I'

T seems to be an easy task in this day and generation to discover public "problems." This is particularly so in the Granite State. Each budding politician points out, with tears in his eyes, and a tremble in his voice, the various baffling and intricate problems which confront our commonwealth, and which he alone can solve. Seated upon plush cushions around mahogany tables in various steam heated offices, the sages of our state are veritable pioneers, forging their way through the wilderness of undeveloped New Hampshire. If all the trees which have been planted on paper by various forestry associations should grow, the coal and housing problem would be dissipated forevermore.

If

all the water power which has been developed-on blueprints, could really function, the water flowing over the dams of New Hampshire would operate factories in Timbuctoo. In the same way, if all the industries which have been formed in our state, or at least, visioned in the curling cigar smoke of Chamber of Commerce banquets, were really buying raw material and employing men, the word "economics" would never more be lisped in our fair state. If all the farming which has been diagramed upon blackboards, in the empty halls of the state were actually being put into practice upon our hill farms, New Hampshire would be like Canaan of old, "a land of milk and honey."

One fact the doughty knights of penmanship and oratory have apparently overlooked. The real problem in New Hampshire, as well as, every other state, now as always, is the human problem. New Hampshire has perfectly able experts in agriculture, but what she lacks is a confidence in these experts on the part of the farmer, who too many times, regards them as rank outsiders, striving to force "new fangled notions and outlandish ideas" upon him. New Hampshire has far-sighted statesmen who real

ize the wealth of undeveloped resources which lie in this state, but what she lacks is a belief on the part of the people, that these statesmen are actually laboring for the advantage of the state, and not to further their own political ambitions.

We have established in the capital city, certain departments of state, forestry, education, agriculture, fisheries and game, highway, motor vehicle, and various others. These departments are amply supplied with men of talent and scientific training, capable of leading our people in paths of progress, along their respective lines of activity. It is natural that they should be criticized. Washington, the father of his country, Lincoln, the preserver of our nation, endured criticism, and it is to be expected that Everett, the father of good roads, and Bartlett, the preserver of partridges, should meet with the same difficulties. Nevertheless, although criticism is to be expected, the great gulf of misunderstanding which seems to separate the people of our state, from their business organization, seems unfortunate and uncalled for. Over the north country, an avalanche of discontent and distrust, is greeting the efforts of those who are engaged in combating the white pine blister-rust. The small town statesmen who project tobacco juice with deadly accuracy into the fiery depths of the box stove and surreptitiously remove cookies and pickles from the grocers counter of the village stores, are most venomous in their insinuations about the Fish and Game Department, accusing high officials of enforcing the laws against the poor people, in order that they, themselves, may have venison upon their boards, twelve months in the year. They claim, that the supervisors in the Department of Education are sponging an ill deserved livelihood from the people while the schools ruined by new notions are not as they used to be, when they were boys. They maintain that every bump in our roads, and every wash

board ridge of their corrugated surfaces which cause our Fords to play "Nearer My God to Thee," can be traced directly to the inefficiency of the Highway Department and that the Farm Bureau and Department of Agriculture, are to the farm world, what the "Seven Day Saints" and the followers of "Coue" are to the religious world.

It has been our experience that the officials of the various departments are ever ready to receive guests with courtesy, explain their work frankly, and meet criticism in a kindly manner. They are busy men, however.

Perish the thought of suggesting another state office but it might be profitable to have some official whose entire duty lay in introducing citizens to their departments by means of visits, lecture tours, and newspaper propaganda. The Boston and Maine railroad has such an official whose work lies in thus correct

ing erroneous impressions in the minds of the public.

We would even go further and suggest the personnel of the office. Under a Republican regime who would be better than the portly and jovial former Motor Vehicle Commissioner Olin H. Chase? Or, during the supremacy of the Democrats, could the suave and friendly Mr. Sibley be improved upon?

The State of New Hampshire cannot move forward more successfully without the confidence of the people than can the Amoskeag Mills do business without the cooperation of their employees, or the Governor of Oklahoma retain his office without the consent of his fellow citizen. Let us then realize that our real problem is a problem of self education. That even as we are supposed to boost our town, our lodge or our club, we should be ready to speak a good word for those who are trying to do things in our state.

an

book was first published in 1911 by a distinguished publishing house in London, after extracts had appeared in the New York "Sun" and the London "Observer" as well as in some American

magazines of repute. "The Memoirs" were then secured for America by Houghton and Mifflin Co., who had careful study made by authorities on Chinese affairs and who published the book in 1913 after it had been pronounced by these men as compiled from genuine diaries and an autobiography of unusual and permanent value. Mr. Foster, Secretary of State in President Harrison's Cabinet in 1892, was asked to write an introduction to the book because of his close association with Li Hung Chang when in 1897 he was requested by the

Emperor of China to act as an advisor during the peace negotiations with Japan. Therefore, Mr. Foster was most interested in the supposed extracts from his friend's diary, and, having read them, felt no doubt of their genuineness and wrote the introduction to the book.

The story of how suspicion is aroused, the truth, discovered, and the career and character of Mr. Maunix, revealed is fully and realistically told by Mr. Ralph D. Paine our New Hampshire author. Mr. Paine had come into contact with the vagabond, newspaper man and learned to know him as he was, a man with unusual talent as a novelist, who largely wasted his time and energy, and with a curious, moral twist seemed unable to draw the line between fact and fiction. It is a temptation to linger on a discussion of this man, whose character and life fascinate me more than any hero of a novel has for some time. It is impossible not to wonder about the psychological processes of a man which, although he was very lazy, made him go to great lengths to impose on the credulity of people, when it would have. been better, wiser, and easier to have told the truth. Mr. Paine gives several incidents in Maunix's life which have their amusing as well as their tragic side. He calls his introduction the "Story of a Literary Forgery" and tells it with his usual force and a clearness which succeeds in making us understand why people continued to be kind to Maunix even when realizing his failing.

With the discovery of the authorship of the book, "The Memoirs" take on a different aspect, growing more entertaining, if less biographical, because it becomes what the author should have wished it to be in the beginning, purely fiction. It is, however, fiction of the better type, being the imaginative production of a mind so brilliant that it could transport itself to a distant land, enter a foreign mind, and reflect the famous Viceroy's moods, motives, actions, and even his words with a style

entirely worthy of that literary gentleman. What name shall we give to the ability which enables a poor man, whose knowledge of China is limited to a few months there while in the infantry as a common soldier and to such books for reference as visitors to the jail bring him on request, to deceive statesmen, journalists, and friends of the Viceroy by writing a book which would have passed all critics for all time had not laziness in regard to a few dates betrayed him?

The youthful ambition of the viceroy, his changing views on Christianity and foreign invasion of China, his experiences as a soldier and statesman, his skill as a diplomat in negotiating with the great and powerful nations, his trip to Russia, Germany, France, England, and America as an honored representative of his country, all are treated with a frankness at which we smile when we are forced to recognize it as the boldest audacity. Nevertheless, so perfect is his portrayal of Li Hung Chang that the mellow reflections and wise thoughts throughout "The Memoirs" are none the less worth assimilating because they are written by the warped mind of a young man, wasting brilliant gifts, instead of by the pen of an experienced old man.

William F. Maunix is dead now, lost to the sympathy, praise and blame which is bestowed on him, leaving his one fine piece of work as a sad testimonial of what he might have been had he possessed the energy, kind heart, and the moral sensitiveness which should have accompanied his facile pen and alert, imaginative mind. Nevertheless, in spite of these and other missing qualities, he has produced a character which makes us forget the barriers of race and color and realize with new understanding that nobility of nature, greatness of mind and heart, although measured by different standards, are common to all fine men and are found in China as well as in western countries, among heathen as well as Christians.

"Both of these men belong to the 'Mr. Fixit' type of statesmen who think they are called upon to save the state from going to the demnition bow-wows and that they can do the saving if the people will only give them a job; pass all the laws they want and plaster the state with bonded indebtedness to pay the freight."

Compare the statements one with the other. Do not the old rank inconsistencies appear which have meant so much tribulation for the Republican party in months past? Windsor H. Goodnow of Keene ran for governor on a platform identical with that proposed by the Record But he didn't run well, nor did the rest of the ticket he headed. The Record's platform is all right as far as it goes but it doesn't go far enough with its verbose generalities to assure the election of any Republican next year.

-Concord Monitor-Patriot

Here is what Mr. Knox has to say. "After careful consideration of the political situation in the state and in response to what appears to be a very general favorable sentiment among Republicans, I have concluded to be a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. I shall make no statement beyond this at the present, but will make an extended statement of my views on pending state issues at some appropriate time in the future. I expect to wage an aggressive campaign for the nomination."

In the Monday's paper John G. Winant had a statement declaring declaring where he stands upon matters of interest to New Hampshire voters.

"A man is judged by his works and the tasks that he sets himself to do. I shall thoroughly enjoy this campaign because I like people and because I agree with Colonel Roosevelt that 'aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords.' A country worth fighting for in time of war is a country worth

working for in time of peace. That is my conviction and I shall work through to the end."-Franklin Journal.

In our day custom makes a good precedent, consequently the nomination should fall to Arthur P. Merrill, who in the last campaign, while he had a respectable following, withdrew his claim in favor of Goodnow and left the field clear, and why should not he have a preference as far as the nomination goes? He has been faithful, has remained loyal to whoever received the party nomination.

-Granite State Free Press

A Fatherly Rebuke

We suggest to the Editor of the Granite Monthly in the most friendly spirit, that it would be better for one of his adolescent years, when attending the agricultural fairs, or other gatherings of combined education and amusement, that he confine his researches to the front line tents and refrain from visiting the back tier of canvas in which are sometimes carried on the tantalizing gesticulations of the brazen acrobats of the terpsicorean art.

-Republican Champion

Old Institution Attacked

One does not have to look far back into the past to discover a noticeable change in the use made of the space inside of houses. For instance, the parlor as an institution cuts but little figure in home life to-day and it soon will be a relic of the past. Speed the day. The very name seems to suggest stiffness and lack of comfort. The parlor of the old days usually smelled like a silo, and contained the family's pet bricabrac, some chairs as uncomfortable as a Roman galley, a sofa as slippery as a greased pig, and just about as easy to stay on, and the remains of such flies as had starved to death since the room was last opened.

-Republican Champion