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EVENING LEDGEB-PHILADELPHIA. TUESDAY, JANtJABY 26, 1915.
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PUBLIC LEDGER COMPANY
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EDITOniAt,rjOAntt
Ctafg II K. Ccmis, Chairman.
P. H. WHALE . Exeeutira Editor
tM . M I M
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CLASa HAtt, MATTES.
MHLADhU'lllA, TUESDAY. JAMJAHV 16. 1915.
Any man can be busy with non-essentials ;
it is the man who is busv with
essential things that
counts.
Millions for Port and Transit
SENATOR FARE'S withdrawal of his sup
port from tho "conflicting' resolution" and
h!a actlvo Indorsement bf the so-called Tay
lor amendment removes whatever harrier
thcro mar have been to placing Philadelphia
finally In a position of financial Independence.
Tho amendment, If ratified by the people,
gives to the municipality a borrowing ca
pacity, for transit and port development
only, equal to 3 per cent, of tho assessed
valuation of taxable property. The effect of
this Is to Increase tho complete borrowing
capacity from 7 to 10 per cent. This gives
an absoluto Increase of over $66,000,000, moro
than enough to provide tho $40,000,000 for
transit and tho $25,000,000 for port improve
ment. In addition, as these great municipal
projects become self-supporting, proportion
ate amounts may bo deducted from the gen
eral Indebtedness In computing borrowing
capacity. The authorization of 63$car in
stead of SO-year bonds reduces the annual
sinking fund requirements from 2V& to 1 per
cent., and It is provided that Interest charges
during construction and during the (list year
of operation may bo capitalized.
Tho proposed amendment proposes to
wrench the financial shackles from Philadel
phia, to froj tho municipality, to aid It In
tho accomplishment of the splendid enter
prises It contemplates, to make possible a
supply of capital commensurate with the
necessities of tho metropolis. 'With tho
"conflicting resolution" out of the way, the
adoption of tho Taylor amendment seems to
bo assured, and with It tho futuro of the
municipality.
Round Pegs in Square Holes
ROUND pegs in square holes and square
! pegs In round holes!
Among tho millions who read Senator
Root's oration In tho Senate yesterday, par
ticularly that part of It In which he declared
that "no crime Is so wicked as consideration
of our foreign affairs with a view to party
advantage," a goodly majority, we surmise,
camo to one certain conclusion, namely, that
llr. Root, valuable as he is in tho Senate,
would be ten times more valuable at tho head
of the Department of State.
It Is a pity that a nation which boasts a
man who measures up to the best traditions
of that high office should be out of It; whllo
another man, of comparatively trivial at
tainments in statesmanship, holds' tho rudder
during one of tho most critical periods of our
diplomatic and commercial history.
Surfeited With Wonders
TTTE ARE so accustomed to wonders that
VY the successful transmission of the hu
man volco from New York to San Francisco
by telephone hardly stirs tho emotions.
These who thought of such things at tho time
knew that when Doctor Bell talked from
Boston to Cambridge over the first telephone
line, there was in his Invention the poten
tiality of transcontinental conversation. And
tho rest of us have taken the gradual Im
provements In telephony as a matter of
course. The man in tho street will be only
mildly interested In the announcement, when
It comes, that It is possible to telephone
across the ocean.
One has only to look back to 1875, when
tlie first practical telephone was made, to
realize how far the world haH moved. There
were no electric cars then, and no electric
lights; no electric elevators and no electric
table toasters or warming pans'; and no great
factories with all the machinery operated by
electric current transmitted 180 or 200 miles
from the generating plant. There was not
only no practicable telephone, but there was
no wireless telegraphy, the most marvelous
and awe-Insplrlng Invention of civilized times,
Which makes It possible for the laboring ship
on tho trackless deep to raise Its beseeching
masts to the heavens and cry for help and
have its prayer heard and answered. There
Were no submarines and no airships. There
were no illustrated dally newspapers, and no
moving picture shows and no talking ma
chines; and no great war engines and no
war rending a continent and millions of
human hearts at the same time. The won
ders and the tragedies that have developed
since 1875 are almost past belief.
Most Powerful in Peace
AMERICA'S responsibility to tho world is
JCX stupendous. Death and destruction are
common enough. Earthquakes come and go,
hurricanes and storms'; the Blnklng of a
Titanic stops the world short In Its rushing;
famine and floods, epidemics and panics play
their part in the tragedy of the human
struggle. They are taken as they come, with
all their suffering and grief; tho strong men
of the world grip anew their (asks, the weak
ones thejrs, and the wheel keep on turning.
The catastrophe In Europe, however, has
dozed the participants. They have cut loose
esrery tie to sobriety. They are arguing with
a new logic, preaching rjew doctrines, new
becauso outlawed agea ago, and they are
ruehlng madly Jnto a twin bankruptcy, finan
cial nd intellectual Their arts are being
slaughtered In the trenches, their sciences
uprooted and their initiative consumed, They
are filling rota upon ruin and tearing up the
fabric at clvilbsatioa.
Ym whoto burfim at International eoa
sxrvsthin 1mm 1mm ttu-wu en the United
States. There Is a narrow path for II to
tread, vindicating its own rights and at the
same lime giving Ainplo proofs of Its sincere
neutrality. That it, on nny account, should
bo hurled Into tho conflict is unthinkable.
Not by goad or taunt and not by nny other
means can that be brought abou, for our
International duty Is sreater than our na
tional duty, our power In peace greater than
our power in war, our npproachlng function
In tho family of nntlons so clearly defined
that to neglect It by following the madness
of Europe would bo to pull tho temple down
over our own heads nnd tho heads of tho
rest of humanity.
cpikc and Repudiate It
0
"IE thing is certain: tho days of tho seven
seas without an American ring floating
over them nro at nn end. Tho merchant
marine has become tho vital Issue before tho
country, by far tho most Important with
which our statesmen havo to deal, and the
problems connected with It press for a solu
tion. Tho enormous Increase In ocean freight
rates; which In some cases nro ten-fold what
they woraa year ngo, Indicate our helpless
ness. They drive tho Administration to tho
conclusion that tho only remedy Is purchnso
by the Government of fleets of merchantmen,
to bo operated, It may be, nt a nominal profit;
although tho President himself has suggested
that such vessels should be used In un
profitable trade only.
Tho logical conclusion Is the rporse. By
the magic of general war thcro ha"5 hten
brought nbout nn abnormal equalization be
tween foreign and American vessels, For tho
first time In ilrcades, even under our op
pressive! navigation laws. It Is possible for
American merchantmen to bo operated nt a
profit. Ships have become attractive lis nn
Investment. They promise a handsome yield,
even If thcro Is a material reduction in
rates. Since August a tonnage of approxi
mately half a million ha3 been brought under
American reglstrv. This In spite of tho un
settled conditions existing, mainly In respect
to tho Interpretation of marine law. Should
the Dacla case be decided In our favor, nn
Immediate Increase of hundreds of thousands
of tons In our marlno, purchased by prlvnte
capital, could reasonably bo expected. T.et
the Government guarantee to privately
owned ships the samo protection that It would
givo Its own, and a deluge of money would
offer for Investment. Nor are there any ships
available for purchase by the Government !
that private capital could not buy.
It Is, then, particularly a time to encour
ago general Investment In ships, and most
obviously a time not to prevent It entirely by
putting the Government into competition with
private enterprise. The Administration
scheme proposes to keep private American
capital off tho seas nt the very moment when
such capital, for the first time In years, Is
ready for the venture. Tho Senate, as the
citadel of conservative, deliberate and wcll
dlgcsted statesmanship, should spike the proj
ect and utterly repudiate It.
Doubtful Status of Hydroaeroplanes
THE protest of tho German Ambassador
against tho further shipment of hydro
aeroplanes from tho Curtlss works to Eng
land must bo considered carefully by the
State Department. It Is not easy to dee'do
offhand whether a hydroaeroplane Is a war
ship or not within the meaning of The Haguo
convention, because no such vessel existed
when that convention was drawn.
Tho subject should bo approached with an
open mind, backed by a determination to be
fair to all the parties concerned. Tho fair
minded citizens of the country will be disap
pointed If tho Stato Department attempts to
quibble or indulges in any form of special
pleading. "We must conduct ourselves in
such a way that wo can retain our self re
spect as a nation, whatever may be tho ef
fect of our course on any of the belligerents,
"With this general principle In mind the Gov
ernment in Washington cannot go far wrong.
Docs Not Heed Its Master's Voice
THE people voted $1,000,000 for new hos
pital buildings at Blockley. Presumably
they knew what they wero doing and did not
expect Councils to nullify their verdict.
That, nevertheless, is1 what Councils Is doing,
for It refuses to perform Its ministerial func
tion of formally appropriating the money.
The Johnson contract was a bad enough
thing, but It has been sidetracked as a vital
issue, and thero Is no longer oven a political
reason for holding up the money, It would
be a splendid thing for the municipality If
Councils represented Philadelphia Instead of
somebody or something else.
Cardinal Gibbons continues to manifest his
usual sanity by denouncing the literacy test
In tho Immigration bill.
Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg Is still
explaining that when ho said "scrap of
paper" he meant something else.
Judge Sulzberger calls Director Porter In
competent and Director Porter returns the
compliment, so that honors are now even.
The report that Special Consular Agent
Carothers was shot In Mexico Is denied by
Mr. Carothers himself. He was not even half,
shot.
The nations have already borrowed all the
money there Is In tho world. They may pay
the Interest, but they will never pay the debt.
That Democratic Governor of Michigan
need not worry about plots to defeat Wilson
for renomlnatlon. The friends of the plotters
are the men to worry.
Pegasus was the first flying machine, but
he went cavorting around the sky before The
Hague Convention prohibiting the export of
war vessels to belligerents had been framed.
Marconi has been recognized by the
Italian Government and becomes a member
of the Senate. It takes the world a long
time to identify genius, but It generally gets
there finally.
Representative Gardner Is taking particular
pains to let it be known that he does not In
tend, to violate our neutrality by calling out
the army reserve. He merely wishes to give
a dinner to It so that he can see what the
It men look like. Mr Bryan will doubtless
make tho ncenry explanation to tly( diplo
matic corps s that the i3amooitraUiiH way
not h misunderstood.
MOTION PICTURES AS
EDUCATIONAL COURSES
"Extension Work" in City nnd Country
Shows People How Tilings Arc Made.
Motogrnphy Utilized in Agriculture,
Industry mid Civic Enterprise
By FRANCIS IIOLLEY
Director of tlie Unrein of CemmercUl Economic,
IP THE clock of time turned backward and
mado us all school boys nnd girls again,
how many of lis from preference would study
tho old-fashioned textbooks which strangle all
Imagination with tho shackles of words?
Words mean llttlo to a child; It Is tho pic
ture that creates tho lasting impression, nnd
with chtldren of a large growth tho samo Is
true. Most of us prefer Borne sort of Illus
tration In tho books we rend, bo It but a dia
gram to make concroto nnd vivid that wh ch
otherwise Is but nn abstract thought. Even
statements of facts of historical events aro
but words Unless they create In the mind nn
Impression of reality, of vividness. T. at
which tho oyo bolloldi stamps on tho brain
an Imprint more 'nst ng than that which Is
simply read about. It 's the old axiom of ex
perience versus tradition
We can not nil In nctuallty experience tho
thrills, tho horrors, tho delights, tho tenors
of being rescued by handsome outlaws frrm
tho crushing whno's of the onrushlng train;
or of having vnBt millions left to us by tlu
fortunnta death of an unknown re atlvo who
makes us his Icnoflclnry. But by means of
tho moving pictures wc mny assume theso
I "Ready to Went" experiences. With our
eyes we see the thins on tho screen and tho
Imprint on our minds Is so vivid that wo
leact to It ns though It were an actual per-
I snnnl experience. How rftcn do wo heir In
I tho Juvenile pollco courts tho plea of tho
delinquent, "I Baw It In tho movies"?
Whether this is a perfunctory excuso or not,
It Indicates that nctlon seen by tho cyo, re
corded on the hrnln, fosms an Integral part
of our minds and becumes a stimulus, an In-
centlvo for future action.
The Public Wants lo Know
The philosophy of education has changed
from thnt of the superintendent of one of tt-o
large high schools of Philadelphia, who de
rlnred very recently that If ho had his wny
thero would not oven be a blackboard In his
school, for the e.t- rnnl Imago destroyed the
mental Imatte. If this old doctrine bo tiuo
how few Imnges we must havo In our minds;
pet haps this accounts for some of the mental
nbraslons which occur among our acquaint
ances. Tho progressive scientific Instructor keeps
ahienst of the times. The public Is moro In
terested In conditions of the material world
than in higher mathematics. Four-fifths of
I the children In the sehoo'a and oven a greater
percentum of tho parents prefer to study
thoso things which vitally Interest them.
City sanitation, the filtration of tho water of
tho community in which they live, is not only
only Interesting, It is vital.
The Public Ought to Know
If the Government has tho privilege and
the rlcht through legislation to investlgito
the business relations of the great corpora
tions and to ascertain whether or not they
are In restraint of trade, how much moro hns
the public the right and privilege to know
under what conditions things aro made nnd
produced; under whnt conditions labor la
callcl upon to serve. Mothers have the right
to know whero the food which Is given to
their chlldien Is prepared.
The president nf a great coal company, in
explaining how Impossible It would bo to
show coal mines, stnted thnt all you could
see 11ns an American with his face black as
Ink crawling on his hands and knees through
a hole in the wall, with a pick and shovel,
climbing up on n ledgo and thero picking
all day In tho coal with tho dust so thick
that you could not seo him two feet nway.
We suggested to him, if that were tho condi
tion under which he worked his men, wo did
not blame him for not wishing to disclose,
to the public at large the conditions existing
In his mines. Ho then offered a picture of a
pumping stntlon pumping water 300 feet bo
low tho earth's surface. But when wo asked
to show a pumping station pumping air to
tho poor miner on the ledge so that ho could
be seen three feet nway he declined. A coal
mine Is aa easy to motograph ns a lunch
table at a picnic.
The Bureau of Commercial Economics has
been founded primarily to disclose by mo
tion pictures, to the whole public, not only
to thoso who can afford a college course, but
even to the poorest of the poor, how things
nre mado and under what conditions they aro
produced.
Afraid of the Truth
Motography has produced all sorts of in
dustrial films, some truthful reproductions
of conditions actually existent; others manu
factured for the coming of tho motographer.
Wo have had films presented to us containing
a playlet, a romance and a horde of people
emerging from n factory at the ringing of
the noonday bell. Investigation has proven
that this mass of humanity was an excursion
carrltd to tho factory for the purpose of
being motographed. But the weaving of a
playlet or a romance around an Industrial
picture does not relieve the manufacturer of
his responsibility. The paying of large sums
for the circulation of such films through the
medium of the motion picture houses does
not answer the requirements of the public
for Information; nor does it Justify the ex
emption of such manufacturers from their
obligations to display under what conditions'
they produce tho output of their factory and
shop.
More than 250 of tho largest manufacturers
and producers of America have furnished
films to this bureau, showing honestly how
tho product of their factories is made. In
every Instance where a peremptory refusal
has been given to motographlng an establish
ment, investigation has disclosed that es
tablishment Is not of a character which lends
itself to motography, and the reasons for this
aro the unwholesome surroundings under
which the employes work and the unsanitary
conditions under wlptch the output of that
factory reaches the public
The experience of the" last year has clearly
proven that every Institution that manufac
tures a product worthy of respect Is willing
to show Just how that product Is prepared,
for 'motography reproduces truthful condi
tions, If It is not trifled with.
Stato Aid for Motography
The 62 great educational Institutions of
which this bureau Is composed, located In
nearly every Slate of tho Union, have under
taken and assumed the burden of dissemi
nating vocational. Industrial, commercial and
geographical information through alt their
pjmmqnlty centre? and In every rural district
wlthla thlr Jurisdiction For this isrvlco
nuim Ptafs mak- libs'a! ai prfipririt on. Tli
WATCHFUL WAITING
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fLjill
XVANIA If. ,
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Ji'i i '1)1 wirVfA'lfrirt'Vy W3r ft 1 Uz." Cvi nfrTs jr JT a
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universities display the films in their own
Institutions, thus affixing their seal of ap
proval of the character and quality of tho
films nnd then send them out In tho hands
of competent professors to show to tho com
munities. Tho agricultural colleges of tho States show
the agricultural films and other educational
films, nnd then send them out In tho lands,
nffixlng their seal of approval, disseminate
them through tho medium of the State
Grango organizations and rural communities,
Ihus tho bureau Is able to reach at a low e
tlmato more than 1,000,000 persons a month
and acquaint them with the conditions that
exist In the industrial world.
This method of Imparting Information helps
tho manufacturer to prcduce better .jcods,
for ho will hnvc the pick of the best work
men in tho country, who will seek to find a
home and employment In the Institution
which has tho most consideration for his no!.
f:i-e Though It Is imposslblo to toko the pub
lic Into every factory and shop that they may
discern conditions' for themselves. It Is pos
sible to take the factory and shop Into every
household through the medium of motion pic
tures. PORTS OF PHILADELPHIA AND ROSTON
To1 the VAItor 0 tht Kvcninn Lrdacr.
Sir: If the figures on shipping In tho port of
Boston In my recent article on tho development
of Postnn nnrt were wiong, ns your correspon
dent, George F. Sproule, thinks they are, I
am only too glad to stand corrected. Tho error,
If there was one. must fall on tho shoulders of
tho Boston Tort Directors, from whoso most
recent reports my figures were taken. But I
think that Mr. Sproule has In mind tho flKures
for n different year from that reported upon by
the Ho-ston Port Directors uhctliPr or not thelt
figures are correct. Tho totals submitted by the
Boston Port Directors covered tlie year 1D13, a
point which I may not have mado ns clear as I
thought; whereas Mr Sproulo takes the totals
of 1014 In his letter upholding Philadelphia's
claim to second rank ns a port.
Bight or wrong, the figures I quoted seem to
mo not the material point In my article. I nm
only too willing to concede to Mr. Sproule what
ever honors belong to Philadelphia The Inten
tion of my article was to set forth to Phlla
delphlans. or to nny others concerned, Boston's
encouraging example of self-Improvement. It
seemed to mo less Important to compare Boston
with other ports than to compare Boston port
todny with Boston port before this energetic de
velopment was undertaken. Since the war Bos
ton has lost heavily In shipping; but tho loss Is
onlv temporary. And, ipgardless of tho ftmires
nnd of Boston's relation to Philadelphia In totals
of shipping, the advancement of Boston port,
nchlevod In the face of that discouraging public
Inertia which so often blocks largo public Im
provements, Is a model of enterprise that nny
city In tho country mny copy with profit. That
was what my article aimed to say. I hope the
figures quoted did not obscure that point.
BURTON KLINE.
Boston, Jnn. 23, 1915.
SUNDAY DOES NOT FRIGHTEN
To the Editor of the Evening Ledger:
Sir Your accounts of the "Billy" Sunday
meetings at tho tabernacle are about as ac
curate as It Is possible to be, and In printing
these sermons your paper and the other papers
are doing a world of good.i Tou are helping
the evangelist in the great work In which ha
Is engaged for the uplift of mankind.
I muet take exception to the article In your
paper of January 20, taken from an Interview
with the Rev. Mr. St, John, of the Unitarian
Church. In the Interview many Incorrect state
ments wero made, In fact, absolutely untrue.
Mr. Sunday Is not endeavoring to frighten
anybody, nor does he frighten anybody. He
simply preaches the plain matter of fact gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and the
people nre rushing In the thousands and tens
of thousands anxious to hear the word of God
preached In the language that every man,
woman and child can understand. When he
speaks of a little child twelve years old going
up the sawdust trail and having no Idea of
what he Is doing, he Is not correct, as there
are many people living today who date their,
conversion back when they were much younger
in life than 12 years.
There Is no vulgarity put Into the mouth
of Jesus, Mr. Sunday simply wants the people
to do as Jesus would have them do, and Is
voicing the word of God when he says, "God
calls for all men everywhere to repent," and
Rny man, no matter who he may be, that can
not see the great good that Is being accom
plished by the Sunday party In this great city
of Philadelphia at the present time certainly
must have a perverted mind.
CHARLES H. BARRITT.
Philadelphia, January 22, 1915.
PHOTOPLAY DEPARTMENT
To the Editor 0 the Eventng Ledger: K
Sir We havo noticed an unuaual activity on
the part of the Evbnino Lbdobr and the
splendid display that has been given to photo
plays. I would like to say that In the courts
of my WOO-mlle trip, and after Interviewing
many of the prominent newspaper men of this
country, I have noticed no better presentaUon
of the Industry than is now being given In
the EvENiNd Ledoer, and I feel that the work
you aro doing and the good you are accom
plishing will be of lasting benefit to a great
many more people than perhaps we realize,
Iwcaute this induatry Is getting to be knawn
aa a great educational txmerk to the commu
nity CARL H PIERCE,
Special Representative, Bcwortb, Inc.
Nw Tort, January 7S, IMS,
TELLING WHERE A MAN GOMES FROM
You Are Betrayed by Your Accent Sometimes It Reveals "What Street
You Live On Pleasant Pastimes of a Detective of
Peculiarities in Speech.
By WALTER
P'lUK. IIIGG1NS (what a namo for ahoro!)
In Shaw's play, "Pygmalion," enjoys a
pleasant evening by telling various characters
whom ho meets what section of London they
come from, reaching his conclusions solely
from their accents and Inflections. Prof. Hlg
glns isn't a Joke, cither. "Phonetics" is
enough of a science to be put already to prac
tical use by the French police. The tongue,
like tho thumb, betrays. Have you ever tried
to train your car to the differences In Amer
can speech, not only differences between
various sections of tho country, but between
parts of tho samo section or even the samo
city? It is a fascinating pastime.
Ono of the most curious evolutions of
American speech Is tho so-called Bowery ac
cent which the slums of New York are sup
posed to havo produced, and to be producing
constantly from the American-born children
of foreign parents. This speech Is peculiar
to New York In many recognizable ways, and
yet, on tho other hand, it has features which
appear to characterize the "tough" dialect of
all cities. Its most characteristically Now
Yorklsh featuro Is much tho same os It was
n generation ago, when Ed Townsend wrote
his famous Chlmmy Fadden stories. Thccom
blnatlon of either i or c with the following
consonant r as in ptrl or skirt or perfectly
Is its leading variation. Ooll Is often used to
represent the curious fato which overtakes
girl on the East Side, but as a matter of fact
it does not correctly represent it. Perhaps tho
German umlauted o would come nearer goel
If you pronounco with your mouth a bit
crooked, your nasal passages slightly closed,
and your throat constricted.
Indigenous American Accents
And yet tho oddest part about this perver
sion Is that In reality It does not appear to bo
the result of foreign dialects reacting on
English, but to havo been copied from the
native New Yorkers, much as the Southern
speech Is In part at least an unconscious copy
.of the negroes. It Is common, with varia
tions which Prof. Hlgglns could easily de
tect, to Jews, Irish, Italians, In tho Bowory
districts; and It Is common, In a much less
nasal and pro'nounged degree, of course, to
tho genuine native New Yorkers. By that Is
meant tho rnen and women who were born
of Saxon stock in Now York city and raised
In its schools,
Thero are far fewer of such people than
you would guess, but those who aro true New
Yorkers (and Brooklyn Is Included here), un
less they havo made a positive effort to over
come the trick, almost Invariably pronounce
their it's and er's with nt least a hint of this
odd perversion, no matter how gently reared
they are. It Is common to people of 60 years,
and to school girls, so It must havo charac
terized New York speech for at least three
generations. I know a school girl In Brook
lyn today whose speech In this respect Is as
different from the accent, say, of President
Eliot, as cockney Is from the speech of Lord
Rosehery. Yet she goes to a school where
there are none but children of native families,
of gentle blood. The source of the Bowery ac.
cent Is evidently older than the flood of Im
migration. A Dawth in a Rath tub
The New York speech, too, Is almost In
variably characterized by the flat a and the
exceptions to the rule are found In a certain
social set In the upper strata, so that If you
hear a peculiar kind of broad a In Sherry's
you can almost predict without turning
about the kind of little mustache the user
will be wearing. Even this stratum, "however,
doesn't do very well with the broad a, I re
cently heard a New York rector who read,
"Dust to dust, and aashes to aashes." The
true Bootonlon, of course, says simply ashes.
It reminds one of the man In Ade's fable, who
took a bawth in tho bathtub.
It Is an open question whether thefbroad a
or the flat a Is going to become the standard
of American speech, if we ever have one.
There can be no question but the broad a Is
far more musical, and in heightened dis
course far more eloquent. "Qraant, we be
seech Thee" Is far nobler than "Grant, w
beseech Thee ." But already there seems to
be a strong tendency to restrict the broad a
to certain classes of people, even In sections
where It hae hitherto preyailed. It (4 UH al
most universal In New England among the
native horn, and whether a, man cornea from
MiUadelphla ttr Washington can sa tea he 4
PRICHARD EATON
termlned solely by the way bo pronounce!
his a's. But tho Southern speech. In other
respects often so musical, Is apparently more
and moro Inclined to the flat a, and It Is prac
tically tho standard of tho West.
A Sign of Philadelphia
In regions whero both uses aro common, It
Is almost lnvarlnbly the moro "aristocratic"
class who uso the broad form. I have fan
cied that of late this was becoming mbre
marked in Philadelphia. '
There are Innumerable minor difference)
In speech throughout America. The people ot
tho Piedmont region of tho South, for ex-
V- ample, do not talk like thoso from Alabami
or Mississippi. It Is only people from tin
southernmost regions, tho black belt, who
travel by the Sea Bodo A Line. Tho people 'cj
Atlanta aro less soft of speech, and much
moro rapid, than the peoplo-of Charleston. Il'
is almost always possible in the South, also,
to distinguish tho difference between a mAn
ono of whose parents was born and reared
In tho North, and a man both of whosa
parents wero Southerners. Tho Idiom Is th
same, but tho former man does not polish
off so many corners of his words.
The New Englander, of course, can tell tho
difference between n Cape Codder and a New
Hampshire farmer before they have spoken
ten words. They both pronounce down as If It
wore deown, but tho nasal twang la on a
different note. One of tho most curloiis dif
ferences In Now England, and ono which oc
curs within tho smallest radius, Is that found
In Harvard College. In splto of the great
geographical rnnp;o represented by th
student body, tho predominant speech at
Harvard Is Bostbnlan In character that Is,
It employs tho broad a and Is fairly well
standardized on dictionary models, through
tho debating clubs, unconscious Imitation,
and the example of the professors.
But thero Is one section of Harvard known
as "the Gold Coast," where the majority of
tho socially elect live, men of wealth, family
position, and with that same touch of uncon
clous arrogance which characterizes their
mothers. The Gold Coast lies along Mt. AU'
burn street, and the curious accent these men
u
have evolved may be called the Mt. Au
burn street accent. It Is not exactly EnglUh,
though It has a certain relation to the speecS
you hear at Oxford. It Is the Boston speech,
with a dash of affectation. These men al!
read the Boston Traanscrlpt. Yet that alone
does not describe It. It cannot be described
yet onco heard It will be always recognized. I
dare say Professor Hlgglns could stand In
Harvard square and tell almost whet dormi
tory each passing Harvard man lived In. Cer
tainly almost 'anybody can tell which eoclal
layer ho belongs to. Nor does the accent de
sert these men In after years. Like the pe;
cullar angle at which they tip their o&ti
when they sit In their clubs, they retain. If
till tholr hair le gray,
A-CHANT OF LOVE FOR' ENGLAND ,
This "Chnnt of Love" was. of courw, K
gested bv Ernst Llssauer's "Chant of Hat'
familiar through the spirited veraion of Mr.
Archibald Henderson.
A song of hata Is a song of Hell;
Some there be that sing It well.
Let them sing It loud and long,
We lift our hearts In a loftier son: r '
We lft our hearts to Heaven above,
Singing the glory of her we love
England! Glory of thought and glory of deed,
Glory of Hampden and Runnymede;
Glory of ships that sought far goil.
Glory of swprde and glory of aoulil
Glory of songs mounting as birds.
Glory Immortal of magical words j
Glory of Milton, glory of Nelaon,
Tragical glory of Gordon and Scott;
Glory of Shelley, glory of Bldney,
Glory transcendent that perUhee not
Hers is the story, hars be the glory,
Kngianai
Shatter her beauteous breast ye may;
The Spirit of England none can Yl
Dash the bomb on the dome of Paul .
Deem Ve the fame of the Admiral falls?
Pry the stone from tho chancel floor. ,
Dream ye that Shakespeare shall live no more
Where Is the giant shot that kill
Wordsworth walking the old green miwi
Trample the red rose on the ground
KeaU In Beauty while earth eplne rounOi
Bind her. grind her. burn her with ore,
Caet her ajhes Into the ei
She ehall eacape, eh shall aspire,
She ahall arla to siak men frees
She ball arUe la a eacred acorn,
Lighting the lives that are yet unborn.
Spirit supernal, splendor juraat.