Decatur Democrat, Volume 35, Number 21, Decatur, Adams County, 14 August 1891 — Page 2

©he DECATURfiND. IL BLACKBURN, - * . Pubushxb. If wives instead of husbands were the cashiers it would be hard on the sa* loons. Two Chicago clergymen came to blows in church. The true ring of ’ Christianity is scarcely the prize ring •ven in Chicago. People who like to ride on a high horse will be interested to learn that Missouri boasts one that stands nineteen and one-half hands high. A district messenger boy in New York ran away to get married. He will probably be discharged for unprofessional conduct in running. It is believed the doctors will keep •n finding new methods for the cure of consumption until the bacilli get up and walk out through sheer disgust. It is to be hoped that when that tight-roping walking photographer was balanced over the angriest part of the Niagara rapids some one shouted to him to look pleasant. Some disgusted patron of the Louisiana lottery has sent thirty-eight tickets to the dead letter conscience fund. The tickets had matured, but, like the vast majority, had nO cash value. Nearly everybody tries to create the impression that he amounts to more than is really a fact. The time consumed in practicing the deceit would make a man in truth what he pretends to be. A Philadelphia dentist says there is over $2,500,000 worth of gold in the mouths of Philadelphians. The statement is interesting but not alarming. Think of the awful prices the dentists got for that gold! The man who dreams of ever getting the world exactly to suit him is laboring under a delusion which would be dispelled if he would just consider that there are times when a paradise itself Would not please the average man. A company of “gentlemen” were recently refused a fine hall in Chicago the second time for a banquet, because when they occupied it before they damaged the floor by spitting tobacco Juice on it It is a freak of nature to put only two legs on some hogs. If the drink question could be discussed only on Mondays, there would never be but one side to it The Saturday night and Sunday’s crop of fatal accidents and violent erimes due to alcoholism leave not an inch of vantage ground for a defense of the habit. Experience is a great teacher, but the rates of tuition are very high. A full course of experience is so expensive in money and especially in time, that we advise all to put their pride in their pocket and take a “short cut” method, by learning all they can from the experience of others. The Eskimos are said to be about the dirtiest people on earth. That is why we regret to disclose the circumstance that an Eskimo, fresh from his native land, who traveled across the country a short time ago, was made deathly sick by being compelled to ride a few miles in the smoking car of a suburban train. A New York man has been imprisoned in Rondout for laving eight wives. A punishment fitting his crime would be to compel him to live for a year with the octette and their mothers. If any hair would remain on his head or skin on his face at the end of the first month it would be a wonder. Why those editors up "in St. Paul should attempt to tell each other “How to Edit a Paper” is a mystery. For exact information as to the art of conducting newspapers apply to any Caueasion between the ages of 6 months and 60 years who has never seen the inside of a newspaper office. He knows all about it —and more. Three Stars, a full-blooded Sioux, has been appointed post trader fat the Pine Ridge Agency. This will probably be an improvement over the old state of affairs. There are other traders in the immediate vicinity of this agency that should be “moved on.” The chronic trouble with these unauthorized traders is their tendency to sell whisky instead of flour. The memory of one man like the brave collegian, Brokaw, lost his life at Elberon while endeavoring to do his duty like a Christian and a gentleman,’ is invaluable in the example it sets of the twin qualities of gentleness and manliness which go to make up the grandest word in the language. Yet there are those who will think three times of Slavin or ten of Sullivan, hired | and paid brutes, whose they will give one thought to this modest hero. Certain masculine intruders upon a meeting of Chautauqua women, who were assembled together to discuss the need of dividing skirts and otherwise reforming feminine garb, were ejected by the fair reformers with a vigor that left them looking as though they had passed through a mechanical churn. It would seem that the gospel of dress reform has come to earth bringing not peace but a sword. If actor “Billy” Florence has the right ot it, all that the wornout worker needs is a prescription of country air and onions. He deciares that “the man who will take two weeks every summer in the country and eat a Bermuda onion a •very meal, and take one for a nightcap besides, will be sound as a dollar when he gets back to his work.” It is a remedy worth trying, and the Amerit iv* ■■ iiitfV'-'ijif ..j-. ill .

can onion is as good as the Bermuda to' practics on. The escape from the gallows of Duncan, the young Washington man who murderously assaulted his wife at the summit of a Welsh mountain, will be a surprise to most Americans, as British courts are entirely unsentimental and view with the utmost distrust certain defenses that are very popular in this country, among them that of insanity, which was set up in this case. Duncan had the disadvantage of being a foreigner, and his defense was necessarily conducted at arms* length, yet he saved his neck. ‘ Judge McAdams, of New York, gave a decision regarding nuisances the other day which would enable a man to declare anything or anybody a nuisance. He declared that that which is “hurtful, vexatious, disturbs happiness, impairs or prevents their enjoyment, is injurious if it causes displeasure, gives pain or 9 causes unpleasant sensations, is offensive,” and therefore a nuisance. Under this ruling the defendant convicted of maintaining a nuisance might be able to convict the Judge’s decision of being a nuisance. It would certainly cause “displeasure and unpleasant suggestions.” Governor Merriam’s hostile move on the Hall and Fitzsimmons gang has dealt a blow at the pugilistic interests of the entire country. It has completely destroyed the prestige of the twin cities as a favorite resort for the sluggers. Before the Governor’s recent action the two towns enjoyed a monopoly of the prize fighting business. Their mayors and police officials were warm admirers of the manly art and prize fighters were perfectly safe from interference. When all the other places were closed up St. Paul and Minneapolis were wide open and as a natural consequence they became a scene of a great many slugging matches. But they will be carefully shunned hereafter by every pugilist from Sullivan down. The Mmnesota Athletic Club has already admitted that it will never attempt to give another prize fight and a gloom has settled down upon pugilism generally.

Numerous complaints, are heard against retail druggists who, when asked for a well-known proprietory article, endeavor to dispose of an imitation bearing their own trade mark and represented to be “just as good.” This practice is a growing one and it seems proper that steps should be taken to put a stop to it. It is a dishonorable attempt on the part of the druggist to profit at the expense of proprietors of medicines, remedies and other articles that have been extensively advertised and, by taking advantage of thedehiand thus created, to work off upon the people substitutes of their own concoction. It is only neccessary to warn the public against this species of imposition in order to awaken a sentiment that will result disastrously to the dealers who practice it. If standard articies cannot be found in one store they may be had in another, and consumers alert to their own interests will not fail to apply the remedy. The Loss ot Popularity. There is a phase of metropolitan life that appeals very strongly to human sympathy. It is the struggle of once popular and more or less gifted public singers, but /who have, by reason of failing voice and beauty, been drooped into the museums and concert halls to eke a precarious livelihood. “The singer who has a declining voice is like the artist with failing sight,” said a manager. “It is the most painful thing a manager has to do —this brutal condemnation of footlight unfortunates.” But how about the singers themselves ? Did you ever figure up the full meaning of voice failure to t a talented operatic singer ? It is not merely the loss of a means of livelihood—it is the retirement from the dearly beloved public eye. It is a sort of personal public disgrace. It is to fall from the stars into the mire, and to be horribly conscious during.the entire descent. If the blow fall at once, as it sometimes does come, the mental suffering would perhaps be acute, but it would soon be over. “It is this terrible lagging, dragging from day to day,” said a singer, when I mentioned the subject to her, “sometimes better, sometimes worse; sometimes full of hope, sometimes overwhelmned with despair. It is dreadful !”— Corr. Tame Humming Birds. Humming birds are generally supposed to be extremely timid and almost untamable, but when their confidence is won, which is an easy matter to those who understand them, they are very fearless and the loveliest little pets in world. We tame them nearly every season, and they come to us anywhere around the place, and when the doors are open make themselves perfectly at home, even in the house. A year or two ago I called my wife’s attention to the first ene of the spring, as we were sitting on the piazza, and when I called him he came at once and examined each of us carefully and then flew off. I saw at once that it was one of our pets of the previous year, so I went in and prepared a small bottle of sugar i and water, and it was but a few minutes before he returned and at once took his ' dinner, as he had been accustomed to. Unfortunately he had a mate who was bossing him and dragged him northward after he had paid us but two or three visits. — Forest and Stream. No Broad. Antoinette de Bourbon, the mother of the Guises, had in addition' to her other fine qualities, great good sense. One example of the discipline to which she subjected the young Guises, indicates that had there been more mothers like her in her class there would have been less of ruthless extravagance on the part of the royalty and nobility of France. The young nobles were out hunting, and rode through fields which had been sown with corn. The duchess heard of it. That evening, according to the tradition preserved at Joinville, there was no bread on the supper table. The princes at once asked for bread, astonished at such negligence in this well-ordered household. “My children,” replied Antoinette, "it is neccessary to economize flour, since you ’have destroyed the tutors harvest.

OHIO’S CHIEF AT HOME. GOVERNOR CAMPBELL’S LIFE AT COLUMBUS. * “ i The Gallant Democrat Who Etas Shown His Mettle in Many Campaigns and Is Confident In the Present One—Bis Cheerful Quarters. The eyes of the nation are. turned toward Ohio and her gallant Governor, James E. Campbell. The Buckeye State has been* shosen, not for the first time,

as the ground for the preliminary skirmish of a national campaign. Governor Campbell, as the champion o f Democracy, has taken up the tariff gauntlet, tossed into the arena by that. Irnlcrht pr-

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mat xnignt eroovebnor Campbell, rant, William McKinley, Jr., and an exciting and interesting contest is assured. There are odds in favor of McKinley and his “tin-plate” advocates, says the New York Herald. This State will be flooded with money by the manufacturers of the country, who draw immense profits from an “iniquitous system of taxation,” for with the defeat of Champion McKinley high protective tariff will meet an ignominious death. Despite all this Ohio’s gallant Governor, after having put to rout the malcontents of his own party, enters the fight with confidence and determination to win. He feels that the eyes of the nation are upon him; that a great political trust is imposed, which, if he cannot ultimately carry out his efforts, must at least redound to his credit. Governor Campbell has the reputation of being a vigorous campaigner, and it is evident that he is thoroughly alive to the situation. He is just now in the full strength of manhood. Forty-eight years have tinged his hair with gray, but he possesses a wonderful amount of energy, which has carried him over many a rough place. He comes from good stock—good fighting stock, as his enemies in Ohio can bear witness. One of his ancestors was Capt. John Parker, who commanded the colonial troops at the battle of Lexington, and another was with Montgomery at the assault on Quebec. Both his grandfathers were soldiers in the war of 1812. His father, Andrew Campbell, was a physician of prominence in Middleton, Butler County, Ohio, where, on July 7, 1843, the future Governor was ushered into the world. His uncle, too, Lewis D. Campbell, was a statesman of note. Ten years ago the “Butler County Mascot,” as he is familiarlysknown, was governor’s mansion. common “Jim” Campbell. He had “cut no great swath” in politics outside of his own county. But he had the stuff in him. He had received a fair education and had taught school at eighteen. Before he had reached his majority he joined the navy and served on the Mississippi and its tributaries, taking part in naval engagements at Fort De Russey, Tunica Bend, and other places. He was discharged for disability, much against his own wish, and sent home. After he recovered he began the study of law, and at twenty-four he hung out his shingle in the quiet little town of Hamilton. Young Campbell was successful in his law practice, and soon became .popular and widely known by his agreeable social qualities. His first venture of note in politics was in 1877, wheq he was elected Prosecuting Attorney, serving until 1880. He was a candidate for the State Senate in 1879, and only lacked twelve votes of being elected. Mr. Campbell had demonstratecThis popularity and his ability as a campaigner, however, and his friends successfully urged his nomination as candidate for member of Congress. Notwithstanding there was a large Republican majority in his district, he came ouu of the contest a good winner. He was re-elected in 1884, and again in 1886, his last victory being on the meager plurality of two votes. Butler County Democrats had begun to look upon him now as a mascot, and great things were predicted for him in the future. Mr. Campbell’s career in Congress was marked by close application to the interest of his constituents, and he made a wide reputation by championing the cause of the ex-soldiers and by his interest tn measures for the welfare of the wage earners. Mr. Campbell’s reputation as a mascot now brought him forward as a candidate for Governor, he being the unanimous choice of the Democratic State convention in 1889. His campaign was one brilliant series of aggressive movements that worried and finally dumfounded his political opponents. He came out of the fight with flying colors, having received the largest vote ever cast in the State for any candidate for Governor, and 46,218 votes more than the Democratic candidate of the preceding gubernatorial election., Gov. Campbell’s record as chief executive of the State is too well known to require repetition. Ho has teen noted for an inflexible adherence to that which he believed to be right, which was most forcibly illustrated by his bold stroke at the political corruption in Hamilton County. Even his most sanguine friends doubted his ability to beat down the storm of wrath and indignation, but his generalship carried him through, and his renomination was a complete and signal victory. > Governor Campbell is a hard worker. He always reaches his office at the capitol in the morning before his clerks, and by the time they arrive, shaking off their prolonged slumbers, he is busy. opening his mail and making things lively all around. Ho is usually the last to leave the office, too, at meal hours ana at night ' The Governor is domestic in his habits; «nd an attendant upon the Presbyterian Church, besides being a member of the G. A. R., Elks, Masons and Knights of Pythias. t__ “A Rather Slight Exaggeration.” The New York Press, the high-tariff organ, had a beautiful picture in its issue of July 29, declaring that hatters in France earn only $5.50 per week, whereas in the United States hatters earn S3O per week. Concerning this statement, a hatter of Danbury, Conn., himself a believer in a high tariff, writes to the Press as follows: “I see in today’s IVess in the ‘Tariff Pictures’ a rather slight exaggeration in regard to the wages of hatters. There are a good many hatters in France who make more, say from 50 to 60 francs ($lO to sl2) a week. Os course they are first-class men, and get wages accordingly. Now, let us look at the American hatter. The average wages of a silk hatter in New York or elsewhere are sls a week. Some week*. b is true, they make $25 to S3O. But h»w often does that happen? May-

they have week after week when they have nothing to do at all. The same with the felt hatter. The maker, or hat sizer, if he averages sl2 a week, year in and year out, is doing well. Now, the next to him, the man who presses, or does what is called “finishing,” in our trade parlance, if he averages sls a week, he also can say that he has done well. Next is the curler, who, years ago, made very large wages. He, too. has come down to the same level as the above named fellow-tradesmen. ” A “rather slight exaggeration,” to be sure, but the Press doesn’t believe in telling big ones. A A COMPLICATED DUTY. Some of the Absurdities' of the American Tariff Upon Lead Ores. It was complained of one Roman Emperor that he caused the laws to be written in exceedingly small characters and hung high upon the pillars of publication, so that the short-legged and the short-sighted could learn the Emperor’s will only through the courtesy of tall and far-sighted friends. Whether or not the Emperor had a grudge against little and weak-eyed men this story does not say, but his evil design was to make it difficult for citizens to know the law, and betray them Into crime in order that he might enjoy the spectacle of their punishment. C'’ Curiously enough, among modern nations, the free republic of the United States is one of several to emulate the practice of this Roman Emperor. It requires an expert to know what are the tariff laws of this country, and private citizens are deterred from importing foreign goods because it is so easy for the importer to break the law. The lead ore tariff is an admirable illustration of this very point. Ores of the precious metals are, and have always been admitted to the United States free of duty. But ores of lead pay a duty. Now, it happens that most of the silver now produced is found in combination with lead. Mexico sends us a great deal of such ore. This being the case, it became necessary to determine what portion of the doubly laden ore should come in free and what portion should payduty on the lead contained. In 1880, says a Washington correspondent, the Treasury Department decided, in a special case, that a silver-iron ore was entitled to free entry as silver ore, in which the value of the silver was “largely in excess of the value of the iron,” The principle involved in this decision was twice reaffirmed six years later in the case of ores containing silver and lead; the Senate Judiciary Committee also, in 1888, reported in favor of the classification of such mixed ores according to the metal which predominated in value.

Bearing in mind the technical distinction between a silver ore and an ore of baser metal, even though the latter may have a modicum of silver in it, and that lead ores, and the lead contained in silver ores, pay a duty of one and one-half cents a pound, it is very important to find out, when a load of ore containing both silver and lead comes into this country from Mexico, whether it is technically silver ore or lead ore; for, in the one case, duty must be paid on the whole bulk, while in the other it is paid on a part only. Within a few days a Treasury circular came out announcing that “in determining the value of lead contained in Mexican ores, such values will be computed at the latest known price of bar lead in the New York market, less 1% cents per pound. ” This means that there has been a fresh onslaught by the owners of American smelting works to procure a change in the valuation established a year ago, namely, the New York price of bar lead less 1 cent a pound. These men have been anxious to get the deduction from the New York price increased to 2 cents, while the few owners of American mines which produce silver-lead ores that can be used in fluxing have worked hard to keep the old rate intact. The cent-and-a-half basis is the result of a compromise between the two conflicting interests. One and one-half cents duty on a pound of lead ore means S3O a ton—a tax which operates as an absolute prohibition. Now, how is the question of classification settled’ . Specimens of the ore as it reaches the American port of entry are taken out of the cargo and assayed. The amount of silver in weight to the ton, is estimated from this assay, and also the amount of lead. The Collector then ascertains the New York price of silver, according to the latest available advices, and deducts 5 per cent, from that —supposed to be about equivalent to the cost of transportation across the United States, and thus to represent fairly the difference between the value of silver at the Mexican border and in the metropolitan market. By multiylying this equalized price by the weight of silver to the ton of ore as shown by the assay, the silver valuation of the ore is determined. A like process is gone through with the lead in the ore. except that a specific sum per pound, instead of a percentage, is deducted from the New York price. If, on comparing the two results, it is found that the value of the silver in a ton of the ore would be greater than the value of the lead in the same ton, the ore is treated as a silver ore, and admitted on payment of the duty of 1 % cents per pound on the lead which could be extracted from the ore. This Mexican ore business illustrates the charm of our protective tariff system as few other things can. Suppose a shrewd Mexican shipper to have discovered a loose joint here and there in the method of handling ores preparatory to the assay, and to avail himself of this discovery by arranging his shipments so that only high-grade samples shall fall into the hands of the assayed while low-grade ores are really in the majority. It is not reasonable to expect that, with tens of thousands oi tons of ore crossing the Mexican border every year, the utmost care can be exercised by the inferior customs force employed there. Moreover, the incentives to corruption under the present regime are very great, and an unscrupulous mine-owner could well afford to smooth the path of his low-grade ores Into this country if he could find the right men on this side of the frontier to help him by picking their specimens knowingly. But, even supposing the matter to be honestly conducted, it has taken several days, let us say, for the shipper to get his ore from the mines to the border. When it left the mines, the price of silver was one dollar and two cents an ounce in New York, but, by the sudden unloading of speculators, it has dropped to ninety-five cents before the assayer gets a chance to pass upon the specimens; or lead, which has been three and a half cents a pound for some time, has mounted to five cents. Either of these things is liable to happen at any time; indeed, both might happen at once. Either accident would of itself be enough, in many cases, to change a silver ore into a lead ore during the mere process of transporting a train-load of the stuff from mines to market. Willetts & Grat, In discussing the price of sugar, say: “The average of daily quotations from Jan. 1 to April 1 was 5.645 cents per pound for 96 degrees centrifugals and 6.301 cents per pound lor granulated- The average daily prices from April 1 to July 1 was 3.381 coats per pound net for 9$ degrees oen-

. trifugals and 4.215 cents per pound net for granulated.” And the American Economist adds: “Here was a fall of 2.264 cents a pound on the first-men-tioned grade and of 2.086 cents on the other, both directly caused by the McKinley law. Consumers will no doubt appreciate these, the real McKinley prices.” There is nothing like making a man hanker for more as to give him only a taste of a good thing. OPPRESSING THE POOR. Some Facts' About the Increased Duty on Oord loth. Cheap corduroy is used for clothing by many thousands of workingmen, and a finer quality is used to some extent by the well to-do. It was to have been expected that in making any change in the tariff on corduroy eventhe framers of the McKinley bill would have taken care that the increase should be no greater on the cheap than on the more expensive article. The contrary, however, is the fact. The truth is that the increase on the finer goods is comparatively light while that on the poor is about 33% per cent Here are some eloquent figures furnished by a correspondent of the New York Evening Post: Cheap grade. Dearer grade. Cost per yard in England....... 170 50c Cost in the U. 8., duty free Cost in the U. 8., under old tariff (35 per cent. ad valorem)...79c Cost in the U. 8., under McKinley tariff (140 per sq. yd. plus 20 per ct. ad valorem) 36c 82c Change in tariff increases cost.lOyjc or 41 per ct. 3c or 4 per ct. McKinley tariff adds to dutyfree cost 66 per ct. 36 per ctThis, however, does'not tell the whole story. When the duty was increased no corduroy was made in the United States. The owners of the Crompton Mills at Providence, R. 1., however, wished to makd corduroys, and after the duty had been increased in the original bill, It was still further increased in conference committee on the very night before the measure was passed. Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island is credited with having brought about this second increase of duty. Since the law went into effect the Crompton Mills Company has been experimenting with corduroy. The company professes to be able to supply all that is needed, but dealers deny this and importers affirm that the importations of cordurdy have fallen off enormously because the poor are no longer able to buy at the enhanced price. They must substitute some other and less satisfactory material, because the Government of tne United States has consented to discourage the importation of cheap corduroys in the interest of a single company of manufacturers. Josiah H. Fithian & Co., of New York, are agents of the Crompton Company, and when a reporter of the Evening Post asked Mr. Fithian about corduroys here is what he said: “I have always found that ‘the still pig gets the most swill.’ And it is ‘swill’ that I am after, not the dissemination of information. Therefore—to your question—no. ” It would have been well for Mr. Fithian had he contented himself with this porcine reply, but for some curious reason he went on to say these things of the McKinley bill and protection: “I don’t know what was the aim of it. I don’t know that the framers of the tariff had any aim. I sometimes think they hadn’t. What aim, for instance, could they have had in requiring that every imported article should be stamped with the country of its origin? I hear they acted on the theory that Americans were so patriotic that, on seeing a thing was foreign, they would buy something domestic. But would not sensible men know that Americans have sufficient human nature to buy what if the best value for their money, no matter where it comes from? For my part, whenever I go to buy things for my personal use and goods are shown me, and I am told that they are of domestic manufacture. I nearly always pass them by, because experience has taught me that almost invariably the foreign-made article is more substant al and the better bargain. In fact, lam by nature a free-trader —one on the broad principle of Henry Ward Beficher, that all the world is one kindred, and that no kinsmau has a right to set up barriers against the others. The Crompton Mills did not need so high a duty on corduroy; they would succeed better without it.”

“Do you mean if they had no higher tariff than the old?” “No: I mean without any tariff at all —with absolute free trade. True, wages would be reduced, but the purchasing power of money would so increase that the equalization would be perfect. ” The McKinley Tariff and Profits. The Press, the junior organ of McKinleyism of New York, lets out the truth now and then. On July 21, in a short editorial on the French tariff, it declared: “No one will pretend that the industries of France are in their infancy. They are venerable, even as compared with British manufactures, and if ever established they are established now. But the French, who are among the shrewdest people on earth, recognize that protection is not a matter only of fostering industries to the point of vigorous existence, but that it is needecl, also, to keep them profitable. ” To make profits big is, as the Press says, the keynote of high-tariffism. It uses the keynote of the McKinley tariff which raised the duties on imports to an average of 60 per cent., or quite the prohibitive point. This enables the big trusts and combinations to water their capitalization, and make profits not only on the real capital but also on the water. Brilliant examples of this are the window-glass combination, the plateglass combine, the flint-glass monopoly, in which a profit of 40 per cent, is to be considered low. Laws enacted by the same men who made the McKinley tariff are construed by its beneficiaries to enable these combines to import contract laborers, as in the case of the glass workers, thus giving them free trade in labor. At the same time, protected by high duties, they charge consumers here all that the tariff allows, and sell their surplus abroad at low prices. The farmer and the laborer are thus made to pay the fiddler. The Press could not have told the truth in a plainer way had it declared of the McKinley tariff that it was an “act to increase the profits of trusts and monopolies out of the wages and earnings of laborers and farmers. * Reciprocity doesn’t seem to be crowding Great Britain out of the Brazilian market. The imports from England for the first four months of 1891 show a general increase of cotton goods from $3,700,000 in 1899 to $7,600,000 in 1891, with a decided increase in linen and woolen stuffs and railroad material. Reciprocity doesn't decrease the selling price of American goods or increase the price of British wares. The cheapest vender takes the market. There is no sentiment in trade. Thk State of New Jersey with the markets of two of the foremost cities of the country on her borders, and, therefore, ideally situated in accordance with the “home market” theory, has no less than 313 deserted and abandoned farms. Will the high tariff jugglers please explain to the farmers how soon farming is to be made prosperous under the system which enables trusts and monopolies to pocket the farmers’ profits?

BEST OF ALL TRAMPS Tales of Old JoMnny Appleseed, Gue of thequaintest, queerest, and most original characters that ever trod the trackless wastes of the Western wilderness was Jonathan Chapman, known as old Johnny Appleseed. Pioneer, philosopher, philanthropist and pomologist was he, taking no thought of himself and living for others only. He would Hot, could he prevent it, suffer the slightest harm to be done to the meanest of living creatures. In the great western solitudes he led the life of the primitive Christian, taking a thought only of the hour and letting a wise providence look out for the future. He thought hunting morally wrong, and he would let a mosquito sit on him and suck his blood until the insect -was satiated to bursting. This odd old man was the pioneer orchard planter of the West. For over twenty years he wandered over the States of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Missiouri, planting apple seeds and selling and giving away the seedlings. Many of the great apple orchards of the West owe their origin to Johnny Appleseed. Old Johnny was born in Boston, Mass., in 1775. In 1801 he appeared in the territory of Ohio with a load of apple seeds, which he planted in various places in and about Licking Creek. The first orchard originated by old Johnny was on the farm of Isaac Stodden, in what is now Licking County, Ohio. The early Western pioneers who knew him but slightly considered old Johnny a vagabond. From cursory observation it would appear that their views were pretty well founded. A more uncouth individual it would have been difficult to find. His garments were a bundle of rags. His shoes, when he wore any, could scarcely be held on his feet by bits of twine, so dilapidated and worn were they. His pinched and grizzled features were covered by a growth of very shaggy beard His hair was quite long and very much faded by constant exposure to wind and weather. But old Johnny’s crowning glory was an old mush pot that had a long handle. This battered old culinary utensil he wore for a hat. When he was tramping through the Western forests, the old man always cooked his meals in the old mush pot. The cravings of hunger satisfied, he would give the pot a careful washing, put it on his head and tramp on. This was his practice for over two decades. The old pot was bright enough on its inside, but its exterior was a sight to behold, so blackened and battered was it. With all his uncouthness of personality, however, old Johnny Appleseed had an intellect as keen as the most polished scholars of the day. His ideas were far in advance of his time. Those who have received their personal impression of the old man say that he was a philosopher whose purity of thought was as clear as a perennial spring and whose life was as simple as that of a child. The name, Johnny Appleseed, was given him by the early settlers with whom he came in contact because he nearly always carried a bag full of apple seeds with him. These seeds, by infinite toil, he gathered from the cider presses among the Dutch farmers in Pennsylvania. Frequently the daughters and wives of the farmers would assist him in his task, but most of the time he pursued his work alone. When a sufficient quantity of the seeds had been gathered old Johnny would load the fruit of his labor in a canoe and start on a voyage down the Ohio River into the great wilderness of the West. In Indiana and Illinois, whereever there was the faintest suspicion of a settlement, he went and planted his apple seeds. Sometimes he would select an open plaice in the forest, his judgment telling him that some day the white man would be there and plant his seed. The discovery of fruit-bearing apple trees in the woods in these States has led many to believe that the apples are indigenous to the soil. When Indiana and Illinois became well settled old Johnny extended his wanderings west of the Mississippi River and planted his apple seeds on Missouri soil. In the wigwam of the Indian and the cabin of the pioneer he was known and adways welcome. ‘ A peripatetic preacher was once haranguing a multitude. “Where is the barefooted Christian traveling to Heaven ?” exclaimed the preacher. Old Johnny Appleseed, who was sitting on a log at the edge of the clearing and listening to the discourse, taking the question in its literal sense, raised his bare foot in the air and yelled. “Here he is.” Old Johnny had love for all men but landlords. He said their charge of 12| cents a meal for victuals was extortionate. In the early days one meal and a night’s lodging could be had at the settlement inns for 18 J cents. The old man was never known to be sick- He would sleep on the floor and if no better could be had he would be satisfied with the scraps that were usually thrown to the dogs. The old man was very fond of children and he always carried presents for them. These were generally bits of bright calico and ribbon or Indian trinkets, but the children of the early settlers prized the gifts highly. However hungry, he would never partake of food until he was assured that there was enough for every child of the family. It is said that the strange old man, to whom the West is indebted for most of its great apple orchards, died in Allen County, Indiana, near Fort Wayne. A person, who knew him says that his death was a triumphant passing into glory. He lay on the grass with his face toward the setting sun. His countenance was wreathed with smiles of rapture, and as the last beams of the great luminary died out of the West the vital spark left its abode of flesh and passed into the great unknown. There are but few people now living who knew the strange old character an<i who are competent Jo speak of his life. The foregoing facts were gathered by L. A. Goodman, of Westport, from D. F. Emry, of Carthage; Mrs. Helen V. Austin, of Indiana, and a David Ayres, of Ohio. Many of old Johnny’s apple trees were planted in Missouri. Aa Inventor's Quick Week. The invention of the Hotchkiss magazine rifle, now the standard rifle of the United States Navy, occurred under circumstances known until now to only a few of the Hotchkiss Company. The gun was invented by the late B. B. Hotchkiss in 1877. In that year Mr. Hotchkiss was en route from Vienna to Bucharest. He was accompanied by his wife. While on the train he fell into conversation with a Roumanian officer who had very pronounced views in favor of a magazine rifle. At that time, it should be remembered, there was.no such thing as a magazine rifle in reality, at least not a military pice. Military men simply anti WnlrttiM M io

ture. The Roumanian officer argued the necessity fcr a magazine gun in a most forcible manner, and only discontinued his remarks when the train stopped at a station for dinner. Instead of rising, Mr. Hotchkiss complained of having no appetite, and requested, of the Roumanian that he do' him the honor of escorting Mrs. Hotchkiss to dinner. No sooner had the Roumanian left the car than Mr. Hotchkiss seized a newspaper lying on the seat, and in less than thirty minutes drew in detail the design of the present Hotchkiss magazine rifle. The paper, a copy of the Paris Figaro, is now in the office of the Hotchkiss Company in Paris, and on its margin are the complete detail drawings. Under the drawings is written: “This is a magazine rifle. Make it at once. B. B. H." Mr. Hotchkiss mailed the newspaper to the Paris works from the same station, as the wrapper still shows, and before the Roumanian and his wife had finished eating joined them at the table. In three months the rifle was put to test and won against all rivals. In de- » signing the piece the details on the margin of the Figaro were rigidly adherd to.— New York .Times. Influenza. Influenza is not, like some other diseases, a product of advanced civilization ;it is referred to by hippocrates and other ancient medical writers, and a formidable list of epidemics in various parts of the world between the years 1173 and 1875 is given by Hirpch. It is obvious, however, that no list of this kind can be exhaustive either as to the actual number of the epidemics or the area of prevalence of the several outbreaks. It is not till the sixteenth century that we meet with anything like ’ detailed records on the subject, and it is tolerably safe to assume that till long after that time only the more serious outbreaks were chronicled. Even at the present day when the machinery for the collection of statistics is so much nearer perfection than it has ever been, it is difficult and indeed impossible to to obtain trustworthy information as to the prevalence and diffusion of diseases over a very large part of the earth’s surface. Even as to China, which lies under some suspicion of being the natural home of influenza, as India is of cholera, we have nothing but rumors of the vaguest kind. With regard to England, we have a fairly complete history of epidemics of influenza which occurred in 1510, 1557, 1580, 1658, 1675, 1710, 1729, 1732-3, 1737-8, 1743, 1758, 1762, 1767, 1775, 1782, 1803,1831.1833 and 1837. Further visitations took place in 1843 and 1847-8, besides limited outbreaks in 1841, 1842, 1844, 1846-7 and 1866. That there were other immediate epidemics which found no medical pen to chronicle them is shown by such accidental references as the following, which occurs in Miss Strickland’s “Life of Mary Stuart.” In a letter dated November, 1562, Randolph, the English resident at the Scottish court, says: “Immediately upon thejQueen’s arrival here (Holyrood) __ , she fell acquainted with a new disease that is common in this town, called here the “New Acquaintance,” which also passed through her whole household, sparing neither lord, lady, nor dabioi- , selle—not so much as either French or , English. It is a pain in their heads that have it and a soreness in their stomach, with a great cough; it remaineth with some longer, with others i shorter time as it findeth apt bodies for , the nature of the disease. The Queen , kept her bed six days; there was no ap- . pearance of danger, nor many that die > of the disease except some old folk.” j The “New Acquaintance” is a very , old acquaintance now, and much has t been written by learned doctors, t but Ido not know that the prominent . features of the disease have ever been . more aourately hit off than in these few i lines of Elizabeth’s clear-sighted envoy, i —Sir Morell Nackenzie in the Fortnightly lieview. He Knew His Business. She came into a Woodward avenue ' grocery store and slapped her basket down on the lid of a sugar barrel with a ' crash. “I got three pounds of lard here yes- ( terday,” she said, “and paid cash for it t at credit prices.” , “Yes, ma’am.” stuttered the clerk. I “No, ma’am, we always make a dis- , count for cash,” he said in correction. “Well, whatever you did,” she went , bn, I want to say it was short half a r9und, and if it happens that way again 11 quit buying here.” By this time the proprietor had come , forward and he took the matter in . charge. “Did you say half a »pound short,’ k madam?” he politely inquired. , “Os course, I did; are you deaf?” “No, madam, but I was up on the , third floor, and the speaking tube from [ this floor has got a wad of nice fresh , butter fast in it; butter is going up, , you know.” “Is it?” she exclaimed. “Well, give ( me five pounds right away.” ( “As to the lard, madam,” continued ( the suave and courtly proprietor as he , noted down the order, “1 am glad that , it showed up so well That lard is , warranted to make pie crust, biscuits, , pastry and everything you pnt it in . shorter to the quantity used than any lard ever put on the market. But J had , no idea, madam, that it was equal to f making its own weight short a half pound in every three. Really, madam. I’ll gladly give you the extra half ' pound for youridisinterested, unsolicited . testimonial to its excellence. 'John.* —to the clerk—‘wrap up an extra half i pound of lard and put it in with the , five pounds of butter for Mrs. Blank.* , Anything else to-day, madam ?” And before she knew what ehe wee doing she had run up a bill of 810 and left the store in good humor, with four or five pretty advertising cords for the children.—Press. KuMlan Vottoa. Prince Gblitzen, who has recently returned from a tour through the cotton regions of Central Asia, represents the cotton cultivation there •• an industry of rapidly growing importance, and that the revenue from it is at the rate ot $87.50 per acre. The establishment ot ginneries is referred to as one of the peculiar features ot the greatly tnoreaeed cultivation ot cotton, the tendency being that it will bo carried to an excess, because ot the present large motifs derived therefrom. There is a report on the cotton industry in Aria in the possession ot the StaieDepartment, Washington, from the Oonanlato at St, Petersburg. Warre—What was the.derision to the eesoot that fellow suppoßid to be crazy about base-ball? Potts—They concluded to wait until the season is , oven It is difficult at this seasonal , vear to distinffniah a bar* ma&to WWW*