March 9, 1917. 
ARMED NEUTRALITY does not mean war, nor is it in 
itself an act of war. It is a protective measure. John 
D. Rockefeller, Jr., applied last month to the proper 
authorities for a license to carry arms while taking lonely 
drives to and from his residence in a New York town. 
He had no intention of running amuck and shooting folk. 
The community granted him the right to protect himself 
in the event of an attack. It was caution in the face of 
possible danger that led him to lawfully seeking the 
right to protect himself. The nation is doing the same 
thing now in seeking to arm its vessels to protect them 
from the highwaymen upon the high seas. The armed 
neutrality does not mean that every vessel will became a 
privateer on submarines, but it means that in the event 
of an attack they are authorized to be provided with arms 
and with national permission to use them. The position 
is honorable, defensible and necessary. It is the least 
America can do to protect its maritime interests upon 
the high seas. Armed neutrality is a protective and not 
an offensive measure. 
Now, THE FruGAL MINDED remember that the expert 
gardeners have always recommended a crop of potatoes 
en weed-ridden soil before seeding it down to grass. 
This year everyone will plant potatoes, though perhaps 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE we oO 
THE SUFFRAGISTS OF ENGLAND have ceased their 
agitations and their outrageous, and deplorable acts have 
ceased. The feminist movement has gained by the change 
and the women are rallying to the support of the Govern- 
ment and by their sense and fidelity the feminist leaders 
are doing more to gain the end they desire than by the 
erratic activities prevalent in the past. It is recognized 
that the suffragists will and eventually must win in Amer- 
ica, but the activities of the suffragists in Washington 
menacing and harassing the President with their activi- 
Hes are not in the line of good sense and sound judgment. 
Such activities harm the cause for which they are striv- 
ing. The peaceful picketing, so-called, is a miserable fail- 
ure and the women leading the enterprise could better 
invest their talents and time in taking Red Cross courses 
or making bandages against the future. The justice of 
the woman’s cause 1s recognized; nothing but harm can 
come from such ill directed efforts. 
Tue Movine Picrure ENTERPRISE that is being in- 
augurated by the Baseball association at Manchester, 
should have the endorsement of all interested in that out- 
door sport. The summer pleasures given by the games 
on Saturdays and on the holidays are an asset to our 
coyrmunity life and the baseball club should be assisted 
not on the lawn. 
-otatoes can be purchased. 
MILITARY TALK 
CAPTAIN GEORGE F. KEENAN Ol 
Mass. AMBULANCE Corps ToLD 
OF BorDER TRIP. 
Before a large gathering at the 
Manchester club on last Saturday 
evening Dr. George F. Keenan, cap- 
tain of the 1st Mass. Ambulance 
corps, related personal experiences 
and observations of the recent Mexi- 
can border expedition. Dr. Keenan’s 
telk had a fund of amusing anecdotes 
of the trip and he drew some forcible 
conclusions from his observations of 
last summer. He is a defender of 
the efficiency of the National Guard, 
the personnel of which he believes 
compares favorably with that of the 
regular army. Better than the pres- 
ent militia system, however, he de- 
clared, would be the establishment of 
a system of universal military train- 
ing. He opposed the establishment 
of a large standing army and_ the 
training of large numbers of officers 
with the resultant tendency toward 
the creation of a military caste. A 
system whereby every man would he 
compelled to “do his bit” he advo- 
cated as the best protective system. 
Officers could be recruited from 
among the trained men of the coun- 
try in time of war without any gre 
difficulty, he declared. 
Dr. Keenan’s command was. the 
first to leave Massachusetts and the 
first militia organization in the United 
States to reach the Mexican border. 
He told of the experiences of his 
command last June when the mobili- 
Then there is a proviso that the seed 
ful. 
zation order was issued, the “turmoil” 
at Framingham, when the federal 
government fell down on its part of 
the program, and the trip to the bor- 
der. He declared that the mobiliza- 
tion at Framingham brought out the 
fact that there had been no improve- 
ment in the methods of mobilization 
since the Spanish-American war. He 
told of the enthusiasm shown by the 
people of New York state when his 
troop train consisting of six flat cars, 
a baggage car, two day coaches and a 
Pullman car went through the cities 
of the state. 
In Ohio, he said, the enthusiasm 
was noticeably lacking. So pro- 
nounced was the difference in the at- 
titude of the people that when the 
train stopped at the boundary between 
Ohio and Indiana there was a demon- 
stration at the Indiana end of the 
train, but all was quiet at the Ohic 
end. In Illinois a Pullman Car Co. 
official attempted to remove the Pull- 
man car from the train, “because it 
was too good for U. S. troops.” The 
sight of the guns in the hands of the 
guards aboard the train however, dis- 
suaded the Pullman employees from 
carrying out his orders. 
Dr. Keenan told of the climatic 
conditions in Texas, which, he said, 
was “the meanest country God ever 
made.” He told of the experiences 
of his command with the horses and 
mules which the government provid- 
ed. He found a difference in the 
spirit of the troops from different 
parts of the country. The -soldiers 
from the northeastern states were 
in the effort to raise the funds to make the team success- 
imbued with a strong national spirit, 
which, he said, was lamentably absent 
in the troops from the south and mid- 
dle west. His command was visited 
by Congressman Gardner while in 
camp near El Paso. He character- 
ized the Massachusetts congressman 
aS a “very fine man, with a most 
thorough knowledge of military con- 
ditions as they are and as they ought 
to be.” He intimated that ‘Cong. 
Gardner has considerable “inside in- 
tormation” which may be heard from 
iater on. 
More dear in the sight of God and 
his angels than any other conquest is 
the conquest of self—Dean Stanley. 
Poetry is the music of thought, 
conveyed to us in the music of lang- 
uage.—Chatfield. 
There can be no fairer. ambition 
than to excel in talk: to have a fact, 
a thought, or an illustration pat to 
every subject—R. L. Stevenson. 
It is wonderful what friends can 
do! They bear us over abysses and 
~ountain peaks!— Blanche Willis 
Howard. 
If you wish others to remember 
vou with’ pleasure. forget yourself: 
and be just what God has made you. 
—Chas. Kingsley. 
Courtesy is the eye which overlooks 
your friend’s broken gateway, but 
sees the rose which blossoms in his 
garden. 
