1 Judgfe Wi LFIF.Y Wide S Opcti"Wicb,c«d City I/il^e' A | NEW- YORK DAILY TRIBUTE, SUNDAY. APRIL 21. 1907, By HUlbm T. CUis. LEBBEUS R New Judge of the United WILFLEY. States Court for Cnina. SIKH POLICE, SHANGHAI. How It Work* as a Brain Lubricant and Mental llluminant. President Woodrbw Wilson, of Princeton Uni- versity, is .i conservative among the conserv- atives. He plainly disbelieves In the cultural value of teas, dinners, debates and other mod- ern Irritants, preferring the good old royal road to knowledge used by most Americans! of the last generation and many rurallsts of the pres- ent on.-, namely, chewing tobacco. The ether day President Wilson said thai the Western Senator is a more useful servant of the people than his Eastern colleague, because he chews Virginia leaf. The .low, deliberate mastication of the quid gives the rhewer time for reflection and the formation of opinions. "If yon live in \u25a0 i place where you can .11 around a stove in a country store and spit tobacco Juice Into a saw- dust box." said Dr. Wilson, "you are much more TOBACCO CHEWING. FIRST WIFE HEBOINE OF "AMELIA." Fielding produced his but work of fiction. "Amelia." In 177»1. three years before his death. He was the:* actively engaged in his duties as magistrate, bring chairman or" Quarter Sessions. in which he delivered a charge to a. grand jury which to sti; ' considered by lawyers a node! of its hind. The central figure of the work Is tho author's first wife. "While he greatly mourned her lon, he consoled himself soon after her death by marrying her serving maid, who sur- vived him nearly half a century. The new novel (iii! not attain the vogue of its predecessor, and is considered to be marked by a difference in virility and to be Indicative of advancing; years. Yet it holds hlirii rank in Rngi f.«*tion. The following year Fielding again editetl ;< bi-weekly newspaper, "The Cnvent Garden Journal." of a literary character, for which he wrote under the name ol Sir Alexander Dniwcansir. Etut railing health and the strenuous duties of his it.Ticjal position told on his strength A trip to Hath early in 17.V1 proved of no avail. and by the advice of his physicians he went to Portugal with hi* wife and eldest daughter in June. Of th:« trip his posthumous work, "The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon." gives a graphic account. with many touches in his best manner. The* voyage vvns a long and stormy one. Field- Ing's health did not rally, id hind th occurred at Lisbon on October S. IT."V| when he was in the forty-eighth year of hit age. He was burled in the English cemetery facing the Church of the He;.rt of Jesus, and the monument marking ii bears on the front a long. Lathi inscription, and on the back the words, "L.i:get Britannia gremio nor. d.iri fovere natum." While Fielding's farces, comedies and bur- lesques have vanished from the stajr«\ and his essays are not even Inurned in the volumes of "The British Essayists,** his triad ot novels find new readers with each niw generation and k--- p hi.< name and fame alive, in that "republic of letters" to which he refers in his masterpiece. It bids fait- to have even a wider celebrity, for a comic opera based upon the chief incidents iii it has Just b*-en successfully produced in Lon- don, where he saw much of all sule^ of life. There has been much speculation as to why he made the hero of this work a foundling, and hi 3 latest biographer suggests that trif> then recent establishment of a foundling hospital in London, which Interested both the novelist and his com- panion and associate. Hogarth, reference to whose works appears in all Fielding* books, suggested the idea. At any rate, some of th^ author'"- own boyhood experiences are believed to be depicted In the work, Just as the char- acter of Sophia Western, tho heroine, was me- gested by and drawn from the author's c\v:i wtf*. likely to have opinions than if you live In New York." Every thoughtful citizen must welcome this illuminatinjr answer to that ancient question "quid pro .(tic.- .\u25a0•\u25a0 or "what's a quid for. any- how?" Ancient authorities declared that ther» was, somewhere and sometime, a tree of wis- dom, to eat tho fruit whereof was to open one's eyes to things unknown befor**. Who irou'.d have supposed, though, that this tree of knowl- edge was the humble tobacco plant, whose fruit is neither food nor drink, but a mental illuml- nant? Th« older version of the Adam and Ev» story plainly need? revision in the light of Pres- ident Wilson's discovery; It'was not an apple tr»-.\ but a Havana wrapper plant that lured th<: luckless Kve. who doubtless was v/illln? to tuke any kind of a wrapper, about that time. And when we retail the usual « ffeet of the flrst quid a man chews, the reason for Adam ami Eve's tlipht frmn the Garden of Kden becomes clear. The effect of ehewtng the* quid must fatr*. been unusually severe upon Adam heoause h» had never touched tobacco until art;iinir.s man- hood; nor !\u25a0.•<,; his ancestors ased the weed. Nt wonder. th»-n. that he thought he aaw an angel with a Oaming sword t Even to-day tobacco headaches make men see even stranger appari- tions. It ill becomes us moderns to decry ths use of tobacco, for through it alone our ancev tors flrst "got wi.-e." went int-> p(>litfc-s and th* clothinp business, and finaltv in the •as. of tedtons aces developed the Western Senator ! and ... hi^h grade ta:ii:t !übricai:t. Virginia 1 Pl'.'S- llad all her de^centlants relisiously foUowej Eve's example iv restricting xhe:r mouth di?t to> the nlrotinoca leaves "f the wisdom tree. woman suffrage would loss a^'» hay* becom* I universal. But alas! with the perversity eharac- | tertstir of th-^ y:<. Eve's daughters eariy savo i up rhcarbis tobacco and took ?o cliewins su:n. 1 Whether this fatal step was i;:ken i:i the belief I th.v the rubl«er tree was a!«>> :i vegetabte en- cyclopzctlla and that *M wh>> ruboera u.ny read the wisdom thereof historj sayetb not. it may have been that ih~ truth rrveaW ty chawing th<=- evil of nicotinoufi wisdom was too bitter f>r the woMi-n; o^ perbar.s they Coßßd that truth disclosed by chewing son coold fee xuon easily stretched. At ail events, tutti frutti and pepabw ized rubber displaced Viruini-i leaf in femiriiuf THi»t:ths; and straightaway political sagacity and a few other kinds l>epra!t to disappear from the ranks of the sex. hut the cause; of th>» disappear- ance may easily b? understood from President Wilson's theory. The superior value of the quid, says the president, is due to tb/> slowness of its dlslr.te- gratlpn ar.tl liquefaction. The <iuid »hov.er has ttT.e to ch»-w and chew between seattow* Hence lie is more Ilfc?ly to t!;!nk sreat thoughts. Furthermore, when engaged iii a debate; tiw quid ehewer has the obvious advantage of belnsr able to postpone answers to hard questions ami to think up a joke <>v tart rejoinder under t!h» cover of a, large and cumbersome moathfol >>t tot;tOl-o. The sum ehewer has no such opportunity; zv.m seems t<> make the Jaws work at higher *x>wd. reducing the length of ir.tetraU between sen- tences and allowing an easy stop at any mo- ment. Rapidity is tiu;.s made tt> go hand in hand with vapidity, an may !«\u25a0 reserved in any Rtreetcar during shopping or matinee hour?. , I: i- often Impossible t'» tell whether a woman is fi'npiy chewing or expresafass <'n opinion., -\u25a0•> s!l?ht Is the difference between jaw and brain activity. Imagine the handicap this places uuon women who aspire to politics, The Westeru politician anil other quid manipulators as we!l owe their snecesa in large measure tf> skill In delaying re- plies t>> pertinent questions and requests. P.) I of the Impregnable bulwark of Virginia plu? they maintain a st->tt srna'.illke si'.en»> and Itstori- r.es.s which the sun: ebewras* «amaa could r.>t even imitate, much less e.iua!. The long. dar!i brown traces *<t nicotine discernible in nraeH modern legislation simp!? cot:!d not be rivalled by any ladylike rumiration induced by denting v piece of flavored elastic I'mi! woman sivea up her short-sishteil prejudice against the qui.l. her political aspirations mv..-t remain id!. dreams. RAPD EXTENSION OF FEDERAL POWER. script lon of the life of the road, especially .-it the Inn*, was regarded aa a transcript of reality. Tho second of these in time of production which is placed In the lead as his greatest work, appeared in 1743 under the title "The History r.f Tom Jones, a Foundling.** How long si time the author had been engaged upon it is un- known, but it was probably begun soon after the appearance of "Joseph Andrews," seven years before, although the author's attention must have been diverted from it by otherToccupa- tlons and the death of his first wife, which oc- curred in 1743, and his remarriage in 171.". His own health was badly broken, and he tvus n great sufferer from gout. The loss of his wife so seriously affected him that his friends feared for hi reason, but I'o was able after a Ume to take up his profession. In the stirring times of 174j. when Charles Edward, "The Young I'f-- tend.-v." sought the throne of Kluk CSeorge, Fielding started a weekly newspaper in the la- teresta of the government, called frThe True Pa- trio:," which was continued until the rebellion ended, In 1747 he became founder and editor of "The Jacobite Journal." which ran «i year. Mr. Fielding th'-n, through the Influence oV his friend nnd patron. George Lyttleton. was made a Justice of th> peace for Westminster. Ha .soon gained distinction by the upright manner in which he dispensed justice, In days when th»» "trading Justices," as they were called, gave dis- credit t'» t!:e bench, nnd ho did much to check ih<> spread of vice nnd crime, and Middlesex was added to hi* district. Hut till this did not k< .-*•»> Mn pen idle, and it was In the tin-i flush of hb; magistracy that "Tom Jones" appeared n»id gained instant popu- larity. Th<- purpose of the author as •\u25a0• forth by himself was t<> "present hunutn nature In that n>.!ir.> plain and si:np:«» manner In which it Is found in the country, and afterward hash and ragou it with all the hi«h French nnd Italian seasoning of affectation and vice which courts and citlesi affurd." In Ms dedication to his patron Lyttleton, he says his purpose has been to recommend goodness and Innocence, and to promote the cause of religion and virtue Tills work is th.- longest vf Fielding's produc- tions, filling over seven hundred pages of the 'atest one volume edition, and it tlrst appeared In six volumes. It i< divided by the author into < Ighteen books, containing from seven to fifteen chapters each, the contents covering no less than cixt.-.ti puses. The dedication, "To the Honor- able George Lyttelton, Ksq. One of the Lord's Commissioners of the Treasury." la more In the natur.- <.f a preface than a dedication, as the author Bays. In it h<- acknowledges his indebt- edness to his patrons, saying, "I partly owe t > you HI existence during the greater part of th-> time which 1 have employed In composing it. 1 and, "It is owing to you that the history appears what It now Is." In the first chapter of Book II the author remarks: "My reader, then, is not to !)•• surprised if. in tho course of this work. he shall thul some chapters very short and others altogether aa long; some that contain only the time of a .Ingle daj^ and other* that comprise years; In a word. If my history some- times seems to stand still, and sometimes to fly. For all of which I tall not look upon tin- self as accountable to any court of critical juris- diction whatever, for, us I am In reality, the founder of a new province of writing, so I am at liberty to make what laws 1 please therein." "Tom Jones" is the cornerstone oh which rests the lasting repute of Fielding as a novelist. lesque of the popular plays of the day called "The Tragedy of Tragedies; or. The lAte and Death of Tom Thumb the Great.'' SET UP AS A COUNTRY SQUIRE. It was nt the age of twenty-eight that Fleld- I ing decided to give up the career <«f a man about town and "range' himself, as the French say. sHe had been acquainted for several years with ii Miss Charlotte Crado< .whose home was not far from K:ist Stour, In Dorsetshire, where lie had inherited a small estate from his mother, ami in 17".r> they were married On his wife/l fortune of £1.500, Fielding set up as a country squire on his own estate, nnd n»do nnd limited In such reckless fashion that his means • ere speedily exhausted. He then took hi* wife nnd child to London, and decided to tnk«; up the law In earnest. Before completing his studies lie produced two plays, <>ne of which was so ccath- i. | in Its Batlrc of officialdom that it led to th* passage of the art which instituted censorship of plays in England In 17:;T th" future r.'>re!i«t resumed his law studies sit the Middle Temple, jttil three yenr.s later tie was < ailed to th-- l>.ir and began to practise law at the age <if thirty? three. He had meanwhile devoted considerable time to newspaper writing", and it is supposed that by it he supported his family, although some writers think that his w\U' retained somo part of her fortune, and. In fait, it »»-e:!is doubU ful if she .ii'l not live nt their country home while her husband prepared f<>r the bar. it was In 17 >- that "Joseph Andrews'* ap- peared. The author was a great admirer of "Don Quixote." and paid his own work was designed to l.c an imitation of the style and manner of Cervantes. Bui others l>»*!i» ved it t>> 'i.. Intended to ridicule the sonilmentallsm of Rii hard sort, who felt bo mucn hurt that he never was able to find anything to praise in I-'ieiilinK's work. Thackeray, who was v great admin of the novels of Fielding, whom he l>!tiis«-s in '.'Pendennts," wrott 1 as follows In "Engltoh Humorists <if the Eighteenth Cent- ury*': "Fielding no doubt began to write this novel in ridicule or ••Pamela." for which work one can understand the henrty contempt and antipathy which such an athlete and boisterous genius a* T'k'Minfj'f; must have entertained. He could not do otherwise than laugh at the puny. cockney bookseller, pouring oui endless vol- umes of sentimental twaddle nnd hold him up t<i scorn :<s a mollcoddle and :« milksop. His genius had Iwea nursed on sack posset and not on dishes of^ t'-a. His mUM had suns tho loudesj in tavern choruses, lia.l seen iii«- daylight gtreamitifr in over thousands of emptied bowls and reeled home to chambers on th»- shoulders of the watchmen. Richard 1 goddess was at- tended by old maid! and dowagers and fed on muffli and bohea, Milksop! 1 roars Harry Kleifilnp. clattering at the timid shop shutter}'. •Wretch! Monster! Mohock. shrieks the senti- mental author of 'Pamela, 1 and all the ladles of his court cackle out an affrighted chorus." But i' was not it-- take-off on the sentimental- ity of "Pamela" »\u25a0• much as tin- clever depiction <,f his own characters, especially Parson Adams, whose name appears in the title, that gave Fielding's Initial attempt In a new nVM almost instant popularity. The vivid and realistic de- CChSfSIgM, 15W7. by Joseph H. Bo* • - I The gnwtest moral sensation at pre«eat agitating the Far Ea«t is not being created by a missionary. tout by an oflcrr of the United States government. Judc« L- K. Wilfley. of the new circuit court for Oiina. With the majority or foreigners resident in port cities Ju<sr» Wilfley is to-day probably more unpopular even than are th« rr,lssir>narie,s. and for largely the same reason. What the missionaries have been tryinp for renerations to accomplish Jn th« way of clear.in* up the American Wgtatfoa out t^fr*» and SBBVevhat moral conditions Judge WSlfley ?ias SJtWgM almost overniph*. The Bhanw of Steagtal is International ; in every part of the otstnass world Shanghai is known as a "wide open" city. A* on* recent expressed *: "There if as public sasttawal here.- ihsiighal •bout fulfils the de-ire of \u25a0milae/s ssMter: Phtp me MM«kN» «\u25a0•*' of Suey. Where the best 1* tike the »or» . ITbei* tb*rm ain't «i-> Ten CommasilmMf. And a man <an m'-af a thirst. But here come? th- rub: the Americans have bad almost a monopoly of the business end of the rice of Shanghai. The Ramblers, panderere. dlvekeep- *rs and htoni women were mostly ******** '",-"'. Vrieriosn Coiwutate. British consul* in the East fuTve had th- rirht. which they have {r;n-ra!.y «- erased 10 deport hadv ..»,*, \u0084< of the,r own XiatiOßalit'-: American consuls nave not. 1- 01 : il'V veir« then th- abandoned women of this chier T^rTof the Orient have be*n claiming the protecj tlon of the Stars and Stripes. Th. result is that iwwnere in decent rtrrle* In the East is the term "Ain-ri -an lady" evrr employed, f* " *\u25a0" •OlTone sVmifiranre Ai ' '/ r,nr r ! f.r>*-«li of hi= daughter an a.n American pirl_ \Vren first I came to this city it needed a few Bolr,te<3 nnd illuminating words from a *$?%& In sumptuous equinaces. OPEN AND SHAMELESS. SoVpe.n and shameless has been this corruption of Shanghai society, ramifying tato the sseet ex- traordinary and unexpected places, that gradually Drasen vice has crowd d virtue to the rear. and as a most eminent resident assures in-, the demj- * on , . of Shanghai has held the centre of the so Ul *?""; 1have it on credible authority that fading business men. m.irried men with .-levant homes In Bnaneh'i. have b<>.-n in the habit of dropping n or ifMTaoonV to take i» with the "American girt* A short tl-ne ago a prominent British nobleman found after spSSin* An ninf in -the American oolonv Hint his watch had dtoappeared Sow. This particular watch bore autograph evidence that It wps Tn personal gift from King Edward, in recog- rition of Mcl 1 public- services, so every effort was put fonh to ri-Jmer it-without publicity of cours, -but In vain. Then- is absolute evident il. It was taken to th« States by one of the score ct ••American riri- ' who left on a single steamer \u25a0 few days a^cV. but nobody would bo eu, prised tsnmiM it turn up In Saa rrancis-o of thi, son I>esiiit.' ar. «H-i-aPionHl nus.;.i\. nti; tnis 50... Virv^co^^t^ foreigner, here hare been very w. 11 advent. wit i disgrace and prior respon- Avlfl. s a- disgrace and kg.l reapon- •ttriltty bi.rne by America, so from thHr standpoint tbm matter was quite satisfactory As one vexed Unglishman said to mo. -Ren j. tn.s Judge Wilfley is making a deuce of a botlwj^ the rest of v? He is doing a good tiling for Aniet- leg of course but tlilnk of the trouble that is bound to come to Other nationalities if they have to lrMidle tl.is thiiiß." In a word, the nations were faiw : willing to lA America bare the blame for «ll thfir misbehavior. . , ,. DO ™ Against Una Infamy missionaries rave for TW' protected :.ml labored In vain. Shanghai, lional other treaty ports in CblxuL. is an International *xtrßterritnri:.l \u25a0eßOenwnt. l^«oh resident iS under no lan oxr.pt that «'f liis own country a? admlti- tetrred by his consul. The *"«T tot* of American luxity has rause.l disreputable chata<frs even of other n;.ttonaliti«s. to sevk the protection or that n>g for their rvOdOlag. SAD STATISTICS. | A f-w of the official figures from the settlement records ills', be enlightening to this connection- and be it romt-mbered. these are not statistics of the native tttf, but of the foreign s«-ttlem»-nt!=. over which the I'hfnes." have no control whau-wr. Tho unedifyinif six-ctacli' l:as moie than oneo Jiet-n pre- sented In S):Hii;,liai of "heathen" ofn.-lals vainly pleading with the representatives <if <*hristlan na- tlons to closr out •«• restrict certain forms of evil. notably opium resorts, gambling houses and broth- els, for the sake or tbfl thousands of '"!.!!i<.^.- Who are bf-ing rulued I rein. Shanghai's foreign popu- lation is 14 ••>!. oi whom l.iw are Americano. Th* British dominate, although they are somewhat out- numbered by the Japanese. French. Portuguese and Germans com" next tn order of imj-ortanoe. in licensed t-xislence within the settlement \u0084 ... at the time of the issuance of ih«- r«n.-ent municipal •.•tatistics 21,«<j0 opium houses and Klxips. pa\ing a revenue of Jf*/CK>— . , r one BWb tesorl for " every •core cf the C^.70 1 ) Chinese rosl<i<-i,ts wlio live hen) under the white man's law. .THE PACE THAT KILLS. Vo census ran tell the worst of Shanghai* Fh.ime. The . vji that sun.., -.-..--, the widespread KamWing and drinking is tbe maintenance of Chi- nese BFeawa by white mcv. It is freely asserted that nil the unmarried foreigners in the Bast fol- low this practice, or course, this 6»voep!ng state- ment is untrue. htkl the wholesale genera izalton upon Mianphal's wirkedness Indulge^ In iv mis- sionaries here and by missionary authorities and supporters at home is raor^ than uncharitable— lt '" rr \ - many upright. ••lean lived, honorable men of sj>otle«s character- tr.e rac-t that they sire in a minority doe* not Ins- tlfy their being fo indiscriminately libelled Th« gross and scandalous <-harg.-s which ignorAjit or • v " disposed p.-rsons \u25a0 ak< rnncen missionaries •re not a whit worse than the general animadver- •lions <) some missionaries upon all foreigners en- paged in secular pursuits in the Orient -The best statement of the situation Is bad enough Careful inquiry among conservative and Informed persons elicits the opinion that probably the larger I n-imi.fi of unmarried foreigners In Shanghai main- tak» native wonieu. Til * Eurasian Spring who •I' *!^ \u25a0 • A cf th^ se and more honorable unions •re IT of Th " tra S«- charaoteristies of this oJtv SI in V rre «rises a perptesJty for th ° missionary. Tnn -!'; T'"" Un ° lllS hOme :i "' 1 \u25a0»« "* smial Z™' " who are known thu. lo J^ntio,, VJ' d » Anglo-Saxon con- r-ption of decency? Shail all the cepted tradi- tions of respectable nocJety be abandoned Tn order to win the approval of these young men away from neniit-e V . ' '•- . '""sioMaru-s oadde ,n, n ,v,,. iV* ,\\. ' is a tuU flx " ri between the classes of white m '," in Asia, and so mutual «;r!Ucism is begotten. In the society which lias rt°-ndin trt Fhans-ha. th mlMton.ry. whatever In. •Undinic at home or his personal oualitios liis ifVL lir.'wI ir.'w^ Cr m> " ST ' ta -" Whether mate of WHEY REFORM STRUCK SHANGHAI. On« farther explanatory point should b. noted before deacrihtne Judgw Wilfieys sensational re- ionns. Gambling has always been a Shanghai vice During "race week" In spring and fall It has h>MI rampant. All kinds of gamming "have !»»„ oSS and unashamed. There ls nothing in the^Ve^ern world to which thia can be likened Foreign •en. foreign riffraff, Chinese itentl^n Chin*™ \u25a0MTrair (not to mention women of any naUonaHtvi met in a gamblers- democracy about the table* of «ch«nc« »nd miachanee. Back of th^ wontot the£ fleecing scheme* were Americans. neM I«*t spring an antl-r-arabllnsr crusade was skil. ftjUyoonducted. Robert E. l*+\, lh « Yom.^Mena OirisUaa Association secretary, beinr on« of th» \u25a0time worker* «.n It. Without Jrblnr into drtaUs it Eenough to say that the leading Stiiens who com prise Municipal Council wo* subjected to au?h anarare that they outlawed all race week cam bllna except tcuta* upon th* raw \rttfain «?e clcbbouM etouiuJs. This was an for rerorra. end th» next step, the totall abolition of raabUagr and licensed vice of sny sortfis In" V' lt *£2LM* aA Besu >. *» C^ncnal, tn. Sty 1 whew ~ev» rythln.fr roes." was acquainted with reform i c rthVh?Sr choleslc * Ujr ENTER THE SQUARE JAW. Then cain« Jove with hi. thunderbolt*. Nobody as* there, apparently, had paid any particular aN esßtiob to the creation by Congress last year of a \u25a0aw United States Circuit Court for China. So It* Staff was on the torn before the «i*ninc»no. of the. event -was At all understood. ThTjudce a£- fetated by the President was th* one man ab£& •«<»thfr* pre-emlnenUy qualified for W. t£k! Ma«_WUaey bad «on« with Governor Tan : to the Ph . pptnes as District Attorney. H« had set the Jcrel laachlnery In moUon there and had run out of the toiaad. a lot of vicious camp follower? bLr and little, who were exploiting the FUlpwoJ'anS fsMtan. end making trouble ceneraliyJud^S WaHsj to a quiet man. with a goodly (ranMa saaare Jaw and an even di.po.iuon: a man not \u25a0iv. r to deUvertag homilies from the V»enchor an- r-o-r. ing his intentions beforehand or explatalnz hi. actions afterward. He to the sort of man to gjaai the United States escutcheon to^hangha? MMU ha* been more than a little tarnished in tlraes past by Arnertcans. offloUJ and uno£lclaL The ear after his arrival be calmly aaaoußoaa t .at American lawyers who expected to practise la his court ssast pass txamlnatlon as to their \u25a0pror^trional cnalineaUons nnd preeeat eertlneate. of moral ehsraator. That would seem an in- •''')t rnoarti proccslwe warranted by praetlee m th 9 United States, until can ha. beard d»-scrihed th* type \u25a0"--J& a J*£?* m 9. » -* <>r <\u25a0• mostjpart mfe%t Shaiu-bai. \u25a0"•\u25a0\u25a0•' •!\u25a0 hsdncs wore*. Eight ?.'.: .*'.'• -Pißy <>• aisjshisilua. Ms of them TallM ajaeaflSMMSajr to attain aa average of CO The Groat American Desert, with Its srrc^- soir.e lar.ilir.arks of. whitened bones. Is shrink- ing: before the advance of the national plough- share. Within a few years or ser-pm^oiis the wastes of sand and alkali and sagebrush trill be found only In books, for II federal govern- men) i* aiding II Western farmer to ••*.! water to the parched ground. when 3s>i Bryc "The American Commonwealth" waj written the reclamation servL-e was not evert Creamed of by the moat optimistic of our coun- try's prophets. To-day the federal axwewalsni through this mighty sseney 13 buildin? slant dams to hoard up the freshets ami irrigation systems to dole out the water to the farmer when the skies are dry. Millions of acres have already been reclaimed by private irrigation projects, and millions more will be convertea as If by tragic when the great enterprises no* under construction are completed. The federal government Is caring for th» health of Its citizens more solicitously than many mothers care for that of their children. The Marine Hospital and Public Health Service maintains an efficient corps of physicians at home, who are ready to proceed to any point where epidemics threaten the people. At all times other skilled physicians of the service are to be found at every shipping port of the civil- ized world, who examine the crew and contents of vessels as they start for America, to ascertain ifall Is well on board. The least sign of disease Is detected, and if a clean bill of health to not given »ho cable flashes the intelligence of tne danger to Washington and quarantine ° ece s* are waiting to intercept the ship before she reaches our shores. Tho national government's efforts to «escr» peace abroad and at homo are so well \u25a0»•« that comment is scarcely necessary. As a meal ator between Russia and Japan President B»°"J" velt "reminded" the whole world that »• *"T eral government of the United States wasj «\u25a0» In evidence, and in later and less! taponsa* troubles In South America he has used hto^«es» offices with happy effect. Under the HtSMW'^ wise directions the federal government »new striving to effect permanent peace Intne bj*j^ trial world. With the Nobel peace s*"*"V? nucleus, the foundation for the promotion 0* \a dustrial peace was formed at the re ?' . e °;* suggestion, and itis the belief of many that »s» efforts of this organisation wul so far "]**;, . bringing about permanent amity between cap- tal and labor. ._ ,„, These are only a few of the meat liuiliWf* matters that the federal a»ve»na*eat is no* •£ gayed upon \ftlsh tring It Into" <ilr«H - M^ avagW re^aoa ao^ l>e jiHeen, Bicentenary of Birth of Henry Field- ing, Author of "Tom Jones." Few of the many to whom the phrase "the eternal fitness of thlncrs" is most familiar know- its author. In full the quotation reads, "Can any man have a higher notion of the rule of ii<hj and the eternal fitness of things?" It ap- peared In •The History of Tom Jones." whose author, termed by Thackeray "the manly, the English Harry Fielding." was born just two hundred years ago to-morrow. Bo great a mas- ter of fiction as Sir Walter Scott called Field- Ing the father of the modern English novel, and In this opinion the world of critics has con- curred, and holds that of the multitude of bis literary descendants few equal and none greatly surpass bun. Of the works of bis pen, his plays and essays with little exception have passed into oblivion. That his four novels have been read gene-ration after generation. despite the advance of the world in all directions since the middle of the eighteenth century, is proof posi- tive that something of the immortal quality in literature Imbued them v.ith the spirit of on- dying youth and perennial freshness. Henry Fielding was novelist, stage manager, editor, playwright, poet, lawyer, judge, and all- around good fellow. His career lasted only forty-seven rears, but in that time he sounded all the heights and depths of human nature, lived to ihe full in all tho experiences of life, and left to succeeding generations the privilege of an everlasting debt of gratitude for the work of his brain and hand. He gave "the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." Ono of the apiest comparisons made of the work of Fielding with that of his friend and contemporary, Hogarth, is that if Fielding had made pictures he would have made them like Hogarth's, and that had Hogarth written books he would have written like Fielding. A SCION OF THE NOBILITY. Fielding was descended from a younger branch of the family of the earls of Denbigh, and his father^- Edmund Fielding, was a soldier who fought under Marlborough and rose to the rank of lieutenant general. A second cousin of the novelist was that 'woman of Setters Lady Mary Wort ley Montagu, who was somewhat his senior. His sister. Sarah Fielding, also had literary talent and wrote the third novel of English manners, "David Simple," which ap- peared two years after her brother's initial work of fiction. "The Adventures of Joseph An- drews and His Friend. Abraham Adams." This work was the direct outcome of the pre- vious venture in the field of letters of Samuel Richardson, the literary printer and bookseller who was Induced by his experience in letter writing for those unable to indite their own wms? S L a «.f. o^ Wrlte th vo »"«ne of letters which he entitled "Pamela; or. Virtue Reward- ttn~A1^. 1 * ?, . ea sf d JM 740 ' and «\u25a0 sometimes called the first English novel. Fielding was among those who recognized the quality In this work of sentimental absurdity In any retention •^K^VV 1 !?. part of the heroine for her admirer, and set his pen. practised by the writ- ing of a score or more of plays, to work on a V*™ 6*: 1^ 111 ? " "«• hero the brother of Rich* w««V* her ?i! ie '^ But tho theme grew rapidly beyond the bounds of a parody and developed I t.r- Tt n^- 8 ° that after th « first few chap- l^h bfcaraa complete In itself, it soon sur- passed "Pamela" in popularity and laid th« foundation, of it. autno?a mSar? fame v£A? TT * l £ rr sUon5 Uon tor h!s career as a novelist. Fielding had passed through a variety of ex- ' S iSto^Uru?" 111 11 ,'" 4 him for the law. &a^KS: iSgeuTs: wi. are JUs 8 Sy lea com^ ss h Lr^er n n^% wmen met with decided success save a bur- lodge Wilfley nsa a court staff after his own mind— Dr Prank Hincklcy, a Columbia graduate, .'is c!erk of court, J. Baspett as District Attorney and O. R. Leonard .is marshal. Iv t!i»- collection of evidence be ha* been largely dependent upon one member of the rnlssfbiiary body here, and at Tien-Tsin expects another missionary to perform a like service. All this has a relation to missions. to the boycott. to the American reputation generally and to th.- relations between China and America. The mrnn-»r in which Chinese have been treated by Americana here as well as by the immigrant authorities In the States baa been si potent factor In Inflaming them against America. From such arts ns the throwing overboard of their Chinese boatman, in- stead of paying him. by three American sailors (this happened near the anchoracre of the I'nlted State* t;teßms<hip Quaru*. at Cliinklans. the night I arrived there), to tli" wholesale, defrauding <>f the government and native investors by railway con- cessionaires, '• • Chinese have come to rejfnrd Americana with suspicion and hatred. By com- pelling Justice and good behavior on the part of Ins countrymen Judge Wilfley is certain to work a vast change in the attitude "f the Chinese toward America. The American missionaries will ,he among th.-- first in feel this. With Insignificant exceptions they personally do only pood :• the Chinese; most of them who have Mifiv-r.-«l death in China have done -. lmeaupo of the misdeeds of others. More- over, when the missionary does not have '.•> explain away the conduct <>f his fellow countrymen he will have a better hearing for his m*>FsaK»-. That is why. at a time when many of hi.-- How citizens are* pullinj; wire* in Washington to hamper .lu'it;-- Wllfley'*activity, the missionaries are, aa a body. haiUns his wor.c with enthusiasm .md welcoming blm r-s the most effective nnsalonar>' of them all. FATHER OF THE NOVEL. out <>• a possible W>. It is .-aid by those close to th<- judge that bad these men passed the exam- ination ail but on* of them would nave been barred on the basis of character. leaat. one of them is a renegade from the Philippines, ana bad before felt Judge Wilfiey's hand. CONSTERNATION AMONG CROOKS. Here was a sensation for Shanghai. The re- jected men had been (loins business in this city for many years: their records were, presumably, an op*-n book. so there is significance in the fact that I have been able to find nobody to question the essential justice of the court's action. Natural- ly, the men cannot practise In the British court, mi.! their "face" i-= cone utterly. This swift. nummary, ominous action pot Shanghai's tinder- world ;i£<>c What would this as yet uncompre- fcended judge do next? Nobody had to trait long to discover. Basins his action on the common law. Judge \Viln>y sum- moned before him eight proprietresses of the. Tr«.o<»t influential resorts. One escaped by pleading Span- ish citizenship, which In* District Attorney was un- ::!•!\u25a0\u25a0 to disprove. Th« Spanish consul issued cer- tificate* for two "American RirK" but they were Ignored by th» court, xnil he afterwards atiemptf-d t.. withdraw them. The girls pleaded guilty, thus leaving the Spanish consul 111 an unpleasant pre- dicament So each of the accused persons, except one. received a One of M.090, which was more elo- quent than many lecture. The Immediate result was to send port-hast, oat of Shanghai and out or China, more than half a hundred "American girls," who*'' reign in th. Knr East seems now to have 1.,...,, forever broken. of c..:::: all this 1* revolu- tionary here. When supposedly respectable Brit- Isbers and Americana objected, the judge dryly re- marked thai America was willing to surrender tho m »poly of this sort of trade «nd reputation. Then a notorious character, n •'man higher up." fell int-« the toils on the charge of running a gam- bling •\u25a0• n and house nt \u25a0grignation. l!« la now .-p. t: litiLT t&X month* In jail, with leisure to con- icmplai<> the advisability ••. l«-a\1n«; t"iinH. .\n- «,th<-r man, a hotelk«*f>er it, \u25a0! \u25a0< -wok " was up be- fore tiie i idr.p upor. a rlvil charge; he had rented to a syndicate of Chinese certain gambling privi- lege .--• at the racetrack, when he knew full well thai crumbling had been Interdicted by the Munici- pal Council. Hearing these facts, the judge, In open court, ordered a criminal information lodged against the mar.. Sent he la spending \u25a0 year in MORE TO COME. Be/or« this article is printed rertam other emi- nent Shanghai rascals will have got their dues and the court will have moved on to Tien-Tain to repeat the same procedure there, sad later to Han- kow and Canton. Irregular intervals, when such visitations are least expected, and if they find affairs at all involved he- promptly shuts their doors." It is probable that Ambassador Bryce would have become tired of the narrative by this thus and would have politely excused himself to proceed on his journey to Washington. When, he reached the capital and had a little spare time to look Into the subject he might have dis- covered that the New Yorker with whom ho talked had scarcely scratched the surface* of the subject. So great has the importance of the federal government become to the citizen that then is scarcely a moment of his daily life that ho is not either '•reminded" of It or under some sort of obligations to it for making his exist- ence more safe or comfortable. If he sends his boy to a military academy, the youngster 13 taught the use of arms by a militaryofficer des- ignated by the War Department; if he is a farmer, he receives seeds to plant and pam- phlets to instruct him about his land, and if he is an Investor of money, the government protects him against the schemes of wildcat promoters by- barring from the malls the advertising of shady concerns. The anti-lottery laws passed by Congress and enforced vigorously by the Secret Service protect the citizen from one of the boldest and most profitable swindles that flourished In the country when Mr. Bryce vis- ited us before. Since that day the rural free de- livery service has sprung Into existence; the smuggling of valuables from abroad and across the Mexican and Canadian borders has been made almost a lost art by the arm of the fed- eral government, and the soldiers' homes, built and maintained by the same paternal power, have cared for and are still caring for thou- sands of the heroes who saved the Union. The protecting arm of the federal government has been stretched out to save the forests. Millions of acres of timber land on the western tier of states, that would otherwise have been seized by ruthless mill owners and devastated, have been taken over by the government as forest reserves, and will be handled by the forestry bureau for the benefit of present and future generations. By thus saving the trees the federal government has prevented the dry- Ins up of the rivers that have their sources in the timbered sides of the mountains, and thou- sands upon thousands of harmless birds and animal species that make their homes within the 'wooded shawls* h*v# U><*a saved Irora ulti- mata «i:!n.-.tlnn Great Changes Noted Since James Bryce Wrote "The American Commonwealth." {FromTh* Tribune Bureau ! Washington. April iJO.»-"An American may through a long life never be reminded of the federal government except when he votes at the Presidential and Congress elections, lodges a complaint against the postoftioe or opens his trunk to the customs officer on the pier at New York from a tour of Europe." Thus wrote James Bryce, the present British Ambassador, nearly twenty years ago in his famous study of our country. "The American Commonwealth." When he stepped upon "the pier at New York" the other day, bearing cre- dentials as the most exalted diplomatic official that his Britannic Majesty could send to the American commonwealth, Mr. Bryco entered into quite another legal atmosphere. ' In the course of the years that had Intervened between the date of publication of his book and its author's elevation to the ambassadorship the powers of the municipal and state governments had dwin- dled perceptibly, and in more than inverse ratio the strength of the federal arm had grown. "Where state and city laws had not actually shrunk they had become so overshadowed in importance by the powers given the national government as to look dwarfish in comparison. If Mr. Bryce had asked the first American citizen he met after leaving the pier if he were ever "reminded of the federal government," that citizen would have probably replied offhand, "How could I forget It unless I were blind or deaf or both?" And then, if the ambassador had expressed a desire for more light on the subject and had had the time at his disposal to listen to the obliging citizen's recital, he might have beard a story something like this: " was reminded of the federal government the moment I opened my eyes this morning and observed that the eun was shining and that there was a brisk wind blowing up the bay. The Weather Bureau told me yesterday that to-day would be dear, with fresh northwesterly winds. I felt a little chilly after getting up, and was asrain reminded or the federal government \\ h< n I turned on the stoam ai the radiator, for the steam was made from coal, and th>< coal is being mined over In Pennsylvania by men who are working under an agreement frith tli» operators brought .-» i». »-.it by the Intervention <t the national government. When I at^ my breakfast si few minutes later I was once more reminded <>f the federal government hy the food lni'l before in<\ f<»r under tin* national pure food and dnitf arts all sorts of articles manufactured fur liuiKii'j consumption must, pass inspection by the Department of Agriculture and receive Its stamp of approval. The postman, an rm- ploye of tiio federal government, brought me several Important letters before I left tlu> house for my business in town, and <«n the way to the city Ihad to ride on a railroad train that is Under tho supervision of th<> same power. A few months ago I mlfjht have riddeu to town on a puss, hut to-day had I done so I would have laid myself liable to fine or imprisonment or both, and would have subjected the railroad man from whom I received it to the same pen- alties. Passes are prohibited by the Railroad Rate law passed last, year by Congress. I had to cross the ferry getting into New York City, and was asrain forcibly reminded of the federal government by the largo number of steam ves- sels that filled the river which are inspected regularly by the national administration's ap- pointed officers. The ferryboat upon which I rode to the larger city passed within sight of a collection of magnificent buildings located on Ellis Island. This reminded me of the federal government, for the buildings constitute the most famous immigrant reception station in tho \u25a0world— where more than a million aliens are landed every year to merge with the population of this country. There was a gang of men working upon an addition to the immigrant sta- tion, which served as another reminder of tho federal government, for these men were working upon a government contract, and, under the •ight-hour law passed by Congress, are not al- lowed to labor longer than that length of time each day. As soon as I reached my office in the city I found a bill collector waiting for me. •nd paid him with a check which reminded me once more of the federal government, for the bank where my funds are deposited la under the closest kind «af national scrutiny. The Con- troller of the Currency, who is a sort of watch- dog of national banks, sends his wamlnsrs 2