Suchergebnisse

This study provides an overview of Arab official development assistance (ODA) over the past four decades. Trends in volume, composition, and direction are discussed in chapter two and the institutional framework is discussed in chapter three. Over 90 percent of Arab development assistance is provided by three countries: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The chief purpose of this handbook is to provide government lawyers with a framework to evaluate the quality of a country's investment legislation (if it exists) and how the legislation relates to its investment policy and investment incentives. More specifically, it deals with creating new and reforming existing investment legislation in developing and transition economies in furtherance of the World Bank Group's (WBG's) mandate to promote private investment - domestic and foreign - in those economies. Handbook appendices contain drafting guidelines and checklist of issues that foreign direct investment (FDI) laws should include and that countries can use when drafting investment legislation. The report is structured as follows: chapter one defines key terms about investment law reform in an effort to clarify terminology and concepts and show how they are related. Chapter two examines how widespread investment codes are and explains their utility and limitations. Chapter three provides recommendations on the structure of investment legislation and the key provisions to be included such as definitions, investors' guarantees, incentives, framework for investment promotion, and transitional provisions. Chapter four discusses the fundamental issue of investor entry, in particular the conditions under which foreign investors can invest including sectoral restrictions, limitations on foreign ownership, authorization and screening, minimum investment, and performance requirements. Chapter five discusses key investor guarantees including fair and equitable treatment, national treatment, most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment, protection against expropriation, guaranteed convertibility and repatriation of profits, and settlement of disputes. Chapter six looks at the issue of investment incentives, (fiscal incentives in particular) and their effectiveness. Chapter seven summarizes key aspects of investment promotion to guide legal drafters, should policymakers want the investment code to set out the basic framework of investment promotion. Chapter eight presents the various phases of investment law reform projects, from the government's request for assistance with legislation to the delivery of a project plan. Chapter nine identifies some of the challenges in preparing an investment code and the support that governments may need until the law is promulgated. Chapter ten discusses the monitoring and evaluation (M and E) of investment law reforms, including the key indicators involved in a desk review and medium- and large-scale projects.

Current international financing (primarily ODA) for environmental services in developing countries is very roughly estimated to be upwards of $21 billion annually (not including climate change financing), but additional resources on the order of tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars are needed. In 2009, environmental ODA was estimated at $18 billion with a few billion more delivered through philanthropic and market-based financing channels. Although there are only a few studies of the additional financing needed, and those are relatively narrow in scope, the estimates that are available clearly indicate that significantly higher levels of finance still need to be reached. Additionally, the impacts of environmental finance on environmental sustainability and development objectives are poorly understood. Systematic reviews of previous experience, and standardized monitoring in the future, would support the countries and projects monitored, while also providing important lessons for the broader development and environment communities.

A worldwide financial crisis of enormous magnitude continues to unfold rapidly. Unlike other crises in recent decades, the current episode is rooted in industrial countries' financial systems and is affecting low-income and middle-income countries (MICs) alike. Defaults on securitized sub-prime mortgages as a real estate market bubble burst led to failures or near-failures of several large financial institutions and a collapse of inter-bank and commercial paper markets. A tightening of credit, combined with declining consumer confidence, has brought on worldwide recession with growing unemployment, and many fear that the downturn will be severe and protracted. At the same time, the rapidly multiplying signs of contraction are prompting strong responses, including fiscal stimulus packages and reductions in benchmark lending rates, on the part of several of the affected developed countries. The Bank Group is well placed to help mitigate the impact of the current crisis with financing and advisory services, and its clients are already requesting increased support. A rapid, high-quality response that combines financial and advisory support can do much to ease the inevitable ramifications of the crisis. Lessons from evaluations of previous Bank Group responses to past crises can help inform the response to the current crisis in order to increase its effectiveness.

Spatial inequality is an important feature of many developing countries that seems to increase with economic growth and development. At the same time, there seems to be little consensus on the causes of spatial inequality and on a list of effective policy instruments that may foster or reduce spatial inequality. This paper examines the theoretical and empirical literature on spatial inequality to learn what we know and do not know about the causes of spatial inequality, to investigate what policies may or may not ameliorate spatial inequality, and to determine whether policy makers can identify and implement policies that promote or reduce spatial inequality.

The paper focuses its analysis on the last three decades of the twentieth century. The basic assumption is that Egypt's economic performance during this period was less than satisfactory compared with the most successful examples in the far East and elsewhere. The paper also assumes that Egypt's initial conditions at midcentury compared favorably with the winners in the development race at the end of the century. Egypt has achieved positive progress, no doubt, yet compared with the higher performers in Asia, and given its favorable good initial conditions, the record seems quite mediocre. By mid-twentieth century, Egypt's agriculture had almost reached its limits. Egypt, therefore, faced a new challenge: a need to transform itself into an industrial society. This objective was only partially achieved. The paper identifies three interrelated factors that helped hinder Egypt's accession to a new industrial society. The first factor is a strong state and a weak society. An authoritarian state that in its endeavor to preserve its prerogatives had to give up good governance practices and limit the creative initiative of the individuals. The second factor is a semi-rentier economy. The availability of windfall revenues not only reduced the pressure for change but also promoted a new rentier mentality that undermined the emergence of an industrial spirit. The third factor is an inadequate education system. This system failed to provide the proper skills and values required for the industrial society. These factors, moreover, are interdependent and reinforce each other.

Nigeria's long-run growth performance has been extremely poor. Between 1960 and 2000, real income per capita grew at only 0.43 percent per year. The situation improved between 2001 and 2006 when real per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of 4.2 percent. This paper demonstrates that the superior growth performance during 2001-06 is largely attributable to the impact of better leadership and economic policy making. The improved performance of the economy after 2003 arose from implementing a comprehensive economic reform program focusing on four main areas: macroeconomic reform; structural reform; governance and institutional reform; and public sector reform. The reforms, backstopped by improved oil revenue management, monetary policy implementation, and debt management, improved overall macroeconomic policy making. This resulted in real GDP growth averaging 7.1 percent per year between 2003 and 2006, an inflation rate of 10 percent in 2006, foreign exchange reserves of US$45 billion in 2006, and total external debt of only US$5 billion in 2006. Clearly, between 1960 and 2000, Nigeria's policy choices were poor, and the reforms that sought to correct them were plagued by inconsistencies, policy reversals, and lack of coherence. In contrast, due to good leadership, the reforms adopted in 2003 were consistent and have been implemented in a coherent manner.

This strategic framework serves to guide and support the operational response of the World Bank Group (WBG) to new development challenges posed by global climate change. Unabated, climate change threatens to reverse hard-earned development gains. The poorest countries and communities will suffer the earliest and the most. Yet they depend on actions by other nations, developed and developing. While climate change is an added cost and risk to development, a well-designed and implemented global climate policy can also bring new economic opportunities to developing countries. Climate change demands unprecedented global cooperation involving a concerted action by countries at different development stages supported by "measurable, reportable, and verifiable" transfer of finance and technology to developing countries. Trust of developing countries in equity and fairness of a global climate policy and neutrality of the supporting institutions is critical for such cooperation to succeed. Difficulties with mobilizing resources for achieving the millennium development goals and with agreeing on global agricultural trade underscore the political challenges. The framework will help the WBG maintain the effectiveness of its core mission of supporting growth and poverty reduction. While recognizing added costs and risks of climate change and an evolving global climate policy. The WBG top priority will be to build collaborative relations with developing country partners and provide them customized demand-driven support through its various instruments from financing to technical assistance to constructive advocacy. It will give considerable attention to strengthening resilience of economies and communities to increasing climate risks and adaptation. The operational focus will be on improving knowledge and capacity, including learning by doing. The framework will guide operational programs of WBG entities to support actions whose benefits to developing countries are robust under significant uncertainties about future climate policies and impacts-actions that have "no regrets."

The operations policy on Development Policy Lending (DPL), approved by the Board in August 2004, requires that the Bank systematically analyze whether specific country policies supported by an operation are likely to have "significant effects" on the country's environment, forests, and other natural resources. The implicit objective behind this requirement is to ensure that there is adequate capacity in the country to deal with adverse effects on the environment, forests, and other natural resources that the policies could trigger, even at the program design stage. DPL operations are associated with a whole array of policies such as macro policy reforms, fiscal policies, and specific sectoral policies, particularly in key sectors such as agriculture, health and education, energy, etc. In some cases, the operation may deal directly with reforms in certain environmentally sensitive sectors such as energy, transport, water and sanitation, agriculture, and forestry. In these cases, there is an obvious need for careful analysis of environmental, natural resource, and forestry impacts. In other cases, such as public sector reform and governance, there is less potential for likely significant impacts on the natural environment and natural resources. The toolkit is designed to be concise and user-friendly. It consists of three specific modules. The first module identifies relevant transmission channels through which the proposed reform would have a likely effect on the identified environmental, forest, and other natural resource priorities. The second module provides assistance in identifying key environmental issues in the country, regions, or sectors likely to be influenced by the DPL program. The third module presents different tools and methodologies for rapid assessment of the likely significant effects of each reform.

In the early 1990s the World Bank launched the Regional Program on Enterprise Development (RPED) in several African countries, a key component of which was to collect data on manufacturing firms. The data sets built by these and subsequent enterprise surveys in Africa generated considerable research. This article surveys the research on the African business environment, focusing on risk, access to credit, labor, and infrastructure, and on how firms organize themselves and do business. It reviews the research on enterprise performance, including enterprise growth, investment, and exports. The article concludes with a discussion of policy lessons.

Unless developing countries embrace a corporate governance perspective, privatization is unlikely to provide the benefits of improved performance with accountability. This article introduces the concept of governance chains that can constrain the grabbing hands of public and private actors by providing information and accountability mechanisms to help investors monitor managers. Empirical data on established firms from 49 countries provide estimates of the relative importance and strength of private and formal chains of governance. The framework and empirical benchmarks help explain the outcomes of past privatizations and suggest certain steps that governments can pursue to be sure to get the most out of future privatization activity.

Part four of an interview with educators in the Leominster, Massachusetts area. Topics include: Joeseph DeCarolis, a school principal in Leominster and other locations, introduces himself. Vincent DiNino, a teacher in Leominster, introduces himself. Why their families settled in Leominster. How immigrants learned English. What Leominster was like. Memories of early education. Social clubs for Italian Americans. Bilingual education and preserving cultural heritage. ; 1 SPEAKER 1: Actually, I think he already gave that anyway, especially during – we'll get back to you… SPEAKER 2: Sure. SPEAKER 1: Because you were actually born in Italy. SPEAKER 2: Yes. SPEAKER 1: And that's important. JOE: I'm Joe DeCarolis. SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm. JOE: I was born in Pittsfield, Mass. All four of my grandparents came from Italy. Uh, my mother's folks came from Calabria and my grandparents in Leominster, I'm not quite sure. I should know that. Uh, principal in Leominster for 25 years, I was principal in other places, for a total of 31 years; uh, and in the local schools, Lincoln School, Leominster Junior High School, uh, Leominster High School, Fitchburg State College, University of Mass., University of New Hampshire. I was all over the place. Uh, I live in Leominster now. I did… uh, I traveled [a little] also with my family, came back to Leominster. I've four children living, grandchildren, out here in Leominster, attending Leominster schools. We have a business − an insurance business. My parents would have been very proud of their grandson, but unfortunately they're gone to the great beyond. But, uh, I look forward to the future of Leominster where our kids are in the public education right now. SPEAKER 2: He was also all over the football field. (FEMALE VOICE) GROUP: [Laughter] SPEAKER 2: He was a football player… SPEAKER 1: Were you ever a coach? JOE: Yes, I coached. I played and, uh, I help now with my grandson playing the [unintelligible - 00:01:24] and my son coaching the Leominster High School offensive line so we're still involved in it, in that activity. I belong to most clubs in town − the Sons of Italy, the Elks, the Knights of 2 Columbus, Board of Directors of the Leominster Credit Union and other activities. Leominster Country Club, where I play a lot of golf; and my sons and my grandson also do that. VINCENT: My name is Vincent DiNino, and I was born in Corfinio, Italy in 1940. I came to the United States when I was 16. I remember my boat's trip. The boats – the boat I came over was the uh, Christopher Columbus − and the sister ship of that boat was the Andrea Doria, which met, uh, an early uh, fate, sinking; and I always thought it could have been the, uh, Christopher Columbus that would be sunken instead of the Andrea Doria, and now where would I be? So I've always been thankful that I did reach the shores of the United States. And to give a brief perspective, I never really intended to come stateside because when I started schools in Italy, in the middle schools, they ask you what kind of career you intend to take and the choice was you could take foreign language to match the kind of career that you wanted. And for most intents and purposes, you cannot take German because Germany was defeated. Yes, you could take Italian. You should take Italian because that was your country. And French or English were the foreign languages that were recommended. Now, if you did not intend to go to Australia or Canada or the United States, you should take French, because French was the international language of trade and commerce, industry. And that's what I did. I took French in middle school, not knowing that later on, about three years later, we would be coming stateside and I would come to Leominster, Massachusetts, not knowing a word of English − but knowing French quite well, Italian, of course, and having some Latin. So when I started school at first at the junior high and then at the high school, I was fortunate enough to be able to take foreign languages − but not to learn the foreign languages, to do reverse engineering and learn English. So I took Italian. I took French. I took Latin. Of course, I already knew the languages insofar as they were being taught in those grades; but I would learn the vocabulary and the 3 structure that pertained to English. So that's how I got through high school and I was able to get to college. And I went to college in Worcester − first Assumption and then Clark. I did get a degree in Education. And I had a good background in Electronics. The Dean of Students at Clark was so impressed with my thesis that he said, "I've just been given a post to be President at Leicester Junior College. Would you join me and set up a language lab there?" "Oh," I said, "Fine." Beautiful first job − and it had some perks, like resident at a very subsidized rate, so it fit me perfectly. And I stayed with Leicester Junior College until Becker Junior College bought it out in1970. Then as I had been teaching foreign languages and one of those languages was Spanish, I saw that there was a need for bilingual education in the area and I applied to the Leominster public school system, which apparently saw me as a good candidate and I worked in the Leominster school system for 10 years, until my parents were both diagnosed with cancer. And I decided that at that time, since I was the only child stateside − I have two sisters in Italy, but far away when there is a sudden illness or a big problem. So I said, "Well, I'll take a couple of years leave of absence and see if I… if I can help." And of course, the school system was kind enough to allow me to do that. And while I took care of my parents, who were getting weaker and weaker, I also started to do a electronics repair business in my garage, a relatively large garage in which we didn't park cars anymore, but we had TVs and VCRs and all kinds of electronic stuff that I always liked to tinker with. So it seemed to be okay. And at this time too, one of my close relatives, my aunt, had a stroke and couldn't live by herself so we took her in. And I was also taking care of her while doing the electronics business. And when the time came to decide whether I should be back for the schools or continue with my business, I decided that probably at that time I wanted to see what's running your own business look like. And I started electronic equipment repair, which I'm still running, in spite of the 4 fact that the electronics business has met with great competition from overseas, especially Southeast Asia. And most consumer products are very inexpensive to purchase and are disposable. But we do some products which are not disposable, in the thousands of dollars cost area – like projection TV sets, which are still relatively good insofar as business profit. SPEAKER 1: Okay, thank you. I was wondering if each of you could tell me, why Leominster? Why did your family settle here? SPEAKER 2: Why did my family…? SPEAKER 1: [Unintelligible – 00:08:38]… settled here. First of all, I have to say, it's a lot of people to keep track of. So even though you may have said something at the beginning − for example, you may have said [unintelligible – 00:08:48] in Leominster, I just… sorry about that if I'm asking you a question that maybe you answered a little bit. SPEAKER 2: Okay. SPEAKER 1: But I really want to know, why is it that your particular family settled in Fitchburg or Leominster? Did they follow another relative or was it because of work or…? SPEAKER 2: I wish I knew all of that. SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm. SPEAKER 2: My paternal grandparents were in Leominster. And my maternal grandparents were in Boston. But when people were coming here from Italy, my grandmother… I don't know what you would call her in this day and age. But she was the one that people went to, for some reason. And I don't know whether she had been established, maybe, for a few years − and most of the people that came from a [unintelligible - 00:09:50] settled in Leominster, on Lincoln Terrace. And that's the first house that I remember my grandparents being in. When my parents were married, they moved to Leominster. I guess it was the woman's place to move to wherever her husband was. And both my grandfather and my dad were 5 employed at Dupont. And then my dad went on… I think in 1937, was the first detective police officer in Leominster, part-time for two years. And then in 1939 was promoted to a full-time position. They had to pass the Civil Service Test and all that went with it. SPEAKER 1: Italian Citizens Club helped him with that? SPEAKER 2: I remember him studying for it as a child, even – though I'm not certain of that. But I do know he belonged to Italian social clubs − the Salvini Club up on Lincoln Terrace; going to the Elks and the Knights, and all of those things. I really can't speak to that. I was too young; I was only maybe five years old. PELINO: Because my family was kind of mixed, in that my father's family were all in Corfinio, Italy. On my mother's side, her parents came to the United States in the early 1900s and settled around Everett, Massachusetts. And my grandmother had her six children all born in Everett. My mother was one of them. But then after the first World War, my grandmother went back to Italy, went back to Corfinio, with all of her children; taking all of them with her, primarily to take care of her father, who was alone at the time. He was… so she went back to the family homestead, so to speak, in Corfinio. And that's where my mother and her brother and sisters, you know, grew up. At the time that they went back to Italy, they were – some of them six years old, eight years old, in that range. And my mother grew up and got married. Met my father and got married in late 1930s in Corfinio. And then after the war, we came to the United States. That was in 1949. And we went to Cokeburg, Pennsylvania. My mother had a great uncle who lived in Cokeburg and he had a small business. He had a bar room and a restaurant, you know, combination. Coal mining was the way that people make their living in that area unless you own some small business or perhaps you own land and farmed. So my father went to work in a coal mine. At that time, the mines went on strike. They were out for three to six months. It was a very difficult time. And my great uncle suggested to my parents that we should come to Leominster. We had 6 other relatives here. My grandmother had a brother living here in Leominster. And one of my mother's sisters − my aunt, who came in 1949 − settled here in Leominster. So he suggested that for the betterment of the family, for greater opportunity, we should move to Leominster, which we did, in 1950; and the family's been here ever since. That's how we came in to settle in Leominster. That was all on my mother's side. My father's family is still all in Italy. SPEAKER 1: Now in 1950, how old were you? PELINO: At that time I was 11 years old. I came in 1949; I was nine. I came early; I believe it was February 1 when we landed. I can't remember the name of the ship, but they were sister ships, I remember that. One was the Vulcania, and the other was the Saturnia. And I believe I came on the Vulcania; that was quite a trip − have a lot of fond memories about it, my first cruise [laughter]. JOE: Was it in the winter or the summertime…? PELINO: It was winter. SPEAKER 2: Sure. I'm real curious to know where – which port you came in to. Was it Boston or was it…? PELINO: New York. SPEAKER 2: Okay. JOE: Oh, yeah. SPEAKER 2: See, that's the thing. I don't know where my grandparents came in… PELINO: Oh, I can remember the ship going to Canada and making a stop and letting some people off in Canada, because that was another, you know, port of entry. But then it did go down to New York and that's where we landed. JOE: Pelino went to Pennsylvania. They couldn't pronounce his name so they called him Paul [unintelligible - 00:15:04]. So when he came to Leominster, he said it was Paul [unintelligible - 00:15:07].7 PELINO: That's true. That's true. My uncle changed my name to Paul Marshall. I have report cards… I had report cards with that name. But coming to Leominster and registering here, I went back to my given name. SPEAKER 1: Now why did he suggest that? PELINO: That was a funny story. I never knew until in the mid-50s, he came to visit, you know, the family here. And particularly, his brother that I mentioned, lived in Leominster. And I asked him. I said, "Uncle Frank, how come you changed my name?" And he said, "Well, you know, this is, you know, the land of opportunity. You could be almost anything you want to be. And someday you could grow up and be a lawyer, or you could be a doctor or whatever, and you're going to have your name on the door. And people are going to come by and see that long name, they're going to be afraid to pronounce it and they're not going to come in." [Laughter] That was his answer. I said, "How come you never changed yours? And he wouldn't answer that question [laughter]. But he was a wonderful man. He married − around 1935 – he married a lady from Yugoslavia. And the small town of Cokeburg had a number of ethnic groups, Serbians, Croatians, all regions of what we know as Yugoslavia; Polish, Russian, Italians, of course. And they all had their social clubs, you know, just like we found here in Leominster. But they all congregated − and my uncle's one of them – in a bar room, particularly on Friday nights, which was payday. So you heard all kinds of… all kinds of languages. And my aunt, Pauline, actually spoke − not only English and Italian, which she spoke much better than I ever did − but also a little bit of Russian, Polish, you name it. And she picked it up, you know, from working in the restaurant, in the bar room. And one of my best friends was a Croatian. His name was Sam. And I don't think I ever had anybody in my life that I was closest to and who influenced me more as a friend than Sam. And I only knew him for about a year and a half. SPEAKER 1: The bar room was in Pennsylvania then, not Leominster.8 PELINO: Yes, right. He was in Pennsylvania. And like I said, it was one of, you know, a number of ethnic little clubs. SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm. JOE: [Unintelligible - 00:17:54]. My four grandparents came for family. They wanted a new life. My mother's family went to New York − to Rome, New York. Rome is a very highly populated Italian population. And then they migrated to Pittsfield, Mass.; GE was flourishing… Actually they were in the grocery business; Italian imported and [unintelligible - 00:18:23] goods. My father's family in Leominster migrated to Leominster because of family and got involved with plastics; DuPont's – my father later started his own factory. When I went in the Army and I came out thinking I was going to be a millionaire because I was going to take over this plastics factory, but he sold it to buy a bar. Then my grandfather was out of work and he wanted to put him to work, so he bought a bar and he worked the days and my father worked the nights. But we spent most of our lives in Leominster. I call Leominster home even though I was born in Pittsfield, grew up across [unintelligible - 00:19:10]. My father's a cop would watch over us at downtown and give me a good [unintelligible - 00:19:15] go home and [unintelligible - 00:19:17]. Because if he would have crossed the street and said [unintelligible - 00:19:19] and Dominic, I [unintelligible - 00:19:21] around downtown, they took care of that. Going to the public schools as a young Italian kid in the beginning was a little difficult, you know. And the good thing was that the area, Leominster in those days was set up in ethnic sections − the Italian section, the Irish section, the Protestant section. So you were comfortable in that way, okay. Eventually, we started to play ball against the other sections of town and that broke the ice, and you made friends with the kids from different sectors, the Irish section; and intermarriage started to happen. And all of my brothers and I married outside the Italian culture, maybe…9 SPEAKER 2: That was a no-no. That was a big no-no. JOE: It was a big no-no. You didn't marry outside your culture in those days. That just didn't happen. But as I say, as things went on and we played ball together. We went to school together. We went to college together. That kind of broke that ice and people intermarried. I say we had a bar – we were given the opportunity. We made the opportunity to start our own businesses, okay? My brother went into a very successful semiconductor business. Now the industry is on 128; it's huge… major, major. He retired young, okay. My son owns four agencies − insurance agencies − in town. He started one and bought three. So opportunity was there if you wanted to take it and there was a tremendous desire on the part of all the people that I knew − my best friends all wanted to either be in business, or be in education. We had some tremendous people who were Italian. I can think of Christine [unintelligible - 00:21:13] was my first Italian teacher that I had in Lincoln School. I had her for two years in a row. We went fourth and fifth grade in the same room and then we went… SPEAKER 2: She was the second Italian teacher in Leominster. There's Mary McCall and Christine [unintelligible - 00:21:27]. JOE: I didn't realize that. Then she became Mrs. Mcgrall; she married [unintelligible - 00:21:31]. JOE: That's right. JOE: And he had a business, Mr. Mcgrall. SPEAKER 2: Yes. JOE: But I became… and she took a liking to me and I would run all her errands, go down to the store, buy her lunch and that kind of stuff; but it got me kind of enthused towards education. And I liked the aspect of working with kids and doing things that I liked people doing for me. So while I got out – actually, when I got out… I went to school; all my friends were joining the Army. So I got out of school, went home, told my mother that, "Mom, I'm going into the Army." I was getting ready for the 10 football season. She almost passed out. But when I got out, I got married. And I had a new aspect, a new view on life; so I worked – I went to school 8:00 in the morning with Pelino. We went together and I would go to [unintelligible - 00:22:28] at 3:00 and work to 11:00. And I did this for four years; I had two children. And my wife is Irish and [Swedish] and she could cook good Italian [unintelligible - 00:22:40]. SPEAKER 2: Did you speak English when you started school? JOE: Yes, yes. I figure a little Italian… in fact, the good thing for the parents in those days, that they could speak Italian and say things and you didn't know, so that the – and that was common in all families. [Laughter] My friends, most of my friends, don't speak Italian, and that's sad. I did take Italian when we were [unintelligible - 00:22:59] high school, three years of Italian. I'm not sure I learned a lot for long. I did plenty to get by, got good marks and so forth, but don't think that I recall [unintelligible - 00:23:10] but I don't know [unintelligible - 00:23:11]. And I'm very sad about that. SPEAKER 3: It's a matter of not using it, you know. (FEMALE VOICE) JOE: Exactly. SPEAKER 3: And I went… I took lessons from Vinny. JOE: I'm very jealous of people who… You did, huh? SPEAKER 3: Yes, I did. JOE: [Unintelligible - 00:23:23] night school, right? SPEAKER 3: When my mother was here we get [unintelligible - 00:23:27]. Yeah, we had a great time. JOE: I'm very sad about that. I never used it and then never kept it, you know. It was like Geometry, if you didn't use it, you lost it. And that's true today. And I wish I could have passed it on to my four children and my grandchildren, you know, and I can't do that. SPEAKER 3: I agree. JOE: And none of them speak a second language, which just too bad.11 SPEAKER 4: It's amazing. Do you mind my breaking in? (FEMALE VOICE) JOE: No. SPEAKER 4: I knew you loved it. I hate [unintelligible - 00:23:52]. [Laughter] [PELINO]: You know her well, don't you? SPEAKER 4: Maybe 12 years difference in age, right, between Joe and me? And yet, when I went to school and all of my friends didn't speak English − so within 10 years, he's going to school now… JOE: That's true [unintelligible - 00:24:11]. That's true. But you know, I can remember − I think Jeannie talked about it [unintelligible - 00:24:17]. Leominster had about five, maybe more, Italian clubs. The Calabrese, the [unintelligible - 00:24:24] and my dad belonged to a couple, as you said yours did. And every Sunday, off we would go with my father to the club and they would play cards, and they would drink wine. And my father would come home with a homemade bottle of wine; it was like somebody gave him a thousand dollars. He had a homemade bottle of wine and it bought – that was his, okay. But that's – and the people that I met in those days, the kids are still my best friends today. It was ties; there were ties, neighborhood ties and club ties − and they never got broken. PELINO: No, I had Mrs. Mcgrall too. She was my first teacher when we moved to Leominster. And I got a little Mrs. Mcgrall story. First day, I got there, registered. He said to me now, "Now, Pelino, school starts at quarter past eight." I said, "Yes, Mrs. Mcgrall." And we don't live too far away, [unintelligible - 00:25:24] right around the corner from Lincoln School. And so that first morning, I showed up about 8:23 and she called me inside and said, "Pelino, you're late." I said, "Really?" She said, "Yes, school starts at quarter past eight." I said, "Okay, Mrs. Mcgrall, I'll be here." The next morning I showed up about 8:20. She pulled me aside again. "Pelino, you're late." "Mrs. Mcgrall, I promise, I'll be here on time." The third morning, I got there about 8:17 and she said, "Pelino, I 12 don't know what to do with you. I talked to you twice already. School starts at 8:15." And the minute she said 8:15, the light dawned on me. To me, quarter was 25, because I first learned 25 cents. You learn money first, right Vinny? [Laughter] So up until that moment, I didn't make the connection that quarter, you know, quarter of an hour was 15 minutes. I thought I was in plenty of time. I don't know why she's [unintelligible - 00:26:28] every morning. [Laughter] But it was a funny experience; but we're a Southeast school and we have the bilingual program. You know the—Vinny remembers—that was one of the things that I – having learned that. You're a little bit more sensitive to other ethnic groups, okay, and their particular cultural backgrounds, so that you're not quick to judge them based on your standards. That was a lesson for me; and another lesson was always talking to the kids and having them look at me. And if they didn't, you know, my finger would go under their chin, you know, I'm talking to you, you know, look at me. Until one of the bilingual teachers explained to me that in their culture, that's disrespectful to look at the adults' eyes when they're talking to you. And it – you know, something entirely different from what I was used to. I was looking for respect from the youngster by having the youngster look at me, and I was asking him to do something that was disrespectful to his culture. And it's one of the things that was not very helpful, you know, years later in helping the classroom teachers and others adjust to different ethnic groups. JOE: You asked a while ago if I spoke Italian or took Italian. I started the first bilingual program when [unintelligible - 00:27:57] down the Southeast school in 1972. PELINO: Seventy-two, 72. JOE: Okay. But when I was going to school, it was the desire of an Italian family to have their kids speak English; no bilingual education, okay? And it annoys me today that we are still having people fight to save their culture. Oh, I want to save the Italian culture. And I think the Irish people should have their culture. But I also feel that you've got to give in to the 13 flow of civilization and what's happening. And we had to speak English, okay? We had to go to school. Now, if I may put it crudely, if I felt lousy, you know, my mother would say, "Go to the bathroom and go to school." That was it. You went to school, okay? Today, if there is a little headache or a big test or something, the kids don't come to school. If it rains, lots of kids don't come to the school. That's the advantage I think we had over today's youth, okay? I have to tell my own children, you get those kids to school. That's your main job, you know. They cry about getting sick, you always can go get them out; you [unintelligible - 00:29:09]. SPEAKER 1: So what's the intent of bilingual education, initially? JOE: It's to teach kids English, but written in to the law was the fact that they had to have so many hours of their culture each day, okay? We didn't have that. The culture was… is the one that you decided to live in, okay? We decided to live in Leominster, in United States of America, who spoke English, okay, and you were going to speak English, okay. I said the only advantage of Italian in my family is my parents can speak and talk about us and we didn't know it. SPEAKER 3: They all do. JOE: I guess it's coming back now, because they're going to change that [battle] of the law but it took 28, 29 years, okay? SPEAKER 1: So was the intent to keep it for a short period of time? JOE: I think so. SPEAKER 1: And then to grow out of it, so to speak? [PELINO]: [Unintelligible - 00:30:05] maximum of three years. SPEAKER 3: Three years, I thought. JOE: Three years? VINCENT: The program was conditional… JOE: Right, right. VINCENT: Bilingual education, so I guess the first thing is that you have to allow for a transition. And sometimes in transition they take one, two, three years, 14 and sometimes it may take a lifetime. Of course, everything has got to be within certain limits, because money is involved, because people's feelings are involved. And you kind of strike a balance between what some people want and what the necessities of the system dictate, I think. SPEAKER 4: The other thing too is that I think it's shifted from being primarily Spanish-type bilingual education. And then we had this whole influx of Asians come in and how were we adapting to that − that was a big transition. And I don't know what role bilingual education played for them. JOE: But there wasn't such a thing, though, as bilingual education. SPEAKER 3: Not when we went to school. JOE: When the Italian who came from Italy… SPEAKER 4: That's right. JOE: Or the Italian kid grew up in an Italian household where the parents spoke Italian, there were no such thing as bilingual education. You go to school; you learn how to speak English. And that was it. SPEAKER 1: Is it possible that the other ethnic groups now coming in have assimilated more quickly because they don't have bilingual education [unintelligible - 00:31:36] Spanish? JOE: I hope so. The only answer I can give you is, I hope so; because they're going find out their success is going to come quicker. PELINO: Okay, I think that Vinny said it well, what he said [unintelligible - 00:31:48] was transitional bilingual education. And there is a transition that needs to take place. In my own experience, while I very quickly picked up, let's say, the street language, I was able to converse, you know, very quickly, inside of three, four months. Part of that was the fact that I spent my first summer with one of my great aunts in Michigan City, Indiana. And she had a nephew that came to visit that summer, who was also nine years old; you know, my age. She didn't speak any Italian. Her nephew did not. My uncle had his own business selling Italian grocery products and did a lot of traveling, so I spent the whole day with her and 15 her nephew Floyd; go to the beach every day, every couple of weeks. We saved up enough money from cashing in bottles and cans. She would take us to Chicago, and, you know, go to a museum. I remember the stockyards; huge, huge. I couldn't believe how big the stockyards were at the time. So I assimilated the English language quickly, but only in terms of being able to speak in everyday terms, okay. School was a different matter. And I think this is partly what, you know, Vinny is speaking about in that I had to − similar to what he… he used his other foreign languages to translate into English − okay, I was doing the same thing in Italian. It wasn't until the 7th Grade, in junior high school, that I was finally able to read a Science or Mathematics problem in English and think in English. Prior to that time, I read it in English. If Jean was my teacher, I could read that book, just like I can read Latin; doesn't mean I understand it but I can read it. I can pronounce, okay. The fact was that it wasn't until then that I was actually doing my thinking in English. Prior to that, my thought process was in Italian and it was slower; because I had to read it in English or hear what the person was saying in English, translate it internally into Italian, get the answer or get the understanding, and then send it back out in English. One of the differences, as Jean mentioned, some of the other ethnic groups is that they have an advantage in that they're smaller in numbers, okay. They also come with, perhaps, some different priorities. And the… most people in the area associate bilingual education with Hispanics. But that's only because that particular language group is here. If you go in to Boston, Vinny would tell you they probably have a couple dozen of bilingual programs in all kinds of languages, okay, because they have the population that required that and the program that was needed to support that population. There is a need for a transition. I know of family members, I know of others who came and, you know, you were drawn into school, sink or swim, immersion. That's the term they use, immersion, okay. And I was able to survive that; but there are others that did not. I 16 think if we think back into our own families and we go back and think long enough, we'll find a number of people who, because of that immersion − because perhaps the support wasn't there at home to say that education is a priority for you, I want you to succeed, that's your future.− it became easier sometimes because of family need or whatever, everybody else, they drop out of school and go to work to help support the family. And there was a lot of that that happened. If anything, the transitional bilingual education program helps to keep kids in school. We don't gain anything. The individual doesn't gain. The family doesn't gain. Society doesn't gain when anybody drops out of school. I mean we [unintelligible - 00:36:07] you that. Nobody gains by that experience. And I think that anything we can do to keep kids in school, you know, for the full term is going to pay dividends. And if bilingual education, you know, comes with a cost, − yes it does; and it should be transitional − but as Vinny said, you know, some people can do it in one year and we used to get kids out of the program in a year; some took two, most took three. We had very few that stayed beyond the four year – the three years. As a matter of fact, it was school committee policy; as Assistant Superintendent, I would have to present the case to the school committee and ask them to allow, upon recommendation of the Bilingual Director and the teachers and the principal, to allow youngsters to stay in their program for longer than three years. And I never made any request more than three or four or five in any given year, out of over a hundred, 120, 130 kids in the bilingual program. So you know there has to be a balance. Yes, I understand, you know… where Joe and others are coming from. I have the same feelings. You fear as an individual, you need to make an effort to assimilate into the society. I mean that's why you're here. SPEAKER 2: [Unintelligible - 00:37:20]. JOE: But you need to keep your own culture too. I'm sorry, the same way that you are that my kids don't speak Italian. That's my fault.17 SPEAKER 2: Yes, yes. They're with more pressure. VINCENT(?): [Unintelligible - 00:37:31] okay. JOE: Now my grandparents [unintelligible - 00:37:36]. Okay, because and you ask, why did they come to Leominster, why did they come to Pittsfield? Because family was there! There wasn't such a thing as aid welfare, okay. Families took care of families; so it was important that they learned quickly so they can go out and work, can make their money and get their own apartment. There were very few Italian people those days owned their own home, you know; families – if you lost your job, you moved in with a sister or brother, with your family, and you'd share. So the need to learn was much quicker then. Today, you sign up, you get welfare, you get relief. And for some that's very important, I understand that, okay? But we also have maybe taken away incentive for some of these people. We make it too easy for some. VINCENT: You know, it's very interesting to notice that these problems that the United States have been experiencing for maybe the past 20 or 30 years are now occurring all over the world. I mentioned that my niece was visiting from Italy just this summer and it was tied to all the terrorist happenings. So she was able to visit many areas in the United States very freely, without hindrance, which would probably not be the case now. But talking to her, she would mention that even in Italy, there are a lot of immigrants; Albania, for instance, from North Africa. And these are people that say we know our rights. They pitch their tent in the public square and they're expecting the municipal services to provide for them. And of course, one of the complaints was that you couldn't hear the church bells because they had their loudspeakers announcing the Muslim rituals of prayer every so many hours. And there too, you have a clash of cultures. Of course, they wouldn't come to Italy if they weren't looking for a little better life than what they had where they left. And what are you going to do with them? You have to take care of the children, make sure they go to school, make sure that you could teach them in whatever 18 language they're using. Now I'm sure that the resources are smaller in a country like Italy. They're not the same as the resources that are available in a country like United States − and yet the problem is there. And if you don't want to have problems like they have in the Balkan countries or in the Middle East, you have to try to accommodate these different cultures the best way you can. And I think education, although it will not solve all the problems, if you can keep the kids in school and if the kids can get along with other kids, Albanian, Italian, from Morocco, from Algeria, from Tunis, whatever, then maybe you wouldn't have a kind of topsy-turvy world that we're presented with or that we have to cope with. So this idea of education, in a narrow sense, yes, it's important to a certain ethnic cultural entity. But in a larger sense, the world is very small now. Email goes everywhere. CNN and all the public media present you with pictures that you can't turn off. And maybe we don't have the skills just yet to cope with this kind of change, but we have to use what we have and do the best we can. And I think that maybe education is the place to start. You got to figure out what do those people need. Well, they need a job and they need to make money. And they need to have a sense of self-worth. If you tell them that, you know, that in your country, new laws apply; they should go to church, not to a mosque. Well, then you start to challenge them at their very core and you started to develop resentment. And you can't do that anymore, because even though you may have the might, there are people that if you put them or their shoulder against the wall, just like an animal which can't escape, they'll do anything that may destroy themselves in the process but will harm you; and at all cost, you want to avoid that. So that's the way I see education as a central issue for the world. It may not solve all the problems, but it sure is a good start. SPEAKER 5: It's a common denominator. In the same way that Joe talked about breaking down some of the barriers between the state of French and the Italians. There were sports, okay. The minute they started to integrate to athletics and then you made friends, you know, from the different ethnic 19 groups and that started to break down the barriers. And in the larger sense, education I think, you know, serves in the same way. We have much more common in this world than we have differences. And maybe Vincent is right. We just don't have the skills yet, perhaps, and the knowledge not to recognize that or deal with it. SPEAKER 1: But it also seems to be a logistical nightmare and financially impossible to offer bilingual education to all ethnic groups, so where do we go from here? PELINO: Well, those are the limitations. SPEAKER 5: It boils down to people who are called legislators, telling us what to do because it is popular with some people, okay. Educators don't go into factories and tell people how to run the electronics factory, okay? Bilingual education and all the laws that are coming out now are made by people who really don't know about education. MCast, I don't think educators are quote against MCast as such but they're against the fact that people are making the rules for MCast and they really don't know what they're looking for, okay. And that's what's happening and that's what's turning people off about education. Educate – legislators, they've got their fingers into education, much too much, and should leave it to the people who are trained to do it. PELINO: But the legislators are the ones that provide the resources. VINCENT: Unfortunate. PELINO: You know I can think of so many things, I'm sure all of us, the hundred plus billion dollars, billion dollars that we spent fighting the Gulf War − and that was a very brief period of time − I don't know who's going to tally up how much you know disengagement is going to cost. But there's a cost. And what happens is that the need is felt to be so immediate, whether it's a threat or whatever, that all kinds of resources and money go into it without really balancing isn't worth it. And I'm not saying it's not, okay. But we seem to respond to those kinds of crisis in an immediate way with all kinds of resources and yet when you look at education, when 20 you look at some of the other health, you know, human needs that people have, we don't see those problems with the same kind of immediacy…/AT/jf/mjv/mm

HAY, 1906 1T0L. XIT. HO. 3 GETTYSBURG COLLEGE GETTYSBURG, PA. i »»^wiiw»ir^Ww>BffwwuWiii>ii come; and there too we become subject to the great discipline of suffering from which we learn how to meet the real prob-lems of life. Some time ago a contractor of New York City, advertised for twenty five laborers at two dollars a day. Within a (ew hours scores of applicancs thronged his office, until it became almost an angry mob. Each one attempted to make applica-tion before his competitors, and in that way increase his chances lor appointment. This contractor at the same time advertised for a high class specialist to manage a branch of the work, wages twenty-five dollars a day. Days passed and not one man made application. The difference between the re-quirements of the two positions was largely a difference of ex-perience. What the polishing is to the beauty of a diamond discipline and experience are to the usefulness of a life. The experience of nations again and again have shown that an army is of value in active service only to the extent that it is well equipped and trained So the life of an individual is of true value to the world in so far as the powers of that life are cultivated to perform such service as will contribute to the bet-terment of mankind. The man made wise by experience endeavors to judge cor-rectly of the things which come under his observation, and form the thoughts of his daily life. " What we call common sense is for the most part, but the result of common experience wisely improved." The whole of life may be regarded as a great school of experience in which men and women are the pupils. The world today sends forth the cry for men and women of experience, men who are trained and equipped for action. The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have to serve. It is a good stimulus and discipline of THE MERCURV. 73 character. It often brings forth powers that without it would have remained dormant. Just as an electric current passing through a wire requires resistance in order to produce light and heat, so men are often caused to shine brightly in some chosen profession or work because of the resistance they en-counter. It seems as if in the lives of some, the sharp and sudden blow of adversity is required to bring out the divine spark. There are natures that blossom and ripen amidst trial that would only wither and decay in an atmosphere of ease, and comfort Some men only require a great difficulty set in theif way to exhibit the force of their character and genius ; and that diffi-culty once conquered becomes the greatest incentive to their future progress. When a boy fourteen years of age Joseph Lancaster after reading " Clarkson on the Slave Trade " formed the resolution of leaving his home and going to the West In-dies to teach the poor Blacks to read the Bible. He set out with a Bible and " Pilgrims Progress " in his valise, and a few shillings in his purse. The difficulties he encountered were al-most beyond conception, yet they were only a means of strengthening his courage. Soon one thousand pupils were under his instructions. Above the door of his school room were written the words—" If people will not send their chil-dren to school here and have them educated free they may pay for it." Thus Joseph Lancaster was one of the precursors of our present system of National Education. Men do not always succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failure. Many have to make up their minds to encounter failure again and again before they succeed. Talma the great actor was hissed off the stage when he first appeared. Montalembert said of his first public appearance in the church of St. Roch, " I failed completely," and coming out every one said, " Though he be a man of talent he will never be a preacher." He made one attempt after another until he succeeded; and two years after was preaching to large audiences. Each mind makes its own little world. The cheerful mind makes it pleasant, the discontented mind makes it miserable. n JLiiiiiiiMiL i Z 1 74 THE MERCURY. " My mind to me a kingdom is " applies the same to the peas-ant as to the monarch. Life is for the most part but the mirror of our own individual selves; and he who regards it as a sphere of useful efforts of working for others good as well as his own will find this earthly existence joyful, hopeful, and blessed. AN HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED SCENE FROM ROMEO AND JULIET. S. E. SMITH, '07. SCENE—A Street in Venice. Enter Benvolio and Mercutio. Ben. The sun now sinks and ends the rule of day, And night her sable mantle spreads abroad, Save where the moon doth rend her dark'ning folds, And stars like moths do pierce her sombre woof. Mer. .Through my blue veins a sultry flood doth pour Encouraged by the blazing orb of day And should old Capulet and his fell fiends Approach, my swora should feed his hungry point. Marry ! I would give them what ardent Sol Doth thrust into my blood, a poison rank. Ben. Kind sir, forget our deadly strife this eve When springs a breeze from out the deep blue sea, That has the kiss of Venus for its mesh And tangles hearts of men in stouter folds Than ever fisher wove to snare the fish Which sport in wanton glee in cool sea caves. Mer. Then come, let's hasten from the street to where The moonbeams chase each other through the leaves And while the calm and sleepless night is young By music's charms invite old Morpheus To come to nurse our minds till dawn returns. But look ! young Romeo, with head adroop Comes slowly down the street like one whose friends Have faithless proved. Dost thou surmise the cause THE MERCURY. 75 Which drives the heir of Montague To sulk ? Enter Romeo. Ben. To what fair maiden's bower now My Romeo do you your mind address ? Rom. Zounds ! Thy thoughts are ever far from truth, Ben. Now hear ! Mer. Behold the youthful champion of truth ! This night, my honor e'en will vouch for it, I saw him stand beneath a linden tree And rail against the fate that prompted him To look at Luna's silver bow across That shoulder which foretells ill luck 'tis said ; His calf like love was shocked at thought of this And now he pines lest Rosaline should spurn His ardent love. Rom. False babbler hold thy tongue Your wisdom keep for dumber men than I. Exeunt Benvolia and Mercutio Romeo 'goes toward villa of Rosaline. Rom. It is beyond my comprehension quite Why Rosaline doth so indif'rent prove, In spite of all my growing burning love She seems as cold as snow on mountain tops, Or can it be my heart has hid its fire And kept from her its fierce enkindling flame. Well should that be ; tonight I'll leave no spot In her fair heart unscorched by foul desire. Come Orpheus and lend thy mellow art That I may touch and melt her hardened heart. He sings under her window. Sea waves gleam with a tint of blue, The heavens vault is azure too, Yet their hues so rich and rare With thy soft eyes cannot compare, Cho. Come love come and hear my pleading Come and kiss me and caress me Or my heart will pine away. . J 76 THE MERCURY. The lily blooms so sweet and fair The violet gently drugs the air Yet all their beauty and perfume If thou art nigh, are forgotten soon, Cho. Come love, etc., etc. Rosaline appears at the window aboi'e. Ros. Who comes at this quiet hour of night And rends the air with woeful songs of love; It is not love but passion's fiery breath That desecrates the holy calm of eve; This passion is a treach'rOus, murd'rous fiend Who steals abroad beneath the name of love And poisons minds of maids with that unrest Which blights the budding flowers of virgin minds. Rom. Oh Rosaline be not unkind I pray But come and sit with me beneath the moon ; Enjoy the evening cool mid sighing trees While I declare to thee my heartfelt love Which bounds and struggles till it tears my breast. Ros. Oh youth entrapped by Venus give good heed To what I say, and do not come again To haunt the garden of my father's house, Thy passion fierce does not arouse my heart To join with thee in amorous delights, Minerva, chaste my patron goddess is And follow her I will through all my years, For she preserves the happiness of life While Venus blights the ones who trust in her. Romeo goes away. Rom. What pity that such wondrous charms should be Untouched by love's divine consuming fire For from such burning would arise anew Fair forms of beauty which would bless the world. Now sadly to my couch I take my way With unrequited love to pine away; m THE MERCURY. 77 WHAT IS THE RIGHT USE OF BOOKS? E. G. HESS '06. TO those who are students and scholars books are of in-calculable value. By properly using them their minds become vastly enriched, filled with noble and graceful images and guided to profound truths. They are their masters in-structing them in history, philosophy, literature and art. By them the entire line of one's mental horizon is sometimes changed. In the lonely hours of solitude books are one's cheer-ful companions. In deep heart-rending sorrow they have the power to console effectually. When one is confronted by trials and temptations, they beeome a firm and unbending shield. Deep inspiration and renewed life may be found directly back of the print. A library of choice books, therefore, is more precious than great wealth without them. When the imagi-nation constructs its gorgeous and fantastic forms or builds its magnificent air castles, the library is a veritable fairyland. Your handsomely illustrated geographies and well worded geologies speak of the earth with its beautiful mountains, whose gentle slopes with red roofed huts scattered among green groves of pine and hemlock, with here and there an open heath, arch gracefully upward until their majestic snow-capped summits pierce the very vault of heaven, or of clear swiftly flowing streams, rushing over beds of solid rock, suddenly breaking over a perpendicular ledge, then falling, mantled with fleecy clouds of spray, over which hover the brilliant colors of the rainbow, and dashing its hissing torrents into the raging foam-ing gulf below while the eternal roar of the water echoes along the stupendous gorge. Others give knowledge of plant life, from the tender mosses and the tiny delicate flowers to the gigantic trees of the forest. And, yet, has anyone ever obtained the pleasing, refreshing odors of the most fragrant blossoms from reading books, or have the leafy boughs shaded and protected him from the scorching rays of the noon day sun? Can one, while read-ing, hear the ceaseless roaring waters or see the grandeur of the fall ? Hume says : " The poet using the most glowing colors I .:*)*. .11 _ » i',> I 1 Hi f 78 THE MERCURY. of his art cannot depict a scene in such a way that his de-scription might be mistaken for the real landscope." Our histories speak concerning the great men of the past and their remarkable achievements. They tell us of Napoleon, Caesar, Alexander and hosts of others. These interesting his-toric recitals thrill and inspire us, yet we who know only American life frequently fail to think ourselves into those far away lands, and that distant past, into the very conditions un-der which these people lived, thought and fought. They and their deeds belong to the dark dominion of the past, and no book,however well written, can perfectly reflect the past. They, thus, generally appear to us as mere names upon the printed page rather than actual living historic characters who had bodies of flesh and blood very similar to our own. What then do we have in books more than signs for thoughts ? Can real knowledge and actual thoughts be found in books? Can knowledge be found elsewhere than in some one's consciousness ? Truth may exist independent of our minds. But the alphabet, Latin, Greek or Hebrew, the Cunei-form system of the ancient Persians and Assyrians, the Egypt-ian Hieroglyphics are only symbols for ideas and thoughts. The benefit derived from the printed page is wholly a matter of interpretation. Let one hold in his hand a Chinese book, there is a world of truth printed upon its pages, but, unless he understands the language he is unable to interpret it, thus the book conveys no thought. Let him stand before Cleopatra's Needle in New York and unless he be versed in Egyptology, the golden key of interpre-tation is wanting and those curious hieroglyphics are meaning-less. Let two men read a page of English, there is a differ-ence in interpretation proportionate to the difference in capa-city and development. There is also a vast difference in the mental experiences of the same person when he gets his con-ception of an object, or event from the pages ot a printed book or has it indelibly stamped upon his memory by actual personal experience. In the former case, because of the asso-ciation of ideas the words have for him a certain coloring which they had not for the author, and his imagnation working THE MERCURY. 79 over the ideas produces a picture unlike that which was in the author's mind. We hear much about impure drugs and adulterated food. We want our Rio coffee of the same quality and value as when it departed from the port of Brazil. But in our acquisition of knowledge we do not apply these same strict business princi-ples but permit ourselves to be satisfied with second-hand experiences. Some have read books on travel, perhaps the very guide books which are indespensible to a man treading his way amid the cloud-hidden heights or appalling depths of an Alpine glazier. A fatal step may be saved by the book. But no one would read these books and say he has had actual experiences of travel. Thus, when one is struggling with the grave prob-lems of life earnestly striving toward the highest development, a good book may save him much effort, perhaps a disas-trous mistake. But we would not conclude that we gain ex-periences of actual life by reading these (so-called) life books. Only in our imagination can we follow the experiences of great men, leaving an infinite gulf between the experiences gained by reading and those gained from actual life. Let books, therefore, serve us as a pair of eye glasses, as a microscope or telescope. Let them help us to see through the eyes of the authors what otherwise we should not see. Dur-ing leisure hours, let them inspire us, but whenever we can see directly, let us waste neither time nor effort in studying other men's records of what they saw. Emerson says: " Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books." Thus as scholars we look toward the future and see unwritten books waiting to chronicle our own original investigations. 8o THE MERCURY. SHOULD THE VOTING MACHINE BE INTRO-DUCED INTO PENNSYLVANIA? FRANK W. MOSER, '07. THERE is an old saying that the Yankee will do nothing by hand that he can invent a machine to do for him. He maintains the astonishing record of patenting twenty-three thousand new mechanisms every year and a study of all the complications almost overwhelms one. Outside of the realm of electricity no invention has met the need of the hour so thoroughly and efficiently as the voting machine. This state-ment can be proved by the citing of several facts and its special application to Pennsylvania can then be inferred from general conditions. In the first place voting machines have worked well wher-ever they have been tried. This fact alone is exceedingly sig-nificant when we consider the conditions of turmoil in politics and labor that have marked the last few years. A trial under such circumstances is a trial indeed and the fact that it has proved thoroughly satisfactory is splendid evidence of its value to any state. Considering the rapidity with which the Aus-tralian ballot came into use, we can almost predict that, after the complications in the larger cities, especially in Philadelphia, voting by machine would spring into the front all over the land. Buffalo has voted by machine for several years and seems more than satisfied with the result. This satisfaction is splendid evidence of its worth among the recent inventions tending toward the bettering of conditions in the state. Secondly, when voting is carried on by machines, none of the troubles of a recount can arise. The machine is run some-what on the principle of the cash register and records unerr-ingly and promptly. In tabulating the results, the viewers make numerous errors both by accident and even sometimes it may be with intention and in the press of a hard fight the er-rors are unnoticed and the result, if close, may not embody the will of the people. The automatic action of the machine makes such mistakes an impossibility. The importance of this point can hardly be overestimated since the charges of fraud THE MERCURY. 8l In voting and criminality in the recounts have been spread so broadcast in the daily papers. There is only one immediate and final remedy for this; only one thing that will make such action impossible ; only one thing that can prevent libelous in-dictments from flying on every daily sheet; and that one thing is the voting machine. Thirdly, the result is ready as soon as the voting ceases- There are no long hours of waiting for the results to be an-nounced nor of wearisome labor by the officers. Immediately upon the closing of the polls the machine is ready to hand out its tabulated account arranged in neat and systematic order. Like many other.things in the world the voting machine is shunned because the people are not used to it. There has hardly been an invention in the history of the world's progress, but the people were wary of it, called it a hoax and its inventor a lunatic, and applied a multitude of like foolish accusations, and it is often only after long and severe test that they can be urged to take up with it. The voting machine is simple, very simple, when once it is understood. There is no red tape about the machine nor any patent levers nor anything else of the kind to confuse or annoy the voter. It is as simple as the cash register, a touch and your vote is cast. That these facts are especially applicable to Pennsylvania cannot be doubted by any sound-minded person. Whenever in state or city the power falls into the hands of corrupt and reckless men, pessimism cries out that popular government is a failure. The crisis through which Pennsylvania has just passed, the smoke of the conflict still lingering over the battle-field, ought to be an object lesson at once forceful and abiding. Were the power of corruption in machine and gang entirely dead, then we might settle down to our newspapers and maga-zines with some degree of security, but the lightening that ever and anon illuminates the edge of the cloud shows that there is still dormant energy behind the apparent calm, which may break into a storm at any minute. Superficial remedies, advocated by would-be reform societies, are worse than useless. The reform must come from within and be deep and perma-nent to achieve the best results, and the introduction of the 82 THE MERCURY. voting machine would be a big step toward preventing any such conditions from becoming prevalent in the future. Penn-sylvania needs the voting machine because, having just passed through a stormy period, she is still hanging in suspense to-await future events ; she needs the machine because the ma-chine would give a reasonable guarantee of fairness at the polls; she needs the machine because she is the keystone of the union and should be solidly for the right, a position it would assist her to maintain ; she ought to have the machine because her citizens are ever broad-minded enough to put away prejudice against the new and fall into line on any improvement in state government. To repeat, the machine ought to be introduced into Pennsyl-vania because it has met with decided success wherever it has been tried; because none of the troubles of a recount can arise; because the result is ready as soon as the voting ceases ; because Pennsylvania is now in such condition as to render the introduction of the voting machine not only advantageous but imperative. It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be ; Or standing long an oak, three hundred year To fall a log at last, dry, bald and sear : A lily of a day Is fairer far in May, Although it fall and die that night, It was the plant and flower of light. In small proportions we just beauties see ; And in short measures life may perfect be. —Ben Jonson. mmwwm**— • THE MERCURY. 83 IN THE SHELTER OF A ROCK. E. A. CHAMBERLIN, '08. WILLIAM BLODGETT always was an enthusiastic pho-tographer. Although only an amateur, yet some of his battlefield views rivaled even those of the professionals, Mumper and Tipton. His mountain views, water scenes, and views of historic spots, had won a name for him among his numerous college friends and outside admirers. Scarcely did a publication of the " Amateur Photographer," appear without the use of one of Blodgctt's reproductions as an illustration. One afternoon, after he had puzzled his brain over Prof. Nixon's cycloids and hypocycloids, he strapped his camera over his shoulder, placed his tripod beneath his arm, and strolled forth in the direction of Culp's Hill in quest of speci-mens for his botanical collection, and for further purpose of adding to his already numerous supply of battlefield views. After walking about a mile, finding only a few flowers, he came upon a scene which made the heart of the young photographer leap for joy. He had often seen it before but it was never so inviting as now. The avenue had been built in the side of the hill, and, as he halted upon its white surface to feast his eyes upon this garden spot of nature, he beheld stretched below him in a small valley, masses of rock, one upon the other, between which flowed Rock Creek now flooded to its banks by early spring rains. One mass of rock in particular showed the results of the hor-rible struggle which had taken place at this point nearly forty years before. Even now upon the rock could be seen the marks of many bullets, and streaks of white lead oxidized by the rains of many years. The trees here thick and tall were beginning to bud, while in the background loomed up a wooded hill, the only sentinel which had withstood the victorious charge of O'Neal's men. An excursion from Baltimore was upon the field but, as luck would have it, all seemed to be elsewhere sightseeing. So with no one to disturb him he planted his tripod and arranged his camera for a view which in his opinion would far surpass a similar scene, taken by a Princeton student, which had been 84 THE MERCURY. published a few weeks before. Not a breeze disturbed the leaves in the tree-tops—not a creature could be seen, with the exception of a distant buzzard sailing over the ground once made fruitful, in his aviarian mind, by the inhuman struggles of two contending armies. With a last look upon the scene he turned, removed the cover from the plateholder and gently pressed the bulb. That night after he had worked for two hours upon his Latin, he went to his dark room and proceeded to develop his treasure. How carefully he measured the powders and liquids, how gently he removed the plate from its holder and placed it in the tray. The image arose upon the plate resplendent in the ruby light. Yet Blodgett's heart sank within him as he looked upon it, for, in the very centre of the picture, just above the rock, appeared a small black spot which would render the negative practically' worthless. Tired, disgusted and discouraged, he finished the process and went to bed. As the first rays of the morning sun shone in his window he jumped out of bed to take a better look in the daylight at the defective spot. Imagine his surprise when upon holding it to the window he discovered that the black spot was caused by no other object than the head of a beautiful girl, made even more beautiful by its surroundings. She had undoubtedly been concealed and, at the very moment in which he had pressed the bulb had looked over the moss covered edge of the rock. The face was one of exceptional beauty. During the day, and those which followed, Blodgett often looked at the small features, the dark waving hair and the eyes which he knew, from their expression, must be of the deepest blue. He had never seen the young lady in question, and, make inquiry as he would, no information upon the subject could he gain. He searched the spot sheltered by the rock for some clew; this was also in vain. He found nothing save a few dainty foot prints upon the mossy bank. The months and years flew past. Blodgett graduated from college and entered a school in Baltimore, where it was his pur-pose to make a special study of photography, his great hobby ; yet he never forgot the face which had appeared from behind ,.-. --- r—i THE MERCUKY. 85 the sheltering rock, and never failed to look for it even in the busy city in which he now lived. One day while passing through Druid Hill Park he was struck by an automobile and lay seemingly lifeless upon the speedway. A burly policeman lifted him tenderly, placed him gently upon a grassy bank and after noting the number of the machine sent in a hurry call for an ambulance. Blodgett thought himself in a deep pit while ever and anon there would appear above him in bold outline against the outer light, a face the same which had in his college days appeared in like manner from behind the rock. At last the pit vanished and there bending over him was the face with a small nurse's cap surmounting it. The face although now slightly older was nevertheless the same. His air castles had materalized. He had been injured internally, and it was several months before he was able to leave his cot. In the meantime he had told the owner of the face, a certain Miss Hartman, about the photograph of the rock and had received her side of the story. At the end of a week they were fast friends, and, as the weeks lengthened into months their friendship changed to something even deeper. He is now one of the leading photographers in Baltimore while she although her name is changed yet her face is the same as on that day when it so suddenly appeared and then as quickly vanished behind the shelter of the rock. THE ]\|ERCURY Entered at the Postoffi.ee at Gettysburg as second-class Matter VOL. XIV GETTYSBURG, PA., MAY, 1906 No. 3 Editor-in-chief WARD B. S. RICE, '07 Exchange Editor . THOS. E. SHEARER, '07 Business Manager THOMAS A. FAUST, '07 Ass'l Bus. Managers. HENRY M. BOWER, '08 H. WATSON DAVISON, '08 Associate Editors GEO. W. KESSLER, '08 J. K. ROBB, '08 EDMUND L. MANGES, '08 . Advisory Board PROF. J. A. HIMES, LITT.TX PROF. G. D. STAHLEY, M.D. PROF. J. W. RICHARD, D.D. Published each month, from October to June inclusive, by the joint literary societies of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg) College. Subscription price, one dollar a year in advance; single copies 15 cents. Notice to discontinue sending the MERCURY to any address must be accompanied by all arrearages. Students, Professors and Alumni are cordially invited to contribute. All subscriptions and business matter should be addressed to the Busi-ness Manager. Articles for publication should be addressed to the Editor. Address THE MERCURY, GETTYSBURG, PA. EDITORIALS. Every young GOLDEN MOMENTS. man ^Q ;«. about to enter an institution of learning has to a certain extent made plans which when he makes them does it in all sin-cerity and fully intends to carry them through. The majority realize that they are entering into a course of training which when completed will have changed them and made them entirely new persons. There is such a Pt».H»^f| THE MERCURY. 87 diversity in men's lives that no two men will receive the same amount of benefits. Some who have laid extensive plans and are ambitious may not accomplish as much as a man whose intentions are not so extensive but has the natural faculty of making use of his time. Spare moments have well been called the gold dust of time. At this time of the year when nature has taken on her •summer clothing it is especially easy to waste our precious moments in which we should be carrying out our plans. We are now nearing the close of another school year and for this very reason we should not even let nature or any other factor •waylay us or take advantage of us, but we should do as the runner who on the home stretch puts forth his best efforts and finishes his race in an admirable manner. It is a hard thing to go to one's room and work when one could enjoy the beauti-ful evenings on the campus. But when time has been idled away there is always a feeling of discontent while on the other hand when time is well spent there comes a feeling of content. There is a question now being agitated A PERSONAL QUESTION. wh, i•ch, i• s ofc vi.tal, i.mportance to every Gettysburg student, those who may oppose it as well as those who may favor it. It is that of a compulsory athletic fee, pro-viding that each student shall be required to pay a yearly athletic fee, and that there shall be free admission to all games, also carrying with it the provision that the student will not be required to assist financially except as above stated. Every-one acquainted with the present system of meeting the athletic debts must confess that it is faulty and is largely chance, and that the only results of its workings have been debt and dissatisfaction. Of course this reform, like all others, has ob-jections raised against it, but we believe that the merits of the system proposed will high override all objections. But before we come to a conclusion, let us look at some of the benefits to be derived as set over against the objections. In the first place the present system is working to the de-triment of the college. It does not provide the funds neces-sary for the best results. This is a serious drawback because 88 THE MERCURY. the the athletic success of a college plays an important part in influencing prospective students. Especially students of means-will consider this point, and they are generally most influential for the college. It may be well to state that we are not depre-ciating our success along atheletic lines, but believe that with a good coach for each branch of our athletics, which we would have under the system proposed, we would surprise some of our old rivals. Take for example the last football season. Again since there would be free admission to all games, the student body would make a better showing, and the teams would re-ceive better support. In the next place, the burden would not fall so heavily upon those who are willing to contribute, but the responsibility would fall equally upon all, and each could claim an equal share in the success. In connection with the forego-ing reason, an objection arises, and we may say the only one which can be brought up. That is, that it would not be fair to-those of limited means. We have all respect for students of that kind, but we are of the opinion that a reasonable fee would not inconvenience them any more than some necessity which may present itself. There may be a few-exceptions, but they would-be provided for with ease in comparison with what would have to be overcome if the present system continues. If the college is to be conducted for those of very limited means, then abolish athletics and show true colors. On the other hand if we are go-ing to support this branch, let up us adopt a system, such as-the one proposed, that will be beneficial to the student body and the college, instead of pursuing one which is unsatisfactory and unbusinesslike for the sake of a difficulty which can be easily provided for. With regard to next month's issue we would urge the hearty cooperation of all. Although, this is the busiest season of the school year, the Seniors have ing their class exercises, the Juniors having the oratorical con-test, and the Sophomores orations to deliver, let us have this-issue measure up to the standard, if not surpass it. At this-time we are apt to say that we are too busy, but we hope that LEST WE FORGET. THE MERCURY. 89 you will consider it well before you declare yourself in such a strait. Let everybody get to work, we must have a good selec-tion. Begin to write immediately and hand it in on time as the number will have to be published before commencement. EXCHANGES. As the Commencement season draws near, the attention of the college world is directed toward oratory, commencement speeches and class oratorical contests. This is plainly shown in the exchanges of the past month. The March number of the Maniton Messenger is an Oratori-cal Number, containing the orations of St. Olaf's representa-tives in an Inter-collegiate Contest. The orations are good of their kind, but as a comment upon them we, will quote from an editorial in the April number of the same journal which has just come to hand. The editor says : " The tendency of current college oratory seems to be in favor of character sketches- Instead of whetting his intellect on intricate present day prob-lems, our college orator turns to the musty records of past ages, and from the mouldering bones of ancient heroes draws a pencil sketch of the man who was. The warrior, the states-man, the orator, and the reformer each has his turn. We are told of the life they lived, the work they did, and the death they died. That is all. The grand passions that filled their hearts and swayed their minds we never feel because the prob-lems that shook the foundations of society in their time no longer exist. * * * * Our sympathies are in the present. The great orators of the past became great because the subjects of their orations were the problems of the time in which they lived. They were themselves fired with the theme and could therefore kindle the fire in others." "The Mob Mind in Social Life," in the Augustana Observer, is, without doubt, the best article of a serious nature that we have seen in that paper in many issues. The writer defines a mob as " a number of individuals under the absolute influence of a common idea or sentiment, temporarily void of individuals, personality, and ruled by unconscious or sub-conscious forces!' Under this definition he works out the psychology of the 9o THE MERCURY. mob mind to the conclusion that direct legislation providing for the punishment of individuals of the mob must be useless in controlling, or guiding its forces, but that ' thetonly ulti-mate ' solution of the mob problem is to fill the ' sub-con-sciousness of mankind with noble ideas.' " And this," he says, " is the task of unnumbered centuries." Some of the other articles that we would like to commend are : " An Idyll of the Grove," a story, in The Haverfordian ; " Ruskin on War," in The Albright Bulletin; " Insurance or No Insurance," a parody on Hamlet's soliloquy, in The Moun-taineer; "Child Labor Problem " in Dickinsonian ; " The Man Who Spent His Father's Money," a story in The Red and Blue ; " The Flower Maiden," a poem, in The Philomathean Monthly; and " Undine," as a product of the German Romantic School," in The Forum. In searching the month's exchanges we were surprised at the scarcity of good editorials. Only one or two contained any of any length and merit. This is something unusual. Heretofore they have proved to be good reading, but this month they are weak. Are the editors so busy reading copy that they have no time to* write, or are they out among the students hunting up copy ? It is very likely perhaps that the new staffs are not yet in good working order and that this de-fect will be remedied in the next issue. There seems to be an inclination in some of the college papers to place in their " Locals " so very many nonsensical items. Although we realize that an exchange editor is hardly in a position to make mention of local items, yet we cannot refrain from doing so when this practice mentioned above is carried to such an extent that it lowers our opinion of the paper and incidentally of the school. For example, we have in mind the " Class Items " in The College Folio ; " Locals " in The Midland; " Local Items " in The Grove City Collegian ; and " Things Said and Done " in The Drury Mirror. These papers usually contain but two contributed articles—some-times three, if short—which is a small number for a monthly publication. Now we do not mean that any news item should be suppressed, but if a page or so of these personal jokes and foolish puns were replaced by a good essay or story, we feel sure that the general tone of the papers would be heightened. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISER'S I FURNITURE Mattresses, Bed Springs, Iron Beds, Picture Frames. Repair Work done promptly. Under-taking a specialty. * Telephone No. 97. H. B. ^erLcLer 37 Baltimore St., Gettysburg, Pa. The Windsor Hotel 1217=2 Filbert St., Philadelphia. Headquarters for Students. Thoroughly Renovated, Refurnished and Remodeled FRANK M. SCHEIBLEY, Manager. Graduate of Lafayette College 1898. A. G. Spalding & Bros. Largest Manufacturers in the World of Official Athletic Supplies Base Ball Lawn Ten is Foot Ball Archery Roque Quoits Cricket Lacrosse Golf Implements for al Sports Spalding's Official Base Ba.ll Guide for 1906. Edited by Henry Chadwick. The most complete and up-to-date book ever published on the subject. Fully illustrated. Price 10 Cents. For over a quarter of a century Spalding's Trade-Mark on Base Ball implements has marked the advancement in this particular sport. Spalding's O&cial League Ball is the adopted ball ol the National League, and must he used in all match games. Every requisite for Lawn ten-nis and Golf. Spalding's Trade Mark. on our Athletic Implement gives you an advantage over the other player as you have a better article, lasts longer, gives more satisfaction. Every Base Ball Manager should send at once/or a copy of Spalding's Spring and Sum-mer Catalogue—FREE. A. G. SPALDING