Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1899 — Page 7

FARM AND GARDEN

Manure for Orchard*. So much mischief can be done by applying manures of the wrong kind in •orchards, says the Agriculturist, that I doubt if we do not lose more by manuring than by neglecting to manure. Fruit trees do not require at any time barnyard manures, or their equivalent. What they require is a supply of inorganic food. You can do no better for apple trees than to supply them with coal ashes in which there is a liberal admixture of wood ashes. The coal ashes loosen the soil; the wood ashes furnish the fertilizer. If you can get a supply of old mortar you have just the thing you need. A mixture of lime and salt, when so mixed as to leave no free salt, is excellent for all fruit trees. All such manures should be applied, as a top-dressing. A peach or plum orchard needs nothing better than swamp muck or earth from the woods, with a slight addition of phosphate and potash. If barnyard manure is applied at any time, it should be thoroughly decomposed and applied as a top-dressing. Such manure, if placed about the roots, when planting a pear or apple tree, will kill it. Grapes, of course, want phosphates and potash. They will also respond to a free application of liquid manures during their periods of rest, both in winter and in midsummer. All the tall growing berries, of the bramble sort, will use a large amount of organic manure. But be careful about dressing your raspberries with rank undecomposed barnyard manure. The probability is at any time you w’ill develop a fungoid disease that you cannot easily master. If you use barnyard manure in raspberries it should be thoroughly comminuted with the soil as a compost. In fact, I prefer to compost every manure before it is placed on my gardens. Equally important as the manure is the mulching of our fruit trees and bushes of all sorts. Covering a Wagon Sent. Procure flannel, either black, blue or green, two dozen buttons for the top of cushion, and the same number for the bottom, black oilcloth for lining the “fall,” a spool of stout linen thread, and a long darning needle at least five inches in length. Using the worn “fall” as a pattern, cut the oilcloth of the same size and the flannel three-fourths inch wider all around. Bind the edges of the flannel over the oilcloth, basting firmly with firm silk thread, stitch the two together, the line of stitching being very near the edge of the bound-over flannel. For the seat cut a narrow strip of oilcloth—buckram is better if you have it—for use as stiffening. Lay narrow tucks in the flannel, both lengthwise and crosswise, stitching them in. This forms squares, and the lines of tucks should be very regular and about four inches apart. Cover the bottom of the seat with oilcloth, cutting it of the desired size. Cut the tucked flannel threefourths inch larger, and stitch as for the “fall,” with the stiffening in place along three edges. Slip this cover over the “hair” or “spring” foundation and fasten the end firmly. Place a stout, twine in your long needle, to it fasten one of the larger buttons, put the needle through the covered cushion at a corner of one square, draw down into the cushion as far as possible, pressing the button with some wooden object from the upper side to force it into the yielding material of the foundation, tie a slip knot in your thread at the lower side, put on the small button, and cutting the thread three Inches from the cushion, wind the end between the button last added and the cushion around the eye of the button. The tension will hold it if drawn tight enough through the cushion. At the four corners of each square place buttons. —Orange Judd Farmer. & Care of A»paragus. In the fall the tops of asparagus should be cut and the bed rid of grass and weeds, says Western Flowman. The asparagus seed should not be allowed to reseed the bed, as they will simply cause superfluous plants, making the product small and weak. A liberal covering of coarse manure should be applied, serving the double purpose qf enriching the soil and keeping out the frost If suflacient loose trash is spread on—it must be loose to prevent heating and smothering—to prevent the frost from reaching the crowns, the result will. be good, as the plant is one of the earliest to start in the spring, and prepares for this during the winter, If the soil conditions are favorable. In the early spring time the coarse manure should be raked off and the fine manure worked in the ground.. An application of coarse salt is very beneficial. Growing Spinach. To grow spinach . successfully the. work of preparing the ground should begin in autumn after the fall crop of vegetables has been harvested. Work into the soil thoroughly an ample supply of well-rotted manure, then level the ground off smoothly as possible

and sow the seed in shallow drills from twelve to sixteen inches apart. Sow the seed scatteringly, for it has been found that thick seeding does not pay. This done, cover it only about half an inch deep, and in conclusion firm the ground by treading down each row with the feet. It is well to get the seed in early in November, for then the plants will have a chance to come up and be thinned out before real winter weather arrives. When the ground is slightly frozen a moderate mulch of litter of leaves may be placed over the ’plants. In this way an early crop of spinach may be gathered—so early, in fact, that it will be entirely out of the way by the time the ground} is ready for other crops.—Farm and Field. T ” Ventilating the Cellar. A great mistake, says Medical Classics, is sometimes made in ventilating cellars and milk houses. The object of ventilation is to keep the cellars cool and dry, but this object often fails of being accomplished by a common mistake, and instead the cellar is made both warm and damp. A cool place should never be ventilated, unless the air admitted is cooler than the air within, or is at least as cool as that or a very little warmer. The warmer the air the more moisture it holds in suspension. Necessarily the cooler the air the more this moisture is condensed and precipitated. When a cool cellar is aired on a warm day the entering air being in motion appears cool, but as it fills the cellar the cooler air with which it becomes mixed chills it, the moisture Is condensed, and dew is deposited on the cold walls, and may often be seen running down them in streams. Then the cellar is damp and soon becomes moldy. To avoid this the windows should only be opened at night, and late—the last thing before retiring. There is no need to fear that the night air is unhealthful; it is as pure as the air of midday, and is really drier. The windows should be closed before sunrise in the morning, and kept closed and shaded through the day. If the air of the cellar is damp it may be thoroughly dried by placing in it a peck of fresh lime In an open box. Nut-Bearing Trees. All the nut-growing trees do best when planted where they are to stand permanently, and al) must be planted in the fall, as once the nuts become thoroughly dried their vitality is destroyed and they refuse to germinate. The nuts should be planted only two or three inches deep in order that the frost may get to them and break open the shell. Among all the nut trees none makes so quick a return as the chestnut when planted where conditions are favorable. The American chestnut is as gdod and sweet as any from any country, but the size of the nuts do not compare with the Japanese varieties. The best way to secure Japanese chestnut trees is to plant native chestnuts and afterward graft Japanese scions on them. A similar plan was followed with a chestnut grove in New Jersey. The native trees were cut down and allowed to sprout up, and these sprouts were grafted with scions from Japanese chestnut trees. In ten years each one of these grafts was yielding a crop which brought from $5 to $7 to the tree, and this yield will increase every year for twenty or thirty years, when the yield from one tree will be as much as S3O. Walnuts, hickory nuts op pecans are easily grown, the first two in the North and the last in the South. "Walnut trees come into bearing in a few years where they are cultivated, and in course of time produce lumber of the most valuable kind. The Devil’s Paint Brash. This “worst” weed Is rapidly entering Northern Pennsylvania from New York State. Its similarity to ladies' paint brush is great so far as character goes—far greater than the similarity in name. Salt is the remedy recommended. Prof. Buckout says that a dressing of ten to fifteen pounds a square rod will kill nearly all of it, and this is especially practicable when the first patches appear. Another application may be needed to kill out some occasional plants that survived the first application. This amount of salt is at the rate, say, of a ton an acre, and while it will kill very young grass plants and some leaves, it will not materially injure a sod. Agricultural salt will do the work, and is much less expensive than ordinary salt.—National Stockman. Poultry Notes. Drinking water often spreads disease. Fowls with colds or roup should not be allowed to drink with the others. J Common fowls can be greatly improved in size and vigor by selecting the best, and setting only eggs from the best layers. Turtteys should not be confined while fattening. If they are fed plenty of corn and soft feed three times a day they will keep quiet enough and put on flesh very fast. White corn is liked better than yellow by many turkey growers, who think it gives a clear white color to the flesh. Some wheat, barley and buckwheat should be given also. The various oat feeds on the market are much praised by some poultry feeders. They at least afford a change from the everlasting shorts and cornmeal, of which the hens get very tired. Fowls like turnips either boiled or , raw, and this root should be used freeiy throughout the winter. The hens will make a better use than any other farm animals of the surplus turnips and potatoes. ' Too many people reason that if a dozen hens win give a good profit, another dozen in the same coop will double the profit. One must resolutely keep down the number, so that there will ba no crowding.

PLAIN TALK BY THE PRESIDENT

Declares that Until Congress Shall Direct Otherwise It Is His Duty to “Possess and Hold” the Philippines.

President McKinley, guest of honor at the annual banquet of the Home Market Club in Boston, delivered a speech upon his policy regarding the Philippines, outlining his beliefs and intentions in clear and unmistakable phrases, disclaiming the Idea of imperialism and declaring that the future of the Philippines was now in the hands of the American people. The President said: The years go quickly. It seems not so long, but It is in fact six years since it was my honor to be a guest of the Home Market Club. Much has hffijpened in the intervening time. Issues which were then engaging us have been settled or put aside for larger and more absorbing ones. Domestic conditions have improved and are generally satisfactory. We have made progress in industry and have realized the prosperity for which we have been striving. We have had four long years of adversity, which taught us some lessons which will never be unlearned and which will be valuable in guiding our future action. We have not only been successful in our financial and business affairs, but have been successful in a war with a foreign power, which added great glory to American arms and a new chapter to American history. Must Solve New Problems. I do not know why in the year 1899 this republic has unexpectedly had placed before it mighty problems which it must face and meet. They have come and are here, and they could not be kept away. Many who were impatient for the conflict a year ago, apparently heedless of its larger results, were the first to cry out against the farreaching consequences of their own act. Those of us who dreaded war most and whose every effort was directed to prevent it had fears of new and grave problems which might follow its inauguration. The evolution of events which no man could control has brought these problems upon us. Certain It is that they have not come through any fault on our own part, but as a high obligation, and we meet them with clear conscience and unselfish purpose and with good heart resolve to undertake their solution. War was declared In April, 1898, with practical unanimity by the Congress, and, once upon us, was sustained by like unanimity among the people. There had bean many who had tried to avert it, as, on the other hand, there were many who would have precipitated it at an earlier date. In its prosecution and conclusion the great majority of our countrymen of every section believed they were fighting in a just cause and at home or on sea or in the field they had part in the glorious triumphs. It was the war of the undivided nation. Ever£ great act in its progress, from Manila to Santiago, from Guam to Porto Rico, met universal and hearty commendation. The protocol commanded the practically unanimous approval of the American people. It was welcomed by every lover of peace beneath the flag. The Philippines, like Cuba nnd Porto Rico, were Intrusted to our hands by the war, and to that great trust, under the providence of God and in the name of human progress and civilization, we are committed. It is a trust we have not sought, it Is a trust from which we will not flinch. The American people will hold up the hands of their servants at home to whom they commit its execution. while Dewey and Otis and the brave men whom they command will have the support of the country in upholding our flag where it now floats, the symbol and assurance of liberty and justice. What nation was ever able to write an accurate program of the w’ar upon which it was entering, much less decree in advance the scope of its results? Congress can declare war, but a higher power decrees its bounds and fixes its relations and responsibilities. The President can direct the movements of soldiers in the field and fleets upon the sea, but he cannot foresee the close of such movements or prescribe their limits. He cannot anticipate or avoid the consequences, but he must meet them. No accurate map of nations engaged In war can be traced until the war is over, nor can the measure of responsibility be fixed till the last gun Is fired and the verdict embodied in the stipulations of peace. Could Not Be Kept by ‘ pain. We hear no complaint of the relation created bv the war between this Government and the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico. There are some, however, who regard the Philippines as in a different relation; but, whatever variety of views there may be on this phase of the question, there is universal agreement that the Philippines shall not be turned back to Spain. No true American can consent to that. Even if unwilling to accept them ourselves, it would have been a weak evasion of manly dutx to require Spain to transfer them to some other power or powers and thus shirk our own responsibility. Even if we had, as we did not haye. the power to compel such a transfer, it could not have been made without the"" most serious International complications. Such a course could not be thought of. And yet, had we refused to accept the cession of them we should have had no power over them, even for their own good. We could not discharge the responsibilities upon us until these islands became ours, either by conquest or treaty. There was but one alternative and that was either Spain or the United States in the Philippines. The other suggestions—first, that they should be tossed into the arena for the strife of nations; or, second, be lost to the anarchy and chaos of no protectorate at all—were too shameful to be considered. The treaty gave them to the United States. Could we have required less and done our duty? Could we, after freeing the Filipinos from the domination of Spain, have left them without government and without power to protect life and property or to perform the International obligations essential to an Independent state? Could we have left them in a state of anarchy and justified ourselves in our own consciences or before the tribunal of mankind? Could we have done that in the sight of God and man? Our concern was not for territory or trade or empire, but for the people whose interests and destiny, without our willing it, had been put in our hands. It was with this feeling that from the first day to the last not'one word or line went from the Executive in Washington to our military and naval commanders at Manila or to our peace commissioners at Paris that did not put as the sole purpose to be kept in mind first, after the success of our arms and the maintenance of our own honor, the welfare and happiness and the rights of the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands. Did we need their consent to perform t great act for humanity? We had it in every aspiration of their minds, in every hope of their hearts. Was It necessary to ask their consent to capture Manila, the capital of their islands? Did we ask their consent to liberate them from Spanish sovereignty or to enter Manila Bay and destroy the Spanish sea power there? We did not ask these; we were obeying a higher moral obligation which rested on us and which did not require anybody's consent. We were doing our duty by them as God gave us the light to see onr duty, with the-consent of our own con-S-lences add with the approval of clvilizaon. Every present obligation has been met and fulfilled in the expulsion of Spanish sovereignty from their islands, and while the war that destroyed it was in progress we could not ask their views. Nor can we now ask their consent Indeed, ean anyone tell me in what form it could be marshaled and ascertained until peace and order, so necessary to reign of reason, shall be secured and established? A reign of terror is not the kind of rule under which right action and deliberate judgment are possible. It is not a good time for the liberator to submit Important questions concerning liberty and government to the liberated while they are engaged in shooting down their rescuers. We have now ended the war with Spain. The treaty has been ratified by more than two-thirds of the Senate of the United States and by the judgment of nine-tenths of its people. No nation was ever more fortunate in war or more honorable In negotiations fa peace. Spain to now eliminated

from the problem. It remains to ask what 'we shall do now. ' I do not intrude upon the duties of Congress or seek to anticipate or forestall its action. I only say that, the treaty of peace, honorably secured, having been ratified by the United States, and, as we confidently expect, shortly to be ratified in Spain, Congress will have the power, and I am sure the purpose, to do what in good morals is right and just and humane for these peoples in distant seas. Emancipation, Not Master*. It is sometimes hard to determine what is best to do, and the best thing to' do is oftentimes the hardest. The prophet of evil would do nothing because he flinches at sacrifice and effort, and to do nothing is easiest and involves the least cost. On those who have things to do there rests a responsibility which is not On those who have no obligations as doers. If the doubters were in a majority there would, it is true, be no labor, no sacrifices, no anxiety and no burden raised or carried; no contribution from our ease and purse and comfort to the welfare of others, or even to the extension of our resources to the welfare of ourselves. There would be ease, but alas! there would be nothing done. But grave problems come in the life of a nation, however much men may seek to avoid them. They come without our seeking; why we do not know, and it Is not always given us to know. But the generation on which they are forced cannot avoid the responsibility of honestly striving for their solution. We may not know precisely how to solve them, but we can make an honest effort to that end. and if made in conscience, justice and honor it will not be in vain. The future of the Philippine Islands is now in the hands of the American people. Until the treaty was ratified or rejected the Executive Department of this Government could only preserve the peace and protect life and property. That treaty now commits the free and enfranchised Filipinos to the guiding hand and the liberalizing influences, the generous sympathies, the uplifting education, not of their American masters, but of their American emancipators. No one can tell to-day what Is best for them or for us. I know no one at this hour who is wise enough or sufficiently informed to determine what form of government will best subserve their interests and our interests, their and our well-being. If we knew everything by intuition—and I sometimes think there are those who believe that if we do not they do—we should not need information, but unfortunately most of us are not in that happy state. The whole subject is now with Congress. and Congress is the voice, the conscience and the judgment of the American people. Upon their judgment and conscience can we not rely? I believe in them, I trust them. I know of no better or safer human tribunal than the people. Until Congress shall direct otherwise it will be the duty of the Executive to possess and hold the Philippines, giving to the people thereof peace and beneficent government, affording them every opportunity to prosecute their lawful pursuits, encouraging them in thrift and Industry, making them feel and know we are their friends, not their enemies, that their gqod Is our aim, that their welfare is our welfare, but that neither their aspirations nor ours can be realized until our authority is acknowledged and unquestioned. That the inhabitants of the Philippine* will be benefited by this republic is my un shaken belief. That they will have a kind’’ Iler govefnment under our guidance and thal they will be aided in every possible way ff> be self-respecting and self-governing peoplfi is as true as that the American people lovs libert.v and have an abiding faith in their own government and their own institutions No imperial designs lurk in the mind. They are alien to American sentl ment, thought and purpose. Our priceless principles undergo no Change under a tropical sun. They are wrought in every one of its sacred folds and are inextinguishable In their shining stars. They go with the flat: “Why read ye not the changeless truth, The free can conquer but to save?” If we can benefit these remote peoples who will object? If in the years of the future they are established in government under law and liberty, who will regret our perils and sacrifices, who will not rejoice In our heroism and humanity? Always perils and always after them safety; always darkness and clouds, but always shining through them the light and the sunshine; always cost and sacrifice, but always after them the fruition of liberty, education and civilization. I have no light or knowledge not common to my countrymen. Ido not prophesy. The present is all-absorbing to me, but I cannot bound my vision by the blood-stained trenches around Manila, where every red drop, whether from the veins of an American soldier or a misguided Filipino, is anguish to my heart, but by the broad range of future years, when the group of islands, under the impulse of the year just past, shall have become the gems and glories of those tropical seas, a land of plenty and of increasing possibilities, a people redeemed from savage Indolence and habits, devoted to the arts of peace, in touch with the commerce and trade of all nations, enjoying the blessings of freedom, of civil and religious liberty, of education and of homes, and whose children and children’s children shall for ages hence bless the American republic because it emancipated and redeemed their fatherland and set them in the pathway of the world's best civilization.

Surgery on Snakes.

Snakes in captivity, it seems, sometimes find difficulty in getting rid of the skin which is shed every year. An Australian diamond snake in the Bombay museum, which appeared likely to succumb, was quite blind and refused all food. A European sympathizer therefore pressed the native snakekeeper into service to hold the snake, and himself, with a pair of sharp-pointed scissors, performed the delicate and risky operation of clipping away the membrane which adhered to the eyes. J. M. Phipson, editor-df the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, performed a far more dangerous operation a couple of years ago. His patient was a large hamadryad, or king cobra, the most vicious and poisonous of all Indian snakes, and a most powerful creature to boot. Mr. Phipson gripped the king cobra around the neck ( and a native literally held on for his life further down, and when the reptile’s struggles were over a third man, armed with a surgeon’s scalpel, removed eight layers of membrane from each eye.— London Sketch. During the 6 o’clock rush for the street cars two women simultaneously entered a crowded Indiana avenue car. A large man made room for the smaller of the two women, in appearance a working girl, while the more fashionably dressed girl remained standing. “Thank you very much,” said the first girl, while the other stared over their heads. The man looked uncomfortably at the young woman standing, and finally offered her his seat, which she accepted without a word. “Thank you very much,” reiterated the first little girl, with a sly smile. “Beg pardon?” said the haughty neighbor, while several persons laughed. . “Nothing personal,” she replied. “I was just thanking the gentleman tn behalf of our sex.”—Chicago Inter Ocean.

WHATWEBUY ABROAD

INTERESTING FIGURES OF OUR IMPORTS FOR 1898. American Consumption of Foreign Product* the Smallest in Value and Volume for the Past Twenty Year*, Excepting the Year 1885. The details of the import trade of the United States in the year just ended, the first full calendar year of the Dingley tariff, have just been completed by the Bureau of Statistics. They show the smallest importation in twenty years, with the single exception of the year 1885. The total imports for the year are $634,958,229, the revised figures being slightly In excess of those of the preliminary statement issned by the Bureau of Statistics earlier in the month. This is $100,000,000 less than the imports of 1897, and $200,000,000 less than those of 1892, while, as already Indicated, they are the lowest in twenty years with the single exception of 1885. The reduction of imports is altogether in articles free of duty, the dutiable imports In 1898 being $360,595,549, while those of 1897 were $365,302,240, while the free of duty articles imported amounted in value in 1898 to $268,362,680, against $377,329,110 in 1897. This reduction of $100,000,000 in the importation of nondurable articles is due, first, to a very great reduction in the importations of wool and the transfer of wool from the free to the dutiable list; second, to a reduction in the free importation of manufactured articles whether for use in the mechanics arts or for consumption; third, to the transfer of tea from the free list to the dutiable list, and, fourth, to a reduction In the prices and also a slight reduction in the quantity of coffee imported. Articles manufactured for use In the mechanics arts fell from $25,293,522 in 1897 to $19,166,517 in 1898; articles manufactured for consumption fell from $20,942,277 in 1897 to $7,842,537 Un 1898, and articles of voluntary use, luxury, etc., fell from $6,702,370 in 1897 to $3,851,377 in 1898. "?he above statements all relate to the non-dutiable Under the dutiable head the Imports of 1898, as already indicated, differ but little from those of 1897. Articles of food and live animals coming in under the dutiable list amounted in 1898 to $100,506,148, against $102,349,373 in 1897. Articles in a crude condition for domestic industry show a marked increase, being $49,070,823 in 1898, against $32,555,794 in 1897, this being due to the general activity on the part of manufacturers and to the fact that wool was in July, 1897, transferred from the free to the dutiable list. Articles manufactured for use in the mechanic arts amounted in 1898 to $39,961,169, against $55,878,363 in 1897, and articles manufactured for consumption amounted to $96,962,272 in 1898, against $97,893,605 in 1897, and SIOO,381,308 in 1896. Articles of voluntary use, luxuries, etc., under the dutiable list, amounted in value to $80,095,132 in 1898, against $76,625,105 in 1897. This increase is explained by the greater prosperity and greater purchasing power of the peopde under protection. Of the total importations of 1898, 42.2 per cent, were imported free of duty, against 50.9 per cent, in 1897, 48 per cent, in 1895, 56.7 per cent in 1894, 51.8 per cent. In 1801, 35 per cent, in 1890, and from 32 to 35 per cent, in the years ranging from 1884 to 1891. The reduction of more than SIOO,000,000 in imports is apportioned among the great groups as follows: Articles manufactured for consumption, $14,000,000; articles manufactured for use in the mechanics arts, $22,000,000; articles of food and live animals, $32,000,000, and articles in a crude condition for domestic industry, $39,000,000. The following- table shows the importations by classes in 1898, compared with 1897: Year ending Dec. 31— Imports. 1807. 1898. Free duty: Dollars. Dollars. Articles of food and live animals...... 118,144,740 87,323,654 Articles In a crude condition, for domestic industry.. .206,246,201 150,178,595 Articles manufactured— For mechanic arts 25.293,522 19,166,517 For consumption. 20,942,277 7,842,537 Articles of voluntary use, luxuries, etc 6,702,370 3.851,377 Tot. free of duty. 377,329,110 268,362,680 Dutiable: Articles of food and live animals 102,349,373 100,506,148 Article* in a crude condition for domestic industry... 32,555,794 49,070,823 Articles manufactured— For mechanic arts 55,878.363 39.961,169 For consumption.. 97,893,605 96,962,272 Articles of voluntary use, luxuries, etc. 76,625,105 80,095,137 Total dutiab1e....365,30X240 366,595,549 Free and dutiable: Articles of food and Hve animal* 220,494,113 187,829,802 Articles in a crude condition for domestic indu5try...238,801,995 199,249,418 Articles manufactured— For mechanic arts 81.171.885 59.127,686 For consumption.. 118,835,882 104,804,809 Article* of voluntary use, luxuries, etc. 83,327,475 83,946,514 Total imports of merchandise ....742,631,350 634,958,229 Tired of Affiliating with Hoodoo*. It is merely a coincidence, of course, but one cannot help remarking upon the very significant Associated Press cablegram from London in the Sunday morning papers. “The foremost topic compelling attention In Europe,” rt says, “is the remarkable. aggressive commercial prosperity winch the United States is manifesting.” The coincident lies in the fact that this prosperity happens to come under the Republican administration and during the operation of the Dingley tariff law. Now, it has been conclusively demonstrated

by the tariff reformers that the country ean never prosper, particdlarfy In foreign trade, under a protective tariff. Admitting that the free traders have the right theory, it must be conceded all around that the repeated arrival of prosperity to this country coincident with the enactment of a Republican, tariff law Is a most remarkable phenomenon. The Democrats insist that It Is merely a matter of Republican luek. The voters are beginning to see that it is to their Interest to keep such a lucky party in power in Washington and not bring on another period of distress by joining hands with a hoodoo, as they did in 1892.—Deadwood (S. D.j Pioneer. Some Figure* for Mr. Bryan. Mr. Bryan will find a hard nut to crack in an article on “The Increasing Supply of Gold,” which George E. Roberts, director of the mint, has written for the Forum. Assuming the quantitative theory of money to be true, as the sllverites argue, they are now fairly beaten by their own arguments. When the horrible “crime of ’73” was consummated the gold output of the world amounted to $96,200,000, and that of silver, reckoning It at the ratio of 16 to 1, was only $81,000,000, which gives a total of $178,000,000. In 1896 the output of gold alone was $202,956,000, and the silver output increased the total to $318,587,876. This is exclusive of the metal that was consumed in industry and the arts, and is the record for the very year in which Mr. Bryan was making his disastrous campaign. The significance of the figures Is all the greater when we consider the progressive increase In the annual production of gold, which is Indicated in the following table: 1890.. .$118,848,700 1894.. .$181,175j600 1891.. 130,650,000 1895... 199,304,100 1892.. 146,651,500 1896... 202,956,000 1893.. . 157,494,800 1897... 237,504,800 Such are the improved methods of mining and treatment that it may be said of most gold fields, as Mr. Roberta says of those of the Transvaal, that the figures “suggest the steady growth of a manufacturing industry rather than ' the record of one usually regarded as extremely uncertain in results.” The exhaustion of placer deposits counts for little when capital Is invited to the working of quartz ledges of almost limitless extent and when even low-grade ore is a paying investment because of Increased facilities for taking it out and of the improved and economical processes of reduction. For 1898 there is a gain of more than $20,000,000 in South Africa, of about $10,000,000 in Australasia, of $7,000,000 in the United States and of $10,000,000 in the remainder of North America. The product for 1898 was. over $300,000,000, and the indications are that the gains for 1899 will be still greater. These gains, It should be noted, do not merely re-enforce a depleted stock, nor are they offset by industrial consumption. During the years from 1892 to 1897 there was a net increase in the world’s bank holdings of gold coin and bullion of $682,252,189, and during the same period the industrial consumption amounted to $279,197,816. • So far from true is it that the money supply of the world has been practically cut in two by the general establishment of a single gold standard that the supply of gold Is now more than sufficient to do the work that was once required of both gold and silver. Under the quantitative theory there could be no call upon silver except as a subsidiary coin.—Chicago TimesHerald. Slater* Three.

Do Not Consider the Difference. The Society for Political Study, which is composed of New York women of more or less advanced habits of thinking, has reached the financial question. After listening the other day to a dissertation on the currency* they unanimously agreed that they did . not understand it, but that no matter what fwm the national currency took, the “essential” thing was to have one’s pockets well filled with it. This is the natural conclusion of people who know nothing about the money question. They do not stop to consider the difference between a pocket full of 50cent dollars and one that is threequarters full of 100-cent dollars.—Chicago Tribune. Less Politics Would Pay Better. Bob Means, a prosperous young Greenville, Kan., farmer, has what he calls a Farmers’ Alliance corn patch. When the allance was organized Bob set off a ten-acre field, vowing to work | it only while his neighbors were attending alliance meetings and looking after politics. He had to drop the scheme because he found he was working his cwrato death. The calamity howiero wHI feel better if they wHI take some of Bob Means' medictaeGblcago Tribune.