Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 26, 1915, Page 5

v BT 0T EALRS DLk §HET ke s weh b a3 THE OMAHA DAILY BEE FOUNDED BY EDWARD ROBEWATER.‘—I VICTOR ROSEWATER, EDITOR. The Beo Publishing Company, Propriemr_._ BEE BUILDING, FARNAM AND S§EVENTEENTH Entered at Omaha postoffice as second-class matter. TERMS OF BUBSCRIPTION. By carrier By mall por month. per year. REMITTANCE. it tal order, eunm ""Wfl"xm& of small counts. checks, except on Omaha and eastern accepted. exchange, not OFFICES. Omaha—The Bee Buflding. Omal 8 N street Council Biuffs—14 North Main street. Chicago-—an Hiearst Bt o u A 1106, 286 Hhh Avenue. 508 New Bank of Commeroce. * Washington—78% Fourteenth 8t, N. W. CORRESPONDENCHE, A municats relating to news and fler to Omaha Bee, Baitorial Department. & matter to Omaha Bee, OCTOBER CIRCULATION 54,744 Btare of Dou, 8 e S e Girculation ‘for the month of Octomer, 131 IGHT WILLIAMS, Ciroulation Manager, in presence and sworn to before SRS SIS worary Pt Subscribers leaving the city temporarily should have The Bee mailed to them. Ad- dress will be changed as often as requested. Wovember 26 for the Day Thoagle for the Dy Selected by Martha L. Powell ‘' Nobls deeds ave hald in honor, But the wide world sadly needs Hearts of patience to unravel The weorth of common dosds.” Not quite one month left now for the early Christmas shopper. Smm— However, that judicial plum will be an ac- ceptable decoration for a Christmas tree. S——— Time is sliding along on greased grooves. “Christmas do are beginning to bloom, S—— In justice to Utah’s firing squad, it should be said that they harbored no gruage against poets. The new Welfare board {s admonished not to tolerate too much fowl talk at the poultry show. Cheer up! The Congressional Record will business at the old stand shortly and en- the gayety of the country. Sm— Picturing Woodrow as a waliter bringing in the tray of turkey, gives a sort of ironical twist to his policy of “watchful waiting” in Mexico. Smem— Offers of easy money on Nebraska state se- curity flatters native pride, but it is still more comfortable to avold semi-annual remittances. _ Note that the Liberty bell and “Billy” Sun- day both honored Syracuse with their presence Al one and the same time without erowding one another, | Prohibition of “gun toting” by questionable characters is & kind of prohibitivn whose en- forcem/at would invoke no protest from any law-aldding citizen. After a> expenditure of $22,500 of funds not their own, two Chicagoans are convinced that the Wall street game is unbeatable. There are a multitude of others. Nebraska’s junior senator s opposed to any plan, but he is ready to show us to get the money for preparedness by put- & good, stiff tax on milllon-dollar inheri- What's this? Another mammoth auto con- branch factory in Kansas City? ke this are being passed around, few and should not be content ts share. -ty newspapers enliven the gayety of by pretending thai congressional confined rivers and postoffices, to the bacon in useless navy yards and Neocessity is the spur of enterprise, The American dyestuffs amounted to i@ year before the war. Blockade foreign product promises to lift this year's output to 16,000 toms. In this, as in other respects, Europe's misfortune accelerates ‘America's commercial independence. S— "HE BEE OMAHA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER Bryan on the 1915 Elections, If any one who speaks as a leader can look through rosy-hued spectacles despite surrounding gloom, it is our many- times distinguished Nebraskan, William Jen- nings Bryan. Thrice has our honored fellow citizen been a disappointed candidate for preei- dent, but each time he has come back promptly with the assurance that the prospecis for demo- cratic victory at the next election were never brighter. Reading the signs of the times today, how- ever, Mr. Bryan is by no means assuring, ‘“The elections of 1915,” he says In the latest issue of his Commoner, “serve as a warning to the democratic party. They Indieate that the pro- gressives have returned to the regular republi- ean party and the democrats can no longer hope to win by division In the ranks of the opposi- tion; neither can the democrats afford to dally with vital issues. 'n Massachusetts our candi- date for governor, an able man with a splendid official record, was defeated. In Kentucky the democratic ecandidate, Congressman Stanley, made an admirable record in congress and is a great campaigner, but he was badly handicapped by the position taken by the party.” But Mr. Bryan never shuts the door of hope or fails to find a rainbow strand somewhere. “While the elections contain a warning,” he adds, “there is no reason why a democrat should be discouraged. If the party will take up the reform work where it was left at the last congress, adopt cloture, proceed to carry out the platform and add to its record on economic questions, it has no reason to fear the c paign of 1916 There, then, i{s Dr. Bryan's prescription, freely offered to the democratic party to cure it of what allsg it. If it does not take the medicine according to directions, it must prepare for the worst. The only open question is whether the admonition “to proceed to earry out the platform” includes the plank pledging the nominee to the prineiple of a one- term presidency. South Amerioan Trade. Treasury department statistics show that trade with South American countries has dou- bled since the outbreak of the war in Burope. In theory, the trade of South Amerfca with out- side nations belongs to the United States in a large measure, but facts have always confounded theory in this {nstance. The building up of this business has been the dream of economists and statesmen in the United States, the late James G. Blaine fathering the first organized and sys- tematic move to divert it in this direction. Others have since done much, notably BElihu Root, while secretary of state, but in spite of all this the Bouth Americans have not traded with us as much as natural tendencies would indicate they would, though some progrese has been made. The war, however, has so disorganized trade conditions in Europe that much of the business has been diverted to this country. Ob- talning it now, however, is an easy proposition compared with the one to follow—holding it after the war is over. That Buropean manufac- turers will permanently surrender this rich tield without a struggle is not to be supposed, but, on the contrary, the best opinion is that with the war ended these nations will seek out forelgn trade with greater energy than ever. They have #0 wasted their own resources and domestic con- suming power by the destruction of war that other outlets must be found for manufactures, and it will be a fight for existence with them, and American producers, if they would hold the field must entrench themselves while they have the opportunity or be compelled to surrender what they have gained. S Rights of Stockholders. Recent events in the reorganization program of several large corporations evidently have caused & new light to dawn on men whose in- terests are centered more on the corporation as an entity than on the stockholders who really comprise it. An interview with one of the leading bankers of New York, whose firm fig- ures prominently In corporate finances, indi- cates as much. In speaking of the reorganiza- tion of a big railroad in which the stockholders upset the plan, he said that at first he refused to hear the man who led the fight for the etockholders, but that subsequent developments hud convinced him that in such matters in the past the bankjng and big interests had regarded the properties and determined thelr finaneclal ueeds, both in receiverships and in operating solvent companies, from reorganization and ex- punsion ideas, without regard to the rights of investment stockholders, but that recent events 1ust force a different procedure, He con- cludes that If Wall street does not wish to lose its standing before Investing stockholders throughout the counmtry it must consider not only the needs of the property and Wall street profits, but the rights of investment stock- holders. The logic of this should be apparent to all. While the big financial institutions provide the money for railroad and other corporate finane- ing, the primary source of the money is the widely distributed investing public. The mil- lions poured into such enterprises are made up ¢f the hundreds and thousands that come from all over the nation, and If the faith of these people who provide the wmoney is permanently alienated from the banking centers and invest- ment houses, this stream wil] dry up or de- crease materially In volume. That recent events will evolve & cure for all the ills of erooked financlering would be too much to expect, for similar lights have dawned on Wall street be- fore, but each one has left an impression, and recent exposures and contests will doubtiess tend to check for a time at least some of the plundering of the public and lead in the end to & better appreciation of the fact that mutual fair dealing will produce the best results for al. e — If the parole business were operating to turn eriminal characters loose in Nebraska alone we might put some check upon it, but, unfortu- nately, the parole mills are grinding convicts out from prison walls in more than half of the states of the union and, once out, they roam at large until they strike some community in which they come to grief. —— Twenty-six tralnloads of the half fimished product of war reached the hospitals of Faris in one day recently. Similar proportionate Tegords are frequent at the repair shops of all warring nations. The finished product of war is confined to the names on the mortality lists, 4ppaliing are the crimes committed in the name democratic | i_ Sidelights on Suicide Fred L. Moffman in The Spectator, UICIDE as a Ilife insurance problem has at tracted the attention of executive officers, actu- arles, medical directors and others for man, years. The literature of the subject is quite extensive, but generally inaccessible to the student of life in- surance methods and results. One of the earliest con- tributions is by R. Thompson Jopling, in the firat volume of the Journal of the Institute of Actuaries | (the Assurance Magaszine for 181), followed by an- other in the second volume (182), and a discussion by Samuel Brown, and a contribution by Dr. J. W Bastwood, in the twentieth volume, issued in 1878 The practice had been common from the outset of insur- ance developments to decline the payment of suicide claims, irrespective of whether sane or Insane, upon the offer of the return (1) of the premium paid, and (2) of the accumulated reserve Among the more important American contribu- tions to the subject of sulcide in its relation to life Insurance a brief reference may be made to an ad- dress by Ralph W. Breckenridge to the Life Under- writers' association at Chicago in 1904, which is sum- marized in the statement that a restrictive sulcide clause |s more in conformity to sound publie policy than excessive liberality, This tmportant contribution includes many references to the international ltera- ture and also to the available insurance experience data, extending, In some cases, over a long period of years, with a die regard to the exposed to risk ac- cording to age and duration of insurance. The foregoing observations indicate a broad and Srowing interest in the more technical aspects of the sulcide problem. There has been no thorough inquiry Into the subject with a due regard to actuarial methods, making the necessary corrections for varia- tions in the age and sex distribution of the insured, and most of all the duration of insurance. General medical statistics of life insurance companies are not strictly comparable on sccount of the widely varying length of actual experlence. The Indications are that in life insurance experienco as well as among the population at large, the suicide rate is on the Increase. The Important conclusion is once more confirmed by the suicide returns of American cities for the year 1914, The results of analysls of our compllations are In practical conformity to the corresponding statistics published in the Bpectator for 1913. The seven citles which show the highest sulcide rates are San Fran- clsco, San Diego, Sacramento, Hoboken, St. Louls, 1os Angeles and Oakland. All of these cities show rates of 820 per 100000 of population and over and, Wwith the exception of St. Louls and Hoboken, an in- crease in the rate and only two show a slight decline. Out of the 100 cities under review fifty-one show un Increase and forty-elght show a decrease during 1914, a8 compared with 1904-1913, The aulcide rate in small cities Is somewhat less than iIn very large cities. For small cities the average rate was I7.5 per 100,000 population, which increased to 18.2, or 4 per cent, during 1914. For cities with 250,000 Ppopulation and over the average rate of 20.4 increased to 21.2, or 3.9 per cent. In othér words, the actual and relative incresses in the suicide rates were practically the same In both groupa of communities, The sulcide rate for 1014 was the highest since 1906, and the third highest during the twenty years under review. The correlation of sulcides to business fallures is only pronounced under exceptionally dis- turbed business conditions which appear not to hav prevailed in the country at large, but which seemingly affected the excessive sulcide rate returned for the cities of the Pacific coast. This aspect of the suiclde problem has not been thoroughly investigated, but the indications are that on the basis of a speclalized analysis of the two sets of returns for the {ive prin- cipal geographical divisions of the country a falrly closo degree of correspondence would be shown to oxist. It must be obvious, of course, that the num- ber of business failures reflects in a measure the soclal and economie conditions affecting the popula~ tion at large. Omnly a thoroughly pronounced and extended, as well as nation-wide, economic depression would, however, be likely to affect the general suicide rate. In a number of individual instances, however, lh;n l: ’: direct relation between business tallures and suicides, resultl In co uenc o : ng nsequence of economic Attention 1s directed to the apparently increasing number of suicides resulting from mere suggestion of previous cases of self-murder in the same family, A typlcal case was reported from Springtield, Mass, where a woman committed suicide in exactly the same manner as her husband had done a year pre- Vvious. The case was complicated by another suicide in the family of a very close friend of tne woman, who had apparently ended her life ir a similay man. ner. Such cases are reported with increastny frequency and they warrant the most serious apprehensions re. Sarding the future. The psychology of suggestion is & much-negiected branch of modern medicine and education. The evhr present possibilities of self- murder, regardless of an overwhelming amount of evidence, are generally disregarded and treated lightly even where the Indications point strongly in the direc. tion of unsoundness of mind.' Chila suicldes are seemingly more common now than in former years. A Ca8q was reported from Seattle of & boy 13 years of age who ended his life by drinking poison in exactly the way his father had done six years before, simply because he had been reproved by hls mother for smoking. Also a case was reported tfrom Mount Vernon, Wash., of a boy 13 years of age, who, upon being reproved by his mother for quarreling with his younger sistpr, ended his life by blowing out his brains, Another case was re. borted from New York City, where a boy of 18 Years shot himself because he belleveq humself to be incurable of an allment, the nature of which was not disclosed in the newspaper account. All such cases indicate a decided tendency foward moral and mental deterforation, and they emphasize the urgency of greater caution on the part of life insurance com« panies in the assumption of risks, especially for large Smounts and the justice of a suicide clause whict adequately protects all the policyholders against adverse selection during the first year of insurance. The modern increase In suicide 1s, utable to exceptionally convenient faci murder, particularly by poison. The figures show that for both sexes, combined, suicides by Polson are nn;w nearly as frequent as sulcide by firearms, In Pproportion to population the male suicide rate Was 239 per 100,000 of population against a female rate of 7.4, but the e In part, attrib- ilities for selt- Wed by poison Among women suicide b Was the most common, Accounting for ylp"lr'qql: of 34 per 100000 of population, followed by as- phyxiation with a rate of 13 ana hanging or Strangulation and firearms, with rates of, Tespectively, 08 Throughout, for all apecified methods, the rates for males are decidedly in excess of the correspond- ing rates for females, Concerning poison it 1s shown that of the male suicides 2.2 per cent were attributaole to this method, and of the suigides of women 5.3 per ocent. It would scem perfectly foasible to bring about & substantial reduction in the frequency of suicide oy Polson In the direction of more restrictive and even drastic leglslation Umiting the conditions under which Polson can be obtalned. Much of the same conclu- slon applies to the sale of firearms, From whatever point of view the subject is con. sidered 1t is quite clear that the Increasing rm;u;::‘, of sulcide In the United States demands the most earnest consideration of those who may be In a Position to dlrect public attention to one of the most serious problems of the present day. The Kind She Wanted, The much-traveled young man had just returned from forelgn climes, and, of course, he must entertaln his rich old aunt (with whom he was in favor) with stories of the wonderful “¥es,"” he sald, In | The Pees efer Want Rishtcaf-Wes for Missiasinni. MEMPHIS, Tenn., Nov. 2%4.—To the Edi- tor of The Bee: It has long been urged that the Mississippl river ought to be provided for by congress in a separate and independent bill, just as was done in the case of the Panama canal, and the work undertaken In a comprehensive and systematic manner and pushed rapidly to completion. In all probability a measure will he framed and presonted to the next con- gress to have this great river dealt with in such a way. On October 2 there meqt here in Mem- phis a number of the senators and con- gressmen from the riparian states in conference with members of the Missis- #ippl river commission and presidents of | the local levee boards, matter was thoroughl when the whole discussed and it | was decided to frame such a measure | and oresent it at the next session of congress. This conference, to be held on November 2, in Washington, will be participated in by all senators and con- gressmen destrous ofhaving something done in a definite and specific manner, looking toward the solution of the Mis sissiopi river problem. We are sending you a copy of a re- port of the Mississippi River Levee asso- clation to date, from which you will see that public opinfon throughout the United States seems to be unanimous in favor of the Mississippl river being treated In a business-like way, inde- pendent of the river and harbor bill, JOHN A. FOX. Secretary Mississippi River Levee Asso- clation. The LINCOLN, Neb., Editor of The Bee: Nov. In order to under- stand the Armenian atrocities we must understand their history. Geographically %.~To the as well as topographically Armenia is the key to the Anatolian peninsula and the lowland of Mesopotania. As the Balkan states are the key to Constanti- nople so is Armenia the key to the in- dependence of the Turkish empire. At present the Armenians are divided among Russia, Turkey and Persia, Since the breakup of the Armenian kingdom in the fifteenth century they have always been under different allen rulers. There are four important races in the Caucasus, namely: the Georglans, the Armenians, the Tartars and the Rus- slans. The Tartars and the Armenians ocecupy the eastern provinces The Armenian people number in all some 3,000,000 mouls. In the Caucasus there are about 1,200,000, in Asia Minor 1,600,000 and a few hundred thousand in Persia and the rest are scattered all over the world. In the towns the Armenians often con- stitute a majority, but in the rural dis- tricts they are usually outnumbered by the Tartars in Transcaucasla, or by the Turks and Kurds in Asla Minor. The population of Armenia contains a greater variety of elements than any other country of the same size in the world—the languages are estimated at forty-five. But the great majority of these races are mere fragments of a few thousands, in some cases hundreds, of persons. In the elghteenth century the Russlans began the conquest of Armenla, which after a serles of warg was completed with the occupation of Kars and Batum in 1§78 by virtue of the Treaty of Ber- lin. It was then that the Armenian des- tiny became an international problem. The six powers of Burope solemnly pledged themselves to Introduce, through the sultan, administrative reforms into the provinces inhabited by the Arme- nians, The sixty-first article of the treaty stipulates that “The sublime porte un- dertakes to carry out, without further delay, the Improvements and reforms de- manded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenlans, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds." In spite of that treaty the Armenians were butchered and outraged In 1884 and hardly anything was done to save the handful of stray sheep from the hungry wolf—that is the Ottoman empire, The Armenians crave for a fair op- portunity to develop themselves. They ask to be treated as men and women. They plead to be allowed to live as free citizens of the Ottoman power. At present whole villages are being wiped out by fire, sword and deporta- tion. It is estimated that already 500,000 have perished at the hands of the Turks and Kurds in their flendish “holy war.” The innocent Armenténs gre paying the penalty of the nations' mutual rivalries and jealousies, The United States is uader obligation to Intervene in behalf of the Armenians for the following reasons: The United States, single handed, is more powerful than the six powers of Europe, because it cannot be accused of motives of ter- ritorial aggrandizement in any effort put forth for the welfare of the people of Turkey. The volce which defended the cause of Cuba—which remonstrated with Roumania and Russia in behalf of the persecuted Jews, which stopped the par- tition of China among the European powers, which spoke to Belgium in the interest of the native of Congo—that same voice ought to speak again in dis- tinet human accent in the ears of Burope. Thus peace and order may come out of chaos to bless the people of Ar- menia. Meanwhile the atrocities are going on without interference. If the surface of the globe were paper, the trees pens, the lakes Ink and all our civilized nations were writers, 1 assure you a millionth part of the cruelty and desolation could not be expressed. FELIX NEWTON. Navy League Announcement, OMAHA, Nov. 2%.—To the Editor of The Bee: By way of illustrating a point in & public address, John Wanamaker of Philadelphia made this statement: “‘General Grant, in proposing the health of Sir Willlam Armstrong at a dinner, laid his hand upon a 100-ton gun and said the inventor of it had produced the moat wonderful peace-compelling impie- ment the world had ever seer.” There are many instances proving the truth of Washington's axiom: “To be preparcd for war is one of the most ef- fectual means of preserving peace.” These quotations fllustrate the attitude of the Navy League of the United States, which advocates & strobger navy as & means of losuring pesceful relations with foreign nations. All the literature of the league supports this view of the case, and some of it points out the ac- tual necesaity for keeping a weather eye out for a possible, dUt not inevitable storm. The Nebraska section of the league is sending out free literature upon request. We ask all university and high school debating teams to ralse the question for discussion, and we ask all Tips on Home Topics Washington Post: It always cheers a man on his way home swelling with big news to be informed on arrival that the furnace is out. Chicago Herald: Nebraska appears de- republican presidential nomination before the public If it takes all winter. Brooklyn Bagle: John Brisbin Walker Iz still one of the bitterest foes of pre- paredness. What he learned at West Point at the expense of an indulgent gov- ernment has been all too easily forgotten. Springfield Republiean: When Justice Hughes was an avowed candidate for the republican nomination for president in 1908 western states like Nebraska did not Ily enthusiasticallyto his support in the republican national convention. But to- Gay the desire to mominate Mr. Hughes appears to be consuming in the valley of the Platte Washington Post: The story of business !mprovement and development in this tnion for the last fifteen months is the miost wonderful and amazing that has | ever had a place in the annals of time. He that runs or walks in any town or city or distriet of the United States can veuq it easily, and, if an American, with the utmost satisfaction. Prosperity is here to stay for decades if rightly treated. Washington Star: Those Nebraska ad- mirers of Justice Hughes have erred on two points: (1) They should have applied for permission to use his name, and (2) tuey should not be talking now about “‘conscription.” Thelr first offense must have grown out of a conviction that such M request by them would be denled. All the more bound should they have con- sidered themselves, therefore, not to pro- ceed. They should have respected the easily iInferred feelings of the eminent Jurist. When they neglected or refused to do that they were guilty not only of a viscourtesy, but of a personal injury. GRINS AND GROANS, ‘The tramp looked over his dilapidated garments when at a safe distance from the farm house. “1 can't see,”” he muttered, “‘why such a fuss is made over the dog's instinct In ettaching himself to man.”—Baltimore American, “Will you have a cherry or an olive in your cocktail, Major?" asked the host. ] clubs and other organisations to adept| ~Neither.' replied the Ly O resclutions favoring a stronger mavy. | [itiely take uh ' lot of space that might ARTHUR C. SMITH, vatl Inquirer. P Neb k: Section. - resident Nebrasks Section “Who was it inquired the stuant, “that sald ‘after me the deluge? ™ termined to put some candidate for the | Don't ask me " rejoined the superficial person. “I never did pay much attentjon 1o weather prophets.”—Washington Star. ‘Do you tax feminine wearing apparel on this planet heavily?' asked the man from Mars, g : “‘Really, 1 can't say. Why do you ask’ | that?" ‘L thought maybe the ladies were on a strike.”~Loulsville Courier-Journal. P Mrs. Highupp—They seem like a very cheap kind of people. | Mrs. Wayupp—They certainly are. They | actually had the nerve to buy one of last | sear’s battleships and try to palm it off | a8 & yacht.—Puck. Hokus—I actually caught Longbow tell« in: the truth yesterday. Pokus—Wasn't he embarrassed 4 Hokus—Only momentarily. He immedi« ately tried to lie out of i ife. OPPORTUNITY. Edgar A. Guest In Detroit Free Press. Men look for me beyond their doors, They think I dwell in_places strange, in_distant fields or foréign moors, And come thelr lives and thoughts to change. I have been likened to a god That favors few, and many spurns; Scme think I am ‘the maglc rod On which the wheel of fortune turna, Men pray to me by night and day: They sit and count the golden sum That_shall be theirs along the way In distant years when I shall come. They fill their children’s ears with tales Of splendors 1 alone bestow, Ang many & man in anguish wails That 1 have failed his worth to know. ‘What foolish superstition this! Relic of books on dusty shelv How can it be that men still miss That 1 am born within themselves; That | am with them every day, Whether lher travel, far or near, Waliting to help them when I may, Ready their eager calls to hear? I am that spirit of a man That makes him want to be his best; 1 am the seed of every plan He cherishes within his breast. Alone I'm nothing but a dream Ot what, perhaps, some day may be; Al that I ever am or seem The man himself must make of me. Contains ROYAL BAKING POWDER AbsoiutelyPufe No Alum DISTINCTIVE CHRISTMAS GIFTS ~gifts which are out of ordinary~are to be found at PEACOCK'S 9f you d,oiyour Christmas shoppi will, 9 n Chicago, course choose some Peacock's. But i cannot come, to things at you send our illustrated Shopping Guide gt will enable youngto se~ lect by mail t wan P gifts you C.D.PEACOCK JEWELERS ESTABLISHED 1837 State & RINSES EASILY