Daily British Whig (1850), 27 Dec 1912, p. 11

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THE DAILY BRITISH WHIG, FRIDAY. PECEMBER - 4912, PAGE HIS BEST DAY IS GONE . THE WAR CORRESPONDENT 18 NOW A THING OF THE PAST. \ Ever Since the Boer War When Kit. chener Curbed the Freedom of the Journalist at the Front, Army Of. ficers Have Been Increasing the Censorship Under Which News Is Sent Out to the Great Dailies. Readers of Rudyard Kipling's story, "The Light that Failed," will remem- ber the voluble war correspondent who bobs in and out of the story with the announcement, couched in terms of delighted enthusiasm, that there is to be war in the Balkans, says a writer in T.P.'s Weekly. Mr. Kipling, with that gemius for hitting off a state of mind in a frame, succeeded admir. ably with this particular character. War correspondents have been awaiting this war in the Balkans for know not how many years. They have always been more or less ready for the emergency, which has threat ened Europe for so long, and now that it has come the position, so far as the war correspondent is concern. ed, is full of irony. The war in the Balkans has come with a vengeance; five nations are dealing out death on a scale so heroic as to satisfy the de- mands of the most sanguinary news- paper reader; but Othello's oécupation is gone, There are scores of waf correspon. dents in the peninsula of tragedy, but they are not allowed to go near the war, and if, by any chance or per- tinacity, they get within smell of the wder, a rigorous censorship anni- ilates their news long before it is able to satisfy the hungry newspaper presses of the world. Three repu tions only have as yet beeii made b war correspondents during the crisis and one of them is anonymous. The whole position of the war cor- respondent is changed. At one time he was the associate of generals and commanders at the very hub of battle, to-day he is treated with .the pro foundest suspicions' by the war mas- ters, and he is kept as far away from the front as possible without trans- cending the lNmits of international courtesy. Indeed, us T write, the majority of war correspondents in the Balkan Peninsula are confined either in the town of SBtara-Zagora, the base of the 'Bulgarian operations, some forty-five miles the wrong side of the Turkish frontier, or at a camp near Tehorlu Btation. Even then their news does not ges through so quickly as the news of correspondents at Sofia, Bel. grade, Athens or Constantinople. The result has been of extreme in. terest to the student of 'the daily newspaper. The world has known that great battles were being fought, but during those battles, contrary to the journalism of the past, the world has been in complepe ignorance of what has been taking place. And it must be remembered that most of the engagements of the Balkan war have covered several days. Not until a particular movement has been com pleted have we learnt what transpired, and even then only in the most care. fully guarded messages. T have been no anticipations of movements, no telegraphed itineraries of martial progress, no vivid glimpses of sanguinary contests' during opera tions, nothing save. vague rumors and prophecies inspired in the Fleet Btreets of the world. But instead of news we have seen the apotheosis of the military disquisitioner, exempli- fied chiefly in the brilliant and cap- able articles of Liewt.-Colone! Maurice Grant, writing under the familiar and famous pseudonym "Linesman," in The London Daily Mail, and the em- phatic and ardent analyses of the situation from day to-day by Mr. J. L. Garvin in The london Pall Mall Gazette But the situation at the moment is a complete reverse of what held dur ing war times in the Of o time the war a a Sam. made us wise and full of knowledge during the event and sometimes before it; there were moments when great war oor respondents like Archibald Forbes, G. W. Btevens and Bennett Burleigh appeared to have been conducting the campaigns which they chronicled. Anybody who remembers the inei. dents associated with the activities of war correspondents during the Boer war, when thosé most romantically occupied of all journalist marched with the armies into the very flame of battle and sometimes suffered the trials of the besieged in heroic strong- holds like Ladysmith and Kimberley, will be able 40 mark the extreme dil- ference in the status of that profession to-day. + But it was the joumalistic indiscre- tions of the Boer war which sealed the war cerrespondent's doom, Lord Kitchener was the first te exercise a censorship on their activities, and his example was followed by the com. manders of the war between Russia and Japan, when still further curtail. ments and more censorship came into operation; and with the Balkan war the censorship beth on the part of Turkey and the confeder- ates is so complete that the war cor. respondent is practically extinct as a swift means of commubication be tween the seat of war and the peace. ful world. ! We are certainly robbed of the thrill of knowledge of hot encounters dur. ing the hours of their wildest heat, but I do not think anybody will com. plain at the turn affairs have taken. t is all a part of the war. The tyrant who aled the war after all the any army or the diplomati¢ any state; the tyrant who has exter. minated the You cap jolly the average man by referring to him as a prominent citizen. » When & man agrees with you at sl! times, Jook for the axe he has to grind, Se : WINDMILLS OF HOLLAND. Old-Fashioned Methods Still Prevail In Operating Them. It is said that there are 10,000 windmilis in Holland. The number 1% said, however, to be less than it was fifty years ago, for the Dutch have, in a measuré, substitoted steam and other forms of power for the capricious. wind, Whenever the wind changes in Hol- land hundreds of mill. keepers come forth and laboriously turn the tops about. by hand. They may be seen pushing and straining on the gal- lefies surrodnding the towers midway between the ground and the top or tugging at the spokes of a wheel on the ground. Zaanland is especially the home of the windmill, It lies to the north and west of Amsterdam, and every town or village in this district begine or ends in "zaan."' Zaandijk, according to one traveler, perpetually reminds ome of the old query, "Do you see anything green?" "Everything in Zsanlijk is green. Bridges, fences, doors, windows, walls, are green, ranging from the green of peas to that of apples, olives, grass, malachite, beryl, old bottles and ver- digris ! In a there are shown many models of windmills, among which is that of the first windmill erected in Zaandam. It stood in the water, and when it was desired to turn the sails toward the wind the miller was obliged to get into his boat and, taking a line, tow the whole structure around until it" was. in a working position again. Lat er on the mill was set on a poet and the whole turned about this as an exis, in the same manner that one revolves bookshelves, Then another method was devised. The entire edi- fice was turned about from the bot- tom like a monitor's turrent. Finally the comparatively modern type was adopted, that of a cap. holding the axle and sails with a cogwheel and spindle inside and 'easily moved | from below by a hand wheel or wind- lass to secure the proper frontage at will, The Diver and His Clothes. When clothed in the ordinary div- er's suit topped with the heavy brass helmet a diver is helpless. The air that is pumped down to him fills not only the helmet, but the entire suit, uffing it out to such an extent that ieavy weights are required to keep the man down. The work that he can do is limited. One of the annoyances that he has to endure is the fact that he cannot reach inside of suit to ease any discomfort. A diver once discov- ered a June bug in his helmet when he was down under water, and he was obliged to endure all the torture of having the insect crawl over his face without any possible means of reach. ing it to destroy it or even brush it away. Recently, however, a French inventor devised a diver's outfit which dispenses with everything but an ab- breviated form of helmet. Air is pumped to the diver in the usual way, through a pipe which is attach- ed Jo his helmet at the back of the neck. Clams' Eggs. The clam's eggs are carried by the on her gills. When there are fish in the water with them the moth- er clams discharge the eggs which soon hatch, but if there are no fish they curry the eggs until they decay. The reason of this strange behavior is this: When the eggs are set free in the water they soon hatch and the little ones swim about until they find some fish to which to attach them. selves. They live for a time on the mucus of the fish and then drop off, sink to the bottom and form burrows for themselves. This curious eemi- parasitic life is no doubt a reversion to the habit of some ancient ancestor Lizards' Tails. Certain lisards are remarkable for the fragility of their tails, although this weakness is not always the draw- back that may be imagined. The dia- mond tailed gecke, for instance, fre- quently owes ite existence to the readi- ness with which ite caudal appendage can be snapped off. This reptile, which will perch upon a rock head downward and tail in the air, is liable to be preyed upon by) hawks. One of these formidable bircé will swoop down up- on a lizard 'and seize what it takes to be the head, bul is really the tail. The brittle ihaps off, and the goockd wrigg y, not much the worse, to grow another. Bright Pupils. These are some of the pupils' an- swears to examination problems : The countries benefited by the ower. flow of the Nile are Europe, Asia, Australia and America, because they are not there to be drowned. The source of the Nile river is ite main strength. A Example--A boy paid $825 for a wagon and sold it far $7.96. Did he gain or lose, and how much? Answer--He Jrined on the cents and lost on the dollars. The Dog's Kennel. Damp is the greatest evil to which the dog confined outside the house in & kennel is liable. It will kill the Mvnfoss dog and must be carefully against. If a dog is to keep in health, too, it is necessary that it should be able to enjoy plenty of sunlight, a jhe k She uld ak 8 acing south, excep bug Bh hottest parts of the day in summer, when it should be moved in- to the shade. Each to His Trade. "This poem was written by a prom- iment lawyer of this city. Has it any value," "About as much value," eaid the editor, "as a legal opinion writtem by a poet." 0 An Easier Explanation. A Jelena once made his apology for iiitionion of a statement by adding, "I can't give you an easier Spiaiiation without meking it more 'Yes, dearie," came the hland re ply, "your f&thér is in the library." A scientist has discovered that the on is a cure for love, Public enthusiasm js often --suc- ceded by public forgetfulness. "ow little museum of this pldce 1.000.000 TOO MARY. Britain's Surplus Women Cons*ilu Serious Preblem If 3 bad 1.006.000 women to sap port snd talk lo--or be talked to that would be sbout 998.999 more than yon want wouldny it? If you cau conceive of such a state of af fairs. 3 can gain some ides of sitpat hal conironts is really a serious problem that John Bull has to solve and it is wor rying him almost as much as the Geman situation is. The British reg. istrar-geueral is the man who discov. ered the startling fact that the female members of England's population out amber the males by about a million and a quurier But the extra 250,000 are not of vital importance. It may be that they {were simply thrown. infor good meas- {ure by the census takers, who have just recently finished their work. It is the "million wo many' that are causing both statesmen and marriage. able men to beecme grey. If any one, or any nation, or any number of nations, will consent tw accept a deed to these 1,000,000 women =1-Mr. Bull will be only too glad to give the odd 260,000 as a bonus. The pro- blém is to find some one who wants one million women, Thus far the "1,000,000 too many women" don't know that they are a drug on the matrimonial market and the men of England are trying to keep the fact a secret. Wro knows what might happen if t~cy should form a league or army and take a determined stand. If (hey did, no unmarried man would be safe, and wives would probably have to sar- round their husbands with guards. But even that would be impossible, for if the guards were men they too would have to be and there aren't enough men in thé country to do that. "Of course, it would be a terrible calamity for us personally if a mil lion of the daughters of Gren Biitain were to leave us suddenly," dec the registrar.general. "There would be a 'few of us who would not feel the wrench, but for a time life would seem very blank indeed. "But, looking at the matter econ- omically or coldbloodedly--if about a million women tok it into their heads to emigrate it would be about the best thing that could possibly happen to the country. "The fact that we have these more than a million marriageable women in the country means that they must look about for some means of keeping themselves, "This will naturally lead to an en- croachment «f women upon the fields of labor which have always belonged to men, for it is well known that less money is paid for women clerks than for men, "The market for clerical labor in England is already well overstocked, os what is more natural than that an employer should prefer to engage a cheap worker to a more expensive one; provided, of course, she is just as competent and suits his purpose all right." As Good as a Gold-Mine, Prof. White estimates that no fewer than 400,000,000 gas mantles are used every year, and as these gas mantles cannot be manufactured without a substance named thorium, the neces- sity for obtaining a large supply is obvious. Some time ago the manu- facturers were, indeed, at a loss to discover sufficient for their purpose Their anxiety was removed quite un. expectedly when a stranger walked in- to the office of one of the great in- candescent companies and offered to show where an unlimited supply could be obtained. He demanded $500,000 for the in- formation, and the sum the company readily undertook to pay. The direc- tors were, however, doubtful of his ability to carry owt his promise, but after obtaining a contract he took a representative of the company to Bra. zil, where huge deposits of thorium were discovered. From this place most of the thorium now in use is obtained. The stranger had discover- ed the find quite accidentally. Dean of War Scribes. There appears to be a general im- pression abroad that the day of the war correspondent is over, but Mr Bennett Burleigh will be found wher- ever the war drum rolls. Save with the possible exception of Mr, Frederic Villiers, no correspondent alive has seen so much of warfare under vary. ing conditions as Mr. Burleigh. On more than one occasion he bas sought to enter the more peaceful at mosphere of the House of Commons, but his candidature has not been ai tended with su®cess. He is more at home on the battlefield, where he has had many narrow escapes from death, bul where, at any rate, he has exper enced many a crowded hour of des- rate strife. His opinions on mili- y matters command the respect and attention of the professional, for Mr. Burleigh writes of what he has known and seen. Curious Christian Nama. British Guiana 's a land of quaint istian names. Rev. L. Crookall oles from the baptismal register of the church in which he ministered to a congregation of all the colors. Nan- nie Bellona, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Albert, John Pantaloon and Frank Locust. One negro whose child he christened was called Whisky Em. manuel. Another black man brought his child and when the minister ask. ed the name replied, "Seriatim ad Valorem." Another gave a puzzling answer which sounded like "Ax . son" and when requested to explain said: "Well, parson, my mind gie me to go troo de New Testament. i have had four boys. One was called Mat thew, another Mark, another Luke and another John, and this is Acts, P wr Didn't Want Him to Laugh. Hewitt--You would make a donkey Jewett--Cut out your hilarity. The average woman knows more about some other woman than she Enows about herself. The selimade man is unable to see where he could have made any ime provement oa his woul, A CIVIC GALLERY, Montreal Now Possesses a Handsome Building For Its Pictures A new ers tic Montreal has beer opening « by th Art? Association aided by generous co a few public-minded cilizéns q ly will it mean a big step in advance by those who have and with so much hie siriven s nw the at r residents and make a substant: tractions of the visitors alike. Up till now Montread has had no public picture gallery. The city is pecubarly rich in artistic treasures; but most of them are either in pri- | iii vale collections or in the semi-private collection of the Art Association. The Art Association existed exclusively for ile members. It has had a certain social prestige | i that has always been carefully main® tained, notwithstanding that its rules and its fees have placed but little re- stniction on the qualifications for membership. From time to time the | || question of extending its usefulness by giving the general public free ac- cess to ite galleries has been discuse- ed, but it has always been felt that this would destroy the essential char- acter of the institution, for which its leading members have worked hard and made many sacrifices. A year or two ago there came the bequest of the famous Learmont col- lection of pictures by modern and an- cient masters--a collection of almost priceless value, Ope condition at tached to the bequest was that the galleries in which the pictures were displayed should be opén free to the public for two days in every week. The bequest thus focused the ques- tion of public privileges into a crisis in the history of the association--a crisis that was accentuated by the fact that there was no room in the old building in which to hang the collection. The nei Yesult was a quickening of interest that ultimately determined the council of the association to sell the old Art Gallery--which, being in the centre of the shopping district, had greatly enhasiced in value -- and to erect a new building commensurate in size and dignity with the eity of Montreal. 1t was further decided that this new Art Gallery should be open to the public free for two days in every week. Thus, when, on De- cember 9, the building was opened, by H. R. H. the Duke of Connaught, ~ new and valuable centre for the ele vation of the public taste will be plac ed freely at the disposal of the citi- zens, while at the same time an op- portunity will be given them of seeing many of the treasures in private col- lections, for the most comprehensive loan exhibition ever held 1a Canada is being arranged for the occasion, The building is on Sherbrooke street, in the centre of the most fashional residential distriet, and quite close to the magnificent Ritz- Carlton Hotel, row nearly completed It is of marble throughout, much of the interior fittings being of marble quarried and sculptured in Italy. The huge columns surmounting the steps I at the entrance 'are solid monoliths which the architects claim are the largest on the American continent. The design, inside and out, is on simple classic lines harmoniously blending into an impressive and dig- nified whole. Inside a pleasant relief to the white marble is afigrdgd by balustrading of dull brons: atid capi- tals and bases for the columns of he same metal. pr / a ¥ Made in Canada Wm. Wrigley Jr.Co., Ltd. 7 Scott Street Toronto, Ontario hard, | » make | | Moutreal an art at it will | has hitherto He is spending $2,000,000 N. HINES is one of the road commissioners of Wayne County, + Michigan, in charge of the highways leading from a pros- perous farming district to the market in Detroit. . He has probably had more experience with concrete roads than any other road commissicher. He told some of his experiences in an address in Chicago last May. He was road commissioner before he used concrete. He was not satisfied with macadam roads. In his own words: "We decided that a change was not only desirable, but necessary; and we set out to find a more permanent and durable material which would approximate in ini- tial cost that of a first class macadam. "After thorough investigation, we decided that a concrete road would more Bearly realize this ideal than other forms. The points considered as being in its avor were: A F "Comparatively low first cost; low maintenance cost; freedom from dirt; comparative noiselessness; ease of traction for vehicles of all descriptions; and the small crown necessary to get rid df surface water." T was several years ago. Wayne County farmers were so pleased with those first concrete roads, that they later voted bonds and gave Mr. Hines and his fellow commissioners $2,000,000.00 Jor more Concrete Roads In the same address Mr. Hines expressed Their reasons are not hard to find. them as follows: "1 stand committed to the use of Concrete for country roads I also believe concrete to be an ideal form of paving for village and city streets and alleys. . "This is not a statement born of enthusiasm on the spur of the moment, but a cold-blooded dollar-and-cents view, based on results attained and arrived at after careful consideration of all the facts available and experiences undergone." ¢ HIS is only one county's experience with concrete roads. But it is representa- tive of the experiences of many others. > . ¥ t The sooner every town and county makes use of the information which these other communities have supplied, the sooner will its road fund be inve permanent, satisfactory roads instead of being spent for roads that mut paid for, all over again, in the shape of annual repairs. the 3 in rt what good r¢ you have do piste proof ed especi Literature," and Address, Good Roads Department, Canada Cement Company, MONTREAL Limited contemplatiog road unprove ment may receive war road department of itso lans Any town o- county valuable assistance by notdyin: ME BY THE BOX Improve Teeth, Breath, Appetite, Digestion -- Piece by Piece! Millions of children's teeth and digestions are kept perfect by this helpful habit. Millions of smokers have their breath purified -- heartburn prevented -- by the refreshing mint juice. Buy a box tonight. Chew it on your way home and after meals -- put an edge on appetite -- and pass the time away.

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