Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1901 — SMELTER SHUT DOWN [ARTICLE]

SMELTER SHUT DOWN

ORDER WILL PRACTICALLY RUIN A TOWN. Argentine, Kan., Has 700 Men Whose Situations Have Been Taken from Them Facilities the Only Obstacle to Trade. The last fire was drawn in the big Argentine smelter at Kansas City the other night and with it the plant was permanently closed and 700 men were thrown out of employment. When in full operation the Argentine smelter was one of the most important in the United States, but, one at a time, the furnaces have been allowed to cool, until the last gang of fifty tenders alone remained. The announcement has been posted that the furnaces would be demolished. Even the copper plant will be closed. The reason for thil" action by the smelter company cannot be learned. The Argentine smelter was situated in the suburb of Kansas City for which the smelter was named. The shnt-down will practically ruin the town. The blow will fall most heavily upon old employes of the smelter who have invested their earnings in Argentine homes and who have felt secure that they would live there the*balance of their days. GREAT ACTIVITY IN TRADE. Only Obstruction Is a Lack of Sufficient Transportation Facilities. “Trade channels are remarkably free from obstruction, although the movement of goods at some points is checked by insufficient facilities. This is a tribute to the unusually heavy shipments which are shown more definitely by railway earnings in September, 9.2 per cent larger than last year and 1G.7 per cent above those of 1899. Manufacturing is of such vigor that few wheels are idle, and further wage agreements have reduced the number of strikers to a minimum. Mild weather, yacht races and other temporary influences curtailed the volume of retail 6ales in the vicinity of New York, but jobbing and wholesale concerns are preparing for exceptional transactions. Foreign trade is also heavy,” according to It. G. Dun & Co.’s review of trade. Continuing, the report says: “The great size of the domestic wheat crop this year is Indicated by interior receipts of 8,411,775 bushels, against G,139,584 last year and 6,644,113 in 1899. Cotton was easier until the official report appeared, when the new condition caused a sharp advance. Failures this week number 205 in the United States, against 208 last year, and 37 in Canada, against 23 last year.”

FEAR AN INDIAN OUTBREAK. Settler* on Mille Lacs Lake Send a Representative to Governor. Lars Erickson, a pioneer trader of the Mille Lacs Indian country, called on Gov. Van Sant of Minnesota for aid. The settlers on the south shore of Mille Lacs lake are in great dread of the Indians, who are on homestead land, where, it is declared, they have no rights, and in very ugly mood over the proposed removal to White Earth and over the smallpox quarantine. Erickson said the settlers were seven hours from a telegraph wire and might all be massacred before help could come in case of an actual outbreak. The government is withholding moneys due the Indians because they will not move and this increases the tense fear of the settlers. ! New Treaty Agreed Upon. United States and Great Britain have agreed upon new Isthmian canal treaty, making the proposed waterway all-Ameri-can in ownership and control. The Clay-ton-Bulwer pact is abrogated and the United States is to guarantee the neutrality of the canal in time of peace and take such steps to control it in time of war as it may deem proper. Favors Giving Women Vo'ce. The northern Minnesota conference (Methodist) voted on the new constitution of the church, casting seventy-four votes in its favor to only six against. The new' constitution, as is pretty well known, contains one fundamental change, and that is that women become eligible as delegates to the general conference. Dead Ponner Had SSOO. Five hundred dollars, a gold watch, several rings and two loaded l-evolvers were found in the bed of Mrs. Margnret Griffin, a supposed pauper, after her death at Defiance, Ohio. She had been supported for some time by the township trustees. Jewelry fnleaman Commits Snicidr. D. W. Dickie, a New York jewelry salesman with $15,000 worth of gems in his possession, committed suicide at the Grant monument in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Tammany Name* Fheparl. Edward M. Shepard of Brooklyn was nominated for Mayor by the Tammany convention amid scenes of wild confusion. Itaae-Rnll Year b Ended. The National League baseball season closed with Sunday’s games. Pittsburg finished in fifst place, Philadelphia second and Brooklyn third. Fire Destroy* Dock Propertv. A spectacular fire destroyed SOO,OOO worth of docks and warehouses on “No Man’s Land.” near the mouth of the river in Chicago. Abandoned Reservation Fold. The abandoned Fort Stevenson reservation in North Dakota has been sold to L. C. Black of Cincinnati, law partner of J. B. Foraker, for an eastern syndicate, for $75;000. The 45,000 acres in the tract will be disposed of for ranching purposes. Convict Ansnsein of Girl. *At Kansas City Bud Taylor, who last March Bhot and killed Miss Iluth Noliard, ■ former sweetheart, was found guilty «f murder In the first degree. The defense made a atrong plea of insanity.