Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1917 — Page 3

The Dilemma

By EDGAR JACKSON

(.Copyright, 1916, by W. G. Chapman.) When Julietta married Will Soames, who had the lighthouse job, she proved a dutiful wife to him ; but beneath her trustful and docile nature there lay a will of iron. Will sensed this; when Julietta set her mind on anything, wild horses would not drag her away from it. But the contingency had never occurred, and the baby occupied all Julietta’s life. Will adored Doris, too. She was a tiny thing, three years old, withfiaxen hair, blue eyes and a gay laugh that went right to her parents’ hearts. Will counted the hours spent in the lighthouse until he could return to her. Twice a day, at dawn and in the afternoon, lie rowed across from the mainland to the light, where he polished his mirrors and filled the oil tank. There was other work to be done besides, and'it was often late before Will returned home. They often wondered what they would do if ever Doris fell sick. She had been a healthy baby, but one could never know, and the nearest doctor was 20 miles away, and not too apt to come to the call of poor folk. That contingency actually came to pass. The child took ill with a wasting fever. Will and his wife sent for the doctor, who came and looked at her. “How long has she been Ill?” he asked. "A week.” . ...... “You should have sent for me earlier,” he answered, looking without marked interest at the unconscious child. “If she awakes, she may have a fighting chance, but the chances are

In Imagination He Saw the Child Dead.

very much against her waking. She will probably sleep her life away.” He took his fee and departed, leaving the two stricken parents staring at each other in despair. Presently Will shook himself out of his stupor and put on his hat. Julietta caught him by the sleeve. “Where are you going, Will?” she asked in a hard voice.

He looked at her in surprise. “To the lighthouse,” he answered. “To fill the tank, dear.” “You must stay here. When you come back she may be dead. Are you going to let her die with you away?” Will looked at his wife in perplexity. He had never seen that expression on her face before. .* “I’ve got to keep the light burning,” he said. “You know how it is, Julie. If it goes out I lose my job, and maybe some ship will be wrecked. It’s the lives of hundreds against one, and it’s my duty, Julie,” “You are talking nonsense,” answered the girl. “There are no ships bound this way—you know as well as I do that the tramps never take this passage in calm weather. And the mail won’t be due for two days. And nobody will know whether the light is burning or not, except the folks here, and it isn’t their business. You stay here, Will, beside our child.” "I can’t,” he muttered hoarsely. “It’s my duty, Julie.” “Then you need never come back.” “What do you mean?” Will thought that she had gone crazy. “I mean just what I am saying. If you leave me to ait alone beside the baby, you needn't ever come back. Choose between your light and your child,” Something dogged rose up in the man’s breast. “It isn’t a case of choosing, Julie,” he answered. “I’ve got my job to do and I’m going to do it.” She said not another word as he went out, but afterward he always rememberedher implacable face as she watched him-to the door; He pulled madly across the little passage. His work would occupy him perhaps two hours; he believed that no change would have occurred In the baby’s condition by the time he reached home. Of course Julie was temporarily distraught. < * But when he reached the lighthouse he found that something fad gone wrong with the apparatus plied the oil vapor through the feed pipe. The tiny channel was clogged,

and the whole mechanism had to be taken to pieces and cleaned.' It was heart-breaking work; it would take him all night, and there was need of haste at that, before the reservoir flt the top gave out and let out the flame. Doggedly he smarted upon his task. And the hours rollied by, while he worked; black with 1 oil and grease, and overhead the great shaft of flame gave out its revolving message of hope to the world. He had finished at last, and he ( was looking out into the gray of the morning. He had mended the apparatus, and the oil had lasted. Now he could put out the light, refill, and hasten homeward. ; ■„ But during his night a strange change had taken place in the man. Julie’s menace had assumed portentous shape in his mind. And in imagination he saw the child dead, and the body lying in its little cradle in. their wrecked home.

Sh« should not drive him away 1 He would go back for Doris’ sake, and stay. He would fight down her wrath all his life long, if necessary, but he would stay. He took his boat and pulled across the channel. Would he arrive in time to see the baby alive? What had happened during that night of suffering? He grounded it on the beach and began running wildly up the slope. There stood 1 his cottage, trim and neat as if death w’ere not a visitor inside. He pushed open the door. -“ His wife sat beside the cradle, her head against the edge. He thought that she was dead, so still she seemed. But at his step she raised her head and opened her eyes. The haggard eyes of the man traveled from Julietta’s worn face to the still- body-inside the cradle. A hoarse cry broke from his lips. He stumbled forward. ° Doris lay, a little ivory thing, inside. He thought that she was dead. Butwas that a tinge of color in the wan cheeks? And then his suspense was ended. For the lids opened, disclosing the blue eyes within, and the ghost of a smile made its appearance on the little wasted face. And two weak hands were upraised toward him. “Papa!" murmured the babe. Will caught her in his arms, and turned to look into his wife’s incredulous face. For a moment the two confronted each other. Then she fell upon his neck, sobbing: “Husband! Forgive me! You did right. I knew it even when I threatened you. Forgive me!” And in their embrace the Incident was swept away and their love renewed.

NEW IDEA OF “EFFICIENCY”

System Being Introduced by New York Business Men Is an Improvement on Old Methods. “EfficieHCv,”as interpreted in the world of business in recent years, covered a multitude of sins. There is no question that modern business efficiency, when applied understandingly, has produced excellent results. But—and here’s the rub—to 6 often would-be efficiency experts, have been mere bunglers. To their regret, thousands of business men have utilized the services of this type of expert, who talks a great deal, demands a large salary, and after introducing hundreds of card index systems, discharging capable employees and upsetting the results of years of constructive work, leaves for new fields. Some time ago the larger business concerns, particularly In this city, decided that this class of “experts” was not what was needed most and set about finding out what really was necessary to fill the longfelt want The result was the discovery of the “new efficiency,” which operates alike for the benefit of the employer and employee, and which, when more generally adopted, will place modern big business upon a much higher plane than it ever has occupied. The new’ efficiency co'nsists in the employers do-; ing everything possible for the mental and_physical betterment of those whom they hire, surrounding them in their places of employment with such conveniences and entertainment as will’ make their hours of labor a pleasure and not a task, and endeavoring to create and sustain a general feeling of intetest and good will among everybody concerned, from heads of concerns to the humblest worker. Tho result has been in such places as the laudable endeavor has been carried out Intelligently that the employees have met the advances fully half way, and an increased degree of efficiency has been obtained which could not have been procured in any other manner. — New York Times.

Cows Fear Zeppelins.

Cows give weak milk through fright of the Zeppelins’ presence. This was avowed by a London suburban magistrate who heard evidence against a local milkman for supplying his customers with adulterated milk. He pleaded that he had never thought of such a thing, and gave it as his belief that his cows had suffered from the frightthat the Zeppelin caused while above his dairy. The magistrate corroborated his statement and dismissed the case.

In the Name of Charity.

Tommy—Father, will you give me a nickel to give to a cripple? Father—Certainly, my boy. I am very pleased to see that you are kind an<T thoughtful concerning cripples. Always be kind and good to tjiose unfortunate persons, because they n4ed it most of all. Who is this cripple? Tommy—The man who takes the money at the picture show!

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER, IND.

The Riviera In War Days

// w- IFE on the Riviera in war • • I days!” You would say, f on first thoughts, that there could be no such life : the Riviera must be dead —wiped off the map. Yet a life, strange, new, burning with interest and romance, was born in the french Riviera August 2, 1914, writes C. N. and A.M. Williamson in the London Graphic. Of course, the Riviera was struck the same sweeping blow that struck all France across her. brave, astonished face. At the clang of the tohsin, the men of the Midi ran out into the streets of picturesque rock villages ampng the hills and tourist towns along the sea, as the men of the North were doing. But the Riviera thrilled under the menace of a peril all her own. Just across the beautiful Gorge of St. Louis lived a friend who might in an hour become an enemy. Italy was there, with her mountain forts looking towards the forts of France. Lazy, summer-time ”” Mentone and Monte Carlo and Nice, with “nothing doing” except for bathers and baskers on the beach, or faithful lovers of a quiet game of roulette, waked up with a horrified start. Would Italian guns d’Azur? Officers motored secretly by night up to the quadrilateral of forts in the mountains, taking ammunition in automobile vans commandeered from the big shops of Nice, those charming shops where any thought of tragedy would have seemed ridiculously out of place. French and English and American owners of villas rushed off some elderly members of the family past fighting age to pack away valued possessions, in ■ case the gay, pink-and-white houses were blown uown, or occupied by “the enemy.” Flight of the Working-Folk. Panic-stricken, the Italian workingfolk settled along the coast from Mentone to Marseilles started to scuttle across the frontier. They feared internment and a hundred vague horrors. Under the blinding sun of August, along the dazzling roads of Upper and Lower Corniche, marched an endless procession, and those who can imagine only processions of smart automobiles between Mentone and Cannes would have thought themselves dreaming that long black line. It was a line of men -and women, old and young, tottering children and babies in arms—in arms because the perambulators were piled with the family bag’gage. And there were donkey-carts, wheelbarrows, caravans, every sort of Despite the tragedies of the march (children dying on the way) it. had its humorous side, because, as it turned out* the whole business was Unnecessary. The next phase through which the Riviera passed, however, was far from funny. She doesn’t really fall as fast asleep in summer-time as those who know her only in winter seem to think. There is always the wonderful “Passion Play” at Roquebrune. There is always a delightful bathing season, and in August the Azure Beauty is quietly, almost stealthily, busy in planning her winter campaign. In that historic August of 1914 the landlords and shopkeepers and amusement caterers of every sort were improving their properties, arranging their advertisements and preparing for another season of peace and plenty. Then suddenly came the crash, and for them it looked the end of thig world when, on August 5, the Monte Carlo casino closed its doors.

IN MONTE CARLO

Meanwhile the people whose 'business had always been to make the Riviera attractive, were loomng each other in the face. They saw nothing hut ruin ahead. But something desperate had to be done, for the. living of many thousands depended on their decision and its success. Just as bravely as the young men were fighting ill the North, the older men in the South put their backs to the burden. They got no sympathy from outside. They must stand, together and save the Riviera as their sons and younger brothers were saving the rest of France. • Casino Doing Its “Bit” Few hotels were to remain shut for the season,, except those which w’ere needed for hospitals. The shops were to do “business as usual,” and a great petition was sent to the Casino not to keep its doors closed: it was more “sympathetic,” it was more patriotic to open them. The Societe saw the justice of this, since the life of the Riviera might hang on their “world. Consent was given, though it looked as if it meant a large monetary loss; and on January 1, 1915, when the war was six months old, the Casino at Monte Carlo began to do its “bit” by, the public, as already it was doing for its employees. By’this time everything was getting into full swing. But what a different “everything” from what we had all known! If you were not doing some

good work, public or private, you •were as much ashamed of yourself as If you had stayed in London. Not even an automobile dared to show its nose unless it had a Red Cross on it. And without its dust-raising hordes of motors the Riviera began to be a wondrous new place, that had to be discovered all over again. When you had finished your daily work of visiting the poor or of suffering in some rock village or hospital, when you had put together your pile of knitted socks, or the bandages you had promised to make, you could actually go for a quiet walk—a joy forgotten since high-pow-ered cars took over the Riviera. Ordinary.gaieties were given up, and it wasn’t fully realized yet how kindly, how cleverly they could be organized for doing good. In Mentone the tall, black 1 Senegalese soldiers had begun to appear, at first to be trained for a new kind of fighting; then, when they had fought, as invalids in the hotel-hospit-als. But, well or wounded, they were a gay crowd. They made Mentone picturesque with their costumes and their camp fires and their games in the streets. .......... Indeed, something in the sunshine and salt tang of the sea made all the dwellers in Riviera hospitals gay. There were few sad sights, for wounded men simply bounded bacß to health again, and it Was good to meet them on the Promenade des Anglais at Nice, on the Boulevard de la Croisette at Cannes, or the front at little Mentone. Already the Monte Carlo casino had begun organizing its Red Cross charities; many women and girls in society had given up everything in order to train lor hospital work;JbutJt only last winter and now at the beginning of this third war season that the new Riviera completely “found herself.” She is making history in a wonderful w'ay. A Frenchman has invented an apparatus to coippress air in a reservoir as the doors of a house are opened and utilize it to wind clocks.

VIEW OF VILLETRANCHE

FAR IN THE LEAD

UNITED STATES RAILROADS SUPERIOR TO ALL. . ■ s’" ■ •' ' - Official Statistics Reveal Facts Which Should Be Matter of Gratification • to Americans—lnteresting to j Note Scales of Wages. The comparative rai l road statistics of the United States and foreign countries issued by the bureau of railroad economics cover some 38 countries or states, having a total tailroad mileage of 591.000 miles. The most cursory study of these statistics reveals certain striking economic facts which cannot fail to interest any American reader, remarks the Scientific American.

Perhaps the most interesting point revealed by these tables is that, despite high wages paid in the United States, we are carrying freight nt a Tower rate than any other country, except'lndia. The a> erage rate per mile in this country Is 0.729 cents, which is not much more than 60 per cent of the average rate for similar service in leading countries of Europe. In India the rate is 0.7 cents, but in that country the wage, which ordinarily is the highest item in the expense list, is so low as to be almost negligible. Brazil has the highest rate, 7.04 cents per mile. The rate for France is 1.18 per fhile, and in Germany If is 1.24 per mile.

"Tile average receipts per passenger per mile in the' United States, 2.008 cents, is higher than that of any other country except Brazil and Cuba. In Austria the average receipt is 1.079 cents, in France 1.068 and in Germany 0.908 cent. The density of traffic in the United States is 143,067 passenger miles per mile of line. In Germany the density is 693,317 passenger miles per mile of line, while Belgium has a density of 1,046,614. A line upon the important question of accommodations can be had by a study of the tables showing the average number of passengers per train. In the United States it is 55, in France 70, in Germany 84, In Japan 108. and In India 182. Having these figures in mind, it is not surprising to find that the passenger revenue per mile of line on our railroads, which is $2,871, is exceeded in 16 other countries, the passenger revenue in Germany being $6,292, in Holland $6,373, in Belgium $7,347 and Great Britain $9,684. The low rate at which our railroads are able to carry freight is due chiefly to the large capacity of the individual freight cars, the great power of the individual locomotive and the consequent length and carrying power of the trains. We haul more freight per car, per train and per mile than the railroads of any other countries. Thus, the average capacity of the freight car in the United States three years ago was 38 tons, as compared with 14.3 in Austria, 14.1 in France and 15.9 tons in Germany. As was to be expected, it is in the new world only that we find cars approaching in capacity those of the United States, the Mexican cars carrying 35.4 tons and those of Canada 32.1 tons. The load of freight carried per train In the United States is far greater than in any other country, the average In 1913 being 435.4 tons. In Canada it was 342 tons, in Germany it was 239 tons and in France 147 tons. Our railroads hauled the greatest amount of traffic per mile of line, the amount in 1913 being 1,245,158 ton miles per mile of line. In Germany it was 1,119,983 tons and' in Russia 1,033,254 tons. But the freight revenue per mile of lige in this country was only $9,048, which must be compared with $13,950 in Germany. We find, as was to be expected, a great difference in the average wage paid in this country and in Europe, the average wage of our railroad employees being nearly double that paid in the leading European countries. In the United States the average compensation is $756.83. in Germany it is $408.97, in Holland $341.52 and in Russia $211.40. The earnings per mile of line in the United States are low compared with those of other countries. In 1913 the average revenues per mile of line in the United States were $12,859. In Germany and Great Britain they were about twice as great, those for the latter country being $28,645per mile of linp. The aveTfige capital' p?r mile of line is for the United States $65.861, for Germany $120,049. for France $150,439 and for Great Britain $274.027.

New Kind of Wallpaper.

According t«s'a man well-posted on wallpapermu tters. somethinguew In that line probably will be shown in this country in the next few months as a result of its success in Canada, trimmed wallpaper, in which the selvage or edge that Is left on to prevent the’ pattern being damaged in handling, and which has to be taken off When tlte paper 4k hung. 4s tnade very easy of removal by means of an automatic perforating device that is patented ir aimut every country under the sun. Instead of having carefully to cut the protective edge off. as in.the ordinary paner. the selvae ofthe paper in question can be removed before unrolling by breaking the end of the roll off with a quick twist of the wrist. If It An left on until the pasting is done, it can easily be torn off. thus obviating the need,of careful cutting with ♦rimming knifeand straight It is said to have gdd>ejr_jlrtues >ot. well. ..... . ■

MEN DESERVING OF HONOR

Skillful ahd Fearless Are Those Wha Jit. in the Engine Cabs ot ths Locomotives. '7"/' ’ “You writer felfsws like to talk about thel heroes of the engine cab.” wty-t the firerhan, as we near the freight yards of B—. “The hoy who is pulling that greasy old Baldwin comes nearer being a hero than Jimmie or any of thereat of the passenger bunch.’ - There is nothing cryptic in bis meanIng. He means that the freight engineer, pulling a less carefully maintained piece of motive power, to which has been added not only its ffi'il working capacity of ears, but*as many-ex-tra as an energetic and ha? d-pressed trainmaster may add. up to the risk point of an engine failure and consequent complete breakdown Offt upon the main line, must keep out of the way of the gleaming green and gold and brass contraption that has the right of way from the very moment she start's out from the terminal. Yet 1t is the freight puller and his train that i» earning the money that mW be used to pay the deficit on the limited that whirls by him so contemptuously. For that proud and showy thing has never been a money-earner—and never will be. Across this broad America there are 70,(XX) Freemans—sitting at the throttle sides of the big locomotives, steam and electric, pulling freights and passengers, little trains and long. With each of them rides Responsibility. Each of them knows that. Yet they do not think of danger. They scorn the word “hero.” merely like to think of themselves as men capable of handling a big job in a big way. They represent the railroads of America —an organization that has the most sensitive and well-trained labor of any business in the world. The man In the engine cab is a man of whom any American citizen may well be proud.—Magazine Beetion of the Washington Star.

HAS A GOOD APPEARANCE

Coaling Station of Re-Enforced Concrete la a Decided Improvement on Those In General Use. A southwestern railroad has recently constructed a coaling station at West Tulsa, Okla., and another at Wildesign and present a pleasing contract to the common type of coaling station, which has a most forbidding appearance. The two stations resemble round towers and are of re-enforced concrete. The larger one is 89 feet high and 23 feet in diameter. A large

Re-Enforced Concrete Coaling Station of New and Pleasing Design.

arched passageway for the care is ent through its base. A coal car to be unloaded is placed in this passageway and its contents dumped into a concrete hopper directly beneath it. From the hopper the coal is raised by con; veyors to a bln which occupies the upper 29 feet of the station. The conveyors occupy two shafts that are bu'it adjoining the wall, one on either side of the archway. Two discharging chutes are provided for coaling the engines. Each tower also contains abin for sand, which, after being dried, is forced into it by compressed air. The larger tower has a capacity of 300 tons. —Popular Mechanics Magazine.

Year's Casualties Among Switchmen.

At a hearing In the controversy betwen the Switchmen’s union and; certaln railfoads upon which a demand for an eight-hour day was made ItAvgg shown that 2,243 switchmen and yardmen had been killed or injured in the r months of July. August and September, 1915. A table based on* those figures gave 9,732 killed and injured for a year, or about one man,in five among the 45.000 switchmen and yardmen in the United States. The number of killed was placed at 256.

Thankful Spirit.

There is an intimate and vital «m----qectinn of the grateful and the trusting spirit. The thankful becomes the trustful spirit In view of what seem privations, losses and adversities. The plains of sand seem to be In more need of rains than the cultivated field? and gardens. Yet when the rains fall on the sandy plain there are no signs of refreshing there; but when they fall on the grass or grain or flowers, all these things, as if responsive, revive and rejoice in the blessings—widchin an emblem of human life.—Edwin. Pond Parker,

Counter Illustration.

He—One certainly can’t help getting disgusted with women occasionally,. Look at the ridiculous kind of pet dogs they fondle. ' - ■ ghe—And look at the ridiculous kind, of men they accept.