Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1908 — Lose? [ARTICLE]

Lose?

"I should think a doctor with no many friends would have lots of praetice.” "But be won’t treat hto friends. He toys he hates to lose them”-Kanaas Citv Times.

Deliberation In Marrying. Without waiting for a decision tfl the debate going on all over the country as to the lowest limit for Income desirable in married life, a Harvard professor and a Boston preacher have undertaken to fix a limit dogmatically. It Is reported that the professor bolds It to be a “sin against the country” for a man to marry unless his income is at least SBOO a year and that the preacher will refuse to perform the ceremony for a man whose Income Is less than sl2 per week. The justification for the limit is essentially the same in each case. The professor holds that children cannot be properly brought up on an income less than SBOO a year, and an attempt to do so would “lower the standard of American citizenship.” The preacher thinks that marriage on less than sl2 a week “tends to the increas# of poverty.” These views are noteworthy at a time when restrictions are being placed upon marrying in haste. The restrictions, however, have to do with the legal status of the union. The taking out of a license leads to some deliberation and is not without moral effect As a 'rule all who arc interested In the marriage of any particular couple, except sometimes the candidates themselves, favor deliberation. Restrictions, therefore, are not likely to become unpopular unless they tend to discourage wedlock. Strangely enough, this tendency of ours to place restrictions of one soft and another upon marriage is contemporary with a movement in France to abate long standing restrictions which are believed to have discouraged marriage and worked harm for the country and for society. Perhaps there Is a healthy middle ground and we shall reach it after a stage of experiment.

A Little Japanese Fiction. It must have required some clever coaching to work the present generation of Japs up for the hearty welcome they recently gave our battleship fleet. The keynote of the welcome seems to have been that the Americans brought greatness and prosperity to Japan and that the demonstration of 1908 was only an answer to the call of Commodore Perry fifty years ago, when Japan was opened up to the world. Now, the Japanese hate the foreigner today as heartily as their ancestors did when Perry somehow convinced them that It would be a good thing to mix with the world. It bas never been made clear whether It was the size of Perry’s fleet and guns or an appreciation of the big land behind the fleet and guns that converted the Japs i In 1858 or Perry’s diplomatic way of putting the whole question. It was not unanimous then with tbe nation. Civil strife followed. Finally tbe Liberals won, although they bad to concede about everything to tbe universal prejudice against foreigners. How this coaid have been explained to the present day Japs, who worship their ancestors and are not Inclined to forget the past and “let bygones be bygones,” Is a riddle. Perhaps there is a Japanese fairy lore In wblcb tbe American smile and the American tonch always work right for good Japs.