Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 213, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1917 — Page 2

DEMAND FOR CEDAR

Tennessee Farmers Get Good Money for Old Fences. •a Many Cases Agents Are Exchanging the Long-Used Rails for Modern Woven Wire—Wood Needed for Lead Pencils. Poor Aladdin was decidedly peeved when his' well-meaning mother exchanged an old brass lamp she found EirUng about the house for a brand new shiny one. Naturally! since the old lamp Was worth many times as much as the new one, as everyone who has read of Aladdin’s Lamp knows. In Tennessee —and in many other localities now —they are exchanging brand new shiny wire fences for disreputable old rail, zig-zag, Virginia, snake and stake-aud-rider fences once laboriously split and put up by honest sons of toil generations ago. And the best part of it is that no one is peeved. The people who give away the brand new and expensive woven wire fences are daligjited to take the old rail fences in exchange and the farmers are proud and happy to get . the wire fences, so everyone Is glad. The answer is “Lead pencils.” More than two years ago we had stripped our cedar lands of practically all the old growth, and since then of all the rest of the cedars, except the mere saplings. Then the pencil manufacturers started to bring cedar from abroad and then the war came along —the crowned heads of Europe should worry about lead pencil shortage in America—and. it began to look as though lead pencils would become as costly as eggs or coal or other commodities until certain agents discovered that throughout many sections of the country there were miles and miles of the very best sort of cedar, thoroughly dried and seasoned, serving as fences along highways and between fields and pastures. Some of the old rails were sent to a pencil manufacturing concern. The wood was cut up into strips and proved to be the very best pencil cedar the manufacturers had been able to get bold of for years. There was no seasoning to do—it was in prime condition for making Into pencils the moment it reached the shops. "Get all you can of this wood,” was the order to agents. “What will you take for your rail fences?” one Tennessee farmer was asked. "Gosh, I wouldn’t sell them fences. It would take years to split up more rails,” said the farmer. The agent had an idea. ““If I put In modern woven wire fences may I have the old wooden ones?” “You bet you can, until they come and get you,” was the answer. “Who come and get me?” asked the agent. “The crazy house people, where you broke out from,” snorted the old farmer. But the agent ordered the fencing, and his men put it up apd shipped the old cedar rails, which were from 25 to 75, years old, to the factories, and the value of the cedar was so much greater than the cost of the w ire fences that the pencil makers were delighted.

Sleep on Life Preservers.

It must afford considerable consolation to the navy recruit to realize that the mattress on which he sleeps so comfortably at night will stand him in good stead in case of an accident to the ship. In fact the very buoyancy which makes it such a comfortable bed Is also the quality which makes it possible for it to be converted at a moment’s notice into a life preserver, says Popular Science. ' The mattresses are stuffed with kapok, a lighter-thun-cork material which is imported West Indies in bales similar to bales of cotton. It is made from the seeds and silk of a tree not unlike the cottonwood tree, but instead of being in puffy balls, the kapok is in slender threads, which when compressed make a mass that is six times more buoyant than cork. Thin layers of the kapok are inclosed in strong ticking for the raattWf&ses. Each mattress is provided with tapes long enough to tie around the body and over the shoulders.

Will Conserve Gasoline.

Whether John D. Rockefeller likes It or not. Rev. Dr. Thomas Gljnn of Beaver Falls, Pa., has heeded the call of the government to conserve gasoline by inventing a gasoline engine that will reduce the cost of ocean joy riding just one-half. Doctor Glynn calls his new invention a hydrobuoyant engine. He makes “old man Gravity” perform most of the work. The main power of the engine is received from the buoyancy and gravity of water. The buoyancy engines are assisted and speeded by gasoline motors on the same principle as the well-drilling machines receive their auxiliary motion from gas engines. Doctor Glynn claims that his engine will the economic efficiency In fuel. By the use of fly wheels, high and low gears and dutches it will be possible to propel the largest ocean liner across the big pond with 150 gallons of gasoline.

Good Plan, Too.

1 “Well, I have finished my Christmas shopping.” ! “How could you manage that sc early T “All my gifts will be Liberty bonds.' j_- Louisville Courier-Journal.

BITTER LESSON FOR DADDY

Listening Parent Brought to Realize _>■ That the Children Must Have Their Hour of Life. Then, looking out tf of hi? bedroom window', the father saw a tableau at the gate, Pldl saying good-night to Alice, his head bent to her uplifted face. A depth of tender understanding was expressed In their attitude and expression. Well, that was the way of the world after nil. And what was it Helen had said? Something about letting them have their hour? Apparently, he’d have to; parents were helpless spectators before this nil-conjuring scheme of the universe. He’d simply have to make tip his mind to It. i ' C- -■ - He lit his old pipe again. But even that had lost Its flavor. He heard the last good-by. Then his girl called her mother to the porch. And he did not mean to be an eavesdropper, but he could not help it in the summer stillness of the night. “How’s daddy? ltonring around like a lion in his cage? Oh, you should have seen his face, mother, when he passed us. Did be tell you?” The confounded little minx had her mother’s same low, Infectious, tantalizing laugh. It was all very well until you__are_jnaEried_JtQ_lt;_then it crept in under , a man’s defenses and made him seem a poor thing after all. For a fleeting Instant Rollins sympathized with Phil. Then the talk rippled on. “I’ve told Phil that if be turns out the sort of ijusband daddy is I’ll divorce him in a month. Mother, what an angel you are to put up with his humors the way you do!” “Alice!” The assertiye mothering in the rebuke reached the ears of the man upstairs. “Your father is one of the best men that ever lived.” He heard the girl laugh again. “Oh, you! The only way anybody can get a rise out of you is to slander daddy. Dear old daddy! I love him most to pieces, but he is an old grouch. Tell me, mother, were you very, very much in love with daddy when you married him? And was he very, very much in love with you? And does it all seem so long ago? Phil and I mean to be an improvement on all the married couples we know. But, oh, dear! I’m most sick worrying because father is being so horrid about us.” It was that last quiver on the edge between a laugh and a sob that brought the man to his feet. His girl unhappy! And on account of him! Maybe Helen was unhappy, too. —People’s Home Journal.

Knitting in Sentiment.

How much knitting has been going on in this town the past few months! In nearly every household there has been knitting In progress—knitting sweaters, wristlets, abdominal bands, socks and all things that the vicissitudes of a soldier might desire. But it has been one vision of gray, betokening the gray of life, a vision of serene sadness. It should not be so. There should be a little color in the knitting. The Red Cross advises it. We copy from an exchange: “If you are knitting for soldiers, put a little of red in them —it’s the little touch of sentiment that keeps a man cheered up. In the trenehes there is a pet superstition that a soldier who has a red stripe in his socks will never be hit by bullets. Also it is easier for a soldier to keep his socks In pairs if they are marked with a bit of color near the top.” That is good doctrine. Any color so it is red will do, is an old doctrine that will fit in happily with the soldier knitting. Put a little sentiment in it, sisters. —Columbus (O.) State Journal.

Horse Appreciated It.

During the examinations for the new officers’ training camp in New York one enthusiastic young applicant w r as Informed that he was too light to be accepted, his height being but little less than six feet and his weight 120 pounds. “But,” he said, “my health is perfect and my father fought in the Span-ish-American war and only weighed 111 pounds. Is this to be a fat army?” He was informed that there were certain requirements of weight and that they must be obeserved in all cases. “Well,” said the young man, “my father was an orderly on the staff of General Shafer in Cuba and he used to ride at General Shafer’s side every day. He’s told me himself that when he and the general used to come in from a ride together, the two horses would whisper together and my father’s horse would turn around to him and try to kiss him.”

Rich Ore in Andorra Republic.

Iron and other ores are known to pxlst in large quantities in the republic of Andorra, where Fiske Warren Is establishing one of his single tax colonies, but the mineral w-ealth is yet entirely unexploited. The question of mining concessions is comparatively simple and . some development Is looked for. Under the provisions of a law enacted two years ago, the general council of Andorra names a representative for explora tlon and negotiations who Is authorized to transfer mining Interests to an operating company. There is a good municipal road through the BaIlnt valley and abundant opportunities for the development of hydroelectric power. As the ores show between 54 and 79 per cent of iron and veins have been found yielding hematite, Ilmonite, manganese and lead, it Is expected that the mining Interests of tho republic will soon be Improved.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN RENSSELAER, IND.

FOLLOWING UP THE RETREATING FOE

A graphic photograph showing members of one of the advance patrols of French soldiers entering the village of Vauxunion-emLnonnois Immediately after the last German had left the place. The tense position in which the members of this patrol are shown leads one to believe that they fear a possible trap set by the retreating Boches.

OFFICERS AT TOP MUST MAKE GOOD

Men Recently Appointed to High Rank Will Be on Trial in Camp. NONE BUT BEST WILL LEAD Work in Training Camps Will Decide Who Are to Command Troops on Fighting Line in France. By EDWARD B. CLARK. Washington. When the training" camps for the men of the new National army are pitched and the young Americans march in to begin their military studies, every one of them can know that .the oflicers~who are in command, particularly those of the highest ranks, also are ~Just~ entering—sehool-to- leana /essons. It may not he that the officers of the service who are to rule over the new camps either as major generals or brigadier generals have full realization that such is the case, but the fact Is that in a large sense these officers themselves are entering into camps where, like the young civilians who joined the officers’ reserve camps, they must either make good or get out. There are many general officers appointed to high rank recently who must center their bodily and mental efforts

SWORD NOT USED IN MODERN WAR

American Officers Will Not Wear Them on Battlefields in France. TELL TOO MUCH TO ENEMY Commanders Dress Like Privates to Balk Attentions of Hostile Sharpshooters—lnsignia Worn by Various Branches.

Washington. —The traditional sword will not clank at the heels of American army officers in France. This is the first time in American history the officer’s sword has been abandoned in battle. The French and British armies banned swords for their officers during the first year of the war. The American army now follows suit by official order of the war department. The reason is simple and sufficient. During the first year of the war French and British officers were easily distinguishable from their men by their swords, uniforms and insignia and the boche sharpshooters concentrated their fire on them with deadly effect. The idea ever since has been to make commanding officers look as much like enlisted men as possible. Couldn't Tell Haig From Private. If you met General Haig, commander in chief of the British field forces, at the front in France, you couldn’t tell ldin from a private until you got close enough to shake hands with him. The insignia of French, British and American officers on the western front now cannot be seen farther away than the whites, of their eyes can. They wear the same uniforms and carry the same arms as the enlisted men of their commands. The war department has employed experts to devise cloth colors and button and insignia material to make the troops as nearly Invisible as possible. The buttons on the army field service uniform are dark bronze. The insignia on an officer’s coat are small bronze, dull silver or gold devices which cannot be seen across the street. The only difference between the insignia on the collar of an officer and on that of an enlisted man is that the eniioted man’s letters are on a disk.

on the work ahead. With the officers of regulars who have been appointed there are the brigadier generals of the National Guard and the two major.generals of the same organization who also must make good or step down and out before the times comes to go to France. The reasons for this ought to he apparent. The United States has entered upon a war which is to be carried on after new military methods. Few of the men, if any, who now hold major general rank ever have had an opportunity so much as to see a division of troops in the field, let alone opportunity to command a division. Must Make Good. The work vVhlch these major generals and brigadier generals of regulars and of National Guardsmen do in the training camps will decide ryhether or not they are to be allowed to continue theic-ivork in_ coinmand of large-bodies oTtJoops on the fighting line in France. It takes only a reading of the list of the names of the officers recently given general rank in the army to prove that the United States finally has an army In the field none of whose commanding officers received promotion beenuse of political influence. In 180 S when the Spanish war began, men witft political pull in some instances were given high commands. The results in a number of cases were disastrous. The general staff of the army, aided by civilian officials of the war

while an officer’s are in a straight line and separated. Insignia of Various Branches. The arm, corps or staff department a man serves in also is shown on the collar. A general staff officer wears a U. S. coat-of-arins on a five-pointed silver star. In the adjutant general’s department the device is a gold shield. The inspector general’s men wear a sword and fasces crossed and wreathed in gold with the inscription “Droit Et Evant." Judge advocate general’s department, a gold sword and pen crossed and wreathed. Quartermaster’s corps, gold sword and key crossed on a wheel surmounted by a spread eagle. The rim of the wheel is blue enamel set with stars. The medical corps wears a caduceus of gold. A dental surgeon, the same, superimposed in the center of a bronze monogram bearing the letters “D. C/* The ordnaijre department, n shell and flame of Hold. Signal corps, two crossed flags with a gold torch in the center. . ,Cavalry, crossed gold sabersJß’Field artillery, two crossed field guns ln s gold, with regimental number in the upper angle. Coast artillery, two crossed cannons with raised oval center of red enamel, with gold projectile point upon it. Infantry, two crossed gold rifles. Philippine scouts, the same except that “P” replaces the regimental number. Porto Rican regiments the same, with the letters “P. R.” in the upper angle. Aids, wear the shield of the "United States, Its stripes red and white enamel on a field of blue, all bordered In gold and surmounted by a spread eagle. On the blue field a star or stars Indicate the rank of the general on whose staff the aid 1s serving. . Corps, department and arm of the service a man is in also are. shown by the facings and stripes of dress uniforms, but dress uniforms have been banned for the duration of the war. The grade of an officer is shown by his shoulder straps.

CURIOSITY CAN KILL A DOG

Shepherd Dies While Volunteer Surgeons Try to Extract Porcupine Quills. Wlnsted, Conn. —A shepherd, dog owned by Earl Van InWegen returned iome with his month, nose, breast and filled with porcupine quills. ChlorofornA was administered to the dog while men begnn to extract the. quills, some of which had pierced the shepherd’s tongue. The work had progressed fairly well when it was noticed that the dog was dead, too much of_Jhe drug having been administered.

department, succeeded In prevebtlng political Influence from taking effect in the recent promotions to high army rank. There are yet to be appointed a good many men to'field work service in the new National army, that is to the ranks of colonel apd lieutenant colonel and major. It is not believed that political influence will avail to affect these promotions any more than it availed in the naming pf major generals and brigadier generals. The war department has realized, and has said so, that it may have to go outside of the army and the National Guard to secure the services of some officers for comparatively high rank. There will not be enough material in the service to supply all the field officers needed. It must be remembered that thousands upon thousands of the regular and'National Guard officers are Very young men. and the majority of them have not had enough experience to justify, from the army point of view, their appointment as first and second in command of regiments. The war department officials today have in their possession a list of names of only 71 men outside the present service who may be considered for field officer’s rank. It is said that there are some few political pets on this list, that is, -men who have received the Indorsement of senators or fepresentatives or governors, or someone else high in the service of one political party or another, but it is pretty well known that even those men who received the indorsement of politicians have had previous military experience and have been put on the list, not because of their political indorsements, but in spite of them. Commissions for Some. It is said that it does not follow at all because there are 71 civilians listed as available for army that all of them are to be given commissions. It Is probable that not more than eight or ten of them will be given places at the outset, but the chances are that later when we must raise bigger armleg more of these mgn will he appointed and that to the list Already in existence other names will De added. An amusing story is being told here of aJUnited States senator who, finding that his influence was not to avail in securing appointments foi" political friends, cast about him for means of getting some credit for himself out of the appointments that were made without any reference to him. This senator, it is said, wrote to the men from his state who had received 'commissions and called their attention to the fact that he had not tried to prevent their appointment. The chances are he did not even know that they were going to be appointed, but he did his best to secure the good will, by the only means possible, of the men who had been given preferment without any reference to their friendliness with the political powers of their horn testates.

SHE IS DOING HER BIT

Mrs. James Lees Laidlnw, first vice chniriuan of the New York State Woman Suffrage party, In a paper she read at the annual convention of the Fourth Assembly district suffrage organization at the Westchester county courthouse, appealed to her fellow suffragists to improve every possible opportunity to “do their bit” toward helping win the war. She has outlined a long list of methods and means—practical suggestions for the patriotic woman who is wondering just how she can help. Mrs. Laidlaw, this picture show's, is following the advice she gave her fellow suffragists and Is doing her bit in her own kitchen. She is a splendid housekeeper and has put into effect In her home the recommendations of Mr. Hoover to secure war economy. She is . running her kitchen on a wartime economy basis, using no white flour and observing all the other tenets of the Hoover program most rigorously. Mrs. Laidlaw is one of the most enthusiastic workers In the “get behind Hoover” movement

A LITTLE BIT HUMOROUS

SENSIBLE MAN. V “Is Jlbway still staying out late every night while his good wife sits up and waits for him?” "No.” “You mean he has reformed?” “Not at all. Jibway stays out a* late as ever, but his good wife goes to bed and lets him sleep on the porch If he is unable to negotiate the keyhole with his latch-key." Cutting Down Gossip. “How do you suppose some people spent their spare time before motion pictures were invented?” “I don’t like to appear unkind to those persons, but before they started to spending practically all of their leisure moments in photoplay houses they knew a great deal more about their neighbors’ private affairs than they do now 7 .” An Exception. “Misfortunes often bring out the best there is in a man," remarked the philosophic observer. “Great misfortunes sometimes have that effect," answered the cynical person, “but I have yet to see the man who w r ears an ‘Oh-be-joyful’ expression after trying in vain for thirty minutes to get a telephone number.” Makes Them Envious. “The idea of a rich woman paying SI,OOO for a fur coat!” exclaimed - 'the socialistic observer. “That doesn’t increase the sum of human happiness." “You are right, friend,” answered a hard-w 7 orked married man. “At any. rate, it doesn’t Increase the sum of happiness among women who can’t afford to buy SI,OOO coats.”

HUBBY'S VIEWS.

“I think a trip to Europe would do your wife good. However, I shall call In another physician to see if my diagnosis is correct.” “I guess MX correct enough, doc. Better call In a dressmaker if you want to hasten the cure.lL—_— —

Learning. She’s learning fanning By degrees; She thought potatoes Grew on trees. An Illustration. “Isn’t It strange how r the majority of people can become attached to a. bad custom ?” “Yes; look at the street car strap-* hangers." Easy Job. “His lawyer couldn’t clear the man who was accused of being a fence.” —“That 1 * qucerr-it-ought be easyenough for any man, let alone a lawyer to whitewash a fence.” Hard Pressed. Ben Brokeleigh—Darling, let us get; married at once. I positively can’t live another day Without you. Gertie Gotrox —Why, Ben, I had no idea you were that hard up. Up in the Air. . Bob White- —Isn’t Jim Meadow Lark 1 peevish of late? Mrs. B. W.—Oh, terribly. The least: noise makes him soar.

Just Now. ”What’s the best seller today T “Judglftg from the most recent reports, I should suy It was a potato cellar." f Never Seen Together. 411 s. Jack Glithers still going with that dashing Miss Peacher?” _ . “Why, no. Haven’t you heard the, news?" “Tell mo." “They are married now." The Usual Thing. “What Is It a sign asked the in-i nocent maid “when a young man begins to tell a girl his troubles?” “It’s S sign,” answered the wise* widow, “that he will soon ask her toi share them." -