TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11730, 3 November 1903, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Duke of Fife possesses Royal Tips, a turn of morality that distinctly disapproves of the custom of "tipping," on the ground that it is an insult to hospitality. His father-in-law, the King, is aware of the Duke's dislike to the custom, uud lias, accordingly, to resort to underhand ways of showing his approval of a smart gillie or an active beater. "T.P." is the authority for saying that when the King desires to reward a gillie or a beater on the Duke of Fife's estate, lie asks the lucky servant for his pipe. Knocking the ashes out of it, ho fills it with a cut of his own choice mixture, at the same time concealing a sovereign among the wee J. He then complains, with a sly twinkle in his eye, that "It doesn't draw at all." It is then handed back to the fortunate gillie to see what is wrong. The investigation dots not usually take very long. The Duke, so goes the story, now turns his head away when he hears the King ask one of his servants for his pipe. History records a case in which a Royal tip was refused. After the Peace of Tilsit, Louis XVni. was leaving the Continent for England, and he was landed at Yarmouth from the Swedish frigate Freya by a boat from H.M.S. Majestic. When his Majesty stepped out of the boat he left fifteen guineas, a guinea for each of the crew. An Admiralty order forbade the men taking money from strangers, but that was not the reason they gave for not accepting Louis's bounty. They wrote to Admiral Russell, "hoping no offence, your honour," to say:—'"We don't like to take it, because as how we knowe fart enuff that it was the true King of France thai went with your honor in the boat, and that he and our own noble King, God bless 'ern both, and give everyone his right, is good friends now, and besides that, your notior gived an onKr long ago not to take any money from nobody, and we never did take none." Kings arpermitted to take tips, and it is on record that they have done so. from Churles 11. downwards. Royalty is also privileged,

as less exalted individuals are not, to give small tins' without being accounted mean. A big man may do a mean thing without the penalty of contempt which would bo incurred for the same act done by a small man. TroHope tells with considerable humour itow. as a post office official, he showed two German Trinces over the premises. Before they left they rewarded him. They gave hini half-a-ero wn !

The great slump in Mr Carnegie's American securities may Gifts. be attended by unforeseen results. The gifts made by Mr Carnegie for educational and other purposes in several instances took the form of Steel Trust bonds. When the Trust was formed five per cent, bonis of ihe Corporation, to the nominal value of £60.800.000. wore created, and used to pay Mr Carnegie and other vendors. At the time these bonds were created it was assumed, of course, that they were absolutelv secure, for they constituted a first mortgage on the property of the Trust, coming before both the Preferred and Ordinary stock. It was thought that uothiug short of a disaster could so reduce the profits of the Trust as to deprive the rirst mortgage bonds of their interest, but Steel Trust securities have been showing great- weakness, and are the subject of anxious discussion in the United States. It is believed that the dividends on the ordinary stuck are about to cease, but on this point, as well as on others, strict reticence is observed by the officials of the Trust, la this connection a. statement, which is to be Issued this month, on the falling off in the demand for products of the corporation, will be read with much interest, and is awaited with no little anxiety. In the meantime newspaper comment is divided. Whilst some journals assail the Trust, others as strongly defend it. The foresight of President Roosevelt in this matter is peculiarly illustrated. When, some time ago, Mr Carnegie offered £12,000.000 worth of these securities for the purpose of endowing a school of research at Washington, which would be valuable both to the Government and to the community generally, the President of the United States told him very frankly that he did not like the appearance of Steel Trust securities. Mr Carnegie then offered the same sum in Government bonds, which the President accepted with alacrity as representing something worth having. No one else, however, seems to have exprcsed a similar distrust of Steel Trust bonds. When the Scotch Universities trust was created, £2,000,000 of these bonds representing an income of £IOO,OOO, were, handed over by Mr Carnegie, and similarly his gift to his native town of Dunfermline, took the shape of five per cent, bonds, producing an annual revenue of £25,000. What the market value of the bonds at the present time may be is not known, for they are not quoted; but the i*cond mortgage bonds, issued in exchange for a portion of the Preferred stock, have fallen heavily. If, by any chance, it should come to pass that the bonds should no longer pay five per cent., the value of Mr Carnegie's gifts would be curtailed, and various schemes based on the higher revenue would thereby suffer.

Those who doubt, or more Scholarship definitely deride, the value and Success, of scholarship as a factor

in success in after life, may be interested in the conclusions drawn by a contributor to the "Atlantic Monthly" from a study of ''Who's Who in America." Only approximate results are, however, deducible therefrom, as the work gives particular prominence to scb.olars.kip, aud cannot, in consequence, bo taken as an absolute test for general success in life. It is, on the other hand, the only statistical measure available. Many considerations have to be taken into account in estimating tlie causes of the greater chance of subsequent distinction among first-class scholars. For instance, in England the doors of the House of Commons are often open to an honours mam when he is young —an inestimable advantage in a Parliamentary career—and this no doubt accounts for the large proportion of honours men from the Universities amongst prominent statesmen. In America, College rank, according to this writer, is no help to a man starting in life. It may be a help towards an academic post, however, and this may explain access to literary eminence and mention in "Who's Who/' To some extent a college career does, however, work as a principle of select ion. The proportion of names hi "Who's Who" is decidedly higher among men who took honours. They are one in five as compared with one in seven take*n in the order of rank on the general scale. For students who graduate with higher honours the chance of distinction is extraordinary. It is better than one 'in three. "We are irresistibly led," says the writer, "to the conclusion that the work done for honours in a special subject is a better preparation or a better test of ability tluin that which confers rank on the general scale." The record of the athlete is less noteworthy. It would appear that athletes are no better and no worse than tlieir classmates. The captains of teams, however, are more apt to win distinction. Out of one hundred mid eleven men in the- baseball nine from 1872 to 1898, only one took honours in tiny subject, and amongst one hundred and forty-eight footballers only two won special honours. Yet, judged by the tests for the Rhodes scholarships, athletes who were not absolute numbskulls in class would far out-rank 'the unathletic honours men. And English records of prominent and celebrated men in the professions, in politics, and, to a much smaller extent, in commerce, would show a good proportion of "old blues" who had won distinction on the river, the cricket field, or the running track.