Decatur Democrat, Volume 51, Number 13, Decatur, Adams County, 26 March 1908 — Page 3

|i d£ caTUR traveler S'l Old Mexico —Some Notes of | History and Interesting j Facts of Today f l Mexico. City, Feb. 28. !•« H 1 near Follts:— Another attempt to I e I gave 7°“ a Tery brief Xt of ° ur ir, P a3 Ur “ ® I Potosi Os course I omitted a bun dred things there Wa “ n ° time t 0 II 1 mention, and I shall have to do the fe j —e in this- San Luiß Fotosi. the I 1 f ” -iul of ; be Btat e ° r lhe BMSBe nan’? Kfl 7a very beautiful and clean eH*. «H---t' 1 *ted in a wide plain, encircled by |B| mountains with mines that yield an U , nnua! output of Silver that runs up t J jrW millions of dollars. Leng before K i th>‘ ad vent of s P» nJards ia 1621 S/« the mines here were known to the naiU fives, and they are still very produc H® tlve . it is said that silver is found e/i in every one of the twenty sev-n * I states of the Republic of Mexico, and ||•lj in eV e r y hill and mountain, and there Ri 1 plenty of the latter. Little iron ' 1 ha 3 been found in Mexico, except in 8 1 the state of Durango. wher e there is I I a mountain of it from 75 to 90 per | J cent pure metal. There is »om e gold. | ! lead quicksilver, salt. alum, coal and j ether mines in the republic. I am I j told there are the most primitive | methods of mining in use in Mexico, | but modern machinery is being introI duced. Some of the drafts hundreds J of feet deep are worked with a windI lass and mule power. In some places I the miners pass up and down on ladI ders. or steps cut in the side of the | mountain. A gentleman told me that | in his mines the peons hold the lad j der for him and one step amiss means | destruction. The peon Indian does | not mind the heat or water, and I works for a very small sum. But the ■ owner of the mine must not do a 9 * thing for himself, or the peon loses respect for him, and he cannot be 3 controlled. 1 But to return to "the city. It is very .9 clean and attractive. The city counI cii has an ordinance which requires J the people to keep their houses in re--1 pair, and keep everything neat and I clean. The streets are attractive with I frequent parks, or plazas as they call them here. Plazulas are very small parks. There are seats under the trees, and in the larger parks (about a square in size), is a pagoda, where a band paid by the state, plays every Sunday forenoon from nin e till one. The best band is usually in the cathedral plaza, and they play all during services. Then Tuesday and Thursday night are band nights. There are several bands In (every city. The larger the city the more bands. The nights the bands play, the parade of young people tn opposite directions around the plaza goes on for two hours, as I wrote you last winter. There ar e many flowers in bloom, hibiscus, with their flaming red bells, bougainvillia growing thirty and forty feet high full of bloom. In fact a solid mass of violet flowers. Passing along the street the wrought iron doors leading into the patios or inner courts of the houses are open, as well as the heavy doors six and eight inches thick, studded with nails with • heads as big as the old fashioned copper cent. Thus we can see little gardens full of flowers, and singing birds in cages. The people on th e streets are so curious and the loads the cargardores carry (common carries) is astonishing. We saw four men (Indian, of course) with an upright piano on their shoulders and carrying the stool trotting along like four little donkeys without any load. I saw an Indian woman swinging along the street in bare feet, arms and bead with a row of chickens hanging around her waist as thick as they could hang, and another row about IkF meek. She swung along as if she was wearing a silken scarf. She came in from the mountains and was on her way to the market. Nearly all Mexican markets are very interesting, but I must not give more time to San Luis Potosi. We were a night and a day coming from the latter city to the City of Mexico, capital of the republic. Good part of the way the land seemed desert like, nothing but cactus and mesquite growing. WTien we got nearer the city we saw large fields of magney. We call them century plants because in the states they say a century plant is so called because it blooms only once in a hundred years. In a sense this is true, because after H blooming it dies. When they are from six to ten years old they send up a bloom from twenty to twentyfive feet high. Thia stalk is cut before it blooms and in the cavity of the Plant a fluid collects. A peon and * burro go around every day and gather this sap, drawing it into a gourd by suction and emptying it into a hog skin on the burro’s back. Each plant yields from one to two gallons of sap ® day for three or four months. In twenty-four hours it slightly ferments ■nd is ready to drink. It is called

pulqae. It Is used principally by the ; lower classes. In forty eight hours it lis spoiled. Hence it must be rushed to market in a hurry, and there are special trains to do this. Pulque grows only within a hundred miles of the city. The attitude and the soil seem to be right for it. It is a milky fluid ill smelling, but very eheap. Each plant is worth eight to ten dollars. Another variety of the Maguey grows in a lower altitude and from the lower leaves and roots when roasted another intoxicating drink called tequilla is made, something like gin. Ancther intoxicant which is strong is mescal. Still another variety of aloe or century plant which grows in the hot countries of the republic is the hentoquin. (from the leaves of which they produce a fibre with which they make rope. It is the best rope in the world 1 guess, and is especially used as cordage on ships. From many of the cactus of the desert something is used. The blossoms are very fattening for cattle. But I must come on to th e city. And what shall I tell when there is so much. We are housed in an old palace formerly belonging to General Iturbide. Its glory has departed, but I can imagine what it was in its prime. Now it is one of the principal hotels of the city, situated on the principal street San Francisco, where all the parades and shows pass. Os all parades and shows in the world the greatest© I think is the dress parade on this street after six o’clock in the evening, and Sunday evening is the greatest. For three hours there will be a steady stream of carriages going up one side of the street and returning the other side. Horses en the walk, ladies in Paris gowns, gentlemen with cane, ajjd ring on finger, a great show in every sense of the word; and nothing like it anywhere else in the world to my knowledge. AH street traffic is stopped c after six o’clock on this street. It is gi'C'fn over to the parade. Some at the carriages are elegant. Beautiful horses and harness, coachman and footman in livery. Ladles in lace gowns and- opera hats, automobiles, a solid street of vehicles. Then the sidewalks are crowded w>it«h pedestrians —soldiers. Mexicans, Indians, foreigners—a great sight. The city has flue parks, bands, chtiwhes. Her shame is her beggars. The city is full of them. At the chwches yeu a-re besieged ly them. We are tffild they ar e licensed to beg. Horrible looking creatures. Blind, lame, bare footed. bare legged, bare armed with filthy old hat on the head and a piece of blanket around the bod.y. Miss B said I would bankrupt myself, but for weeks I could scarcely pass them without giving a cen-t-ave. New I a-m hardened. I have seen so many thousands. What shall I tell you we have seen. We took th e car one afternoon called "Seeing Mex-ico.” But I will tell you about that in my next letter.-. It is time 'for dinner now. Oh how the time flies. We got up late because you cannot do anything before nine o’clock. The stores are not open and things do not seem to .be doing. We come back <to th» <iotel at one o’clock and have lunch and lie down till three. At first we did not do this, but we found the best stores closed from one to three, the churches and public places and we gained nothing by going out. Then we found at night we were too tired and nervous to sleep. We found because of the altitude we required the siesta the same as the people living here. W P also learnd that respectable women did not go out in a carriage between one and three. So now we have our sieta or we suffer physically for It. I will write my next letter to Matie. We are well. I send love to all of you. Hastily, MRS MORRISON. o THEY WANT MACADAM ROAD. Information About Part of the Adams Wells County Line. A letter received by County Auditor (Jarrett from Adams county farmers residing in Kirkland township indicates (hat another effort is to be made to have a portion of the county line road graveled the coming summer. The letter in question asked as to the state of indebtedness of Lancaster and Jefferson townships, and said that if those townships are not above the debt, limit a petition will be circulated to present to the commissioners of Adams and Wells county asking that a strip of road about two and one-half miles in length be graveled. There is now pending asking for the improvement of a strip of over eleven miles , of the county line road, but it has been held up since last fall because of the refusal of the Adams county board of commissioners to meet with the Wells county board to consider the petition. The claim was made that one of the Adams county town- | ships interested was above the debt limit.—Bluffton News. Mrs. A. Scheiman arrived home from visiting her son at Columbus. |

GEO. ZEHR’S PETITION Will Be Issued September 7th Next—Makes Extra Work for County Clerk George Zehr, of Wabash township filed his petition for final naturaliza tion papers, at clerk’s office Thursday, Peterson & Moran appearing as his attorneys. He will be granted the papers on September 7th. the first day of the fall term of court. The new proceed ure by which naturalization papers are granted are much more complicated than formerly and require several hours of the clerk’s time. However, he receives an extra fee for same. Mr. Zehr Is a farmer and was born November 11th. 1842, near the city Dalm In Germany. He came to the United States May 8. 1866, on the vessel Sierra Nevada. He first declared his intention of becoming a U. S. citizen on January 3, 1901, in Decatur. He has a wife and nine children, is not a disbeliever or opposed to organized government, is not a polygamist and renounces absolutely and forever all allegiance to any for efgn prince, potentate, state or sovereign, particlarly the king of Germany. The naturalization depart ment of the United States now has full charge of this line of work, the state of Indiana having nothing to do with it whatever. - —— » __Q ORDINANCES INVALID Because They Interfere With Interstate Commerce Laws —Far Reaching Effect A decision of wide-reaching effect was announced by Judge A. B. Anderson in federal court. It is that'city and town councils may not comipel concerns from outside the state io pay a license fee for soliciting business or delivering merchandise. The case in which this- decision was given is that of the Interstate Text-Book company against the city of Evansville, asking an injunction. Judge Anderson enjoined the city from enforcing an or dinance requiring a license to be bought by agents of the company. He held that such an ordinance is not valid under the interstate conSmerce laws.

The city was restraind from “interfering with the business of the company in making solicitations, distributing advertising matter and making deliveries of merchandise, by requiring a license” for wagons or agents, and from fining persons who so engage without buying a license. This declaration of the court that outside concerns have a right to solicit business concerns and make sales without paying for a license is expected to put an end to an old question. Merchants in Decatur and in every city of the state, big or little, have insisted on the requirement of a license for peddlers and agents, and city councils have not failed to pass the necessary ordinances. The local merchants have argued that the outsider should pay something to offset the taxes that the local man pays. The question has never before reached the federal court in this state.

-O ——'— HIS OFFICE FORCE Were Entertained by Fred Mayer—Effie Miller’s Birthday Observed J. Fred Mayer played “mine host” to the Sun office force last evening at his hom e on east Mitchell street. Owing to sickness, all could not be there, but those that were certainlyenjoyed themselves. Si.. Patrick s day green was everywhere evident in the house decorations, as well as the personal. and the various contests showed the influence of the patron saint’s anniversary. Geo. B. Teal. F. E. Reeve and Ralph Whitford captured the prizes offered. Excellent refreshments were served and some flashlight pictures taken by J- Frank Cramer.—Kendallville Sun. — —o — M. W. Arnold, of Claypool, claims the distinction of having largest ginseng garden in northern Indiana. The garden is 40x200 feet, well pro- ' vided with shade and contains roots gathered over territory for twenty miles around Claypool. C. K. Zumbrun, of north of Columbia City, also has a large ginseng plat which h e has successfully grown from the seed. i In some way a rumor has been going the rounds that the W. H. Niblick j home had been rented. Mr. Jesse Nibi lick requests us to state that a proposition has never been considered and | will not be. The house is not for rent.

AT ANDERSON Several Good Places and Delegateships to Baltimore to be Disposed of There is always lots of politics in conference —not the kind that looks to the elevation cf a democrat or a republican to office, but the kind that concerns the status of in-I dividual ministers in the list of ap-1 pointments, etc. Preachers are as ' shrewd as thesecihjqr politicians and as full of tricks. ;t.though the tricks I are generally of a kind tt it are legitimate. Cliques are organized -for this or that purpose and tljp preacher who i goes to conference with nothing to hack him but his religious zeal is likely to get the leavings when the "pie” is distributed. The coming jeonference at Anderson promises to afford many illustrations of keen politics A desirable plum or two is to be disposed of. The position of delegate to represent the laity in the national conference at Baltimore is one of them. It was this question that a few months ago stirred up a big rumpus in the southern Indiana conference which turned down Vice President Fairbanks for delegate because he had served a cocktail to President Roosevelt while the latter was a guest, .at his hoffie last summer. % cT 4

0 AS LAW PROVIDES Where Not Paid/ tjje Accounts Must Be Given to Prosecuting Attorney © The county treasurer and his deputies are busy just now, completing the necessary preparation for sending official and final notices to all thosfe delinquent on their taxes. These taxes must positively be paid. In Adams county, according to the records in the treasurer’s office there arWscores of deliifituents who occupy a prominent place in the affairs of the com munity. The treasurer will notify one and all, rich and poor, high and low, including many who only owe poll tax. and who have allowed them to run for several years, informing them that unless they settle within a short time after said notice is given, the matter will be turned over to the prosecuting attorney, whose duty as provided by law to prosecute such parties and collect said accounts. It Is estimated that if all the delinquent taxes due the county could be collected, the general tax rate would be reduced at least ten cents on each SIOO valuation. 0 ■ THOUGHT THE BEST o Must Have a New Furnace foe School Hous® —Prospects Bright © Marion Counterman of Mercer, 0., brother-in-law of J- Q. Neptune and a Mr. Fast from thg same place were in the city Wednesday for the purpose of investigating the qualities of the Decatur furnace and before leaving they were convinced that it is absolutely the best on the market. These gentlemen are members of the school board at Mercer and as their school house burned last December, they are arranging to construct ancther. M L. Smith, the hustling manager of th e Decatur Furnace factory visited their town and explained the make up of the furnace. Before leaving he invited them to here and inspect same. The invitation was gladly accepted and the visitors were taken to the various places where the furnace has been installed and is in operation. The Teeple Brandyberry and Peterson clothing store was visited and these gentlemen were loud in their praise as to its merits. The Schafer Hardware company, North Ward 1 school house and several other insti I • tutions were visited with the same re i suit. Messrs. Counterman and Fast were favorably impressed and they i will place the proposition before the t people of their town for consideration, i It is safe to say that they will pur- 1 chase from here as they are of the i opinion that it is the best on the mar ’ * ket. The Mercer men state that peo- t pie in their secion of the country! t have much to say about the excellent j Decatur furnace. , ( |S In our account of I. O. O. F. event s given here Friday evening an error t in the place of holding the banquet i was made This delightful feature of 1 the cleberation was held at Coffee & : Rinehart’s restaurant and was splen- i didly handled by that efficient firm. ’ W. W. Watts is still on the sick ! list and is confined to his home. I

Thomas S. Perkins W’as granted letters as guardian for Norma P.. Pryor S, and Hazel C. Gilbert, and filed his bond for 14.600. signed by James Gilbert, Robert A. Perkins and L. R. Blossom. The Indiana supreme court decided that a successful remonstrance in a township does not prevent the establishment of a saloon in a city ward within said township. The case came up from Richland township, Jay county. The anti-saloon league anticipated the decision and so was not disappointed although it had hoped otherwise. A number of contractors are figuring on bidding for the contract to construct the Shady ditch, which will be awarded next Saturday by Surveyor Sark. The ditch is to be about three miles in length and th e estimated cost is |2,777. The ditsi starts near Pugney and will empty into the Dailey ditch.—Bluffton News. Harvey Jones has furnished the $2,000 bond under which he was placed on the new charge of and batteryewith intent to Stille Jerry Woodward, and has been released from the county jail. His oy&inal bond, under th e highway charge was S6OO,

and- should he f 'Ail to Appear for trial in the circuit 2 ’ court he will have forfeited >2.6i0. —Bluffton Banner. A stAfcement was made a fe v days ago iit>ncerning a man named Liechty from Berne being pulled from beneath A G. R. & I. train. Information received since leads us to believe that Mr. Liechty was not intoxicated. He is one of th e best known men of the county, is eighty-two years old and has lived in this county for sixty years. © Ed Meyers, of this city, who is,, attending college at Ann Arbor, Mich., where 2.000 students recently “tore up” a theater, has sent several papers to T. C. Corbett describing the riots. Twenty-three of the boys are under arrest and if convicted, the minimum punishment Is a jail sentence of one year with a fine of not more than SI,OOO. Ed was not one of the riotous. Governor and Mrs. George W. Steele received a letter from their son, Lieutenant George W. Steele, Jr., who is with the b&ttleship fleet now making the cruise around the world. It was mailed from Peru, via San D!egjb and Valparaiso. The loiter contains a ■ very realistic description of incidents ■ connected with the long cruise and is 1 interesting in detail. When the L fleet arrived at Valpariaso, th e Chilean ‘ government had provided for adetachr ment of marines, dressed in white, ■ who were arranged on the green bank along the harbor in such a manner as to form the word “Welcome.” Every1 wher e the fleet has touched the American sailors were shown every courtesy and the men are having the beat ■ time of their lives. Mrs. J. A. Meinerding and son, who visited in Decatur witfi her par ents, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Forbing, changed cars here Wednesday evening enroute to Fort Recovery, Ohio, ■ for a visit at th e home of h*r moth-er-in-law, Mrs. Agnes Meinerding before returning to their homes at Toledo. —Portland Commercial-Review.

The can of supposed nitroglycerin found on the Big Four railway track at Winchester, believed to have been placed there in order to blow up a train, was opened last evening, and found to contain nothing but wet gravel. It is now thought the can was placed there as a ’joke.” The stone found near the can weighed over seventy pounds and was big enough to have emperllled the train. One of the new traction lines that is being boomed a»d may possibly be built the coming summer is the proposed extension of the Ft. Wayne &®Springfleld line, from Decatur south to Winchester, passing through Bern e Geneva, Ridgeville, Portland, Lynn, and the intermediate points. Tljere was a big boosters meeting held at Decatur on Tuesday attended by prominent persons from all of the places named and all expressed themselves favorable to the extension—Bluffton News. e Ray Cooper, the Geneva young man who has twic e been jailed for drunkenness here in a period of three days, was released last evening on his second promise to leave town at orue. This morning he appeared at the sheriff’s offic e and to that officer stated that he had spent the night here with a friend and had taken a job. at what he did not say. H e asked the sheriff’s permission to stay here and work and the request was granted, providing' that the youngster stay away from the booze. —Bluffton Banner. The Queen Esther Circle of the Methodist church are packing a barrel to send to the Mitchell home in the south. The home was recently destroyed by fire, and is to b e rebuilt in a short time. The home needs furnishings and clothing of all kinds, so any one who will assist the girls in making up this barrel will piease notify one of the girls or Mrs. Dan Sprang and they will come for your gifts.

We Sell Yinbl on the positive guarantee that if it does not give satisfaction we will return the entire amount of money paid *l3 for it. We mean this—and ask all those who are sick and need strength to try it with this understanding. SMITH, YAGER & FALK MAKING A RECORD His Latest Attack on the Trusts Made Many © Friends in District

Muncie, Ind., March 20.—Th e one thing that may unite the republicans of the Eighth district and cause them to support the man who js nominated at the congressional convention in. Anderson a week from today the knowledge that Congressman J. A. M. Adair is by far the strongest congressman that the district has had in many years. It is shrewdly conjectured that Adair is playing the best kind of politics by pretending not to play any and by posing as a “Roosevelt Democrat.” whatever that is. but there is no doubt of his hold on a large percentage of the republicans in a district that is normally about 7,000 republican. Adair went into office not so much because of his own strength as because abeut half of the republicans desired to express their disapproval of the political machine manipulated for so many years by former Congressman George W. Cromer. Now. however, Congressman Adair seems to be strong because of his own merits. For instance, his speech in congress yesterday when he vigorously attacked the trusts wasto catch, thp votes of the Roosevelt republicans, so politicians believe. Mr. Adair set forth that the corporations were after him and his seat in congress because he had spent his time since entering on his term in flaying “predatory wealth,” especially the lumber trust, but if the trusts are after his scalp in particular, thfere is no tangible proof of it as far as politicians of all parties are able to gather. But there is one thing that every democratic and republican politician of the Eighth district gives Mr. Adair credit for, and that is being the best politician of both parties, knowing that the district was almost hopelessly republican, he neverheless turned a 7,000 republican plurality into a democratic plurality of more than 4,200 by advocating in his speeches the policies of the president and promising to uphold them, while charging his opponent, Mr. Cromer, then the congressman from this district, with being opposed to the president.

FRED ROHRER AS A LECTURER. Spokef’at Fort Wayne and Albion this Week. Fred Rohrer, editor of the Berne Witness and who, perhaps more than other person, is responsible for t’ne saloons being driven from the town of Berne, is becoming quite popular as a lecturer. On Thursday night he addressed a nieeting of the W.C. T. U. at Fort Wayne and last night spoke to the business men’s association at Albion. His line is temperance and Fred has the facts down to a fine point, his principal theme being the advantages noticed jn Berne since the saloons have been banished. The editor makes a good impression wherever he speaks, talking business in a straight from the shoulder way that wins with his hearers. - o — —- DELIVERED TWO GOOD SERMONS Rev. Spetnagle Please Those Who Hear Him. Rev. Spetnagle, the new ministef®at the First Presbyterian church, deliv ered two splendid sermons Sunday. In the everyday vernacular, he has “made good” with the Decatur people and we predict that the auditorium will be weli filled with listeners at each service. His evening sermon was especially good, and all who heard Rev. Spetnagle speak in the highest terms of his abilily. Along with his pulpit ability he is an affabale, approachable man, good to meet nd one whose service among us will soon be noticeable. . -i - - -• — — Miss Jean Lutz who has been a patient at Hope hospital, Fort Wayne, for several weeks, wher e she went for an operation for appendicitis, will arrive home Wednesday.