Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1918 — Page 2

Where World Peace May Be Concluded

Switzerland Gke!y to | Stade Conference i That Will end War

a OT long before the present war was begun the kaiser attended a shooting festival in Switzerland during lißlltH the £ rand meneuvers in HHIWBI that country. He was UJlllll naturally attended by a Xn|||f Swiss general, to whom he piled his questions. “How many men could your country put in the field In a week?” inquired the German emperor. “About five hundred thousand,” answered his guide, slightly exaggerating the real number., “What If I should come against you with a million men?” “In that case, your majesty,” suavely replied the Swiss general, “we should have to shoot twice.” This anecdote may or may not be authentic, but It serves to show the true military quality of the Swiss army, which for Its size and cost is one of the finest bodies of marksmen in the world. From the days of the mythical William Tell and the apple the Swiss have made shooting a national sport. Probably no army in the world can show so high an attainment for sharpshooting as the Swiss, and during the last three years the knowledge of this quality no doubt has not been entirely without feffect in the preservation of the Swiss neutrality. ' Surrounded by belligerents since the war was begun in 1914, Switzerland has been able to maintain its neutrality, and this despite the fact that within her borders are opinions that sharply favor one or the other of the countries at war. While the cantons which border the German empire are, 'so far as the issues o- the war go, profoundly pro-. German, and while the Inhabitants of the majority of the cantons speak nothing but German, this favor does not extend further than the borders of the country. Switzerland as a country is a neutral state, and has refused to enter the war on either side. Self-preservation plays a great part in this view, no doubt, for were the country to align Itself with the central powers it would soon be overrun from the south and west by the troops of the allies, only too eager to find a more direct route into the center of Germany. On the other hand, any attempt to ally Itself with the entente powers would result In having German troops pour over the eastern borders in such numbers that the little country could not expect to escape suffering. The part assigned her In the great war has been recognized by all the belligerents as that of the Good Samaritan. And there the little country stands in the midst of wear’s alarms, serenely on guard, but otherwise playing the part of the neutral and the friend of aIL One of these days there will be a peace conference, and as almost every civilized nation Is now engaged in the war on one side or the other, indications point to Switzerland as being the logical country for a round table talk of the powers, and, furthermore, the capital of Switzerland, Berne, undoubtedly is the place where such conference will be held. Berne is one of the most fasclnatilng cities in Europe. Its founda-

CONDENSATIONS

In Denver It is estimated that there •re 10.000 women who speculate in oil, •nd probably 000 who keep a close daily watch on the markets. Two crops of rice, known as the spring and winter crops, are raised annually In the Foochow district. * A Pittsfield (Mass.) druggist refused to sell a woman cough drops on Monday because he didn't know whether lliey were considered drugs or candy •mi be did a»t wish to violate the law.

tion dates back to Berthold von Zabrigen, who in the year 1291 erected there a stronghold. Since the early days of the fatal month of August, 1914, and especially again in the last few months, it has been frequently referred to as “The City of Diplomats,” for there are now more diplomats, special envoys, peace apostles (and also spies are plentiful) In Berne than there ever was in any other city In the world. Berne has come to be conslderd as the most probable place for the conference which will follow the war. The keen recognition that the country lay In the midst of nations that never have lived In neighborly love made Switzerland for centuries a military country, although the conscription law now in force does not date back beyond the revolution of 1848. Even in Its military relations the country is truly democratic, because It has no standing army, for no canton may have more than 300 armed men permanently; yet it has a militia system, by which every man between the ages of eighteen and fifty-two years Is In one or another of the classes likely to be called to the colors, and the mere training begins when the boys attend school, for from the early age of seven the Swiss boy is taught to hold a rifle and to shoot It, too. The value of the training and the system which has been in force in Switzerland since the last military upheaval in Europe in 1848 was strongly shown when war began in August, 1914. It was Switzerland which first mobilized her troops. She had large bodies of men on her frontiers even before France had mobilized completely and even before the Germany mobilization, with all its perfection of efficiency, was accomplished. For the next six months the forces on her frontiers were constantly strengthened until there are now perhaps 400,000 men of ail arms defending Switzerland’s democracy.

Pity for Unmarried

When we consider the ordinary lives of unmarried men, we must give them our pity, for they have deprived themselves of anxiety, says W. L. George, in Harper’s Magazine. Nearly all earn as much as they need, and nearly all, in their isolation and purposelessness, learn to need all that they earn. Their work done, their pockets full enough, there is no mortgage on their time, no compulsion as to their residence, no demand that they should interest themselves in the occupations or ideas of wife, or child or friendin anything, indeed, except themselves, a limited field for one’s Interest, for soon one can know one’s self too well, and intimacy may breed contempt. Marriage releases you from the unreal by giving you many real things to think about, by satisfying your need for association with the solid earth. That need satisfied, your spirit is free to wander in the unreal, in abstract thought, In artistic desire, instead of being bound by the continual aspiration of the unmarried to the real things they do not possess.

Austria’s production of raw sugar during the 1917 campaign amounted to 530.000 metric tons, or about 200,000 tons less than In 1916. Hungary’s output Is placed at 130,000 tons, as against 200.000 tons in,3916. Prices are higher in Hungary than in Austria. In Aubnrn, N. Y.. an altar of Ice was used at an outdoor service of the Church of SS. Peter And Paul, which was held for the purpose of demonstrating that fuel is unessential in connection with worship. The service also Included baptismal rites.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND.

Even more than In Germany fe the army a part of the daily life of the Swiss. With this spirit of militarism a part of the dally national life there Is nothing of militarism In the attitude of the people, because all the preparation and system of training is purely for defense and not for aggression. At the same time It is believed that the training given boys and men Is of the greatest service In raising the standard of the Swiss manhood and In Improving the health of the whole population. Nothing is wasted in this land of thrift, and the old remark of the humorist that nothing escapes the Chicago pork packer but the squeal could not be truthfully said of the Swiss efforts toward efficiency. It Is doubtful if even the squeal would be wasted. The Nobel Peace Prize for 1917 has been awarded to the international Red Cross committee in Geneva. This committee has, since the outbreak of the war, thanks to the Swiss and untiring efforts of its president, Gustave Ador, lately elected federal counselor and chief of the political department of the Swiss Confederation, achieved such a remarkable and enviable success that Switzerland today Is generally referred to, as Mr. Stovall, the United States ambassador to Switzerland, himself said, as the “Good Samaritan.” The most remarkable of all the various humanitarian undertakings in the world war, organized by this committee, is the agency for prisoners of war at Geneva. The huge amount of work performed by this institution and other benevolent organizations in Switzerland is reflected by the latest report given out by the Swiss postal authorities. This shows that since the beginning of the war until the end of October. 1917, 334,772,081 letters and postcards and 62,210,645 small parcels have been taken over and reforWarded to the prisoners of war of both belligerent groups held in the various countries.

Latest in Artificial Eyes.

To make an artificial eye practically indistinguishable is the aim of a British army surgeon who Is experimenting with a ball made of cartillage as a substitute for a metal or glass one. A sphere of such construction when put in place establishes connections with blood vessels and the surrounding tissues. WJien thus fixed in the cavity it is supposed to be capable of movement corresponding to that of a normal eye and furthermore fills the space so that there is no depression, as is Invariably the case where a shell is used. Although time must yet prove the practicability of the scheme, there is reason to expect that the war has brought forth another triumph in plastic surgery.—Popular Mechanics Magazine.

Get Your Full Share.

Are you getting your full share of good out of the things around you? A sunset will make an artist happy, and $ poet will draw from a common wayside flower “thoughts that lie too deep for bears.” Do not be one of the people who having eyes see not, and having ears hear not. Remember that all things have good In them, and that a share of It is yours.—Girl’s Companion.

Why, the Brute!

“Oh, have you lost your dog?” md claimed the visitor sympathetically. “Why, I didn’t see anything about It In the ‘lost’ column.” “No,” replied Mrs. Leobidas W. Van Quentin. “My husband 7 put It among the cards of thanks.” —Kansas City Star.

Big Hat, Bigger Bill.

“My ne\y hat is pretty big.” “I thought so, too, but when I got the bill for it It made your hat look like the head of a Din.”

TRADE BRIEFS OF INTEREST

Garden and grass seeds are in demand In Argentina. Prices for an asbestos shingle plant are wanted in Bristol, Va. An Italian firm has asked'for catalogues for flour mill machinery. Peruvian merchants wish to purchase a plant for the manufacture of rbßorbent cotton. s Data and prices on gas analysis Instruments are desired by a concern In Clarksdal4, Miss. A market exists in India for power plants, such as engines and equipment for the hauling of rice. A French firm Jn Lyon wants to represent Araericah makers of yarns, schappe silk and artificial silk. Brick supplies are needed for new university buildings In Atlanta, Ga. The buildings are to cost $225,000. f There Is a market In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for rabbit hair that can be used for the making of felt hats. An odorless garbage can has been Invented in which refuse is placed on a shelf and scraped into the receptacle by turning a handle without opening the lid. For motor trucks with broad, flat tires an Englishman has invented an antiskidding device consisting of large metal rings fastened together with chains. Double-tread wheels have been invented for motortrucks, the inner treads, which are slightly smaller than the tire-carrying ones, being formed to fit railroad tracks. All previous records of graiil-hand-ling were broken by the government elevator at Port Colborne, Ontario, when 404,000 bushels of wheat were discharged in eight hours. Doors for a double garage invented by a Washington man consist of two at the sides, hung in the usual manner, and a central one double the size of the others, swung on a central pivot.

JOTTINGS

The rain falls, but it gets up again in dew time. An outward laugh often conceals an inward groan. A pistol is twice as dangerous when the owner Is loaded. A very little woman is often at the bottom of a very big fuss. Usually the path of a budding genius Is pretty well strewn with thorns. Every old bachelor thinks It the easiest thing in the world to manage a wife.

WITH THE SAGES

Chance and accident are only aliases fdt ignorance.—Huxley. The great man is he who does not l«e his child’s heart.—Mencius. Good, the more communicated, the more abundant grows.—Milton. We conquer our fate when we submit to it cheerfully.—Horace SmithIt is another’s fault If he be ungrateful ; but it is mine* if I do not give. —Seneca. Be always displeased at what thou art, if thou desire to attain to what thou art not; for where thou hast pleased thyself, there thou abidest.— Quarles. We may judge of whether we are going upward or not by the views we are getting. “Do your thoughts range more widely from year to year, and is your life filled with more and higher interests?” —Selected. There are three friendships which are advantageous, and three which are injurious. Friendship with the upright t friendship with the sincere, and friendship with the man of observation ; these are advantageous. Friendship with the insinuatingly soft, and friendship with the glib-tongued; these are injurious—Confucius.

POPULAR SCIENCE

Iron money is passing in Germany, and the Siamese are using porcelain. ‘ £ Hygiene is being taught to the less civilized natives of the Philippines with motion pictures. Bivalves suspected of bearing pearls are examined by the X-ray to avoid destroying the shellfish. The protein content of cottonseed flour is in excess of that of meat, and efforts are being made to popularize it as a food. Dundee manufacturers are about to give up the use of earthenware, glahs Jars and tins, , for a stout cardboard container. 1 / 7

Seeing London In Two Days

AS SO many American soldiers are passing through London on their way to the western front, the following article from Country Life on “How to See London in Two Days,” is timely. In normal days, when American visitors filled the hotels, sight-seeing was, In spite of American hustle, a fairly leisurely thing. It is the soldiers who are here today who have to be the real hustlers. Their sight-seeing has often to be crammed Into a day or two’s leave, and the proolem of how to see all possible, and yet so to see as to store up mental pictures, clear, definite and full of color, on which to draw in pleasurable restrospection for the rest of life, is one which probably few of them are solving. Now, the secret of success in sightseeing is discrimination and 'selection. Try to see everything and you see — effectively—nothing. Your thousand impressions are mixed, in a week they are hard to disentangle, in a year they have vanished. On this principle I throw out ideas for those who have no more than a couple of days to give to the work and the pleasure. On more than one ground I should counsel giving up of at least half a day to outdoor sight-seeing. The hugeness of London strikes everyone who gives days to its discovery. The best way of getting the same impression quickly is to travel from end to end of the route of one of the great London liners the “General” motorbuses. It matters little which you take. Service 38—Victoria to Walthamstow —will show you much of west and central London and of the northeast. At Dal-

ston you can pick up No. 106 to Mile End station, thence you can return by the Mile End road to the city and by Fleet street and the Strand to the heart of things, having seen something of the real and wonderful East End, alien, cosmopolitan; and having passed through the Mile End road. But this is only one suggestion. If you are for less of variety and for more of the splendor, you can as easily go south, west or north —out by Kensington and Hammersmith to Richmond —and this will be for many a more delightful excursion, since it would give time for a peep at the wonderful view frdtn the hilltop;. or from Charing Cross to Golders Green. Country Walk in London. Of the half day I should counsel you to leave an hour for what has been Called “the finest country walk in Lonlon.” For that you should contrive a bus ride that will leave you in the layswater road, near Lancaster Gate, vith still an hour to spare. Then walk >y the flashing waters of the Long Water and the Serpentine, and under the oble trees, through all the beauties of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to lyde Park corner, down Constitution till to the Mall, and so to Charing 'ross. Yon will then have seen in the est possible wuy the verdant belt i thfe heart of London kept inviolate Id ie royal parks, Rotten Row, Buckingmi palace, the Victoria memorial, St lines’ palace, Marlborough House and e palaces of Carlton House Gardens. Rveryone will want to see Westlster Abbey. There, almost more

The Albert Memorial.

Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.

than anywhere, you need the help of! selection and restraint. If you give yourself up to the vergers they will tell you all about the royul tombs. Wheni they have left you, think for a moment! of my idea. Remember that the Abbey has been three things: First, a> monastery; next, the royal church andi the tomb of many kings; and, then, the grave of great men. As to the first,, do not leave till you have seen the cloisters, the chapter house, the under- 1 croft and the chapel of the Pyx, the little cloister —and, if you are there on. Saturday, the hall of Westminster school, which was the dormitory of themonks. These things illustrate the dally monastic life and are withoutquestion the most picturesque thing; remaining of the middle ages. As t ot the next, the vergers will have shown' you the coronation seat, and the tombs; ot the great kings, to that of Henry V who fought at Agincourt. As to the third, I counsel you to see Poets’ Corner—the south transept—for Its reminders of the men who have knit the empire together in the poetry of a common speech. What to See in the Tower. You will go to the Tower. Here, again, remember that the Tower has been three things: a fortress, a royal palace and a prison. The White Tower is the oldest complete building in London. It was the keep built by the Conqueror to overawe the city. It never was of the city, and a bit of the Roman wall here shows how the outer boundary of the earlier city was overrun. See the Traitor’s gate, by whichl prisoners entered the Tower and so few left it; the site of the headsman’*

block, the chambers In the Beauchampi and the Bloody towers, where prisoners left on the walls pathetic messages of their long internment. While in the city I should suggest two other things at least to see—the Guildhall and St. Bartholomew’s church —the former because of its historic connection with the city, as a hall that has been for 500 years the court of justice, the meeting place of the corporation and the scene of historic feasts. I should ignore the houses of parliament, except as to the outside, but do not let the opinions of certain critics rob you of a right appreciation of this modern work. See Westminster hall, however, if you can, as the ancient court of justice, and for its magnificent timber roof. There yet remain, of the major institutions, St Paul’s and the National gallery. They are more easy to deal with than Westminster or the Tower. St Paul’s c has no secrets as Westminster has.. I£is revealed at one view. To have from outside is to. carry the memory of its huge bulk and, form forever, and in the main that is true of it internally, though a few minutes can be spared for the tombs of Nelson, Wellington, Lord Roberts nnd other great soldiers. The National gallery, too, is comparatively easy to see on the principle of restraint. One thing remains. Do not fail to walk the embankment from. Westminster to Blackfriars, both for Its river views and for the finest river front of buildings in the world.