Items of Interest August 22, 1903 Issue

Items of Interest

Upon the occasion of his late retirement, Lieut.-Gen. Miles issued an address to the army which is most dignified and pertinent. It includes the following paragraph: "Since its organization the army has been charged with a great variety of responsibilities, all subordinate to defending the country and maintaining the rights of its citizens. ... It is now brought into daily communication with millions of people to whom its individual members are the exponents of American civilization. A serious duty and a great honor are now presented to every officer and soldier; namely, to exemplify to those with whom he comes in contact our country's principles of equal and exact justice, immunity from violence, equality before the law, and the peaceful use and possession of his own."

The pacification of the natives in the Philippines goes on with an occasional reverse and not a little evidence that only the patient and long-continued effort to educate them and better their condition is likely to eliminate the bitterness which war and its harsh measures have engendered. Captain Pershing, who has had to do especially with the Moros, reports that "There will be no more uprisings among them. Their general condition is far better than the people of this country realize. I think that within ten years they will be our most enthusiastic supporters. There has been an improvement in the industrial and sanitary conditions of the island in keeping with the improvement in the civil government."

The hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Ericsson was recently celebrated in New York by the unveiling of a statue. The statue is the work of John Scott Hartley. A national salute of twenty-one guns was fired by the United States gunboat Dolphin, and a folk-song from the birthplace of Ericsson was played by a Swedish band. Mayor Low of New York, in his address of acceptance, paid a high tribute to the genius of the great engineer, whose statue stands in Battery Park, overlooking the waters of the harbor. Forty-two Swedish-American societies celebrated the unveiling of the statue.

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