Decatur Democrat, Volume 46, Number 50, Decatur, Adams County, 19 February 1903 — Page 4

THE DEMOCRAT EVERY THURSDAY MORNING BY LEW 0. ELLINOHAM. Publisher. 11,OU PER YEAR IN ADVANCE. Entered at the postofflce at Decatur. Indiana as second-class mall matter OFFICIAL PAPER OF ADAMS COUNTY. THURSDAY, FEB. 19. Salvador, Honduras and Costa Ri' a are anxious to fight Guatemala. What’s to hinder? The public ition dav of the Geneva Herald has been chalked up a notch and will hereafter be printed a day earlier. But twelve new laws have as yet been worked off on an unsuspecting public, bv the legislature now in session. But the show is not yet over, much to the chagrin of those who foot the bills. The Indianapolis News kept a list of corn shredder mishaps in Indiana this season. The record shows one man killed; eight men each lost an arm; two men crippled in the leg for life; seventeen hands ground off; sixteen fingers cut off; one eye put out; one horse had its tail pulled out, and a dog had its head mashed. The Winchester Herald has moved into a new home all their own. The sensation of such infinite pleasure is certainly one that is beyond the lucid fancy of the average newspaper writer to describe. The Herald is a good newspaper and has worked hard enough to earn the well deserved pleasure of transacting business under their own roof and fig tree. In this issue is reproduced an editorial from the Indianapolis Sun containing "swear words.” The Sun editor is boiling over with inaignaiion because the republican senators, it alleges, are the willing tools of corporate interests instead of the representatives of the people. The Sun "damns” them now but whoops it up : for the republican ticket in campaign ' times. Columbia City Post. The almost universal observance of! Lincoln’s birthday anniversary shows the strong hold which the great eman-1 cipator has obtained, after a third of I a century, upon the affection and : gratitude of the people. Washing ton’s birthday is universally celebrat-' ed, but the sentiment which attaches to the observance of Lincoln’s birthday is of a kind which makes one man love another because Lincoln was,' first and foremost, intensely human.

Opening Announ cement! *"«■■■«■ i 'iiiiinmrrw—uj!"MCT«wn»jiaßr'i-w JU «H B nw-in WE take tliis means of aimounc ing to our friends and the public, that on the second day of March we will open a clothing store in Decatur, in Stone building, two doors north of postofnce, oppo site postoffice... Our stock will con sist of Men’s, Boy’s and Children’s Clothing, Hats, Caps and a com plete line of Gent’s Burnishings, I and everything needed to make a first-class clothing store. We kind !ly invite you to call and see ns. We will take great pleasure in showing you through. **■■■■jib jt -^rx*nußnp'.wr**. mihbji.it ■U-fuMur,, j, ? uawwww-naa. .■htt iwi iiasi-r- — ti „ „ SAM A.CKER CHARLEY ELZEY LEE VANCE

The new senator from Utah, Reed Smoot, invit«M the negro to his dinners? He is rather an advanced apostle and ought to be a favorite president. The bill providing for a special fee of $5 to prosecuting attorneys for defending divorce suits passed the senate. Prosecuting attorneys have heretofore been compelled to appear in defense of these eases, but received no compensation for it. Mr. Adair’s bill for the erection of a state orphan’s home has the great merit of being morally right if the state proposes to assume the charge of orphan children who do not have "proper homes.” The state can never be justified for taking charge of such children and placing them in a prison in company with incorrigible and criminal characters. Sentinel. The bill providing that the terms of the municipal officers in cities less than 30,000 population shall be four years instead of two, has been indefinitely postponed in the house, by the decisive vote of 59 to 31. at the end of a long fight. The defeat of the measure is attributed by its friends to the efforts to fillibuster against it until an amendment making it apply to Indianapolis and extending the term of the present city administration, could be incorporated. Congressman Watson declared in favor of placing Benjamin Harrison's statute in statuary hall. "I once investigated some private records pertaining to Clark's history.” he said, "and I found that in his will he called himself a citizen of another state than Indiana. He was not born in Indiana, and since he said in his will that he was not an Indianian, 1 think that ought to settle it. I think we ought to take him at his word. Harrison, being Indiana’s foremost citizen, is entitled to the statue.” An exchange very truthfully says: “The only business that can stand the test of time and circumstances is the ownership of a free and clear farm. A man may work at a manufacturing business half his life time and suddenly a better invention may shut up his works. A man may spend his life as a merchant, local misfortune be yond bis control may put him through the bankruptcy court. A man may work as an employe of a business half a lifetime and be a competent, faithful servant to his employer, and suddenly he is fired, because his company has consolidated with another. The owner of a clear farm is unassailable. He may not have all the luxuries of life but he is dead sure to obtain the necessaries and he cannot be discharged or ruined.”

The post cheek currency is dead as far as this session of congress is concerned. The report that Senator Beveridge succeeded in getting his committee to report the bill favorably is a mistake. He will keep on trying, but there is considerable opposition in the committee. Many members ' say this bill is such u:i innovation I that, while they believe they will apI prove it when they understand it, they cannot vc»e for it at this session. The proposition will come before congress in mere favorable form next winter. The county auditors have a strong lobby at the legislature to protest against Senator Gard's salary bill. The auditors have figured that the bill raises the other officers and in many counties decreases their salaries. This is especially true of the smaller counties. Under the present law the county council may allow the auditors not less than S2OO nor more S6OO a year for extra work, but the Gard bill provides that the extra allowance shall not exceed S3OO. The auditors will agree to the bill if the provision of the old law regarding the extra allowance is not changed. The action of Governor Durbin in attempting to remove John D. McDonald of the reformatory board without any charges or specifications of cause, and without any opportunit y for a hearing, is a case of official anarchism. No lyncher ever violated the law more completely than the governor has done in this effort to carry out his personal schemes, and make the reformatory the factor in his political machine that he desires it to be. He is simply setting himself up as superior to all law. and assuming that the office of governor is not a public trust, but a “private snap.”- Sentinel. A veteran of the Spanish war recently appealed to tbe secretary of the interior a case in which he claimed a pension on account of corns that he had contracted by wearing army shoes. The department, after an exhaustive course of reasoning, comes to the decision that corns are not a pensionable disability. The decision says: “Corns are inconvenient, but are seldom incapacitating and when they are the remedy is simple and within reach of anyone. The soldier’s patriotism ought not to terminate with his military service. It should prompt him to go to a chiropodist rather than to the pension bureau.” The senate still finds itself burdened with the statehood bill. With only ; fourteen working days of the session I left, the senators generally feel that I the matter must be gotten out of the way. There are still numerous appropriation bills to be considered; Senator Cullom wants to call up various treaties; Senator Lodge is anxious over the Philippine bills; Senator Fairbanks is clamoring for time for the immigration bill; Senator Aid rich wants his national bank bill considered: Senator McComas is urging the eight-hour bill; and there is scarcely a senator who has not some measure which he desires to press. The McKinley National Memorial association has issued a statement to the effect that it has collected more than $500,000 during the first year of its organization. The association announces that it will lie necessary to collect something more than SIOO,OOO additional liefore anything will lie done toward building the monument. The trustees have decided to undertake the collection of this additional sum through the postoffices and department stores of the country by placing in their hands a supply of the souvenir certificates to be given to all contributors of one dollar or more. These certificates will ultimately go to all the contributors. The chances lor an extra session of the 58th congress are growing less. It looks now as though the dead lock in the senate on the state hood bill will soon be broken by a compromise, and a bill will »e passed that will admit New Mexico and Arizona into the Union as one state, under the name of Arizona, with the capital of the new state located in New Mexico, and that Oklahoma and the Indian Territor will come in as cne state under the name of Oklahoma. This will be done unless the Denitx'rats take a notion to put up a filibuster on their own account after Mr. Quay has laid down. The republicans who are and have been fighting the omnibus statehood bill have about convinced Quay and his republican followers that an extra session means that there will be tariff legislation, and that is what they do not want. When the Grand Army encamp ment meets in Anderson in May, some interesting figures will be presented by Adjutant General Smock. The report for the lust six months of the year 1902, shows that the Grand Army of Indiana is now holding its own despite the fact that the middle of the war for the union was forty years ago. The total number of members in good standing Dec. 31, 1902, was 15,188 against 15.366 six months earlier, a loss of 178. It also appears that the number of men mustered in during the six months (264) was larger than the number of deaths (211). Only 211 deaths in 15,360 is a surprising small percentage. The greatest loss comes from the suspension of members, many of whom are finally dropped. At the first of the year the Indiana department of the Grand Army had $24,985.48 in cash and investments worth $10,291.85. The total property of the G. A. R. posts in the state is valued at $28,020.07.

For a Run Down Suit NO BETTER TONIC THAN A New Pair of Trousers A new pair of trousers will add much to « the appearance of your partly worn ® -V/' coat and vest. fe*'M It has always been a strong point with us to keep for sale a large line of well made, perfect fitting, good wearstvlish t rousers — an d y° u only take a look gMO through this department you will find our statement true. SB Mg I These trousers consist of all wool cheviots, fancy tweeds, . J nW hairlines, cassinieres, fine striped worsteds, black and blue Js W clay worsteds and Bedford cords. Every weight, every ” J size, every coloring. — — ALL PRICES FROM — $1.50 to $5.00. Holthouse, Schulte & Co.

A kvmor to the effect that nearly the entire list of lx>oks now used in the common schools of this state are to be changed before the next tern, of school ojiens is current, but lacks verification. The present system of readers is to be revised, it having been found after a thorough trial that they are decidedly unsatisfactory. While ; the need for a revision of the geographic system prescribed by the state is not denied, it is not likely that it will be done this vear, as the law on the subject states that revision or change shall not be made oftener than every five years. Trustees have not been notified bv the state board of education of a change in any of the books save the readers. The Birmingham Commercial club, one of the largest commercial associations in Alabama, has adopted resolutions calling on the legislature to enact even more liberal corporation I laws than New Jersey now has These bills are framed after the man i ner of the New Jersey laws, but are! more liberal. There is a strong feeling among commercial and business interests in favor of their enactment, not only so that the state will get I large fees now going to New Jersey | because of the organization of Ahi Kama companies there, but also to i encourage the coming of capital. It is regarded as almost certain that the bills will pass, and Alabama will be come a ‘corporation state.” The action of the democratic mem bers of the lower house of congress in voting solidly for the Littlefield trust curbing bill is very much to their commendation. It was an act of gen nine patriotism. The bill itself ig not just as they would have frami d it, but its purpose is a good one, and the i democrats acted manfully and patriotically when they voted for it to a man. The trust question is one of momentous importance to the country. The less partisanship there is injected into it the better for the peopie. Too much must not be expected. The powers of congress are limited. It is of the highest importance that whatever trust legislation there is secured lx> within constitutional lines. Legisla tion that is liable to he knocker! out by the courts has never lienefitted the people. This country had an exper lence some years ago that should not Ire forgotten. The “granger legisla tion” enacted during one of our per iodical popular upheavals, a quarter of a century ago, was nearly all Ret aside by the courts as fast as cases were brought Irefore them. Mistakes of that sort must not be made in deal ing with trusts. Every law enacted I with reference thereto should be drawn with the utmost care bv the I ablest legal minds of the land by men whose heart is in the work and whose honesty of purpose is not to be questioned.

The threat of an extra session, coupled with the report that the Standard Oil people were telegraphing senators in protest against the Nelson amendment to the department of commerce bill, have had the effect of securing adoption of anti trust legislation. Both the Nelson amendment, providing publicity for corpor- : ations, and the Elkins bill prohibiting rebates, have been rushed through the house. The Littlefield bill for trust control, which has been passed by the house, is practically dead in the senate. The measures adopted will perhaps afford only par tial relief, but the knowledge that the house bill would not get through the senate, induced the leaders to get two of the main features enacted into law. Whether in its enforcement the new law will be as inoperative as the Sherman law remains to beseem ——————— AtTiion.n President Roosevelt has made no definite plans as to what he | will do after congress adjourns some of those close in authority to him think that he may find it possible to ■accept the invitation of the citizens of Indianapolis to attend the laying of the corner stone of the new J -ndianapohs public building. The plan is to allow the president to fix the date for the ceremony with the under standing that it will be held sometime i between March 15 and April 1. The ■ president intends to make a western trip this summer and today he prae I tieally agreed to be in Seattle the later part of May to attend the annual banquet of the Young Men’s Republican club of that city, h is | I possdde that lie would make a trip o t Tn< lanapohs e.-pKially to attend the dtMheahou. but it is understood that a stopover at Indi unipods while on be arramsd w mid have Ids approval. The pro Rress of the work on the building may ier thar ti COrue . rßton ‘' be laid oar Her than bis western tour can possibly commence J. Knox TaZr hZ? Zli 8n T“ at, °n to attend, i was true • u Mory Said he: “They sav^h 0 ? 0 ? I’“ rt ‘ cu lar. accord with the ,| ’ Ut UQI not * n That is not true IH n ?‘i P . P“ rt 7‘ hitting a railroad nr Uot bel,ere in ! tU'KS.",

hitting them when they need it. My health demands more rest than lam getting. I shall have to give up active politics. lam compelled to leave this evening for the east and be bad here for the session Thursday. This is too strenuous for me. I must bars rest.” A newspaper writer does not sees very flowery future for the rural mail carriers. He says that at the present time the carriers are paid the munificent stipend of SBOO a year and from this amount they must keep two horses, says a carrier. The horse feed w :, l cost him sls a month or $l5O a year, leaving him $l5O a Tear on which to keep himself and family. His rent will cost him SIOO a year, that leaves him 350, his groceries will take anoth er SIOO and clothing will cut another century mark out of his salary By the time he pays for his horse shoeing and repairs to his wagon he has about enough left to keep himself in a cheap grade of chewing tobacco. If he serves this liberal government until he is too old to read the addess es on the envelopes he cau then retire to the poor farm where he will be maintained by the county and ths government pays no more attention to him. Tn reviewing the action of the legislature in failing to puss the Luhring bill, w hich would strike out tbeblau»jet remonstrance feature of the Nieh- , olson law, tfao Patriot Phalanx, state organ of the prohibitionists, is not as jubilant over the situation as soffit other temperance advocates. While expressing gratification that public sentiment preventisi any weakeningw the present law, the Phalanx declares that as a saloon killer, the Nichelson law. which is withal a license meas ure. is the most stupendous farce an Indiana’s law books, and asserts that the temperance people who think that , the liquor traffic can ever be ended or , even seriously hampered by the working of this law are laboring under » very great delusion. In support ol this assertion the Phalanx, in its current issue, quotes from the official nports in the office of the state siiportutendent of public instructions as «' i the revenue derived from the j of Indiana, each having paid the state school fund. In Pbs, year the Nicholson law was |iass«l. the amount of revenue received sho* ed there were 3,962 wdoons. rber» was a slight reduction in the vearimmediately following the enactme of the law, since which time the n ||lu l<er has steadily increased, the figur? being as follows: 1896, 3.7H0; 1- • 8,446; 1898,3,869; 1899, 4.013; 4.269; 1901, 4,370; 1902, A? January 1, 1903, there were This is exclusive of drug stores ■* groceries which sell liquor under g ernment license.