Evening Star Newspaper, July 1, 1893, Page 11

THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON. D. C. SATURDAY. JULY 1. 1893-SIXTEEN PAGES. SIAWS NEW ENVOYS. The Legation and the Queer Country and King It Represents. CULTIVATING UNCLE SAM. The City of Bangkok and Its Thousands of Floating Houses—Siam'’s Progressive Raler—The Danger Which Menaces His Country—The Siamese Women. gently to these princes of the far east. It lies, you know, at the lower part of the peninsula of farther India, and it iseut up by the Gulf of Sism. The mighty river Menam runs it from north to southand the whole country isa network of canals. In the winter a ® half million inhabitants and a bundred thousand of these live in houses which float Upon the water. Bangkok is, in fact, a sort of a river city, aud it is stretched for a distance of ten miles up and down the banks of the Menam. Siam is about fonr times as big as the state of New York; it contains about 10,000,000 people, and the country and the people, body and soal, belong tothe king. The king has the rieht to every man's labor. andany woman whom he calls upon must enter his harem. He has the most arbitrary power of any king of the east, and he is one of the rich monarchs of the world. His palace in Bangkok ia a magnificent structure, with golden elephants guarding ite entrances. It haa twenty-five acres oe ground aboat it- and it in said that 5,000 people live within the palace wails. The king is said to have 200 wives, but ‘TE KING OF SIAM. queen, who is the chief of these. is his half sister. She is a ‘THEY WILL CHEW THE BETEL. ‘The new Siamese legation will undoubtedly be betel chewers. Everyone in Stam is ad- dicted to this habit, and there is a big store just epposite to the palace of the king in Bangkok in which I was shown, during my stay there, a lot of little china spittoons about the size of a shaving mug. | This store supplied the palace with goods and these little spi were used by the ladies of the harem for the expectora- tion of betel juice. The betel nut is s native of Siam. It is about as big as a black walnut and ithasa green skin. It is sold in the size of a hickory nut, and it is of a soft, spo nature, having « bitter, astringent taste. Siamese mx this nut with lime and to- baceo the lime is colored red and it is carried about in green leaves; having mixed his quid the Siamese chews and spite and spits and chews all dsy long. It makes the teeth black and the {aice, whieh the people expectorate is as red as lood. Isaw both men and women using it when I was in Siam and I was told that babies were given it almost as soon as they were weaned. Both women and men smoke in Siam and children are taught to puff cigarettes as soon as they aze old enough to crawl. If any ladies come with the legation they will prob- ably be smokers and betel chewers, and of the king's harem half of the women have black teeth. The Siamese say that any dog can have white teetb, but only those who are rich enough to buy the betel nut can have black ones. OUR FIRST BUDDHIST LEGATION. This legation will be the first foreign mission of pare Buddhists which has ever come toWash- ington. The ministers from Europe are to a large extent Catholics. The Chinese are Con- fucianists. ‘The Japanese are liberal free thinkers and the Koreans about the same. Buddhism is the religion of Siam, and every man of any prominence there has been at some time of his life a Buddhist priest. The king himself was at one time a priest, and he once shaved his head and gave up his crown and harem to wear a yellow cotton scarf about his waist and go about fasting and praying. Any one who wants to become a priest in Siam san do so upon s moment's notice. The result THE QUEEN. is that when a man gets into financial difticul- ties he enters the priesthood, and in this way Lis debts are forgiven him. After they have remained here for some time they come out and start into business anew. When a mau has | done anything very wicked he goes into the priesthood for a certain namber of years to cleanse himself, aud this becoming a Buddbist Priest is one of the stmplest methods of Siamese diverce. ‘The man who enters the church bas the right to dismiss his wife,and shen he comes out again at the end of a few months or @ year | be can marry her again or not, ax he chooses. THE HOME OF BEDDUISM. Siam is the home of Buddhism,and while I was fa Bangkok I saw the pures! of the Simon pare article. There are 25,000 Buddhist priests in the jital, and these are of all ages from They go about wi E { if i F which 100 its spires, and in another an idol made of jewels and pure about a foot high aud eight inches it was being made, while the metal crucible, erystals, topazes, sap- ‘and diamonds were stirred into it, idol the king comes every morn- worships. Icould fill this paper with i Hi i in a 2 iF Hi fl i é aE £ THE CROWN PRINCE. descriptions of the wonderful temples of Siam, and in one Buddhist temple I found the floor covered with a matting of woven silver wire. It was dirty from the bare feet of the priests, and as I went out I notice that the door was ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl. In another templ I found wn image of Buddha asleep. This image-was 150 feet long and the soles of its feet | by actual measurement were eighteen fect from toe to heel. A two-story cottage is often not | more than eighteen feet high; if this Buddha lay outside of such a one on his back his big | toa would beona parallel with the lightning | rod. Of late years number of infidels hav. rung up in Siam and it may be that our new legation will not hold fast to their fai i | religion, as it ix taught at Bangkok, errors, and I was told there that the people be- | Heved’ the earth to be flat and that their ex- | planation of the lightning flash was that it came | from the hatchet of a giant of the clonds, who, angry at his wives, was throwing hatchets at them through the air. A PROGRESSIVE RULER. Tue sending of a legation to Washington is another evidence of the progressive spirit of Chululankorn. He is one of the brightest of the Asiatic rulers and he has done much to ad- vance civilization in Siam. He has put tele- | graph lines throughout a great of his Kingdom. There is now » street car line in Bangkok and the city has electric hghts, It used to be that the money used in Siam was cowrie shells, or silver and gold buttons. This king has adopted a coinage making money much the samoas that of ours. He has a mint of his own and he imports Mexican doilars and casts these into coins for the use of ins people. The unit of value in Siam is the tecal, and the chief silver coin used is about the size of a half | dolisr. He has a post office department. and Siam belongs to the International Postal Union. While I was in Bangkok I met |the head of his royal college,and I saw & wonderful museum in the ‘grounds of the The king talke English, and he is thinking of building a railroad which will open up the interior of his rich kingdom. Siam is full of valuable resources. It has mighty forests of teakwood snd its mines contain the finest of gold and silver. The king has an in- | come of about $10,000,000 a venr aud he is said | to have about $50,000,000 stored away in his | coffers. He has his own secretary of the trens- ury, but he signs all the checks himself, and he is said to be a very fine business man. ‘He bas his cabinet just as our President has and he has | his war department, state dopartment, interior | department and agricultural department. His country is divided up into forty-one provinces, presided over by governors, and he runs things to suit himself, making such appointments as he chooses. | Some QurEm Taxes. The people of Siam are taxed for all they are worth. Everything under the sun has to pay a percentage to the government, and a great part of Lachey ue A the ki comes: — the gamb! establishments, peo a Ration of gamblers andthe gambling taxes bring in half a million dollars a year. The taxes are all farmed out, as are alo- the peopie, who, as slaves of the king, are ordered to work for hima = of every year. Itis only the Chi- nese who are not subject to such service, and are released from it by the payment of a tax. There are many Chinese in Siam, ‘and it is said that they are fast swallowing up | the country. They are sraarter than the Siamese im @ business way and they marry Siamese TRE SLEEPING BUDDU. wives and settle down there for life. All of the governors of Siam make presents to the king, |and they sometimes pay their taxes in the {shave of gold and silver bushes. In the audience chamber of the palace I saw around the room trees and bushes of gold. ‘The leaves | of these trees were of pure gold, while the trunks were heavily plated with gold. On one side of the room there were a number of silver trees, and I was told that these were a part of that year's offerings to his majesty from his governors, SIAM'S DANGER. I beard a diplomat who is well posted in Asiatic matters discuss last night the reason why the king’sent his legation to Washington. Said he: “The King of Siam is very anxious to strengthen his relations with foreign power He realizes the danger which constantly menac his country from its geographical position. It | is the meat of the sandwich of farther India, One slice of this sandwich belongs to France and includes Cochin-China. The other slice belongs to Great Britain and it takes up the provinces of Burmab. Simm lies in the center Andit is richer than either. Both France and England are land hungry and they look with greedy eyes on Siam. It is oe of the richest plums which still hang on the :ree of barbarism in the fareast. It produces crop after crop without the aid of manure and it ships millions of dollars worth of rice, pepper and cattle every year.” THE SIAMESE ARMY. | “What kind of an army has Sian | “There was no navy there when I ¥ country.” “Ths army is nothing to speak of,” was the reply. “Every man has to servo the state for three months in the year, but there is no armed militin. In case of a war with England or | France Siara could not do much. and its chief safety lies in the fact that neither of these great countries want the other to have it. I suppose it eventually will be divided between them, and if it should, it would be mach better forthe people. Asit is they are practically slaves, while under France or England they would be free. Ihave no doubt tut that the king appreciates the situation and he probably thinks that if he has legations atthe other capi- tals these two nations will be less inclined to impose upon him.” How THE KING L | The King of Siam is still x young man. He will be forty years old on the 2ist of Septem- bez. He isnot over five feet high, but he is straight and well formed. In his court | dress he wears a vast fortune of jewels. His 1 asked. ited the forehead is high and his eyes are slightly almond in shape. He has a little mustache and thickest of stiff black hair. He is very fond of his wife, I mean his half-sister wife, and_be makes great deal of the crown prince. The erown prince is still a boy, but he has been shown a number of times to people and he is said to have remarkably good sense. Just out- side of Bangkok there is a palace which belongs to bim, and the boy is being educated in such way that he will probably make a fit succes- sor of his father. SIAMESE WOMEN. Iwonder whether the membors of the loga- tion will ever bring their wives to Washington? If they do we will havea decided sensation, pro- vided they come in their native costume. The common Siamese woman wears only a surong and a Turkjsh towel. The surong goes around her waist and between her legs,and the Turkish towel is wound about her bust and shoulders. Nowand then she takes off the towel and is satisfied with the surong. She rarely weirs shoes, ands girl under eight years old often Wears nothing buta string around her waist. The better classes wear more costly clothing, and some of the ladies have a strip of thin cot- ton which they wear tightly around the body under the arm pits and fasten with a knot just over the bust, leaving the shoulders and neck entirely bear.’ Some of the ladies of the harem wear upon stato occasions uropean clothing, and others add to the surong a loose jacket trimmed with Swiss embroidery and covered with bows of ribbons set on in rows. They all wear bracelets on their wrists and ankles on their legs, and not a few of them are quite pretty. The Siamese girls are the most graceful women in the world. ‘Their joints are Very supple, anda part of their education is made up of bending their joints back and forth to make them #9. ‘They are all short haired, and when young they are as plump as par- tridges and as straight as the palm trees of their own beautiful land, As they grow older they become wrinkled and ugly, and the most of them ruin their teeth from chewing the betel. Only the fewest of them are educated, and I don’t think that they would be happy in our high French-heel shocs and they would die if bound in by our corsets and crinoline. One of tho prettiest women in Siam is the queou. She has short hair, like ber Siamese | sisters, and her teeth would’ be Pretty if she were not addicted to betel nut chewing. Sho is of nearly the same ago as tho king. and it is said that her marriage was to a certain extent a marriage of love. It seems strange to think that ® man should fall in love with his sister, but you must remember that the King of Siam came of a family of eighty-four children and he had thirty-four half brothers and forty-nine haif sisters. The custom of Siam requires that the royal blood shall be kept pure, and for years the kings have. I am told, married their sisters. It is considered an honor among the noble families of Siam to have a daughter in the harem of the king, and the on!y woman ¢ the king cannot marry by the laws of Siam is his mother. His court is one of intrigue and plotting, and a government officer who has a daughter in the harem can thus better hold the frieudship of the king and can keep himself osted on all that is going on in the e. ‘he last king had wives from China and India, and he wanted to add an English girl to nis allery of beautics. ‘The women of the harem ive to a certain extent together in the palace, and they are considered passe at the age of twenty-tive. At this time, if they have no children, they become the waitirg maids of the younger wives of the king, and the stock is re- Plenished yearly with the flower of the beauties of Siam, Fraxx G. CanPenter oe Written for The Evening Star. Shadows. Evening shadows in their nitting, In thelr Mitting to and fro, Seem to whisper and to beckon, Beckon us to come and go. For they tell in noiseless cadence, Ina noiseless, mystic rhyme, ‘To the heart of Joy or sorrow, Soon or late there comes a time ‘When the daylight fades to twilight, And the twilight into night, And the shadows gently bury Earthly memories from slght, When the day of life ts ended, ‘When the gulf of life ts spanned, And the soul returns forever ‘To the silent shadow land. June, 1998. —CLIFFORD Howanp. coe THE KATELER'S AWFUL EYE. Something About Its Strange Power to Charm a Foe. Letter in the Pomona Progress. I have @ genuine snake story to tell the readers of the Progress,and I can vouch for the trath of my statements. As I was several miles out in the country, riding horseback from Pomona to Etiwanda Inst Saturday morning, I saw a jack rabbit standing still only a few feet from the road. I drove up close to the animal, which still refused to senmper away. On the contrary, the rabbit stood or sat transfixed to the spot, though making a constant nervous, shuddering motion, as 1f anxious to get away, but at the same time being held to the spot. Iwas surprised that the rabbit did not flee at the approach of myvelf and horse, and wl Tlooked alittle sharper I sawn large rattl snake coiled up under some bushes, hix head uplifted, about six feet from the rabbit. I shall never forget the scene. The rabbit was looking with indescribable eagerness straight atthe slowly approaching snake and heeded hothing else. 1 dismounted, and. seizing « long stick, by force pushed the ‘rabbit away, when the snake instantly sweiled with rage and sounded its rattles. I wounded the snake and then dispatched it, ‘The rabbit for a second or two seemed benumbed. and was hardlv capable of motion, ‘That was over quickly and the ani- mal hopped away. Now, this ix no doubt a puro case of saake charming. There are many who refuse to be- lieve in such things. Ihave always had my doubts about some of the alleged charming powers of the reptiles, but to one who is fa- liar with eyes of rattlesnakes it docs not m unreasonable that they have such power if you will examine the eye of one when he is coid in death vou will perceive that it has au extremely malignant and terrible expression. When he is alive and excited I know of noth- ing in all nature of #0 dreadful appearance as the eye of a rattlesnake. It is enough to atrike with terror more than birds and little animale, Thave on several occasions examined the eye of a rattlesnake closely with strong glasses and feel with all force what I state, and I will tell you that tkere are few men on the face of the earth whocan look upon an angered rattlesnake through a good glass—bringing him apparently within a foot or two of the eye—and stand it more than a moment. se Queer Fads. From The Girls’ Own Paper. Tam weil acquainted with the descendants of a venerable lady, an active, healthy woman of good position, who, if to judge from many of her children and grandchildren, must have been lovable, as well as highly respectable, but had an extraordinary fad. For many years ske kept her coffin in her room, not (as some orders of monks have done) as a painful reminder, but asa receptacle for her caps. The inside had been so beautifully lined, she thought it would be waste of good material to leave it un- employed. But this eccentric fancy did not end here. Allsense of the ghastliness of em- ploying such an article for other than its ostensible use appeared, through habitual familiarity with it, to have no place in her mind; for it seems that on one occasion, when invited tostay at a friend’shouse, it was with the greatest difficulty that she could be dissuaded from employing the pet repository of her caps as a trunk to carry her visiting apparel. Imagine the shock to more sensitive nerves had her hostess and the rest of the family party seen 80 gruesome and ill-omened an’ cbject carried into the house on a bright and festive occasion! It may not be generally known that one of the old-time kings of Spain, Charles VI, had a brother, Don Antonio, who had a mauia for making sausages, and that the infection spread to his brother, both becoming victims of the same extraordinary mania, 80 a pavilion was erected in a lonely spot, where he devoted his time to learning the trade, 60 as to compete with his brotber. At last the. monomania was suddenly cured by the visit of an English woman of rank, who was surreptitiously in- troduced into the grounds surrounding the pavilion by the British ambassador, to see the royal pork butcher at work. The king dis- covered her and “embraced her,” forgettinj the greasy attire in which he was quipped, and the consequent soiling of her dress brought him to his senses and the relinquishment of this unseemly fad. In the present day we have a royal amateur head is crownel with a golden pyramid of jewels. He puts on upon state occasion: a | ‘coat, vest and brocaded surong, wh: just | loaded down with jowels, and I was told tuat he often wore upon st | stones which were worth Simmese do not wear suroug, whieh they tie abou: itn the back. takes their place. Th wears silk stockings, shoes which are p like those of the Turk. and his co: bearifal ons. He ts not a bad look 3 man, his face 1s vive Lrown, bis eyes are black, his | ie available. professor of the culinary art, in the person of Humbert, King of Italy, and at which report says he shows remarkable skill. It see a queer taste for one born to a throne, although often « development of the kind may be, and very naturally is, bred ina hunter, sportsman or explorer, a fancy born of necessity, when not even the limited qualifications of a not to say « chef de cuisine, For all forms of disurdered stomach use Bromo-Seltzer. A palutable, prompt cure. PUBLIC ECONOMY. An Interesting Talk in Regard to Government Expenditures. HOLMAN ON HOLMANISM. je Tells in Detail How Appropriation Bills Are Put Together—All Economy is “Cheese- Paring”—A Vicious Contract System as to River and Harbor Work. ‘Written for The Evening Star. Copyrighted. WO DAYS AGO I called on Judge Hol- man of Indiana, the member of the House of Representatives from the fourth Indiana dis- trict, chairman of the committee on appro- priations in the last House and famous as the “watch dog of the treasury,” from his dis- position to oppose the reckless expenditure of public money. Mr. Holman has also been known as “‘the great objector” because of his habit of interposing objections to the considera tion of legislation which he does not approve wherever objections will prevent its considera- tion. A new word has been coined within the Inst year by the great newspapers of the coun- try—“Holmanism.” It is synonymous with “‘cheeseparing,” which is the subject of so mauch criticism by the editors of republican newspapers when matters of public expendi- ture are under consideration ina democratic House. No man has been more widely praised for his honesty or more condemned for “parsimony” than Mr. Holman. ‘The climax of criticism was reached when Ford's Theater collapsed recently, killing a number of the em- ployes and wounding many others. ‘The ery went up from all paris of the country that the niggardiiuess of Congress in failing to make proper appropriations for public buildings was responsible for this, It was the natural result of “‘Holmanism,” it was said. Iealled on Mr. Holman white these criticisms still filled the air to ask him to tell me just what “Holmanism” is, and incidentally to give me » description of the methods by which appropriations are made. I wished to ask him, in view of the fact that the democratic House had voted such enormous ap- propriations in the last Congress, whether he | believed that the next Congress’ would make retrenchment, and how a reduction in the expenditures could be made. A PLEASANT MAN TO INTERVIEW. Mr. Holman is an extremely pleasant man to interview. A man who has served twenty-eight Years in the Honse of Representatives, and has been as conspicuous as Mr. Holman, has had many experiences with the interviewer. Usu- ally they mellow ‘They have not soured Mr, Holman in apfie of, the newspaper, abuse ly that he bas suffered. He not only expresses his opinions on public questions freely, but he has a fund of aneedute with which he ‘enlivens his conversation, which makes it vastly inter- esting Tn appearance Mr. Holman is spare, with a rather thin face, whose chin and checks are covered with ° close-trimmed beard, now almost white. He looks almost his seventy yeara, but» his activity is that of a man of fifty. He dresses in black broadcloth, wears a standing collar and a narrow black He chews to- bacco as he talks, and likes to change his posi- tion about once @ minute. “In tae first place,” said Judge Holman, “you must remember that the appropriation committee does not have charge of all of the appropriation bills. It has control of only the District of Columbia bill, the bill making ap- Propriations for the expenses of the depart- ments and of Congress that which is known as the legislative, executive and judicial appro- priation bill, the detictency bill, which includes whatis left over of all the appropriation bills, and the fortification bill, the pension bill aud the sundry civil bill. ‘The sundry eivil bill used to be a bill of small importance, but it has grown to be the most important of ‘all the ap- Propriation bills. Well, these bills are made up from estimates sent to the House by the Secretary of the Treasury coming from all of the departments. You may say that almost without exception the bills as re- ported to the House contain nothing that not in the estimates sent to the House by tne Secretary of the Treasury. ‘The ostimates are made up from estimates sent to the Treasury Department by the heads of the different de- ‘tments in accordance with the law. The law provides that these estimates shall be sent to the Secretary of the Treasury by October 1. Usually the months of November aud Decem- ber are given to the review of those estimates in the Tr Department. This year, an. extra session is to be held, it will be differ- ent. But you can aay that’ that is the rule. The Secretary of the Treasury goes through the estimates, including those of hia own depart- cuts them down. I think that Sec- Foster cut down the estimates for the year 1894—the appropriations made by Con- Gress at its last session—fully 25 per cent—well, say 20 per cent. ALWAYS CUT DOWN A GREAT DEAL. ‘But they are always cut down a great deal. When they come to the appropriation com- mittee the estimates are distributed to sub- committees of five, and of the subcommittee on the sundry civil bill the chairman of the appro- priation committee is always a member. ‘These subcommittees spend from two or three weeks to two or three months considering the items of the bill, and very frequently they exercise the right ‘to subpana witnesses and call the heads of bureaus before them. But if they are familiar with the work they have a pretty good idea where reductions can be made. For these hearings there may not be more than three members of the subcommittee present — When the bill is reported back to the full committee, though, there is almost invariably a full meet- ing. It is rare that a member of the committee is absent. Yon know they said of the Indian bill, that it was never considered in full com- mittee in the last Congress—that it was re- ported to the House as it was passed by the subcommittee. Bat the committee on appro- priations always considers the bills on which it has to pass in full committee. The bill is usually reported to the House as it came from the sub- committee and the chairman of the subcom- mittee presents the report. He may have been in the minority when the bill was yoted on in committee, but he presents it to the House and ns charge of it. Therefore he may not advo- cate every item in it, but remain passive on some and may even vote against them. For example, I was opposed to certain appropria- tions in the sundry civil bill which I reported to the last House—the artificial limb appropri- ation was one of them—and I remained passive when those appropriations were considered; and when the yote wus taken on them I voted against them. It will often happen, too, that the member who reported the bill to the House will make a report from the conference between the two houses which he does not entirely ap- rove. ‘Ihus the member in charge of the bill is constantly in danger of being placed in a false position before the country.” Something must be done, however, to put the appropria- tion bil through. Concessions must be made and a compromise reached; and the member in charge of the bill may have to agree to certain paragraphs which he does not approve. Still” ho usually has an opportunity to explain his position on the floor of the House. These concessions are necessary because it would be a public calamity to have one of the important appropriation bills fail. ‘Tbe sundry civil bill, for example, would never have gone through in the form in which it was d in the last House if it had not been for the danger that it would fail altogether and make an extra sion of Congress necessary. It would have mn a great danger to the country—not from partisan but from a public view point—to have bad Congress called together here in April or May, and it would have beon necos- sary to call a special session if the sundry civil bill had failed. That is one of the results of the extraordinary growth of that bill. I have known the sundry civil bill to be laid on the table and not to pass atallata time when it carried only €7,000,000.~ It included then no appropriation that we could not get along without, if necessary. Now it covers the life- saving service and the soldiers’ homes and other branches of the ‘public service, which would have to suspend if the appropriation was not made,” BILLS THAT MIGHT FAIL WITHOUT INJURY. “Are there any of the appropriation bills that could be defeated without necessitating an extra session of Congress?” I asked. “Yes, we could get slong without the Indian bill, but if the army or navy bill should fail to pass we could not get along beyond September, and the other G taro! are with the close of the year—the Ist of July.” “The amendments to the appropriation bills made in the Senate,” Is gsowled “are chiefly the addition of items which have been cut out either in the Treasury Department or in the | which the government Houto from the department estimates, are they not?” “The greater part of them,” said Mr. Hol- man. “You can say that almost all of the items added by the Senate are suggested by the ee ee without — through han Secretary Trensury and being recommended by him. That is where the dispute between the House and Senate is.” Lasked Mr. Holman what the prospect was of reducing the sppropriations in the next Con- gress, since the democratic party had not re- Lion, below fate rivaioepe ie the PI ing Congress in ‘ongress which ex- pired last March. “One great difficulty in our way,” said Mr. Holman, “is the contract system adopted in making appropriations for <e crerseelie. bors "The appropriations of the Inst Congross for pl were forty millions—greater than over known, before in the history of our government. Why, for the period between 1850 and 1865 the total i ae for the improvement of rivers harbors were only three millions. We an act then author- izing the issue of bonds by the company in charge of the Portland canal at Louisville, and they were paid by the government in 1867. I put that through, and 1 remember that there was grave question in the minds of every one of the wisdom of the measure. At that time the tax on steamboats going through this canal amounted to about €1,200 ona round trip. It ‘was a ridiculous state of affairs—one that would not be tolerated for » minute in this day. But there was strong doubt of the wisdom of re- moving this tax at the time.” “Are you going to be able to cut down the river and harbor appropriations in the next Congress?” PROBABILITIES AT THE NEXT SESSION. “At the next session we will probably have to appropriate from twenty to twenty-seven millions. That is the effect of the vicious system of continuing contracts. The first session uf the last Congress made contracts which com- it, after appropriating _ twenty-two jen to make an appropriation of six- teen millions in the second session. Thissystem is all wrong. It is running into debt. Itis trying to discount the future, as many of the states did years ago, with disastrous results. To be sure, there is a clause in the contracts which says that the work shall be carried on only as the government makes appropriations for it. But we are morally bound by these contracts to make the appropriations. The contractors must prepare to do this great work, and if we encourage them by these contracts to make ex- Peasive preparations we must stand by them, at is why I think that the next session of Congress will have to appropriate so large a sum for rivers au harbors, I am afraid that this contract system bas come to stay. I do not see how we are to get rid of it. On river and harb ters there is a combination of interests.as there alwaj been—the states interested in the deepening of the channel of the great lakes and the states interested in the Missouri and Miasis- sippi rivers combining and voting together solidly on every proposition. As to the deep- ening of the lake chanuel, while the cost of the work is limited to three’ millions, that is ® mere bagatelle compared with what can be spent on the work. It is beyond all calculation. How- ever, we nay have a reaction on thix question, As the channel is deepened the harbors are af- fected, and Chicago is already beginning to ap- preciate this,” “If this combination exists how do you ex- pect Congress is going to be persuaded to re- trench?” “I hope that if the fall appropriations are made for 1895 and due warning is given to the contractors that no appropriation is to be made for the next year, the appropriation can be withheld in the second session with injustice to no one. That would make the appropriations for the entire Congress less by about one-half than the appropriations for the Fifty-second Congress.” REDUCTIONS THAT MAY BE MADE. “Do you expect to make any reduction in the public buildings appropriations?" “None were made in the last Congress except for buildings in Washington Limit on buildings for whic alrendy been made. quirement for new buildings outside Washing- ton, The interest on the cost of new buildings world be double- quadruple--the amount now paying for rent.” “And where can you make othcr reduction “People are apt to speak sne-ringly of the reductions in the appropriations as ‘cheese- paring,” said Mr, Holman, *That i in fact just what they are. ‘Ihe greatest retrenchment ever made in the expenditure of the govern- ment was made by the Forty-fourth Congress, It cut down the appropriations $34,000,000 in the first and £32,000,000 in the second session, And this was done without one very great single reduction being made. It was done b; little changes here and there. The legislat executive and judicial bill was in conference more than two months, and in that time a million little changes were made in it. There Was a great outcry against them at first, because it was said that they would crowd out men who had been appointed by Jackson and Van Buren— men who had been in the department service twenty and thirty years. But when the change was made these men were not affected. They all stayed where they were. ‘The Forty-third Congress made a reduction in appropria- tions of perhaps $23,000,000, but that mat- |was the direct outgrowth of "the salary bill passed by the Forty-second Con- gress. ‘The members of that Congress voted themselves an increase of salary, but the popular outery was so great tha:'the Forty- third Congress repealed the statute and then set about retrenching the public expenditures, ‘That was a republican Congress. ‘The Forty- fourth Congress was the first of which the democrats had had control for many years, and they set about cutting down expenses still more. Of course the public debt pressed more heavily on the Forty-second Congress than on the Forty- third, and more heavily on the Forty-third than on the Forty-fourth. After the Forty-fourth Congress there was a gradual increase year after yeur in the appropriations until the Forty-cighth Congress, when there was a slight reduction, Then the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses increased expenses gradually and the Fifty-first made an increaso over the Con- gress preceding of $217,000,000, the greatest in the history of the government. THE QUESTION OF PERMANENT APPROPRIATIONS. yy," said Mr. Holman, “there isa question which will come before the coming Congress concerning appropriations which will become a matter of grave importance, and that is the question of permanent appropriations. ‘Those appropriations in indefinite sums have been Increasing until now they amount to about $121.000,000. For twenty-five years we have been trying to get hold of these and place all of them with the exception of the interest a reduction of the public debt and perhaps a few others under the direction of the appro- priation committee, so that the items of ap- propriation could be named specifically. There was a time when Beck and Dawes were in the House—men who had made these matters a study—when they were considered of the greatest importance. But otber issues have crowded them out of late years. Mr. Breckin- ridge of Arkansas now has tLe matter in charge, and whatever the organization of the House, I think that something will be done in regard to it” Returning to the subject of reductions in the expenditures of the government, I asked Mr. Holman if he thought that there was a public sentiment in favor of such a reduction. “There is a public feeling which is growin, all the time,” said Mr, Holman, ‘and I am wad to see it. You will find it in many of the news- papers of the land, especially in small commun- ities, Itis that the expenses of the govern- ment ought to be regulated according to the actual needs of the government and not ac- cording to the possibilities of wealth in this country. The possibilities for wealth in the United States are beyond all calculation. They are enormous, If we tried to live up to them in our public expense we would inaugurate an era of ‘extravagance in the midst of which free institutions could not live. Behind Congress is the wealthier class of citizens. It is to their in- terests that the expenditures of the govern- ment should be lavish, They are the gainers by building contracts, by river and harbor con- tracts, and 80 on, LOBBIES OF RICH MEN. “You see plenty of lobbies of rich men or their representatives here at each session of Congress, You never seea lobby of poor men. You may not know it, but thereis not an evening that a member of Congress cannot dine at one of the clubs in this city. ‘The men who support these clubs are not men who contribute their fair share to the support of this government end its institutions. xy are the people who rofit by the expenditure of large sums of pub- iio money. Thatis the strongest argument, I think, in favor of the establishment of an in- come tax. If we make heavy appropriations now the weight of them falls with greatest force onthe poor. If the government was supported by an income tax these same people who are here urging us to spend money now would be here in the same force urging us to economize. Their interest then would bo in economy. But the disposition to spend money freeiy is growing among the members of Con- Young men who come here for the iret time are ashamed to vote for an eco- nomical administration of the government be- cause they are in fear of being ridiculed for parsimon’ A great newspaper re- LZ marked editorially the other day that it was a fault ina poor republic tu be parsimonio: but ina rich republic it was a crime. Think of it! Acrime to be economical! That idea | has a great many supporters among the mem- bers of Congress. lhe people, though. do not | sympathize with it. They do not begrudge the money, but they believe that its extravagant expenditure is not in accordance with the spirit | of our institutions. The men who drafted the Constitution did more than they thought when | they divided thix country into states. That is | the greatest safeguard that we have today against extravagance and corruption. So long | as we have the example of the careful ndminis- tration of the finances of the states we have a | standing argument against extravagance by the general government.” Gronor Guaxtnax Bars. Modesty From Harper's Bazar. “The inventor of the alphabet must have been a modest man,” said Hawkins. “Why 80?” asked Mawson. “Because he began it with A,” “Most men would have begun it Letters. Hawkins. ith 1.” cee A Fourth of July Tragedy. From Puck, The Wicked Boy—‘Goodvess me, Polly, I wouldn't let you want for a mere cracker. The Wicked Boy: strike you?” ‘There, how does the flavor The Parrot—Willie want some crackers?” on Rootbeer. I know the difference between Hires’ and the other kinds, and I want Hires.” HIRES’ Rootbeer is the only Rootbeer made of pure herbs, roots, barks and berries. Chemicals do not enter into its make up. It is the only root- beer that has ever been imitated. It is the only rootbeer that the people have endorsed, and consequently the only rootbeer to accept. A 25 Cent Package makes Five Galloas, ‘Made only by THE CHARLES E. HIRES CO., PHILADELPHIA. HISTORY IN ADVERTISEMENTS. | An Interesting and Valuable Part of a News- paper's Contents, From the Indtauapolis Journal. It is no longer an objection toa newspaper that it contains advertisements. On the con- trary, there is no reason to believe that « paper which should contain no advertisements would be not only behind the times, but fail to give its readers a feature containing much current and useful information, and, withal, jtmuch entertaining reading. ‘Thousands of people regard the advertisements in a daily paper as part of ite Jocal news. In late years the writing of advertisements hus become a special feature in journalism—a branch of Uterature requiring “information and calling for brightness and versatility. The man or Woman who has a genius in that direction has a more profitable place in current literature than have many of those who see their articles | in magazines or their names oa the title | Pages of current fiction, The wideawake bus- Jiness man, who sees the great advantage of space in a newspaper's columns, come to | understand the importance of having it filled with matter which will be sure to attract the reader that he, and particularly she, will look for it every day and will experience a feeling of disappointment if it is not found. | If one should assert that a history of any re- cent period could be written from the data | supplied by the advertixements of the news- papers, the statement would scarcely be be- | hioved until one could give it, cousideration, | after which he would conclude that it might be done. From the udvertisements of newspapers an expert might write the history of the rail- road development in this country. The scanty cuts of locomotives and cars would furnish an | outline, while the improvements and ad- { vantages set forth in the advertisements would | furnish a writer,if he a fairamount of | originality, with the filling for the work. The | financial history of the government could be | fully written from the sdvertisements of treasury officers and bankers dealing in public securities, Doubtless advertisements in New York commercial papers would show that, late in 1560, United States loan could not be! placed at par bearing 6 per cent interest. Similar advertisements would show not only the rates | of interest such securities bore during differ- ent periods, but the fact of the issue of legal tender greenback and the premium which gold co:omanded from time to time. The re-| Sults of great battles during the war and the | popular feeling, whether hopefal or despon- | deut, could be told in the ups and downs of the prices of bonds iu gold or in currency. With- out other record, the collapse of the rebellion could be told from the fall in the premium on , gold and the sale of seven-thirty bonds. ‘The advertisements of the treasury and banks directly after specie resumption, announcing the sale of millions of four per cent bonds and of the premium which these bouds commanded | after « brief season, tell us eloquently and nc- curately the story of the achievements by which the rate of interest paid by the United States aud the people was reduced nearly one-third, as did the official report of Secretary Sherman. The development of American industries 2an be traced in the advertisements announcing novel home products. ‘Transient at are the fashions of dress, the clever writer could tell their rise and fall’ from the outlines supplied by the dealers in fabrics and millinery. ‘The enter- prising dealer with an eye to business has | never failed to give the public “the correct thing in dress” for both sexes. In years to come the writing of advertise- ments which will always attract attention. will | become more and more a literary employment, since the writer must not only be well read. Dut must possess, ina high degree, all the liter- ary art of putting things At the rate this | branch of newspaper making is being developed | the time is not far distant when it will be an- } nounced that this or that noted advertisement | writer will contribute a special advertisement | ton forthcoming issue, for the same reason that publishers of magazines now announce that the next number will contain a story by Howells or a poem by James Whitcomb Riley. How Colvin Acquired Chinee Chin-© Frou: the Daily Easton Anus. A good-sized, well-dressed, rather plump young man was in Portiand yesterday. His) ame is Horace J. Colvin, and he is a New England passenger agent of the Canadian | Pacific railway. There is a story connected with Mr. Colvin which has never yet been printed. Years ago Mr. Colvin, then « emart boy, entered the employ of the Central Vermont | railroad. und by pltick and get-up-and-get won | favor with Agent Cummings, who said word in his favor to Lucius Tuttle, who in turn ap- | pointed him New England agent for the CP. | R., with an office in Boston. Everything was | supposed to be all right with Colvin until he began to take Chinamen homeward over the C. P. K., accompanying them as far as Vanceboro. This he did several times; and those who rode | with him on the traine then noticed that be | talked the language of tea chests and fire- cracker wrappers with finency. As it takes years to learn the Chinese language the feat | was considered remarkable, and a close serunity was made into Mr.’ Colvin's ante- cedents. It was learned that, although born of re- spectable and well-to-do parents in New York state, Horace was kidnaped when a baby on | account of his personal beauty and taken to Pekin, where for ten years le was a court favorite, and bad all that the flowery king- dort could offer at his disposal, One day the emperor died, and Horace, then a big boy, ran away and returned to America, He has dis- carded his queue and felt slippers, but he can still play fantan and talk Chinese as weil as | any full fledged Oriental. coe re Some Mastache History. 1 the Boston Evening Tranecript. What is the history of the mustache? In | Greece und Rome no mustaches were worn without beards, but in the conquering days of the Roman empire several half-civilized races, who had come partially under the influence of the Romans, and who wished to be rid of the | name of barbari or wearers of beards, at- tempted to shave in imitation of their’ con- querors; but as they had very imperfect imple- ments for the purpose, and as the upper lip is notoriously the hardest part of the face to shave in the case of any one poorly skilled in the art, they were unable to make a clean job of i left « quantity of hair ou the upper lip. mark wax characteristic of neveral nations on the confines of Roman civilization; of the Gauls in particular, of the DPacians and some ethers. See the Koman statue of the Dying Gaul in the Museum of Fine Arts—perbaps the only classical representation of a mustache to be found in that institution. The Latin lan- guage hae no word for mustache. This barbar- Cus accident was unworthy of the honor of « | Boman name. | mother is as lowly in make up jhome, 2507 Tacoma avenue, | teat book on phyxiologs i WSGIRL EDNA’S WEDDING. it was not a quiet wedding, either. At the hour named there were joined in wedlock Miss Edna Hansley and Billy Smith. Edua is not much over fifteen years of age andis a familiar figure of Tacoma streets, having up to less than earago been « newsgirl. about seven years Edna's senior poor surroundings. city, but the bride was as elaborate sive in make up asany of Tacoma’ could brag of. Every newsboy knew ‘Only « year ago she was their ‘She then wore sbort dresses and was mere child. and the announcement ould wed fairly paralyzed them, but copered and made that wedding Justice McMurray was to marriage ceremony. The bride him looking beautifal in a wedi White silk, elaborately trimmed. & wreath of orange were white «ilk slippers, covered the hands. The complete and beautiful. stated after the wedding many couples, but that elaborately dressed of relatives attended the marriage. The newsboys, thongh shat out presence of the bride they knew #0 ith whom they had ran the Papers so many times, decided hare in the been informed to taks place at the hour named. was hardly over when the most F i fF d i af i i : Ff tr £ f ‘| Z L i i f f ; iH : E i ei all tomato cans, old copper pote cans and made their way Hausleye, When outside the sidewalk. they started They beat them and threw danced and yelled. ‘The noise was ‘The groom made his way ‘mission to do something desperate. mistook bis mission. thi to make a speech, and they Billy repented of bis intention go ge desperate, so he gave the some mouey and told him to take the “mob’ Fite At creased in numbers. ‘wedding dance” until they drove the and groom away. A gurney was called, and Mr. and Mra Smith left on their wedding trip to their handsomely furnished by the groom. a wedding breakfast was partaken of. bridal gifts were very numerous and to about €250 in value. “Everybody, smallest newsboy, wishes Edoa happy married life,” said the tin can gang, after the bride been driven away to their new home, by several boys and tin cans. - os TONGUE TWISTERS, iiee § tl i ps Say These Over Fast and Hear Your Friends Laugh. Boston Globe. Read the following aloud. repeating the shorter ones quickly half « dozen times im suo- cession: Six thick thistle sticks. Flesh of freshly fried flying fish. ‘The sea ceaseth, and it sufficeth us. ‘Hagh roller, low roller, lower roller. A box of mixed biscuits, a mixed biscuit box. Strict strong Stephen Stringer snared slickly six sickly silky snakes. Swan «wam over the sea: swim, swam, swimy swan swam back again, well ewam swan. It ix a shame, Sam; these are the same, Sam, "Tis alla sham, Sam, and ashame it is to sham "1 growing gleam glowing gree A growing gleam glowing green. ‘Tie bleak breeze blighted the bright broom. Dlossoms. Susan sbineth shoesand socks; socks and shoes shine Susan. She censeth thoes and socks, for shoes and socks Busan. Robert Rowley rolleda roun? roll round; ® round roll Robert Rowley rolied rounds where rolled the round roll Robert Rowley Onirer Ogloth ed an owl and oyster. Oliver Ogiethorp of! o Did Oliver Ogietborp ogie an owl and oyster? * If Oliver Oglethorp ogied an owl and oyster, where are the owl and oyster Oliver Ogiethorp led? “Fifobbe meets Snobbs and Nobbe; Hobbs bobs: to Snobs and Nobbs; Hobbs nobs with Snobbs and robs Nobbs fob. | “That says Nobba, “the worse for Hobbs’ jobs,” and Snobs sobs, Sammy Shoesmith caw a ‘shrieking songster. Did Sammy Shoosmith eee a shrieking songeter? If Sammy Shoesmith saw a shrieking songeter where's the shricking songster Sammy Shoe- smith saw? I went into the garden to gather some blades and there 1 saw the two sweet pretty babes. Ah, babes, is that babes, braiding of bindes, babes? If you braid any bindes at all, babes, braid broad blades, babes, or braid me blades at all, babes. You snuff shop snuff, T snuff box souff, ‘s eee Self-Medieation. Frow the Austin Statesuat Jmagination bas too much to do with a man’s practice on himself. One who reads the little the schools will 1m- am every rumble of bis an- mediately disc testines the kind of action the gastric juices 4 taking on the food that bas gone into the stomach, and he soon becomes, if he pushes his farther, a monomsnine on hy- mau or woman who forty vears ought be able to decide ata glance the kind of food suited best to their digestive organs, and ©: perience ought to teach them never to tor any food that disagrees with them. This is true also of drinking. When aman is forty years of age he ought to understand himself sufficiently to guard against all imprudences ia either eating or drinking or working, but that ix about all be ought to know about it. He ex- | peots to be employed as an expert on others im his own line of study. and he ought to be willing poate by employing « physician when »