Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1891 — Page 3

THE TAX ON WOOL.

WHY WOOL SHOULD BE FREE. Ex-Consul Sd>oenhof on the Wool Duties —An Expert Opinion of McKinleylsm— Sow Wools Difier What Free Wool Would Do. When President Harrison came into office, our Consul at Tunstall. England, was Mr. Jacob Schoenhof, of New York. This gentleman was formerly a manufacturer, and he had devoted much time and study to ascertaining the labor cost of producing goods in this country and in Europe. Having special knowledge on this subject he was appointed by Mr. Cleveland to the consulship at Tunstall, and was specially charged by Secretary Bayard to make an extensive investigation of the labor cost of production of manufactured articles in England and on the continent. Before Mr. Cleveland’s term expired several reports of great value by Mr. Schoenhof had been published by the State Department. His work, however,' was not yet complete when President Harrison removed him from office. He has recently begun to publish a series of letters which will serve as a sort of continuation of his reports to the Government. He will go into the cost of production of all the leading lines of goods in this country and Europe, and this series of letters is sure to prove an important contribution to the tariff question. In one of these letters Mr. Schoenhof gives considerable attention to the wool tariff. Of all the manufacturers, he says, the woolen manufacturers would have benefited by the Mills bill. It freed raw wool and gave a protection of 40 per cent. Now, it is well known that the entire labor cost in a pound of manufactured woolens, such as are made in this country, does in very few instances reach as high as 40 per cent, on the cost of a foreign-made article, with which it has to compete. The foreign article not i alone < overs the cost of the wool, of labor, and of the incidental expenses of manufacture, but also the interest of capital and the profits of the manufacturers and dealers handling the goods. The duty of 40 per cent., therefore, covers not alone the cost of capital and management, but of the freed wool itself consumed in the manufacturing process. Vree wool would have vitalized the range of wool manufacture, now in a state of permanent infancy, in constant need of syrups and props. The only ones benefited by the wool and war tariff, the shoddy manufacturers, quite naturally have been standing in the breach in defense of the palladium of protection against the enemies of the holy faith. It is not to be wohdered at that they put their hands deep into their pockets for the creation of a fund which was to buy an election and a tariff to their liking. But, strange to say, many of those were contributors who could only be benefited by tariff reform, as taken up by the Democratic party, downwardly, and injured only by reforming upwardly, as represented by the Republican party. The present tariff, •the McKinley act, is the outcome of their well-considered, deliberate demands. They insisted on obtaining, and they have obtained, a measure which proceeds in a diametrically opposite direction from what their interests actually command. They certainly ought to have known that the industries of this country are based on an entirely different foundation from that of any other country. If so, the certainly ought to have asked for something quite different than that which they claimed with so much insistence. But if they lost sight of this in the scramble for higher tariff rates it need not be surprising that the legislators who are responsible for the measure did not care to examine deeply into the rates demanded or inquire into the relative industrial positions of the United States and the countries of Europe, against which the late tariff act is chiefly intended to operate, the only customers of our farmers worth speaking of. The legislators responsible for the act -did what they were expected to do. 'They simply delivered the goods for value received in 1888, with a tentative hint to future campaign contributions. Our own wools show conclusively that almost every State in the Union produces a different grade of wool. For instance: The wools raised in the far West in the new Territories and States are considered very inferior to the wools raised in the States east of the Mississippi. The pasturage consists of wild grasses, which during the dry season become parched, leaving the dry, sandy soil underneath as a fine dust or sand, which permeates the fleece,adding much to its shrinkage, and changing not only its appearance but the strength of staple, more especially where the soil is alkaline. Such wools lack in lustre and spring, and goods made from them show a dead, cottony appearance. They could not possibly be used as an offset in the manufacture of fabrics, which we import, amounting in 1890 to $50,000,000, and adding duties, $35,000,000, represents $85,000,000 American value laid down at the ports, exclusive of freight and other charges. For the replacing of this vast amount •our own wool supply would be entirely Insufficient. We raise the corresponding wools in very limited quantities (and, what is more to the point, in receding quantities) in the older States only. Texas and California wools have good felting properties. For combing purposes they are unserviceable. Of combing wools only a limited amount is raised in the States lying east of the Mississippi. But most of the goods used for outer wear are now made of combed and not of carded wool. The same differences we find in Englisn wools. The Southdown wool is different from the north country wool; the Scotch wool different from the English wools; the Welsh wool different from the English and Scotch. Even in Scotland certain wools are grown in certain parts, so that tweeds can only be made from certain Scotch wools. Irish wool is different again. Welsh, Irish; and Scotch wools shrink but very little when manufactured into flannels, knit goods, etc., in the washing, German and American wools very much more so. Australian, Cape, and Plate wools differ again. But these differences can be made very valuable by adapting the varying qualities to the .respective fabrics to which they give their special ■character.

Miraculous Medicine.

The American Economist is not satisfied with Bismarck’s recent talk on protection and on our McKinleyism. It says: “While Bismarck announced himself a protectionist, he does not seem to comprehend one of the fundamental principles of protection, at least as far as this country is concerned.* that while

it protects labor, It at the same time cheapens products, and thus also benefits consumers, especially the farmers." Of course! Then McKinley puts higher duties on manufactures to make them cheaper, and thus benefit the farmers; and to make the thing “fair and equitable,” he raised the duty on nearly all farm products to a very high point in order to make them much cheaper, and thus to benefit the manfacturers! Protection is a most remarkable thing; give Jones a dose and it cures Smith!

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.

A Damaging Admission—Exports Pay for Imports Balance of Trade and the Farmers* Market. The American Economist, the mouthpiece of the American Protective Tariff League, makes a fatal admission when it says: “Probably no economic law is mere rigid than that a nation’s imports must, in the long run, be- paid for by its exports. ” Very.true; but the Economist has for months been wrestling in agony to prove just the contrary. It has taken up the principle held by all opponents of protection, that we cannot sell abroad unless we will buy there—in other words, that exports pay for imports; end it has tried by various examples to prove that this is false. It could show that we sell to England about $200,000,000 a year more than we buy there. But it is well known that our excess of exports to England pay for our excess of imports from South America and other parts of the world. At present our total exports and imports are not far from being equal, some years our exports being larger and other years imports being in excess. Most of the years since the war, however, we have sent out more than we brought in from abroad —a fact which gives the protectionists exceeding great joy. When exports are greater than imports, the balance, they say, comes back to us in gold and silver. Thus this Economist said some time ago: “Since 1875 the balance of trade has been in our favor for every year except 1888 and 1889, and we have received back in fourteen years $1,581,926,871 of what we lost under free trade.” But the Economist could very easily verify this statement. The Treasury Department publishes the figures of exports and imports of gold and silver. If we have been receiving back gold and silver from Europe, the Treasury reports ought to show the fact. What do they show? That we have “received back” $205,000,000 since 1875, all told, and that in the same time we have sent abroad $277,000,000, all in gold and silver. During the very time when the Economist fancies that we have been receiving back gold and silver in payment for goods, we have sent away $72,000,000 more than we brought in. The explanation of this is simple enough. The $1,581,000,000 merchandise and $72,000,000 in gold and silver, a total of $1,653,000,000, which wo have sent abroad since 1875 over and above what came in, was sent in payment of interest on foreign investftaents in the United States, in taking up Government, State, and railroad bonds, in premiums oh insurance policies, and in paying freights to foreign vessels. But the Economist makes another admission. It says that “our imports of 800 or 900 millions annually are now largely paid for by agricultural exports.” From which it naturally follows that the more we import the greater will be the demand for our farm products to pay for those imports. Our farmers, therefore, have the highest possible interest in increasing our importations of foreign goods. Even if they should not need many of those imported goods themselves, the importation of them enlarges the foreign demand for wheat, flour, corn, beef, pork and other commodities produced by our farmers.

Mexico’s McKinleyism.

While we are the h ! ghest tariff nation among the first-class nations of the world, Mexico's tariff is much higher even than our new McKinley tariff. On dutiable imports Mexico collects an average tax of nearly 85 per cent; that is, a tax of $22,477,000 upon imports amounting to $26,518,000. The values of the leading imports last year, with the duties collected, were as follows: Values. Duties. Cottonss7,s3l,oßß $7,447,394 Woolens 1,613,186 1,986,020 Silk mixtures 394,889 410,419 Glass and china 607,727 686,884 Linens and hemp 674,029 671,590 Silk? 394,691 378,614 Food products 4,893,706 8,789,270 Iron and steel 1,510,129 1,259,480 Small wares. 658,853 505,497 Wood and manufactures.. 473,681 368,523 Skins and leather goods.. 414,109 290,211 Paper and manufacturing 1,352,143 1,161,250 Medicine and drugs 1,697,830 997,449 Miscellaneous 2,193,969 1,675,382 Mexico’s average duties on articles bought in this country was 40 per cent, but hereaftef this average will doubtless be higher, as last year that country made a considerable increase of duty on some of our farm products in letaliation for our tariff madness.

American Farm Implements In Australia.

The protection organs furiously deny that our manufacturers of farm implements and machinery sell more cheaply to foreigners than to our own farmers. What do these organs say to the following statement, which is quoted in the New York Engineering and Mining Journal: “Mr. Walter Alden has returned to St. Louis, Mo., after spending six years in Australia, and is reported to have stated the following: ‘lt is no use for an American to go out to Australia to do anything in a commercial way unless he represents some large corporation, such as some great agricultural implement manufacturing company, mining machinery, or the like. All American agricultural implements are away ahead of the English articles iWAustralia. They are sold, however, for a less price than here in America, especially in the free trade colony of New South Wales, .and they cost less 4n Victoria, a protective colony, than they do where manufactured or sold in this country.’ ” What, do our farmers think of protection to manufacturers who are able to sell abroad at lower prices than at home?

Mexico at the Fair.

Mexico has accepted President Harrison’s invitation to take part in the World’s Fair at Chicago. That will be an odd spectacle—two countries exhibiting the wares which they would like to sell to each other, if it were not for their high tariff walls. Mexico collects an average duty of 40 per cent, on what we sell to her people. The principal thing in Mexico that we want is silver and lead ore, but we shut it out by a duty

equivalent to 64 per cent. Mexican mustangs worth $lO are prohibited with a duty of S3O a head. What a merry fair we shall have!

OUR TRADE WITH ARGENTINE.

Europe Gets the Elon's Share—Reciprocity and Beta iatlon Hide® and Wool. The insignificance of our trade with the Argentine Republic is brought out by that country’s trade reports for last year. These reports show that European countries get the lion’s'share of the trade of Argentine. Argentine imports of all sorts were 149 millions, of which over 61 millions were from the United Kingdom, 20 millions from France, 12 millions from Germany, 11 millions from Belgium, and $9,307,315 from the United States, this country standing fifth in rank as respects imports. But the exports from the Argentine Republic wore in the aggregate over 105 millions, of which nearly 27 millions were to France, 21 millions to Great Britain, 12 millions to Belgium, over 11 millions to Germany, 10 millions to Brazil, 7 millions to Uruguay, and $6,066,063 to the United States, this country ranking seventh as respects the exports. Our principal imports from Argentine are hides and wool. According to the so-called reciprocity feature of the McKinley law, the President will have to impose a duty of one and one-half cents per pound on hides from all countries which do not give us reciprocity. By this method of taking vengeance on the Argentine Republic, by taxing our own people, our imports of hides from that country will be largely reduced, unless Mr. Blaine succeeds In securing a reciprocity treaty with that country. This, however, is extremely improbable, since the treasury of that unfortunate land is very much crippled by bad financial measures of the past four years, and the demand for revenue will hardly permit of a reduction of duties in our favor. If the President has the courage to obey the “reciprocity” clause of the McKinley law, impose a duty on Argentine hides, and stir up our leather and boot and shoe manufacturers, who made such a stern protest when McKinley proposed a year ago to tax hides, our imports to Buenos Ayres will be still further reduced. Another factor to reduce that trade is the senseless duty on carpet wools, of which we import about one and one-half million dollars’ worth a year. Our effort to keep out Argentine imports by taxation is entirely foolish, since the importation of goods from that country must increase the demand there for our goods. We do not import hides and carpet wool from Argentine with the benevolent intention of benefiting that country; it is to benefit ourselves. It would he as ridiculous, therefore, for us to try to punish that country by refusing to buy from it as it was for certain “patriotic” French women to try to wreak vengeance on the Germans by resolving that they would never dance with them again.

Want a Foreign Market.

A committee representing the Boston Boot and Shoe Club and the New England Shoe and Leather Association waited on the President and Secretary Blaine recently, and presented a series of resolutions by their associations Indorsing the administration’s reciprocity policy, and urging its extension to their own industry. The boot and shoe manufacturers are evidently finding out that tho home market is not big enough alter all. Our tanning and leather industries have had free raw material for nearly twenty year's, ajtd their development has been constant ever since. Our exports of leather and manufactures thereof have increased very rapidly, reaching $12,275,000 last year. If tne leather industries have profited so greatly with free raw materials, why could not the woolen Industry?

Eggs for Wagers.

River men have already begun to make predictions regarding the opening of navigation, and many have backed their prophesies with something of a tangible form, says the Albany Express. Strange as it may seem, in nearly all the bets made by river men on the time of breaking up of the ice, or the opening of navigation, eggs are the stakes. Whether the reason is that the wagers are paid about Easter time is not known, but certain it is that when all bets are settled, some river men have eggs by the barrel, enough in some cases to last their families for months. Most of the Hudson River “sea dogs” think that navigation will be open about the last of March, but Captain Corey, of the bridge tug Julia Brainard, laid a wager of 100 eggs that there would not be a passenger boat running on the river until after March 20. The captain said that the betting of eggs among river men was nothing new, but had been a practice for years. The St. Louis Grocer, a high-tariff trade journal, remarks; “Contracts for futures in canned salmon, tomatoes, peas, and corn are now made at as low prices as a year ago. The claim of a big rise in prices on account of the new tariff law vanishes into thin air. ” In reply to which the New York Merchants' Review says: “When that claim was made it wasn’t supposed that the canners were going to gouge the farmers outof enough to pay for the increased tin-plate duty when purchasing vegetables. As regards salmon futures, opening prices ought to be lower than a year ago, considering the low price of spot goods. ” It is said by a California paper that the prune crop of that State this year will reach 25,000,000 or 30,000,000 ptfunds. Eleven cents a pound is considered the average wholesale price Of these prunes in New York, making the California crop worth at least 42,750,000. The McKinley duty on prunes is 2 cents a pound, making the protection guaranteed the California prune growers $500,000 for this year. A fat sum on so insignificant a product. Belgium Is the most compact little beehive of industry in Europe. Without any of what we call “protection to home industries,” her commerce has increased tenfold in a half-century. It is said that Belgium will probably make still lower the duties which interfere with the cheap manufacture of articles for export to the United States and South America. A committee appointed by the Omaha Board of Trade has reported that tin in paying quantities does not exist in the Black Hills. And it was especially to protect these Black Hills tin mines that McKinley placed a duty of 4 cents a pound on tin coming into this country after July, 1893, for the use of our new tariff tin-plate mines.

GLORIOUS SUNSHINE

GLADDENS THE EARTH AND BRIGHTENS INDIANA NEWS. Prozpectz for a Good Fruit Crops—Delaware County Poultry Association Organized Ten-Found Jo mi Killed Near Columbus—Deaths, Accidents, Etc, —Jackson County brags of its prospects for fruit —Prison north's library consists of 3,000 standard volumes. —A new and very powerful gas well was developed at Jonesboro. —Sadie Hanes, an abandoned woman, committed suicide at Goshen. —An attempt was made to assassinate Editor J. T. Buck, Bridgeton News. I —William Bowman, Paragon farmer, had a fine hoYse killed by lightning. —Charles Pearson was run over and instantly killed by a train near Stillwell. —Eli Wagner, an old colored citizen of Jeffersonville, was killed by a suburban train. —Near Plain field, Asher Kellum was caught by a falling tree and seriously injured. —Dr. P. Bird, Owensville druggist, had both eyes destroyed by an explosion of chemicals. —By the accidental discharge of a gun Mrs. Viola Jones, of Patronville, was seriously shot. —James Oustott, of Rochester,arrested for the murder of Michael Overmyer, has been released. —Miss Mollie Jackson, of Tipton, attempted suicide, and her life was saved with difficulty. —A Kankakee farmer wouldn’t take 65 cents a bushel offered for his 10,000 bushels of corn. —The contract has been let for a now church at Paoli, for the New Friends denomination. —A farm-house occupied by Mrs. McCormick, at Spencer, was destroyed by fire. Loss, SI,OOO. —William Jones, of Baltimore, Md.. killed by cars near Valparaiso; stealing a ride on a freight. —W. C. Brooks, over 80 years of age, and a pioneer of Jackson Codnty, recently cut a now set of teeth. —Charles Null, aged 12, was fatally burned by the explosion of an empty gasoline barrel at Lebanon. —Four men were arrested at Columbus for violating the law protecting gravel roads from heavily-loaded wagons. —Four children of Noah Sullivan’s, near Mexico, were buried the same day, and two others are dangerously ill. —Columbus tax-payers don’t like tho way assessors are listing their property, and many of them talk of injunction suits. —Sarah Bender, of Bedford, Was standing before an open fire, when her clothing caught fire, burning her seriously. —•During a thunder-storm at Seymour the residence of Gotlieb Winkler was struck by lightning and considerably damaged. —Samuel Gaddis, Petersville farmer, has a 30-acre field which he has planted in corn 50 successive years and never lost a crop. . —lncreased facilities will be added to the Martinsville schools this season to accommodate the rapid increase in school population. —Mrs. Charlotte Keifer, of Fort Wayhe, who had been ill with pneumonia, attempted to walk across the floor, and fell dead. —Mrs. May Maddox Boyse, of Richmond, a relative of George Washington, is dead. Her great grandmother was a sister of Washington. —Fred Zolar, who left his home and family in Metamore twenty years ago—came home last week and will settle down and care for them. —Willie Bowman, aged 15, left La Porte some years ago without saying anything to anybody—now there’s a nice little fortune there waiting for him. —Ed Beier, 17, Evansville, was fatally shot by James Walters. Mt. Vernon from whose insinuating remarks he was defending a respectable young lady. —At Jeffersonville James Coward and his mother quarreled. She struck him with a rock, and he procured a pistol, loaded with shot, and discharged it full in her face, wounding her seriously. —Anten Gchs, a workman, was fatally Injured in the Mount Vernon plan-ing-mill. An emery wheel burst, the fragments crushing the side of his head and destroying both eyes. He cannot recover, ' —Sherman Walton, a young man about 20 years of age, was riding horseback through the back-waters in the river, at Shoals, when he was thrown from his horse and so badly injured that he drowned. —While a fire-proof safe, weighing two tons, was being hoisted up a stairway, at North Manchester, a rope broke, letting the safe roll down into the street, doing considerable damage to the building and the safe. —Alexander Snyder, aged 70, was found dead in his hut at Goshen, his skull being crushed. Two tramps were arrested for the murder and one of them confessed that they did it for the old man’s money. —The night telegraph operator at Fortville, whose name is Scoct, ejected three suspicious-looking characters from the depot. They afterwards attempted to assassinate him by shooting through the window. —The Business Men’s Association of Crawfordsville are arranging to hold a three days’ tournament One day will be devoted to a contest between fire companies. Five hundred dollars in prizes will be offered, competition open to any company in the State.

—A thief attracted , tfye attention of Mr. Dale, a merchant of Salem Center, while he was counting his money. He started after tho intruder, and when ho returned a confederate had taken the money, amounting to $560, and disappeared. —Charles Ostman, a fireman on the Nickel Plate road, was instantly killed at Burr Oaks, his head being crushed to a jelly while he was looking out of tho cab window. He leaves a widow and several children, who reside in Fort Wayne. —Frank W. Fitz-Hugh; at one time a prominent lawyer of New Castle, but for many years a slave to strong drink, was found'dead in the rear room of a saloon there this evening. Ho had been drafting a legal paper, and still had the pen In his hand when found. —Charles Alius, who was stabbed by Dan Brusher at Newburg, last week, is dying, and, realizing the fact, he sent for Brusher at Newburg, took his hand and forgave him. Both men were drinking at the time of the affray. —R. Westervelt, who left his home near Windfall, twenty-two years ago, a lad of 17, and went to Mexico, returned recently for the first time. His parents, who are still living, had thought him dead, ho having never communicated with them since his departure. —The dead body of a man was found at Rochdale, which proved to be that of E. P. Gallagher, a former yardmaster in the employ of the Moncn Railway Company at Bloomington. It is suposod that he undertook to board a south-bound train, and falling beneath the wheels, was cut to pieces. He leaves a wife and child who live at Louisville. —Minnie Moore, the 7-year-old granddaughter of Andrew Moore, of Liberty Township, Wabash County, was burned to death. She was assisting her grandfather in burning out stumps, and the breeze carrying her dress into tho flames, her clothing took fire and she was so badly burned that death resulted soon afterward. Tho flesh on her limbs and face was literally cooked. —A shocking accident occurred in the family of Policeman Vanarsdal, of Columbus. While ho was asleep his wife loft their little child, a daughter, 2 years of ago, In the room with tho father, and went to a grocery store near by. In some manner tho child’s clothing caught firo from a stove in an adjoining room and bofore the clothing could be removed tho child was burned in a horrible manner. It cannot recover.

—Charles Heiser, a brakeman on the Monon, came to sudden grief at Bloomington. He was to have been married, but a few hours before that time the Sheriff of Washington County met him on the street and informed him that he had a warrant for his arrest, made out at the instance of a young lady at Salem whom ho is alleged to have wronged. Though Holser protested his Innocence, the Sheriff refused to release him, and it was necessary to postpone the wedding. —The Delaware County Poultry Association has been organized, with over a half-hundred members. The object of the association Is to further the breeding of and raising fine poultry in the county. The officers of the association are: President, H. C. Marsh; Vice President, J. W. Taylor; Treasurer, William Abbott; Secretary, Allen A. Wilkinson. Tho Board of Directors are: Eimerßoss, F. S. McCrillus, Lewis Cowan, Mr. Van Metre and Mr. Thompson. *

—A dastardly attempt was made by a young “tough” named Byers to assassinate Rev. -Dobson, a Methodist minister at Reed’s Station, about thirteen miles north of Mitchell. The minister in his sermon repremanded some of the congregation for misconduct. Byers left the house, but returned in a short time, and : walking up to the pulpit drew a danger-ous-looking knife and made an attempt to stab the minister, but by the prompt interference of others he was prevented t from doing any harm. • , —James Perry, the largest land-owner in Bartholomew County, has, some two miles north of Columbus, on the Louis- ’ vllle division of the Pennsylvania lines, a large fish-pond, covering twelve acres or , more. In this pond are a large number of German carp from one to three years old. For several days he has bedn greatly annoyed by a strange bird of the fishing variety of unusual large size. He had fired many times at it. but was unable to kill or drive it away. This news reached some expert shots from Columbus who visited the pond and succeeded,' on the fortieth shot, in killing It. The bird proved to be a loon, and weighed ten pounds. It will be mounted. —.John McEdmundson is a farmer living south of Spiceland. The other day he, with his son, was absent from the house, leaving his wife and his sis-, ter at home. During the afternoon a couple of men entered the house, one flourishing a revolver and the other a bag of stones. They demanded money,, but being told there was no money In the house, one of them struck the lady of the house with the bag of stones, making a serious wound on her head, and knocking her down. They then attacked the other lady, offering her violence, but she escaped and began ringing the farm bell, when the villains ran away. There Is no clew as to their identity, but are supposed to be tramps. —Judge Ellison, of the Madison Circuit Court, has rendered a decision in support of an ordinance recently passed by the City Council of Elmwood, requiring all screens and blinds to be removed from saloons on Sunday. —The City Council of Crawfordsville/ In preparing to put in an electric light plant, has made contracts amounting to' $19,000. and the building is yet to be purchased. Also, the city is to pay for setting the poles, stretching the wires and placing the lamps.

P. T. BARNUM IS DEAD.

THE SHOWMAN EXPIRES AT HIS HOME. Without Exception Ho Wm tho World*® Greatest Showman—Some of Hi® Notable Enterprises—Sketch of Hl® Long and Remarkable Career. Phtneas Taylor Barnum, the great showman, died at Marina, Conn., .after. an illness of twenty-one weeks. He had during that whole period firmly insisted that his sickness was only temporary, and that ho would soon be out again. Mr. Barnum was wlihout doubt the greatest showman on earth. Very eatly in life he tcok the measure of averager human nature and profited by the accuracy of his gauge. Ho found It both curious and credulous, and he catered to it accordingly. Nearly ' forty years ago’ ho wrote his autobiography, for he was even then famous, and did not scruple to show the manner in which he had imposed upon a public anxious to sea the marvelous. Artemus Ward's peagreen* ox, the history of which he told thirty years ago, was a pale reflection of Barnum's woolly horse, and various other devices with which he was not unwilling to admit he had. amused the public withal. The nea-green ox fell into a Jersey canal and lost its peculiar color, resuming thereafter, as Ward explained, agricultural pursuits. As he advanced in years Barnum found it more profitable to satisfy ordinary curiosity than to attempt to play upon credulity. The menagerie formed a never-falling source of public Interest, and liking for the hippodrome, the ringmaster, the clown, the little lady who in abbreviate! skirts jumped through the hoops, the Intelligent dogs, and the performing elephants never flagged. Barnum soon camo to look upon himself as a curiosity and us such made in a coach and four the circuit of the ring. Far more attractive than the footlights, the canvas yielded an immense fortune to the man who could show what he described as tho greatest aggregation on earth. Barnum had long been a millionaire, and though he affected public spirit the trail of the sawdust was over it all. Ho had no capacity for politics, no real understanding of great public questions. He was evermore tho public’s obedient serf vant, taking the public’s cash at the box-office. First and last he was a showman, with something bizarro in his character. He was a man of the ring and tho band-wagon. No one in his profession has achieved equal fame or fortune. Ho was master of his art, because he pursued his profession with undeviating ardor and profound knowledge of human kind.

Phlneas Taylor Barnum, the most widely known, unique, yet thoroughly typical American of the time, was born tn • the little town of Bethel, Conn., on the 3th of Jijly; IW.' Hfrf gfttitffather, Ephraim Barnum, bhd bedff ti cbYltlnetital captain In the revolutfoWurf war, and his father, Philo Barnum,'took iurnt* at tailoring, innkeeping and farming; Phlneas’ boyhood passed uneventfully In his native town, whore he showed in school and On the farm the traits of thrift and shrewdness which so strongly marked his character in after life. About 1830, Mr. Barnum became deeply Interested in politics, and, publication having been denied certain communications of his to a Danbury paper on the dangers of sectarian Interference In political charaeterlstlo determination he started, In October, 1831, a paper of his own—the Herald of Freedom. The vehemence of his youthful editorials secured for the paper a large subscription list at once and several libel suits very shortly, In one of which he was imprisoned for sixty days., lie continued to edit his paper from jail, and the notoriety he acquired still further swelled Its circulation. It was In 1835 that P. T. Barnum at last struck his life’s path. He had heard of the existence of George Washington's negro nurse, then at the advanced age of 161 years, and, selling out his business again, he bought the right to exhibit her for SI,OOO, and commenced his career as a showman. His success was Immediate and electrifying. About this time he obtained control of the defunct American Museum, New York. Wildly Improbable as were the promises held out by his advertisements, indefatigable as he was In devising schemes to humbug the public for their own amusement and his profit, there was never a time when his entertained victims did not gladly acknowledge that they had “got more than their money’s worth out of the show. ” A list of the pranks he played with his patrons, the undreamed of monstrosities he exhibited, would read like the catalogue of the ships in tlx) Iliad. Here was to be seen the “club that killed Captain Cook," “Niagara Falls with real water,” the “woolly horse,” the “Feejee mermaid,** the “fish with legs,” mechanical toysand automatons. He Inaugurated the “baby contests,” which since have bocome features in fairs the world around. He placed powerful calclnm lights on the top of his museum, giving an unheard ot illumination of lower Broadway—precursors of the electric lights of to day. Of all the adventures with which the name of Barnum was ever connected, the most successful was his engagement ot Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, for a series of concerts tn America and Havana in 1849. For these concerts he was to pay the cantatrice the then unheard of sum of SI,OOO a night Barnum's gross receipts from the nfnety-flvo Jenny Lind concerts amounted to about three-quarters of a million dollars. In 1844, during his first visit to England, the great showman exhibited to the British public sixteen Indians, Including sqvaws, t hus antedating the recent enterof Buffalo Bill. , - From that time to the day of his death Mr. Barnum led all rivals in the show busine-s. Millions of Americans will revere his memory.

In “A. Miner" Key.

A tall man can’t help living Tong. A millionaire has large will power. A novel industry—writing romances. An affair of the heart—when ft is a trump. The sewing machine agent’s toast— Howe. Conjugal love is not preserved in family jars Liquor bills are often paid at the lunatic asylum A sailor should always take a cat-boat in a squall. Is it proper to speak of two physleians as a paradox? There is a great deal of back talk ia the phonograph. Suspenders ought to sell well in bracing weather. It doesn’t hurt a missionary to be shot in his tracts.