The Syracuse and Lake Wawasee Journal, Volume 12, Number 16, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 14 August 1919 — Page 4

HIGH PRICES DECLARED 10 BE miFIGUL President Addresses Congress on Subject of High Cgst of Living. LAWS ARE NOT ADEQUATE Chief Executive Declares "Vicious Practices" Are Responsible for Perilous Situation Which Faces the Natron —Makes Important Recommendations. , Washington. — Addressing congress and proposing remedies to cheek the high cost of living, President Wilson declared that existing laws were inadequate and that high prices were not justified by shortage of. supplies, present or‘.prospective, hut were created in riiany cases “artificially and deliberately” by “vicious practices.” Tire president recommended that the food control act * be extended to peace time operation and that congress exclude from interstate as well as intrastate shipments goods which did not comply with its provisions. His address was as follows: Gentlemen of the Congress: I sought this opportunity to address you because it is clearly my duty to call your attention to the present cost of living and to urge upon you with all the persuasive force of which I am capable the legislative measures which would be most effective iii controlling it and bringing it down. The prices the people of this country are paying for everything that it is necessary for them to use in order to live are not justified by a shortage in supply, either present or prospective, and are in many cases artificially and deliberately created by vicious practices which ought immediately to be checked by law. They constitute a burden upon us which is the more unbearable because we know ttiat it is wilfully imposed by those who have the power and that it can by vigorous public action be greatly lightened and made to square with the actual conditions of supply and demand. Profiteers Lawbreakers. Some of the methods by 'which these prices are produced are already illegal, some of them criminal, and those who employ them will be energetically proceeded against. But others have not yet been brought under the law, and should be dealt with at once by legislation. I need not recite the particulars of this critical matter; the prices demanded and paid at the sources of supply, at the factory, in the food markets, at the shops, in the restaurants and hotels, alike in the city and in the village. They are familiar to you. They are the talk of every domestic circle and of every group of casual acquaintances even: It is a matter of familiar knowledge also, that a process has set in which is likely, unless something is done, to push prices and rents and the whole best of living higher and yet higher,'iri a vicious cycle to.w,hich there is no logical or natural end. With the increase in the prices of’ the necessaries of life come demands for increases in wages—demands Which are justified if there be no other means of enabling men to live. j T’pon the increase of wages there follows close an increase in the price of the products whose producers have been accorded the increase—not a proportionate Increase, for the manufacturer does not content himself with that, but an increase considerably greater than the added wage cost and for which the added wage cost is oftentimes hardly more than an excuse. The laborers who do hot get an Increase In pay when they demand it are likely to strike, and the strike only makes matters worse. It checks production; if it affects the railways it prevents distribution and strips the markets; so that there is presently nothing to buy, and there is another excessive addition to prices resulting from the scarcity. 1 Conditions Not “Natural." These are facts and forccfc with which we have become only too familiar; but we are not justified because of our familiarity with them or because of any hasty and shallow conclusion that they are * natural" and inevitable, in sitting.inactively by and letting them work their fatal results if there is anything that we can do to check, correct or reverse them. I'.have sought this opportunity to inform the congress what the executive is doing byway of remedy and control, and sto suggest where effective legal remedies are lacking and may be supplied. We must, I think, frankly admit that 4 there is no complete immediate remedy to be had from legislation and executive action. The free processes of supply and demand will not operate of themselves, and no legislative or executive action can ’ . force them into full and natural operation until there is peace. "There is now neither peace nor war. All the world it -waiting—with what unnerving fears and haunting doubts who Van adequately say?—waiting to know when it shdll have peace and what kind of peace it will be when’ it comes—a peace in which a nation shall make shift for itself as it can, or a peace buttressed and supported by the will and concert of the nations that have the purpose and the power to do and to enforce what is right. Politically, economically, socially, the world is on the operating table, and it has not been possible to administer any anaesthetic. It is conscious. It even watches tlie capital operation upon which it knows that its hopes of healthful life depends. It cannot think its business out or make plans or give intelligent-and provident direction to it? affairs while in such a case. Where there is no peace of mind there can be no energy in endeavor.. Must Know Terms of Peace. There can be no confidence in industry, no calculable basis for credits, no confident buying of systematic selling, no certain prospect of employment, no normal restoration of business, no hopeful attempt at reconstruction or a proper reassembling of the dislocated elements of enterprise until peace has been established, and. so far as may be. guaranteed. Our national life has no doubt been less radically disturbed- and dismembered-than the national life of other peoples whom the war more directly affected, with all its terrible ravaging and destructive force, but It has been nevertheless profoundly as- - fected and disarranged, and our industries, our credits, our productive ca-

ALL TAKE EXCESSIVE PROFITS Federal Trade Cortamission Makes Public Facts Concerning Present High Prices of Shoes. Washington.—The federal trade commission, which recently conducted an investigation into the leather Industry, Inquiring especially into the prices of shoes, made public a summary of Its report to congress. In its Introduction to the summary the commission says:

pacity, our economic processes are Inextricably interwoven With those of other nations and peoples—-most intimately of all with the nations and peoples upon whom the chief burden and confusion of the war fell and who are now most dependent upon the cooperative action of the world. Exports Greatest in History. We are just now shipping more goods out of our ports to foreign markets than we ever shipped before—not foodstuffs merely, but stuffs and materials of every sort; but this is no index of what our foreign sales will continue to be or of the effect the volume of our exports will have on supplies and prices. It is impossible yet to predict how far or how long foreign purchasers will be able to find the money or the credit to pay for or sustain such purchases on such a scale; how soon or to what extent foreign manufacturers can resume their former production, foreign' farmers get their accustomed crops from their own fields; foreign mines resume their former output, foreign merchants set up again their old machinery of trade with the ends of the earth. All these things must remain uncertain until peace is established and the nations of the world have concerted the methods by which normal life and industry are to be restored. All that we shall do in the meantime ' to restrain profiteering and put the life of our people upon a tolerable footing will be makeshift and provisional. There can be no settled condition here or slsewhere until the treaty of peace is out of the way and the work of liquidating the war has become the chief concern of our government and of the other governments of the -world. Until then business will inevitably remain speculative and sway now this way and again that,'with heavy losses or heavy gains, as it may chance, and the consumer must take care of both the gains and the losses. There can be ho peace prices so long as our whole financial and economic system is on* a war basis. Europe Must Know Situation. ‘‘Europe will not. cannot recoup her capital or put her restless, distracted peoples to work until she knows exactly where she stands in respect to peace; and what we will do is for her the chief question upon which her quietude of mind and confidence of purpose depends. While there is any posability that the peace terms may be changed or may be held long tn abeyance, or may not be enforced because of divisions of opinion among the powers associated against Germany, it is idle to look for permanent relief. Points Out Present Duty. But what we can do -we should do, and should' do at once. And there is a great deal that we can do, provisional though it be. Whejt shipments- and credits to facilitate the purchase of our wheat can and will be limited and controlled in such away as hot to raise but rather to lower the price of flour here. The government has thg power, within certain limits, to regulate that. We cannot deny wheat to foreign peoples who are in dire need of it, and we do not wish to do so; but, fortunately, though the wheat crop is not what we hoped it would be. It is abundant if handled with provident care. The price of wheat is lower in the United States than in Europe, and with proper management can be kept so. Immediate Relief Measures. Byway of immediate relief, surplus stocks of both food arid clothing in the hands of the government will be sold and of course sold at prices at which there is no profit. And byway of a more permanent correction of prices surplus stocks in private hands will be drawn out of storage and put upon the market. Fortunately under the terms of the food-con-trol act the hoarding of foodstuffs can be checked and prevented, and they will be, with the greatest energy. Foodstuffs can be drawn out of storage and sold by legal action which the department of justice will institute wherever necessary; but as soon as the situation is systematically dealt with it is not likely that the courts will often have to be resorted to. Much of the accumulating of stocks has no doubt been due to the sort of speculation which always results from uncertr’nty. Great surpluses were accumulated because it was impossible to foresee what the market would disclose and dealers were determined to be ready for whatever might happen, as well as eager to reap the full advantage of rising prices. They will now see the disadvantage, as well as the danger, of holding off from the new process of distribution. Significant Facts Quoted. Some very interesting and -significant facts with regard to stocks on hand and the rise of prices in the face of abundance have been disclosed by the inquiries of the department of agriculture, the department of labor and the federal trade commission. They seem to justify the statement that in the case of many necessary commodities effective means have been found to prevent the normal operation of the law of supply and demand. It would serve as a useful example to the other communities of this country, as well as greatly relieve local distress if the congress were to regulate all such matters very fully for the District of Columbia, where its legislative authority is without limit. Would Have Prices Plainly Marked. I would also recommend that it be required that all goods destined for interstate commerce should in every case where their form or package makes it possible be plainly ' marked with the pri£e, at which they left the hands of 'the producer* Such a requirement woulj bear a close analogy to certain provisions of the pure food act. by which it is required that certain detailed information be given on the labels of packages of foods and drugs. >■ And it does not seem to me that we could confine ourselves to detailed measures of this kind, if it is indeed our purpose to assume national control of the processes of distribution. I take it for granted that that is our purpose and our duty. Nothing less . will suffice. We need not hesitate to handle a national question in a national way. We should go beyond the measures I have suggested. We should formulate a law requiring a federal license of all corporations engaged in interstate commerce and embodying in the license, or in the conditions under which it is to be issued, specific regulations designed to secure competitive selling and prevent unconscionable profits in the method of marketing. Law Would Do Much. Such a law would afford a welcome opportunity to effect other much-needed reforms in the business of interstate shipment and in the methods of corporations which are engaged in it; but for the moment I confine my recommendations to the object immediately in hand, which is to lower the cost of living. May I not add that there is a bill now pending before the congress which, if passed, would do much to stop speculation and to prevent the fradulent methods of promotion by which our people are annually fleeced of many millions of hardearned money. I refer to the measure proposed by the capital issues committee for the control of security issues. It is a measure formulated by men who know the actual conditions of business, and its adoption would serve a great and beneficent purpose. We are dealing, gentlemen of the con-

“The federal trade commission has found that the high price \>f shoes cannot be justified by underlying economic conditions. The commission after exhaustive inquiry into the price of hides, leather and shoes, is reporting to congress that the larger packers control the hide supply and have taken excessive profits and jlhssed increased costs tq, subsequent steps in manufacture and distribution; that the tanqer has taken exceptional profits; that the manufacturer of shoes has taken unusual margins, and the prices

TFffl irrRACUCTJ AND LAKI WAWASM yOTTR.NAT-

gress. I need hardly say, with very critical and very difficult matters. We should go forward with confidence along the road we see, but we should also seek to comprehend the whole of the scene amidst which we act. There is no ground for« some of the fearful forecasts I hear uttered about me, but the condition of the world is unquestionably very grave and we should face it comprehendingly. The situation of our own country is exceptlonately fortunate. We of all peoples can afford to keep our heads and to determine upon moderate and sensible courses of action which will insure us against the passions and distempers which are working such deep unhappiness for some of the distressed nations on the other side of the sea. But we may be involved in their distresses unless we help, and help with energy and Intelligence. Disregarding the surplus stock in the of the government, there was a greater supply of foodstuffs in this country on June 1 of this year than at the same date last year. In the combined total of a number of the most important foods in dry and cold storage the excess is quite 19 per cent. And yet prices have risen. The supply of fresh eggs on hand in June of this year, for example, was greater by nearly 10 per cent than the supply on hand at the same time last year, and yet the wholesale price of eggs was 40 cents a dozen, as against 30 cents" a year ago. The stock of frozen fowls had increased more than 29k per cent, and yet the prices had risen also from 34t£ cents per pound to 3714 cents. The supply of creamery butter had increased 129 per cent and the price from 41 to 53 cents per pojjnd. The supply of salt beef had been augmented 3 per cent and the price had gene up from $34 a barrel to s3fi a barrel. Canned corn had increased in stock nearly 92 per cent and had remained substantially the same in price. Few Price Drops Not Enough. In a few foodstuffs the prices had declined, but in nothing like the proportion : in which the supply had increased. For l example, the stock of canned tdrpatoes | had increased 102 per cent, and yet the price had declined only 25 cents per dozen cans. In- some cases there had been the usual result. of an increase of price following a decrease of supply, but in almost every instance the increase of price had been disproportionate to the decrease in stock. Law Department Active. The attorney general has been making a careful study of the situation as a whole and of the laws that can be applied to better it and is convinced that, under the stimulation and temptation of exceptional circumstances, combinations of producers and combinations of traders have been formed for the control of supplies and of prices which are clearly' in restraint of trade, and against these prosecutions will be promptly instituted and actively pushed which will in all likelihood have- a prompt corrective effect There is reason to believe that the prices of leather, of coal, of lumber and of textiles have been materially affected by forms of concert and co-operation among the producers and marketers of these and other universally necessary commodities which it will be possible to redress. No watchful or energetic effort will be spared to accomplish this necessary result. I trust th’at there will not be many cases in which prosecution will be necessary. Public action will no doubt cause many who have perhaps unwittingly adopted illegal methods to abandon them promptly and of their own motion. Publicity Will Do Much. And publicity can accomplish a great deal. The purchaser can often take care of himself if he knows the facts and influences he is dealing with, and purchasers are not disinclined to do anything, either singly or collectively, that may be necessary for their self-protection. # The department of commerce, the department of agriculture, the department of labor and the federal trade commission can do a great deal toward supplying the public systematically and at short intervals, with information regarding the actual supply of particular commodities that is In existence and available with regard to supplies which are in existence but not with regard toThe methods of price fixing which are being used by dealers in certain foodstuffs and other necessities. Retailers in Part to Blame. There can be little doubt that retailers are ih part—sometimes in large part—responsible for exorbitant prices; and it is quite practicable for the government through the agencies I have mentioned, to supply the public with full information as to the prices at which retailers buy and as to the costs of transportation they pay in order that it may be known just what margin of profit they are demanding. Opinion and concerted action on the part of purchasers can probably do the rest. Congress Must Supply Funds. That is, these agencies may perform this ‘ indispensable service provided the con- ■ gress will supply them with the necessary funds to prosecute their inquiries and keep their price lists up to date. H’the'rto the appropriation committees of the house have not always, I tear, seen the full value of these Inquiries, and the departments and commissions have been very much straitened for means to ren-der-Jhis service. That adequate funds be provided by appropriation for this purpose, and provided as promptly as possible. is one of the means of greatly ameliorating the present distressing eon- ' ditions of livelihood that I come to urge, ■ in this attempt to concert with you the best ways to serve the country in this emergency. It is one of the absolutely necessary means, underlying many others, and can be supplied at once. There are many otner ways. Existing law is inadequate. There are many perfectly legitimate methods by which the government cap exercise restraint and guidance. me urge, in the first place, that the present foodstuff control act should be extended both as to the period of time during which it shall remain in operation and as to the commodities to which it shall apply. Its provision against hoarding should be made to apply not only to food but also to feed stuffs, to fuel, to clothing, and to many other commodities which are indisputably necessaries of life. As it stands now it is limited in operation to the period of the war and becomes inoperative upon the formal proclamation of peace. But I should judge that it was clearly within the constitutional power of the congress to make similar permanent provisions and regulations with regard to all goods destined for interstate commerce and to exclude them from interstate shipment if the requirements of the law are not complied with. Some such regulation is imperatively necessary. The abuses that have grown up In. the manipulation of prices by the withholding of foodstuffs and other necessaries of life cannot otherwise be effectively prevented. There can be no doubt of either thhe necessity or the legitimacy of such measures. May I not call attention to the fact, also, thdt, although the present act prohibits profiteering, the prohibition is accompanied by no- penalty. It is clearly in the public interest that a penalty should be provided which will be persuasive. It would materially add to the serviceability of the law, for the purpose we now have in view, if it were also prescribed that all goods released from stor-

charged by the retailer are not justifiable, each factor in the industry adding to the burden he had to bear before he passed it on to the next.” Means for reducing the present high prices are recommended by the commission in this paragraph: “Some relief fr»m the intolerable prices paid by consumers for shoes may be had by (1) a rigid enforcement of the laws against monopolistic control of commodities, (2) legislation forbidding producers of hides engaging In the tanning business.”

age for Interstate shipment should hav< plainly marked upon each package thi selling or market price which they went into storage. By this means the purchaser would always be able to learn what profits stood between him and the producer or the wholesale dealer. The world must pay for the appalling destruction wrought by the great war, and we are part of the world. We must pay our share. For five years now the industry of all Europe has been slack and disordered. The normal crops haVe not been produced; the normal quantity of manufactured goods has not been turned out. Not until there are the usual crops and the usual production of manufactured goods on the other side of the Atlantic can Europe return to the former conditions; and it was upon the former conditions. not the present, that our economic relations with Europe were built up. , We must face the fact that unless we help Europe to get back to her normal life and production a chaos will ensue there which will inevitably be communicated to this country. For the present, it is manifest, we must quicken, not slacken, our own production. U. S. Must Hold World Steady. We, and we almost alone, now hold the world steady. Upon our steadfastness and self-possession depend the affairsjof nations everywhere. It is in this Apreme crisis—this crisis for all mankind—that American must prove her mettle. In the presence of a world confused, distracted. she must show herself self-pos-sessed. selt-eontained, capable of sober and effective action. She saved Europe by her action in arms: she must now save it by her action in peace. In saving Europe she will save herself, as she did upon the battlefields of the war. The calmness and capacity with which she deals with and masters the problems of peace will be the final test and proof of | ier place among the peoples of the world. And, if only in our own interest, we must help the people overseas. Europe is our biggest customer. We must keep her going or thousands of our shops and scores of our mines must close. There is no such thing as letting her go to ruin without ourselves sharing in the disaster. In such- circumstances, face to face with such tests, passion must be discarded. Passion and a disregard for the rights of others have no place in the counsels of a free people.' We need light, not heat, in these solemn times of selfexamination and saving action. Must Be No Threats. There must be no threats. Let there be only intelligent counsel, and let the best reasons win, not the strongest brute force. The world has just destroyed the arbitrary force of a military junta. It will live under no other. All that is arbitrary and coercive is in the discard. Those who seek to employ it only prepare their own destruction. We cannot hastily and overnight revolutionize all the processes of our economic life. We shall not attempt to do so. These are days of deep excitement and of extravagant speech, but with us these are things of the surface. Everyone who is in real touch with the silent masses of our great people knows that the old strong fiber and steady selfcontrol are still there, firm against violence or any distempered action that would throw their affairs into confusion. lam serenely confident that they will readily fimj themselves, no matter what the circumstances, and-: that they will address themselves to the tasks of peace with the same. devotion and the same stalwart preference for what is right that they displayed to the admiration of the whole world in the midst of war. Sinister Influences at Work. And 1 enter another confident hope. I have spoken today chiefly of measures of imperative* regulation and legal compulsion, of prosecutions and the sharp correction of selfish processes; and these no doubt are necessary. But there are other forces that we may count on besides those resident in the department of justice. We have just fully awakened to what has been going on and to the influences, many of them very selfish and sinister;, that have been producing high prices and imposing an intolerable burden on the mass of our people. , To have brought it all into the open will accomplish the greater part of the result we seek. 1 appeal with entire confidence to our producers, our middlemen and our merchants to deal fairly W'ith the people. It is their opportunity to show that they comprehend, that they intend to act justly, and that they have the public interest sincerely at heart. And I have no doubt that housekeepers all over the country, and everyone who buys the things he daily stands in need of will presently exercise a greater vigilance, a more thoughtful economy, a more discriminating care as to the market in which he buys or the merchant with whom he traded than he has hitherto exercised. i Labor Must Consider. I believe, too, that the more* extreme leaders of organized labor will presently yield to a sober second thought, and like the great mass of their associates, think and act like true Americans. They will see that -strikes undertaken at this critical time are certain to make matters worse, npt better—worse, for them and for everybody else. The worst thing, the most fatal thing—that can be done now is to stop or interrupt production, or to interfere with the distribution of goods by the railways and the shipping of the country. We are all involved in the distressing results of the high cost of living and we must unite, not divide, to correct it. There, are many things that ought to be corrected in the relations between capital and labor, in respect of wages and conditions of labor and other things even more far-reaching, and I, for one, am ready to go into conference about these .matter with any gfoup of my fellow countrymen who know what they are talking about and are willing to remedy existing conditions by frank rather than by violent contest. General Interest First. No remedy is possible while men are in a temper, and there can be no settlement which does not have as its motive and standard the general interest. Must All Work Together. Threats and undue insistence upon the interest of a single class, make settlement impossible. I believe, as I have hitherto had occasion to say to the congress, that the industry and life of our people and of the world will suffer irreparable damage if employers qnd workmen are to go on in a perpetual contest, as antagonists. They must, on one plan or another, be effectively associated. Have we not steadiness and self-possession and business sense enough to work out that result? In the meantime—now and in the days ot readjustment and recuperation that are ahead of us—let us resort more and more to frank and intimate counsel and make ourselves a great and triumphal nation, making ourselves a united force tn the life of the world. It will not then have looked to us for leadership in vain.

How Food Prices Have Risen. Washington.—Families of 25 cities of the-country paid 16 per cent more in June for 22 standard articles of food than the average in 1918. according to figures made public by the department of labor. The average cost of the same foods per family in 1918 was 67 per cent more than in 1913. The cost per family in cities for 1913 is given as $324. In June, 1919, it had risen to $623, an increase of a little more than 92 per cent. Since then prices have gone even beyond those figures.

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CHAPTER X—Continued. It seeemed to him that suddenly it had grown fold there in De la Guerra’s bedroom.» He shivered, and, taking up his candle, went lAs way back through the drawing room, with no word to Torre, with .no glance even, for he feared that now he could not let his eyes go to the handsome, evil face and keep his hand back, and at last to Pedro-’s bedside. Pedro, waiting for him impatiently, tried to lift himself upon an elbow, and failing in that turned his bright black eyes upon the American. “What did she say, Josefa?” he asked quickly. “It is the master’s key?” “Yes. Pedro,” answered Stanway Hspirltedly. “But what is the use? She does not know what door it opens.” “But I know!” said Pedro brightly. “You know!” Stanway laid his hand on the wounded man’s arm. "Tell me. Quick!” “When the master was young he lived in Spain, where the old master, his father, sent him to go to school. In the home there, builded of stones like an old castle, senor, was a room where many times he was locked up by his tutor because he was wild and did not fall in love with his books. I have heard him laugh and tell about It to the padre from La Panza. When he came away he brought the key to that prison room with him. That is the key you have, senor!” Stanway looked at the man with swift suspicion. Pedro seemed excited over the key; a look of great shrewdness was in his eyes, and the key unlocked a door in Spain! If he was becoming delirious — “I am not in a fever, senor,” said Pedro quickly, seeing the thought in the American’s eyes. “But that key tells me something. Every night before going to my bed I go to the master’s room to see if he wishes anything. to take any commands for the next day. I went last night after it was late, just before I went to the senorita’s door. It was habit, senor. I could not have gone to sleep unless I went there.” t “Well?” sharply. “I heard a little sound. It was the scratching of a window shade. I went, closed the window, and locked it tightly. And while looking for the sound I saw the key in its place. It was there at eleven o’clock last night, senor.” “You 'are sure, Pedro? You are very certain that this key was in the master’s room at eleven o’clock?” “Very certain, senor.” “Then — But it is impossible, Pedro ! You say that you locked the windows? All of them?” “All, senor.” “And the doOr as you came out?" “I locked, senor. The key was under ray bed. I gave it to you just now. And there is only one key upon the rancho —only one in the world which will unlock it!” “But then it is impossible!” Stanway, restless, upon his feet, strode back and forth, frowning. If the key had been there last night, if door and windows had been locked, if they had been locked when he went to the room —then how could one of the men who attacked Pedro have had it in his hand at three o’clock in the morning? “You mean,” *he said slowly, coming back to the bedside, “that the attack upon you and Celestino was made by men who are among the house servants or the De la Guerra vaqueros?” “No, senor.” There was no hesitation —the voice was confident. “The men wore handkerchiefs about their faces, but I know that they were not of our men. They were strangers to me.” “But/’ cried Stanway, “how could such a thing be? How could they have gotten into the master’s room? Then how could they have gotten to the senorita’s room without some one of our men seeing them? And why should they have brought the key?” “The key is heavy, good to strike a hard blow.” replied Pedro, “If a man had lost his knife and needed a weapon he might take it. No, senor.” “But how —” Stanway broke off, his eyes ran from Pedro’s face to sweep the room, a sndden light came into them, and the blood ran into his face. “sly God,” he cried. “I see it!” “You are wiser than I, senor.” Pedro smiled coatefitvdly and closed his eyes, looking very palo and weak. “You will let me have news when there is anything, senor? I co«ld get well quickly with gqod news.” Stanway promised, took Pedro’s hand quickly, turned and hurried out of the room. His step was quick, his eyes very bright. “I understand now Torre’s signal on the window,” he muttered as he went. “And —by heaven, how blind I was! I know what Ije meant when he said he was taunting a man whom he did not like! It’s the boldest game a man ever played!” CHAPTER XI. “You Have Overplayed Your Hand." “I am afraid that I have been indiscreet, Senor Stanway.” Torre, with his old smile charged now with something of mockery and much of triumph,

held out a little piece of white paper to Stamivay, who, key in hand, had just come from Pedro on his way to the master’s room. “But I think that I can plead an altogether unusual pot sition as my excuse. Y’ou will pardon me, senor?” Stanway took the paper, guessing what it was, and read it swiftly: Mi Querido Senor Billy: To save papa grande, to save me from all that is horrible, there is no way but to do what Torre asks. In grandfather’s room, behind the great mahogany bed. there is a painting on the wall.--There is a spot in the woodwork, three feet from the floor, ten from the northwest corner, where you must press with your finger. It will disclose the banco. Give him the money—for the sake of Your Teresa. “You will pardon my having read it?” again smilingly from Torre. “Where did you get this thing?” cried Stanway. Torre pointed to the window, whose panes he had broken just before three o’clock. “There. On the floor. Some ope threw It in on the floor while you were running so giddily across the border. Yoh see this is very well planned, senor. Is it not? Even my lieutenants —” “If I do not do as she asks?” cut in Stanway. his low-lidded eyes sharp upon Torre’s. Torre shrugged. “Who knows? Perhaps they will take the trouble to find a priest to give the senorita in holy matrimony to —” In sudden rage Stanway. his nerves jangling, his rage reddening his face, leaped at the man, and as he leaped struck, struck hard —his hard, clenched fist smashing into the evil smile, cutting the lips so that the blood ran from them, sending Torre reeling backward across the room. “Shut up!” he cried htmrseiy. “You mention the senorita once more and —” His teeth closed with a little ominous click. Torre, wiping the blood from his lips, glared at him with a boundless, almost speechless, rage. “Coward!” he sneered. “Since I am a prisoner, with a half dozen men ready to spring upon Ae, you attack me—” “Gaucho!” called Stanway. “Si, senor!” Gaucho’s brown face brightening, his eyes looking happier than they had looked for two days. “Do not interfere. Do not let your men take hand, no matter what happens.” Then he swung about upon Torre. “Do you want to finish it now?” he said curtly. But Torre was once more himself, smiling, at ease, only a fierce hatred in his eyes. “Gracias, senor!” he returned. “I shall merely make you pay for that blow in my own way. And now I ask another ten thousand dollars as ransom for the old man and the girl. Ten thousand dollars for a blow, senor! Do you care to strike again?” Stanway shrugged. “You have overplayed your hand, Torre,” he said quietly. “This note from the senorita makes me sure of what I was beginning to suspect Gaucho, come with me.” With no further word, leaving Torre’s mystified face looking after him, he went out, Gaucho at his heels. “Gaucho,” he said, speaking swiftly from beyond the closed door, “I want you to come to the master’s room. Bring some-men with you—six, ten — I don't know how many we shall need. Let two of them bring axes. Let all carry side arms. Bring the picked men, Gaucho; the hardest men on the rancho. I think that ihere is going tb be fighting this time.” “The master?” cried Gaucho. “The senorita? You know —” “I know nothing. But I think—that they have never for a second left the house I Hurry, Gaucho!” And Gaucho hurried, his own face as mystified as Torre’s. Stanway went quickly to the bedroom. “Somewhere in these walls there is a passageway,” he whispered to himself. “It runs from this room throughout the house and to the east wing where Teresa’s rooms are.

COULD READILY BELIEVE IT Stage Driver Quite Willing to Accept “Keeper’s" Explanation as He Understood It. The New Englander uses the word “natural” to describe one who was unfurnished at birth with the usual and indispensable quantity of brains. Prof. Burt G. Wilder, the distinguished zoologist, tells an a musing story that turns on a countryman’s mistaking the unfamiliar word, "naturalist” for the familiar word “natural.” A few years after his arrival in America, Agassiz, was one., of a small party of Harvard professors who traversed the White Mountain region in a carriage driven by the countryman. Three of them were vivacious, restless, and on the lookout for specimens. They would call a halt, leap from the vehicle before it stopped, dash over the fields, and return with prizes in their boxes, in their hands and pockets, and even pinned upon their hats. The fourth. Prof. Felton, the brother-in-law qf * Agassiz, sat quietly in his corner of the carriage reading a favorite Greek author. When the bewildered driver could stand it no longer lae elicited from Felton information that led him to

“Somewhere, down below perhnpe, there is a room, a dungeon. I think that it is just under the drawing room;, I think that that is where De la. Guerra is; that many of the tilings* which Torre said were meant to be heard by the old man that they might taunt and mv<k him; I think that Torre’s men down therg heard the crashing glassy the words whigh went with it I thitk that we are going to find De la Guerra and Teresa there.” He studied the walls. There was nothing to hint at a secret door. He moved out the bed, found the spot which Teresa’s note told ° of, set his thumb to it, and saw a panel drop down, shelfwise, showing a great iron safe iset in the wall. The safe was locked, the key missing. But h/knew that he had found De.la Guerra’s bank. He closed the panel swiftly as Gaucho and his men came to the door. “Que es, senor?” Gaucho asked quickly. And the black eyes of the dark-faced men thronging behind him —eager, expectant—told as well as words that Gaucho had whispered to hisjnen that the Americano had apian, that hope lay behind it. “Come in, Gaucho. Shut the door. men?” They entered as he spoke. He counted as the last man closed, the door behind him. “Ten, .senor. Five more are coming.” “And”—sternly—“you can vouch for them, for all of them? You can timst every man to the uttermost. Gaucho?” “To the uttermost, senor,” as stern-, ly. “To the death .in the service of the master and”—his voice breaking a little —“the senorita.” “And the other five?" “The same.” “Good! This is my plan. Comt close, all of you.” He addressed them in Spanish, speaking swiftly, his voice lowered so that the men must crane their necks and lean forward to hear. He told them of his hope that those they Sought had never been taken out of the hacienda. . - “Now,” he ended, “there is no doubt a passageway running from here to the senorita’s rooms. If we find this end of it and attack they may escape at the other end. So we must be ready. “Gaucho, send two men into the senorita’s rooms. Let them be armed and watchful. Send two more to the stairway. Let Torre and Juarez be boiind and watched over by one man only, a man whom you can trust' and who will blow tiieir brains out be-i fore he lets them escape.” “Let every other man in the house be armed and ready. Then —” ""“Then, senor?” eagerly, “Then” —with quiet determination’ — “we shall find where the passage is if we have to tear down the walls. Hurry, Gaucho!” Gaucho ran upon his errand, calling ; by name the men he wished to go with him. Stanway, bidding those with him to be very silent, not knowing what means the men lie sought might have of overhearing what happened in the room, began a silent search for some sign of a passageway in the thick walls. And now at last fate and the quick eyes of a vaquero aided him. There was a little scratch on the redwood of -tlie wall just opposite the door through which they had entered, a fresh white scratch. It was Mendoz, a young Mexican, who saw it; it was Mendoz who found a mark of a greasy thumb upon the same panel, some four feet from the floor. “Aqui, esta!” he muttered. “Senor, look!” Stanway’s heart beat wildly when he I saw what Mendoz had found. “The door of the passageway I” he whispered. “Sh! Be still! Even take oft ’your boots, companeros. We are going to give them no warning. But first, Mendoz, bring Dempton here, quick! I think he is going to talk now.” Mendoz hurried, and presently came back, he and the immense Vidal, walking at Dempton’s right and left. “Dempton,” whispered Stanway, meeting him, “make no sound.’ If he cries out” —to Vidal and Mendoz—“if he makes a sound choke the life out of him. Do you understand Dempton?” (TO BE CONTINUED.) External Substitute. Here is a famous Chinese humorous story. A traveler stopped at a house and asked for a cup of tea. Having none on hand, the host sent his son out to procure some. Meanwhile the hostess put a pot of water on the fire to boil. The son did not return, and it became necessary to add some more water to the pot. This was done several times. The son still remained absent, and finally the wife said to her husband: “Inasmuch as the tea does not seem to be forthcoming, perhaps k you had better offer your guest a bath.”

view the behavior of the others with compassionate toleration. At tlie close of the day he thus conveyed his in terpretation to the innkeeper: “I drove the queerest lot you evei saw. They chattered like monkeys They wouldn’t keep still. They jump ed the fences, tore about the fields, and came back with their hats cover ed with bugs. I asked their keepei what ailed them; he said they was naturals, and, judgin’ from the way they acted, I should say they was.”— Youths’ Companion. Aboriginal Superstition. The Australian blacks Aveave th! bushy tails of their “dingo” dogh intc their beards to make them longer. In dians of the Puget Sound region makt blankets of dogs’ hair. Natives oi Borneo beiieve that black dogs are th< chosen familiars of sorcerers, and ht who laughs when a dog crosses thf path will be turned to stone. In Chinese Gardens. Chinese gardeners sometimes plant statuettes of tiny men firmly in pots just like real plants, and then trair live evergreen to grow up over thes« statuettes. The vines thus form » kind of robe for the statuette men their white faces and hands protrudb Ing from the green leaves. __