Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1904 — Page 7

POLITICAL COMMENT.

' A Thins: to Sweat By. As the campaign period of the current year approaches, there, are fastgathering signs that it is going to be marked by an unwonted and vigorous assault upon the citadel of protection; • unwonted,” because it is now more than a decade since the opponents qf the party tn power have made an intelligent and concerted effort to oust it in a battle pitched upon “tariff reform” lines; “vigorous,” because these same opponents, having now thrown away the weapons and abandoned the tactics that have twice brought them overwhelming defeat, are In a measure desperate and determined, apparently, to turn back and rally again under the only slogan that has ever contributed to their political success in a stretch of forty-four years—and only twice, at that. They fail utterly, however, to recognize the vast difference between the political, financial, industrial and general commercial conditions that marked the periods just preceding the campaigns of 1884 and 1892 and those which now prevail. If repeated Republican victories throughout nearly half a century have proved anything, they have demonstrated the puissant wisdom of the party's founders in making protection its chief

—Cincinnati Post. In an Interview Mr. Bryan said that the future would have to supply e suitable candidate for Democracy.— News Item.

corner-stone. As often as that policy has been discredited by popular vote, just so often has the country's prosperity shrunk and vanished: just so often have industry and trade languished under the blight of the change: Just so <Bften have the profits of business Been diminished and the earnings of the workingman been shrivelled. If experience has taught the people any one lesson more thoroughly and lastingly than another, It has surely taught them the folly of attempting to Improve good times by destroying the chief factor in the creating of them. Protection has become practically a principle of our government here in the United States. It has advanced and arisen somewhat beyond ami above the plane of a mere policy. It is an establishment. an institution. To assail it Is in reality to essay to weaken our system of government. Surely the "mugwump" biust recall keenly his past follies. This Is not a lime to carry aid and sympathy to the enemy. It Is a time to "spenk wMI of tb.e bridge that has brought us safely over"—not a time to question its strt ; bllity or to try to test Its strength or its efficiency. Both have been tried often enough already, and never found wanting.—New York Commercial.

Hna Been Bounced. These t'ubtins nro not so slow when it conu s to making n bargain or boating n foreigner. Their Congress is tlln-usaing n new tariff law which is expected to more than offset the amount that will bo lost through lowering the duties on American Imports 2«t per cent, ns they arc bound to do by the reciprocity treaty, which went Into effect December 27th. This new tariff will iMcrenac duties to an amount more than e<|tiivnient to the 2<> per cent preference given the United States, so our own exporters will jiay as much.’lf not n little higher, duties than before, while the Cubans will get the 21 • per cent reductions on their products sent to lids country. We presume this is wltfft was meant when “our plain duty” to Cuba was referred to. It Is very plain that the United States lias been buncord —except tlie Sugar Trust. —Michigan Farmer. Same Old Irrepressible Conflict.’’ Before the Democratk * N'nth.unl Convention of IStkl that party was nt nn extremely low ebb. ft hasl |»ern overwhelmingly defeated In n large majority of the States. Business, was

stagnant and labor largely idle. Under these circumstances the Democratic party, “thoroughly discredited in Its policies and its administration, went Into a fusion with the Populists and put a new leader at the front. This standard-bearer, W. ,T. Bryan, polledthe largest vote ever given a Democratic candidate for the Presidency, but also brought but the largest vote on the other side. In the popular vote the Republican lead was greatly increased. Again the combination was tried in 1900, but, though the Democratic vote was again over 6,000,000, the gap against it was widened. The. more than a million Populists who helped the Democratic party in 1896 and 1900 still left it in a minority of from 600,000 to 800,000. A large number of Democrats now want to drop Bryan as a leader and go into a process which they call “revision.” The party revised itself into Populism, aud now it is proposed by some of its leading advisers that it be revised back to where it was before the fusion of 1896. 'As that was a time when the party was discredited and its fortunes were desperate, the idea is without practical force. The Democratic party was divided against itself eight years ago and is in the same condition now. Revision of such

THE FORTUNE TELLER.

jarring elements is impossible. Bryan declines to be revised. He is certainly not the weathercock in the case. He has been in his party course, as well as in his political fallacies. Since the hard times following the misfortune of 1892 the Democrats have agreed to disagree, and they are farther now than ever from a common basis of action. The battle among tliertfselves, which has been going on for eight years, must bs fought to a finish. Not one of the leaders appears to realize that the party is inherently weak and deserves to be beaten, revised or unrevised.—St. Louis GlobeDemocrat.

No Foalins with the Tariff. The unsettled conditions from which the country has just commenced to recover do not admit of introducing any new uncertainties until the sky has materially cleared. Had tlie boom continued there might have been some grounds for tlie opponents of the tariff to argue that it was bringing too much prosperity, but now'that ,tlie boom has had a check the danger that would follow the introduction of a further disarrangement of trade conditions could invite nothing but disaster.

The Republicans have always stood for a tariff that would enable American industry to thrive. There Is no occasion now to pull nway any protective wall, and even if the threadbare argument that a tariff Is not needed to protect goods that can be made for the export trad:* had any weight at any time It inis always been offset by the fact that If n tariff Is not needed particularly on any specific line of manufacturing. ft does no hurt to that industry. Even the Democrats lu Congress s<«e that this la no time to howl <-n In nifty or to jeo|Mirdlze she Interests of the country’, mid they would hardly lie extremists if they could effect anything by it. The most of their noise will be for the benefit of the galleries. —Pittsburg Times.,

Too Bnd 1 It’s too bad that tin* poor old free, tyadti* must have Ids old stand-by. fivetrade England, get to talking protec*dve tariff at thia stage of’ th? game. •—Moravian Falls (N. C.) Yellow Jacket. . i_ • . Got thv Worst of It. Cuba’s Idea of reciprocity seems to Im to give the United States the worst of It at cvcryi turn In the road.—-St. I aiula Globc-Dcnioerat.

ST. VALENTINE’S DAY.

Old Customs Which Varked the Cels •’ bration of Feb. 14.

N accordance lag with general beInU lief, the saint for whom thedaywas named was a Roman priest, who UHI suffered martyr--121 dom under Em- . per o r Claudius X a. about 270 A. D. He did not come to a romantic end, • I but was beaten with clubs and yj then beheaded.

He I» not believed to have had any more fondness for lovers than did the other priests. Neither did he joy in sentimental poetry and deformed Cupids,-and it is not known, nor is it considered likely, that he indited any epistle to a fair lady before his execution; but for all that he was -to have a day of general love-making named for him. From time immemorial, even from the days when ancient Rome was a rising metropolis, there had been certain customs, the forbears of the present carnivals and speaking pantomimes, current among the Latin races. Among them were the festivals called Lupercalia, held during the month of February, in honor of Februata-Juno, nnd part of their observance: was as follows: A certain number of slips bearing the names of young girls were placed in a box and shaken up; the young men then each drew a slip, and go “chose partners.” The good priests, when these “heathen superstitious customs” came to their knowledge, were much horrified, and immediately set themselves to work to right matters. But the customs were too firmly rooted even for the priests, and they compromised on a solution of the troubles at once easy and effectual. They changed the names of the festivals from those of the heathen gods to those of the Christian saints, which settled the matter, and made their celebration lawful, and even laudable. In the general reconstruction Saint Valentine drew Feb. 14, and so comes down to the present in the character of the patron saint of lovers.

Out of these old customs has grown the present method of sending valentines. It has lost most of its significance, and the love-lorn verses of amorous swains have

given place to ready-made rhymes, turned out of a nineteenth century factory at so much per line. St. Valentine’s day is. as generally observed as ever, though a great part of the celebrating is done by the children, and most of the valentines are constructed to suit their pocketbooks, with machine-made fat-faced cupids and startling sprays of forget-me-nots. The higher-priced valentines, however, the silk and satin, and celluloid ones, are all hand-painted, and though the work is done as rapidly as possible, many of them are really beautiful. The secret of their manufacture at the price, which is always low for hand-painted work, lies in the fact that, though no two are alike, there is little variety in them. Cupids, flowers, and bleeding hearts furnish the usual subjects. By a close application to business a man may learn to make bleeding hearts and Cupids almost mechanically, and with a surprising rapidity. The work is done with water colors and a car Ts hair brush, and a few strokes applied by an experienced hand finish a valentine, it is possible for one man to turn out ajt many as 500 hand-painted valentines in one day. The satin ones are the hardest to paint, and, as a natural consequence, command the highest price. Some of them cost as much as S2O apiece. From 5,000 to 10,000 of the cheap valentines, those with a verse and sundry cupids, surrounded with lace paper, are turned out in a day by a single factory. The work is all done by machinery; first the printing of the verse, next that of the colored picture, then the cutting and folding, and lastly the addition of the lace paper, which is pasted on after all other parts are complete. The comic valentine is an excrescence of the present. It is a widespread evil, too, for one firm gets out as many as 15,000,000 of them annually and employs 400 workmen the year round. But in spite of the 15,000,000 comics the comic valentine is a small part of the celebration, and though certain objectionable persons have their shortcomings laid before them in a strong light, and though certain other and wholly inoffensive persons are annually rendered insane with rage at what they consider gratuitous insults, the general trend of St. Valentine's day missives still stays by the good old rhyme of heart and dart, eyes and sighs, and other combinations almost as old as St. Valentine himself.

LINCOLN'S EARLY DAYS.

Borne Reminiscences of His Boyhood in Indiana. Until a few years ngo there was in Gentryville an old wooden fire shovel, on which Lincoln had traced these verses: Time—what an smpty vapor ’tie, And days, how swift they are; Swift as an arrow speed our lives, Swift as a slitting star. The present moment —— The stanza was not finished, but it was kept for many years until the old fire shovel disappeared, and its whereabouts are unknown to'this day. There jused to be a character around Gentryville in its early days known as “Old Holmes,” who was often intoxicated. One winter night “Old Holmes” would have been frozen but for Lincoln, who found him and carried him home, sitting up all night to resuscitate him. This* incident started a temperance wave over Spencer County, and the debates were startling and interesting. Half way ty> the long wandering street for many years stood an old blacksmith shop. In front of it was n wide spreading tree, that still waves its lioughs, but every sign of the old shop Is gone. The ground ou which stood the smithy for years was owned by the Rev. Fred Hearing, past commander of the Indiana Grand Army of the Republic, but Is now Jhe property of Jacob Dendinger, a town tjMyblial. Ihis old blacksmith shop was n famous place in the life of Gentryville and was a favorite rpsort for the people of Spencer County/ The old bhyksmith, whose name every one seems to have forgotten, was. n natural story teller, nnd he had nronud him a crowd of ns good story tollers as himself. Abraham Lincoln was at thia shop a great deal, nnd it was a common resort for his father, Thomas Lincoln, and Ab-, rsham’i uncles, John and Dennis Hanks.

LINCOLN’S UTTERANCES WHICH ARE IMMORTAL

The real issue in this country is the eternal struggle between two principles —right and wrong—throughout the world. They are the two principles which have stood face to face.from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other is the divine right of kings. It is the principle which says, “You work and toil and earn bread and I’ll eat it.” •e e • A house divided against Itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave nnd half free. Ido not expect the Uuion'to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but Ido expect it will cease to be divided. It will either become one thing or all the other—either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and put it in the course of ultimate extinction or its advocates will push it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old well as new, North as well as South. Four score and seven years ngo our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men nre created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. Wo are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, wo cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us —that from these honored depd we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth. • • • Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, thnt this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills thnt it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmen's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn witli the lash shall be paid with another drawn by the sword, as was said 3,000 years ngo, so still it must be said: “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” With inalice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan— to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

The shop was the country news stand and the lecture platform, and it was there that Abraham Lincoln learned many of the stories that he told iu after life. It was here that Dennis Hanks told the story of Sykes’ dog, a story that Lincoln told to Grant after the fall Of Vicksburg, and which was one of the most famous of Lincoln’s stories. Sykes had a dog that was a nuisance, and some one fed him a large cartridge that exploded, and the animal never amounted to much after that as a dog. Lincoln’s application of the story was that those who were complaining of Grant for paroling so many of Pemberton’s army did not realize that after the fall of Vicksburg it did not amount to much as an army.

The Crawford school, which Abraham Lincoln attended, was situated about three miles from here. It was built of round logs, and was not more than six feet high. Some of the older persons in this country remember their parents telling of Andrew Crawford, the teacher, and his brother, Josiah Crawford, the latter known as "Blue Nose” Crawford, a name given him by Abraham Lincoln.

Josiah Crawford once loaned Lincoln n copy of n “Life of Washington,” nnd Lincoln got the book wet, for which Crawford charged him 75 cents, a debt that Lincoln pnid by working for. three days pulling fodder. The local history is that he never forgave Josiah Crawford, and the name "Blue Nose.” that it is said he gave him, is part of the legends of Spencer County to his day. Of the enemies that Lincoln made, none were greater than some members of the Grigsby family, many of whose descendants still live in this neighborhood. Snrnh Lincoln, sister of Abraham, married Aaron Grigsby, and two years later died.

Abrahnm, it Is said, always declared that his sister was not properly treated by the Grigsby*. This brought about a social feud. —Gentryville (lud.i Correspondent St. Louis Republic.

Took the Doorkeeper's Place.

Mr. James Elter is ope of the oldest doorkeepers in the Wnr Department, and has been stationed at the Seventeenth street entrance to the Winder building for many years, occupying a chair In which President Lincoln sat while he acted as doorkeeper in place of Mr. Elter. Bpenkipg of the incident Mr. Elter said: “One day a tall, lank gentleman came to the entrance and asked me if the Secretary wna in. ami'l told him no, that it was too early for him. He then asked nt what hour he wonld be likely to find him. and 1 told him. With a pleasant ’Thank yon’ (something we don’t always get) be walked away. At the hour I

told him that the Secretary would be In he again walked up the steps and asked me if I would not go to the Secretary’s room and tell him that he wished to see him. I told him I could not leave my post.

“ ‘Oh, that is all right. I am Mr. Lincoln, and I will keep door while you deliver my message. Tell him that I want to see him here in the lower hall.’ With this the President unpinned my badge, stuck it in his own coat, and took my chair. I hastened to the Secretary’s room, and soon the two were together near me, but in quiet and earnest talk. I never did know why Mr. Lincoln did not want to go to the Secretary's room, but I know that I prize this chair. I call it Abe Lincoln. No doubt that was the only time n President ever acted as doorkeeper.”—Washington Cor. Chicago Inter Ocean.

Her Valentine. yIIh ; - ib wj® Oh. happy maldena, fair and tweet, What gift fan be jnore dear, ‘ Than Cupid bring* on pinions fleet. When Lore to waiting near. And aa you hide it aafe aw/iy. To each will aeetn diviu.* The Joy that came upon thia day Of Good Bt. Valentine.

Proper Word.

“There goes a woman who la traveling under a resumed name,’’ remarked the man with the sleephsss eye.

“Oh, you mean gssumed,” suggested the ordinary policeman. “That's just exactly what I don't mean,” replied the fly cop. “With her decree of divorce she was given tbs right to resume her maiden name. See?” Films of soap-bubble bare tier® measured of a thinness of tbe fourmillionth part of an Inch. In Germany tbe goose is the most popular fovjrL

RECORD OF THE WEEK

INDIANA INCIDENTS TERSELY told. Old Soldier Pose., ns ?eifaitl Brotbsw and Draws Two Pensions—Drunkenness on the Increase Banker’s ton Attacked by Robber*. Joseph (*. Berry is an applicant for admission to the Marion branch of the National Soldiers* Home, and is lieing care-l for in the Marion hospital. Berry’s history, since the war, has been a strange one. He was formerly a member of tho Marion branch, but was admitted a* Theodore 11. Berry of Company F, One hundred and Twenty-third Ohio infantry, and under this name he secured a pension in the home fund. In his own name, Joseph C. Berry, Company 11, One hundred and Forty-fourth Ohio, he applied for and was grantigj a pension. When this pension was due* Joseph, as Theodore, would get a leave of absence from the home, so to some town and, as Joseph C. Berry, would cash the voucher for a pension. The United States authorities finally placed Berry under suspicion, and an investigation was made. It showed that Theodore H. Berry had died AUg. 25115U7, and that his brother Joseph had been living a dual life, being Theodore in the home and Joseph outside. He was arrested by the United States authorities for defrauding the government. He was found guilty nnd was sentenced to one year in the penitentiary, the pension in his name being stopped until the amount which he had collected in his brother's name had been paid back to the government.

Bibulous State Is Indiana. Drunkenness in Indiana was greater in 1903 than in 1902, according to reports of county sheriffs made to the board of State charities. The total number of intoxicated persons harbored in the jails in 1903 was 12,394, and in 1902 11,866. Of the total number admitted in 1903 11.804 were whites and 590 were colored. There were 32 boys and 7 girls under the age of 16 years, 9,564 men and 501 women from 17 to 50 years, 1,891 men and 16 women were more than 50 years old. -»Of the remaining 383 the age is unknown. The sheriff of Wabash County reports that one man admitted on account of drunkenness was 104 years old.

Left Helplees toy Robbers. George Whistler, son of the late John Whistler, many years vice president of the First National Bank of Wabash, was found the other morning in a stupefied condition in the burn of A. ML Rodibaugh with his hands tightly tied behind his back and his legs bound with ropes. Whistler says that as he was going homo the previous night he was attacked unknown men, who robbed him of all his money, struck him on the head, tied him and threw him in the bam, where he lay exposed to the cold all night. His groans attracted the attention of passers-by who wept to his rescue. Newspaper Man Grows Rich. Cyrus 11. McCartney, a newspaper man of Laporte County, who disappeared several years ago and was supposed to have been murdered, was heard from recently by a telegram from him at Dawson, Alaska. He says be is well and rich. The last information about him was that his clothing and papers had been found in a forest near Ashland, Ore., but the police failed to discover any further evidence of murder. Elkhart Hankers Arrested. Justus L. Broderick and Wilson L. .. Collins, president and cashier of the defunct Indiana National Bank of Elkhart, and Walter Brown, a director, were arrested by United States Marshal Pettit as a result of the action of the federal grand jury at Indianapolis. Broderick and Collins were already under $5,000 bonds.

All Over the States The shoe store awnwl by Mosiman & James, of Elwood, was destroyed by fire. The loss on the stock amounted to $4,000, covered by insurance. The damage to the building is slight. Gov. Durbin has refused to extend the sixty days’ parole granted to Rev. Willin tn E. Hinshaw to enable him to visit his sick mother, and the convict returned to prison to continue his life sentence for wife murder. What is believed to be the smallest child ever bom in northern Indiana came into the world at Roanoke when Mrs. Roy Irwin, the wife of a farmer, gave birth to an infant that weighed only a pound and a half. Fire destroyed the car bams of the Indianapolis Traction and Terminal Company at McLean place in that city. Twenty-six of the company's best cars were destroyed. The loss is estimated at SIOO,OOO. Two colored lireineu were slightly injured. Fire destroyed the Knight block in the. center of the business district of Brazil. Ind., and did $50,000 damage. The water mains burst and help was asked from Terre Haute. Hundreds of citizens formed a bucket brigade and, notwithstanding the intense cold, fought the fire. While Frank Alexander was driving through an alley In Anderson, his horss was killed by electricity. The driver left his wagon to hold the horse to its feet and he was severely shocked when he stepped into a pool of water. The water had been charged by a wire that went into the ground.

While several boys were watching the enginemen clean out the tire box of a freight engine In a cloud of steam prevented them from seeing the approach of a passenger train, and Lee Stanley, 7 years old. was struck and killed. His brother was also t-trnck and knocked under the freight train, but escaped fatal injury. The Charles S. Knight brick block at Brazil was destroyed by fire at a loss of MO,OOO. The First Methodist Cbnirch at Marton was damaged by fire gtI.OUO. The fire"* originated Brom the furnace. The Grand Trunk station and eating house at Valparaiso were destroyed by fire. Three firemen were slightly hurt. Michigan City went "dry” Sunday, owing to the police enforcing the Nicholson law. The propstetors of fourteen fl saloons were arrester during the day and fined the next morning by Mayor Bifid-