Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1901 — Page 3

People and Events

Cuba'4 President. Tomas Estrada Palma, the leading candidate for president of the new Cuban republic, has been ever associated with the cause of Cuba Libre, and was fora long time the manager of the junta in New York. His life has been an active one, spent in the service of his country and devoted to the principles of liberty and political equality he imbibed from the study of American institutions. A native of Cuba, he is descended from an ancient family of Castile. He was born at Bayamo in 1835, studied law in Spain and determined when a youth to free Cuba from the yoke of the dons. In 1877 he partly realized his ambition when he was elected president of the Cuban republic. He now bids fair to be made the head of a republic which will be more than the dream of a patriot After his election he served In the field during the ten years’ war, in which over 200.000 Spanish soldiers

TOMAS ESTRADA PALMA.

fell. At the close of that strife he refused to swear allegiance to the king and exiled himself in Honduras, where he married and became postmastergeneral and otherwise conspicuous as a statesman. In 1883 he came to America, established an educational institution, and as soon as the last revolution appeared threw himself into it heart and soul.

The Referendum in Boston.

The statistical department of Bostonhan recently, issued some noticeable facts showing the comparative Interest taken by electors in that cltyJn referenda as against ordinary voting contests,. during the decade from 1890 to 1899. While it appears therefrom that in general somewhat less interest is ehown in referenda than in electoral contests, it appears on the other hand that interest in the former has distinctly increased during that period. For the five years 1895-99 the mean per cents of actual to possible votes were 69.23 on licenses, 66.31 on all other questions, and 67.53 on all referenda, while the corresponding per cents for the principal offices were: For mayor, 80.12; for street commissioner, 71.36; for aidermen, 68.43; for councilmen, 67.52; for school committee, 62.80. On questions other than license submitted to referendum, the highest per cent of the possible vote •was cast in 1899 respecting the resoration of car tracks in Tremont street, and was 75.63. There were in all, asido from license, ten questions submitted to referendum, and there was an almost steady increase of interest shown. The lowest per cent of the possible vote, 33.40, was cast in 1894, and the highest, 75.63, in 1899. The mean per cent in respect to license also Increased from 67.15 In the first half of the decade to 69.23 in the last half. These facts Indicate that in Boston at least the referendum is a practicable and an increasingly popular method of settling public questions.

Son of Sitting Bull.

The eldest son of the Sioux Chief, Sitting Bull, is now a thrifty and prosperous bootblack in Phlladelpphla.

honors in the, classics and as an athlete. When <he left college he found It difficult to get a position where he could use his education, but he determined that he would ' not remain idle. < Without wasting time he promptly set up in business as a bootblack, and he now owns and conducts one of the most prosperous stands In Philadelphia. He has saved considerable money and is about to open several branch stands in other parts of cue city. Montezuma is married to Winonah, a full blood Sioux girl, whose father was one of the great chiefs of the tribe, and they have two children.

Oil King of Taxas.

Oil kings are being made and unmade in Texas at present at a rata which makes it somewhat unsafe to announce the coronation of one for fear he may be deposed almost instantly by some contrary turn of for-

tune. But there seems to be at least one little man who has kept his place long enough to deserve a per manent niche in the temple of fame. Hi s name is D. R. Beatty,

and the first big gusher in the famous Beaumont district was opened up by him, and still bears his name. He leased the ground on which the Beatty gusher was dug for $lO, and it has already returned to his company a total of more than a million and a quarter of dollars. Mr. Beatty’s time since the excitement began has been taken up with the buying and selling of oil lands. He or his companies, which are' practically owned and controlled by him, have hundreds of acres of oil lands under lease, and the way they do business may be° judged from the fact that one day last week he refused first >75,000 and later $90,000 for the lease of a single acre of land near one of the big gushers which he has developed. Mr. Beatty is personally a delicate little man, only five feet six inches in height, and since Jari' 11, when the Beatty gusher started the Texas oil boom, he has been living under a nervous tension which might break down a giant.

Dr. Carl Herslow.

Dr. Carl Herslow, who is generally mentioned as the successor of the present Swedish-Norwegian minister of state, Baron von Otten, is a prominent member of the riksdag. The new army bill is certain to meet with defeat unless the king consents to universal suffrage, and this is the measure advocated by Dr. Herslow. The present administration is sure to resign, whatever the result will be, and, as Dr. Herslow has repeatedly been requested to take a seat in the cabinet, everything points to him as the future minister of state for the two countries. Dr. Herslow is the editor-in-chief of Sydsvenska Dagliga Snallpoten, one of the leading newspapers in Sweden, and it is the first time in the history of Sweden that a man from this profession will occupy the high position of a cabinet minister, a convincing proof of the progress of democratic ideas in Sweden. For several years Dr. Herslow was the speaker of the second chamber, and has long been considered the leading statesman His platform, "a just division of citizens’ privileges and duties and the right to offer his

life for his country as a soldier should also be accompanied with the right to vote,” has made him the idol of the Swedish people.

His Ind i a n name is M ontezuma, but he is known to his friends and patrons as Harry Parker. He is a graduate of the Indian school at Carlisle, whe r e he took high

Germany and Monroe Doctrine

An English paper, whose wish is evidently parent to the thought, says that the German emperor is preparing for war on the Monroe doctrine. He wants South America, and he wants it bad. For this he is building a giant navy and in fancy he already hears the thunder of his guns as they rock on the mighty deep. A Paris paper laughs at the idea and then says: “The German navy is yet young, while the Monroe doctrine is hoary with age. And the kaiser is young yet, and youth will have its fling. Let the kaiser build his navy and aim its cannon at the Monroe doctrine. When he does there will be war, and war on a generous and satisfying scale. And when the war is over the kaiser will have a chance to sit down and figure up his assets and liabilities, among which assets should not be forgotten the title of “war lord.” Meanwhile, the United States of America will continue to do business at the old stand, and incidentally may have a little navy of their own, which fact should not be lost sight of by those who figure out a peck of trouble for your Uncle SamueL”

DR. HERSLOW.

SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL

In 1899 nineteen factories wws started in the United States for the manufacture of silk by steam, and thirteen others for producing ribbons and other silk goods. One Yarmouth mussel of deteriorated character contained no fewer than 3,000,000 of harmful bacteria, while the water in the shell was certified to contain 803,200 bacteria of thq colon bacilli type, the forerunner of typhoid. Aluminnm has the peculiarity of softening while considerably below thfi temperature at which it fuses. The big aluminum concern at Hanau, Ger* many, takes advantage of this property in a process for welding the metal. The parts to be joined instead of being hammered together are kneaded together in such a way that the material is made homogeneous, so the joint la as strong as the rest of the metal. A factory will soon be erected at Niagara Falls for the manufacture of nitric acid by a new process, which it is said will be quite startling from a scientific point of view. It is understood that the plant will manufacture the acid from air. This assures the factory of plentiful supply of raw material. The company has a capital of SIOO,OOO. If the process is a success, undoubtedly the factory will be an immense one. .. r _ The sizes of anthracite coal and the screens through which they are madei are as follows: Coal which runs through a screen having a mesh of three-sixteenths of an inch is called barley; three-eighth, rice; nine-six-teenth, buckwheat; seven-eighth, pea; one and a half, chestnut; two, stove; two and three-quarter, egg; four and a half, grate; seven, steam. Coal be* yond this size is known as lump coal. Bituminous lump coal passes over barf one and a half inches apart; bituminous nut coal passes through bars one and a half Inches apart; slack coal passes through bars three-quarters of an inch apart An extremely unfortunate occurrence is reported from Milan which is certain to seriously interfere witu the growth of the serum treatment of disease. Eight persons suffering from diphtheria died from tetanus (lockjaw) after being treated with what was supposed to be anti-diphtheritl* serum. The institute where the sei rum was made was immediately closed by the authorities, and the use of the serum prohibited throughout all Italy, pending an investigation. All of the serum that could be found was called in and destroyed. No one seems to know yet just what caused the trouble, But it seems probable that the serum was either accidentally contaminated with tetanus microbes or else tha, through some unaccountable mistake an experimental tetanus serum wa* used instead * of an antl-dlphtheritlo serum.

Vaucluse, in South France, Is a cen tre vs the ocher Industry. Sometime* the ocher is excavated direct wlthoul mining, but often shafts are sunk. Th* material when brought to the surface is transported to the valley below on carts and is then washed. Mining U only done in the winter season, as th* water-courses are dry in summer. Bj| means of successive settling basins va( rlous degrees of fineness are secured in washing the ore. At the end of the winter these basins are filled with ocher in the form of mud, which dries hard during the heated term, and is then cut Into blocks of regular size and dried in the sun. It Is then either cut into blocks or crushed into powder for shipment and is sorted for color; the yellow shades command the high* est price. The total production of these mines last year was about 180,OuO tons, and of this amount 3000 tons were shipped to the United States. Although the mines have been worked for many years they are not exhausted.

No Livery Stables in Mexico.

The livery stable, as it is known in the United States, is practically unknown in Mexico. There are stables in the City of Mexico, the capital, where it is possible to hire riding horses and secure coaches with drivers by the hour, but no single buggies are kept for hire for persons who want to drive themselves. Very few persons drive their own carriages in Mexico, those who do owning their private traps and tally-hos. Public coaches are to be found upon every street corner and. charge from fifty cents to $1 Mexican money per hour, according to the grade of the hack, which is indicated by a colored tin flag beside the driver’s seat. The prices are for the coach per hour, regardless of the number of persons occupying it. Electric automobile victorias are now in the public service at $2.50 per hour.

A Lesson From the Clam.

Attention was recently called here to the fact that engineers have taken a hint from the beaver in building a dam with an arch facing the current. It is said that they are indebted to the clam for the idea of using a water-jet in sinking piles in sand. The story is that the jet was first used in 1852, and by the advice of George B. McClellan, afterward the well-known general. It seems that he was walking on the seashore one day when he saw a dam close its shell and squirt a little stream of water into the sand, by which means it was able to bury itself more easily. This gave him the idea of the water-jet in pile-sinking.

A Future Great One’s Shoes.

When a mother puts away her baby’s first shoe It is with the halfexpressed belief that some day the State Historical Society will send fol it^—Atchison Globe.

IS OUR IN THIRD NAVY PLACE?

With the expiration of the Fiftysixth congress the work of rebuilding the American navy completed its eighteenth year. The act of March 3, 1883, found us without a single modern ship or gun. On that day we made the modest beginnings of a new navy by providing for the construction of one dispatch boat, the Dolphin, and three small cruisers, the Chicago,* Boston and Atlanta. The Dolphin was not only our first paodern war vessel; she was the first steel ship of any kind built in the United States of domestic materials. Nor did the significance of her advent end there. She was not only the pioneer of our vast steel naval and commercial fleets of today, but she naturalized the now gigantic steel plate industry in America. Just two years later the Forty-eighth congress took another step in advance by authorizing the completion of the double-turreted monitors Puritan, Miantonomoh, Amphitrite, Terror and Monadnock, which had been rusting on the builders’ hands for ten years. That gave us the beginnings of an armored fleet. On August 13, »1886, we ventured to authorize the construction of the two second class battle ships Maine and Texas, but the undertaking was so tremendous that the keel of the Texas was not laid until nearly three years later. The same act that provided for th e Maine and Texas gave us the audacious experiment of the Vesuvius—a daring novelty that has had no successor —and it also began our flotilla of steel torpedo boats with the Cushing, which remained for four years our solitary specimen of a tfpb of which other naval powers had bun-

Morgan Rules the Waves.

The purchase by the Pierpont Morgan interests of the control of the Leyland line of steamers is the most mo-

mentous event that has occurred ix£ the field of world commerce since the Confederate cruisers drove the American flag from the ocean. It means nothing less than that American capital is preparing to grasp that sovereignty of the seas which we seemed on the point of attaining fifty years ago. The Leyland line owns fifty-four steamers of 245,000 tons. The Wilson line, which belongs to the Leylands, has eighty-seven steamers of 189,193 tons. .The Atlantic Transport line, which is already in American hands, and which, according to current reports, is to be consolidated with the Leyland system,has 23 steamers of 81,-

548 tons. Here are 164 vessels of 515,741 tons. But that is not all. It is said that the American line, of twenty-six steamers and 187,000 tons, is to be part of the combination. This would make in all 190 vessels of 702,741 tons, or more than twice the entire present registered steam tonnage of the United States. To be sure it Is said that the present English head of the Leyland line has stipulated that the Mediterranean, Portugal and Montreal fleets of the line are to be sold to him, but this deduction will probably be balanced by the gigantic new building programme of the American combination. In any case the American company will be by far the greatest steamship owner in the world.

dreds. And in the same month Secretary Whitney succeeded in letting contracts that created in the United States the industry of producing steel forgings for armor and guns. Our next advance was the armored cruiser New York, authorized on September 7, 1888, snfl followed by an improved mate, the Brooklyn, the next year. Finally, by June 30,1890, seven years after the reconstruction of the navy, had begun, we felt self-confidence enough to prepare to build first class battle ships. On that date congress authorized the Indiana, Massachusetts and Oregon, together with the triplescrew commerce destroying cruiser Columbia, and our second steel torpedo boat, the Ericsson. At that point we may be said to have passed the experimental stage and seriously taken our place among naval powers. But even then our strength was principally on paper. As lately as the time of the Columbian Naval Review, in April, 1893, we could put nothing more imposing than a second class cruiser into line to welcome the united warships of the world. Our first vessel that by any stretch of courtesy could be called a battleship, the Maine, did not have her trial trip until October 17, 1894, a little over three years before she was blown up in the harbor of Havana. We did not have a battle-

At present the largest merchant fleet in existence is that of the HamburgAmerican line, with ninety-five steam-

GULLIVER MORGAN COMING HOME.

ers of 515,628 tons. The second Is that of the North German Lloyd, with 108 steamers of 501,050 tons. The third in the world, and the largest under the British flag, is that of the British India Steam Navigation company, with 122 ships of 385,740 tons. Then comes the “P. & 0.,” with fifty-eight vessels of 313,392 tons. Imagine John Bull’s feelings when the first merchant fleet in the world is American, the second and third German and only the fourth British. Will he still sing “Britannia Rules the Waves” with undiminished cheerfulness?'’ asks the Chicago American. The report that the new ships to be ordered by the Morgan combination will be built in the United. States is inherently probable. It will be to the

ship of the first class in commission until November 20, 1895, when the flag was raised on the Indiana, and if the battle of Santiago had been fought two years earlier than it was the Oregon, the lowa and the Brooklyn would not have been there to take part in it. If President Cleveland’s Venezuelan challenge had been taken up we should have had just one first class and two second class battle ships and one armored cruiser ready to take the sea against the armored fleets of England. Surely Providence must have had its lightning rods up dissipating war clouds in the times when it would have been uncomfortable for us to entertain them. Now we have built, building or authorized, seventeen first class battle ships, one second class battle ship, eight armored cruisers, one ram, eleven modern coast defense vessels, fifty three torpedo boats and destroyers, eight submarine torpedo boats, six auxiliary cruisers and a swarm of miscellaneous craft, the whole making us indisputably the fourth and probably the third naval power in the world. The personnel of the navy has increased from 7,500 men to 25,000. The only thing that has remained stationary is the supply of officers. The Naval Academy is to be splendidly housed in a building of classic magnificence, but the only actual growth in the number of cadets as yet has come from the addition of about thirty representatives in the house under the census of 1890. The new apportionment will make future classes somewhat larger, but still far below the needs of the service. This and the failure of congress to provide for any new ships at its last session are the only clouds on the bright prospect of the navy.

interest of the steel trust and its associated shipyards to have such a market for their products. By supplying it they assure themselves at once a means of tiding their works over slack times. They create an immense new demand that is not affected by foreign tariff policies. When Mr. Morgan crossed the Atlantic a wave of terror ran ahead of him. People on the other side were sure he was going to do something terrible—they could not guess what. But none of them imagined that he would do anything so dreadful as to challenge British supremacy at sea.

Educate the Criminals.

Common sense and the law declare that imprisoned criminals living at public expense, shall not by their labor compete with honest men working outside prison walls, it would be preposterous, of course, to allow the man in prison, working for no wages, to diminish the income of the honest workman who pays taxes to maintain the prisons. On the other hand, to condemn the prisoners to absolute idleness Involves extreme brutality, punishment of a most atrocious kind. Nervous diseases, ill health and even Insanity follow enforced Idleness of mind and body. Many plans are suggested for overcoming this difficulty, for keeping the convicts busy without bringing them into competition with honest workmen. It seems to us that prison authorities might find a solution of their question in the education of prisoners. If prison life could be made to diminish criminal tendencies, as well as to punish criminals, the taxea of the people would certainly be better spent than at present Crime in the majority of cases is the result first, of ignorance, and, second, of a lack of mental discipline. If the prisons could educate and discipline their inmates crime would steadily decrease and the problem of occupying prisoners wisely would be solved. A man can be educated even at thirty or forty, and at that late age his mind can l.e accustomed to discipline and regularity. In many cases the distance which separates the criminal from the man of ability is very small. Prison education might transform public nuisances Into useful members of society. We wish that the prison authorities might see something in this suggestion worthy of experiment Distance len*j ‘ enchantment to the view, without Interest or security.

HEAD OF OUR ARMY NURSES.

Mrs. Dit* EL Kl*a*y Enjoy* the Unique end Honorable Dlitlionoo. Mrs. Dit* H. Kinney bolds the unique distinction of commanding a corps in the regular army, says Leslie’s Weekly. Her force, however, is not made up of fighting men. It comprises the young women serving in the American military hospitals scattered all over the world. There are hundreds of these gentle Samaritans in the army nursing corps. In their soft uniform of white linen, with a tiny red cross attached to the collar, they are to be found in the farthest corner of the earth where the stars and stripes have been planted. Wherever they may be, all these army nurses are under the control of Mrs. Kinney, and from her office in the war department at Washington she directs the work of the entire corps. The position takes with it the responsibility of nursing an army of over 100,000 men, and it is the most important ever held by a woman nurse. Although women had long been employed in attending the sick soldiers of Britain and of France, yet there was no such thing as a corps of female nurses in the American army until the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. Since then they have been retained as a permanent institution. The nurses must be graduates from a training school giving a two-year course, and they are paid from S4O to $75 a month. Mrs. Kinney, who was graduated from one of the Boston hospital schools several years ago, joined the corps soon after the outbreak of the war. She served in the great hospital at the Presidio in San Francisco, and was in charge of the surgical word. Several weeks ago she was ordered by telegraph to report to Surgeon General Sternberg at Washington. Though much puzzled at the instruction, she hurried on to the capital. There she was amazed to find that she had been elevated to the command of the entire nursing corps.

TURKEYS ON STREET CARS.

Transit Employ***’ DiSaraae* .of Opinion Boaulta In * Judgment. Judgments in favor of the plaintiffs were entered yesterday in the damage suits of Henry and Valentine Sauerbrun against the St Louis Transit company in the sum of 1300, in each case, says the St. Louis Globe-Demo-crat The point in dispute was whether or not the St. Louis Transit Company should carry a passenger and a live turkey for one fare. According to the petitions In the cases a difference of opinion exists among the employes of the Transit company on this question. The Messrs. Sauerbrun relate in their petitions that November 29 last they boarded a car of the Broadway line at O’Fallon street, each carrying a live turkey. They say the conductor made no objection to hauling them and their turkeys for single fares, but that he accepted their money and gave them transfers to the Easton avenue line. On this line, however, trouble ensued. The conductor refused to accept their transfers, telling them that they had no right to bring the turkeys on the car at all, and ordered them to get off. They demurred, and the conductor called a policeman and had them arrested. They were arraigned before Judge Sldener, who dismissed the eases against them. They filed suits for SSOO actual and >2,500 punitive damages each. Yesterday the ease of Henry Sauerbrun was called in -division No. 6 of the circuit court. When the venire was called it was found that only sixteen persons who had been summoned on the jury had responded, and the case could not proceed without eighteen. It was also noted that eight of the sixteen jurors who appeared were Hebrews, of the same faith as the plaintiffs. After a short parley a compromise was effected In both cases, as stated. The suit of Valentine Sauerbrun was In division No, 1, and a similar judgment was entered in this case.

Only the Men.

Children, says a writer in the Spectator, have a strange sense of justice. They have been taught to sympathize with the sufferings of animals, and to show them an unvarying kindliness. Human beings, on the contrary, are divided, In their minds. Into the two classes of good and bad. The good are to be rewarded, after the manner of fairy tales; the bad are to be punished, Ronald’s father one day gave an anl< mated description of a bull-fight, meaning thereafter to point a moral. But the lad was delighted. "Wouldn’t you like to see a bull-fight, daddy?” he asked breathlessly. "Why, no, my boy. Surely you wouldn’t want to see cruel men baiting the bull? You wouldn’t like to see poor horses gored to death?” “No,” said Ronald, with the thoughtfulness of eight years, "I shouldn’t like to see horses hurt; but,” he added, after some reflection, "I shouldn’t mind seeing those men gored, though.”—Youth’s Companion.

Careful of His Cash.

An old farmer In Bruichladdlch, Islay, N. 8., once went to have a troublesome tooth extracted. Said the dentist, after looking at the offending molar, “It Is a very ugly one, I would advise you to have It out by the painless system. It Is only a shilling extra.” He showed the farmer the apparatus for administering gas, remarking that it would cause him to tall asleep for a minute, and before he awoke the tooth would be out After a slight resistance the sufferer consented, proceeding to open his purse. “Ok, never mind paying just now!” said the dentist, kindly. "Hoots!” answered the cautious old Scot “I wasn’t thinking o' that; but if I’m gaen ta sleep I thought I wad like to count ma siller fust.” —London Tit-Bits.

SAYINGS and DINGS

TMaine-Hichborn. Miss Hichborn is the daughter of Rear-Admiral Highborn, and her friends were greatly stirred up the

MISS HICHBORN.

other day by learning that she had become engaged to James G. Blaine, whom they do not consider a desirable match for her. It is announced that the young couple are determined to be wed anyhow, in spite of all opposition. It is said in behalf of “Jimmy” that he has reformed and is ambitious to

JAMES G. BLAINE.

get rich and buy a big newspaper. Miss Hichborn is one of the prettiest girls in Washington society.

A Locomotive Suggestion.

Here is something new in locomotive construction, or rather a suggestion cf something new. It comes from the Scientific American, which is high authority on all things scientific. The American points out that we are at present in some respects at a standstill regarding railroad locomotives, for the reason that the source of power, the boiler, is practically as big as it can be made on the present plan. It has to be set up on the driving wheels and at that height the tunnels forbid its further enlargement. The suggestion is to transfer the machinery to the tender, thus requiring the frame that carries engine and boiler both to carry the boiler alone. In this way we can get a boiler so large that the engine will maintain a speed of over sixty miles an hour when dragging fifteen Pullman cars.

Near a Hundred Years in Office

Hubbard B. McDonald, who bears the official title of journal clerk to

the United States Senate, but who is really the parlia m e ntarian of that body, is the third of his. i m m e - diate family to occupy that position. H i s grandfather, John G. Mc-

Donald, was appointed uuief clerk of the senate, in 1809, and continued in that position until his death, in 1836. His son, the father of the present incumbent, was appointed to succeed him, and he remained as the official helmsman of the senate until his death, nearly twentyfive years ago. Even before the death of bis father Hubbard McDonald had become connected with the senate in a clerical capacity, and he has now served for many years as Its parliamentary expert. It is his business to sit close to the presiding officer of the senate and keep him from falling into parliamentary pitfalls. He reports that of all the vice-presidents it has been his fortune to coach Mr. Roosevelt 18 by far the hardest to keep in line. “Teddy” has such decided Ideas and opinions of his own that he yields with poor grace to the mandates of tradition and precedent.

The Chinese Indemnity.

The international committee on indemnity at Pekin has reported in favor of a total of $273,000,000. Large as is this bill of damages which China must pay for the Boxer riots, it is considered smaller than some of the European powers were at first inclined to demand. Credit for this reduction must be given to the United States. When the other powers were pressing claims amounting to a total of |400,000,000 the Americans urged that onehalf or one-quarter of that sum ought to be sufficient.