Ligonier Banner., Volume 32, Number 24, Ligonier, Noble County, 16 September 1897 — Page 3

From Cl ° rom Clue to Climax 1 Q BY WILL N. HARBEN. . {Copyright 1896, by J. B. Lippincott Co.} - CHAPTER XIII.—CONTINUED. -“We want to-find a certain blue envelope, Matthews,” the detective began. “It was thrown into this basket by Mr. Strong about a month ago. Can you Lelp us?” . : *“I don’t know, sir. I have been emptyin’ everythin’ of that kind in the cellar. I keep all the papers in one barrel and all the rags in another, and a junk shop man comes every now and then—" *“And gives you a little something for Lkeeping the stuff for him,” interrupted Hendricks. i “Yes, sir,” the servant nodded. “Has he been here lately ?” “Just a day or so before the murder, cir. I remember—" “Could you take Mr. Whidby and myself to his place?” said the detective. “We might be in time to keep our bit of evidence from being made up into new paper.” : “Yes, sir, without any trouble. lis shop is on¥irst street, under the bridge. It is a pretty tough place, sir, but we can take the cars and get down quick enough.” . “L see T am to be of no further assistance,” jestgd Miss Delmar. - 1 (lidnfi]ujte think you would care to soil your skirts irra ragman’s shop,” replied the detective. “But as soon as we get a clew, Mr. Whidby may bring the news to you. We'd better be going, too.” ; , Hendricks and Matthews started out at once. Whidby lingered in the draw-ing-room with Miss Delmar. *“lf you have the time, you might stay here until we return,” said Whilby. “I am sure we shan’t be long.” “I'llwaitva.nheurf.jmyway,”thé young lady promised. ‘I am dying to know if you accormplish anything. DBut run on; they are waiting for you, and here comes the car.” ' In ten aninutes the three men. had reached the bridge spanning the murky river and were entering the shop indicated by Matthews. : " “We must tell himn exactly what we want,” Hendricks whispered to Whidby at the door. “He hasn’t a very honest face, and if he thinks we have lost something of intrinsic value he may tell usa lot of lies. Usually they do all they can to aid a detectives” Al I see; answered Whidby. I should have blundered there if I had been alone.” \ ' The dealer;, @ little Jew, with a very crafty face, ecame from behind a coun--ler piled up high with sacks of rags and paper. : . “What ean I do for you, gentlemen?” he asked. _ In a few words Hendricks explained what they were searching for. + “ARIY and you want to catch him, eh? Well, I hope you can,” said the Jew.: “I think I know .the bags I got from tiere. They are up in the loft. 1 will throw, them down, and you can look through them here.” “You are very good.” said Hendricks; “that’s exactly what we want.” ' The Jew ran up a ladder through a hole in the ceilng, and in a moment three sacks filled with old paper tumbled down at their feet. _ Hendricks pointed to a eleun place on the floor, and said to Matthews: “Shake. them out.” : Matthews emptied one of the bags in a heap, and Whidby bent over it. “No doubt-about the stufl being from our hgus{f," he said. ‘“Hereisa note addressed to me, and there are some old bills of uncle’s.” DBut after five minutes’ search he declared he saw no envelope which looked like the one he had in mind. The second bag was scarched without suceess, but the third had hardv been opened before Whidby picked up a large, square envelope. D *¥ think this must be it,” he said. “You: are right; it matches the color of the paper. They must have gone together,” replied the detective; and he cpened the case of his watch and held the corner of the envelope down to the front of the tiny bit. ‘“We are all right so far.” lendricks walked to the front of the shop alone, studyving, with a wrinkled brow, the envelope. Whidby paid the Jew: for Lis trouble, and then joined him. ' “Can you make anything out of it?” he asked. “Not a blasted thing,” replied Hendricks. “It wds mailed in New York. I did not expect that. At present I have the murderer’s handwriting, and that is all; but—-" His face darkened, and he clinched his fist, and sWwore under his breath. ~ : . “What is it?” Whidby questioned. “I den’t know myself,” said the detective. “I bave seen something like this before, but T can’t tell where. By Jove! it will drive me crazy if I don’t make it out. There is something about this emvelope that is familiar, but it eludes me like the memory of a nightmare. But T'll get. it after awhile. Leave me, you and your man. I’ll walk back alone. T want to tussle with the thing. 1 shall see you assoon as T come to any conclusion.” @ - »

CHAPTER XTV. - Half an hour afterwards the detective arrived ot his hotel, and went up to his room. His face still wore a look of deep perplexity. He sat down at a window and stared at the envelope steadily for ten minutes. Then there was a rap at thedcor. It wasaservant, 1o say that Capt. Welsh was downstairs, and that he was anxious to see him: *Send him up,” said Hendricks, and he put the envelope into his pocket. He picked up a newspaper two or three days old, and was hidden behind it when the captain*rapped. “Come in,” the detective called out. “I um sorry to disturb you,” began Welsh, “but.the truth is we are making soo little headway that the mayor’s peo‘pie are showing a good deal of impatience. Mrs. Roundiree says we ars entirely too slow, and she is laying it all on me and my men. The mayor bimself has just left my office. Of ‘eourse, I could not tell him what you suspected about his daughter, and—" “Y should think not, captain, since .vou_yourself don’t know what I do or ‘do not suspect.” Anpd Hendricks thresw kis paper on the floor. “Of course, of course; but aren’t you _really going any further with your investigations up there? Ithoughtwhen I told you that I spent the night in front -of the hotse, and saw her come out and

gecure the revolw’er from the grass, that—"

Hendricks broke into a low laugh, bent forward and rubbed his hands between his knees.

“You didn’t see me,” captain, that night. We were both a pretty pair of fools. 1 recognized you in the flaming aizk of your cigar a blgelk gway. You looked lilke a head-light, a&l made for you as soon as I turned the corner. I knew the gate must be near where you stood.” | ; d

- “What do you mean ?” eried Welsh, i surprise. 1 was in Mrs. Walters’ room from half-past nine till ten o’clock that night and made a thorough examination of her belongings.” ; “Why, I was on watch at that time! You could not have gone in at the front, and my men were in the rear.” Hendricks smiled broadly.

“I never go in at a back gate if I can help it, I was the driver of the cab that took the mayor home from his office that night. T overheard him ask the fellow to wait for him. I called the man into a barroom, explained who I was, promised him five dollars, exchanged coats and hats with-him and took his cab. Of course, I wore my whiskers. I would not be without them when I go driving on cool nights. I cateh cold easily, and they protect my throat. :

“I pulled up when you waved me down to tell the mayor you were watching his house personally, on account of vour special interest in his family. and that you would see to it that they were not disturbed through the night. When the mayor got out at the side door of his house I took my fare, explained that a piece of my harness had civen way and was tinkering with a strap under the belly of the horse when the mayor went in to his supper. Then I ran my rig out of sight behind a sort of woodshed and went up the back stairs to Mrs. Walters’ room. T knew it by her dresses in the closets.” “YWhat were you looking for?”

“Books, chiefly. I had foundout that she had purchased a box of them in New York the other day and I wanted to see them. I thought they might be treatises on hypnotism and things in that outlandish line; but they were only modern yellow-backed novels; translations of Emile Gaboriau and detective stories by Doyle and Anna K. Green. They put me on a new scent. A new light broke on me. I felt like a fool. I went down, got on nry cab and drove off like mad. T passed you at the carriage gate and asked you the time. You told me, and I said I had to catch a tnain and whipped up my horse.” ;

“I remember. What a blamed fool T was!” said Welsh, with a deep flush. “What did you do next?” . “Turned the cab over to its owner and went and had a private talk with

. & s g -\ \‘v / = : - ‘\‘/,’T’T =N L | = [ A=V D et /] % N =Il T f{ & = ‘!b;}_’“;' L) b N " - - [ (e T L e e s wi%fl ! ‘ S L F Y W el He picked up a newspaper and was hidden behind it. : the family physician of the Roundtrees. After that, to use slang, I kicked myself soundly, and in 20 minutes was dogging the footsteps of the distinguished stranger of whom I spoke to you.” : : “But don’t you think Mrs. Walters had anything to do with the murder?” asked Welsh. “Nothing at all. Here it is in a nutshell: She will be a mother in.about three months. In her condition she is always queerly imaginative and deceitful. She lost a child.a year ago in childbirth, and for several months before it was born she almost ran her family wild with her strange fancies. She has been reading sensational literature for a long time, and when that murder czcurred and her father offered a reward for the eapture of the criminal it struck her that the murderer would be apt to resent it.-- She tried to rouse the fears of her father and husband on this line, but, as they failed to see it her way, she determined to make them do so. She invented the yarn about having seen a man on the lawn the night she astonished them by going to the gate with her husband’s revolver, and, following the murderer’s idea of using a typewriter, she wrote the threatening létter to her father and enjoyed the excitement it caused. Later, fearing that some one would see through her little deception, she determined to make the circumstances more convineing. The detective stories she had read gave her the idea of pretending to be shot at. As I have shown you, she dampened the clay with the watering can, made the footmarks by wearing her father’s slippers, shot a hole through her sleeve, hid the revolver in the grass and has had a lot of fun out of our careful investigations. 'lf she had dreamt, however, that she herself would be suspected of that murder she would have shown ‘the white feather long ago.” “What are you going to do now?” asked Welsh, completely crestfallen. “I am on quite another line, and am at a standstill. T hardly know what I shall do.” ! » ~ “Can I aid you in any way?” - “Ithink not,now. Ishall come round ‘as soon as I find out anything tangible.” ; :

CHAPTER XV.

The next morning at nine o’clock Miss Delmar cailed at Whidby’s. “I have had to run for it,” she said, laughingly, as the young man came into the drawing-room. “I had to give papa the slip. He heard that I was out all day yesterday and demanded an expianation. Of course, I refused to tell him anything, and he ordered me not to show myself out of doors to-day. But when I got the tetegram from Mr. Hendricks to meet him here at nine I slipped out at the back gate and have run nearly all the way.” Whidby drew her to him and kissed her. i 5 5

“You were bound to pull me out of this hole,” he said. “A week ago I was

nearly crazy with forebodings, but now I really enjoy it.” : ~ - “I am sure Ide, almost,” she laughedl. “I wonder if Mr. Hendricks can have discovered anything more? Here he comes now. I heard the gate click. Let me admit him.” -

She went to the door, and in a moment entered with the detective. “He knows something new,” she saiq, laughingly, to her lover. “I can see it in his eyes.” o

“You certainly don’t seem so perplexed as you did when I left you yesterday,” said Whidby,as he cordially shook hands. '

“A little nearer, that’s all,” was the reply of the detective, as he sat down and took out the envelope they had found at the shop of the rag dealer. “You know,” he went on to Whidby, “I said yesterday that there was something familiar about this envelope that I couldn’t make out. Well, last aight, as I was studying over it, thislarge D in the center of the postmark suddenly recalled an incident to my mind, and I must relate it to you, so that you can follow a certain chain of circumstances in which I am interested and which may lead us to something definite. | “Three days after T had been detained down here by the murder, my mother, wholiveswith me in New York, received aletter. Hereitis. Iwill readittoyou: . ‘Dear Madam— ;3 “ ‘An important business matter makes it necessary to wire your son, Mr. Minard Hendricks, at once. He and I are friends, but I have missed him round town lately. I was told at his club that he had left the city. " If you will kindly send his address to me, I shall be greatly obliged. I am, dear madam, : X ‘“ “Very sincerely yours, i 'FREDERICK CHAMPNEY. ' 234 Union street, Brooklyn.’ “There seems to be nothing remarkable about the note. Do you think there is 2”* asked Hendricks, when he had finished. , “Not that I can see,” said Miss Delmar, deeply interested. : “Rather a bold thing to do, if the fellow that wrote it wanted to steer clear of you, I should think,” Whidby remarked.. » RS “The bold things are the very ones we are less likely to suspect, as a rule,” said the detective. “But I haven’t told you how it came into my hands. My mother, while very old and naturally unsuspicious, has learned a good deal of caution from me, especially where anything pertains in the slightest o my profession; so she did not reply to the note but sént it down here to me. 1 fell readily into the trap set for her. I could remember no one by the name of Champney, but I flattered myself it was one who knew me better than I did him; so, thinking that my mother’s taution in not replying to the note had perhaps caused the writer some inconvenience, I wired my address, and at the same time wrote a cordial note of explanation and apology, which I mailed to the address given. ’

“The matter might then have escaped my memory, if the note had not left a sort of uneasy impression on my mind that I might suddenly be called to New York, and, as I was deeply interested in this case, T dreaded interruption. It was this frame of mind that caused a very trifling circumstance to bring back the whole thing to me. “The. letter of apology which I had sent after the telegram happened to be put in an envelope bearing the business card of my hotel in this city, under which, being rather methodical in almost everything, I had written the number of my rcom. Well, in a few days it was returned to me marked: ‘Not Delivered.’ : i

“This at once excited a suspicion that something was wrong—that some designing person, for reasons of his own; had tricked me into betraying my whereabouts. The telegram had not been returned. That showed that some one at 234 Union street, Brooklyn, had received it and signed for it in due form, or I should have been advised of his failure to do so by the telegraph office here. The letter addressed in the same way had been returned.' That proved that Frederick Champney either was not there or wanted me to thinlk he was not, and my curiosity was roused. But, as your case was just then becoming more interesting, I put the letter away for safe keeping, along with the note to my mother, to take up again when I was more at leisure, and dismisset them from my mind. Ilowever, z¢ I suid just now, there was something straggely familiar about the envelope we found at the rag shop yesterday, and I cerald not for the life of me tell what it could be. It was not until I had left you and reached my hotel last night that I found out. It was simply the large capital D in the center of the New York postmark, for it corresponded c¢xactly with the big D in the postmark of the letter my mother had received. You smile. You think that a yery liltle thing. Well, so it was; but wait. The D indicated the station at which the letters were posted; they had both been mailed in the same postal district. I know that much, you see, as a starter; but I was not satisfied. I was sure the two envelopes held a better clew between them, and I was bound to have it.

“I lay awake half the night, thinking; thinking, till I got so wyought up I could not reason logically at all. I knew that would do no one any good, so I banished thoughts of all kinds, and was getting into a drowsy state, in fact was almost dropping off, when suddenly an idea popped into my brain. : “I sprang up, lit the gas, and with my magnifying-glass examined the letter which had been returned to me from New York marked: ‘Not Delievered.’ What do you suppose I discovered? My letter had been steamed and carefully. opened. [TO BE CONTINUED.] 2 A Few Words About Toads. ‘A toad's eyes are the only things in nature which could not be represented without using gold. As to toads being poisonous, as the I'rench peasants say, or making warts, as some old people tell us, that is pure nonsense. Their tongues are as curious as their eyes are beautiful. The root ol the tongue is just behind the under lip and folds backward. When Mr. Toad sees a fly he darts his long and active tongue out so quickly that it is hard to see him do it, and jerks the fly alive down his wide gullet. S How mamy of my Merry Timers can tell me in what play Shakespeare speaks of the toad, and quote the passage in which he does so?—Detroit Free Press. How many times we have missed getting rich by not following somebody’s advice. -

THE LATEST FASHIONS. Poster Effects to Be Sought by the : Autvnn Girl. : Smart Tea Gowns—Hip Pads and New Corsets for the Followers : of This Season’s ' Modes. As September is usually so warm, it is becoming quite the thing to wear thin gowns during this month. In fact, many are got up especially for late summer wear, and introduce features that will be worn during the coming winter. Gingham is a good material for autumn wear, if handled like the heavier goods, and has the advantage of presenting that trim appearance essential to the fall gown, and also of being light in weight. " There is one very important point regarding these gowns—they must be as carefully hung and fitted as the heavier gowns, and the bodice must be well lined and boned. In the making they are not handled as wash gowns, but rather as though they were wool. A gown that is particularly smart is of green gingham, traced with a fine hair line of black. The skirt is very scant, and well fitted over the hips. The bodice is bloused and has a full vest of red crepe de’chine. A tiny bolero of black guipure is worn, and a sash of the crepe, that encircles the waist twice and falls in two long ends at the left side. .

Another gown, not quite so rich in coloring and yet suggesting the autumn sun, is of yellow gingham plaided with deep heliotrope. The skirtis plain, save for a fold of yellow pique inserted in the left front seam, and caught down with loops of fine heliotrope cord, and buttons:. The jacket fits tightly in the back, flaring in front over a soft vest of yellow chiffon. Regular coat sleeves ‘are worn, a trifle smaller than those

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of last season, and capped by gingham edged with a fold to match the skirt trimming. Similar folds finish the front of the jacket also.” The collar is of gingham, plain; the gloves are ye!low, stitched with heliotrope, and the small hat, far back on the head, is of yellow straw and heliotrope wings, and finishes this natty costume. What with narrow skirts, and bustles, and hip pads, and tight sleeves, the autumn girl bids fair to be quite differ.efit from her sister of the summer. Skirts are now barely four yards in width, and fit snugly over exaggerated hips. Ilips are from two to four inches above their natural size, and are made so by

M . o \d‘ NS <\¥ d»'(_ \Q * & ;L‘? ; -'L r’ . : A T ) 7 '. /) ::::.-:‘, ~:'\ QO ' i, |ER b/] ;:a:::;;/’ \\'.""""' | i Rl / Wy e { WY fH YL i | 57:‘??5?-’:_ /':",fi’lf /{..'::ugig}\ ‘,,g‘\.,;.', A AT K YEAN ) (HEEEP RO . 7/ WA A ] ‘55!5:,'.5'-,‘ B 5‘:% s , Alissiarss) --:-.'-_4,?»,?.,-'\ (N \‘t‘\\" N 7 ln!,"‘"l-? RRN VRN RN '.."SL.'M““ AOAS TN NN AN L#::-P-#:::S #7277 2WA NI ‘!'/’/ °Q‘§\\ ' T PR SR NN A A ;/,4'.'.,"%\;\\3&\o;\‘ D s R N cizasiiasmage) B HUNMISN OW";'.\ PR A OO AR [:s::;s::sss=sszl k) :\%/;M'.‘.R ]MA ey l ,{'.;'.ut‘i'EEHEE ] Yo oA (EESEE] O B s e A S SRS AN I oI A P 2 NS S /E S | s N e 12l GINGHAM FOR AUTUMN WEAR. thé use of little cushions of haircloth; or, if one wishes to be particularly swell, she may have satin cushions, highly perfumed with sachet of some favorite flower. To return to skirts. The smartest kicd are of silk, left plain from waist to knee in front, and for a slightly shorter distance in the back. There a flounce of gauze, dipping in fron{ and very full, is sewed on the skirt. The flounce has am old-fashioned heading, and is finished at the bottom with a narrower flounce—about six inches wide—nlso very full.

With these skirts, ribbon belts continue in favor. It is so easy for the

American girl, who is ingenious, if ncthing else, to take a handy ribbon, turn it around the waist twice, and fasten with a perpendicular bow placed at the left side with just the proper swing. Or the ribbon may be longer, and passed but once around the waist. If so, it should be finished with a fourlcoped made bow at the back,:- and streamers to the hem of the skirt. o The fall corset throws the bust at least two inches higher than was modish during the summer, and a full figure is therefore very popular. If the girls who are slim and wasplike in their proportions will finish the linings of their gowns with a full, fourinch flounce across the bust, they will find that it gives the figure a very desirable, soft fullness, quite superior to that acquired by the old-fashioned and not-to-be-countenanced, padding.* ; Picture hats and picture effects in gewns will be veryspopular during the fall. Many of the girls affect the poster style, and one might also picture them stepping from some background of du!l blue or greenish yellow, with all the -grace of the artist’s creations. A tall, slim girl, with oval face and dark eyes and hair that feil in waves over her ears, wore the other evening a large black velvet hat far back on her head. Above the hat a few black wings were dimly discernible, merely suggesting the trimming that could be seen only by getting behind her. However, ifi front, nestling close t¢ her hair, were two large, brilliant buckles, lighting up the hair and the somber-hued hat.

Her gown was delightful. The skirt was black and plain.. The bodice had a full, square yoke of black mrousseline de soie; below it hung a blouse of black silk, embroidered with green paillettes of the color of fishes’ scales. They, too, caught the light, until our maid fairly bewildered one in her glittering. The sleeves were black and tight. They were topped by a flounce of green silk, softeped. with- a veil of black mousseline.

This introduction of a contrasting color in the sleeve trimmings, by the way, will be most of the popular features of the coming season’s dress. : Another gown introduced several new features. The skirt had a broad front panel of nun’s veiling, which seemed but the continuation ot a full vest of the same material. The short, round bolero was. of brocade, a material which will be very fashionable, caught together with long loops of jetted black cord. In this gown, again, the sleeve puffs contrasted, and were made of nun’s veiling, like the front panel. - It seems a pity that so charming a garment as the tea gown should not be worn to-'a greater extent, but the dishabille effect which is essential to its perfection perforce relegdtes it to assemblages where only women are present, and its field of usefulness is, therefore, very limited. For the business woman, however, when her day’s work is done, nothing more delightful can be imagined, and her wardrobe usually includes one of these gowns. Now and then she even wears it wlten entertaining informally a male friend, although he must, of course, be quite an intimate friend of the family to permit her to do SO. ; . :

One of these gowns is so charming that its owner may be forgiven if she does invent excuses that make it imperative fcw her to don the garment. It is made of pale pink basket cloth, with a double watteau plait falling from the neck to the short train. The front is open and reveals the full vest of deep coral lawn, slashed with two rows of yellow lace insertion above the waist line. A full accordion plaited flounce of the same lawn, edged with lace, falls over the shoulders, and is gathered into two rosettes on top of the arms. The sleeves are tight fitting, and lace trimmed at the waist. :

The collar, of course, as is natural in this kind of gown, is high, with frills of lace tumbling over it.in the back. Many tea gowns are made of ac-cordion-plaited chiffon, and worn over a silk slip. They have pretty ribbon collars, and belts formed of a double row of ribbon with the perpendicular bow so fashionable now, but, unfortunately, they are too expensive to be popular. THE LATEST.

A Judge’s Duties.

Great Jurist’s Wife—What makes you so tired to-night? , Judge—l had to charge a jury in an important case this afternoon. “Oh, I suppose it’s a great strain to recall all the details of a case.” “It isn’t that. It isn’t that. It's being obliged to talk to a jury 30 long minutes without saying anything.”--N. Y. Weekly.

OPENING THEIR EYES,

Goldbug Writers Are Finding Out . Something. : :

Presently, when some of the reckless ecditors who have charge of the gold organs realize that the continual fa-lllin silver is likely to produce results that Lkave heretofore played no partin their calculations, they may be willing to admit that the question is more important than even partisanship has made it.

The Boston Advertiser seems to be getting a glimpse of ‘the real situation that now threatens to impose itself on the country should silver, as Mint Director Preston boastfully predicts—fall to 40 cents an ounce. Our con‘tempora.ry nctes that there is now about $3,600,000,000 of legal tender silver in circulation in the world, the bullion value of which has decreased more than 50 per cent. since 1873, and says that if silver continues to decrease in value, this vast amount of money now current at its face value, must either take on the form cf token money or circulate at its bullicn value. i

The Advertiser goes on to say that probably the great commercial nations. of the world would be glad to see some miracle by whith silver would be restored to the.value which it had three decades ago. The difficulty about this is that the men who do the financial thinking for the commercial nations of the world are the very men who are largely responsible for the gradual de~ monetization of silver. It was a great undertaking, and it has required a good deal of patient diplomacy and bold legislative fraud to bring it about. On this account, we thigk it is expecting too much to suppose that they will be willing to permit the commercial nations to retrace their steps with respeet to silver. i

It is true they have made billions of profits out of the undertaking, but there still remain some very rich pickings in this country, and we may be sure that the greed and rapacity which have engineered silver demonetization will not allow any of the proceeds: to slip through their fingers. * ~ The actual glee with which some of tne more active gold men announce the further fall in silver ean only be based cu the knowledge that the depreciation ol our silver money will prove a rich harvest for those who control the available gold. How long this further scheme of spoliation will be disposed depends entirely on the will of those who are to profit by it - L

The Constitution is of the opinion that the people of this country will for many years rue the day when they permitted themselves to be deceived into defeating the democratic party last yerar. We do not mean to intimate that the democratic party is likely to be defeated in 1900, but we do mean to say that the element which controls the republican leaders will have ample opportunity to do irreparable damage to the financial interests of the people before a new congress can be assembled.

-The senate is a barrier, but it is well to remember that, as the senate was controlled by the gold trust in 1893, it san be so controlled in 1898. Meanwhile, there is but one thing for the democracy to do, and that is for all its forces to hold themselves in readiness to restore the government to the people in 1900.—Atlanta Constitution.

BRYAN’'S WISDOM.

still the Champion of Free Silver and the Pecple.

Mr. Bryan has returned home. There is nothing remarkable about that except in the minds of the goldbugs, sho appear to think that the great young commoner should remain in hiding be cause wheat is worth in the neighborhood of one doliar a bushel. - DBut that is not the worst of it. Mr. Bryan actually has the temerity to assert his belief that the cause of silver has received an impetus during the past few months, cnd that three years hence bimetallism will be a much more powerful factor in securing the bailots of the masses than now.

“Mr. Bryan is both wise and prudent in his estimate of the situation. No intelligent anan can honestly believe that one year of good crops, one year of high prices for wheat is going to give the people of the United States a confirmed and permanent beliet in the desirability of maintaining thesingle gold standard. ' ' '

The friends of silver rejoice that circumstances—extraneouscircumstances —are such that the American farmers, after many years of low prices, are going to receive a decent remuneration for some of their crops. They are glad that there are some evidences of prosperity.in the prevailing conditions. The silverites need prosperity as badly as anybody and will ‘welcome it, whatever the source be that it comes from. But their belief inbimetallism is founded upon rock that cannot be shaken. Our goldbug friends are shouting before they are out of the woods. It will be nearly three years before there is ariother presidential election. It is possible for a great many things to happen in that time. Mr. Bryan will continue to be as prominent before the people in the future as he has been in the past. All the talk and all the maneuvering of the advocates of the single gold standard cannot keep that man dowu. —Los Angeles Herald. ' )

Prices and Prosperity.

In a yawp about prosperity a local newspaper includes as an evidence that good times have arrived the fact that the price of beef has gone up. Why did it not take the new tariff and show by it how the prices of all commodities have increased or are about to? The cost of clothing is to advance. So is the cost of shoes and of all the necessaries of life. The price of coal is higher already. But so long as therc has been no corresponding increase of wages, how are we to know that prosperity has come? If the republican press wishes to show that better times have really arrived, let a page or more be devoted to tht{enumeration of the mills and other establishments whick have increased the wages of thgir employes. That is the true index of prosperity. There should be no increase in the cost of living until there is an increase in the wages of men to pay for it. When the new tariff or any other cause has raised the wages of the workingmen all over the country in proportion to the increased cost of life the Chronicle will gladly join the chorus. and devote as many pages as are necessary to setting the fect before the people.—Chicago Chronicle. -

——The republicans are expecting wheat, not the Dingley law, to puil them through in Ohio and lowa this year.—Galveston News, .

TARIFF MYSTERIES. Republican Law a Fearfiil and Wonderful Thing. An organ of protection which would enact a prohibitory tariff and yet collect revenues therefrom sufficient to pay. the pension account has discovered a.new sensation in its precious Dingiey bill. Section 22 is the puzzler and the dazzler this time. Secretary Gage has turned section 22 inside out, examired it to the point of neuralgia, and harded it along to that famous trick artist, At-torney-General MeKenna, with the request. that he exer®se upon it all his skill at prestidigitation. ; It is hoped that after the attorneygeneral has made a few passes in the air and wavéd his magic wand, an anxious world may know what section 22 means. At present it is several shades darker than the Eleusinian mysteries.

“In all previous laws the section corresponding to section 22 of the new law, after providing for the ten per cent. discriminating duty on goods imported in vessels not flying the United States flag, provided that ‘this discriminating duty shall not apply to goods, wares, or merchandise which shall be imported in vessels not of the United States entitled at the time of such importation by treaty or act of congress to be entered in ports of the United States on the payment of the same duties as shall then be payable on goods, etc, imported in vessels of the United States.” The new law omits ‘acts of congress’ and substitutes ‘convention,’” so as to make it read not exempt by ‘‘treaty or convention.’ “It is in pursuance of an act of congress (section 4,228) that presidents in the past have by proclamation exempted the vessels » of many countries from this discriminating duty. The question now before the at-torney-general is whether thé omission of the word ‘act of congress’ does not repeal section 4,228. If it does, it will strike a tremendous blow at all foreign lines now .exempt by presidential proclamation and confine the exemption strictily to the vessels of countries with which we have treaties granting such exemptions.” - The list of these countries includes such first-class powers as Germany and Austria, but does not include France ‘and England and the British colonies. One of these colonies, it will be remembered, is likely to be seriously affected by another Dingley mystery, namely, the clause which is supposed to discriminate against goods coming through Canada. The clause hasgraised a tremendous hullabaloo in the New England states, which have found that the competition of the Camrdian Pacitic with United States transcontinental lines is a good thing for them, and on this point also the assistance of Me‘Kenna, the great unraveler, has been invoked. The very framers of the tarift ill profess ignorance of the origin of the clause which is said to have been sneaked in by some few persons who ‘had influence with the senate committee on finance.

" ?Tis a fearful and wonderful piece of legislation, to be sure, but after all there is nothing so remarkable about it as the profound logic of that same organ of protection, which proposes to have the foreigners pay our pensions through the instrumentality of a tariff. The American consumer of the foreigner’s goods would like more light upon this abstruse subject.—Chicago Journal. : :

ONE FALSE ISSUE REMOVED.

The Republican Bimetallism Dodge . Exposed.

Many silver republicans voted for MeKinley because of the pledge in the plaform in favor of international bimetallism.. These voters now see that this pledge was simply a dodge to fool the people. i : None of the republican leaders is desirous of establishing binfetallism, either through national! or international action. All of these leaders knew that, so long as the settlement of international bimetallism rested in the hands of England, the policy of gold mono‘metallism was safe, and for this rea- - son they inserted the plank referred to, believing that it would catch votes and thus in reality make the gold mounetary system all the more secure. : The republican press realizes that the international bimetallism ‘dodge has been played for the last time. It has served the purpose for a quarter of a century and is now completely worn out, and~ discredited. No longer wiil this bait be used to catch gudgeons, not because there is any change in the ethics of the gold clique, but because the leaders recognize that the trick haslost its attraction. Noy the fight is to be made squarely on éxe issue of gold, and the people should hail this change of front as an omen of victory. The sentiment in favor of bimetallism.is growing stronger every day in the United States. DBut for bribery, intimidation and false promises on the part of the republicans the people would have won in the last presidential ‘campaign. Now that the issue has been made plain; that falsehoods have been exposed; that imternational bimetallism has been shown in its true light, the people will flock to the support of that party which has their interests at heart, and will, by their united votes in 1898 and 1900, establish national bimetallism and thus restore the pros- s perity that was destroyed by the demonetization of silver.—Chicago Dispatch. : ' PARAGRAPHIC POINTERS. —-—The sugar trust has to divide $35,050,000, which represents the prosperity that has struck it since the Dingley subsidy was secured.—Kansas City Times. L . ——The Dingley differential is giving the sugar trust more money than any other combination of a dozen men is ever known to have received for political services in the history of the country.—N. Y. World. 7 = ——ln regard to the little matter of ircrease of wages in protected indus‘tries, Mr. McKinley begs to ask the workingmen if bread isn’t going up? Wkhat do the workingmen want anyhow —the earth?—Albany.Argus. - ——The gold organs are trying to destroy ‘“parity” with their mouths. Right in the midst of what they call “prosperity,” they shout in a frenzied wuy/tfhat the silver dollar is only worth 40 €ents. This would be sad, if true.— ‘Atlanta Constitution. ‘ ——Readers of democratic papers de-‘-mand that their party pres‘s serve them fairly . and honestly. The democratie press does not seek to mislead or deceive its readers on men or measures. It does not always cater to their prejudices, and join them in the folly of temporary, aberrations from democratic standards and landmarks. It is honest with the people, and that is why, as a distinguished republican said a few days ago, that the readers of the demo- # cratic papers are more intelligent than the readers of republican journals, and that the democratic press is a power in the land.--Utictng‘