The call of salt water

Title

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 9 (No. 6) June 1929

Year

1929

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

june, THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 11 The Newspapers Here is the index on Vice-Governor Gilmore in former Governor Forbes’s two-volume work, The Philippine Islands: Gilmore, Eugene A., Secretary of Public Instruction, 1, 425, n.; Vice-Governor, 2, 333. Here also is the text devoted to Gilmore in volume 2, page 333, faithful to the reference in the index: “Vice-Governor Eugene A. Gilmore served (after Wood’s departure) as Acting GovernorGeneral until the arrival in the Islands on March 1, 1928, of the Honorable Henry Lewis Stimson, of New York, who had been appointed Gov ernor-General December 17, 1927.” The parenthesis is supplied. Two or three lines of text, then, sufficed Mr. Forbes in respect to Mr. Gilmore’s public service in the islands; but Forbes’s index on himself extends over more than two columns. Such is the making of history. To verify the data, the editor bor rowed his personal copy of Forbes back from the neighbors, for whose accommodation it is now once more waiting. They may thumb it as much as they will. Below are appended certain editorial com ments upon Vice-Governor Gilmore, dating with the appointment to the governorship of Colonel Dwight F. Davis: From the Tribune of May 28: “There is every reason for believing that ViceGovernor Gilmore will be guided by a high sense of duty, and accept the offer of President Hoover that he continue holding here the post of vice governor-general. When a few months ago he acquiesced to the plea of former Governor Stimson to continue further in that post, he acted guided by that duty. The conditions which then dictated that action are the same conditions that should lead at present to the same decision. “Vice-Governor Gilmore has served this country these many years in a manner granted by all to be exceptional. On three different occasions he has served as acting governor general, also in a manner unanimously adjudged superlative. The demand that he stay here, that he continue holding the post of vice-gov ernor and secretary of the department of public instruction, is subscribed to by the Filipinos and all the alien communities in the country. “It is not so much that that is a great tribute to him as it is a sign of the necessity of his re maining here that, to our mind, will make him decide to be still identified with the Philippine government and the affairs of the Filipino people.” From the Bulletin of May 21: “The same sentiment which was favorable to the appointment of Eugene A. Gilmore as governor general favors his continuing in office as vice governor now that another man has been named governor general. That is the prevailing sentiment in the Philippines. “The reasons supporting the sentiment fa voring Mr. Gilmore’s continuing here are the same as those favoring his appointment to the governorship. He has knowledge and training that are valuable to the office. Now that a man without Philippine training has been se lected for the governorship the assistance of a trained assistant becomes all the more important . “The whole weight of sound argument is on the side of making the vice governor more than a mere cabinet member and a standby waiting to sit in when the governor’s chair is vacant. With a program of permanency in administra tion, continuity of policy and personnel, the vice governor should have a prominent place in the administration. Mr. Gilmore has a schooling which should not be permitted to go to waste. “The office of vice governor is not one to be sought after, not worth clinging to for what it is. Mr. Gilmore could not be expected to hang to it as if it were a prize. It is in no sense a prize. But there is an opportunity for him to render a service, a service which he alone is prepared to render. “That is the consideration behind the request that he stay. He is needed.” Look At Gilmore Vice Governor Eu gene A. Gilmore, it seems at this writing, will remain on in Ma nila as the vice gover nor of the islands and their secretary of pu blic instruction under Governor General Dwight F. Davis. His total service as the islands (acting) chief executive during the past seven years com prises about fifteen months; he, though Stimson is credited with it, established cooperation between the executive and the legislature. He secured aecord with the legislative branch of the government without sacrificing executive authority or limiting it with a state council. He is making his second insular budget; he extended Rizal avenue to give another main road out of Manila; he got bonds voted in sufficient sums for the adequate im provement of Iloilo and Cebu harbors and the sanitation of Manila, where he encouraged zonification. He took all those effective steps (the legislature agreeing) which are improving inter island transportation. Many predict he will be of great assistance to Governor Davis, a reason able assumption. He is no lame duck, a full professorship of law awaits him in the Univer sity of Wisconsin, if he decides to return to uni versity life. He has also received other offers. The Call of Salt Water By Ed. Gallaher Affectionately inscribed to those old salts who imagine that a chicken ranch, somewhere, is the place to round out the Biblical age. The sea is my love and I cannot live without her! Moods she has many, God knows, in calm and storm. I have tired of' her ways, her tumultuous caprices— Her willful, wild ways have plagued my soul. And the work she has given me! It has seamed my face And bent my back And put pains and aches in my bones Till I couldn’t sleep, many’s the time. And the chow she’s given me wasn’t fit for a dog, Rotten and stinkin’ And never enough at the best. Once I left her and cursed her, And swore never to see her again. I went miles away from salt water And fooled with chickens and pigs, And tried to raise garden truck and the like— For a man must live, somehow. But at night in my dreams the sea laughed And jeered at me and said she was waitin’, Waitin’ to welcome me back. No hurry! Sometime, when the land got too solid beneath my feet And I longed for a deck with a heave to it, I’d be back.. Oh, yes, I’d be back! Every night she came and she laughed. Sure enough, the land got too solid under my feet, And every bone in my body ached for a deck with a heave to it, And the song of the winds in the riggin’, And the sight of a smokin’, salt wake; And the grunt of a pig And the crow of a cock Made me sick! So I packed up my bag And struck out for the docks where the ships come and go. I was back, Back to the place I belonged, And the sea laughed no more: She knows she’s my love, that I cannot live without her! From the Times of May 29: “It is a matter of congratulation for the country that despite alluring offers from high institutions of learning in the United States our present acting governor general, Eugene A. Gilmore, apparently will stay with us and carry on his work so auspiciously begun by him, along health and educational lines. “Mr. Gilmore will continue as vice-governor and in him the new governor general, Dwight F. Davis, will find an able and experienced collabo rator. What Governor General Davis lacks in knowledge of the Philippines, Vice-Governor Gilmore more than amply will make up for. “Thus again we find Mr. Gilmore’s personality thrown in bold relief. Here is a man who, put ting aside self-pride and all considerations of personal gain, finds himself at all times ready to serve his country and the people whom it has been his lot to serve in this part of the world. “Mr. Gilmore is showing good examples of leadership and citizenship to the people of these islands. Indeed a good citizen should be ready to heed the call of service and serve his people and other peoples as well, in whatever position may be entrusted to him.” Governor Davis is reaching Manila July 8, and the legislature will open July 15. Prior to Davis’s arrival in the islands the budget for the next fiscal year must practically be repared, the task falling to Gilmore. That ought to merit two or three words more of index in a second edition of an alleged definitive compen dium of Philippine history. Many editorial comments in the Filipino press corroborate the American comment appreciative of Gilmore’s work as vice governor and acting governor general.

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