own accounts, had studied the subject of aerial flight from the fowls of the air, the failure of their experiments showed that they were far from grasping the mysteries of that subtle sagacity and subconsciousness of the birds, by which they balanced themselves against the currents and velocity of the winds, and by their intuitive sensitiveness, utilized to the fullest extent their vast number of muscles and feathers with such marvelous subtlety.Like the Italian alchemist in the middle ages, who had constructed the wings of his flying machine with feathers gathered from a dunghill, and who, when attempting to fly, had found himself dumped, by a strange sympathetic affinity, on the very dunghill from which he had gathered the feathers, the efforts likewise, of these illustrious experimenters were crowned by successful failures, by a similar force of attraction, their apparatus either alighting on the branches of trees, or diving into the waters like ducks.At the beginning of the 20th Century, the consensus of scientific opinion had reached the conclusion, that the successful flying machine of the future would be one, which would be heavier than air and with either a very small balloon or none at all. The various forms of balloons and flying craft, exhibited at the St. Louis exposition became an incentive for renewed efforts by scientists to solve the problem of aerial flight and continued with unremitting zest for nearly a quarter of a century.It was in the early part of 1919 that the science of aeronautics was radically improved by the discovery of a process for hardeningand soldering of Aluminum, by which comparatively light but strong framework and machinery were constructed, and thus gradually the elimination of inflated balloons had become possible.1922The Flood in Mississippi ValleyIn the spring of this year the Mississippi Valley was flooded and submerged by terrible cloudbursts which, combined with melting of snows on the mountains, and subsequent bursting of dams and levees, devastated a vast area. According to records the lives lost in the inundated districts reached the total of sixty thousand.1923Uniform Divorce LawsThe unprecedented increase of divorces all over the United States and the attendant scandalous proceedings at the courts had reached such a maximum, and its baneful influence on the public morals had developed into such a point of danger that, a great awakening among the clergy and lawmakers of the nation wasthe result. At a conclave of representatives of the legal profession from every State in the Union, was promulgated a uniform divorce law for the United States of America.1924The Zionist MovementorThe Bursting of the Zion BubbleThe Zionist movement which for thirty years past gained more than two million converts and within that period had collected more than fifteen million dollars, was declared impracticable and illusionary!The estimable originators of this sentimental movement,Herzl, Nordau, Zangwill and others, although beyond the shadow of a doubt sincere and well-meaning, through the intensity of their zeal for the amelioration of their less fortunate brethren, were entirely blindfolded to the intricacies of politics and the eventful history of the Jewish race, from an ethnological and psychological point of view.Some of these true yet misguided philanthropists had passed away and other leaders, less impressed with the object of the society, hadtaken their places. As the Jews are not a pioneer race, the magnanimous scheme of the British government to place them upon a tract of virgin soil at Uganda, in Central Africa, for the purpose of colonization proved chaotic failure, on account of both sociological and economic reasons.The idea also of establishing a Jewish principality in Palestine, under an absolutely despotic and semi-barbarous government—which butchered her subjectsad libitum—was so ridiculous in the extreme, that the questions had become the laughing stock at the politicalsanctus sanctorumsof various governments.In 1923 a tremendous agitation was brought about by the leaders of the opposition, and those in power of the movement were challenged to public debate. The question grew to such proportions that it became a subject for discussion in every orthodox and gentile pulpit In the press, sociologists, ethnologists and anthropologists took part in the ephemeral arena and analyzed every phase of the subject, relating to the Hebrew race and the Zionist movement, laying bare every fact without reserve.It was stated by the opposition that though a stream of money had been pouring in from every quarter of the globe year after year, for the cause, no result as yet had been obtained, that great sums had been spent in salaries of the officials and at the dilly-dallying, corrupt courts of the Turkish Sultan.A learned sociologist likened the Hebrews to a parasitic plant, which derived its existence from the living sap of another. “An Israelite” he declared, “can only exist favorably amongst civilized centres of Christian and gentile communities; that whenever a colony of Hebrews were isolated by themselves, they would inevitably and gradually retrograde, impoverish and at last form a ghetto of misery and squalor.”Another ethnologist of repute expounded the fact, that the Jews were the life and essence of commercial activity and consequently formed an integral part of a prosperouscommonwealth. Sublimely industrious, instinctively provident and economical by nature, the Jews were persecuted because of their inherent virtues. He proved by clever historical documents, that their expulsion from Babylon, Egypt, Spain, Russia or wherever their rightswere abrogated, were the fundamental causes of the decadence of these countries from which they were expelled.Others accused the Hebrews of perverting the Golden Rule, of taking advantage of others by their inborn instinct of commercial sagacity, which well nigh approached unscrupulousness and that, being a mere commercial people, their patriotism could well be challenged. Many others advised, however, a propaganda of judicious assimilation of the Israelite with the Christians, contending that the sum total of their virtues and faults was the same as that of their Christian brethren. Meanwhile they advised the Jews that “wherever they lived they ought to make there, their Zions and temples.”After much heated argument and discussion which occupied several days, they at last arrived at the conclusion that the Zionist movement was chimerical! The balance of the funds amounting to many million dollars were voted for the establishment of technical and commercial schools for Israelites and for a fund to aid the judicious emigration of the Jews from ill-favored and congested districts to more favorable localities.1925–26The Anglo-American AllianceThe Anglo-American Alliance, by which these two foremost nations of the earth were brought into a happy, fraternal union, and for the achievement of which for nearly a quarter of a century there had been a great effort, in this year had become an accomplished fact!It was celebrated in a manner unprecedented in the annals of the World’s history. Having a profound and far reaching effect, it became an ultimatum for other nations to keep the peace, and goaded them toward the adoption of similar laws, in order to secure the same reciprocal blessings of universal brotherhood.Much credit was due to that eminent English statesman, now Lord Cunningham, through whose tactful diplomacy this long-sought commercial, social, offensive and defensive alliance became a reality. “I am restrained,” said the Professor, looking in the direction of Aurora Cunningham, “to avoid eulogizing him as he justly deserves, for obvious reasons.”At this sentence the students, under the impulse of a sudden admiration, arose to theirfeet en masse, and, glancing smilingly at Aurora, began rapturously to clap their hands.This interruption of sympathetic appreciation was brought to a close, by a ringing cry of the Seminary yell: “Dee, Dee, Ya, Ya, Na, Na, Diana. Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!”Aurora, blushing deeply, gracefully bowed her acknowledgement and in due form the class was dismissed for the day.

1900An Era of False ProsperityWith the beginning of the 20th Century was inaugurated an era of false prosperity. The Census Bureau at that time furnishes statistics and comments upon the wonderfully perceptible decrease of the criminal classes, called foot-pads, sneak thieves and highwaymen, which was attributed chiefly to the existing national prosperity. It overlooks the fact, however, that a new species of miscreants,comparatively more dangerous, had begun to thrive like mushrooms in prolific numbers,—that of so-calledcommercial brigandsorfinancial buccaneerswho, under fascinating and attractive names, such as mining syndicates with their fabulous deposits of gold, offering bucketfuls of shares for a dime; banking and building loan associations, with palatial homes thrown in gratis to every subscriber; promoters of illusionary inventions, seeking shareholders, which would make them millionaires in the twinkling of an eye.Alchemists who, with their artful empyrics of legerdemain, transmuted base metals into gold, and were willing to dispose of their precious wares for pennies; Wall Street and race-track spiders posing as benevolent philanthropists, scattering fortunes right and left to every applicant, sapped the avaricious, sottish public of its dearly bought earnings. Strange to say, despite many colossal exposures and failures, as these adroit swindlers grew more subtle and audacious, the more the gambling-crazed public rushed to their destruction.The effect was appalling. In consequenceof the depredations of these pirates of industries, the reputable business and financial firms were the greatest sufferers. Their legitimate transactions were paralyzed to such a tremendous degree that they were compelled to devise ways and means to counteract its evils. In 1908, after mature deliberation at a general convention in Washington, it was decided to raise ample funds and create a bureau under the auspices of the Federal Government called theBureau of Frauds and Swindles. The duties imposed upon its officers were the ferreting out and prosecuting of the wild-cat schemes and to warn the public against them.The measure, being approved by the National Government, had the desired effect of freeing to a great degree the financial world from its parasites of industrial malefactors, and to some extent established again the stability and integrity of honorable financiers, in the meanwhile safeguarding foolish persons from being fleeced out of their savings.

1900An Era of False Prosperity

With the beginning of the 20th Century was inaugurated an era of false prosperity. The Census Bureau at that time furnishes statistics and comments upon the wonderfully perceptible decrease of the criminal classes, called foot-pads, sneak thieves and highwaymen, which was attributed chiefly to the existing national prosperity. It overlooks the fact, however, that a new species of miscreants,comparatively more dangerous, had begun to thrive like mushrooms in prolific numbers,—that of so-calledcommercial brigandsorfinancial buccaneerswho, under fascinating and attractive names, such as mining syndicates with their fabulous deposits of gold, offering bucketfuls of shares for a dime; banking and building loan associations, with palatial homes thrown in gratis to every subscriber; promoters of illusionary inventions, seeking shareholders, which would make them millionaires in the twinkling of an eye.Alchemists who, with their artful empyrics of legerdemain, transmuted base metals into gold, and were willing to dispose of their precious wares for pennies; Wall Street and race-track spiders posing as benevolent philanthropists, scattering fortunes right and left to every applicant, sapped the avaricious, sottish public of its dearly bought earnings. Strange to say, despite many colossal exposures and failures, as these adroit swindlers grew more subtle and audacious, the more the gambling-crazed public rushed to their destruction.The effect was appalling. In consequenceof the depredations of these pirates of industries, the reputable business and financial firms were the greatest sufferers. Their legitimate transactions were paralyzed to such a tremendous degree that they were compelled to devise ways and means to counteract its evils. In 1908, after mature deliberation at a general convention in Washington, it was decided to raise ample funds and create a bureau under the auspices of the Federal Government called theBureau of Frauds and Swindles. The duties imposed upon its officers were the ferreting out and prosecuting of the wild-cat schemes and to warn the public against them.The measure, being approved by the National Government, had the desired effect of freeing to a great degree the financial world from its parasites of industrial malefactors, and to some extent established again the stability and integrity of honorable financiers, in the meanwhile safeguarding foolish persons from being fleeced out of their savings.

Alchemists who, with their artful empyrics of legerdemain, transmuted base metals into gold, and were willing to dispose of their precious wares for pennies; Wall Street and race-track spiders posing as benevolent philanthropists, scattering fortunes right and left to every applicant, sapped the avaricious, sottish public of its dearly bought earnings. Strange to say, despite many colossal exposures and failures, as these adroit swindlers grew more subtle and audacious, the more the gambling-crazed public rushed to their destruction.

The effect was appalling. In consequenceof the depredations of these pirates of industries, the reputable business and financial firms were the greatest sufferers. Their legitimate transactions were paralyzed to such a tremendous degree that they were compelled to devise ways and means to counteract its evils. In 1908, after mature deliberation at a general convention in Washington, it was decided to raise ample funds and create a bureau under the auspices of the Federal Government called theBureau of Frauds and Swindles. The duties imposed upon its officers were the ferreting out and prosecuting of the wild-cat schemes and to warn the public against them.

The measure, being approved by the National Government, had the desired effect of freeing to a great degree the financial world from its parasites of industrial malefactors, and to some extent established again the stability and integrity of honorable financiers, in the meanwhile safeguarding foolish persons from being fleeced out of their savings.

1902The Cataclysm at MartiniqueSt. Pierre, Martinique, was destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount Peleé, on theeighth day of May. In a few minutes more than thirty thousand human beings were hurled into eternity.

1902The Cataclysm at Martinique

St. Pierre, Martinique, was destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount Peleé, on theeighth day of May. In a few minutes more than thirty thousand human beings were hurled into eternity.

1908The Mormon QuestionThe anti-plural wives laws were enforced to the letter. Its emphatic application to all members of the sect was brought about principally by the Women’s Clubs, whose persistent and overwhelming aggressiveness played an important factor in the stamping out of this demoralizing and materialistic religion. In this era of civilization the existence of a religious organization of this character, like a cancerous growth, was threatening to debase womanhood and lead the communities to unbridled licentiousness.

1908The Mormon Question

The anti-plural wives laws were enforced to the letter. Its emphatic application to all members of the sect was brought about principally by the Women’s Clubs, whose persistent and overwhelming aggressiveness played an important factor in the stamping out of this demoralizing and materialistic religion. In this era of civilization the existence of a religious organization of this character, like a cancerous growth, was threatening to debase womanhood and lead the communities to unbridled licentiousness.

1909Capital and LaborEvery new movement, be it religious, political or economic, has its birth like a volcano, and unionism was no exception to this rule. The labor unions at first had their violent agitators who, possessing greater physical than mental calibre, laid the crude foundation of aforce in an arbitrary manner that consequently had its gradual evolution of development.Their constant conflicts with capital were characterized by an unreasonable amount of physical argument which resulted in more or less disastrous denouements, but these very acts of lawlessness and disturbances awakened a third party, the consumers in general, who were equally affected by the disturbances between capital and labor and brought about a realization of the true relative positions.Labor certainly has its unalienable rights and was entitled to due consideration and justice. However, like the negative and positive poles of electricity, which are both essential in order that a circuit of effective force be generated, capital and labor likewise had their dual relative values of importance, without which there could be no constancy of harmonious production.By the gradual awakening of both capital and labor to their true limitations, the questions involved began to assume a more intelligent basis under the codes of arbitration. At the same time the violent agitators of labor were succeeded in the trend of this onwarddevelopment by more intelligent organizers. These latter were merged into accomplished, rational leaders and, through the efficient medium of the ballot box, into national representatives. Consequently, the more dignified, orderly and responsible labor became, the more the workers became entitled to the benefits of their labor.A Department of Capital and Labor which, so far, had been merely probationary now became a permanent institution at the Capitol and in every State of the Union as well.

1909Capital and Labor

Every new movement, be it religious, political or economic, has its birth like a volcano, and unionism was no exception to this rule. The labor unions at first had their violent agitators who, possessing greater physical than mental calibre, laid the crude foundation of aforce in an arbitrary manner that consequently had its gradual evolution of development.Their constant conflicts with capital were characterized by an unreasonable amount of physical argument which resulted in more or less disastrous denouements, but these very acts of lawlessness and disturbances awakened a third party, the consumers in general, who were equally affected by the disturbances between capital and labor and brought about a realization of the true relative positions.Labor certainly has its unalienable rights and was entitled to due consideration and justice. However, like the negative and positive poles of electricity, which are both essential in order that a circuit of effective force be generated, capital and labor likewise had their dual relative values of importance, without which there could be no constancy of harmonious production.By the gradual awakening of both capital and labor to their true limitations, the questions involved began to assume a more intelligent basis under the codes of arbitration. At the same time the violent agitators of labor were succeeded in the trend of this onwarddevelopment by more intelligent organizers. These latter were merged into accomplished, rational leaders and, through the efficient medium of the ballot box, into national representatives. Consequently, the more dignified, orderly and responsible labor became, the more the workers became entitled to the benefits of their labor.A Department of Capital and Labor which, so far, had been merely probationary now became a permanent institution at the Capitol and in every State of the Union as well.

Their constant conflicts with capital were characterized by an unreasonable amount of physical argument which resulted in more or less disastrous denouements, but these very acts of lawlessness and disturbances awakened a third party, the consumers in general, who were equally affected by the disturbances between capital and labor and brought about a realization of the true relative positions.

Labor certainly has its unalienable rights and was entitled to due consideration and justice. However, like the negative and positive poles of electricity, which are both essential in order that a circuit of effective force be generated, capital and labor likewise had their dual relative values of importance, without which there could be no constancy of harmonious production.

By the gradual awakening of both capital and labor to their true limitations, the questions involved began to assume a more intelligent basis under the codes of arbitration. At the same time the violent agitators of labor were succeeded in the trend of this onwarddevelopment by more intelligent organizers. These latter were merged into accomplished, rational leaders and, through the efficient medium of the ballot box, into national representatives. Consequently, the more dignified, orderly and responsible labor became, the more the workers became entitled to the benefits of their labor.

A Department of Capital and Labor which, so far, had been merely probationary now became a permanent institution at the Capitol and in every State of the Union as well.

1910The Expense of LivingIt is one of the strangest inconsistencies of social problems, that although political economists and scholars have preached the doctrine, that inventions and improved methods in mechanical lines contribute to the blessings of mankind by cheapening the necessities of life, yet in spite of their plausible declarations, the cost of living year by year grew higher and higher, entailing untold suffering and despair among the poorer classes.The cause of this lamentable perversion wasdue to a certain clique of unscrupulous progeny of Mammon, called trusts and corporations, who, being blinded with an insatiable desire for pelf and lust, and stupefied with a frenzied avarice, monopolized all the necessities of life. The vast occidental domain of our country was of unlimited resources and was capable of producing in abundance the products which they “cornered.” Themodus operandiof their rapacious operations were manifold. They limited the output of Nature’s bounty in order to keep them at prohibitive values, and at the same time deprived hosts of sons of toil of earning their livelihood. They kept at their inoperative mercy—by their abominable tactics of purchase—the producer from receiving his just share, and they also mulcted the helpless consumer by the unlimited inflation of their capital stock and fictitious expenses until at length the burden of their avarice became unendurable.Although attempts have repeatedly been made by sincere executives of the Nation, by the advocation of measures for curbing the rapacity of these trusts, their endeavors met with failure on account of the vague and flexiblelaws already in existence, and by the array of sycophantic traitors in high circles who prevented any legislation which was conducive to the tranquility and welfare of the masses. At last, only after a series of sanguinary demonstrations by the people which almost endangered the stability of the republic, they were compelled to yield.By the passage of clearly defined laws the career of their nefarious system of spoliation was brought to an end. One of the most efficacious laws passed was the creation of a body of competent men of supreme power who appraised approximately the capitalization of these concerns and licensed them as such under oath. The States in the meantime assumed the power of fixing a maximum value for which their commodities might be placed on the market. By the above legislations the inflation of their capital and extortion from the consumer were made securely impossible.

1910The Expense of Living

It is one of the strangest inconsistencies of social problems, that although political economists and scholars have preached the doctrine, that inventions and improved methods in mechanical lines contribute to the blessings of mankind by cheapening the necessities of life, yet in spite of their plausible declarations, the cost of living year by year grew higher and higher, entailing untold suffering and despair among the poorer classes.The cause of this lamentable perversion wasdue to a certain clique of unscrupulous progeny of Mammon, called trusts and corporations, who, being blinded with an insatiable desire for pelf and lust, and stupefied with a frenzied avarice, monopolized all the necessities of life. The vast occidental domain of our country was of unlimited resources and was capable of producing in abundance the products which they “cornered.” Themodus operandiof their rapacious operations were manifold. They limited the output of Nature’s bounty in order to keep them at prohibitive values, and at the same time deprived hosts of sons of toil of earning their livelihood. They kept at their inoperative mercy—by their abominable tactics of purchase—the producer from receiving his just share, and they also mulcted the helpless consumer by the unlimited inflation of their capital stock and fictitious expenses until at length the burden of their avarice became unendurable.Although attempts have repeatedly been made by sincere executives of the Nation, by the advocation of measures for curbing the rapacity of these trusts, their endeavors met with failure on account of the vague and flexiblelaws already in existence, and by the array of sycophantic traitors in high circles who prevented any legislation which was conducive to the tranquility and welfare of the masses. At last, only after a series of sanguinary demonstrations by the people which almost endangered the stability of the republic, they were compelled to yield.By the passage of clearly defined laws the career of their nefarious system of spoliation was brought to an end. One of the most efficacious laws passed was the creation of a body of competent men of supreme power who appraised approximately the capitalization of these concerns and licensed them as such under oath. The States in the meantime assumed the power of fixing a maximum value for which their commodities might be placed on the market. By the above legislations the inflation of their capital and extortion from the consumer were made securely impossible.

The cause of this lamentable perversion wasdue to a certain clique of unscrupulous progeny of Mammon, called trusts and corporations, who, being blinded with an insatiable desire for pelf and lust, and stupefied with a frenzied avarice, monopolized all the necessities of life. The vast occidental domain of our country was of unlimited resources and was capable of producing in abundance the products which they “cornered.” Themodus operandiof their rapacious operations were manifold. They limited the output of Nature’s bounty in order to keep them at prohibitive values, and at the same time deprived hosts of sons of toil of earning their livelihood. They kept at their inoperative mercy—by their abominable tactics of purchase—the producer from receiving his just share, and they also mulcted the helpless consumer by the unlimited inflation of their capital stock and fictitious expenses until at length the burden of their avarice became unendurable.

Although attempts have repeatedly been made by sincere executives of the Nation, by the advocation of measures for curbing the rapacity of these trusts, their endeavors met with failure on account of the vague and flexiblelaws already in existence, and by the array of sycophantic traitors in high circles who prevented any legislation which was conducive to the tranquility and welfare of the masses. At last, only after a series of sanguinary demonstrations by the people which almost endangered the stability of the republic, they were compelled to yield.

By the passage of clearly defined laws the career of their nefarious system of spoliation was brought to an end. One of the most efficacious laws passed was the creation of a body of competent men of supreme power who appraised approximately the capitalization of these concerns and licensed them as such under oath. The States in the meantime assumed the power of fixing a maximum value for which their commodities might be placed on the market. By the above legislations the inflation of their capital and extortion from the consumer were made securely impossible.

1911Death of an Eminent ScholarProfessor Henry Richfield, a profound scholar, and the author of “How to Get Rich”—aponderous work in twelve octavo volumes—passed away in an attic, in abject penury and squalor.

1911Death of an Eminent Scholar

Professor Henry Richfield, a profound scholar, and the author of “How to Get Rich”—aponderous work in twelve octavo volumes—passed away in an attic, in abject penury and squalor.

1912The Annihilation of MosquitoesAlthough the mortality statistics in the United States for last year reached the round number of two million persons from various diseases, among them chiefly from consumption, pneumonia, typhoid fever and epidemics of smallpox and diphtheria, a few sporadic cases of death were recorded resulting from mosquito bites, which gave grave concern to the medical fraternity.The outcome of this alarm was the calling of a general conference of bacteriological experts. The mosquito, that had hitherto enjoyed unbridled freedom since the creation of his race, was now looked upon as the arch enemy of mankind. A noted philanthropist, interested in oil wells and having on hand a great bulk of unmarketable crude petroleum, donated a large sum for research in order to discover ways and means of curbing the ravages of these nefarious pests which threatened the annihilation of the human race.It was decided by the savants, that the distribution of crude petroleum in stagnant pools and humid marshes, was the only effective method for the extermination of mosquito life. The distribution of greenbacks for their valuable services, (notwithstanding the fact that under the microscope they were found to contain two hundred and fifty-seven diseases and thirty-eight million microbes to the square inch), were grabbed with unprecedented avidity by these same specialists.

1912The Annihilation of Mosquitoes

Although the mortality statistics in the United States for last year reached the round number of two million persons from various diseases, among them chiefly from consumption, pneumonia, typhoid fever and epidemics of smallpox and diphtheria, a few sporadic cases of death were recorded resulting from mosquito bites, which gave grave concern to the medical fraternity.The outcome of this alarm was the calling of a general conference of bacteriological experts. The mosquito, that had hitherto enjoyed unbridled freedom since the creation of his race, was now looked upon as the arch enemy of mankind. A noted philanthropist, interested in oil wells and having on hand a great bulk of unmarketable crude petroleum, donated a large sum for research in order to discover ways and means of curbing the ravages of these nefarious pests which threatened the annihilation of the human race.It was decided by the savants, that the distribution of crude petroleum in stagnant pools and humid marshes, was the only effective method for the extermination of mosquito life. The distribution of greenbacks for their valuable services, (notwithstanding the fact that under the microscope they were found to contain two hundred and fifty-seven diseases and thirty-eight million microbes to the square inch), were grabbed with unprecedented avidity by these same specialists.

The outcome of this alarm was the calling of a general conference of bacteriological experts. The mosquito, that had hitherto enjoyed unbridled freedom since the creation of his race, was now looked upon as the arch enemy of mankind. A noted philanthropist, interested in oil wells and having on hand a great bulk of unmarketable crude petroleum, donated a large sum for research in order to discover ways and means of curbing the ravages of these nefarious pests which threatened the annihilation of the human race.

It was decided by the savants, that the distribution of crude petroleum in stagnant pools and humid marshes, was the only effective method for the extermination of mosquito life. The distribution of greenbacks for their valuable services, (notwithstanding the fact that under the microscope they were found to contain two hundred and fifty-seven diseases and thirty-eight million microbes to the square inch), were grabbed with unprecedented avidity by these same specialists.

1913Child LaborThe dwarfing and crippling of the mental, moral and physical growth of tender children, by the avaricious employers, and its baleful consequence of peopling the community with moral and bodily degenerates, devoid of the desirable elements of good citizenship, had become so appallingly flagrant that a general sentiment of the people was aroused in a mighty protest to the Federal authorities.Thanks to the aggressive and strenuous legislative warfare of Labor Unions in every State, aided by the persistent moral agitationof Women’s Clubs all over the country, child labor was entirely abolished in many channels of industries, such as mills, factories, collieries and plantations. In more gentle occupations the employment of minors, was placed on a healthier and more humane basis than had ever before been the case.

1913Child Labor

The dwarfing and crippling of the mental, moral and physical growth of tender children, by the avaricious employers, and its baleful consequence of peopling the community with moral and bodily degenerates, devoid of the desirable elements of good citizenship, had become so appallingly flagrant that a general sentiment of the people was aroused in a mighty protest to the Federal authorities.Thanks to the aggressive and strenuous legislative warfare of Labor Unions in every State, aided by the persistent moral agitationof Women’s Clubs all over the country, child labor was entirely abolished in many channels of industries, such as mills, factories, collieries and plantations. In more gentle occupations the employment of minors, was placed on a healthier and more humane basis than had ever before been the case.

Thanks to the aggressive and strenuous legislative warfare of Labor Unions in every State, aided by the persistent moral agitationof Women’s Clubs all over the country, child labor was entirely abolished in many channels of industries, such as mills, factories, collieries and plantations. In more gentle occupations the employment of minors, was placed on a healthier and more humane basis than had ever before been the case.

1914The Great Radium SwindleThe fabulously high price of this metal had awakened the cupidity of a coterie of adroit schemers who, had palmed off on unsuspecting men of science, a rank substitute which cost only a trifle to manufacture.After securing an enormous sum of money, the schemers had decamped to parts unknown.It was discovered that the spurious metal thus disposed was nothing more than a highly compressed form of phosphorous.

1914The Great Radium Swindle

The fabulously high price of this metal had awakened the cupidity of a coterie of adroit schemers who, had palmed off on unsuspecting men of science, a rank substitute which cost only a trifle to manufacture.After securing an enormous sum of money, the schemers had decamped to parts unknown.It was discovered that the spurious metal thus disposed was nothing more than a highly compressed form of phosphorous.

After securing an enormous sum of money, the schemers had decamped to parts unknown.

It was discovered that the spurious metal thus disposed was nothing more than a highly compressed form of phosphorous.

1915Death of an Eminent PhysicianDr. Wisehardt, the brilliant young physician and surgeon who discovered the electro-magnetic germ-cells of life, and invented methods to prolong life itself by the cultivation of thesecells, died in the 27th year of his age from premature senility.

1915Death of an Eminent Physician

Dr. Wisehardt, the brilliant young physician and surgeon who discovered the electro-magnetic germ-cells of life, and invented methods to prolong life itself by the cultivation of thesecells, died in the 27th year of his age from premature senility.

1916A Tidal WaveThe most memorable event of this year was a gigantic tidal wave of tremendous height, which swept over the lower coast of Florida. In a few minutes it inundated and destroyed a vast area of the coast, doing incalculable damage to shipping. It was estimated that nearly fifteen thousand persons lost their lives in this cataclysm.

1916A Tidal Wave

The most memorable event of this year was a gigantic tidal wave of tremendous height, which swept over the lower coast of Florida. In a few minutes it inundated and destroyed a vast area of the coast, doing incalculable damage to shipping. It was estimated that nearly fifteen thousand persons lost their lives in this cataclysm.

1917War Between United States and ColumbiaThe stubborn attitude of the Central American Republic, Columbia, towards the United States, by her menacing antagonism to the construction of the interoceanic canal, gradually created a breach of the peace that led ultimately to a forcible demonstration by the United States, and precipitated the invasion by the latter of the Republic of Panama.Peace was re-established after a crushing defeat of the Columbians. The famous waterway,the Republic of Panama, then became United States territory, by annexation.

1917War Between United States and Columbia

The stubborn attitude of the Central American Republic, Columbia, towards the United States, by her menacing antagonism to the construction of the interoceanic canal, gradually created a breach of the peace that led ultimately to a forcible demonstration by the United States, and precipitated the invasion by the latter of the Republic of Panama.Peace was re-established after a crushing defeat of the Columbians. The famous waterway,the Republic of Panama, then became United States territory, by annexation.

Peace was re-established after a crushing defeat of the Columbians. The famous waterway,the Republic of Panama, then became United States territory, by annexation.

1918The Women’s ClubsThe Women’s Clubs which, during their first inception, were the subject of much ridicule, and the proceedings of their meetings a theme for ribald jokes in the secular press, gradually developed into such gigantic proportions that their influence became a powerful factor in every public question of the day, and in fact so continues unabated unto this day.The last Federal statistics show more than two thousand Institutions in the form of sanitariums, refuges, technical schools of practical utility, entirely under the auspices of Club Women. The constitutions of these laudable organizations “invariably stand for something which is ennobling” and their achievements are monumental tributes to the upward trend of womanhood.There was, however, a crucial period in their affairs worth mentioning. Some of these noble but over-zealous women of that period, in their exuberant enthusiasm for woman’s rights, forgettingthe limitations of their sex,—considered by the greatest thinkers of the past ages to be the sphere of Home,—agitated a propaganda of political equality or suffrage and, from time to time, created a stir among their organizations until at last, in 1918, the National Federation of Women’s Clubs decided to hold a conclave in order to decide the following momentous question: “Should Women Enter Politics?”More than four thousand five hundred delegates from all over the Union assembled at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. Sympathizers of the suffragists with their eloquence tried to railroad through a measure in their behalf, but equally able leaders of the opposition—benefitted by the warning of Sages—succeeded in counterbalancing the efforts of their fair antagonists.After a heated symposium the question was put to a vote, which resulted decisively in a victory for those who opposed the movement. It was further voted, that they should confine all their energies to civic, educational and humanitarian channels and things pertaining to Home. This was a most happy and wise decision,for the world at large needs mothers who will beget and nurse a Florence Nightingale, a Clara Barton, a Washington or a Lincoln, rather than mothers who would become a Jezebel, a Delilah or a Cleopatra.

1918The Women’s Clubs

The Women’s Clubs which, during their first inception, were the subject of much ridicule, and the proceedings of their meetings a theme for ribald jokes in the secular press, gradually developed into such gigantic proportions that their influence became a powerful factor in every public question of the day, and in fact so continues unabated unto this day.The last Federal statistics show more than two thousand Institutions in the form of sanitariums, refuges, technical schools of practical utility, entirely under the auspices of Club Women. The constitutions of these laudable organizations “invariably stand for something which is ennobling” and their achievements are monumental tributes to the upward trend of womanhood.There was, however, a crucial period in their affairs worth mentioning. Some of these noble but over-zealous women of that period, in their exuberant enthusiasm for woman’s rights, forgettingthe limitations of their sex,—considered by the greatest thinkers of the past ages to be the sphere of Home,—agitated a propaganda of political equality or suffrage and, from time to time, created a stir among their organizations until at last, in 1918, the National Federation of Women’s Clubs decided to hold a conclave in order to decide the following momentous question: “Should Women Enter Politics?”More than four thousand five hundred delegates from all over the Union assembled at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. Sympathizers of the suffragists with their eloquence tried to railroad through a measure in their behalf, but equally able leaders of the opposition—benefitted by the warning of Sages—succeeded in counterbalancing the efforts of their fair antagonists.After a heated symposium the question was put to a vote, which resulted decisively in a victory for those who opposed the movement. It was further voted, that they should confine all their energies to civic, educational and humanitarian channels and things pertaining to Home. This was a most happy and wise decision,for the world at large needs mothers who will beget and nurse a Florence Nightingale, a Clara Barton, a Washington or a Lincoln, rather than mothers who would become a Jezebel, a Delilah or a Cleopatra.

The last Federal statistics show more than two thousand Institutions in the form of sanitariums, refuges, technical schools of practical utility, entirely under the auspices of Club Women. The constitutions of these laudable organizations “invariably stand for something which is ennobling” and their achievements are monumental tributes to the upward trend of womanhood.

There was, however, a crucial period in their affairs worth mentioning. Some of these noble but over-zealous women of that period, in their exuberant enthusiasm for woman’s rights, forgettingthe limitations of their sex,—considered by the greatest thinkers of the past ages to be the sphere of Home,—agitated a propaganda of political equality or suffrage and, from time to time, created a stir among their organizations until at last, in 1918, the National Federation of Women’s Clubs decided to hold a conclave in order to decide the following momentous question: “Should Women Enter Politics?”

More than four thousand five hundred delegates from all over the Union assembled at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. Sympathizers of the suffragists with their eloquence tried to railroad through a measure in their behalf, but equally able leaders of the opposition—benefitted by the warning of Sages—succeeded in counterbalancing the efforts of their fair antagonists.

After a heated symposium the question was put to a vote, which resulted decisively in a victory for those who opposed the movement. It was further voted, that they should confine all their energies to civic, educational and humanitarian channels and things pertaining to Home. This was a most happy and wise decision,for the world at large needs mothers who will beget and nurse a Florence Nightingale, a Clara Barton, a Washington or a Lincoln, rather than mothers who would become a Jezebel, a Delilah or a Cleopatra.

1919The TornadoA cyclonic tornado of intense velocity and destructive force struck New York City, demolishing in its path, in the shape of a semi-circle from the Battery to Twenty-third Street, West, two hundred and seventy-five buildings. Fortunately, the day being a holiday, the loss of life was comparatively small.

1919The Tornado

A cyclonic tornado of intense velocity and destructive force struck New York City, demolishing in its path, in the shape of a semi-circle from the Battery to Twenty-third Street, West, two hundred and seventy-five buildings. Fortunately, the day being a holiday, the loss of life was comparatively small.

1920The Power of the PressThrough emancipation from its shackles of monarchic censorship and subserviency to despotic masters, the upward rise of the Press to usefulness and power was without a parallel—a power to which even Napoleon Bonaparte was sensible when he said, “I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets.” But like everything else in the universe, the Press also had its dual potentiality.Like a two-edged sword, it could be wielded for good or evil. In the bands of an unscrupulous politician it was a treacherous weapon, while in the control of the righteous citizen a tremendous power for good.Thus the Press for many decades, subsidized by the traitorous capitalist and under the guise of a pious mask, catered to the evil designs of the plutocracy until the gradual awakening of the people through the independent press at last understood their hypocrisy.The independent press, however, attained its highest degree of efficiency by the establishment of the College of Journalism. Its foundation slogan,publicityon all political and economic questions, had created a force of trained journalists—a force “mightier than the sword” and in a manner far more penetrating than the X-ray—pledged to defend the rights of the citizens. By an educational propaganda it taught the masses how to eradicate existing evils by the mere exercise of their unalienable right, the ballot box. Indeed in a government “of the people, for the people and by the people,” resort to force or revolution was absolutely unnecessary, while these twomost effectual weapons the world had ever seen, the voting power and the free press, were at their command.

1920The Power of the Press

Through emancipation from its shackles of monarchic censorship and subserviency to despotic masters, the upward rise of the Press to usefulness and power was without a parallel—a power to which even Napoleon Bonaparte was sensible when he said, “I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets.” But like everything else in the universe, the Press also had its dual potentiality.Like a two-edged sword, it could be wielded for good or evil. In the bands of an unscrupulous politician it was a treacherous weapon, while in the control of the righteous citizen a tremendous power for good.Thus the Press for many decades, subsidized by the traitorous capitalist and under the guise of a pious mask, catered to the evil designs of the plutocracy until the gradual awakening of the people through the independent press at last understood their hypocrisy.The independent press, however, attained its highest degree of efficiency by the establishment of the College of Journalism. Its foundation slogan,publicityon all political and economic questions, had created a force of trained journalists—a force “mightier than the sword” and in a manner far more penetrating than the X-ray—pledged to defend the rights of the citizens. By an educational propaganda it taught the masses how to eradicate existing evils by the mere exercise of their unalienable right, the ballot box. Indeed in a government “of the people, for the people and by the people,” resort to force or revolution was absolutely unnecessary, while these twomost effectual weapons the world had ever seen, the voting power and the free press, were at their command.

Thus the Press for many decades, subsidized by the traitorous capitalist and under the guise of a pious mask, catered to the evil designs of the plutocracy until the gradual awakening of the people through the independent press at last understood their hypocrisy.

The independent press, however, attained its highest degree of efficiency by the establishment of the College of Journalism. Its foundation slogan,publicityon all political and economic questions, had created a force of trained journalists—a force “mightier than the sword” and in a manner far more penetrating than the X-ray—pledged to defend the rights of the citizens. By an educational propaganda it taught the masses how to eradicate existing evils by the mere exercise of their unalienable right, the ballot box. Indeed in a government “of the people, for the people and by the people,” resort to force or revolution was absolutely unnecessary, while these twomost effectual weapons the world had ever seen, the voting power and the free press, were at their command.

1921Balloons and AirshipsStrange to say, from the time of Archytas of Tarantum to Otto Lilienthal, and fromMontgolfierBros. to Santos Dumont, Bell, Maxim and Langley, very little or no progress had been made in practical and safe aerial navigation.Though all these inventors, whether cranks with a smattering of mechanical knowledge, or veritable savants and scientists, efficient in physics according to their own accounts, had studied the subject of aerial flight from the fowls of the air, the failure of their experiments showed that they were far from grasping the mysteries of that subtle sagacity and subconsciousness of the birds, by which they balanced themselves against the currents and velocity of the winds, and by their intuitive sensitiveness, utilized to the fullest extent their vast number of muscles and feathers with such marvelous subtlety.Like the Italian alchemist in the middle ages, who had constructed the wings of his flying machine with feathers gathered from a dunghill, and who, when attempting to fly, had found himself dumped, by a strange sympathetic affinity, on the very dunghill from which he had gathered the feathers, the efforts likewise, of these illustrious experimenters were crowned by successful failures, by a similar force of attraction, their apparatus either alighting on the branches of trees, or diving into the waters like ducks.At the beginning of the 20th Century, the consensus of scientific opinion had reached the conclusion, that the successful flying machine of the future would be one, which would be heavier than air and with either a very small balloon or none at all. The various forms of balloons and flying craft, exhibited at the St. Louis exposition became an incentive for renewed efforts by scientists to solve the problem of aerial flight and continued with unremitting zest for nearly a quarter of a century.It was in the early part of 1919 that the science of aeronautics was radically improved by the discovery of a process for hardeningand soldering of Aluminum, by which comparatively light but strong framework and machinery were constructed, and thus gradually the elimination of inflated balloons had become possible.

1921Balloons and Airships

Strange to say, from the time of Archytas of Tarantum to Otto Lilienthal, and fromMontgolfierBros. to Santos Dumont, Bell, Maxim and Langley, very little or no progress had been made in practical and safe aerial navigation.Though all these inventors, whether cranks with a smattering of mechanical knowledge, or veritable savants and scientists, efficient in physics according to their own accounts, had studied the subject of aerial flight from the fowls of the air, the failure of their experiments showed that they were far from grasping the mysteries of that subtle sagacity and subconsciousness of the birds, by which they balanced themselves against the currents and velocity of the winds, and by their intuitive sensitiveness, utilized to the fullest extent their vast number of muscles and feathers with such marvelous subtlety.Like the Italian alchemist in the middle ages, who had constructed the wings of his flying machine with feathers gathered from a dunghill, and who, when attempting to fly, had found himself dumped, by a strange sympathetic affinity, on the very dunghill from which he had gathered the feathers, the efforts likewise, of these illustrious experimenters were crowned by successful failures, by a similar force of attraction, their apparatus either alighting on the branches of trees, or diving into the waters like ducks.At the beginning of the 20th Century, the consensus of scientific opinion had reached the conclusion, that the successful flying machine of the future would be one, which would be heavier than air and with either a very small balloon or none at all. The various forms of balloons and flying craft, exhibited at the St. Louis exposition became an incentive for renewed efforts by scientists to solve the problem of aerial flight and continued with unremitting zest for nearly a quarter of a century.It was in the early part of 1919 that the science of aeronautics was radically improved by the discovery of a process for hardeningand soldering of Aluminum, by which comparatively light but strong framework and machinery were constructed, and thus gradually the elimination of inflated balloons had become possible.

Though all these inventors, whether cranks with a smattering of mechanical knowledge, or veritable savants and scientists, efficient in physics according to their own accounts, had studied the subject of aerial flight from the fowls of the air, the failure of their experiments showed that they were far from grasping the mysteries of that subtle sagacity and subconsciousness of the birds, by which they balanced themselves against the currents and velocity of the winds, and by their intuitive sensitiveness, utilized to the fullest extent their vast number of muscles and feathers with such marvelous subtlety.

Like the Italian alchemist in the middle ages, who had constructed the wings of his flying machine with feathers gathered from a dunghill, and who, when attempting to fly, had found himself dumped, by a strange sympathetic affinity, on the very dunghill from which he had gathered the feathers, the efforts likewise, of these illustrious experimenters were crowned by successful failures, by a similar force of attraction, their apparatus either alighting on the branches of trees, or diving into the waters like ducks.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the consensus of scientific opinion had reached the conclusion, that the successful flying machine of the future would be one, which would be heavier than air and with either a very small balloon or none at all. The various forms of balloons and flying craft, exhibited at the St. Louis exposition became an incentive for renewed efforts by scientists to solve the problem of aerial flight and continued with unremitting zest for nearly a quarter of a century.

It was in the early part of 1919 that the science of aeronautics was radically improved by the discovery of a process for hardeningand soldering of Aluminum, by which comparatively light but strong framework and machinery were constructed, and thus gradually the elimination of inflated balloons had become possible.

1922The Flood in Mississippi ValleyIn the spring of this year the Mississippi Valley was flooded and submerged by terrible cloudbursts which, combined with melting of snows on the mountains, and subsequent bursting of dams and levees, devastated a vast area. According to records the lives lost in the inundated districts reached the total of sixty thousand.

1922The Flood in Mississippi Valley

In the spring of this year the Mississippi Valley was flooded and submerged by terrible cloudbursts which, combined with melting of snows on the mountains, and subsequent bursting of dams and levees, devastated a vast area. According to records the lives lost in the inundated districts reached the total of sixty thousand.

1923Uniform Divorce LawsThe unprecedented increase of divorces all over the United States and the attendant scandalous proceedings at the courts had reached such a maximum, and its baneful influence on the public morals had developed into such a point of danger that, a great awakening among the clergy and lawmakers of the nation wasthe result. At a conclave of representatives of the legal profession from every State in the Union, was promulgated a uniform divorce law for the United States of America.

1923Uniform Divorce Laws

The unprecedented increase of divorces all over the United States and the attendant scandalous proceedings at the courts had reached such a maximum, and its baneful influence on the public morals had developed into such a point of danger that, a great awakening among the clergy and lawmakers of the nation wasthe result. At a conclave of representatives of the legal profession from every State in the Union, was promulgated a uniform divorce law for the United States of America.

1924The Zionist MovementorThe Bursting of the Zion BubbleThe Zionist movement which for thirty years past gained more than two million converts and within that period had collected more than fifteen million dollars, was declared impracticable and illusionary!The estimable originators of this sentimental movement,Herzl, Nordau, Zangwill and others, although beyond the shadow of a doubt sincere and well-meaning, through the intensity of their zeal for the amelioration of their less fortunate brethren, were entirely blindfolded to the intricacies of politics and the eventful history of the Jewish race, from an ethnological and psychological point of view.Some of these true yet misguided philanthropists had passed away and other leaders, less impressed with the object of the society, hadtaken their places. As the Jews are not a pioneer race, the magnanimous scheme of the British government to place them upon a tract of virgin soil at Uganda, in Central Africa, for the purpose of colonization proved chaotic failure, on account of both sociological and economic reasons.The idea also of establishing a Jewish principality in Palestine, under an absolutely despotic and semi-barbarous government—which butchered her subjectsad libitum—was so ridiculous in the extreme, that the questions had become the laughing stock at the politicalsanctus sanctorumsof various governments.In 1923 a tremendous agitation was brought about by the leaders of the opposition, and those in power of the movement were challenged to public debate. The question grew to such proportions that it became a subject for discussion in every orthodox and gentile pulpit In the press, sociologists, ethnologists and anthropologists took part in the ephemeral arena and analyzed every phase of the subject, relating to the Hebrew race and the Zionist movement, laying bare every fact without reserve.It was stated by the opposition that though a stream of money had been pouring in from every quarter of the globe year after year, for the cause, no result as yet had been obtained, that great sums had been spent in salaries of the officials and at the dilly-dallying, corrupt courts of the Turkish Sultan.A learned sociologist likened the Hebrews to a parasitic plant, which derived its existence from the living sap of another. “An Israelite” he declared, “can only exist favorably amongst civilized centres of Christian and gentile communities; that whenever a colony of Hebrews were isolated by themselves, they would inevitably and gradually retrograde, impoverish and at last form a ghetto of misery and squalor.”Another ethnologist of repute expounded the fact, that the Jews were the life and essence of commercial activity and consequently formed an integral part of a prosperouscommonwealth. Sublimely industrious, instinctively provident and economical by nature, the Jews were persecuted because of their inherent virtues. He proved by clever historical documents, that their expulsion from Babylon, Egypt, Spain, Russia or wherever their rightswere abrogated, were the fundamental causes of the decadence of these countries from which they were expelled.Others accused the Hebrews of perverting the Golden Rule, of taking advantage of others by their inborn instinct of commercial sagacity, which well nigh approached unscrupulousness and that, being a mere commercial people, their patriotism could well be challenged. Many others advised, however, a propaganda of judicious assimilation of the Israelite with the Christians, contending that the sum total of their virtues and faults was the same as that of their Christian brethren. Meanwhile they advised the Jews that “wherever they lived they ought to make there, their Zions and temples.”After much heated argument and discussion which occupied several days, they at last arrived at the conclusion that the Zionist movement was chimerical! The balance of the funds amounting to many million dollars were voted for the establishment of technical and commercial schools for Israelites and for a fund to aid the judicious emigration of the Jews from ill-favored and congested districts to more favorable localities.

1924The Zionist MovementorThe Bursting of the Zion Bubble

The Zionist movement which for thirty years past gained more than two million converts and within that period had collected more than fifteen million dollars, was declared impracticable and illusionary!The estimable originators of this sentimental movement,Herzl, Nordau, Zangwill and others, although beyond the shadow of a doubt sincere and well-meaning, through the intensity of their zeal for the amelioration of their less fortunate brethren, were entirely blindfolded to the intricacies of politics and the eventful history of the Jewish race, from an ethnological and psychological point of view.Some of these true yet misguided philanthropists had passed away and other leaders, less impressed with the object of the society, hadtaken their places. As the Jews are not a pioneer race, the magnanimous scheme of the British government to place them upon a tract of virgin soil at Uganda, in Central Africa, for the purpose of colonization proved chaotic failure, on account of both sociological and economic reasons.The idea also of establishing a Jewish principality in Palestine, under an absolutely despotic and semi-barbarous government—which butchered her subjectsad libitum—was so ridiculous in the extreme, that the questions had become the laughing stock at the politicalsanctus sanctorumsof various governments.In 1923 a tremendous agitation was brought about by the leaders of the opposition, and those in power of the movement were challenged to public debate. The question grew to such proportions that it became a subject for discussion in every orthodox and gentile pulpit In the press, sociologists, ethnologists and anthropologists took part in the ephemeral arena and analyzed every phase of the subject, relating to the Hebrew race and the Zionist movement, laying bare every fact without reserve.It was stated by the opposition that though a stream of money had been pouring in from every quarter of the globe year after year, for the cause, no result as yet had been obtained, that great sums had been spent in salaries of the officials and at the dilly-dallying, corrupt courts of the Turkish Sultan.A learned sociologist likened the Hebrews to a parasitic plant, which derived its existence from the living sap of another. “An Israelite” he declared, “can only exist favorably amongst civilized centres of Christian and gentile communities; that whenever a colony of Hebrews were isolated by themselves, they would inevitably and gradually retrograde, impoverish and at last form a ghetto of misery and squalor.”Another ethnologist of repute expounded the fact, that the Jews were the life and essence of commercial activity and consequently formed an integral part of a prosperouscommonwealth. Sublimely industrious, instinctively provident and economical by nature, the Jews were persecuted because of their inherent virtues. He proved by clever historical documents, that their expulsion from Babylon, Egypt, Spain, Russia or wherever their rightswere abrogated, were the fundamental causes of the decadence of these countries from which they were expelled.Others accused the Hebrews of perverting the Golden Rule, of taking advantage of others by their inborn instinct of commercial sagacity, which well nigh approached unscrupulousness and that, being a mere commercial people, their patriotism could well be challenged. Many others advised, however, a propaganda of judicious assimilation of the Israelite with the Christians, contending that the sum total of their virtues and faults was the same as that of their Christian brethren. Meanwhile they advised the Jews that “wherever they lived they ought to make there, their Zions and temples.”After much heated argument and discussion which occupied several days, they at last arrived at the conclusion that the Zionist movement was chimerical! The balance of the funds amounting to many million dollars were voted for the establishment of technical and commercial schools for Israelites and for a fund to aid the judicious emigration of the Jews from ill-favored and congested districts to more favorable localities.

The estimable originators of this sentimental movement,Herzl, Nordau, Zangwill and others, although beyond the shadow of a doubt sincere and well-meaning, through the intensity of their zeal for the amelioration of their less fortunate brethren, were entirely blindfolded to the intricacies of politics and the eventful history of the Jewish race, from an ethnological and psychological point of view.

Some of these true yet misguided philanthropists had passed away and other leaders, less impressed with the object of the society, hadtaken their places. As the Jews are not a pioneer race, the magnanimous scheme of the British government to place them upon a tract of virgin soil at Uganda, in Central Africa, for the purpose of colonization proved chaotic failure, on account of both sociological and economic reasons.

The idea also of establishing a Jewish principality in Palestine, under an absolutely despotic and semi-barbarous government—which butchered her subjectsad libitum—was so ridiculous in the extreme, that the questions had become the laughing stock at the politicalsanctus sanctorumsof various governments.

In 1923 a tremendous agitation was brought about by the leaders of the opposition, and those in power of the movement were challenged to public debate. The question grew to such proportions that it became a subject for discussion in every orthodox and gentile pulpit In the press, sociologists, ethnologists and anthropologists took part in the ephemeral arena and analyzed every phase of the subject, relating to the Hebrew race and the Zionist movement, laying bare every fact without reserve.

It was stated by the opposition that though a stream of money had been pouring in from every quarter of the globe year after year, for the cause, no result as yet had been obtained, that great sums had been spent in salaries of the officials and at the dilly-dallying, corrupt courts of the Turkish Sultan.

A learned sociologist likened the Hebrews to a parasitic plant, which derived its existence from the living sap of another. “An Israelite” he declared, “can only exist favorably amongst civilized centres of Christian and gentile communities; that whenever a colony of Hebrews were isolated by themselves, they would inevitably and gradually retrograde, impoverish and at last form a ghetto of misery and squalor.”

Another ethnologist of repute expounded the fact, that the Jews were the life and essence of commercial activity and consequently formed an integral part of a prosperouscommonwealth. Sublimely industrious, instinctively provident and economical by nature, the Jews were persecuted because of their inherent virtues. He proved by clever historical documents, that their expulsion from Babylon, Egypt, Spain, Russia or wherever their rightswere abrogated, were the fundamental causes of the decadence of these countries from which they were expelled.

Others accused the Hebrews of perverting the Golden Rule, of taking advantage of others by their inborn instinct of commercial sagacity, which well nigh approached unscrupulousness and that, being a mere commercial people, their patriotism could well be challenged. Many others advised, however, a propaganda of judicious assimilation of the Israelite with the Christians, contending that the sum total of their virtues and faults was the same as that of their Christian brethren. Meanwhile they advised the Jews that “wherever they lived they ought to make there, their Zions and temples.”

After much heated argument and discussion which occupied several days, they at last arrived at the conclusion that the Zionist movement was chimerical! The balance of the funds amounting to many million dollars were voted for the establishment of technical and commercial schools for Israelites and for a fund to aid the judicious emigration of the Jews from ill-favored and congested districts to more favorable localities.

1925–26The Anglo-American AllianceThe Anglo-American Alliance, by which these two foremost nations of the earth were brought into a happy, fraternal union, and for the achievement of which for nearly a quarter of a century there had been a great effort, in this year had become an accomplished fact!It was celebrated in a manner unprecedented in the annals of the World’s history. Having a profound and far reaching effect, it became an ultimatum for other nations to keep the peace, and goaded them toward the adoption of similar laws, in order to secure the same reciprocal blessings of universal brotherhood.Much credit was due to that eminent English statesman, now Lord Cunningham, through whose tactful diplomacy this long-sought commercial, social, offensive and defensive alliance became a reality. “I am restrained,” said the Professor, looking in the direction of Aurora Cunningham, “to avoid eulogizing him as he justly deserves, for obvious reasons.”At this sentence the students, under the impulse of a sudden admiration, arose to theirfeet en masse, and, glancing smilingly at Aurora, began rapturously to clap their hands.This interruption of sympathetic appreciation was brought to a close, by a ringing cry of the Seminary yell: “Dee, Dee, Ya, Ya, Na, Na, Diana. Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!”Aurora, blushing deeply, gracefully bowed her acknowledgement and in due form the class was dismissed for the day.

1925–26The Anglo-American Alliance

The Anglo-American Alliance, by which these two foremost nations of the earth were brought into a happy, fraternal union, and for the achievement of which for nearly a quarter of a century there had been a great effort, in this year had become an accomplished fact!It was celebrated in a manner unprecedented in the annals of the World’s history. Having a profound and far reaching effect, it became an ultimatum for other nations to keep the peace, and goaded them toward the adoption of similar laws, in order to secure the same reciprocal blessings of universal brotherhood.Much credit was due to that eminent English statesman, now Lord Cunningham, through whose tactful diplomacy this long-sought commercial, social, offensive and defensive alliance became a reality. “I am restrained,” said the Professor, looking in the direction of Aurora Cunningham, “to avoid eulogizing him as he justly deserves, for obvious reasons.”At this sentence the students, under the impulse of a sudden admiration, arose to theirfeet en masse, and, glancing smilingly at Aurora, began rapturously to clap their hands.This interruption of sympathetic appreciation was brought to a close, by a ringing cry of the Seminary yell: “Dee, Dee, Ya, Ya, Na, Na, Diana. Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!”Aurora, blushing deeply, gracefully bowed her acknowledgement and in due form the class was dismissed for the day.

It was celebrated in a manner unprecedented in the annals of the World’s history. Having a profound and far reaching effect, it became an ultimatum for other nations to keep the peace, and goaded them toward the adoption of similar laws, in order to secure the same reciprocal blessings of universal brotherhood.

Much credit was due to that eminent English statesman, now Lord Cunningham, through whose tactful diplomacy this long-sought commercial, social, offensive and defensive alliance became a reality. “I am restrained,” said the Professor, looking in the direction of Aurora Cunningham, “to avoid eulogizing him as he justly deserves, for obvious reasons.”

At this sentence the students, under the impulse of a sudden admiration, arose to theirfeet en masse, and, glancing smilingly at Aurora, began rapturously to clap their hands.

This interruption of sympathetic appreciation was brought to a close, by a ringing cry of the Seminary yell: “Dee, Dee, Ya, Ya, Na, Na, Diana. Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!”

Aurora, blushing deeply, gracefully bowed her acknowledgement and in due form the class was dismissed for the day.

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