Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1914 — Page 3

FOREST FIRES IN UNITED STATES IN 1913 MANY, BUT HELL CONTROLLED

Government Forces Fought 4,520 Conflagrations in That Year, or Nearly Twice as Many as Started in 1912—Total Loss, Due to Damage From Flames, Estimated at $192,- - —OOO for the Entire Period.

Washington,—During 1913 the forces •on the national forests fought 4,520 fires, or nearly twice as many as startled in 1912, the best year the forests have ever had.

Notwithstanding the great Increase in the number of fires, Forester •Graves considers that the showing: made by the forest service was quite as favorable as that in the preceding year, because the damage done and the costs of fire fighting were *no greater proportionately thas ia-1912. In both years practically 50 per cent •of all fires were detected and extinguished before they burned over a ■quarter of an acre, and 25 per cent of both years’ fires were put out before they covered ten acres. Of last year’s fires, 3,278, or considerably more than the whole number of fires in 1912, were confined to areas of less than ten acres; and in 1,080 additional fires less than one hundred dollars* damage was done by each. In only 25 fires did the damage amount to |I,OOO. The aggregate loss in timber is estimated at nearly fifty-nine million board feet, valued at about eighty-two thousand dollars, ahd the damage to young growth and forage Is estimated at about one hundred and ten thousand dollars, making a total of about one hundred, and ninety-two thousand dollars. About eighteen per • cent of this loss, however, was incurred on private lands within the forests where 16 per cent of the fires had their origin. One encouraging feature is that the total number of fires set by railroad locomotives was scarcely more than In the preceding year and represented •only 12 per cent of all fires, as against nearly nineteen per cent in 1912; also the proportion set by sawmills and other engines In the woods was considerably less than* in 1912. This Indicates very plainly, Mr. Graves says, that the public is awakening to the need of spark arresters and care with engines in the woods. * Looking for /he reasonapf the increase in numberof fires.Ws forester i finds three main causes: First of all, the unprecedented electric storms which swept the whole state of California at the end of a

W. C. Graves, U. S. Forester,

long dry season and set, almost simultaneously, about seven hundred fires. . The 804 fires set by lightning in California formed nearly fifty per cent of the 1,628 fires on the national forests of the state from all causes, and were more than half of the one thousand five hundred and seventyone lightning-set fires in all the 21 states reporting. In the second place, there were 757 fires which started outside the forests, of which 644 were stopped by the government’s fire fighters before they reached the forest boundaries, as against 424 which started on outside areas in 1912. However, the proportion of such‘fires to all those which the service battled with was about the same for 1912 and 1913, but this Increadb was confined to three states, Arkansas, California and Oregon, all others showing a marked decrease. Of the 452 Incendiary fires, 128 were In Arkansas, 133 in California and 142 in Orrfgon, where two brothers were known to have set 72 on one forest alone. These two and other incendiaries were, of course, severely dealt with by the law. On the Arkansas forest, too, it has been assumed that the 351 fires classed under the general heading Of “origin unknown* were mainly Incendiary. In Callfornla the incendiary fires are Jargely attributed to what Is known as the “light-burning theory," which advances the argument that forests should be burned over frequently to prevenj the accumulation *of debris. The forest service considers this a pernicious theory because it scars the standing timber and thus reduces its value; it robs the forest soil of its ability to

retain moisture, and effectually prevents the reproduction of the forest, since such' fires destroy all tree seedlings before they have a chance to start In 1912, lightning caused more fires than any other agency, followed closely by railroads, campers and incendiaries, in the order given. In 1913, however, the fires caused by lightnings outnumbered the next nearest cause by more than thjjee to one, .but the order—railroads, campers and incendaries—remained the same as in 1912. A considerable decrease in the

Ranger on Fire Patrol Making Observations.

proportion set by railroads and campers indicates, according to forest officers, a growing carefulness on the part of the general public. Last year, as In 1912, California led all others in number of fires, this lead being natural because California has such a long dry season. It was followed by Arkansas, Arizona and Oregon, in the order named. Kansas, which had only one fire in 1912, escaped without any in 1913. North Dakota repeated its record of 1912 find had no fires on its one small forest Not a single severe fire occurred during the year in District 4, which includes Utah, Nevada and southern Idaho, and in which a large proportion of the forests reported no fires at all.

There was proportionately greater loss on. private lands within the forest boundaries than on the public lands. It is pointed out by the forest officers that these lands cover approximately 11 per cent of the total area included within the forest boundaries, yet the area burned over on these private lands was more than twenty-five per cent of all. The forest service expended more than thirty thousand dollars in protecting the private lands within the forests and lands adjacent to and outside ofthe forests. In addition to this cost, services and applies to the value of more than seventeen thousand dollars were contributed by co-operators for fire-fighting on these areas. In the middle of the fire season,

GIRL STEALS TO CURE HER SISTER

Miss Helen Young of Los Angeles forged a check in Los Angeles to get money to bring her sister to Chicago to be operated on for cancer. The doctors, say an operation is useless. The photograph shows the girl, Miss Helen Young, and Policewoman Margaret R. Anderson, who was sent from Los Angeles to take the prisoner back.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

that is in July, the service had high hopes of small fire damage during 1913, and this hope kept up until the middle of September, when the fire season on the national forests ordinarily is about at an end. At that time there was less damage than had ever been recorded, and only 2,260

Ranger’s Cabin in National Forest.

fires as against 2,470 in 1912, with about sixty thousand acres burned as compared with 230,000 in 1912 and 780,000 in 1911. At the end of the month, however, the«*electric storms in California and one or tfco outbreaks of incendiarism chanced the whole situation. But even in the face of th*se difficulties, the fire-fighting force, with its plana and experience from preceding years, was able to cope with the situation.

BARS WOMEN IN FRENCH ARMY

Minister of War Cuts Cantinieres From the Active Service, Declaring Them a Detriment.

Paris, France. —The picturesque cantinieres, or women who take charge of the French regimental canteens, and who have played many heroic parts in French military history, are no longer to share the dangers of active service with the troops, according to the minister of war. The women, one of whom is commissioned to each battalion of Infantry, regiment of cavalry or battery of artillery, are in future to be retained simply in times of peace.

Formerly the women, wearing the uniform of their branch of the service, marched into battle with the troops, serving often as nurses or carrying soothing drinks to the wounded. They were the wives of noncommissioned officers or musicians. The minister of war has decided that the women are a tax on the food supply of the army and Interfere with the rapid movement of troops marching to the front after mobilization. He says, too, they are a source of distraction to the soldiers.

Napoleon I paid a high tribute to the cantinleres for their service during his many campaigns. Several of them were made chevalieres of the Legion of Honor by him, one of them, Josephine Tiequart, for saving the life of her colonel by killing a Cossack who bad attacked him during a retreat from Moscow.

TORTURES OF HORSE SHOWN

Photographic Films Are to Be Employed to Show Up Anglo- \ Flemish Evil.

Brussels. —Through the action of the British Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals a long-standing scandal is about to he disclosed to all eyes. Photographic films have been taken of the different phases of torture Inflicted upon old English horses which are periodically imported to Antwerp to be killed and sold for meat The British consuls have often drawn attention to the terrible agony inflicted on these animals. Such complaints having proved fruitless, the scenes of torture have just been cinematographed for the edification of the British public, whose loud protests will, it is hoped, provoke diplomatic .interference and radical reform in ,the Anglo-Flemish horse traffic.

HIS HONOR’S SUB.

By CHARLES W. ROBSON.

Judge Atwater’s scheme was ingenious. It deserved success. If'the artist had combined with his artistic temperament more careful business habits, and if His Honor’s double had only not—but let us not anticipate. "Promptly at three o’clock this afternoon you are to begin the sittings for your portrait,” said Mrs. Augustus Arlington Atwater to His Honor at the breakfast table the first morning of His Honor’s summer vacation.

“But, my dear,*,began.her husband, “this is the first I have heard of this portrait business, and I have planned—”

“Whatever you may have planned,” interposed, the Imperious dame, "can well be postponed. An appointment with the celebrated M. Bols de la Tour cannot be postponed. This great artist is making a very short stay in the city. He is taking orders from a very few highly favored patrons. It was only after much persuasion and an offer of a very large recompense that I secured his services. Perkins, you may now retire and dust the library.” This to the butler, who had been serving the breakfast “And,”' resumed the queen with an air of finality, “as I Just said, an engagement with M. Bols de la Tour is one to be kept I will escort you to his studio at the appointed time.”

It was often said about town that Judge Atwater ruled from the bench at the courthouse, and that Mrs. Augustus Arlington Atwater ruled from her throne at their home; and that, •though His Honor’s decisions were sometimes reversed by a higher court, from the dicta of Mrs. Augustus Arlington Atwater there was no appeal, it had even humorously been asserted chat if Mrs. Augustus Arlington Atwater should say to her lord, “Precisely at ten this evening we shall set out for the moon,” His Honor, willy oilly, would have made his preparations for the trip moonward.

This last assertion is no doubt a gross misrepresentation of the facts. However, in the matter of sitting for bls portrait, Judge Atwater yielded to his wife’s command, and three o’clock found them at the studio of M. Bols de la Tour.

Mrs. Augustus Arlington Atwater posed His Honor, scornfully waving aside all suggestions from the artist, arranged with great care the folds of the judicial robe, ordered His Honor to produce a bright, intelligent, cheerful mien, and finally, having seen the business satisfactorily under way, tnajestically withdrew to wield her Scepter at a meeting of the “Votes for Women Club.”

of the commanding presence of his queen, His Honor’s '‘bright, cheerful mien” gradually gives place to one of quite different sort. He feels bored. He shows it. fails to suppress a yawn. M. Bois de la Tour frowns. Presently the honk honk of an automobile is heard through the open window. It reminds His Honor of the ride he and his friend, the governor, were to have taken to the Country club, that afternoon, and of the game of golf they were to have played. He sighs, and involuntarily turns toward the window, sadly v disarranging the carefully laid folds of his robe. “Mon Dieu!” exclaims the Frenchman. “Eet ees imposseeble zat I

paint zee portrait of monsieur eef monster ne reste pas tranquil! Eet ees not zee moving pictures zat I make!”

His Honor feebly endeavors* to resume the proper pose. He listens to the distant monotonous rumbling of the traffic in the street, wafted into the studio upon the warm afternoon breeze. It affects him soporiflcally. His eyes manifest an unconquerable inclination to close. His chin drops slightly. His respiration becomes more or less musical. Surely Judge Atwater is suffering from the somnolence of the sultry summer season. It is late afternoon, His Honor is rambling through the woods, hat in hand, the fragrant scent of pine and balsam in his nostrils. Yellow sunlight trickles in long, wavering pencils through the gently swaying and dances upon his face and upon the brown carpet of pine needles beneath his feet. A scarlet tanager alights upon a bough above his head, preens its feathers for a time, then flits away, a flash of scarlet against the green background of foliage. A bee, buzzing noisily, darts in zigzags about his ears! Suddenly it settles upon his bald head. The musical respiration ends with a loud snort His Honor wakes up with a start, and strikes angrily at a fly which in peaceful, undisturbed enjoyment has been greedily feeding upon the rich pasture of his bare pate. He finds M. Bols de la Tour standing over him, shrugging his shoulders and muttering contemptuously: “To paint zee sleeping beauties ees not een my line.”

When His Honor is fully awake, the scandalized portrait painter continues:

"I teenk I refuse to paint zee portrait of monsieur. First monsieur ne rente pas tranquil. And zenn monsieur holds not himself awake. Que faire! My time ees veree valuable, and eet ees not to waste een zis manlere!”

"I most humbly beg your pardon, M. Boia de la Tour,” apologized His Honor aghast at the artist’s threat. "If you will kindly go on with the

work, I think I can assure you that I will give you no further trouble. Mrs. Atwater would be much disappointed if anything should prevent you from painting my portrait You shall receive ample recompense for any loss of time which may have been occasioned by my—er —lack of interest” Thus speaking. His Honor, knowing how much can be accomplished by the persuasion which takes the form of substantial from a full pocketbtmk, slips a 320 bill into thb artist’s hand, and the latter, somewhat mollified, returns to his easel. Refreshed by his nap and frightened by M. Bois de la Tour's threat Judge Atwater stoically attempts to do all that is required of him. 7 Near the end of the sitting, a driver, strikingly like His Honor in every detail, came into the studio to deliver a package. Like a flash it occurred to the judge that his double might be hired to sit in his place. “Youhg man,” said he to the driver, “are you very busy at present?” ’Tve been kept going pretty lively for some time, judge, but I am to have a vacation. It begins tomorrow.” “You ar’e just the man I’m looking for!” exclaimed His Honor enthusiastically. “How would you like to earn five dollars every afternoon during your vacation by sitting in this chair and wearing this robe for about three hours?” “I should certainly jump at the chance to make money so easily,” replied the driver excitedly. The matter was quickly settled. His Honor was to sit while his features were being sketched, and for the rest of the portrait the driver would answer every purpose. Mrs. Augustus Arlington Atwater would never know .that the juidiclal garment, when being sketched, was not covering His Honor’s generous proportions. Oner afternoon near the end of the week during which Judge Atwater had enjoyed, quite unbeknown to his imperious queen, golf, automoblling, fishing and real rambles in the woods (not dreams of them), the driver arrived at the artist’s studio and found it deserted. M. Bois de la Tour had been forcibly detained at his hotel by a bevy of admiring women. The driver arrayed himself in His Honor’s robes, and then, to while away the time until the artist should be released, picked up a book from the table. Great was his astonishment to find underneath it a large roll of bills. Temptation innocently to examine the money was natural. Temptation to appropriate the same naturally followed. And the roll was just finding Its way into the driver’s pocket when the door opened and M. Bols de la Tour, having finally, cruelly and with difficulty, wrested himself from the bevy, entered the room. An Instant later the driver was darting out of the back door, the artist at his heels, the latter yelling at the top of his little high-pitched voice: “Voleur! Voleur! Arretez ie voleur!”

A judge tearing madly through ths streets, hatless and with robes flying, and pursued by a wildly excited and screaming Frenchman, is an entertaining spectacle not to be missed; and it quickly draws a miscellaneous crowd into its wake. Small boys on wheels, small boys on foot; hobbiers hobbling hastily in hobble skirts; hobbiers hobbling with more speed in slit skirts; drivers whipping up their horses; chauffeurs whirling their machines about most dangerously; all join in the race Intent upon being present at the interesting moment of capture. At a street corner a dog obstructs, for one brief instant, the fugitive’s flight There is a loud yelp, and all thd canines prowling in the vicinity come scampering up to learn the cause thereof. A moment later the thief falls into the arms of a policeman.

Why need it have pleased fate that a certain great lady should be returning from a lecture on “How to Manage Our Husbands" at this particular time and by this particular street; that the miscellaneous- congestion of humanity should have brought her limousine to a standstill at this particular corner; and that said limousine should have arrived on the spot just at the particular moment when the arrest is made and the culprit is handcuffed and dragged away through the crowd? Mrs. Augustus Arlington Atwater (for she ft was,) greatly Incensed that the progress of her automobile has been impeded, raises her wrath, gazes, gasps—and, for the first time in her life, faints. The next afternoon His Honor sits.

Molybdenum Wanted.

There is a big demand for Molybdenum, and the price of this valuable mineral has gone soaring. It is eaid that a French firm, which offers to take 100 tons a year at prices scaled, from $6 per unit for low grades up to sl2 per unit for the highest grades,, wants it as a base for smokeless powder.

There has not until now been a thoroughly satisfactory method of treating molybdenum ores, but a writer in the Engineering and Mining Journal says Its recovery is now as simple as it was formerly complex. It is now profitable to treat some three per cent ores.

Entirely Peaceable.

M. Fountainpen had been calling' upqp Mae for some months. One evening the girl’s mother met him at the door. • ,

"Young man," she said beßtoerently, “I want to know what your intenttons are."

I—er —ma'am," stammered the youth, backing away. "My—er-Mnten-Hons, I* may say, are entlgab' peaow able."

ACTED AS PENDULUM

SOLDIER’S LIFE SAVED BY HIS* QUICK WIT AND NERVE.

Remarkable Story, Long Current In* North of England, of How Sir John Macdonald Escaped After Disastrous Culloden Battle.

A story is told of an old clock which * may very likely be true, though the* hero of it must have been very slightly built, says the Young Woman. After the fatal day of Culloden, a famous battle in Scotland, the soldiers of the defeated army fled in all directions, and one of them took refuge in a small farmhouse, where he found sympathizing friends. They gave him food in the kitchen, while' some one watched in case he was* pursued. He had finished his meal,, and hoping he had escaped notice, was, just preparing to set off again when there was a cry, “The soldiers are coming!” He attempted to make off by the back way, but it was seen that, the party had divided, and were approaching from both directions. There was a hurried look around for a place of refuge. “Into the clock* with you, lad,” said , the farmer, and. into the long case the fugitive* squeezed. But there was not room: for him and for the pendulum to* swing. “You must pull on the wheelyerself,” said the owner, and the clock responded with a steady tick! tick! “Has Sir John Macdonald passed this way?” demanded the captain, as the troop entered the kitchen, and, hardly waiting for a reply, began a thorough search upstairs and down. They were soon satisfied that he whom they sought was not there. “Well for you, farmer, he’s not,” said the captain grimly. “Give us some food before we start off again. We shan’t lose him in half an hour, as he’s on foot and we ride.” How slowly the seconds seemed to pass while the men ate and drank, till at last the welcome sound of pushed back stools scraping on the . flagged floor told the human pendulum that his task was nearly done. "Good-by, farmer. Your clock warns me we must be off,” and at last the captain marched off with his men. Tick! Tick! Tick! Hardly had the last man gone when the fugitive fell in a dead faint. The strain of keeping the clock going at an even pace had been terrible. He got safely away, but it is said that to his dying day the ticking of a clock in a quiet room made him feel faint

Was a Fine Course.

Donald Brian, the musical comedy star, gleefully chuckled the other night when the conversation in a theatrical club turned to golf. He said he was reminded of an incident that happened at a country club in New England. One day a member of the club was entertaining a friend, and after considerable persuasion induced him to take a turn at golf. The friend was just about as familiar with the game as a golden harp tuner is with a blacksmith tongs, and naturally the fuss he made was certainly some show. 1 In trying to make a brassle shot he tore up considerable turf, which struck him fairly in the face. Thiahappened twice, and just at that moment another club member approached. “Mr. Jones," he said, as the visitor paused to scrape his complexion, “what do you think of our course?" “It’s fine!" was the prompt response of the visitor. “As a matter of fact, I think it is the very best I have ever tasted.”—Philadelphia Telegraph.

Ingenious Defense.

At the Investors’ league dinner in New York the speeches were made* between the courses—a new invention, as President George Whigelt pointed out, for saving the time of banqueters. -* “Their defense," President Whigelt later, apropos of a notorious firm ot patent infringers, “their defense reminds me in its absurdity of Jackson’s "Jackson, a rough, sued a man for* assault, and yet, when the man appeared in court, he was bitten all over the face and ears horribly. "'How about this?’ the judge said to Jackson sternly. ‘Here you sue a man for assault, and he comes into court marked all over with your teeth!’ j “ 'Well, judge, your honor,’ said. Jackson, Tie pounded me so hard wbile he was assaultin’ me that I had to have something to bite on, or else I couldn’t have stood it’ **

Novel Street Lighting Plan.

In the little city of Leetonia, Ohio, the street lamps are controlled by a home-made tiine switch operated by an ordinary alarm clock. A circular piece of metal soldered to the alarm winding key wraps a heavy cord about it as the alarm rings and is attached, to a lever. This withdraws a sliding bar from beneath a weight, which in falling jerks a rope attached to a circuit breaker. Once a day the superintendent winds the clock and seta the alarm at the proper hour for switching the lamps into the circuit. By reversing the hooks and setting the alarm the lamps are extinguished nt daybreak—Electrical World.

Added Zest.

Madge—l never thought you were the kind of girl who would take pleasure in listening to a divorce case. Marjorie—But, my dear, I happened to know the co-respondent—Judge.