veteran of the Spanish War, in which he served as adjutant on the staff of General James H. Wilson, he was sent to the national House of Representatives in 1902 and was returned regularly every two years by the voters of the Sixth Massachusetts district up to and including 1916. In the House he served on many important committees, among them the Committee on Ways and Means. a constructive public official, will live after him. DEATH OF WILLIAM H. On January fourth, after an illness of but two days, William Howard Chase, treasurer of the Leominster Worsted Company, died from the effects of a severe But in that body his most conspicu- cold, which at first seemed to ous and lasting service was his uncompromising position as spokesman for the policy of putting the country in a state of adequate defence. Had that policy been adopted by the Administration when it was urged to do so, millions of dollars and thousands of lives would have been saved. In the contest in Congress for a bigger navy and a more effective army, he fought the Daniels policy of curtailing increases of the navy; exposed the makeshift preparation which the Administration favored, and which its spokesmen in Congress advocated as adequate, and he opposed with effectiveness the Hay army reorganization farce which the Administration favored. That he failed to move the unresponsive pacifists in command in Washington was not to his, but to their, discredit. He did an excellent work in creating a decided opinion among an active minority at a time when few realized, as did he, the necessity of preparing for our part in this "inevitable" war. He practiced what he preached, and though dead, his work, which entitles him to recognition as threaten no serious consequences. Born in North Weare, N. H., March 18, 1857, Mr. Chase began his career in the insurance business, soon after leaving school. In 1880 he was an overseer in the weaving department of the Smith and Converse Woolen Mill in his native town. Two years later he accepted a similar position in the E. M. Rockwell woolen mill in Leominster, remaining there until he formed with William Rodgers the Leominster Worsted Company, which was later incorporated and of which he was treasurer and agent. Starting at the bottom, Mr. Chase, by close application to business, became a very successful manufacturer of worsted yarns and worsted cloths for shoe tops and for men's wear, and one of the best known men in his section of the commonwealth. While Mr. Chase sought no public office he served for twenty-five years as a member of the Leominster water board, for twenty-three of which he was chairman of the board, and for six teen years he was a member of the sinking fund committee. In poli tics Mr. Chase was a staunch Republican, being a member of the Worcester County Republican Club. In 1900 he was an alternative delegate to the Republican national convention in Philadelphia. For many years Mr. Chase was a member, and since 1905 a director, of the Home Market Club, in the principles of which he was a firm believer. He was early interested in automobiles, and in the develop ment of the good roads movement, being chairman of the good roads committee of the Massachusetts Automobile Association. As a diversion and relaxation from business cares Mr. Chase as an amateur was interested in hunting and fishing, traveling in various sections of the United States and Canada in search of big game. Mr. Chase was a director of the Leominster National Bank and a trustee of the Leominster Savings Bank. His wife, who was a daughter of his former business associate, Nahum Harwood, died a few years ago. He is survived by one daughter, Mrs. H. W. Burdett, and one son, H. H. Chase, of Leominster. It is seldom that the death of a man leaves such a keen sense of loss among his friends as has the death of Mr. Chase. He was one of those genial, kindly, generous and warm-hearted men now only too rarely found. Firm in his convictions, upright in all his dealings, loyal to his associates, a good citizen of town and state and nation, long will he live in the memory of those who while he was still with us, held him in warm regard. DEATH OF SAMUEL J. ELDER. Samuel J. Elder, a lawyer of international fame and a leader of the Massachusetts Bar, died suddenly January 23 from heart trouble. Born in Rhode Island in 1850, Mr. Elder was graduated from Yale in 1873 and was in 1875 admitted to the Bar in Boston. He served in the General Court in 1885, but though urged to become a candidate for public office later he consistently declined to be won away from the law to which he devoted his energies and won fame at home and abroad. As president of the Young Republican Club in 1883 he led the anti-Butler forces. He was also a former president of the Boston City Club, of the Republican Club of Massachusetts, and a member of the Home Market Club. The following paragraphs are taken from the beautiful tribute to Mr. Elder by his intimate friend, Hon. William H. Taft: Sam Elder was a rare man. He had marked intellectual force. He had a strong sense of duty. He had great public spirit. With a sweet reasonableness in reaching his conclusions, he was a man of firm convictions, and he had the courage of them. He bubbled with human sympathy. His humor was infectious. His charming wit had no barb. His dramatic instinct made him one of the best story tellers of his day. He was a lawyer of learning and distinguished ability. The human side of his character, his engaging candor, and the sincerity which shone out of him made him a most formid able advocate before a jury, while his legal acumen and reasoning powers won the attention and respect of state, national and international tribunals. Every good cause attracted his active support. Indeed, his strength was often too much taxed through yielding to calls prompted by a knowledge of his powers of entertainment and sweet persuasion. He was a Republican in politics on principle, but he was not hidebound, and his influence was always for cleaner influences in party councils. He was a potent power for good in his community and his State. He was a patriot in the finest sense. His home life was as beautiful as such a husband and father would make it. His life's companion was taken from him some years ago. It was his greatest sorrow, but it did not cloister him. His desire to help was increased. His affection for his kind was widened. His bereft family, two daughters and a son, will feel an aching void at that fireside in Winchester associated with one of nature's noblemen. His intimates will deeply mourn his going, but they will envy him, as all may, the sweet fragrance his memory gives. A LATE AWAKENING. Secretary Baker tells in one of his speeches how we were awakened from our dream of peace, turned aside from our "intense devotion to the working out of finer adjustments for human happiness and for the recognition of the rights of the individual" and "summoned to go back 500 years and deal with a recrudescence of brute force, unilluminated by any sort of morality or humanitarian consideration." We have done much since that awakening. Our present perplexities and, the anxiety that we all feel at this moment spring from the deplorable fact that we did not begin our work earlier, at the very moment when we awoke and saw that the clock had been turned back 500 years. The responsibility for that fatal delay is too widely distributed to be satisfactorily fixed. WAR FAILURE AND WAR PLANS. Senator George E. Chamberlain, Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, told the National Security League, January 19, "that the military establishment of America has fallen down." "It has almost stopped functioning," he said; and the reason is "because of inefficiency in every bureau and every department of the Government of the United States." Continuing he said: "We are trying to work it out. I speak not as a Democrat, but as an American citizen. We have reported a bill, following the experience of Great Britain and France, creating a Director of Munitions. We have gone one step further, and we have provided a bill for the creation of a Cabinet of War, whose duty it shall be to lay out what we never have had and haven't now-a program to carry on this war to a successful conclusion. My friends, this is not an Administration measure; it is an American measure and comes from Republicans and Democrats both. "I want you to get behind it and see to it that this law graces the statute books of America, so that America may play her part in the war. Let us, my friends, rally to the flag of our country without regard to party. Let us see to it that the Stars and Stripes are planted upon the plains of France and be there, as it is here, the emblem of freedom, liberty and the rights of man.” A PEACE-MAKING PRECEDENT. WANTED, A CAESAR TO LEAD OUR ARMIES AGAINST THE KAISER. From the New York Times. Two thousand years ago peace was made with the Kaiser of that time by Julius Caesar under conditions characteristic of the Germans, and therefore, singularly like the present. The Germans rambled across the Rhine in search of other people's land and possessions, and were met by those seeking to keep what belonged to them. The Germans sent ambassadors to say that they had no design to make war upon Rome, but that, if their friendship were accepted, they would become useful allies, satisfied with the lands assigned to them, or which they might conquer. The answer was that no peace could be made with them so long as they remained on the wrong side of the Rhine, and that on the side of the river to which they had crossed there were no lands to satisfy such a multitude without taking away the property of others. The German ambassadors agreed to confer again in three days, and asked that meanwhile there should be no advance against their army. Caesar, nevertheless, advanced, and met the ambassadors again, who repeated their request for further negotiations. They promised to accept Caesar's terms under the sanction of a solemn oath, and asked delay. But Caesar advanced, directing his soldiers not to attack the invaders. What followed is best told in the language of the Commentaries. The Germans "fell suddenly upon the Romans, who had no apprehension of their design, because they knew their ambassadors had been with Caesar a little before and obtained a day's truce, and easily put the Romans into disorder. After this battle Caesar resolved neither to give audience to their ambassadors, nor to admit them to terms of peace, seeing that they had treacherously applied for a truce, and afterward of their own accord had broken it." property which is a sure sign of hyperkinesis, the typical German delinquency during historic time. It is a hard job, but what was done in Caesar's time must be done in ours if the remedy is to do its complete work. Caesar bridged the Rhine in ten days, and cleaned up the German offensive in eighteen days, burning crops and villages at will. Afterward he took a jaunt through Britain. Every schoolboy knows of it. Caesar's bridge has been harder for students of Latin to cross than it seems to have been for him to build. But what is known to schoolboys is sometimes hidden from maturer men. President Wilson is not in their number. "We cannot take the word of the present rulers of Germany," the President told the Pope. With reason the world demands guarantees. Better than anything which can be written would be a duplicate of Caesar's discipline. To seek an easier way would be to hand down to the next generation an inheritance of billions of debt along with an incompleted task all to be done over. The sacrifice Germany has imposed upon the world will be wasted if it is necessary to incur it again within a thousand years. THE GLORY OF THE DECI SIVE BLOW. The French High Commissioner, Andre Tardieu, just returned from the Allied armies in France, says that we are entering the hardest period of the war; the richest in decisive results, if we know how to play a good game; but also the richest in trials, in difficulties and in dangers. Explaining the sacrifices the Allies expect the United States to make for victory, Commissioner Tardieu declared: "We need, together with men, wheat, ships, oil and locomotives, and you Americans have made an enormous and immediate effort to furnish them." Lord Derby said, "As far as sending men to the front is concerned, hurry up to the fullest extent of your power." Lord Robert Cecil says: "We must have ships and men. America can supply both. We believe she will do it, but it will tax even her energy and resources to the utmost.” Sir Arckland Geddes says: "The chance falls to America. If the full harvest after preparations can be reaped in 1918 she may well have the glory of dealing the decisive blow of this war." LET US ALL DO BUSINESS. "Jasper" in Leslie's Weekly. Friends who are returning from Paris and London assure me that business is going on there quite as usual. We are trying to sell War Savings Stamps to raise $2,000,000,000 for the Government and, before the winter is over, we will be asked to float another Liberty Loan of two or three times that amount. How can we do these things unless we have plenty of work for all, with good wages, with shopkeepers busy, factories running and business normal? |