Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1901 — Page 2

The WeeKly Panorama .

L.ot)e and Figures. That love will find a way through all difficulties is illustrated by the recent experiences of Philander Simon and Bertha Karger, both of Paterson, N. J. Philander had been keeping company with Bertha about two years,

Bertha’s mother, who is not only a woman of expedients but a thrifty soul, decided upon a plan for punishing the faithless Philander. She figured that he had eaten sixty hearty dinners at her house, upon the occasions of his Sunday wooings, which at 25 cents each amounted to sls. Besides this in a rash moment she had lent him $lO. She accordingly began suit for $25. , Meanwhile, Philander, who is also thrifty and a man of expedients, began to do a little figuring on his ow(t side, and promptly came in with a counterclaim for $86.80, which left Mrs. Karger $61.80 in his debt, if the claim were pressed. Bertha, as girls go, had not expensive. In two years she had consumed but one box of chocolates, twelve pounds of candy, thirty ice creams, and 100 sodas, amounting to $9.55. She had only been once to Coney Island, but had had 100 trolley rides, transportation footing up $12.60. Bouquets for two birthdays cost $5 and two books 65 cents, a total investment of $27.80, which shows that Philander had the advantage of $2.80 in actual expenses over Mrs. Karger. This margin Philander increased by putting in a claim for his time, charging 50 cents for each Sunday evening’s wooing for two years, or $52. In the course of the preparations for the suits Philander and Bertha were thrown much together, aud encouraged by the artful lawyers on both • sides, as well as by thrifty Mrs. Karger, who was appalled by the counterclaims, the flame broke out anew and with greater ardor than before. An actual engagement was effected, a day for the marriage fixed, and both suits were dropped, and Philander and Bertha are happy, all owing to Philander’s skill in figuring.

Figured in Molineux Case.

Justice White of the New York Supreme court at Buffalo last week

MRS. FLORENCE ROGERS.

granted a divorce to Mrs. Florence E. Rogers from Edward F. Rogers, thu3 confirming the report of the referee. Mrs. Rogers is the daughter of the late Mrs. Kate Adams, and a distant cousin of Harry Cornish. Roland B. Molineux was found guilty of causing the death of Mrs. Adams by poison, which he was accused of sending to Cornish at the Knickerbocker A. C.,* New York city. Cornish had a room In Mrs. Adams’ apartments in West 86th street, New York. Mrs. Rogers lived there, and was there on the morning her mother died, after finding the dose of cyanide of mercury. Mrs. Rogers and her husband have been separated for some time, she living in New York, he in Buffalo. When she brought her suit she applied for alimony. One of her lawyers stated, pathetically, that she had to “live in a New York hash house,” while her husbanu* dwelt in luxury at the Iroquolse hotel. It was shown, however, that Mr. Rogers paid his wife money for her support, although he lived apart from her.

Wireless Telegraphy.

A report comes through Consul General Gunther of Frankfort to the effect that the captain of a channel null ateamer, whlcn Is provided with a wirelees telegraphy apparatus, states tnat on his last trip he received a message from the officer of the French lightship, anchored about twenty-flve miles from Dunkirk, stating that he would be unable to light up the next night unless help arrived from the shore. Tie captain at once sent a wireless message to La Panne, on the Belgian coast, from which point it was forwarded to Dunkirk by the regular telegraph line, whence a boat was sent to the lightship and the necessary repairs were made.

when for some unexplained reason his love began to cool. Simultaneously Bertha began to fret' and pine away. There had been no actual engagement between them, so that a suit could not be brought for breaking the marriage promise, but

News and Views

Nordau Assails Trusts.

Dr. Max Nordau, who has lately turned his attention to the consolidation of large companies of capitalists, is one of the most skillful and learned physicians of Europe. His very widespread fame is due, however, not to his scientific ability, but rather to his brilliance as an author. In 1883 he shocked and delighted two continents with his rarely analytical book, “Conventional Lies of Society.” In 1886 he published his “Paradoxes,” and in 1893 the work by which he is best known, "Degeneration.” In this remarkably original bock Dr. Nordau atetmpts to show on purely psycho-physiological grounds that alj modern tendencies are toward degeneration. He fortifies his position by examinations into art, literature and life, and claims that degeneracy is seen in all mental and moral phenomena.. Dr. Nordau is descended from a well-known Jewish family of Buda-

MAX NORDAU.

pest. He began writing to the newspapers on many topics even while he was a lad at school. He is 52 years old.

A Dream of Copper.

The dream that is said to have revealed to a young chemist in Pennsylvania the secret of tempering copper cannot be accounted among the idle fancies of the brain should his experiments prove as successful as they promise. It is a practical vision that supplies a formula to experiment upon that may result in restoring what has for centuries been considered a lost art. The psychological part of the Pennsylvania incident does not show, however, that the dreamer was blessed with an outright revelation. He had long been experimenting with popper in an effort to obtain the required hardness that would make it cut steel, and, like a shrewd American, he hgd in view the large reward said to have been offered by the government for the discovery of such a formula. This task naturally affected his sleeping as well as his waking hours, and it was subconscious suggestion that at last gave him a clew to what he sought. A sample of tempered copper, sent to Washington, is claimed to have withstood every test.

A 150 Mile an Hour.

A society of mechanical engineers representing the principal European machine shops, has recently been organized abroad for the purpose of developing railroad engines of phenomenal speed. The accompanying illustration shows a railroad electric motor lately built by Siemans and Halske, in connection with the organization, which, by order of Emperor William, was tested preliminarily a short time on the military railroad at Ber-

NEW SPEEDY ELECTRIC ENGINE.

lin-Zossen, when, according to reports, it gave an exhibition that promised remarkable results.

Tine Needles.

It having been announced some time since that oil of pine was beneficial In relieving, pulmonary complaints it seems that since then quite an industry has sprung up in Oregon In its manufacture. The oil Is made from pine needles, which are stripped from the trees twice a year. Some of the trees, it is said, yield from 600 to 800 pounds of leaves at each picking, a good hand being able to pick about 500 pounds a day. As soon as picked the leaves are sent to the factory, where the oil is extracted by distillation, ten pounds of oil being produced from two thousand pounds of leaves. The fibre that remains is woven into fabrics and mixed with hair for mattresses. It is also used as a filling for cigars, to which it imparts a pleasant quality. A notable fact connected with the process is that it is considered a benefit to the trees to strip them twice a year. Those engaged in the industry are mostly Germans.

PVRIFYING WAGED SVPPLY.

FILTRATION EXPERIMENT STATION AT LAWRENCE ON THE MERRIMAC RIVER. Where the Massachusetts State Board of Health Carried On the hirst investigations Looking to the Purification of Water by Sand Filtration, Showing the Filtration Tanks and Working Laboratories.

(Boston Correspondence.) The water supply of cities and town 3, whether drawn from a river or lake, and whether or not supplemented by artesian wells, has become within fifteen years a universal problem of the greatest importance. Before that time municipal governments were concerned mainly about securing a sufficient quantity of drinkable water, and cities that were able to draw their supply from rivers and running streams were considered particularly fortunate, until in Massachusetts an alarm was raised by disastrous epidemics of typhoid fever which followed the course of the Merrlmac River. The disease was carried by the sewage with which the river was contaminated from town to town, wherever the stream was used as a water supply, down to the city of Lawrence, which suffered worst of all. In 1887 an experiment station, the first of its kind in the world, for the purification of sewage and water by filtration through sand, was established in Lawrence by the Massachusetts State Board of Health, and the Lawrence filtration beds became an object lesson for the instruction noT only of the State, but of the world at large. Good and Dad Microbes. The co-operation of the State and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early years of the conduct of these experiments at Lawrence. at once assured the success of the investigations. Professor William T. Sedgwick of the institute, as bacteriologist of the State Board of Health, for eight years directing the bacteriological experiments on which the work of purification depended. For, after all, it is held to-day at the Institute of Technology, as everywhere else, that the purification of water and sewage—unpurifled water being considered by the bacteriologist merely as very dilute sewage—is alnjost solely a matter of controlling the microbes, the “good” microbes and the “bad” ones, so that the pathogenic or disease-breeding germs shall be prevented from reaching the human system, while the “good” ones are encouraged to do their natural work of purification. The dramatic story of the microbe has frequently been told since Pasteur established the germ theory of fermentation, but there is something unique in the accomplishment of such bacteriologists as Professor Sedgwick, by which millions of micro-organisms are herded together intelligently, with the character of their work and their hours of labor and rest definitely established. To MaKe "Hitler Water Safe. From experiments in Lawrence and in the biological laboratories of the Institute of Technology it has been demonstrated that any river water purified by means of a five-foot filter is safe and wholesome, and, further, that effluent water from proper filtration of sewage would not be dangerous for domestic use. The records also have shown that since Lawrence, encouraged by the example of the State experiment station, has installed a municipal filter, though it is still using the water of the Merrimac River, always more or less contaminated by the drainage of Lowell—the very circumstance, that is, which caused the great epidemic of a few years ago—typhoid has practically been eradicated in that city, although, of course, it might still he introduced by other means —bad oysters as well as bad water being an easy vehicle for the disease. The lesson which Lawrence has illustrated so graphically not only has worked a revolution in the methods of water supply in Massachusetts cities and towns, but is having its effect all over the world. A notable instance is the city of Albany, which by a system of filtration has been enabled to obtain a supply of pure water from the Hudson River, previously a constant

source of disease. The gravity of the problem in the case of large cities has resulted in the expenditure of enormous sums for the maintenance of a wholesome water supply either by direct purification or by the disposal of sewage so as to prevent contamination of the source. The case of Chicago is well knrwn, where $30,000,000 has been spent on a drainage canal, which, by carrying the sewage into the Mississippi River, has revolutionized the city’s water supply. In St. Louis, where the question of an adequate water supply is being considered particularly with reference to the great Louisiana Purchase Exhibition, the river bears the drainage of Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and scores of other cities, and yet Professor Sedgwick states without hesitation that by means of filtration St. Louis can obtain its water supply from the Mississippi with absolute safety.

James J. Van Alen’s Daughter

SARA VAN ALEN, WHO MAY SOON BECOME MRS. ROBERT COLLIER.

Cupid is said to have caused a slight disagreement in the family of James J. Van Alen, who has been “commanded” by King Edward VII. to attend at court for the purpose of being invested with the insignia of a Knight of Grace of the Order of St. John. By her friends it is said that Miss Sara Van Alen sailed for the United States with the intention of marrying Robert Collier immediately op her arrival. Mr. Van Alen is said to oppose the match. Unfortunately Mr. Van Alen's commands in the matter

A Wise Compromise.

Anthony Koch was so imprudent as to marry a second wife before death or divorce had parted him and the first one. The latter resented this. She came to Chicago and had her bigamous spouse Indicted. The case against him Is so clear that it is pressed he will go to the’penitentiary, where, according to the theory of the law, all bigamists should go. But,-althougn he Is not a rich man—and it is often that such men alone can slip through the meshes of

the law —it may be that he will buy his pardon. His lawful wife does not thirst for revenge if she can get a little money out of him. She is willing to drop the case if the courts will give her an absolute divorce and her husband will give her SSOO. The husband is willing. The judge who has the matter in hand is willing also, provided Mr. Koch will consent to be lawfully married to his second wife. Mr. Koch says he is ready to do it. Perhaps strict justice calls for the removal of this man to Joliet, where he can meditate for a year or two on his crime and resolve to reform. But strict justice is not always real justice. Mr. Koch is as thoroughly convinced now as he ever will be that bigamy does not pay. The porposed compromise, if carried out, will be for the greatest good of the greatest number. The first wife will get SSOO. If Koch goes to prison she will get nothing.

Will carry little weight, as his children are Independent of him In fortune. In fact It is stated that when his three children are all married he will be far from as well off as he Is now well-to-do. Miss Sara Van Alen Is a pretty, attractive and clever girl, while Mr. Collier is a very quiet, Intellectual and pleasant young gentleman. He is an adept at polo and is the editor of Collier's Weekly. It Is said Mr. Van Alen will oppose the match and for this reason has delayed his departure for England.

The second wife, who is in an unpleasant predicament, will have somebody to take care of her after a fashion. The husband, provided he can be contented with one wife and will provide for her, will be a more useful member of society than he would be if set to work at Joliet. The recent Italian census record* the fact that there are 392 persons In Italy over a hundred * years old; among them are sixteen monks and nuns.

FACTS AND OPINIONS

Matrimony and Ttrairu, It would seem, according to the opinions of Some educators, that there ought to be written over the gates of matrimony, or at least over the “ladies’ entrance” to that happy state, the words: “Abandon brains all ye who enter here!” for matrimony and brains are incompatible. This subject is a rather bare bone of contention, and It is one that does not admit of broad generalization. There are many women who seem to have reconciled husbands and higher education; there are others who with that needed qualification for matrimonial happiness, a lack of brains, are still unable to make a success of that stake; and there are women who -are successful in life without either the husbands or the education. A sociologist of some repute, Lester F. Ward, says that one who knows anything of the laws of biology must Insist upon the equal development of both sexes. “Any theory of development,” he says, “that recognizes the fact of the transmission of acquired qualities must expect that where only one parent has acquired such qualities the offspring will only inherit one-half of them. If the full value of the energy expended in conferring useful qualities is to be realized in the offspring, they must be conferred equally upon both paredts.” Mr. Ward further says that, while the female mind differs from the male in many important and fortunate respects, intellect is one and the same everywhere, and that the proper nourishment of intellect is truth. It seems rather late in the day for those who claim to be educators to advance the theory that only by starving the mind is woman fit for the high state of matrimony.

The Foreign Element.

The census returns for 1900 showed that of the then inhabitants of Chicago 40 per cent were foreign-born. The percentage of foreign-born inhabitants was a little larger in New York. It was much smaller in Philadelphia. There it was only 25 per cent. It is evident that the “foreign element” is not responsible for the poor governments of large American cities, for Philadelphians seem to be unable to manage their municipal affairs honestly and efficiently. The census figures for lass year show a decrease of the percentage of persons of foreign birth in Chicago to about 35 per cent, and presto, Chicago begins to grow worse. The, native-born residents numbered 1,111,000, and the foreign-born residents 587,000. Chicago is not so much of a foreign city as it was. The number of persons of foreign birth increased only 137,000 in the decade, and that of persons of native birth 462,000. But the native white males and females born of native parents living in Chicago last year numbered only 354,OuO, as against 727,000 natives of foreign parentage. If foreign immigrants and their immediate descendants had kept away from Chicago it would have been an inconsiderable place. Of the 967,000 men and women of foreign birth who were residing in Illinois last year more than half, it will be seen, were in Chicago. They found employment and are helping with their manual or mental labor to build up Chicago, says the Tribune of Chicago.

Irrigation and Drought.

An incident of the drought in one of the corn states is related by an observer from Western Kansas, where, In one county, two adjoining farms presented the contrast of irrigation and natural rainfall. A farm that had been irrigated by a system of two wells In previous years was found to be thriving, although this summer one of the wells had failed and the other was giving but half the supply It gave last year. The farm that depended on the rainfall was naturally the sufferer through the unusually dry conditions, but the point was that the irrigated crop, although in need of water, would probably survive because of the moisture that the soil had received in previous years. Irrigation is a matter not only for this generation, but for the next, and an interesting result of its lasting effect is noted in a recent bulletin Issued by the United States geographical survey. It is shown by this authority that while water, turned loose on sandy soil, is rapidly absorbed in the first proceases of irrigation, and that there is consequently little encouraging headway, year by year the Irrigated section grows larger, until land on which there has been little or no Irrigation becomes productive.

Discouraging Lynching.

The constitutional convention In Virginia is now considering a resolution to prevent lynching and will probably adopt it. It provides that the governor shall offer a reward of SSOO for the arrest and conviction of every person engaged in lynching; that the act shall constitute murder in the first degree, where the lynching is accomplished; and that the state shall pay SI,OOO to the heirs of any person lynched, the money to be chargeable to the county or city where tne lynching takes place. Such a law would be a drastic remedy, but it undoubtedly reflects public sentiment in Virginia, for, like South Carolina, where a remedy has already been provided, Virginia is but little cursed with lynching and almost universal respect ia shown for the courts.

People and Events

Christian Endeax)or Grotous. In the ten years from 1890 to 1900 the population of the United States increased from 62,622,250 to 76,304,799 — a gain of not quite' 21 per cent In the ten years from 1891 to 1901 the Christian Endeavor societies, whose annual convention has just ended, increased their membership from one million to four million —a gain of 300 per cent. Not quite all of this is in America, for the Christian Endeavor societies have been planted in all lands, but it needs' only a simple mathematical calculation to show that if these relative rates of increase keep up it will be but a matter of twenty-five years or so until all tfie inhabitants of the United States become Endeavorers, and in less than fifty years the socie- < ties will include the entire population of the globe. But without waiting for that consummation we may congratulate ourselves upon the vigor of an organization whose sole purpose is to work for good. That four million young people can be found to act with a single one of the many bodies formed to elevate the world is a pretty fair setoff to the selfish commercialism that is doing so much to drag mankind down.

Hat 128 Decendants.

The Dowager of Abercorn who celebrated her ninetieth birthday quite

Dowsger Dochess of Abercom

recently, has more living descendants than even Queen Victoria had. Her children, grandchildren, great-grand-children, and great-great-grandchil-dren number 128, among them being four dukes and heirs to dukedoms. The Dowager Duchess is a daughter of the sixth duke of Bedford, and was married to the Duke of Abercorn in 1829. On her eighty-second birthday, in 1894, there was a family reunion, at which 101 of her descendants passed before the venerable Dowager, led by her eldest daughter, the Dowager Duchess of Lichfield, with her thirteen children and thirteen grandchildren, who were followed by the thirteen children and fifteen grandchildren of the Countess of Durham. The children of the Dowager Duchess who are still living are the present Duke of Abercorn, Countess Winterton, Lord Claud Hamilton, Lord George Hamilton, the Marchioness of Blandford, the Marchioness of Lansdowue, and Lord Ernest Hamilton.

A PlucKy Woman.

The Countess of Essex, who was Miss Adele Grant of New York before her marriage to the head of the ancient English family, is giving London an exhibition of American pluck. When it became known that she and her husband both had exhausted their fortunes, much sympathy was extended, but instead of throwing up her hands the countess devised a way of earning both hers and her husband s living. Her plan Is to rent apartments she has had furnished in her own taste, and the high rents she receives give her a good income. It is said the title of Countess of Essex always has been born by a beautiful woman, and the present American owner of the title particularly is greatly admired for her beauty and charming manner. She was the

belle of New York and Newport before her marriage to the Earl of Essex, and once was engaged to mary Earl Cairns. She has a daughter of 5, who promises to be as beautiful as her mother, and a stepson of 14..

BooKwalter's Vietos.

After a 2,000-mile bicycle trip through Southern Europe, John W. Bookwalter, the eminent American economist and author, is convinced that there is trouble for the world in the higher prices for grain. He is also convinced after closely studying the peasantry of Europe that a crisis is imminent between the urban and rural populations of the United States. After traversing Italy from end to end, and after crossing the Apennines, Mr. Bookwaiter predicts a great struggle between the agricultural districts and the cities, particularly in the United States.