Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1910 — Page 3

Artificial Lumber

It will Soon Be a Necessity

By S. F. AARON

Although many who are interested ip the lumber business profess to believe that the long-prophesied timber famine is as far off as ever, information to the contrary is altogether conclusive. Wood, as a material for general construction, is soon to have its day. Those who know the facts have set down figures that are convincing enough in all conscience. The supply is known, the growth increase is known, the use and destruction estimated, though information upon cut ting is withheld or misstated, fires devastate and insects and fungus diseases destroy beyond our knowledge. Recently the writer made a timber survey for the owners of a little backwoods lot of forty thousand acres in the Shenandoah Mountains of Vir ginia, a virgin bit of forest never cut over. The conditions are much the same as in the entire*Appalachian region. Two chains of mountains traverse the tract lengthwise, and on these fertile slopes chestnut, chestnut oak. and white oak grow. In the deep valleys the larger timber is to be found—giant white pines,, hemlocks, tulip poplars, ash, oak, and chestnut. But within the last ten years the bark beetle has killed nearly all the white pine, rotting logs five ■feet in . diameter lie on the ground. From the highest mountain-top the great slopes of the widest valley on the tract could be seen, over forty square miles of tangled thickets, the haunt of bear and wildcat.

But what of the future supply of construction material? The metals can not be relied on in general, not even if aluminum should become as cheap as wood ever was. There is but one thing to look to, the making of a substance that will be strong, as light, as durable, and as cheap as wood. And if it is all these, it may also be a deal better than wood, for it need have no grain and will, therefore, be equally strong in all directions and comparatively free from considerable shrinking, swelling, and cracking. ” Manufacturing a Board The product must be water-proof and very desirably fire-proof. To be inexpensive and plentiful, a cheaply grown fiber must be the basic material, compacted in convenient sizes and made as free from grit as possible, so that it may be dimensioned and tooled into the thousands of shapes and sizes needed. The fibrous plants and grasses from which papers are made, as rice, esparto, wheat, southern wire-grass, etc., are worthy of consideration. There are the fibers that can be cheaply and roughly retted from the hemps, domestic and wild, and somewhat allied to these are the milk-weeds and the dogbane or Indian hemp.

It is pretty nearly obvious that some cementing material must be the means whereby the fibers are to be held together, but here is the real problem: It is little trouble to make an artificial board. , Layers of paper pasted together are strong and rigid, and far stronger when glue is used. It can be made reasonably waterproof when shellac is employed as the cement. But the expense—it would cost a hundred dollars to construct a fifty-cent chicken-coop with such material. The basic material in wood is cellulose, self-cementing under nature’s skilled workmanship. The nearest approach to its use is the proprietary celluloid; cellulose dissolved by a process that makes it highly inflammable and allied to guncotton or nitro-cellulose.

Then there are the rubbers, the latex in the sap of many trees, which are wonderfully adhesive, waterproof, and practically fire-proof, but they oxidize rapidly and hence disintegrate. And what a godsend such a thing as artificial lumber would be for the •preservation of the forests! The cutting necessary in scientific forestry would furnish all the veneers, panels, moldings, etc., needed for decorative purposes. Imagine, then, a piano case or other piece of excellent cabinet work having a core made -of compressed fiber instead of the usual soft wood, and with one or both sides veneered with mahogany, walnut, or rosewood, as desired. Imagine a house that is framed, roofed, floored, and even ceiled with wellfitting pieces that do not shrink, swell, nor split, and that are entirely fireproof, and within, the architraves, •bases, sash, balusters, staif-rail, and Steps of solid wood, while the doors, mantels, wainscots, stair-risers, and paneled ceilings are veneered. As certain as axes swing faster than trees can grow, artificial lumber will come, and we can not wait for it many years longer.—Collier's Weekly.

Natives of Papua are said to have converted a Church of England clergyman to a recognitionthat “there is something in the witchcraft practiced by the magicians of New Guinea.” ■ ;j' t London bks 2,151 miles of streets and 300 miles of tramways. The first record of Halley's comet was B. C. 240.

DUG OUT OF RUINS IN ASIA.

Finds of a Japanese Explorer in a 5,000 Mile Journey. Zuicho Tachibana. a Japanese only 20 years of ; age, has completed a journey across Central Asia of some 5,000 miles. Mr. Tachibana is secretary to Count Otani, the head abbot of the Shinshu sect of Buddhists, wJbo provided the equipment for the journey, which was undertaken specially with a view to visiting the ancient sites of Central Asia and where possible making excavations. Leaving Japap in the spring of 1908. Mr. Tachibana first made some investigations among the islands of Lake Tung Ting, in Hunan. After crossing the Gobi Desert he went to Karakorum and thence to Gutchen, in Chinese Turkestan, 300 miles distant. There he obtained some important finds from an ancient fort. Among other things he unearthed a number of ancient tiles with chrysanthemum decorations, a find particularly interesting to a Japanese. These tiles dated from the seventeenth century. At Turfan, further to the south, he visited a large number of ancient Buddhist caved Wellings. The neighborhood was very sparsely inhabited. In exploring these caves, which belonged to the sixth century, but were all destroyed by the Mohammedans in the fourteenth-century, some very valuable manuscripts were , found. Soon after this Mr. Tachibana sent his assistant with all the baggage to Kashgar, while he proceeded to the southeast to explore the Ldb Desert, parts of which he crossed by a new route. There he had some of his worst experiences owing to the absence of water, the prevalence of a terrific wind and a burning sun. The heat was in places 120 in the shade, and at Keria he had sunstroke. In the Tarim Desert he passed through a desolate region, where the course of a river was lost amid the sand and the landscape was marked by blasted tree trunks and ruined dwellings. The journey, which was chiefly through desert and mountain, was rich in results. The traveller has brought back with him over 4,000 manuscripts and a magnificent col lection of ancient coins.—Sun.

MODERN BALLOONS.

Gas Bags Made of Cotton Coated With Rubber. The gas bags of modern balloons are made of a cotton fabric coated with India rubber in the most careful manner, in order to assure perfect imper meability without sacrificing lightness For all large balloons, and especially for dirigibles, two layers of clpth are superposed and cemented together. The outer skin is covered with India rubber on one side only, but the inner skin is coated on both sides. In German balloons the inner canvas is cut straight and the outer canvas is cut bias. In this constructed gores with angles of 45 degrees are used and the seams 1 are covered, which causes a slight increase in weight. French balloon makers prefer to cut both canvases straight. Experiments show that the tensile strength of the envelopes thus made is approximately equal in all directions. Each method of construction has its advantages and its defects, says the Scientific American. As India rubber, even when vulcanized, is altered by exposure to light, the canvas is colored yellow in order to arrest the violet and ultraviolet rays, which are the most active. The pigment used in France is chromate of lead, which unfortunately must be applied to the canvas before it is coated with rubber, and which consequently prevents the vulcanization of..the rubber, because the chromate of lead is blackened by heat. Picric acid is free from this objection, but its employment is too dangerous.

Two Descriptions.

A man’s voice, husky with anxiety, called up police 'headquarters the other night at about 2.30 a. m. It was a distraught husband begging the police to help him find his wife, who had been missing since 8 o’clock in the evening. "What’s her description?” asked the official at the ’phone. “Her height? Weight?” “Er—er—about average, I guess/’ stammered the husband. “Color of eyes?” A confused burring sound came back over the wire. “Blue or brown?” prompted the official. - “I—l don’t know!” “How was she dressed?” “I guess she wore her coat and hat—she took the dog with hen” “What kind of a dog?” “Brindle bull terrier, weight fourteen pounds and a half, four dark blotches on his.J)ody, shading from gray into white: a round, blackish spot over the left eye • white stub of a tail, three white less, and the right front leg nicely brindled all but the toes; a small nick in his left ear, gold filling in his upper right molar, a silver link collar w'th— ” “That’ll do!” gasped the official; “We’ll find the dog!”—Puck. Tn a series of telephonic experiments a German scientist has made magnets, alternatipg current transformers, and even dynamos talk with out the use of vibrating plates or membranes.,

The number of foreign students in the United States is constantly increasing. The period of deepest sleep varies from 3 to 5 o’clock.

AEROPLANES IN WAR

Recent developments in aeroplanes have greatly increased their value for war purposes. It appeared at first that none of these heavier than air mac hines '■ could - carry • much more than the aviator himself, winch would of course greatly limit their use,’ as the aviator would have all he could do to attend tp his machine without doing reconnoissance or other work. The recent aviation meet at Lbs Angeles impressed all the army officers who witnessed the flights with the certainty, speed, ease and apparent safety with which such machines could be operated. The trials clearly suggested the possibility of using these machines in time of war, not only for reconnoissance and other work of that kind but also for the purpose of attracking hostile forts (field or permanent, land forts or coast forts) as well as hostile armies in the field, whether marching or entrenched, by dropping on them from a considerable height missiles containing high explosives. The effective use of the aeroplane either for or for. throwing explosives has been made possible by increased carrying capacity. The French machine exhibited at Los Angeles, for example, could easily carry 150 pounds of explosive missiles in addition to two men, one as aviator, the other as observer or to throw the missiles.

The' Chief of Ordnance in his last annual report says that his department is prepared to furnish both hand grenades and rifle-shrapnel grenades, designed by Lieutenant-Colonel E. B. Babbitt, Ordnance Department, in any reasonable quantity, and these would probably be of use in aeroplanes; but in addition a heavier grenade of greater destructive power is needed, especially for action! against forts of all kinds. The great difficulty in the way of using aeroplanes for destruction is to attain any sort of accuracy in placing the missiles when dropped from the machine, inasmuch as it must fly at such a height and with such speed as to reduce to a minimum all danger from an attack made by small arms or batteries on the ground below, and under those circumstances It would be very difficult to hit any particular object aimed at. When large masses of troops are exposed or long entrenchments or large areas inside of forts there would be no difficulty. . To determine the degree of accuracy attainable Lieutenant Paul W. Beck, Signal Corps, made some tests by dropping small bags of sand from a height of 250 feet while moving at a rate of about forty miles an hour on a target indicated on the ground by marking the centre and corners of a square, about twentyfive feet on a side, with squares of white cardboard. The results, although not very satisfactory as to accuracy, showed that practice would no doubt soon enable an operator to drop the explosive missiles with a degree of accuracy sufficient for all practical purposes. Many of the targets exposed to such attacks are of considerable size, especially in coast forts, entrenched camps, etc., and for these no great degree of accuracy would be required. Captain Bottoms, Coast Artillery Corps, who observed the trials at Los Angeles, has suggested a system bymeans of which accuracy may be greatly increased. It is simply a question of dropping the grenade at such a point that, allowing for the speed of the machine, the target will be hit. Tp determine this it is necessary to have a telescope mounted for reading vertical angles, so arranged that the trunnions can be held at all times horizontal.

By selecting any object on the ground below and determining the time in seconds required by the aeroplane to travel from the point at which this object bears 45 degrees downward to the point at which it bears 90 degrees downward and multiplying his time by the speed a second of the aeroplane (obtained by simply reading the aerometer) we obtain the height from the ground. This method is simply another application of the principle of finding the distance from a ship to a point on shore by taking what is called a “four point bearing” on the spot. From simple principles of mechanics a table can be constructed showing for all speeds and heights likely to arise in practice th'e angle of depression at which the grenade should be released in order to hit the target. The retarding effect of the air must of course be determined for various heights and speeds by experiment and the necessary correction applied. Since the aeroplane can generally move in a direction perpendicular to the direction' of the wind, especially just near the target, the effect of the wind can usually be neglected.

As Captain Bottoms suggests, developments must take place along these lines in order to increase the value of the aeroplane for military use. Even if the future may show that it is not advisable to use these heavier than air machines offensively, the same means must be applied defensively to demoralize a hostile force attempting to bring down the machine. The military importance of aero-

planes has thus suddenly assumed new proportions, and they wtll undoubtedly be utilized in f nture wars. That our army appreciates this fact is- shown by the statement in the report of the "Chief of Ordinance to the effect that the attack of dirigible balloons and aeroplanes. 6t which the use in future wars, at least for purposes of observation, is highly probable, is receiving consideration. Experiments for the accumulation ot data are in progress and a gun and carriage are being designed."—New York Sun.' ''-7-

TO MARK LINCOLN’S MARCH.

His Route in Black Hawk War Across Illinois and lowa Defined. Congressman Frank O. Lowden of Illinois, a former Burlington resident, has taken up the prosecution of a historical project of interest to western Illinois and to this part of lowa. By the donation of a sum of money he has furthered the project of setting up permanent markers to outline the march which Abraham Lincoln took up in the Black Hawk war. Only the oldest inhabitants in those regions now have any memory of the course of that campaign, which is not adequately outlined in history. The object of the markers will be to fix permanently the line of march and the* camping grounds planned by the martyr President. The way led across the prairies of Illinois to the Mississippi River at a point near Burlington, then known as Flint Hills. The inarch was made from Beardstown, 111., to Oquawka, then known as the Yellow Banks on account of the peculiar coloring of the river shore line. From Oquawka the route was laid to the mouth of the Rock River.

There were two expeditions in the Black Hawk war, one in 1831, when Black Hawk escaped from the pursuers and crossed the Mississippi, and the second in the following year, when Black Hawk returned to the Illinois shore with the determination to remain. Lincoln was made captain of one of the companies which took up the campaign against the Indians. The expedition gave a number of names to the localities along the route which are still borne. It is interesting to note that twenty-five years after his brush with Black Hawk, Lincoln, when he was coming into prominence, again visited Yellow Banks and after making a speech there came to Burlington by boat. Yellow Banks had become Oquawka and was a thriving village. v The markers to be placed along the route will be of stone and with-suit-able inscriptions, and a map of the march will be drawn and copies kept on file among the public records at various points.—Burlington correspondence Chicago News.

His Chance of Heaven.

Ben T. Rice and Hymen Levy, both now dead, were two of the real old Virginia characters in a small Piedmont county seat town: Ben was the keeper of the town inn and Hymen, a genuine Jew, ran a store. Ben was noted for profanity, drinking and gambling and telling unheard of yarns. Hymen was a daily’ visitor at the inn to get his dram, and at times became thoroughly shocked at Ben’s outrageous language and manners. Ben, one evening, joined the town boys in an exciting game of foothall on Main street, became overheated, and, cooling off too quickly, went into pneumonia at night. Several physicians attended him, who soon pronounced his case hopeless. A dozen or more of Ben’s friends, among them Hvmen, were standing around the bed just before’ Ben’s spirit took its flight from earth, when Ben uttered a long groan and said, “O LrO-r-d, have mercy on me.” At this moment Hymen* turned his head slowlv and remarked, “The good Lord ought to take Ben right now, for he never will be so good no more ” —National Monthly..

Burlesques at Wedding.

Poulbot, a Paris caricaturist, having determined upon so commonplace a step as getting married, decided that he would be married in no commonplace way. He asked all his friends to the weeding, but there was a sine qua non, condition attached to the invitation. You had to go with a "made-up head.” or you would not be admitted. Preferably yon were requested to make un a country cousin at a village wedding. Some guests arrived as ancient peasants, others as village idiots. There were several bluff souires and rural elderly gentlemen with means, a number of retired officers and exuberant uncles from the South, besides fierce military gentlemen from the hottest stations of Algeria. The only persons who wore their’natural physiognomies were the couple most concerned. Thev had drawn the line at making up themselves as a burlesque bride and a. comic bridegroom. —London Daily Telegraph.

Fashionable Vices.

* A real man of fashion and pleasure observes decency; at least/ neither borrows nor affects vices; and, if-he unfortunately has apy, he gratifies them with choice, delicacy and secrecy. I have not^ mentioned the pleasures of the mind (which are the solid and permanent ones), because they do not come under the head of what people commonly call pleasures; which they seem to confine to the senses. The pleasure of virtue, of charity and of learning is true and lasting pleasure, which I hope you will be well and long acquainted with. Adieu! —“Lord Chesterfield’s Letters to His Son."

THE DALAI LAMA.

The OfFce Only 250 Years Old and Early Under Chinese Control. An article by Dr. L. A. Waddell on "The Grand Lamas of Tibet.” in the current number of the Roval Asiatic Society’s Journal, is full of interest at the present, time. In it he gives a translation of the decree of the Chinese Emperor Chia-ching. which is inscribed on. four stone tablets “at the left side of the door of the great JdKan temple" of Lhasa, and which is dated as late as ISOS. In this the regulations for the appointment of the Dalai Lama are set out, together with a kind of history of the institution, which leaves it clear that the institution is not earlier than 1640, and was the invention of the priest-king Lo-bzan Gya-intso. chief abbot of the Yellow-bat llamas, after he had seized the temporal sovereignty at about that date. 'The dual arrangement by which one Grand Lama reigns at Tashi-lhunpo in western Tibet as the Tashi Lama, without infringing the supremacy of the Dalai Latna of Lhasa, ai’ems to have been in the first instance, an artifice practised by the same priest Lcbzan. who appointed his tutor, the abbot of the Ghldan monastery near Lhasa, the first Tashi Lima, while reserving the real headship of the State for himself and forging, like some other parvenus, a kind of pedigree for the institution, whereby it appeared that he was the fifth Dalai Lama, instead of. as was the fact, the first.

Th? decree also makes it plain that the Chinese early interfered in the working of the election and insisted unon what was called the "Ordeal of the Golden *T*rn,” which really meant th° drawing of lots for the office in the presence of the Chinese Atnban or Resident, who manipulated the whole affair. It was time, for the second, third and fourth Dalai Lamas, seem from the decree to have been most disreputable people, while the death of the first was successfully concealed for eighteen years Dr. Waddell also tells us that the Dalai Lamas is supposed to be (be incarnation not. as is sometimes said, of Buddha himself but of Avalokita, "the Compassionate Lord" or "God of Mercy." the most popular of all the Buddhist divinities. —From the Athenoeum.

Natural and Supernatural.

The strict meaning of the word "supernatural’’ is "over" or “above” the hatural; but where the natural ends and the supernatural begin® is a matter that i.< still in the courts The wisest minds of the race have been debating the question for ten thousand years or more, and the subject is still far from being settled. The .best definition of nature known to us is to be found in John Stuart Mills’ “Three Essays on Religion,” and is as follows: "Nature is a collective name for all facts, actual and possible;- or a name for the Mode, partly known to us and partly unknown. in which alj things take places.” It will be observed from this definition that in Mills’ opinion nature is all, the so-called supernatural being but the "unknown” side of the natural.

Why the English Make You Mad.

W. Pett Ridge, who won his public in this country several years ago when the Harpers published his novel of a young London girl of the slums, entitled, “By Order of the Magistrate.” is counted in London, where his public is very wide, a most excellent raconteur. One of his stories is of an infuriated musician who rushed up to a policeman and demanded vengeance on a small urchin who, he protested, had insulted him “I was coming along the road in a hurry just now,’’ he explained wrathfully, “when the young scoundrel stopped me and asked me the time. 1 said, ‘lt is ten to three,’’ and he said ‘At three o’clock get your hair cut.’ ” The policeman glanced slowly at a neighboring clock. “Well.’’ he replied stolidly, “you’re all right, sir—you have still got a good eight minutes.” —Harpers

The Philosopher.

Nations go armed, but citizens must not. If it is easy to get rid of a habit it is not a serious one. Some people have nothing to sell except promises they cannot make good. Every poor man is ready to make fun of a rich man or borrow money of him. What has become of the Old-fash-ioned man who thought it smart to swear in the presence of a preacher? ( When a boy wrars a pair of new shoes without protest it is an indication that he is going away on the cars. The girl who works hardest in decorating the church can usually be depended on to be a poor worker at home.—Atchison Globe.

This Is Awful.

Mrs. Blank ( reading!—John, dear, what is a canard? Blank—ls it possible you don’t know what a canard is? Why, the word explains itself. Mrs. Blank—Well. I can’t see it. What does it mean, anyway? Blank—A canard is a story one canardly believes. See? —Peoria Journal.

When telegraphs were first employed the speed of transmission was pnly four to five words a minute.

THE WEEKLY HISTORIAN

1792—-The first State Legislature at Kentucky met.. 1800—First municipal court established in Boston. 1909 —Christopher Gore inaugurated Governor of Massachusetts. 1812—The territory north of Louisian* was given the name of Missouri. 1819—Cornerstone laid for the Pennsylvania State eaptitol at Harris-* burg. 1831—The Boston and Worcester Railroad* incorporated. 1838—A band of Canadian rebels landed on Amherst island, near Kingston, and plundered the vicinity. 1845 — The "True American" appeared in Lexington, Ky., edited by Cassius M. Clay. 1846 A convention met at Albany ,to revise the constitution of New York. 1848— Whig convention at Philadelphia nominated Gem Zachary Taylor for President of the United States. .... First Sisters of Charily arrived in Buffalo. 1849 The first authentic case of Asiatic cholera appeared iii Boston. 1850— The line of the Pennsylvania Railroad was completed to Huntington, Pa. 1854—Reciprocity treaty concluded between the United States and Canada. 1861— Gen. Beauregard assumed command of the Confederate forces at Manassas Junction. 1862 — The Confederates, commanded by Gen. Johnson, attacked the left wing of the Army of the Potomaa at Fair Oaks, Va. . . .Memphis surrendered to the Union forces. 1865—Galveston, Texas, surrendered to the Federal troops. 1869—The Massachusetts State Senate refused to grant the right of suffrage to women. 1872 —Construction of the St. Gothard tunnel through the Alps' begun. 1876—Royal Military College opened in Kingston, Ontario. 1878 —One hundred houses destroyed oy tornado at Richmond, Va. 1887— Edward Blake temporarily retired from the leadership of the Liberal party in Canada... .First United States patent granted for monotype machine. 1888— National Democratic convention at St. Louis renominated Grover Cleveland for President of the United States. 1889 — ■Flood at Johnstown, Pa., resulting from the breaking of a dam, destroyed 2,295 lives. 1890 — The Duke and Duchess of Connaught welcomed at Ottawa,... Duke and Duchess of 'Connaught welcomed to Montreal. 1892—The "High-Water Mark” monument at Gettysburg dedicated. 1895—-Statue of Sir John Macdonald unveiled in Montreal by the Earl of Aberdeen. . . .Jud Son Harmon of Ohio appointed Attorney General of the United States. 1899—P. A. Mclntyre became Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island. .. .French Court of Cassation decided in favor of the revision ot the Dreyfuss verdict. 1909 —Gen. John B. Gordon elected commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans. 1902—Peace of Pretoria, ending the war in South Africa, 1905 —President Roosevelt offered his services as a mediator to end the war between Japan and Russia.... Norway witrdrew from the union with Sweden. 1909 —Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposition opened in Seattle.

LABOR

The income for the last year of International Cigar Makers’ Union was $828,498.87. Benefits, paid out for the year were $553,832.34. Another -attempt is l»eing, made to unionize the housemaids of' Boston, Mass., and vicinity, and it is said the movement is meeting with success. The school teachers of the State of Colorado, with a membership of 7,000, have decided to apply for admission to the American Federation of Labor. Organized labor is fast gaining in Santa Cruz County, California, Recently' the bricklayers, cement workers, plasterers and carpenters formed unions. Laws have been passed providing for bureaus of labor in Oklahoma and Texas, and changing an existing office in South Carolina so as to give it largely the character of a labor bureau. The labor temple recently opened at 14th street and 2d avenue, Manhattan, by the Presbyterian department of church and labor, has proved itself to be one of the most successful things ever undertaken by the department. Benjamin Weinstein, general organizer for the United Hebrew trades, an organization of 125 Jewish unions with a membership of 70,000, in Manhattan, has issued an order to the subordinates to take a referendum vote on a proposition to levy a $1 per capita tax on all the members to start a fund for a Hebrew labor lyceuaa. I.■ • I ;