Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1917 — Page 3

Old Arab Houses In Algeria

WITHIN a mile or two of Algiers, and principally in the suburbs of Mustapha Superieur, are many gardens old and new grouped upon the hillside and mostly facing the north, whence they derive the coolness of the breezes wafted across the sea. The climate is admirably suited to the majority of what are generally classified as sub-tropical plants, and there seems to be no limit to the fine effects of plant grouping that may be produced. Here in former days the wealthier Moors had their villas, setting out their garden courts and terraces upon the rising ground, and forcing every spring' to deliver its precious fluid to the thirsty land. The want of water Is a great natural difficulty of the town, and indeed of the whole province, and the Moors have elaborated their system of irrigation principally by means of aqueducts,, some of which are of very ancient construction. The Moorish country house is always placed upon an admirably chosen site, its high walls forming an effective screen from indiscreet eyes, writes H. Inigo Triggs in Country Life. Few flowers are cultivated in its gardens, and those that find a place are chosen for their bright color and the sweetness of their scent —roses, lilies, jasmine, violets, pinks and geraniums. Once planted, they are allowed to romp over trellis and pergola without restraint. Flat, terraced roofs, small windows and walled-in courts sum up the features of every house, and there Is complete irregularity both in the arrangement of-the rooms and in their shape. Except by accident, no two lines are ever parallel, the shape of the house being decided by the contour of the site, whatever that may be. The only effort at regularity is to give to the central court a form somewhat approaching a square. These interior courts are real gardens in the sense of being delightful retreats where the glare and heat of the day are tempered by the overspreading trellis of greenery into a soft mysterious light and pervading freshness. The architecture is characteristic of the race, elegant rather than grand ; suggesting a delicate and graceful taste and a disposition to indolent enjoyment. The planning of'the houses seems to derive more from Roman than Byzantine origins. The former gave the open courts, the latter some of the forms of decoration used in the treatment of floor and wall surfaces. Interiors Always “Livable.” Arab writers tell us that the private houses of Damascus were built after the fashion of the later Roman houses, whereas in Persia, and especially in Bagdad, the ancient Persian houses served as an example. The principles that governed the planning of both Arab and Moorish houses were derived from classic models; a featureless exterior and an eminently “livable” interior marked the ancient house of Pompeii just as they characterize the Moorish house of Algiers. Such external ornamentation as there may be is concentrated upon the entrance. The apartments are grouped round courts and gardens with an absolute separation of the rooms for either sex, every effort being made to secure privacy both from the streets outride and from neighboring buildings. To this end the windows and bays of the upper floors are carefully screened by latticed meshrebeeyehs, whence the dark-eyed beauties of the harem might gaze unseen upon the busy life of the streets, or ceremonies and entertainments of the courts below. The approach to the harem Is usually arranged from a special court, or if only on£ exists, in the part most remote from the entrance to the house. It Is usually through a dark vestibule with a seat for "the porter, carefully planned to prevent a direct view being obtained into the building.Beautiful DJen'an-el-Mu.ftl. Djenan-el-Mufti, in Mustapha Superieur, the residence of Mrs. E. W. Arthur, was built between the years 1590-1593 by Hadj-Chaban Pasha, who was later recalled to Constantinople and became bey of Cyprus. The present owner has succeeded in restoring the best characteristics of the Moorish architecture in a most praiseworthy

LOGGIAS. AT EL BARDO

manner, and the gardens are maintained in a state of perfection which is the final charm of all good gardens. The house is built upon a hillside, and the ground is therefore laid out in terraces connected by quaint little stairways lined with old tiles. It is perhaps' the best-known garden at Mustapha, for it is up.on a larger scale than most of the others. The order in which it has been kept and the careful attention it has received for many years render it most attractive. From the house we pass beneath the guardroom and find ourselves In the fountain court paved with tiles, and cloistered on all sides with delicate spiral shafts of exquisite molding, which support a light arcade of pointed arches. The walls are richly encrusted with Tunisian tiles of very fine design representing an arcade supported on columns with conventional vases and flowers, and panels of the same material serve as an effective contrast to the whitened walls. The fountain court is extended a short distance to form a terrace overlooking the Orangery and the azure sea beyond, A square pool slightly raised above the pavement contains a massive circular fountain with its everrefreshing murmur of falling water. El Bardo Is Well Restored. El Bardo is another example of a well-restored Moorish house. It is approached from the carriage drive by a broad flight of black marble steps with “risers” in blue and green tiles. Entering through an archway beneath a whitewashed mirador we find ourselves in an irregularly shaped court surrounded by oblong reception rooms, each provided with an open arcade with horseshoe arches and slender columns, single and in groups of two and three. In - Arab houses such rooms are known as the Mak’ ad. They are usually placed on the south side of the court so as to face the north, and were possibly originally derived from the arcades surrounding the courts of the mosque. They are frequently to be met with In Cairo, where they are often placed on the first floor in imitation of the belvederes or open galleries over the sebeels or public fountains. At El Bardo the largest of the three apartments overlooking the court is a sort of summer salon with a Central marble fountain; cushioned seats on three sides form a divan. Other examples we have seen have little open channels of running water freely circulating through the apartment, as at the Alhambra and the Alcazar at Seville. Purple bougainvillea is trained over the lattice covering the windows, and the sun, shining through the masses of flowers, sheds a soothing light into the apartment. At the back of the reception halls is a delicious little Koubah, dlvaned on all sides and with a mysterious pierced metal lamp hanging from the ceiling. The raised flower beds are bordered by low walls of gaily colored tiling, and the whole court is paved in black and white marble squares. The quaint old coffee kitchen is arranged in a corner of the courtyard. It has been conscientiously restored, and its rows of shining pots are arranged on a kind of sideboard with tiled sides. Here are the pestle and mortar for pulverizing the berries, and quaint Mussulman charms rudely painted on the wall. ' At one end of the loggia Is the delightful little sitting room Le Salon de la favorite, with woodwork delicately treated in pale green, blue and red brown. *■ Four windows overlook the garden at the east end of the court, and above the arched entrance gate Is the room where the guard was placed to watch the ladies of the harem. * Any absence of color in the plant life is more than compensated for by the richly tiled wall surfaces. A «entral fountain in an octagonal pool reflects the blue sky, and a large syater tank beyond forms an ideal home for the graceful feathery papyrus. High white walls are clothed with a variety of bougainvillea, plumbago and cluster roses, anil the tall, battered looking bananas, the latania, phoenix and other palms i reserve %J 1 the truly eastern features of a garden Of the Arabian Nights. .

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

TACKLE GREAT PROBLEMS OF WAR

What Members of Advisory Committee of Defense Have Undertaken to Do. BIG MEN GIVING SERVICES Co-ordinating the Industries of the Country So That Each Can Render the Limit of Its Potential Bervice to Government

By EDWARD B. CLARK.

Washington.—Probably a thousand times a day this question is asked by visitors to Washington: “What Is the Council of National Defense?” It is apparent also from letters that are received in the capital that the exact nature of the council and of its great advisory committee is not generally nor thoroughly understood. The Council of National Defense itself consists simply of six cabinet officers, the secretaries of war, navy, Interior, agriculture, commerce and labor. The advisory committee of national defense, which is affiliated with the council, consists of a commission of seven business men who, with the departments assigned to them, are' as follows: Daniel Willard, transportation and communication (president Baltimore & Ohio railroad), chairman. Howard E. Coffin, munitions and manufacturing (Including standardization) and industrial relations, vice president Hudson Motor company. Julius Rosenwald, supplies (Including clothing, etc.), president Sears, Roebuck & Co. Bernard M. Baruch, raw materials, minerals and metals, banker. Dr. Hollis Godfrey, engineering and education, president Drexel institute. Samuel Gompers, labor, Including conservation of health and welfare of workers, president American Federation of Labor. Dr. Franklin Martin, medicine and surgery, including general sanitation, secretary General American College of Surgeons, Chicago. All Freely Undertaken. Upon these men devolved the task of so co-ordinating the industries of the country that each and all, figuratively speaking, could render to the government the limit of its potential service at the pressing of a, button. Less than 100 salaried persons are working for the government under the advisory committee of national defense —of the members of the committee Itself only one or two have even rendered expense bills. From 400 to 500 men, whose Incomes from their business ranges from $5,000 to more than SIOO,OOO a year, are giving their services to the government that the United States may perform its share of winning the war against Germany. The vital thing at first was to ascertain the needs of the country, to learn the things industry must supply to put our soldiers into „the field and keep them there and to supply the needs of ourselves and our allies. A dozen major subjects instantly suggested themselves when the business men began to put their heads together:, the best use ,to be made of the railroads, both for the transportation of troops and of material to keep our industries going and our citizens fed; the part the waterways should play in

MARION CLEVELAND TO WED

Miss Marion Cleveland, youngest daughter of the late President Cleveland, is engaged to marry William Stanley Dell of New York city. The announcement was made by Mrs. Thomas J. Preston, Jr., formerly Mrs. Grover Cleveland. The date of the wedding has not been set. Miss Cleveland made her debut in Society in 1914. For the past two years she has been a student in Teachcollege, Columbia university. Mrs. Preston’s eldest daughter, Esther Cleveland, is engaged in relief work In Paris, for soldiers blinded in battle. r Mr. Dell only recently returned from service abroad with the American ambulance in France. • :

the scheme of transportation; the mobilization of. military and industrial resources; the increase of agriculture and manufacture to meet the abnormal demands incident to war; the building of ships, and the compilation of an enormous mass of data from which any reasonable question wTii reference to military and Industrial capacity could be answered. Railroads and Telephones. Already the 230,000 miles of railroad in the United States havq been virtually commandeered by the advisory committee, which, through Chairman Willard, can issue to them more arbitrary orders than President Wilson, under the most drastic law, probably would care to issue. This is a voluntary service of the railroad and admittedly possibly is Intended as in answer to some of the railroad criticisms in congress. One man also now governs the telephone—Theodore N. Vail, president of the American Telephone and Telegraph company. For the first time in telephone history regulars and independents are working side by side for the good of the country, More than 10,000 miles of wire have been set aside for the special use of the army and the navy and some of the other departments. Modern methods for using tlie telephone are being introduced and new systems Installed, one of which will cover completely the signal service in the field. Washington is being taught how to use the telephone properly and a new central office with a capacity of 10,000 lines is being provided. In the mobilization camps and among the lighthouses and coast guard stations new telephone facilities are being created, requiring 300 miles of submarine cable, 300 miles of pole and more than 13,000 miles of wire. The soldiers of the National Guard who are guarding railroad bridges and water supply systems have been i>ut in touch with headquarters. If secrets could be told, the story of the extension of the telephone service in the navy would make the people sit up.

BREAK SEVEN DISHES A YEAR

Going to Rubbish Heap Faster Than They Can Be Made in United States: Cleveland, O.—They’re breaking dishes faster than they can make them in the United States and the other countries are too busy warring to make pottery. Every man, woman and child in this country breaks on the average seven dishes apiece annually. Over 700,000,000 dishes a year are broken by irate married folk and others, who drop them accidentally, and others who drop them on purpose to keep from washing them.

TO DRIVE OWN HOSPITAL CAR ON FRENCH FRONT

Tulsa, Okla. —Arthur Gamman, a young oil operator, will sail for France in a few days to drive a field ambulance contributed by himself. Gamman and his business partner, Raymond W. Mclntosh, were among the first in Tulsa to volunteer as officers In the new United States army and were ordered td Leon Springs, Texas, for training. On their way there Mclntosh was stricken with appendicitis and died. Gammon accompanied the body to New York for burial and there decided to enlist in the ambulance corps for Immediate foreign service.

HAS 6 SONS, ALL OVER DRAFT AGE, IN GUARD

Denver, Colo. —Six stalwart sons of one family, although beyond the age limit of registration, are in the .National Guard of Colorado, and the mother, Mrs. Mary A. Chase, Is very proud. The eldest son is Alpha M. Chase, forty-four; Willtts G. is forty-two, James A. thirty-seven, Lawrence A, thirty-five, Sylvanus L. thirty-three and Benjamin T., the “baby,” thirtyone. Their uncle, Dr. John Chase, was adjutant general of the Colorado National Guard.

TO STOP VAST DECAY OF SWEET POTATOES

Atlanta, Ga. —Movements have been smarted in several agricultural communities of the South to care for sweet potatoes, so as to save them from decay during winter storage. The United States department of agriculture estimates that IO.CNft.OOO bushels of sweet potatoes are lost annually through improper curing and storing.

Men Drive Out Girls.

Oberlin, O. —Oberlin girl students of the sociology., and economics lecture classes, which have met heretofore in the lecture room of tire Men’s building, made them selves' too free with the building privileges, and the classes were requested recently to go Somewhere else by the irate residents of the building. The men said the girla were apt to lounge around the lobby and halls of the building. Since dressing gowns and, bathrobes are the chief Cat home”. garb of the building roomers, they protested.

SHOW SPIRIT OF OUR FOREFATHERS

Men of the Training Camps Will Make Excellent Lot of Officers. NOT VERY MANY WEEDED BUT Considerable Number Is Being Detailed for Engineering and Aviation Instruction—War Department Officials Are Pleased.

By EDWARD B. CLARK.

Washington.—More than half the first training period for candidates for commissions in the new army Is up, and the officials of the war department are ready to declare that results are beyond expectations and that the “plucking” process will develop fewer victims than anyone thought possibly could be the case. Stock is being taken by the officials of the results obtained by weeks of training for the 40,000 young men novt undergoing instruction in the camps. An officer of the army,said today: “The lower commissioned rank in our national army will be filled by men of whom any country could be proud. The young Americans who are attending the sixteen officers’ training camps in as many sections of the country are showing the spirit that made this country free. It Is to be expected that no difficulty at all will be experienced in selecting the men to command In the Junior commissioned grades, the first 500,000 young Americans soon to be called to. the colors. “The time given for the training is short, and only bne-half of it has passed, but the results obtained make us believe that, numerous as were the early mistakes and trying as were the conditions to which the men at first were subjected, the outcome will be all that we can wish, and It seems to be assured that the young officers quickly will get the confidence of the men whom they are to command and with it the confidence of this country and of its allies.” Political Pull Weakening. The reports which come to Washington from all the training camps are that the boys have put all that they have into their work. Washington still Is a little fearful that some of the young men who may be denied commissions because they have not come up tp the mark may have recourse to friendly political Influence to secure for them what they could not secure for themselves. This fear of the officials, however, is not sharp, for within a week or so the pressure from the politicians for preference for this man or that man has weakened. It can be said for the war department that it has stood faithful to its duty of denying requests for commissioned places for those lacking experience otherwise unfitted for the work of leading men. It should be understood that nothing like all the young men who entered the camps will answer their names at roll call on the day of breaking camp. For six weeks the weeding-out policy has been pursued. Men who never would make officers are told of their shortcomings and sent to their homes. In addition to this a considerable percentage of the men have been sent to other camps where they will specialize in engineering, or in aviation. The department has adopted a policy of sending men to flying headquarters where they will be trained, and later be given commissions in the air service. To Help Prepare Army Camps. Now that something like seven weeks have passed and virtually full opportunity has been given for passing Judgment on the qualifications of each man, it is not to be expected that the elimination will be anything like so many as they have been in the past except perhaps in the cases of men who show marked aptitude for places in the staff department. These men, of course, are not eliminated, but simply are transferred. It has hgen asked frequently what Is to be done with the candidate officers between August 11,- when the first camps are brought to an end, and the time set for the mobilization of the first national array. The students after about a week’s leave probably will be sent to the sites of the cantonments where they will undertake work under the colonels in command and will be given opportunity to help in the preparation of the big camps for the selected service men. In the preparation for the second series of encampments which will be opened on August 27 the officers of the army are doing what they can to avoid repetition of the mistakes made dur-' ing the continuance of the first camp. Plans now drawn up by the department eliminate almost entirely men who lack any military experience. Of course some likely soldier-making material to be found among civilians who never have shouldered a musket will be utilized, but it is probable that the students at the second camps will be In large pars men who have seen some previous military service. J

Here's Another Patriot.

New York.—Add another patriot to the list. In answer to appeal to tax payers to pay their Income taxes in advance, one man. sent double the amount, asking extra sum b« used for war purposes. ' Ns

Home Town Helps

TREE SURGEON LIKE DENTIST Cavity Must Be Cleaned, Treated With Antiseptic, and Then Filled With Concrete. The treatment of cavities In trees, caused by decay, is not fundamentally different from that of dentistry, though the tree surgeon is not so much “down In the mouth” as the dentist. All decaying matter must be cleaned out, right down to solid living tissue. The cavity is then treated with an antiseptic to prevent further decay, and the whole (likewise the hole) filled with -concrete and in such manner as to exclude air as much as possible. The tree then begins to heal over the edges of the Wound So the concrete. Sometimes metal has been used for covering cavities and with good results. Elastic cement, asphalt and

Method of Pruning Large Limbs: (a) Tree Before Pruning; (b) the Same With Limbs Cut Close and the Scare Finished With Mallet and Chisel.

sawdust, paraffin and sawdust, wood pulp and cement, excelsior and asphalt, tar with sawdust or oakum, wooden blocks, bricks, stones and a great variety of materials have been used for both filling and Covering and all are good if the work Is well done. The disinfectants used are copper sulphate, corrosive sublimate, formalin, bordeaux, carbolineum or creosote (these are best), coal tar and even kerosene. No matter which is used, the cavity should receive more than one treatment before being filled.or otherwise closed. "

PROFIT FROM THE BACK YARD

Any House Owner, at Bmall Expense, Can Build Garage Which Will Soon Pay for Itself. Most house owners have a rear lot that is of no use to them,' and Is generally a source of expense. Why not turn the back yard Into/fc moneymaker; at a reasonable expense you can build a concrete or brick garage big enough to hold four cars on the average let that will earn for you 25 per cent profit on the cost of the building, or pay for itself in four years. This being a masonry building with a tar and gravel root there is no charge for upkeep or repairs. Such garages have been found to be a source of satisfaction to the owners as they improve the looks of the backyard In most cases, and relieve him of the labor and expense of keeping it Ini order. If a person also wishes to have a garden he can by putting up trellis work conceal the garage so that persons in the street cannot see it, also a roof garden can be maintained on the garage when desired.

Special Conditions.

In planting out street and highway trees, the fundamental principle governing the work should be as in all the broad field of agriculture, the creation of conditions suitable to the particular plants to be used. If proper conditions do not exist, they must be made. If rainfall is Insufficient, Irrigation sufficient to overcome the natural deficiency of water supply must be practiced. If rainfall Is excessive, drainage must be had by blasting to free soil or digging deep holes and mixing sand, wood ashes, lime or decaying vegetable matter with the soil before replacing It In the holes. Physical condition of soils is of far greater moment than the chemical properties, therefore deep holes, dag or blasted, together with deep preparatory cultivation is essential to success.

Beauty Demanded in Suburbs.

“Beauty is a necessary factor in the development of suburban property,” says H. A. Jontfs, a Detroit real estate man. “City people who move out to those communities which are sure to surround Detroit as the city develops, will expect city conveniences and rapid transit to their employment, but they will also expect something of country pleasures. “Therefore »po suburban property unless laid out with the Idea of beauty in mind, is likely to become fully built up. People will not have their homes squeezed Into 30-foot lots, with no parks, trees or landscape beauty, when they have gone cway from the heart of the city Just to get such surroundings.”

Trees Along Fences.

Trees along the fences add beauty to the surroundings. They attract useful birds and often serve them as a retreat from storms and birds of prey.