HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1931-05-01, Page 2gol
1
to
ire, Draughts,
Rodents
GYPROC Wallboard that does not burn is
the way of least expense when you desire
to make alterations in your home, store, fac-
tory or on the farm. Use it for all walls, ceilings
and partitions.
Gyproc is made from gypsum rock into sheets
4 to 10 feet long, 4 feet wide and 3/8 of an inch
thick. It nails and cuts as easily as lumber with
a minimum of waste or muss.
Gyproc is fire - resistant, easily and quickly
erected, structurally strong and has insulation
value. It is draught and vermin -proof as well
as fire -safe.
Because it is ivory -coloured, it does not require
decoration (when panelled) yet it is also a suit -
fee Alabastine, Gyptex or wallpaper.
n=est dealer to -day. He will
gladly supply you with a direction sheet on
Or write for the interesting, free
booklet, "Building and Remodelling with
GYPROC". 373
pITSUM, LIME and ALABASTINE, CANADA, LIMITED
Faris `1"..,..7rtaro
fihetiliEW tIVODIr
For Sib g•
Geo. A. Silk & Son • • • Seafcirth, Ont.
TO MAKE TEE DEAD CARE FOR
THE LIVING
There always will be people quite
willing bo allow the state to take care
of them, but on the other hands there
always wM be people who are anxious
to take care of themselves, but who
during a deflation period find them-
selves absolutely unable to do so. Add
to these the subnormal and therefore
ineompetent, and the unfortunate, and
you have a problem that, as yet, has
not been solved. It is true that in-
dustrialists and' politicians are trying
hard to solve the problem of regular-
ized employment. Rationalized pro-
ductive and distributive systems, na-
tional industrial planning, sales fore-
catsting, statistical research, elimina-
tion of overtime and more efficient in-
ternal management, and the thousand
and one other expedients are all good
in themselves, but they do not change
human nature, they will help but they
will not cure. John Smith will not
see Bill Jones make an addition to
his factory without doing likewise
when we are going toward the top of
the next wave; nor will Mrs. Smith
be eatisfied with a Ford when she
finds that the Jones family are get-
ting a Cadillac. And if this is true,
and if we are not going to fool our-
selves into thinking that we are now
so wise that this will never occur a-
gain, is it not about time that we set
in motion some machinery to take
care of these recurrent cyeles of de-
pression? The world always will have
all classes of citizens ranging in in-
telligence from the idiot to the gen-
ius. The world always will have the
incompetent and the unfortunate.
Then is it not essential that the suc-
cessful shall make a better job of
helping the unsuccessful than has ev-
er been done before?
Kant has said that equality signi-
fies nothing more than an endurable,
measure of inequality. It is therefore
our duty to employ all our efforts to-
wards the maintenance of this endur-
able measure of inequality. Sovietism
as nothing more or less than an ef-
fort of the Under dog to secure an
endurable measure of inequality,
These boys are 'finding that they can -
hot get along without the technicians.
So ends the rule of the proletariat,
but if we think that this will end the
struggle upward then we surely do
not understand human nature. We all
agree that old age pensions, widows'
and orphans' allowances, individual
and community health and other so-
cial legislation is the work of the
state but we are not all agreed that
state control of industries is a good
thing. The writer thinks that state
socialism, excepting under exception-
al circumstances, is the beginning of
the end. The state is seldom as good
a paymaster as the industrialist and
his politically appointed superintend-
ents and workmen are not likely to
be the equal of those picked because
of their qualification alone. But when
the machinery of the industrialist
breaks down and he finds himself un-
able to see that all the members of
the state are employed it becomes the
imperative duty of the people to find
that employment for themselves.
But where will the state secure the
vast income necessary for this pro-
gramme? Taxes are already too high,
a capital levy would upset our eco-
nomic system and turn the establish-
ed institutions of the country upside
down. We cannot surely expect volun-
tary contributions for such a fund.
Take away from man the incentive of
gain and power and progress stops
or slows down.
'Does man require the incentive of
reasonable or unreasonable wealth, no
matter how fairly earned or how well
used? Does he require the incentive
of protection for his family? I think
he does and I would grant him these,
but when he is finished with this life,
I think the state should have some-
thing more to say than it does at
present regarding how much protec-
tion is desirable for his family and
the host of indirect descendants prob-
ably most of whom had no part in
making his gains. Have our children
any more right to be bleseed or curs-
ed by the wealth we leave than they
have to be blessed or cursed by the
titles, to honor or dishonor, that we
leave? No normal man will suggest
that the curtailment he so drastic that
men would became spendthrift in or-
itIMIIIIIIIMI•11111•10M1•1111.1a
SUNDAY AFTER4ION
(By Isabel Hamilton, Goderich, Ont.)
Jesus, Thy boundless love to me
No thought can reach, no tongue de-
clare;
0 knit my thankful heart to Thee,
And reign without a rival there;
Thine wholly Thine alone I am;
Be Thou alone my constant flame.
Paul Gerhardt.
PRAYER
Impress upon our minds, our Father
that the seeking Saviour always sees
the se -eking sinner and bids him open
the door of his heart thr.t He may
come in and abide forever. In His
name we pray. Amen.
S. S. LESSON FOR MAY 3rd, 1931
Lesson. Topic—Jesus in the Home
of Zacchaeus.
Lesson Passage—Luke 19:1-10.
Golden Text—Luke 19:10.
In this, lesson we have recorded the
sudden and effectual conversion of
Zacchaeus, chief tax -gatherer in Jeri-
cho. He was a Jew and his name in
Hebrew 'meant "righteous." Accord-
ing to tradition Zacchaeus of the Gos-
pels became bishop of Caesarea in
Palestine by the ordination of Peter.
A half -ruined tower in Jericho is
pointed out to -day as the house in
which Jesus was entertained by Zac-
chaeus.
Curiosity mastered the mind of the
receiver -general of all the publicans
the day that it was made known that
Jesus would be passing through on
His way to Bethany. He brushed a-
side His dignity and made haste to
secure a good position from which to
have an unobstructed view of the
much -talked -of man—Jesus of Naz-
areth. He l'ad no thought of coming
into direct conversation with the man
he sought to see. Jesus saw him and
recognized a prospective follower and
to the amazement of the man he heard
himself addressed thuS: "Zacchaeus,
make haste, and come down; for to-
day I must abide at thy house." What
happened? He made as speedy a
descent as, but a short time before,
he had made a hurried ascent; he
adly accepted the self -invited guest
to his home and began to make him-
self ready to be worthy to have a
place beside this man at his own
sfaction
for50
,colfirr and flavor
and chewyness.
.Cabner bet*** digestion—
rerh rnouth—
esttheveting
end
table. Like a flash his past rather
shady transactions came to mind. He
really was, as his fellow -townsmen
regarded him, crooked in his dealings
and not at all given to the doing of
generous deeds. The look he receiv-
ed from Jesus and the honor he was
having conferred upon him, lifted the
veil and he saw his true self. Pos-
sibly for the first time in his, life,
such gracious treatment had come
his way and he gave a whole -hearted
response. It was something akinto
this that we read of in a story of the,
Quakers. A young girl disappeared
one day in the city of London, Eng-
land. Her parents applied to the So-
ciety of Friends for help to locate
her. An elderly woman offered to go
into the worst section of the city to
search for her. Going into a disre-
putable house she said to the man in
charge, "I have come for Miss —.
Here is my pocketbook. Will you
please take charge of it for me until
I am leaving." When she returned
with the girl he handed it to her and
sobbed out, "In all my life you are
the first person who ever trusted me."
The conversion of Zacchaeus was
one type; that of the Prodigal Son an-
other. Saul of Tasus had an alto-
gether spectacular experience which
resulted in his conversion and that of
the Ethiopian eunuch was still an-
other type. The reality of the con-
version of each was attested by the
resultant fruit. Here we are told
that the tax -gatherer proclaimed his
intention of refunding any moneys un-
justly gained and that henceforth he
would not live to self alone. He,
having experienced a change of heart,
made a change in his way of life and der to get rid of their accumulations
that is conversion. before death, but many normal men
Now that Zacchaeus is converted he think that many of the glaring in -
is saved from the guilt and power of equalities of this world would be done
his sins. Jesus said to him, "This
day is salvation come to this house,
forasmuch as he also is a son of Abra-
ham. For the Son of Man is come
to seek and to save that which was
lost." Henry's Commentary says:—
"Zacchaeus is by birth a son of Abra-
ham, but, being a publican, he was
deemed a heathen. As such the Jews
were shy of •conversing with him,
and expected Christ should be so; but
he shows that, being a true penitent,
he is, become as good a son of Abra-
ham as if he had never been a publi-
can, which therefore, ought not to be
mentioned against him.
^ 3JOSflORML ,493L
SHE WISRD
HERSELF DEAD
Then she found joy in living.
Gives credit to Dr. Williams' Pink
Pills (Tonic) Helpful in Spring
"When I was a girl,"
writes Jessie J. John-
ston of Roseneath, On-
tario, "I was anaemic—
no life or energy to
work or enjoy myself—
even wished myself out
of existence as it grieved me to see my
schoolmates romp and play while I
lacked strength and ambition.
"One day I noticed a small ad. about
Dr. Williams' Pink Pills and asked
mother if I could try them. ... Before
I was finished my first box my appetite
was gaining. The second box gave me
interest in my books and friends. I was
becoming a new creature...."
Your own body isn't inuch good when
you are nervous, anaemic and run down.
The iron and other elements in Dr.
Williams' Pink Pills (tonic) charge your
blood with red corpuscles --give color to
your complexion, and a sense of vitality
to your whole body.
At any druggist's. Be sure to say "Dr.
Williams'" so that the druggist will
know exactly what you want. 105
"Became
a New
Creature"
go. A beginning has already been
made, ,but ,surely there is plenty of
room for a little acceleration at the
top. It is the contention of the writ-
er that any Government could collect
and earmark, sufficient funds from
this source during the next period
of expansion to take care of the next
period of depression, and in so doing
it would be blessing those who gave
as well as those who received. Many
wealthy men are in advance of their
Governments in the wisdom shown in
the distribution of their excess wealth.
Witness the Rockefellers; •but thou-
sands of them are not so enlightened
and Governments can well undertake
the work that they fail to do. And
this prograniene does not call for state
WORLD MISSIONS
The Gospel of Cleanliness for
Negroes.
Not th,oasands but millions of col-
ored people are waiting for the out-
stretched hand of Christianity, the
touch of Jesus, the contact with in-
telligent, sympathetic helpfulness.
Where can this touch be given and
where felt as in the home? A mis-
sionary among the colored people,
when asked, "What are you doing,"
replied, "Caring for immortal souls
in ebony houses." Yes, and they are
also caring for the houses of these
souls, for multitudes sin and suffer
becan'se they know so little about
their bodies. The teaching of some
of the missionaries was cbaracteristi-
daily emphasized by the woman who
excl'aime'd: "I will, honey, I will look
up to God and clean up my house."
She had the right conception of the
order,Godliness then cleanliness; as
inseparable as faith awl works. The
influence of a growing pla-nt helped
to get one home .1.1 better condition;
the introduction of a pretty picture,
wrought a change in another. In
view of such facts, how nutnerous are
the opportunities of ,Sontheatt Baptist
waffien te extend a helping lomi, and
to hiffhenee for good those vibe are et
our dot, Ibeking to ute for help.—
etal& Miaia :Journal.
•
I., A
away with if our extremely wealthy
men were to become aware of the
fact that they could not leave beyond
a certain amount to any one indi-
vidual, and that only immediate rela-
tives could share in any estate. When
the question of taking hereditary
wealth by the state is discussed some
complex problems arise. Some of
them are: Are you going to take all
wealth, if not whose money will you
take and how much?
How will you collect? Will not this
lead to state control of industry ?
What will be the effect on industry
of the withdrawal of this money ?
There is not the slightest danger of
any Government indving too fast in
this matter. Only experience will show
the state how fast and how far it can
WHEN JOINTS
Are Stiff or Inflamed
Creaky Or Swollen
Rub In Joint -Ease And
Rub It In Good
Here's a wonder working substance
that soaks right in thru skin and flesh
right straightw don to the ligaments and
joints an swiftly drives out pain and
agony and reduces the swelling.
Joint -Ease has often been called the
magic emollient because of its uncanny
power to bring quick comfort to the
most obstinate cases of rheumatism,
neuritis and sciatica.
Without waste of time it knocks out
lumbago and ends stubborn backache
that nothing else seems to help.
You'll like Joint -Ease because it's good
for so many ailments—stiff neck for one
thing and sore muscles and also feet that
are so sore that to walk means agony.
Joist -Ease is made in Canada and
sold by all stores that sell good medicines
—A generetts tube for 60 cents—and
rigidly guaranteed.
Vie think it will be something of
which Canadians can be proud to
knew that there is, a fund, and to
take part in creating the fund, which
will be a guarantee that men Who
have served their country well and
without hope of reward need • not
fear want because they have given
their lives to the production of
something for which there is no im-
mediate general demand. They will be
easier in their minds than hitherto
they have had any right to be. The
average Canadian may not know very
much 'about poetry, except that kind
of poetry which the most highly re-
garded and rewarded poets like Walt
Mason and Eddie Guest produce. But
we believe that they have an innate
reverence for the things of the spirit;
and it would not be difficult to con-
vince them that the most precious
things of the spirit revealed to us
have been through the poets. It would
not be hard to prove that if there
were no poetry in the Bible there
would, be no Bible.
Dr. Charles D. Roberts has been
designated as the first beneficiary
of the fund. To meet Dr. Roberts
makes it rather difficult to imagine
that his first publication was 50
years ago. He has explored many lit-
erary fields, and has improved every
one of them. Those who are acquaint-
ed with his work will •agree that not
only because •of his seniority but be-
cause of its excellence he is the in-
evitable choice. He has not been with-
out recognition for many years. He
has not toiled in obscurity. But he has
spent himself for a mere fraction of
what his work has meant to the body
•of Canadian literature. Had he chosen
to strive merely to be a popular en-
tertaiati he would probably be endow-
ing a fund for others rather than
honoring a- fund by ,accepting recom-
pense from it. Despite his fruitful la-
bors which have extended over half a
century we donotbelieve that the
creative forces have been all spent.
We look for a further "harvest of a
quiet eye" and a serene and dignified
evening to crown the heat and battle
of his noon -day vigor.
controh a a
And why should the state require
to withdraw any capital from indus-
try? Suppose that Mr. Ford should
die and the State of Michigan should
decide that a few hundred millions
•of the Ford money was due the state.
Why should they not take shares in
the various Ford enterprises for their
equity, put these on the market as
any other inheritor might do, and in
no way interfere in the control organ-
ization, or the management? . . . If
we can solve the economic problem
without the state, all well and good,
but in the meantime no solution ap-
pears on the horizon and of this solu-
tion it can at least be said that in-
vestments in human welfare are bet-
ter than police batons as antidotes
to unrest.
CANADA WILL PROTECT HER
MEN OF GENIUS
We do not know that ever a genius
starved to death in Canada. But Can-
ada has lost scores if not hundreds
of her talented sons because there
was less demand for their talents
here than in the United States. One
of the consequences of the fund which
is to be raised to help should be to
keep them in Canada, where they are
so much required and so slimly re-
compensed, instead of sending them
across the line where they can be so
handsomely rewarded and where they
are not so much needed. The fund will
provide an income which wisely dis-
tributed by men who know good work
from empty and pretentious work will
guarantee a calm and peaceful old
age to the writers and artists who
have passed their creative period and
are without private means, and also
to young men of promise who may
be at the turning point of their car-
eers when the difference of a couple
of hundred dollars as a tangible re-
cognition may save the artist from
becoming the hack and preserve to
the country something that future
generations would not willingly let
die.
We do not predict that the know-
ledge that there is such a fund will
result in an increased production of
Canadian men of genius in the arts
and letters. We do not suppose this
hope animates those who will estab-
lish the fund. Genius flowers in the
unlikeliest places but we do not be-
lieve that the ill -furnished attic is its
favorite -habitat, despite the fact that
it has bloomed there often enough. We
do not believe that a man ought to be
on the verge of starvation to get him-
self into the proper mental condition
to write a deathless ode. But when
we have among us a man of genius
or even a man of rare talent it does
not invariably happen that his worth
is imrmediately recognized and his ord-
inary human wants supplied. Very
often men of this type are indifferent
to the hard practicality which most
of us observe. If they are idealists
they are likely to be improvident. If
they spend their time in communing
with the stars, their subsequent com-
muning with the landlady is apt to
be mist unpleasant.
"Seven cities warred for Homer being
dead.
Who, living, had no roof to shroud
his head," sang Thomas Heywood.
Yet this poet was the greatest gift
that Greece in her more than 2,000
years of history was able to make to
the world. Maybe Homer was happy
enough, or as happy as geniuses can
be expected to be. The odd pennies
tossed in his hat were enough for his)
simple wants. To -day, if he plied his
trade in the market places, he would
be apprehended as a vagrant. Or more
likely than not he would speedily
mend his ways and became a writer
of advertising copy. There are plenty
of mute, inglorious lVfiltons. There are
probably more latiltons who piped a
lay or two, and then, 'because no one
listened, fell silent and got a job at
a gasoline station. As Houseman said:
"I hoed and trenched and weeded
And took my flowers to fair;
I brought them home unheeded,
The hue was, not the wear."
But lather lads allay not be like
Houseman who sowed them, anyway,
in the hope that kindred spirits
would find and, wear them when he
was dead and gone.
Oregon turns down a law prohibit-
ing cigarettes. After all, there is no
good reason why the state should go
out of its way to encourage their use.
RECORD HELD BY U. S. FOR
9
find that Kellogg's Corn Flakes are
ideal for the children's supper. Whole-
some. Easy to digest. Packed with fla-
vor and crispness! Millions of mothers.
refOr
11
crisp Kellogg's every day..
ied4,9)
CORN
FLAKES
Trird5L0
CORN
FLAKES
Always oven -fresh in the waxtite wrap-
per. Made by Kellogg in London, Ont.
4
•
it may be concluded that sound, legal
opinion throughout the United States,
not less than throughout the British
Isles, condemns the action of the de-
faulting states and believes that they
should be forced to indemnify the
bondholders. It should also be noted
that the Federal Government was al-
so a large creditor of these defaulting
states but that it has been able to
collect almost all the indebtedness. It
proved that if it had the will to col-
lect it had the power. The question
arises: Has it the will, so far as for-
eign bondholders are concerned?
In the case of Mississippi, the most
brazen of the defaulters, its own Su-
preme Court has held that the bond-
holders should be paid. But there are
no collecting agencies at the command
of courts, if the Government chooses
to withhold them. The decision against
the state stands, despite the fact that
in 1875 Mississippi amended its state
constitution for the specific purpose
of defrauding the bondholders of the
most notorious debtors, the Union
Ban kand the Planters' Bank, which
had been guaranteed by the state. It
should be borne in mind that the re-
pudiated bonds have no connection
with the American Civil War. It' was
not as though British speculators ad-
vanced money to the seceding states
hoping to win on the gamble, and
then When the rebellion was crushed
went impudently to court to recover
by law what they had expected to
exact through conquest. The money
secured by the sale of the state bonds
waSs used for the legitimate purposes
of the state. It was no doubt unwise-
ly used; but that was the responsi-
hbiollidteyrso.f the state, not of the bond -
The question of these southern
debts has been brought into promin-
ence in eth course of the general dis-
cussion of international debts arising
out of the war. The suggestion was
made that the United States Govern-
ment should assume responsibility for
the default of the individual states
and deduct the amount from the sum
owing by Great Britain. It was un-
officials, of course, no British Govern-
ment having ventured to put forward
the idea. It is unlikely that the Brit-
ish Government will advance the pro-
posal. But in the long run the suffer-
er will be the United States and al-
ready it has been embarrassed more
than once in diplomatic negotiations
when it was reminded of this stain
upon its financial reputation. But the
Southern states remain obdurate. In-
deed one of the reasons the United
States senate has consistently refus-
ed to accept international arbitration
on all questions which may arise is
the fear of the senators, representing
these blackamoor states, that cne of
the early questions to be raised under
the treaty would be the uncomfort-
able one •of their bond repudiations.
LONG TIME WELSHING
What influence this column may be
supposed to have with several of the
southern states we do not know, but
in any event there has been handed
to us some matters dealing with the
repudiation by these states of their
bonds, and the efforts of the foreign
bondholders, generally English, to col-
lect. These efforts have been persist-
ed in for the best part of a century,
which is a tribute to British pluck.
But in this case British pluck has
been matched by American determina-
tion and the thing continues as a
deadlock, with the states refusing to
pay and the bondholders using all the
persuasiveness at their command to
induce them to relent and impoverish
themselves. It seems that 'between
1842 and 1884 bonds have been re-
pudiated to the amount of $77,650,000
by the...States of lVfississippi, Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana,
Alabama, North Carolina and Arkan-
sas, the latter defaulting as recently
as 1884. It will be noted that this
mass dishonesty has occurred in those
partsof the United States where re-
ligious hysteria and the more drastic
kinds of patent medicine abound;
where the stock has not been contam-
inated by Latin or Slavonic immigra-
don, where it is in fact, about as
purely Anglo-Saxon as is to be found
anywhere.
We point to the fact and draw no
moral. These states borrowed money
on their own credit, and when it be-
came inconvenient to pay formally
repudiated their debt and defied their
creditors to collect. Of course, they
could not collect. There is no power
that can make the defaulters make.
good. The United States Government
denies all responsibility. It says that
it did not borrow the money. But as
the entirely reasonable but almost de-
spairing bondholders point out, when
the states passed laws forbidding the
payment of the debts they violated a
provision of the United States Con-
stitution which says, "No state shall
. . . pass any law of attainer, ex
post facto law, or law inipairing the
obligation of contracts." But as we
know 'perhaps better than the logical
minded and well-nigh desperate bond-
holders, the United States Govern-
ment has always been able to ignore
violations of the Federal constitution
when the violators have been states.
Last year the Conference for the
Modification of International Law,
which met at The Hague and was
attended by distinguished American
lawyers, adopted the following rule :
"The Federal State is responsible for
the conduct of its separate states,
not only --if such be contrary to its
own -6bligations, but also if it be
contrary to the international obliga-
tions which are incumbent upon those
states. It may not invoke, with a view
of escaping this responsibility, the
fact that its Constitution does not
give it the right to control its sep-
arate states, nor the right to exact
from them the fulfilment of the obli-
gations." The most influential lawyers
of the world, including those in the
United States, are membersof the
Institute of International Law, and
\4 LOV E
HAN Di
Busy hands—at hard tasks
day In, and day out. Persian
Balm keeps the skin soft and
pliable. Removes redness
and relieves irritation.
At your taaatat
a
ALFONSO IS A MAN, IF NO
LONGER KING
In the past twenty years the two
most picturesque sovereigns in Eur-
ope have been the Kaiser and the
King of Spain. The war removed one
of them, and neutrality did not save
the other. Some time ago we expres-
sed the opinion that when a dictator-
ship was established in a monarchy,
the dictator should be the king, for
we do not think a man can delegate
his functions of monarchy to another
with any greater safety than he can
delegate his function as husband or
father. It is true that Primo de Rivera
was a mild dictator, and made no per-
sonal enemies. But he was a dictator,
nevertheless, and he suspended the
normal government of Spain which
only increased the popular hostility
to the dictator, to the king whom he
represented and to the whole institu-
tion of royalty which the king repre-
sented. In sober truth, a dictatorship
is not a preserver of a monarchy; it
is merely the rear guard action which
a monarchy fights when it is aboilt
to quit the field. Alfonso Was a pret-
ty good sort of king, but Spain was
sick of kings.
Personally there were many things
in Ring Alfonso which, are altogether
admirable. For one thing, he is a man,
not a puppet, and the sort of man who,
through force of personality, would
have commanded respect and atten-
tion no matter in what walk of life
he had happened to be placed. He has
his full measure of that fine quality
which few kings lack and which we
are glad to think is part d the birth-
right of royalty. Be is without physi-
cal fear. On eight occasions attempts
Were mode on his life, the most ter-
rifying of them being on the day he
was Married, when a bomb ldlIed sev-
eral people and fell so close 01 the
'tee,
royal coach that a horse was killed'
and a shell splinter struck a decora-
tion on the king's breast. Laterin the
day he and his English bride drove
through the streets' of Madrid in an
open carriage, unattended. W'hen a
bomb was thrown at him in Paris he
remarked calmly to President Loubet
that assassination was one of the
risk e of his trade. On another occas-
ion, when an assassin with a revolver
sprang forward to shoot him, the king
who was mounted, wheeled his horse
and rode his assailant down.
Tens of thousands of his subjects
who lined the routs of the funeral of
the murdered Premier Canalejas,
scowled and muttered as the King
walked behind the coffin. They were
in a dangerous, rebellious mood, but
Alfonso with head erect met their
glares with contempt, and few had
the hardihood to meet his fierce eye.
Once •at the ranch of a friend where
a bull fight was given in his honor
he terrified his courtiers by leaping
into the ring, challenging the charge
of the bull. Be drove his racing cars,
at desperate speed, and sailed his
boats on stormy seas. He played polo,
and it is a game as dangerous to a
king as to a eommoner. As to his men-
tal endowments we must speak with.
more reserve. We remember the bit-
ing message sent to him from Dori
Miguel de Unamemo, then in exile:
"God has placed his hand, Sire, upon
your emipty head." Perhaps his form-
er majesty's head was empty of noble
and pregnant ideas. A good part of
his intelligence was employed in the
effort to make him secure upon bis
throneand leave a throne for his sons
to ascend. That would tend naturally
to incapacitate him for more philoso-
phic general speculations.
But where his own interests were
concerned he was astute enough. The
number of attempts upon his life, the
numfber of suppressed rebellions, the
dictatorship, the political scandals,
the American war, the Moroccan wars,
the World War and the problern of
neutrality, the rapid succession of
ministries show that Alfonso had
plenty of problems, and that he has
faced them more or less successfully
ever since, as a boy of 16, he ascend-
ed the throne. Even then it was, shaky,
and no event since his accession, ex-
cept perhaps the personal quail:deg
which the Spaniards admire, has tend-.
ed to make it more secure. Before his
marriage to the English princess,,
whose sudden conversion to Roman)
Catholicism astonished all English
Protestants not accustomed to such
magic as befell Saul upon the road to
Tarsus, he had the reputation of be-
ing particularly interested in ladies
of the theatre, and other ladies like-
ly to prove indulgent to a passionate
Spanish wooer, especially when hes
happened to be a king, but marred by
'the delicate health of some of his chil-
dren.
Former Ambassador Gerard, return-
ing from Germany to the United'
States, called upon Alfonso and ha•sl
'since related that in the course of
1 the conversation the King wandered
round the room, pausing at' various
stations to refresh himself with var-
ious drinks, presumably alcoholic,
which were scattered about the place.
But the latest photographs, of the
King which we have seen do not sug-
gest a man given to such indulgences.
His love for athletic sports has kept
him hard and fit. His bronzed face is
darker than that of the average Span-
iard and betokens his love for the open
air. His voice is heavy, his eyes black
and deep set and his gaze penetrat-
ing. One of his most charming traits
is his love of talking with all sorts
of people, and his willingness to lay
aside whenever the opportunity offer-
ed the encrusted etiquette of the most
formal court in Europe. We should not
be at all surprised, in view of Alfon-
so's tastes and character so far as ib
has been revealed, that the happiest,
years of his life are before him.
TheBe
.asta *16°14! CA
DODD'S
*I I \
Pi L L
„
IACL,5 411
jj 14ER TR 0 • 1..1
l''fikt 4.4 g A c
illy
168/'111CP,
..•
at
4
al. •
.01
V
Or .0
r
oP