Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1901 — NOW OUT OF FASHION. [ARTICLE]

NOW OUT OF FASHION.

Bug* Hava Supplanted Carpets In All Stylish Homes These Days. To what extent the rug business has cut into the strictly carpet business cannot be told, but that it is appreciably felt by the latter goes without saying, and that it is making constant inroads upon it is also admitted by all. The growth and the expansion of the rug industry has been wonderful in the test five years, and it may be said that within a twelvemonth it has taken a start forward, gaining a momentum which* promises much for the future. It is not difficult to ascribe the cause for this moment, or at least for a considerable portion of it, but it may be difficult to say whether or not this movement carries with it that permanency and stability which goes with most industries. Yet one cannot ignore the fact that there is associated with this business the idea of adaptability and of suitability which seems to argue in favor of its permanence. The rug as it is known today Is different from the rug of two decades, or even a decade ago; it has a different place in the question of household economy, and it is this very question of economy which has made the place for it. Crowded cities mean small apartments, shifting population and expedients. The rug is a utility carpet, one that will fit emergencies, that is well adapted as an expedient. This unquestionably has done much to encourage the sale. The ingenuity of the manufacturer in devising the ways and means to meet the wants of the people along these lines has done much toward increasing the market Judging from what has been done the last few -years it might be said that the rug business today is in an initial move- - ment, one that is likely to reach great proportions with recurring years, and that there are even those who believe it will to a large extent supersede and displace the regular carpets; that Lt is an advance in household economy. In any -event, the rug of today promises well for the future, and the struggling ingrain manufacturers, as well as those who are fighting formidable competition in other branches of carpet manufacturing, may look to this one branch of the industry as offering them an escape from the heaviness and depression of their trade. The one who realizes at the start the evolutions in trade, getting in the movement early, is the one who succeeds best. English Judge's Absurd Decision. Meekness seems to be at a discount in Ceylon, and a Buddhist priest out there has just been made the victim of what Labouchere rightly calls “Judicial jackassery.” Some time ago the priest was molested by a party of drunken, brawling villagers, who tore off his robes, and otherwise maltreated him. He belongs to a sect known as the Ramanui-Nikaya, who are distinguished for the strictness of their observance of the Buddhist religion. One of their tenets is to be meek and long-suffering and put aside all revengeful feelings. So the priest refused to prosecute his assailants. But some meddlesome friends of his insisted on setting the law in motion against the offenders. So the priest was summoned to give evidence before the police court. He declined to do so on conscientious grounds, whereupon he was committed for trial as a recalcitrant witness. The district Judge, one W. E. Thorpe, heard the case, and delivered an elaborate , judgment, in which he dilated upon the “absurdity and perniciousness’’ of the priest’s religious tenets, apparently oblivious of the fact that a greater than Buddha Inculcated the doctrine of forgiveness of enemies and the turning of the other cheek to the smiter. This Cingalese Solomon actually commented upon such teachings as “dangerous to society,” and wound up his discourse by sentencing the priest to a fine of 100 rupees or, in default of that, an imprisonment of six weeks. —New York Press.