Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1913 — Page 2

OF the last resting place of our Civil war heroes none is more heavily banked with flowers on Decoration day than the tomb ' of Gen. John A. Logan. This remembrance would be entirely explainable Y W by the circumstance that , T the commander of the W Army of the Tennessee I— 1 f , was not only oo« of the foremost military leaders of the ( Union army, but was exceptionally popular with his soldiers, enough of whom are still living to insure lavish offerings of flowers on each recurring holiday, without any dependence whatever upon expressions of gratitude from a rising generation. However, there is yet another incentive, quite aside tfrom this common patriotic impulse, which goes to explain this exceptional floral tribute to General Logan, and which makes it seem especially appropriate. This is found in the fact, all too often overlooked, that General Logan was the founder of Memorial day, as we observe it in the present era. The claim is made, apparently with perfect warrant, that tiie fundamental idea of Memorial day originated in the south, where a number of kind-hearted women inaugurated, immediately after the close of the war, the prictice of devoting some chosen day in the spring to the decoratidn with flowers of the graves of the fallen soldiers —Federal and Confederate alike. *To General Logan, though, belongs the credit of establishing Decoration day in May as a definite, fixed, annual event of uniform observance in the great majority of the states of the Union. There had been no general celebration and no fixed date until in 1868 General Logan, then acting as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, took the initiative and Issued an order fixing May 30 as the date for the annual Memorial day exercises and calling upon every G. A. R. post in the country to engage in fitting ceremonies and scatter tokens of regard over the last resting places of their former comrades in arms. It is predicted that ere many years there will be general adoption throughout the country of the practice, already introduced in some places, of reading in connection with every Memorial day program the original order of General Logan instituting this event, which has become <uch an important one on our calendar. Such a plan would, of course, follow the example of the general custom of reading the Declaration of Independence in connection with Fourth of July exercises. For the present, however. General Logan’s recognition In this connection consists in special services at his tomb, and, as has been explained, an exceptional profusion of flowers, many of the latter in the form of elaborate designs suggestive of notable events in his military career. The last resting place of General Logan is admirsbly chosen with reference to opportunities for keeping green the memory of this fiery warrior. The body of General Logan lfes in a handsome private vault, occupying the most prominent place in the national cemetery connected with the United States Soldiers’ home, near Washington, D. C. Among the thousand inmates of the home are a number what fought under General Logan, and naturally it is a work of love for them to see to it that his tomb bears • evidence of the undying admiration of his “boys” of half a century ago. At the Soldiers’ Home cemetery the veterans do most of the scattering of flowers on Decoration day, there not being sufficient children on hand, as a rule, to place blossoms on so many graves. But the posies which the soldiers carry to the Logan tomb are by no means the only ones that come thither on this festival of remembrance. Floral designs are sent from

Long Time on His Feet.

Few if any of the Inscriptions on commemorative tablets at Westminster have escaped criticism or challenge on some point of detail. But what shall be said of the astounding statement on the bronze plate placed in the floor of Westminster hall recently f It reads: On this spot Warren Hastings Stood for His Trial 1788—1795, No wonder that the great governor

RESTING PLACE of FOUNDER of MEMORIAL DAY

G. A. R. posts and patriotic organizations in various parts of the country, and particularly from Illinois, which state General Logan represented in the United States senate after the close of his military career. The fact that General Logan’s last resting place is a vault,

thereby providing a shelter for elaborate floral pieces, has also seemingly had an influence in inspiring this form of tribute. The vault is constantly filled with such pieces, including representations of flags, corps badges anfi other military insignia. Some of those to be seen are fashioned from fresh flowersy but the walls of the vault are covered with permanent wreaths and other memorials fashioned from artificial flowers that closely counterfeit nature’s most delicate products in appearance. The Logan tomb is near the main entrance to the cemetery, and is approached through a massive monumental gateway, the white pillars of which bear the names of a number of the republic’s military heroes. Beside the vault, as though standing guard over it, is an old war cannon, and a few steps beyond the visitor enters a labyrinth of low hedge, form v ed from the sweet-scented box. The principal exercises are held on the morning of Memorial day in a natural amphitheater formed by the wooded slope which descends at the rear of the Logan vault. The speakers occupy a rostrum conforming in its memorial pillars to the architecture of the gateway already mentioned, and the orator of the day never fails to make reference to the cemetery's most distinguished occupant and the part he played In giving to the nation one of its most significant holidays. Following the general program special services are held at the Logan vault, these services being, as a rule, In charge of either the Grand Army of the Republic, of which organization General Logan served for three terms as commander-in-chief, or one or another of the associations made up of natives of the state of Illinois. The place of honor at these services 1b always accorded to Mrs. J\)hn A. Logan, the widow' of the general. —— Persons who have visited the Logan tomb in the past and who return for this year’s Memorial day exercises will find one important change in the surroundings. Occupying a site just across the road and overlooking the tomb there has lately been completed the largest and most important building of the United States Soldiers’ home. Grant hall, as the new structure has been named in honor of the Union leader, is a splendid marble structure that will cost, with its furnishings, close to one and one-half million dollars. It Is designed for inmates of the homeland a large proportion of the windows in the big building will command a view of the last shelter tent of General Logan and the floral tokens banked behind its iron gates. It may, perhaps, strike the reader as a trifle odd that there should be need of a new building to enlarge the quarters of a soldiers’ home, whereas the old soldiers in the national aiid state homes in all parts of the United States are rapidly responding to their last roll-call. The explanation of the situation at the institution on the heights beyond Washington is found in the fact that this refuge is absolutely unique among all the soldiers’ homes in our land. Whereas the other homes are supported by the national or state governments as havens for volunteer veterans (principally of the Civil war) when overtaken by 111 health or advancihg years, the institution where

general was weary of the business at the end of those seven years I The fact, of course, is that the opening scenes of the impeachment familiar to everybody through Macaulay’s purple patch were enacted in Westminster hall, and presumably Hastings stood during part of the time. Apart from the historic tradition, the use of the great hall was necessary because the commons claimed the right of full attendance as a committee of the whole bouse. The prolonged business of the trial, however

General Logan sleeps Is intended only for enlißted men who served in the regular army and without regard to which war they saw service in—or, for that matter, whether they saw service in any war. Not only has this home no connection with any of the volunteer homes, national or state, but It receives no appropriation from the government, being wholly maintained by the enlisted men of the regular army, who contribute to its support out of their pay on much the same theory that a man in life insurance. This is the forerunner of all the soldiers’ homes, now scattered across the country from Virginia to California, having been established ten years before the outbreak of the Civil war. That the home is a decidedly prosperous institution may be inferred from the fact that it has several million dollars to its cridit in the United States treasury, and its buildings, largely of white marble, are set in grounds comprising more than 600 acres of beautiful land that cost about one-third of a million dollars, and 1b maintained as a park with recreation grounds, pavilions where band concerts are held, and ten miles of graded, macadamized roads winding through selected groves of native and foreign trees and high, open ground that commands splendid views of the capital city. A man must have seen 20 years of service in the regular army ere he is entitled to a home in this institution unless, mayhap, he has been disabled by wounds or disease in the service and in the line of duty. He must also be honorably discharged from the army before he can admitted to the home, so that all the inmates of the institution are civilians.

Marching past the Logan vault on Memorial day one may see Inmates of home who have served anywhere from 20 to 30 years in the regular army. Their ages range all the way from twenty-four to ninety, but more than half of all the veterans are between the ages of sixty and ninety. Several score of these old warriors saw service Jn the war with Mexico, whereas considerably more than 300 of them participated in the Civil war.

Automatic Water Finder.

No thoroughly reliable automatic water finder has yet been discovered. A peculiarly designed magnetic needle has been employed for years, but is by no means invariably successful. One designer has employed electricity in connection with magnetism in the form he not quite correctly designated galvanism, but his results have met with much criticism. It is wiser not to depend upon any of the advertised mechanical water or mineral finders, so far as to make financial investment In them, at this stage of our knowledge of the subject.

Aeroplane Frightens Grouse.

Complaint has t»een made on the grouse moors in the Glenesk district of Forfarshire,. Scotland, that the grouse fly away at the noisy approach of an aeroplane, and it is feared that them will be a great migration of birds. The .military authorities state that the experience of aviators elsewhere is that the birds will become accustomed to the presence and noise of the areoplanes, and thenceforward will not migrate.

(lasting in all 145 dayß), went forward year after year in the house of lords, the great hall being requisitioned once again when the lords delivered Judgment on April 23, 1795. It is odd that Lord Curzon, the prime mover in the affair of the tablet, a stickler for eplgraphic accuracy, should have permitted so ludicrous an inscription to have gone through.

Paper From Bamboo.

From a ton of bamboo fiber nearly half a ton of paper can be made.

RAILROADS HELP OUT

ORGANIZED EFFORTS TO PROMOTE GOOD FARMING. Avowedly a Business Proposition on the Part of the Lines, a Great Impetus is Given Movement for Better Farming.

On account of the great extent of the agricultural promotion work ot

better farming. This work is carried on, the companies themselves assert, as a business proposition. The more farmers along a road the more tonnage; their prodncts are to be hauled away and their supplies brought to them. Freight traffic is Increased through better methods of agriculture, and passenger traffic also derives a benefit from increases in population. But regardless of the fact that this great work on the part of the railroad companies is not entirely philanthropic, it certainly is a splendid thing for the fanners themselves. And it Is, without doubt, greatly appreciated by them—the new settler# especially.— Most of the lines of work undertaken by railroad companies for the promotion of agriculture mhy be dl-

Map Showing Territorial Groups of Railroads.

Tided into two general classes. The first of these classes consists of efforts to increase the number of .farmers in the regions along the railroads concerned; while the second class of work may be called educational and looks to an Increase In the production of farms already established. Such projects as those rdla£ing to the Increase of available farm lands, the supply of farm labor, and the establishment or Improvement of markets and marketing systems, are offered by railroads, which also engage either in “immigration” or agricultural educational work or in both.

To compare one part of the United States with another, as to the mileage operated, the territorial groups as defined by the interstate commerce commission have been taken as a basis. Educational work was conducted in practically all parts of the United States in 1912, more than one-half of the mileage of each territorial group was operated by companies making special efforts to introduce better methods of farming. The smallest percentage of mileage involved In agricultural education was in group three, including the region extending from western New York and Pennsylvania to the eastern boundary of Illinois, and from the Ohio river to the Straits of Mackinac. But even in in this region the railroads engaged in agricultural education operated more than 15,000 miles of line, or over 58 per cent, of the total mileage for that territorial group. The highest percentage In this comparison is for group eight, which comprises Kansas. Oklahoma, Arkansas, and parts of Missouri and Colorado. For "Immigration” work, consisting in efforts to bring more farmers into territory served by the roads doing the work, the percentages of mileage ranged from 7 to 89 per cent. The low figure refers to group two, including nearly all the area of the! Middle Atlantic states from New York to Maryland, Inclusive; while the highest percentage applies to group seven, which consists of Nebraska. Wyoming, Montana and parts of North and South Dakota.

Line Through Wilderness.

Buried hundreds of miles from civilization, its nearest source of supplies 1,500 miles away, the MadeiraMamore railroad, connecting Brazil and Bolivia, Is to that part of the world* what the panama canal will be to the east and the west. It was built to overcome 200 miles falls, rapids, rocks, and shoals in the Madeira river, which had compelled rubber handlers to make use of a costly and unsatisfactory method of portage. Although built through a tropical forest, the ties on which the rails are laid came from Australia, because it was time and again proved cheaper to import them than to try to hew down for that purpose the hard but resistant'woods close at hand. Trains are run regularly between the terminals of Porto Velho and GunparaMlrlm.

Longest Straight Railroad.

The longest stretch of railroad In the world without a curve is in New Zealand, where there is a distance of 136 miles in A perfectly straight line. This fact is remarkable, when it is taken into consideration that New Zealand is one of the most difficult countries in the world for railway construction, as it Is very mountainous, necessitating sharp curves and very heavy grades

the railroads in soliciting new settlers and in encouraging the use of better farming methods, the, influence of railroad companies plays an Important part hi the present day movement for

EARLY DAYS OF RAILROAD

Interest Taken In Its Operation Seems Bomewhat Amusing to Travelers of the Present Day. The operation of a train In rural New England in the infancy of railroading had some amusing aspects. A line had been built and styled the Springfield, Athol & North Eastern. It was a high-sounding monicker for a road less than fifty miles long and with Iron rails less than fifty pounds to the yard. But it was long on stops between Springfield. and Athol; there were eighteen of them and the first time-table allowed two hours and a half for the run. The afternoon train from Springfield got to Enfield —about half way—a little after six o’clock and not deemed prudent to proceed farther in the dark. So there the train stopped. Most all of the villagers helped to turn the table and put the engine In the shelter-house (it was not round) in such fashion that it could be hacked out in the morning to hook onto 'the two-car train without delay. That was a great thing about working for a railroad in the times when a railroad was a novelty. Most of the men who helped to turn the table had worked nine or ten hours in the mill that day, but' they competed for the privilege and eagerly sought news from the engine and train crews, much as if they were hearing about strange lands from explorers. This assiduity was not diminished noticeably until a boy was killed in the housing of the engine. His shriek echoed through the placid little Swift River Valley and from the marrow of Enfield. One deaf old lady, living two miles down the road toward Belchertown, declared she had heard It after a village gossip had become purple shouting the nows Into her ear trumpet. It was the first shock In years.

URGE BLOCK SIGNAL SYSTEM

Board Would Make Its Adoption Compulsory on All Railroad Lines. Throughout the Country. Compulsory adoption by all interstate railroads of the block signal system Is the most Important recommendation of the block signal and train control board made in Its final report to the interstate commerce commission. The board created by congress in 1907, consists of M. E. Cooley, dean of the engineering department of Michigan university, chairman; Azel Ames, F. G. Ewald, B. R. Adams and W. P. Borland, secretary. “The development of the automatic train stop,” says the report, “has proceeded far enough to warrant expectation that by Its use greater safety can be secured. Railroads should be given to understand that the automatic train stop must be developed as rapidly as possible.” The board also recommends that tracks be properly 'lnclosed, and laws against trespassing enforced. It also says there should be more complete co-operation between the state and federal governments and railroad companies to establish more stable conditions; piecemeal legislation Bhould be brought together into general enactments based on the best standards Of practice, and the enforcement of this general legislation should be intrusted to a body having powers similar in character to those administered by the railway department of the British Board of Trade.

“Safety First,” Road’s Slogan.

With a view of inducing employes to give more attention to “safety first” rules the management of a leading western railroad has Issued a bulletin relative to accidents and prevention. Included in the bulletin are the following statements: “Thirty-five thousand workingmen are killed In Industrial accidents in the United States each year. “One accident occurs every fifteen minutes of each day of each year. “It Is the men and not the stockholders, officers or foremen who are being killed or injured. “We want to stop making cripples, widows and orphans. “A minute of Judgment is sometimes worth a day of energy. ‘’“Do not think because an accident has not happened it won’t happen. "You have no right to take chances. The other fellow may have to take the consequences.”

Rides Miles on Engine Pilot.

Clijiging to the pilot of the engine with one hand while she held the unconscious form of her companion with the other, Miss Mary Farber, a small seventeen year old girl, rode more than two miles form the West Park avenue crossing, where their horse and buggy were struck by a Baltimore & Ohio passenger train, to the Mansfield passenger station, relates a dispatch from that point. Her screams' there brought assistance. None of the train crew knew that anything had been Btruck until the station was reached. Miss Farber escaped with only a few bruises. Her companion, Fred Lutz, aged eighteen, is suffering with two fractures of the skull and probably will die.

Train Snowed Up Seven Days.

A passenger train from Bergen to Christiana was snowed up for seven days at Hallhigskeld. Provisions were conveyed to the passengers by ski runners. . - • . One of the passengers was a woman whose wedding was arranged (o taka place In. Christiana and whose fiance, a sailor, had to leave on a voyage before she could arrive there.—London Mail.

r -«=3jp S.B.TOSEB e^PUCHER** Yesterday he won his game. Everybody wildly praised him;. Lovingly they spoke his name, On. their shoulders proud men wind him; Yesterday his curves were great. Splendid batters fell before him; All the town stayed up till late. Willing, eager to adore him. He Is walking from the field, Sadly, slowly, unattended: With his features half concealed, AU his former glory ended, He is hissed and termed a “mut,” He has lost the game, confound hlmt Yesterday a hero, but, Bricks today are falling round him.

Dreams.

'‘Oh, I .had a beautiful dream last night," said Mrs. Peckham. “I dream* ed that you had done something heroic for which the people were all praising you; but instead of permitting yourself to be carried away by success you took me in your arms, before the multitude, and kissed me, and cried aloud so all might hear, that tyou had had but one thought in accomplishing your glorious and that was

my happiness;" —* “That was quite a dream,” Mr. Peckham answered, “but I had a nicer one. I dreamed that you and I had started alone through a great forest, where theie were many wild beasts. We had gone for miles into the depths, I fully armed and prepared to protect you with my life. We were like another Adam and Eve, the only human beings there. On and on we went, you clinging to me and assuring me of your faith in me, until finally—" “Yes, dear,” she urged, when h« hesitated, “until finally—” “Until finally you let go of my arm for a moment and got lost.”

As Applied to Family Affairs.

“What,” ssked the teacher, “does anthracite mean?” “That’s a kind of coal,” said little Willie. “Yes. Anthracite coal is what we call hard coal. So anthracite must mean hard. Now can you tell me what bituminous means?”

“That’s coal, too,” Willie replied.

“But it isn’t the same kind of coat that anthracite is, is it? Bituminoua coal is what we commonly refer to as soft coal. Now, Willie, let us see If you can form a sentence containing the words anthracite and bituminous." Willie thought the matter over for a minute and then said; “Here’s one. This morning before pa Btarted downtown ma wanted $5 for groceries and things, and Bhe tried to get it by saying bituminous words, but pa gave her in anthracite look, and when he disappeared around the corner she was weeping bituminously."

Their Little Weaknesses.

"Nations and women are a gbod deal alike.” "In what way?" “Well, when one woman gets a new hat her neighbor wants to go right away and get n better one, and when one nation buildß a new war ship all the others start right out to get bigger ones.”

Business for Him.

Little Charles—Sister told mamma yesterday you was born to be a politician. Mr. Sklmpley—A politician? I wonder why she thinks so. Little Charles—She says you can do so much talkin’ without commutin' yourself.

His Old Habits Abandoned.

“It was too bad about Nell Rich* mond’s husband dying so suddenly, wasn’t it?’ “Did he die suddenly?" “Yes; hadn’t you heard about it?** “No; I thought be was from Philadelphia” \

Cornered.

I heard Cordelia sing, last night, I heard her sing and play— I heard her do these things because I couldn’t get away. 1