Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 65, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1910 — Page 3
REFORM THE LAND LAWS.
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OW backward we are still is shown by the fact that no urgency of public opinion and no pressure of common honesty has'yet succeeded in making the preliminary step—-a reasonable reform of the land laws. The agencies of justice are employed in discovering and punishing land thieves whose
crimes were invited by legislation apparently framed for ” their especial profit. The repeal of the desert land act, the timber and stone act, and the stringent enforcement of the provisions of the homestead act are necessary to honest dealing with the land question. Speculators and land grabbers prevent this, while occasional Congressmen and Senators are smirched and disgraced by particl—pating In land frauds. We have enlarged the unit of. public land for Alaska, in order to tempt dishonesty there. We have made it 160 acres for land reclaimed at great expense, although a large family could not possibly cultivate twenty acres of this land as It should be. Perhaps economy must be substituted for the extravagance now too prevalent in every department of government before we can hope to see It supreme In land reclamation and distribution. But this plain business conception must be restored before the country can hope either to realize upon or retain its most valuable resources.— World’s Work. DON’T PUNISH THE FAMILIES.
EARLY everybody nowadays fancies ho perceives wherein the social organization can be improved. Once in a while somebody does suggest a concrete change that looks good. A judge in Chicago recommends that a portion of the fines or the labor of prisoners in bridewells, houses of correc-
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tiou, jails and the like& be diverted from the coffers of the State and paidTto the destitute wife or family, whose livelihood is suspended during the sentence of the culprit. A wife beater or a child beater is properly convicted and punished. But the punishment falls also upon his family, dependent on the wages he cannot earn while serving his sentence. Women and children, too, are deterred from complaining against the bully and niffiau, because they prefer his blows and abuse to near starvation. Many an ill-used wife has begged the judge to let her husband off because while he is in prison her babes Will suffer. Money derived from fines or from labor of prisoners, the State can dispense with, provided it is used to supply families with necessities until the brute is returned to society to make a living for his own. Money thus
DO YOU BELIEVE IN SIGNS?
Omena That Foretell Weather and Dream* That Signify Fate. In all times superstitions have had • powerful hold on men and women, high and low. The great Napoleon himself was a believer in omens, it is chronicled. As times and knowledge have progressed most superstitions have been relegated to their proper sphere, the Boston Herald says, yet even to-day almost every living being is prone to superstitious influence, whether seriously or more out of habit. For instance, how many men choose thirteen as a designating number? Those who do believe the reverse of the old version. Below is a list of the commoner superstitions, leaving out such as are In dally prominence. You may find your “hobby” in the list: Six weeks after you hear the first katydid look out for the frost. Blow out the candle, and If the wick continues long to smolder look for bad weather. If It goes out quickly the weather will be fair. When you hear the first frogs In the spring you may know the frost Is out of the ground. The last Friday of each month Is the almanac index for the next month. If the^weather be fair the month will be likewise; if foul so will the month be. If It storms the first Sunday In the month It will storm every Sunday lu the month. When a person kills a snake he does well to consider what kind of weather he would like. If he hangs the snake up It will rain; if he buries it the' weather will be fair. Rub a cat’s back the wrong way, and If you see the sparks It Is a sign of cold weather. The bones of rheumatic persons ache when a storm Is brewing. When you find tea grounds floating in your cup you know that you "'are going to have company. If the grounds are soft. It is a woman who Is coming; If hard, a man. If the grounds are long the person coming Is tall, If short the visitor will be, short. If you dream of falling and are awakened by the fancied Jar of landing, it is a sign that you are going to be 111. If, however, you awake while still In midair you may be assured you will continue in good health. To dream of a funeral is a sign of a wedding. To dream of a wedding is a sign of a funeral. If you dream of snakes It Is a sign you have an enemy. Let a young woman pin a four-leaf clover over the door and the first pnmarried man who comes in the door will be the one she la th marry. Sleep with a piece of Wedding cake under your pillow for three nights In succession and whatever dream - «s the third night will come to. pass.
Editorials
Opinions o/ Great Papera on Important Subject*
Have you white marks on your nails? Put your hands together and repeat this rhyme while In succession you touch finger tips, beginning with thumbs: A friend, a foe, a gift, a beau, a Journey you go. Notice on which Huger nails the marks are and .you will thus gain some inkling of your future. Born on Monday, fair of face. Born on Tuesday, full of God’s grace. Born on Wednesday, merry ajsd glad. Born on Thursday, sour and sad. Born on Friday, godly given. Born on Saturday, work for a living. Born on Sunday, never shall want. So there’s the week and the end on’t. To cut the finger nails on Sunday morning Is a sign you will do something you are ashamed of before the week Is out Pass me salt, pass me sorrow. It used to be a pretty sure sign that a man was conceited if he went about with his hat brim turned up In front. If the bottom of your foot Itches you may know that you are to step on strange lands. Put the wrong foot Out of bed first when you get up' In the morning and you will be cross all day. Always get up with right foot foremost. Don’t make a friend a gift of a knife, for, according to every authority versed in sign lore, If you do, it will cut your friendship. When you have the rheumatism carry a potato In your pocket. The potato will become hard after a time and believers In Its virtue affirm that this Is because of the rheumatism it has absorbed. To find a horseshoe In the road *>s a sign of good luck. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. When you see a shooting star, If you can say “Money before the week’s out” three times before It Is lost sight of you will have some money before the week is out. It Is a sign you are going to be rich If you tumble upstairs. Sneeze twice when you first get up and you will hear of a death before the night. x . In all lands ravens and crows have been considered birds of ill omen. The natives of India believe that elephants have a religion and form of worship. A great Soapy country people believe that the screeching of an owl indicates impending calamity. In Dalmatia it Is an exceedingly auspicious omen for a cat to sneeze when a bride enters the house. In Wales it is believed that if any one kills a wren he will fall down and break a bene before the end of the year. In almost every country the howling of a dog io regarded as a bad omen.
expended would be a real saving to the State, since It would prevent the breaking up and demoralisation of families and would keep some from lapsing into charges upon the State. Also there would be less wife beating -and general brutality, or else more punishment for the same.—Minneapolis Journal. AN EXAMPLE OF FBOGBESS.
N 1850 Texas sold to the United States a strip of territory approxlmating'loo,ooo,000 acres for $10,000,000. Texas was larger then than she is now and was in debt. The land was considered valuable and Texas needed the money. At an average valuation of $lO an acre the land to-day would
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be worth a billion dollars. As a matter of fact, some of it is worth times $lO an acre and is all the time becoming more valuable. There was opposition to the sale at the time, but it was ineffective. Those who favored the sale contended that the land was worthless and that the United States Government was buying an elephant. The Legislature thought it wise to sell, and the deal was put through. The territory sold now covers the eastern half of New Mexico, a corner of Oklahoma and Kansas and a strip of Colorado. If Texas had retained that land she would to-day be about one-third larger and a billion dollars wealthier than at present. The outcome is a striking illustration of the growth and progress of this country.—Louisville Courier-Journal. LIFE-SAVING STATIONS FOB MINERS.
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ONGRESS is earnestly taking up the question of making the life of a miner more secure. The Federal Government has already taken some steps in this direction, looking to the establishment of stations from which experts may go out to mines where there has been a disaster. One
Senator —name, Bailey, of Texas —has raised the question of State rights. To the credit of all the other Senators, the question is not raised. This Government provides life-saving stations along the coast, both on salt water and on the Great Lakes, and places there trained men, ready on a moment’s notice to rush to the rescue of sailors and others Imperiled by the waters. Why not also have these life-saving stations distributed properly over the country, where they can go quickly to save the lives of men in danger in mines? The work Is a good one and the country will be gratified if steps are taken by our Congress to further promote this work.—Danville Commercial News.
generally predicting death to some person of the household. In France It is believed that the settling of a white pigeon upon a chimney is a sign of speedy death for some one in the house. There is a superstition among the negroes of the south that to meet a frog is a lucky Incident, indicating that the one thus favored is about to receive money from some unexpected quarter. It is a favorite superstition in England that the bacon of swine killed in the waning of the moon will waste away In the process of curing or cooking much more than bacon of hogs killed while the moon is growing
SAFES IN BIG HOTELS.
Valuables Kept in Them by Gnoete for Years at a Time. A woman walked up to the counter of a fashionable kfotel and asked for a package of valuables which was In the safe. "If 1 had not wanted one particular thing I suppose I should have left tho package where It was for another three years,” she said to the clerk. “Yes,” said the clerk In answer to a question after the woman left, “that packet had really been In our safe for three years. Why, we have all sorts of valuable papers. Jewelry and even money that are intrusted to our keeping for years at a time. People seem to prefer a hotel safe to a safety deposit vault. One reason perhaps is that It costs nothing. Another Is that the standard of hotel clerks has Improved* “It is astonishing the amount of jewelry that people keep In hotel safes. Of course the ownejs have originally stopped in the hotel, but they go away, .leaving their valuables, and I have known such persons to be gone as much as two years and never make an inquiry about their property In that time. “To show you how much confidence people have in hotels and their employes I might mention that the other day a man came in here and put Jour 11,000 bills in an envelope, wrote his name on the latter and asked me to put it in the safe. Not long ago another man actually did the same, thing with seven SIO,OOO bills.” The clerks of several other hotels talked In a similar strain without any outside suggestion. “I’ll bet I have handled more than a million dollars’ worth of Jewelry today," said one. "Look here,” and he opened the safe and piled six or eight big Jewelry cases on the counter, but hurriedly put them back. “In one of those I know there la over $200,000 worth, and what I showed you waa only a few of what the safe contains.” —New York Bun; The only reliable confidant In the world la your pillow, and look under the bed before you confide In your pit low. - -
WANTED, SOME PATCHES.
A small boy sat by himself on a stone wall. Behind the wall, and at some distance from it, was an ivy-col-ored stone house suggesting wealth and comfort. The other houses in the neighborhod were much more modest, and the group of children playing on the common in front of the stone house had the cheerfully soiled and ragged aspect of youngsters whose parents are not much given to providing fine clothes for their children to play in. But the boy sitting on the wall evidently belonged to the stone house, and bis garments had a corresponding neatness. Presently a jlady came out of the house and moved down the path to the -sidewalk. "Hello, Bobby!” she remarked, when she reached thesmall bqy, “You seem to be flocking by yourself. Anything the matter?” Bobby looked up gloomily. "I’m sick of it, Aunt Ellen,” he replied, bitterly. "Thatfs what’s the matter.” “Sitting on a wall never got anybody anywhere yet,” she said, pleasantly. “What are you sick of?” “Clothes,” replied Bobby. “Clothes! What’s the matter with, your clothes? They look all right to. me.” “That’s because you’re not a boy,” replied Bobby, briefly. "Perhaps it is,” agreed his aunt. “But what’s the matter with them? You’re quite the best dressed boy in the neighborhood.” . “Humph!” sniffed-Bobby. He leaned toward her confidentially. "Don’t you s’pose you could make mamma let me have a couple of patches —just little ones?” . “Patches! What under ths sun do you want with —” “Just on my knees,” insisted Bobby. “All the other fellers have patches, or holes. I’ve made holes myself in my knees, but It don’t do any good. Mama always goes and gets me a new pair of trousers. It makes you feel silly always to have a whole pair wheft all the other fellers have holes or patches.” He kicked his heels disconsolately against the stone wall. “You can’t have any fun when you’re different from all the other fellers,”, he added. “I suppose it does separate you from your kind," said Aunt Ellen, thoughtfully. “Perhaps we could persuade your mother between us if I stayed-to dinner and made a business of it. It strikes me as being an important issue.” Bobby looked puzzled. “It’s important to me,” he replied, solemnly, as he climbed down from the wall, took his aunt’s hand, and started with her back to the stone house. —Youth’s Companion.
SEEKING SOLOMON’S TEMPLE.
English Expeditionto Palestine Has Found Nd Trace Thus Far. King Solomon’s temple, the ark of the covenant, Aaron’s rod and the seven-branched golden candlestick which stood In the holy of holies — these are Just a tew of the treasures for which a party of young Englishmen are now excavating in Palestine in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, the New “York Times’ London correspondent says. The majority of experts are of the opinion that these treasures are not to be found where they are now being looked for, but the members of the expedition have other information upon which they place reliance. This Is < cryptogram which Is said to have been found In the Talmud by a Finnish engineer and which is thought to give a clue to the place where the treasures of King Solomon’s temple are hidden. Exactly what this cryptogram Is has naturally been kept secret by the Finnish engineer, but he has convinced his supporters In the enterprise of its reliability and already a good deal has been done toward a practical demonstration of its accuracy or Inaccuracy. Perhaps even more interesting than this search for King Solomon’s treasures is the composition of the party engaged in it. At the head of the syndicate is Clarence Wilson, brother-in-law of Lady Sarah Wilson, and a very wealthy man. Then there Is Robert Vivian Duff, commonly known as Robin, a lieutenant In the Grenadier Guards and husband of Lady Juliet Duff, perhaps the tallest, as she- is certainly one of the most beautiful women In London society. With these is associated the Hon. Cyril Ward, a brother of the Earl of Dudley and of the Hon. John Ward, who married Miss Jean Reid, daughter of the American ambassador here. Cyril Ward, like Wilson and Duff, Is a man of means, having married the Baroness de Brienen, A great Dutch heiress. Other members of the syndicate are Capt Montague B. Parker of the Grenadier Guards, a brother of the Earl of Morley; and two other guardsmen, the Hon. Mr. Walah and Mr. Foley. Three months ago, the necessary permits having been obtained from the Turkish government, the party sailed for Palestine in a yacht specially purchased for the purpose by Mr. Wilson, and work was shortly afterward started In the neighborhood of the Pool of Siloam. Sixty men were engaged as laborers and the excavations went merrily on. They are still going on, but, perhaps less merrily, for up to the present nothing has been discovered to resard their labors. One by one the hseda of the expedition are returning to England, and Clarence Wilson got
back home this week, some of the others having preceded him. Capt. Parker, Mr. Walsh and Mr. Foley still remain fn Palestine, and it is supposed that the party have not yet given up hope of discovering the treasures they set out to seek.
BUSINESS CONVERSATION.
It la jX*alne« All Known Feminine Principles to" Be Brief. It is most difficult to accustom oneself to business brevity, even if one is a business woman. There is something so meager, almost poverty stricken, about restricting the conversation to the business in hand. It does not seem cordial. And then to stop just as yotf have begun to like your business associate —ho, no, never can one cease to feel that there is something very unsatisfactory about business methods. The man may be a busy magnate, but that is no reason why one should be curt with him. He is probably a father as well and perhaps a lover of dogs. At any rate make an effort to find out. When the six minutes have passed which it took to settle the matter you called to see about, ask how his children are, and if he thinks there will be any skating this winter. There Is no need of being surly just because business has been touched upon. One can always say, “How is your wife’s cold!” or “the price of meat is going up, Isn’t it?” —something folksy and nice. Even men in swivel chairs must have a human side, and although one scowls and barks while business la under discussion, it being well understood that this is the way to give the impression that one is clear headed, hurried and keen, when business has been pushed aside it is so against all a woman’s instincts to leave abruptly, the New York Sun says. One wants to settle back and murmur, “What an awful tie you’re wearing,” or “Don’t you think French opera Is ■being rather overdone?” This thinking quickly, speaking quickly, acting quickly and always to the point, it will just end in the business women stopping one day, turning fiercely about, and addressing the air behind them with, “Aw, stop yer pushln’*, there isn’t any real hurry. As for us, we have got to be irrelevant or bust.”
Adorning a Tale.
In the “Autobiography” of Albert Pell, that fine old English gentleman whose whole life was devoted to the reform of the English poor laws and to the general uplifting and Improvement of the condition, moral, social and political, of the English agricultural laborer, It is related that one of the first well known men whom he met as a small boy was Wilberforce, who used to stay with his father, Sir Albert Pell, in the country. When one of Pell’s friends was an infant in arms, his nurse was swept by an election mob to the very foot of the York hustings, at a famous contest for the county in which Wilberforce was one of the principal actors. With all the earnestness and vigor which distinguished him be was pressing his beneficent views on the abolition of slavery. * Carried away by the depths of his convictions and enthusiastic inspiration, he reached over the balcony, and snatching the baby from the arms of its astonished nurse, held it up over his head in the face of the people, exclaiming: “See this and hear my prophecy! Before this child dies there will not be a white man In the world owning a slave.” My friend, adds Mr. Pell, survived the Civil War in the United States, and virtually Wilberforce’s prophecy was fulfilled.
Could Prove It.
A few days ago an aiderman was glancing over the register at one of the local hotels to see If a friend of his was registered there. Near him stood a man who was holding on to the desk for dear life in a semlsuccessful attempt to maintain his balance. “I s-s’pose you think I’m drunk,” said the stranger, looking belligerently at the aiderman. “No, not In the least,” replied the aiderman, anxious to avoid the possibility of a row. “Well, you’d know I was if I let go this desk,” answered the man.—Newark Star.
“Chinese’* Gordon.
It was there that I saw General Gordon for the only time. He was a curiously listless looking, nervous little man, with a sort of furtive look and expression as if he always anticipated something unpleasant. He was not agreeable or encouraging, and he gave very little outward evidence of the power and Influence be possessed. He spoke little and seemed bored when he was addressed or asked any question.—Lady St. Hdler’s Memoirs.
Evidence.
Patience—Do you know that squirrels love music? Patrice —No, I do not “Well, the next time you start tho phonograph watch the squirrels and see If they don’t run away!”—Yonkers Statesman.
Willing to Say Good-By.
“I pay as I go,” declared the loudmouthed person. "No doubt you do,” answered the quiet man, “but I’d rather see the style Ot your departure than the color of your money.” If you care to have friends it Is a good thing to remember not to storm if things In this world do not suit you; people hate storms and run away to -escape them. A truth-telling woman has but few feminine friends. —----
FACTS IN TABLOID FORM.
Ireland’s highest apple product does not exceed fifty thousand barrels per annum. Canada was formally ceded to England by the treaty of Paris, signed - on Feb. 10, 1763. A baby walrus of six months will eat about fifty pounds of codfish in the course of a day. Our coal shipments to Canada jumped one million dollars last year over the preceding records. A bushel of barley yields fifteen gallons of beer in Great Britain, and twenty-five in Germany. In the Belgian parliament there is an age minimum of twenty-five for deputies and forty for senators. ery 1,380 Inhabitants. Kansas is next with one bank for every 1,500 people. In one hot day last summer no fewer than nine thousand persons made use of one of New York’s public baths. In New York during the close times in 1907, 72 per cent of the collateral used as the basis of clearing house certificates was commercial paper. A London company has spent $500,000 in advertising in the last twentyfive years. This great campaign was launched by the expenditure of SSO. Difficulty is being experienced by Japanese banks in finding employment for their deposits. The First Bank is said to have 8,600,000 yen ($4,300,000) lying idle and the Mitsui Bank 7,200,000 yen ($3,600,000). The first trust in the United States to pass the $100,000,000 mark in capitalization was the United States Leather Company, organized-in 1893. Its capital stock combined with an issue of bonds amounted to $138,000,000. According to the Pekin Daily News, the Chinese ministry of the interior intends to make investigations concerning the prohibition of early marriages, which it considers to be attended with evil results. The age may be fixed at 20. In point of commercial value, the silver product of the United States last year was the smallest since 1871. Mint bureau figures give the gold value of the 53,849,000 ounces fine produced in 1909 as $28,010,100, making the price 52.016 cents an ounce. A new method of preserving flour has recently been adopted with success in England. It is done by means of compression. With hydraulic apparatus the flour is squeezed into the ~ forms of bricks, and the pressure destroys all forms of larval life, thus preserving the flour from the ravages of Insects, while it is equally secure from mold. Three hundred pounds of compressed flour occupy the same bpace as one hundred pounds in the ordinary state. A modern highway 275 miles long through the “short grass country,” in western Kansas, would not only prove an illuminating object lesson for the entire State, but for all the country as well. The people of Western Kansas have started a movement to afford the world just that object lesson in road building. From Newton to the Colorado line it is proposed to construct a continuous boulevard along the Arkansas river and call it “The New Santa Fe Trail.” —Kansas City Times.
Plongastel-Daolas Is a little Breton community In which marriages are celebrated but twice a year on “the day of the kings” and “the day of tho great indulgences.” On Jan. 11, twen-ty-eight couples wearing the costumes of their ancestors were married at a single ceremony by a venerable priest. On going from the ceremony the husbands were given much drink. Tho brides, turning up their skirts to escape the mud, ran to give a last look at the pullets destined for the wed* ding feast.—Le Crl de Paris. The latest step In conservation Is the introduction of a bill by Delegate Wickersham, of Alaska, providing for a national coal reserve. The principle is that of the national forests. Ho suggests that Congress set aside in perpetuity a national coal reserve of fifteen thousand acres of the best coal bearing lands In Alaska, a board of three experts being appointed for that purpose. This national coal reserve may be augmented by the recovery of private coal lands, obtained improperly or fraudulently from the United States Writing in Science on Dr. Nlshlkawa, whose recent death Is announced. Professor Bashford refers to this Japanese savant’s remarkable discovery of a process of making perfectly spherical’ pearls. The usual pearl, owing. to the method of growth, is only hemispherical. Dr. Nlshikawa was a member of the imperial fisheries bureau in Toklo, and during the last ten years of his life made a special study of pearl production. As a result pearl oysters, which had secreted spherical pearls were recently exhibited at the University of Toklo. One of the great banks of the old world Is the State Bank of Russia, but this Institution differs very greatly from the banks of England, Ireland, Germany and France and many other of the great banks of the world from the fact that it Is owned entirely by the Russian government. ‘ This bank receives and distributes the entire revenue of the Russian empire. It was founded in 1860. The capital is fixed at 50,000,000 rubles. (Ruble equals 51.5 cents). The bank's head is at St Petersburg, though it has about one hundred branches. Tho limit of its currency issue is 100,006/* 000 rubles In excess of tho gold on hand.