DISAPPOINTMENT OVER THE MERIWETHER SENTENCE.

ONE

NE of the noticeable features of the press comment during the trial of Minor Meriwether, on the charge of killing Midshipman Branch in a fist fight at Annapolis, was the tendency to sympathize with the unfortunate lad and to absolve him from all blame. "Midshipman Branch," declared the New Orleans Times-Democrat," was the victim of a pernicious and demoralizing system," and other papers held that the real responsibility rested upon the authorities at the Academy, who tolerated the maintenance of a dueling code in the institution. In view of this sentiment it is hardly surprising to find many papers expressing disappointment over the findings of the court-martial, which finds Meriwether guilty of conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline, and sentences him to confinement within the Academy grounds for one year and a reprimand. He was, however, acquitted on the charge of manslaughter. "This is little less than a vindication," says the Washington Star, and the New York Times believes that it "would be the height of injustice to visit Midshipman Meriwether with any penalty whatever if it appears that he has merely conformed to the code which he found in operation by the consent of his comrades and the connivance or negligence of his superiors." The verdict is "illogical" to the Louisville Courier-Journal, which says that Meriwether "should have been wholly set free."

66

Bonaparte shows that there is some doubt as to whether Branch's death was caused by a fall or by the blows received during the fight. "But the accused," he says, was undoubtedly entitled to the benefit of any reasonable doubt, and the record discloses a state of proof which, if it did not compel, at least justified an acquittal of this charge." In regard to the violation of the Academy regulations and the testimony that fights had been of frequent occurrence, and that no penalties had been inflicted, the Secretary says:

"This evidence seems to the department altogether immaterial as affecting the guilt or innocence of the accused. There can be no such thing as a lawful custom to commit crime, and the fact that through the laxity or want of vigilance of other persons in the service other old offenders had escaped punishment should in no wise justify the accused in violating the law. That the participants in the fight all knew they were doing something wrong is sufficiently shown, in the opinion of the department, by their interrupting the fight when an officer was believed to be approaching the room where it occurred. They may not have expected to receive adequate punishment, but they felt it was to their interest to avoid discovery. There was also evidence tending to show that the accused was unfamiliar with the articles for the government of the navy, . . . and, since the oath which he took since his admission to the Academy referred specifically to these articles, the department holds that he can claim no immunity on the ground of ignorance of a law which it was clearly his duty to know.

The testimony evoked during the trial in Washington fully established in the opinion of the press the fact that such fistic combats were not prohibited, but, on the contrary, were known by the officers of the Academy to prevail. One midshipman testified that he had refereed nineteen fist-fights, and that these fights, tho forbidden by the regulations, were an accepted method of settling differences among cadets. In his report on the case Secretary

66

The department has no difficulty in holding that this sentence is amply justified by the offense committed. There is, indeed, room for some doubt whether the punishment imposed might not have justly been made more severe, but as to this the department need express no opinion. In one respect, however, it seems proper that the sentence should be mitigated so as to permit the accused to participate in the next annual practise cruise."

While the press generally approve these findings, some disap pointment centers around the fact that nothing is said against the

66

practise of settling differences by fist fights, for these papers say that the "code" was on trial. The worst feature of the finding," declares the New York Mail," is that in effect it justifies the 'midshipmen's code,' and leaves that brutal means of arbitrament still in force"; and the Cleveland Plain Dealer adds that Meriwether has been "made to a large extent a scapegoat for plain neglect of duty on the part of his superiors, a dereliction in which the Secretary of the Navy will share if he allows the matter to drop without striving to improve the conditions which the trial has revealed." The Washington Star declares:

66

"The court-martialing of Meriwether did not cover the case. The approval of the findings leaves the main work of reform to be undertaken. If the case is allowed to drop now the whole country will be permitted to understand that fist-fighting at the Naval Academy is condoned by the authorities, who ask only that fatal results do not follow, and who declare that such fatal results are punishable merely by a reprimand and nominal confinement. The Naval Academy, and not young Meriwether, is now on trial."

Even more bitter is the denunciation of the Academy officials that is brought out by the discovery of a brutal case of hazing at Annapolis, notwithstanding the testimony of midshipmen witnesses before the Meriwether court-martial that the practise did not exist. The hazing took place on December 13, and the victim, Midshipman Kimbough, was found in his room in a state of coma, the result of having been compelled by upper classmen repeatedly to stand on his head. To the Brooklyn Eagle this case suggests "that the demoralization in management revealed at the trial of Meriwether is getting no better very fast," and "that the attention of the Secretary of the Navy should be given at once to the work of reform."

THE

TERRITORIAL SENTIMENT ON THE

STATEHOOD QUESTION.

HE great majority of the press of Oklahoma and Indian Territory and of the other papers in that part of the country are in favor of "joint" Statehood, or the plan to make one State out of the "Twin Territories." The "injustice of depriving over one million free American citizens of self-government" seems to have united all in a common cause. Differences of opinion have been laid aside for the sake of expediency; and interest and effort are now centered and engaged in securing from Congress a proper and immediate consideration of the rights of Oklahoma and Indian Territory, independent of any action that may be taken in regard to Arizona and New Mexico. For a fear is entertained that if the old scheme to make four instead of two States out of the remaining Territories is revived, Statehood legislation would have to be accomplished through an omnibus" bill, which would produce an interminable delay. Hence, with the exception of the St. Louis Republic (Dem.) and some other prominent dailies, the papers referred to are earnestly urging the adoption of the Statehood bill which Mr. Bird S. McGuire (Rep.), delegate from Oklahoma, prepared and introduced as number one on the calendar in this session of Congress. Says The Oklahoman (Dem.) of Oklahoma City: "The fitness and the right of these Territories to be admitted should be considered without regard to the question of admitting Arizona and New Mexico, jointly or separately." And The Capital (Rep.), of Guthrie, remarks:

"Both political parties in each of the Territories are on record now in favor of joint Statehood for the two Territories. The Democrats of Indian Territory were the last to get in line, but they are welcome, as, regardless of parties, the people of Oklahoma should work unanimously for the kind of Statehood the majority of people of the two Territories prefer, and there should not be a dissenting voice at Washington when we demand our rights this winter. It is best that the people here give not the least excuse for members of the Senate to work against the Statehood bill that will be reported from the House Committee and passed by tha, body before the Christmas holidays."

The papers, however, which hold out for "separate" Statehood

are standing firmly by their colors. They present cogent arguments to support their position, the chief one of which seems to be founded on the contention that more Western Senators are needed in order to preserve a proper balance of representation in the Senate between the East and the West. This point is clearly brought out by the St. Louis Republic, which says:

"In the four States of Missouri, Arkansas,

Texas, and Louisiana there was, by the census in 1900, a population of 8,488,564. . Oklahoma and the Indian Territory would add nearly 800,000, making the population of the Southwest this side of the Mississippi River 9,638,955 by the census of 1900, without counting New Mexico and Arizona. By the same census the population of the six New England States was in 1900 only 5,592,351. And yet New England is represented in the Senate at Washington by twelve Senators while the Southwest

BIRD S. MCGUIRE,

Delegate from Oklahoma who opposes the "omnibus" bill, and insists that Oklahoma and Indian Territory be admitted as one State regardless of whatever action may be taken in respect to Arizona and New Mexico.

with a population 70 per cent. greater in 1900 is represented by only eight Senators in Washington. If two new States are created in Oklahoma and Sequoyah (Indian Territory) this part of the Southwest will have twelve Senators, the same as New England, and on the basis of the census of five years ago 70 per cent. of its population would be still without representation in the Senate, as compared with New England."

The press of Arizona and New Mexico shows considerable conflict of opinion on the Statehood question. The sentiment for "joint" Statehood is stronger in New Mexico than in Arizona. In fact, barring the Santa Fé New Mexican and some other noteworthy exceptions, the New Mexican papers seem heartily in favor of the proposition laid down by President Roosevelt in his recent message to Congress. In Arizona, however, the situation is different.

The Holbrook Argus, the Arizona Star (Tucson), the Nogales Oasis, The Herald and Apache News (St. Johns), the Coconino Sun (Flagstaff), and possibly the Dispatch, endorse the union of the Territories either as a matter of principle or because they believe it to be the only way to secure self-government for the people of Arizona within a reasonable time.

But excepting these papers, the trend of opinion in Arizona seems to have a pronounced direction toward a "separate" Statehood movement. Among the leaders on this side of the question are the Douglas International, The Gazette and The Republican, of Phoenix, and The Post and The Citizen of Tucson. The Tombstone Prospecter is non-committal. They dread the proposed union for fear that the American people of Arizona would be outvoted by the larger "greaser" population of New Mexico; and the arguments they advance in their effort to avert this danger are that the two Territories united have too vast an area to be included in one State, while each alone has just the right size for that purpose, and besides is so richly endowed with natural resources that its population numerically will eventually surpass that of many older States.

The views of these papers are ably summed up by the Tucson Citizen, which says:

This correctly expresses the opinion of the people of Arizona. A few individuals here and there are willing to submit Arizona to the Government of New Mexico. These are invariably backnumber politicians, people with grievances, men who have been 'turned down' by their party, lawyers without briefs and ready for any adventure, and the aged, the decrepit, and feeble.

"The substantial fact is that New Mexico has more than twice as many people as Arizona, while the material resources of Arizona are more than twice greater than those of New Mexico. In the event of joint Statehood New Mexico would make the laws and do the governing, and Arizona would have to foot the bills. Arizona would be denuded of its institutions-its university, its prison, its asylums, and its normal schools. New Mexico would furnish the Governor and State officers, the Senators of the United

States, the judges of the Supreme Court. Spanish would in all probability be made the official language of the courts and Legislature and the teaching of English might not be tolerated in the public schools. This is what confronts Arizona in the event of joint Statehood with New Mexico.

"The thoughtful and patriotic people of Arizona desire to preserve their own civilization, their own institutions, their own laws and liberties. Arizona is English-speaking and the great majority of its people are of European stock, largely of the Anglo-Celtic They will not surrender their right to govern themselves. They will never yield themselves to the dominant voting power of an alien race."

race.

TOPICS IN BRIEF.

THO Witte is the man of the hour, it must seem like a pretty long hour to him. -The Chicago News.

MR. WITTE is enjoying the usual experiences of the physician who is called after the priest has left.-7he Detroit News.

FUTURE historians looking over Mr. Balfour's political record will have to admit that he was a great golf player.-The Chicago News.

PERHAPS Russia is merely working herself up to a condition favorable to the introduction of football into the country.-The Atlanta Constitution. FURTHER discoveries as to the elaborate system of canals on Mars lead us to believe that the transcontinental railroads have little influence there.-The Detroit News.

THERE have been a good many Macedonian massacres, but it was not until Macedonian finances went wrong that the great Christian Powers got excited.The Newark News.

THE asphalt trust's assertion that money would get any kind of justice desired in Venezuela's courts is refuted by the fact that the trust didn't get what it wanted. The Detroit News.

GEORGE W. PERKINS denies that he was in peril while in Russia. They probably fought shy of him as soon as they ascertained he was a life-insurance magnate.-The Washington Post.

SIXTEEN hundred steerage passengers sang a song of thanksgiving when they arrived in New York. The explanation is that they had never been in New York before.-The Kansas City Journal.

NOTWITHSTANDING the suppression of G. Bernard Shaw's new play there is little danger that the New York stage will be elevated sufficiently to hurt any one who falls off.-The Los Angeles Express.

ONE of the saddest things about it is that many of those who have built up the life-insurance business are compelled to abandon it before the assets have been seriously impaired.-The Chicago Inter Ocean.

COL. S. S. MCCLURE, who advocates calling boodlers and grafters "just plain thieves," is hard man. He seems to have no consideration for the feelings of other plain thieves.-The Kansas City Journal.

A TEXAS poet has written a song in which he says that while his body is in Texas his soul is in Tennessee. He is not the first poet who has had trouble in keeping body and soul together.-The Toledo Blade.

LETTERS AND ART.

A REMARKABLE STRUGGLE TO SAVE A
DYING LANGUAGE.

"IRELAND is engaged upon the last great battle of the race

for the preservation of its language. More than that, we are engaged upon the last grand battle of the Irish race for the preservation of its own identity." In these words the distinguished Irish scholar, Dr. Douglas Hyde, in the course of a recent public address in New York, indicated the spirit and purpose of the Gaelic League of Ireland. Dr. Hyde, who is the founder and president of the League, is on a four months' lecturing tour in this country. A year ago public attention was turned to the Irish literary revival by the visit of the well-known poet, William Butler Yeats, a conspicuous figure in that revival. New interest is awakened by the presence among us of Dr. Hyde, the father and head of the movement. The Gaelic League claims

to be absolutely non-political and non-sectar

ian, and to have for its two immediate objects "the revival of the Gaelic language as a spoken tongue, with a recreation, as its natural consequence, of Gaelic arts, crafts, and industries," and "the encouragement of Gaelic music, dances, and games." Founded in Dublin twelve years ago, with a membership of five, the League is now 100,000 strong. It has succeeded in introducing instruction in Gaelic, "the oldest vernacular, except the Greek, in Europe," into 3,000 of the 10,000 Irish schools. The aim of the League, we are told, is not to supplant the English language in Ireland, but to make the Irish a bilingual people. The rapid growth of the movement, and its remarkable economic aspects, are thus described by Dr. Hyde in one of his lectures:

other tongues. The Irish people were probably the first to break off the original Aryan stock. Their language contains many remnants of its old Aryan origin. It bears this resemblance even on its outward surface so that it is apparent to a casual student of the language. For philological purposes old Irish ranks second only to Sanscrit.

"The children of Milesius have been both blessed and cursed above all others. They alone were not conquered by the invasions of the Romans, the Gauls, and the Northmen; they alone retained their old civilization unsubdued by the conqueror. This fact has tended to give to Irish literature a place of its own in the history of the world's literature. The Irish race alone of modern Europe has preserved its race and language of years. It has no parallel but Greece. <

"Before the rise of the Neibelungen lied, and the troubadours of the Languedoc and Languoeil, Ireland swarmed with bards and poets and singers. The volume of Irish literature is enormous. But it is not of the written literature that I wish to speak, tho I

"A dozen years ago the language was taught in less than a dozen schools. Six years ago it was taught in 105 schools. To-day it is taught more or less in 3,000. Between public and parochial schools, colleges and convents, there can not be less than a quarter of a million now studying the language and history of their fathers. Six years ago a stranger would never hear a word of Irish or anything to show that Ireland was not a big, vulgarized English county.

"Now in many towns the street names are put up in Irish, and the national daily papers and very many of the weeklies print more or less Irish in every issue. Six years ago an Irish book was a rarity. Now scarcely a week passes but a new one comes from the press, and the distribution of books and pamphlets from our own offices alone amounts to a quarter of a million copies yearly. Six years ago if you spoke Irish as well as Owen Roe O'Neill or wrote it as well as Geoffrey Keating it was not worth a thraneen to you. To-day you can not obtain a place under the corporation in the capital of Ireland or under the County Council of Cork or of Mayo or under the Corporation of Limerick or in a dozen other places unless you know the national language of your country.

"Six years ago for any product of Irish brains or of Irish hands to find a sale in Ireland it was actually necessary for it to bear the hallmark of London or Paris-a terrible comment upon the situation that had to be faced by the Gaelic League. But now we are training up a race for whom an Irish trademark on an article will be the strongest inducement to buy it, and the results of our teaching have been amazing. I am told in every direction that the trade of our woolen mills is doubled, of our paper mills trebled, and of every little industry that we have enormously increased, and I believe it."

Speaking at Harvard University of the value of the Irish language and literature, Dr. Hyde said:

"The Irish language is highly inflected, pure and unmixed with

deemed it necessary to give this short introduction, as Irish literature is very little known in this country. The folk tales go back farther than literature; the tales of the peasants carry back centuries before the art of writing was invented. The folk tales that we find in peasant cabins give us the only possible clew to the habits of these early peoples.

Mr. James O. Hannay, discussing the Gaelic League in the pages of The Independent Review (London), writes:

"We have in Ireland an example of a people whose native culture, music, and language have been deliberately obliterated by a system of education based upon another culture and imparted in another language. We have also in Ireland a people who are the despair of statesmen, whom no one can succeed in understanding, who are not able to understand themselves. The Gaelic League maintains that there is between this system of education and the condition of the people the relation of cause and effect. Its contention is at least worthy of serious consideration.

"It is no part of the program of the Gaelic League to stamp out the use of English. The Irish people will stand to gain, not to lose, by the success of the League. They will become, if the League prospers, a bilingual people, like several of the smaller Continental nations. It is, therefore, useless to urge against the League that English is a great commercial language. The fact is admitted; and'a bilingual Irishman will make full use of English in his commerce. Nor is there any point in waxing eloquent about the glorious heritage of English literature. Irishmen will go on reading and appreciating the masterpieces of English literature even tho they learn to use their own language and to read their own books. It is not a disadvantage to a people to be bilingual. On the contrary, a people in such a position evidently possesses an enormous advantage in point of culture, intelligence, and mental adaptability, over one which knows no language but its own."

Ellen Desart, a member of the League, writing in The Nineteenth Century, says:

"People have asked me what is the use of learning a language admittedly nearing the verge of death? I can mention at least half a dozen good and practical uses:

"(1) It is an interesting, a primary language; it has a fine literature; it is as good an intellectual exercise as Greek or Latin.

"(2) It appeals as an intellectual occupation to a class of persons who would as soon try to master the classical languages as to fly.

"(3) It appeals as a pastime to many to whom, for practical purposes, French or German would be quite as useless.

"(4) It utilizes the energies and aspirations awakened by the nationalist movement for purposes which breed neither sedition nor agitation, but produce results as ardently desired by England as by Ireland.

"(5) It fosters self-confidence and self-reliance by proving to the

Irishman that he has something of his very own to be proud of, that owes nothing, but has given much, to other countries.

"(6) It gives to the ordinary working-man of that enormous class which, for good or evil, has now in its hands the ultimate destiny of nations, an interest and an occupation which keep him away from the shebeen where illicit whisky at a penny a glass steals away his brains, and ignorant politicians with the best intentions mislead his confidence and encourage the laziness engendered of an enervating climate, a pleasureless existence, and perpetual promise of help from the outside."

FELIX

A MUSIC-DRAMA ON AN UNUSUAL THEME. ELIX WEINGARTNER, the eminent German conductor now directing symphonic concerts in this country, is known as a distinguished composer in Europe. He has written much for the orchestra, and a considerable amount for the operatic stage. It has not been generally reported on this side, however, that just before his departure for America he produced, at Antwerp, in his own language, for the first time, an opera or music-drama which he had finished some years since-a drama on Wagnerian lines and on a subject as unusual as it is rich in dramatic and musical possibilities. Herr Weingartner's music-drama is called "Genesius," and is based on a work entitled "Geminianus," from the pén of H. Herrig, whose theme is the martyrdom of the Christian converts in Rome in the third century. In the book, as in the opera, there is portrayed the awful struggle between decadent paganism and the young, rising Christian religion.

The production of this work under the composer's personal direction was an event in the musical life of Antwerp, and a full account of it is given in Le Figaro (Paris) by its musical critic, Robert Brussel. He praises the sincerity, the elevation, the im

Diocletian, struck with terror at this supernatural manifestation, loses his reason. All the victims, all the blood he has caused to be shed, haunt his mind; his strength leaves him, and he falls to the ground almost lifeless, conquered by the piety of the simple girl.

Later, to exorcise these phantoms, the emperor orders a spectacle in the course of which Genesius is to appear in the part of Apollo. But during the actor's performance the truth suddenly dawns upon him, and he startles everybody by celebrating in ringing terms the splendors of the new faith. Of course, he is at once seized, thrown into a prison, and condemned to share the fate of the other Christian heretics.

In the third and final act we see the Christian martyrs on the eve of their execution. All sleep; Genesius alone is wakeful. When Pelagia, disturbed in her slumber, wakes, Genesius comforts her and, for the last time, eloquently pictures to her the rare beauty of religious martyrdom.

For this drama, the critic continues, the composer has written one of the most remarkable scores the modern German school has produced. The leitmotif, or leading theme, is at the basis of the whole musical structure; the score, however, is intensely lyrical and reveals a melodic talent of rare richness. The musical ideas which serve to characterize the various personages are distinct and definite; at the same time they are plastic enough to permit of endless combinations and abundant orchestral color. The opera is full of movement and contrast, the Pagan scenes and those depicting the faith, courage, and sufferings of the Christians serving to heighten each the others' effects, the whole being marked by vigor, grasp, mastery of musical expression and genuine power.Translation made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

WHAT COLLEGE STUDENTS READ.

he finds Wagner's influence in the poem (or libretto) written by Weingartner himself, in the atmosphere of the opera, and in its

general scheme and underlying conception, he says that in the melodic and harmonic features of the opera the composer was distinctly original. We condense and translate his article as follows:

The action is simple enough. A young Christian girl named Pelagia is in love with a Pagan comedian, Genesius, of the court of Diocletian. Genesius had sought to gain admission into the ranks of the Christian converts and had been rejected by the priest, Cyprianus. Enraged at this exclusion, Genesius avenges the insult by informing the authorities of the missionary activity of the priest. The latter is imprisoned and, like all Chris-. tians at that time, is to be subjected to cruel torture and martyrdom. Pelagia hears of this, and demands that she, too, be punished as a heretic. Genesius had not foreseen such a consequence of his monstrous deed, and tries to save Pelagia.

FELIX WEINGARTNER. He has written both the words and music of an opera dealing with the Christian martyrdoms in the time of Diocletian.

Diocletian, captivated by the grace and loveliness of the young girl, offers her a pardon, together with the homage of his love. She scornfully repels his advances. The emperor is humble at first, but gradually he becomes brutal and impatient, and Pelagia, hard pressed, addresses a fervent prayer to the cross. Heaven is not deaf to her appeal, and a celestial light irradiates her face.

some interesting assertions in regard to what college students read, outside the requirements of the curriculum. The writer, who claims to speak from information gathered at first hand, states that "the larger number of students who read for their own pleasure devote most time to newspapers and magazines." We are further assured that " the average college man, even when not a football specialist, is not, as a rule, intellectually gifted," and that "like a true American he looks upon things literary and artistic as a casual amusement, an easy way of using up time." That he does not read "the frothier current fiction," nor poetry, nor Thackeray, nor George Eliot, are none of them particularly surprising facts. But the same can not be said of the statement that "Ibsen and Pinero and Jones and Maeterlinck are being read and discussed by a surprisingly large number of college men-men, too, who do very little serious reading along other lines." We read further:

"The influence of the athletic ideal on the reading of the undergraduate is plain. He knows his Kipling and he loves his Jack London. Those fellows are men,' he remarks. "They can do things. They've got the goods with 'em.' The self-glorification, the brutality, the cynicism, and the sensationalism of a man like London answer exactly the demands of a new race of forceworshipers. .

....

The college community is relatively free from the transient fads of the outer world. The fact that everybody is talking about the 'House of Mirth' wins very few readers for Mrs. Wharton among undergraduates.

Our inquiries indicate that among the standard novelists Scott, Dumas, Dickens, and Stevenson are the best known. Thackeray and George Eliot find relatively few readers. They are considered rather slow. Dickens is usually much admired or much disliked; he seems to excite more violence of opinion than any other popular novelist. . .

With rare exceptions, the modern collegian does not read poetry unless he has to. He may study it in his regular college course; but that is a different matter. Except for a few admirers of, say, Byron, Rossetti, and Stephen Phillips, the spontaneous reading of poetry has gone to the wall in our colleges. Even the 'Barrack-room Ballads' and the 'Seven Seas' seem to have had