Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1917 — HAPPENINGS in the CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAPPENINGS in the CITIES

New York Police Hear Many “German Spy” Stories JkJEW YORK; —Everyone in New York who speaks a word of German where •W anyone etae-cniriwnr-hto, whether snapay !”.or_oag.<>f those amazing three-story-and-basement linguistic structures, tnust of neces- - . sity he aGerumii spy, Just «s everyone ~

who plays pinochle or drinks three. s.ddels of beer in rapid succession must be a Teutonic plotter, with a cellar full of dynamite and a head full of meanness. At least that seems to be thenierref aininatlng- thc wrlferK »>f * hundreds of letters which are pouring in a continuous stream into police headquarters and the offices of Capt. William M. Offley, chief of the local bureau of the department of justice. The letter writers, who never sign

their they are patriotic citizens who would enlist tn a minute only they’ve got all of the 57 varieties of .sickness, warn the police about everything and everybody, from the delicatessen keeper Who overcharged them for sausage to the bearded and explosive Teuton who gave them a few secrets of pinochle in exchange for a few nickels. . The delicatessen keeper immediately becomes a German secret agent, who is secretive enough to fool everybody but the patriotic letter writer, and the pinochle expert is at once branded as the head of a band of dynamiters, while the delicatessen store and the pinochle parlor become meeting places where dark deeds are did and fiendish plots are plotted. The police and the department of justice officials take the letters seriously, mostly because there isn’t any other way to take them, although they wont admit that they do. They only grin and remark that so long as every dog has his day, why not every bug? The police got so many letters recently about a German wine cellar which was characterized as a hang-out for plotting bakers, seamen and mechanics that a detective disguised himself as a pinochle player and sat in the game every night for a week, which was as long as he could stay, because there was a limit tqjhe amount he could collect for expenses. The detective found out a lot about pinochle that he had never heard of before, but very little about dynamite and plots. ]

Government Experts on Their Annual Tea Jag NEW YORK.— How would you like to go on a tea jag which Includes 200 or more cups of the best tea? Seven men have just had one here. They are Uncle Sam’s expert tasters and censors who meet once a year to pass on or

reject the tea that shall be served on our tables the coming year. This standard Is higher than any other country. The bacchanalian orgy of Ceylon, Formosa, Oolong and the dozen other varieties of tea lasted one week. During that time the censors of the cup that- cheers passed on several hundred samples of tea sent here from China and other tea.-growlug-lands. In explaining how tea is tested,

Chairman A. T. Hellyer said: “We take one variety at a time and make a cup of tea from each sample until we find something that is absolutely satisfactory. . Say that a score of cups of one kind of tea, but each cup made of a sample from n different source, are ready for tasting. A subcommittee of two of our board tastes and smells the various brews until all except four or five have been eliminated. 1 hen these four or five samples are personally tested by each memSer bf The board, and we vote the final choice. This is the United States standard In this variety of tea for the coming year. Every importer may have a sample of it, in order that he may satisfy government requirements when he is buying tea In foreign lands. Every government inspector in the different ports of the United States is also furnished with samples, and he must not let into the country tea which falls below the standard. “The quality of tea is judged largely by the aroma and taste. The most delicious tea is that which has the smallest leaves. For It is the first and youngest picking.” _ : .. . When the guardians of the American teapot make tea—and they ought to know how—they weigh it. For each cup they use a portion of tea the exact weight of a silver half dime. The completed beverage was a golden brown and looked strong enough to keen one awake nights.

St. Louis to Doll All Up for the Advertisers ST. Louis, MO.—St. Louis is to “clean house” and redecorate itself prior to the convening here next .Tune of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World. Louis Blumenstock, chairman of the designs ami decorations com-

inittee, announced initial plans for this ••house-'CleanfTrgr’ The plans may be .outlined briefly as follows: An through the co-operation of the National CleanUp and Paint^Cp-week- « The cleaning up of every vacant lot in the city, and Its use as a play- * ground, tennis court or garden; anything to improve the appearance of the city. Mayor Kiel will be asked to issue a proclamation commanding every citi-

% zen, landlord and real estate agent to clean up his premises. The truth emblem of the Associated Clubs promises to spring up in floral decorations all over the city. Nelson Cunliff, park commissioner, has been asked to use this emblem in the fldral decorations in the sunken garden back of the Central library and in the floral decorations on the face of Art hill. Twelfth street is to be the center, of elaborate decorations, carried out in harmony with plans of the illumination committee The committee will give assistance to merchants in the decoration of their places of business, both interior and exterior, by furnishing decorative units at low cost. The co-operafton of citizens, especially in the downtown commercial and industrial districts, is asked by the committee, which suggests the planting of window boxes, the removal of unsightly signs, dilapidated buildings and the prosecution of a vigorous clean-upaudi>altrt-upt.-trtopfrign. The neighborhood of the Union station and the rights of way pf the roads mitering St Louis is to receive-special attention from the committee.

Girl Is Champion Nail Driver of Minnesota _ - -- r - ■ T~ =j— . , r»*r PAUL MlNN.—Miss Lillian Heike of Fairfax, Minn;, who became champion nail driver of the Minnesota'School'of Agriculture last year, nailed her title down hard and fast the' other day in the girls’ nail-driving contest at

the annual indoor field meet at the* ■- school. ...... ___ ■ *' IX , Miss Belke, swinging her hammer like a veteran carpenter, drove 12 tenpenny spikes into a plank in 1 minute and 14% seconds. '. j -, With the shouts and cries of her classmates urging her on. unmindful T of Hood from a -wound in her left £■:; thumb, the young woman bent piuckHy to her task fend carried off the || . 'honors. .■’■ ~~~ “ Only two of the six young women

nnfortunate enough to hit thoir fingers instead of the nail. One was Misa*Heike. Miss Belke took the lead from the start. She drove her nails with long, sweeping swings, making each blow count.. Under the rules of the contest.each pail had to be, driven, straight into the » plank. . r . “I never drove any naifs before T came to St. Paul,” said the winner - after her victory, "that is, In any contests. I won the contest last year, but I do not remember what the time was.” Miss Belke is twenty years old. She was born and raised on a farm near rulrtax.