The Gavelyte, February 1909

CEDARVILLE COLLEGE. 32 Current Events. PROF. F. A. JURKAT. The interest of most people in America, whether in public or private po::;ition, is now fastened on the Lincoln Centenary. Nearly all that is i_m– µortant in our national history has happened !,:ince Lincoln was born. Sevt-"ral ~reat wart-, with thPir accompanying disturbances, to say nothing of the conquPst (If half a continent from the Indians, are embraced in that 1wriocl. The ob~ervance 1.f the centenary only emphasizes the fact how full of events is the age in which we live, and comparatively speaking proves thal a nation can b.... born in a day. The squabble ~,etween Cor,gress and the President has reached the ridiculous stage, but it must Le admitted that the President has borne itself with an unprt-cedented dignity, and every ~ffort hit Into made by indiviclual :enaturs and Representatives to put him rn the dPfences has ignominiously failed. Senator Tillman's effort to exeulµate- himself were fittingly represented in the hit made at the late banquet of the Gridiron Club, when the chairman of the feast ordered out the Secret Service men to watch the mail-boxes tu keeµ Senator Tillman from franking a grand piano. The Senator niight have known that anyone who gets mixeJ up in an Ort'gon land deal becomes an object of suspicion, even if hi::i character anri dealings are as spotless as the gnow. The late Senator Mitchell was standing under conviction when he died, and ~Pveral other prominent men have had their reputations blasted. ju8t becau8e they were dealing in lumber lands. It is only a step from .Oregon to California, and California has found that it i8 only a step from the frying-pan to the fire . For the past four or five jear::i San Franeisco has been fiµ;hting the boodlers, and was just con– gratulating herself uµon having that job finished, when the Japanese question came up. Althou2h the l nited ~tates has made a treaty with Japan, guaranteeing the .Japanese certain 1 ights in this eountry, and although the United Stat2!; Constitution says that among other thingi::, all treatie::i made by Congress shall be the supreme law of the land, any law of any state to the c1111trary notwith~tanding, the California legislature took a notion that it was bigger than the lJnited States, and began to enact drastic legislation against the .laps Thi8 cau sed a flurry in Wm~hington, and tele– grams flpw thif'k and fast hPt,wrPn t lw Pre$idrnt and Govrrnor (;iJIPtt .