Evening Star Newspaper, August 26, 1893, Page 12

12 THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. AUGUST 26, 1893—SIXTEEN PAGES. MANY ODD ANIMALS. A Land Filled With Creatures of Strange Form. F BEASTS THAT ROAM AT NIGHT. Marsupials and Other Inhabitants of Australian Forests. _—_— THE GIGANTIO KANGAROOS. MAGINE AN IS- land approaching tn size the continent of Europe, where there ts only one river nav- tgable for any ¢on- siderable distance, where the streams Gry up at one season of the year and at another rise to the height of 9 feet above their benks; where the tempera- ture sometimes falls as much as 4 de- Brees the trees are gener- ally evergreen, many of them having no | where some trees rise 200 feet with for half that height, where are black swans and white eagles. is Australia. But saore remarkable any of these features of the country its animals. There are no epes, ba- or monkeys, no ruminant or cud- i i animals, and 20 beasts of prey, as live tiger, leopard, etc. Two- the mammals of Australia are so called from their having a ‘Wallaby, Female. Yarsuptum or pouch !n their abdomen for their ture young. The Amer- =) opossum is the only existing marsu- known outside of Australia, Tasma- which there are many different such as the wallabies, rock kanga- Fat kangaroos, etc., are the most nu- Merous of the marsupial family. ‘The kan- are all herbiverous, eating various kinds of herbage, some of the Smaller species feeding also on roots. They @re naturally of a tim{d disposition, but the larger ones when attacked at ‘close rters will defend themszives very vig- ©rously. Dogs are used in hunting them. The kan- Gerco jumps as quickly as a Great Rock Kangaroo. gorse. but generally becomes tired, es- Deciaily the “old man” kangaroo, a3 the Older males are called. If brought to bay he will back up against a tree and fight the dogs. If a dog comes within reach of his ws he will seize him with his arms and him open with the claws of his hind feet, while supporting himself on his tail, etimes they take refuge In a pool of Water, when if a dog comes near them they will grasp it and hold it under the ‘Water until drowned. In a sitting position some of the older are often six or seven feet in ight and some have been shot measuring as much as eight fect. When a female kangaroo with a good sized young one in its pouch is attacked it will throw the young one out so as to es- @ape easier. The young lies quite still, Duck-Bi ile the mother hops away in a zigzag tion, doubtless to draw the attention — pursuers from her offspring. The kanj ger e ‘roo bears a young one no big- than the finger of a human baby, about @n inch long. The mother puts :his feeble fping im the pouch in her abdomen, where stays and is sustained by the ‘parent. After passing a certain stage of develop- ment the young ones make excursions from the pouch, which continues to enlarge with the gowth of the infant. As it grows lar- @ young one remains out icnger, un- lt sufficiently matured to entirely care for itself. The kangaroo and potoroos, or kan- Garoo rat, have largely increased in re- @ent years, and like the rabbits have be- ome a pest, destroying the pastures and Vegetation. In Queensland the government es premium for each animal of these that is kilied. Two of the most re- Markable creatures to be found in the Porcupine Ant-Eater. world are indigenous to Australia and Tas- These are the duck-villed p!atypus $24 the spiny ant eater. The platypus Ras ¥ jaws. closely resembling the bill of duek. It is usually from 2) to 22 inches in ih, including the tail; has a broad, fat ly covered with close brown halt and @mall brown eyes. It has no teeth, strictly Speaking, but thetr purpose is served by ¥ protruberances, two on each side of ‘the jaw. In its cheeks tt _has pouches used as receptacles for food. Its legs are short, ith wed toes on the forefeet and claws on the hind ones. As is indicated oy its web- the platypus is an aquatic animal. Ant-Enter. During the day it sleeps in burrows dug the river banks and shores of the lakes. burrows are usually provided with two openings, one just above level of the water, concealed by the end Jeaves, the other below the surface of, the . A passage runs obliquely upward the bank. occasionally as much as fifty feet in length. At its end is 1 cavity, the Moor of which is covered with leaves and erie and here this extraordinary cross, between a bird and a beast, eggs. and rears its young peck Greases its hair very much like # bird. if LF i | like the duck bi! When asleep the platypus rulls itself in a ball. It is a very wary and timid creature, coming from its burrow in the day ‘This e animal is knowa to time. called water mole. The first descrij of this animal were taken to ignsiand it wan thougir te, have : Deen manufactured. The platypus is some- A oe ea era oe eate tee ~ eater, as it is frequently called, resembles the reupine in size and appearance, has similar quills and is able to roll itself in a ball. Like the duck bill, it is a crepuscular Tarsipes Honey-Eater. or nocturnal animal, getting its ale in the day time and going forth in the twilight to search for food. It has short and strong broad feet, provided with claws with -which it can quickly burrow its way into the ground. As its name implies, it feeds on ants and insects, and like other ant eat- ers has a long, slender tongue, covered with @ sticky substance, doubtless to ald in catching ants. It has no teeth. It is a very strong animal for its size, and whei attacked rolls itself in a ball, its erect spines making it hard to take hold of, or burrows into the ground. Its flesh ts quite fat, and is regarded as a great delicacy by the blacks. The natives hunt it sometimes with the aid of tamed dingoes. One of its most remarkable peculiarities is that it, lays and hatches its young. Its eggs are smaller than those of @ hen, and when hatched the ant eater nurses its young with milk (as does the duck bil), like other animais, while la: eggs like reptiles and birds. Another an! eater, to be found only in southern and western Australia, is about the size of a gray squirrel, distinguished by its large number of teeth, fifty-two or fifty-four, and its unusual a) ce. It les on’ the ground, ly where it is sandy. It is of a reddish color, with broad white stripes across its back. A curious creature fs ‘he tarsizes rostra- tus of western Australia. It is about the size of a mouse and looks like one; has a long tail, which it uses in climbing the trees brushes wherein it lives. Its most not- able peculiarity ia that it feeds on honey, Which if draws from the blossoms by means of its long slender tongue. The Australian koala, cr so-:asled bear is an odd animal to be <nown Ly the name of bear. It is by no means similar to the bears af other lands <nd is not really a member of the bear family. It is about two feet in length and is a most innocent creature, sleeping during the “ay und com- Koala, ing forth at night to climb the trees sna eat the leaves. It is also a marsuplal, cur- rying its young (n a pouch until they de- velop enough to be transported cn the ba:k of the mother. One of the most com- mon animals of Australia is the phalanzer, which is sometimes called opossum, thoug! quite different from the opossum of Amer- ica. Like the American cpussum the phi langer lives in trees. Hunting these a: mais by moonlight is a popular spert. Its fu is now exported in large quantities, Nearly allied to the phalanger is the fly- ‘Thylacine. ing phalanger, or flying opossum, which is provided with membranes along its flanks, extending along both fore and nind legs, nearly to the toes. With these spread to the breeze the animal can leap a great dis- tance from the top most branches of tall trees. It does not exactly fly, but the mem- branes act as @ parachute. ‘There are sev- eral species of these curious animals in Australia and Guinea, where they are some- times called flying squirrels, though being marsupials they have really no relation to the squirrel. ‘The thylacine, known as wolf, tiger and hyena, used to ‘belong to the mainiand of Australia, but is now entirely confined to the adjoining island of Tasmania. It is an nit about as large as a pointer, and looks something like a monerel dog. This is the largest carnivorous marsupial row in existence. It has nearly been exterminated in the settled parts of Tasmania on account of its having such a taste for sheep. A smaller animal of the predaceous kind, com- mpn to both Australia and Tasmania, is the dasyure, or native cat, which sleeps during the day in hollow trees and holes amoug Wombat. the rocks, prowling about at night in quest of smaller animals and birds, which are ita prey. ‘The only other destructive animal is the dingo, a kind of wild dog. The dingoes roam about in flocks and attack sheep, killing and wounding a great many, but eating few. They were formerly very numerous in western Australia, but, owing to their dep- redations, have been ‘so generally hunted down that they are now likely to be ex- terminated. The blacks find the young ones in trunks of trees and rear them with more care than they do their own children. ‘The dingo {s useful in hunting, as it has keen scent and goes after every kind of me. It runs fast and does not bark. The lingo will obey no one but its master; it never becomes entirely domesticated and often disappears. If this occurs during the Pairing season the dog never comes back. The wombat {s another marsupial animal to be found only in Australia and con- tiguous islands. They look something lik small bears, having much the same shuf- fling gait, but have broader, flatter backs and shorter legs. They sleep in the da: time, like so many other Australian ani mals, in holes among the rocks or in bur- rows, coming forth at nightfall to feed on roots, grass and other vegetable growths. ‘They’ have large teeth, but are gentle un- less strongly provoked, when they will bite. The wombat is about three feet in length, and has only a rudimentary tall. It be- longs to the rodent family. Besides the animals above described there is the yopolo, a small animal which makes its nest at the foot of trees; tHe boongary, or tree kangaroo, a marsupial, that goes out from its home in the trees only at night; it does not bear a very close resem- blance to the other members of the kanga- roo family; the bandicoot, or pig rat, look- ing something like a pig, its flesh’ being highly esteemed by the natives, and bats, rats, mice and some other animals, most of which are not confined exclusively to Australia. the Piece.” From Life. ae xs Mickey Flaherty—“There is ws ing, begorra, OF ll be afther tellin’ ye. “und thot is, no Wan in the wide wurruld can accuse me av concaling thot Ot'm Olrish Tommy Traddies—“How could you?” PRIZE MONEY OWING. $300,000 Still in Uncle Sam’s Hands Awaiting Sailors’ Claims, CAPTURING BLOCKADE RUNNERS How Admiral Jouett Took a Prize by Strategy. BOUNTY OLAIMS. HREE HUNDRED thousand dollars in undistributed prize money still remains in the treasury, awaiting claims by sailors to whom it be- longs. Uncle Sam merely holds this sum as the left over bal- ance of a trust fund. Unhappily, those to whom it is owing are mostly dead and will never ask for their shares. Their ones have been scattered by shipwrecks all over the world. Though the names of all of them are written in the govern- ment’s books, with the amount in dollars and cents due to each, it is only occasion- ally nowadays that applications are made for awards of cash from this deposit of treasure. Eventually nearly all of it will be turned over by Congress to some other Purpose for lack of claimants. This money represents a part of the great sum derived from the sale of captured vessels during the rebellion. Nearly all of these craft were bickade runners and of the latter nine-tenths were owned in Great Britain. Some of the finest steamers ever built were used by Englishmen for run- ning the Union blockade during the war. British naval officers got leaves of absence, during which they commanded blockad runners. Blockade running is a very lar business, ‘There is no penalty for It under international law, except the con- fiscation of the ship and her cargo. The People on board of her are treated in all other respects as if they were transactii @ legitimate mercantile business. At the earliest opportunity they are let go in Peace. Admiral Jouett’s Story. Admiral Jouett tells an odd story of a blockade runner. He was in command of the Metacomet at the time. The blockade runner referred to was a slippery vessel. She was so swift that every attempt to catch her had failed. Farragut declared that she must be taken at all hazards and delegated the job to Jouett. “Jim,” he said, “I count on ‘you to fetch me that bird, whatever happens.” So it came about that the Metacomet lay in wait for the artful dodger on Campeachy banks. There was Feason to believe that she would come that Way , before long. Meanwhile the _com- mander of the war ship set to work to transform his craft in such a manner that her own builder would not have recognized er. The first thing he did was to paint a broad streak all around her hull. Then h hoisted aloft and arranged them so @s to look like double top-sail yards, such as merchantmen carried in those days. By such devices the vessel was made to re- semble a Mexican trader. She was an- chored near the shoals, as if trying to catch fish.~So she was, but it was a very big one she was after. The guns were cov- ered with tarpaulins for a further disgi:ise, and it was ordered that no uniforms should be worn on deck. The commander put on | his oldest suit of clothes. In short, nobody would have surmised that a warship arm: to the teeth was concealed beneath auch an innocent exterior. ‘When the smoke of a steamer was seen at the expected point on the horizon, Jouett was confident that the game was in sight. He even went so far as to interview the steward in relation to a bill of fare, suy- | ing that he meant to entertain the captain | of that blockade runner at dinner the same | evening. The latter craft slowly rose on the horizon. When she came withia a cou- pie of nautical miles the Metacomet hoist- ed the Mexican flag. The stranger re- sponded by running up French colors. She had no suspicion of the true character of the foe that was lying in walt. With the utmost confidence she steamed past, and her astonishment must have been ‘great er the Metacomet fired a gun across her | ws. Yevealed in her true character, her teck: crowded with men and-her armament un- veiled. Her commander's invitation to din- ner for that evening was not refused by the captain of the blockade runner. Claims for Prize Money. From 1862 to 1874 no less than 15,000 claims for prize money were recorded at the treas- ury. These did not by any means represent the number of shares in captured vessels applied for, inasmuch as many applications covered several captures in each case. The most Successful chasers of blockade run- Rers were not warships, but merchant steamers bought and armed by the govern- ment for this purpose. Among these the Quaker City, the | Rhode Island, the ennebec, and the R. R. Cuyler were conspicuous. Several “of the admirals in the late war won fortunes of $100,000 and upward by such lucky strikes. Among them was Admiral Almy, now resident of Washington, who on two su cessive days took two of the most valuable prizes captured during the rebellion. They were worth $70,000, his share of the pro- ceeds being $35,000. Another rich capture was the Stephen Hart, which was scooped in by a smail sailing’ vessel. In that in- stance each blue Jacket concerned got 31.0. But the most profitable prize of all was the Greyhound, which fetched $242,000. sum one-tenth went to the commander of the ship which, made the capture—a fairly good afternoon's work, most people would think. According to law, when a United Stat: vessel captures a craft of less force than its own, the officers and crew of the captor get one-half of the net proceeds obiainal m the sale of the ship taken. The wther half goes into the navy pension fund, which will be spoken of later. When the vessel taken is of force equal to or greater than that of the captor, the latter receives the whole of the proceeds. An instance of this sort was that of the Northern Light, a transport belonging to old Cornelius V derbilt, which on a certain occasion was bringing soldiers up the Atlantic coast. On board of her was one officer of the United States navy. As they passed a sea-port, a Steamer hove in sight. The naval officer said that she was a biockade runner, and suggested that an attempt should be inade to frighten her. In pursuance of this {dea, the Northern Light fired her solitary gun, gave chase, and hoisted Union colors. ‘The | blockade runner, mistaking the comedy for serious business, surrendered. Corncitus Vanderbilt got a share of the prize money. ‘When a vessel is captured, a prize master and crew are put aboard of her; her papers are put under seal, and she 1s 'sent to the nearest port in the country of the captor. International law does not petmit a prize to be taken into neutral port. To begin with, the craft is libeled by an Information filed against her. An admiralty court considers her case and her owners have a right to be heard. If their defence ts not good, she {s condemned and ordered to be soid. The court determines whether one-half or the whole of the proceeds shall go to the cap- tors, and also what ships are entitled to shares. All vessels which assist to any ex- tent in making the capture have a right to an equal share with the ship which actually takes the prize, even though they may have been merely lying at anchor in such a posi- tion as to prevent escape. Thus half a dozen vessels may divide a single prize. An odd incident of the rebellion was the capture and recapture of the Emilie St. Plerre, be- longing to the firm of Trenholm & Co. of Charleston. She was taken by a United States vessel. Owing to carelessness on the part of the prize master she was retaken by her orignal crew and carried to Liver- pool. ‘The Money in the Treasury. ‘When a prize has been sold the marshal of the court turns the proceeds into the ‘Treasury at Washington. At the same time the commander of every ship which Is ad- Judged to be entitled to a share furnishes to the Navy Department a list of the officers and crew on board of his craft at the time of the capture. The Secretary of the Navy hands a list over to the fourth auditor of the Treasury. If one-half of the amount in- volved 1s to go to the navy pension fund {t 1s transferred to that account. The other half is distributed by the fourth auditor among the officers and men named on the Ust. There is a saying in the British navy that prize money {s poured down a ladder. ‘What drops through belongs to the officers and what sticks on the rounds goes to the sailors. There 1s some truth in the remark. ‘The commander of a fleet or squadron ets one-half of everything taken by the vessels under his control. He shares in all captures whether he is present at the time that they are made or not, because they are presumed to be due to’ his oversight. The division commander, if there fs one, receives one-fiftieth of whatever is captured by the ships of his division. The fleet cap- tain, who acts as a sort of chief of staff to the fleet commander, {s entitled to one-hun- dredth part. The captain of a ship, If under the command of a flag officer, has @ right te one-tenth of the sum awarded to ) but such In a moment the ship of war was | OF this | vessel. If he has a roving commission, not being attached to any fleet, he draws three- twentieths. After that, every officer and man shares in the ratio of his annual pay. Even civilians on board, like the captain's clerk and the paymaster’s clerk, are entitled to shares, and so it goes down to the powder monicey. ‘A story is told of an old sailor, who was ween on his knees just before a fight. An officer scolded him for showing the white feather and \ded to know what he et ee for. He replied: “I was pray- ing t most of the shot would go where ™most of the prize money goes—on the quarter deck.” ‘The moiety of prize money accruing to the navy pension fund during the rebellion reached $14,000,000. This sum has been set ay ever since the war for the payment annuities to disabled naval officers and sailors, and to their widows and minor children. It was originally invested in gov- ernment bonds, but these were eventually called in. Then a law was by Con- making the amount a loan to the nited States at 3 per cent. This is the shape in which it is held at present. Every year 000 interest on it accrues. Out of this income is taken what is needed for the support of the naval asylum at Phile- delphia. The balance is made up to $4,000,- 000 ‘Congress for the payment of the pen- sions referred to. From time to time peo- ple become alarmed lest this money in- trusted to Uncle Sam has vanished or will be absorbed in some fashion. In fact, no- body need be worried on that score. The treasury holds it safely, and the interest derived from it is only a drop in the bucket of naval pensions. Blockade R: ing. During the Crimean war United States vessels carried supplies to Russia by way of the Arctic ocean and the White s The British put a stop to this business by mak- ing captures. To establish the blockade they were obliged to patrol the waters with battle ships. The great Napoleon made a “paper blockade,” as it was called, a blockade is not now considered in international law. He issued announce- ments declaring certain ports blockaded, but since his time no nation has recogniz- such a declaration. Blockade running is fair for enybody, so long as he escapes capture. That is the only penalty. Ves- sels engaged in ich enterprises do not go armed. A dark night and a good pair of heels are the conditions they require. If on blockade runner out of three gets through it ys. Not long ago an attor- ney in New York was employed by a sailor to urge a claim for a share in a prize which the attorney himself had commanded when she was taken. The lawyer was then a British subject, and the sailor was one of the crew of the ship which took him. A good many odd things come under the Notice of the prize money division of the treasury. On one occasion a man applied for cash due his brother who had just died. The fourth auditor learned that the de- funct at the time of his death had on his body a pension certificate. This led to examination of the pension rolls, which it was discovered that the of (ae due the deceased had been paid to widow. From this it appeared that idow was entitled to the prize morey her claim coming in law before that brother. Then the brother disclosed t that the putative widow hud been merely the mistress of the dead man. She retaliated by stating that even the brother was not the heir, becai his mother was alive in Yorkshire, England. Eventually the mother was found, and the Prise money was id to her. The work of tl prize money division nowadays is mainly to persuade Jack Tar that his prize money has been paid to him. During the war, when he was on shore and wanted cash, the blue jacket would go to a lawyer and seil his claim for a small Percentage of its value, giving to the pur- chaser @ power of attorney to collect from the government. He put his mark on a Piece of paper and squandered the pro- ceeds. Now he is getting old. He poor and the transaction referred to has escaped his memory. He gets a notion that Uncle Sam is still in his debt. Pension agents make a business of asking every old sailor if any'prize money is due him. When the answer is in the affirmative they write to the treasury, mentioning the name of the man and ship on which he served. The names of all seamen and officers entitled to such allowances are recorded on the books, with their individual credits. These records are kept secret, but anybody can lance secure information with regard to a par: ticular person by putting the question in the manner described. Jack Tars often imagine that they are cheated. They do not realize that many vessels captured were released, the libel against them not being sustained. In other words, they were proved to have been innocently engaged at the time when they were taken and, being declared not lawful prizes, they were restored to their owners. The government acts on the assumption that all payments of prize money relating to the war of 1812 have been made, though most of the vouch- ers were destroyed in the fire at the treas- ury in 1833. ‘The U. 8. Bounty. b No prize money is paid for the destruction of an enemy’s ship in war. Instead of that the United States government grants a bounty, which 1s distributed in exactly the same way. If the vessel wiped out was of greater force than the victor, $200 is allowed for every officer and sailor on board of the vanquished craft. If she was of less force the allowance is $100 per capita. Supposing that it is impossible to tell how many per- sons were on board of the ship destroyed, her class is stated and her complement reckoned on the same basis as if she had been a United States vessel of the same class. This bounty Js a very different thing from prize money. The latter is a trust, be- longing absolutely to the captors, for whose benefit it is administered by the govern- | ment. The money is always ready to be paid when a claim ts proved. But the boun- ty is a gift from Uncle Sam, and requires a special appropriation by Congress. A good many claims for bounty are still open. In the capture of New Orleans large sums, both in prize money and in bounty, were Involved. There was bounty for the de- struction of fighting vessels and prize money for the capture of merchantmen. Forty-five ships were ‘concerned on the | Unton side, and the cash gained had to be divided up among more than 5,00 men. ‘The | figuring on this problem made a large vol- | ume, which ts still preserved. | |In'a war between this country and Great | Britain blockade running would cut an Im- | portant figure. The British would try to lockade our ports and we would do our | best to blockade hers. For lack of strong battle ships we would find it difficult to | keep up our end, while England could hard. ly maintain an effective blockade along such a vast extent of seaboard as is | possessed by the United States, So depend. ent ts John Bull on imports, even for food, that he would starve if shut off from the rest of the world for ninety days. 1 le an open question whether privateers would be utilized in such a war. ‘After the Crimean war, at the congress of Vienna, ‘il of the European powers signed an agree- | ment to the effect that they would not rec- | ognize privateering In future. The United | States refused to come into this agreement. We have reserved the right to employ pri. vateers. One reason why this government declined to abjure this form of warfare was that it would be exceptionally advantageous | to the United States, For example. by issu. ing letters of marque we could quickly sweep British commerce off the seas. It is said that privateering ts piratical. That 1s quite true. ‘The giving of prize money Is an old piratical custom. People call It a remnant of barbarism. But, when it comes to actual war, prize money is always a powerful of- fensive agent. ‘The Impulse of avarice puts Rerve into the warriors who sail the seas. This 1s not an age of sentimentalism in warfare. Even explosive bullets are allow- able among agencies of destruction. safely be said that privateering will make part of the next great International con- flict on the waters, and no criticism will be uttered in regard to cases like that of the Alabama, which was denounced in the north as‘a pirate because she was never in a home port, having been armed and equip- ped in England. In the old days, when U1 had orders to keep a sh slavers, a vessel carrying slaves was doubly @ prize. Its value went to the captors, in addition to $20 a head paid by the govern- ment for negroes found on board. The lat- ter were carried back to Africa and set free. RENE BACHE. nele Sam's ships arp lookout for so0 Biggest Diamond in the World. From the Birmingham Post. Our Jagersfontein correspondent writes: You may have noticed by cable that the largest diamond ever seen has heen found here. I am sending by this post a perfect plaster of Paris model of the diamond, w Was found on the 30th of June in the Jagersfontein company’s mines, It is the most perfect large stone ever seen. Its weight is 971 carats, its color ts blue-white and almost perfect.’ It has one black spot in it, which, however, the owner stated to me will cut out. Its value, of course, can- not now be stated, but I think if ¢99.00) were offered for it now, or even double that amount, it would not be accepted; some even declare that it will be worth ‘half a million. It was found by a Kaffir who was working in the mine shortly after blasting. The Kaffir, in this case, was talking to his overseer when he saw something shine, and he put his foot over it until his “boss” had ne away, when he picked up the immense iamond ‘and put it in his pocket. After- ward, in the compound, he handed it over to the manager, for which he has been xiven £150, a horse, saddle and bridle, and has gone home in no,doubt perfect happiness. An ex- traordinary circumstance is that one gen- tleman or some gentlemen—I lon't hnow which—were under contract to buy all stones, good, bad or indifferent, at s2 much per carat. This contract terminated on the 30th of June, and this stone was almost. if not quite, the last stone found on that day. The model shows that the stone is in the form of a slopping cone flattened on two sides, and standing on an oval base so flush as almost to appear to have been cut. Its height is about three inches and Its width about two. The diamond itself, which has been named the “Jagersfontein Excelsior,” is in Lendoa, | killed, and not more than 700 wounded. It may | jing to the fair. FINANCES OF THE FAIR Director General Davis on the Re- ceipts and the Outlook, If WILL PAY ITS DEBTS The Danger of Fire and the Elec- tric Wild Wires CONCESSIONS PAY EXPENSES. Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. CHICAGO, August 2, 183, WALKED UNDER the statue of Victory into the administra- tion building of the world’s fair today to see the director gen- eral. This building contains the offices of the men who are man- aging the great show. It is covered by a great gold dome and a mortgage. The dome is very big and costly. The mortgage, by which I mean the indebtedness of the fair, is also big and it represents millions. The dome covers nearly half an acre and it shines out under the sun above the great city of Chicago. The mortgage covers all the seven hundred odd acres of shows here and it can be seen blazing over Chicago all the way from New York to San Francisco, The dome will be wiped out at the end of the fair, when the administration bullding will be sold to the highest bidder. Whether the mortgage will be wiped out or not. remains to be seen. The director general thinks it will. It was to ask as to this that I called. A Chat With Director General Davis. Walking over the marble floor of the ro- tunda past the pretty girl in the center who peddles out for $1 each silver souvenir Columbian halt dollars, I reached one of the halt dozen steel’ elevators, which carry you to the upper floors. At the sec- ond stop I was landed and a moment later, through the introduction of Major M. P. Handy, was in the big parlors of the direc- tor general. A tall, robust, gray-haired, y-bearded man, with an eagle eye and a Erunette complexion was presented as the manager of the world’s fair, Director Gen- eral Davis, and he, in response to my ques- tion, said: “The world’s fair 1s doing better every day. It will pay all its debts, and we will come out even. We are cutting down our expenses in every way, and the saving from the music under Thomas is to be followed by other radical reductions. Prof. Thomas and his orchestra cost us just $1,800 a day, and the people who heard him had to pay a dollar apiece to go to his concerts. It took me several months to get rid of him. Think of it! Eighteen hundred dollars a day! Why it costs only $1,200 a day to run the great buildings of the exposition. We are Teducing right along. Our next cut will be as to the tes, which cost us $1,800 a day, and we will cut also in other quarters. “What does it now cost to run the expo- sition?” said I. “It costs just about $18,000 a day now, but an average in the past has been far above that. When we were building we spent $40,- 000 and more a day for weeks, and money had to flow like water. We have labored under great disadvantages. All the work has been done under the eight-hour law, and that law has increased the expendi: tures of the fair over a million dollars. The trades unions have regulated our prices, and we paid double wages for the work we had to have done on Sunday in order to get ready in time. Some of our contracts were made for the entire period of the fair, when they should have been made for a short ime, ‘and the expense of the whole has n materially _increa: thro th haste we have had to make.” on : Police and Detective Force. “Where does this $18,000 a day that it ré- quires to run the exposition 0" “It is spent in all sorts of wa; was the reply. “A large amount has to be paid out for guards, police and detectives. We have about two hundred detectives, and sixteen hundred guards. The number of guards has been ‘criticised as being too large, but we need them to provide inst fire. ‘The ‘statue. ‘Fire. Controlled’ “atene this building is typical of our work. We have here one of the most inflammable cities of the world, and one of the most dangerous as regards loss of life. Suppose @ fire should break out in the manufactur- ers’ building, machinery hall or the elec. tricity building and should gain headway. Think of the electric wires charged with hundreds upon hundreds of volts of elec- tricity that might fly about as wild wires, If we were not prepared for them they would deal death at every touch. Why some of those wires are charged up to one thousand voltage. One of them broke the other day and fell into a pond covering nearly an acre of ground. A man was standing in the waters of this pond a good distance from the wire. He is now laid up with a sore leg coming from the electric hock he got at that time. I have it now arranged so that these wires can all be deadened at once. If it were not so and a fire should break out the results would be more terrible than any conflagration of his- tory. We have already had fifty fires, but they have been put out so promptly that the people have never heard of them. A: it is our fatalities have been very few. W. have had in round numbers seven million People on these grounds. We have. butlt these great buildings wit the men clinch- ing the bolts on some of these great iron structures as they were put together, hang- ing onto the beams while they were mov- ing, and all told only fifty men have been In other’ words, including visitors, only one man in every ten thousand, so far connect- ed with the fair, has met with an accident. The only building burned has been the storage building and for this we were not responsible. “You must also rememver that these great buildings are not like ordinary structures. They ave fragile, and, solid as they look, you could kick a hole into them at almost any point. The Future of the Fair Buildings. “What ts to become of these buildings” I asked. “Will there be a fair next year” “No,” replied Director General Davis. “A fair next year with these buildings is an Impossibility, They would not last the winter through. The glass roofs are so constructed that they would be broken by the ice, and the buildings would fall to pieces. I know there is some talk of an ex- position next year, but it is out of the ques- tion.” “How about th® extending of the exposi- tion on into November?” “I can't say whethe> it will be extended or not. I think {it might be a good thing for us if we could have ten days, two weeks or ‘n more in November, and it would help us out, Whether Congress will be asked for this, and whether it will be granted, I cannot now say, but it is very probable that some such movement will be undertaken.” How Hard Times Fair. “Has the panie hurt the fair?" T asked. “Yes,"" replied Gen. Davis, “it has re- duced our attendance at least 25.000 a day and our receipts proportionally far more. ‘The rich men of the country are not com- Capitalists, bankers, mer- chants and the men who usually spend a great deal of money at such places cs this are staying at home to watch their busi- ness. The financial condition is such that they are afraid to go away. Chicago and the F: “Has the far helped Chicago?” “Yes,” replied Mr. Davis. “It has prac- tically saved the Chicago banks. There has been less trouble here than at any other point in the country, and the Chicago banks have plenty of money. The merchants sre doing a big business, and some of the lar- ger firms are having more custom than they can attend to. I don’t think the hotels are making much, as yet, and there Is by no means the extortion practiced that has been charged. The probability is that September and October will see bigger crowds than ever, and the richer people will probably come at that time. Now many of them aro at the sea shore, and we could see the fail- ing off of this class as soon as the hut weather began. It is this class that pat- ronizes the best hotels and that spends the money which comes into us largely through the concessions.” The Concessio Pay the Expe: “Does the fair management make much from the concessions?” I asked. “Yes,” replied General Davis, “our re- ceipts from the concessions we have granted to the different shows in the Midway Plais- ance and to others doing business in the grounds now more than pay the running expenses of the fair. We get a percentage of the gross receipts of all the shows and a percentage of the receipts from nearly everything sold. These percentages range all the way from 20 per cent to 70 per cent and every girl who chews zum in the grounds gives 70 per cent of the amount she pays for the gum to the world’s fair. In other words the Tutti Frutti Chewing Gum Company pays us 70 per cent of its receipts. Of the shows in the Midway I think the Cairo street pays best, though we ve Affected the et 2, Sood round sum trom all. ‘erris wheel has paid us nothing, It was not to received enoug! putting it up. The big as yet. ive percentage until it had to pay the expenses of bu vg This_has been about ac- ma |, and we get a good income from it. Some concessions have not paid nearly as well as was expected. The roller chair man has not been doing as much as he thought he would, and rn, which Was considered a very concession at Philadelphia, is not worth much here. ‘There is not ‘a great demand for guides, and the Waukesha Water Company, though it does a big business, is not turning out as much as was expected. How the Foreigners Kick. “Are the foreigners satisfied with the fair?” ‘ot very well,” replied Director General Davis, “they do not like tne concessious, and they say that the allowing them to peddle out things from the Jifferent coun- tries materially affects their business. Many of them have so decidedly objected that we have changed the rule und allowed them to sell things in the varlous bulid- ings. We expect them to nay a percentage to the fair. They are not dotuz, however, the business they expected to do. ‘This is largely from the fact that the richer class of our people are not here The crowd you see on the grounds today ts not made up of men who buy thousand doliar Vases, fine carriages, or order beautiful china’ and pictures. If the times ist up we will have some of these people in September, but not now. As to keeping the fair open after November, it wovld be an impossibility from the fact that the ex- hibitors would not stay, if it were not so from the buildings.” How the Officers Have Lost Money. “Who are making money out of the fair? I asked. “The Chicago merchants, a few of the hotels, the railroads and some of the con- was the reply. “As to any one connected with the fair making money, I do not know of a cent that has been got- ten by the officers. As for me, as large as my salary is I have spent more than it right along in the duties I have had to per- form in Keeping up with the position. I think the same is true of the other of- Major Handy on the Situation. After leaving Dtrector General Davis I talked for some time with Major M. P. Handy, who had charge of the bureau of publicity and promotion, and who-has been as theatrical people would say the advance agent of the fair. One question I asked him was in regard to the large free list. ‘There is, you know, a turnstile for passes,connect- ed with every gate at which paid tickets are taken and the number of passes given out amount to about 30,000 dally. Said Ma- jor Handy: “Thirty thousand is not a large number of free admissions for a fair like this. It is generally supposed that these are all given. to the press. The truth is most of the pass- es belong to the employes of the fair. are 60,000 exhibitors here. Each has the right to a ticket for himself and his attend- ant. Then think of the army of men con- nected with the concessions, of the clean- ers and sweepers, and of the people who have to come in to the fair to bring food and other things, and you will see that this number is very small. It is true that @ number of newspaper passes have been given out, but the newspapers nave made the fair, and it seems to me that the pu: ing of the fair with the newspapers ought to be kept up today as strongly as ever. I think this fair ought to be run as t show, and that is the only way to eit pay. it going to pay?” I asked. e will pay our debts,” was Maj. Han- dy’s reply. “Had the times not been so hard we would have given a big dividend to our stockholders.” The Last Big Fatr. “When will the next world’s fair come? “There will never be another big world's fair,” replied Maj. Handy. “This has capped the climax. Chicago has set the pace too rapid for any other city or any other nation to compete with it. Think of it. The fair has cost $20,000,000. The thought of such an attempt would send the cold chills down the back of any nation in Europe. New York could never have done what Chicago has done, and I doubt whether Chicago will ever do as much again. A Boom for Chicago. Maj. Handy comes from Philadelphia. When I knew him some years ago I was associated with him in the New York World | bureau in Washington, and I found that his views on most subjects were conservative. Like all men who have been connected for any time with Chicago, however, he has now become convinced that it is the center of the earth, and when I broached the idea that the world’s fair might, on the whole, be rather an injury than a good to this city he scouted the insinuation, and said: “The world’s fair has already helped Chicago, and | it will materially increase it in size’ and | wealth. Chicago grows right along. It now | has 1,400,000 people, and it is bound tobe | the biggest city in the United States. New York will, perhaps, hold her commercial supremacy, but the world’s fair has brought | Chicago into close touch with the great markets and the great merchants of Europe and her business will now be done with | them direct. Already gold is being shipped | from Europe directly to Chicago. One of | our firms brought in $1,000,000 1 week and Phil Armour received $500,000 in gol not long ago. The biggest cities of the world | are not at the sea shore. London, Paris and | Berlin are all in the interior, and the same 1s to be the fate of the United States. Chi- cago has the best location in the country for a great city, and it will steadily grow. Chicago Being Educated. “Another thing that the fair is doing for Chicago,” continued Maj. Handy, “is in the way of education. It is making the city a| cosmopolitan one. It is provincial no long- er. It is grown in art taste, and it will have as a result of the fair a magnificent art palace. Chicago is in a better. finan- cial condition today as a result of this ex- Position. Its people are now making money and the hotels are, I think, doing well. It is a curious thing about this fair that there | Was more money spent during the first two months than there has been since then. The Hotel Richelieu made $40,000 in June, and all of the good hotels did well during | May and June. The richer people came at | that time. They will be back tn September, | and they will spend a great deal here be- fore the fair closes. FRANK G. CARPENTER, A Maguzine Rifle. From the Buffalo Courie: Mrs. Meadowlot—“Whi kind of a thing is a magazine rifle, anyway, Ebenezer? Did you ever see one? Mr. Meadowlot—“No; but it’s some new- | fangled contraption for them editors to shoot poets with, 1 suppose. See His Idea. From Life. “What do nautical people mean by ‘tack- ing,’ said one girl to another. “Don't you know that? jot exactly.” ‘Why, tacking—er—tacking is sailing on the bisa.” | femove the cartridges. ‘The fearful number of infant deaths this month, ; especially from cholera infantum, is due tothe ignorance of weil-meaning mothers. Improper food is tue cause of nine-tenths of all the infant mortalit Mother's milk, when healthy and sufficient, ts the {deal infant food, and it will never be surpassed. | But when in the first year of the baby's life re~ course must be had to other food, or wher the time | comes for weantng the child, lactated food should be given in preference to anything else. It has | saved the lives of hundreds of babies. There ts | Ro mother in the land but can read the following | letter with profit. It is from Mrs. C. M. Childs of | Elkton, Md., the mother of the three children | Whose pictures appear above. It is written to the | manufacturers of lactated food in Burlington, Vt.: | “Tis ts & photograph of my three ttle ones, | who are all subjects of the use of lactated food. i “Lactated food was recommended to me by Dr. | George Gillispie of Conowingo, Md., six years ago, | when the eldest was a baby. My present baby was | born May 10, 1892. At the end of six weeks my | physician advised me to use sterilized milk. I did | 80 for a few weeks, but she did not seem to thrive. ¢ continued to grow thin and became very Much emaciated. At the end of six months she weighed the same as at her birth, which was eight Pounds. The doctor thought it doubtful if she | survived. Without consulting him further I re- | sorted to the use of Jactated food, as I had done | ‘before with the others, procuring it from H. B. Mitchell of this town. “In one week the improvement was very per- ceptible. At the end of two months the doctor, Reighbvors and friends were amazed at the great LET THE BABIES LIVE! The Ignorance of Mothers Causes aFearfl Number of Deaths, change in her condition. “The doctor sald: “What has caused this change? “My reply was: *Lactated food.’ “He remarked: “It 1s evidently the right footy altnough he had at times recommended another, not being familiar with thisone. As you see her 4m the picture, I attribute her healthy appearance to the use of lactated food.” Mothers who have used lactated food agree thas Mt best supplies the materials for baby's Tapia growth and development. Lactated food is prepared with a regard for Purity, cleanness and freedom from possibility ot contagion that merits all the praise that has been #0 lavishly bestowed upon it by physicians and grateful mothers. ‘The nutritious parts of baries, wheat and oate are so prepared as to be easily assimilated; to these | are added sugar of milk and the salts, which are ‘the basis of mother's milk. These constituents are thoroughly cooked at high steam heat and make s Predigested, palatable, nutritious food,e perfect Substitute for mother's milk, fit for meeting every demand of the rapidly growing child. Lactated food has tided thousands of babies this ‘Summer through the sickly hot days. It should be in the hands of every parent. As one of the great- est specialists on children’s diseases bas well said: “It ts worse than thoughtess for mothers who ‘think and read to negiect lactated food, when so many mothers eagerly tell of their own sccora ‘how it bas saved their babies’ lives and made them strong, healthy, plump and fall of life.” Lactated food can be had of any druggist Ihte always pure, “keeps” perfectly and is mot aifecies by age or temperature. DON'T CAKRY A PISTOL. From the Detroit Free Press. “Confound that pop, but it is always dig- ging into me!” growled the drummer, as | he reached for his right hand hip pocket to give the pistol a lift. ‘Carried it long?" queried the man who was picking his teeth with a broom corn. “Ten years. “Ever use it?" “Well, no, though I think the fact of my having it has cooled three or four fellows off at times.” “Not in the slightest, my friend. That gun of yours has been no more protection to you than a foot of lead pipe.” “What do you mean?” asked the drum- mer, with a tinge of acidity in his tones. “Just what I said. In the first place, you are not a marksman. I'll go out to a pistol | gallery with you and wager two to one that you can’t hit a figure the size of a man at thirty feet once out of three times. I'll bet five to one you can’t hit a vital spot once out of ten times. To make it interesting I'll bet the drinks your pop isn’t in shape to fire a shot. “Well, you see,” began the drummer, as | he reached for it, “I can’t say that I have examined it for a month, but I—" | “just as I thought.” chuckled the other, | 8 he took it, “only three cartridges in the ylinder and everything stuck fast with | . Say, man, I could advance ten paces | on you and brain you with a club before | you could fire a single shot. Better throw it into the gutter. And buy a new one? ‘No, if you haven't a good right a1 then buy a knife. See this" +“ re | He drew from its sheath a two-edged knife with a blade about twelve. inches | long and every one instinctively recoiled @ little as they uttered an “Ah! “I don’t mind giving you boys a pointer,” continued the man as he returned the knife. “The sight of a pop might stand of | @ man who hadn't any nerve, but the gen- ¢ral run of men don’t fear them. Not more | than one man in a hundred is a good shot If you fire at a man only six feet away there are nine chances to one that you will simply wound him. Suppose, now, that I | felt like picking a fuss with’ you?’ I'd. fig: ure on your pop being out of order—or its being caught in your pocket—or your shoo ing at random. ‘I'd figure, even without a knife, that I had the advantage. Let me Now you return it | and we'll sit ard words, we'll sa: you a Har and you realize that you business on hand. Now, then—draw The drummer reached for his gun. Re- fore he had it from his pocket the other had him by the throat with knife upraised “You see?” queried the man. “Even if you were twice as rapid 1 could cut you to | pieces. If you were chain lightning and | ad fired a bullet into me it wouldn't have Stopped me, unless through the heart or brain, and I protected both with my arms | as rushed. 1 used to think just as you do, and for years 1 lugged a gun around on my hip. ‘Three years in the far west con- Vinced me that I had been a dole” vertnd You have gone back on the revol- to your pock. have had “all ve For close work, yes. draw it and it’s in good order and you area good marksman it's a handy thing. The trouble is that the man who assails you ts most always close’ in before you have the | gun ready. I've seen plenty of men come to @ dead stop before the muzzle of a gun, and I've seen half a dozen killed at close quarters, but it was no more than what a knife would have accomplished. Men dread the cold, sharp steel. Put the two weapons — ng side. Which has the more wicked look? ‘The knife!” chorused every man in the group. Exactly, you think of bullets and holes in your clothing or of being grazed. You know that the knife cuts. It not only cuts deep, but it gashes. You can’t even look at it without a creepy feeling. For instance, I Was on a wharf at Mobile a year or two ago. There were a tough lot of fellows loading a vessel. I accidentally jostled one of them, and we had some words. Two min- utes later ten men rushed at me with clubs and cotton hooks. I don't believe they would have minded a gun in the slightest, but the minute I pulled a knife and put my back to a pile of cotton bales they subsided. The sight of the steel did the busines “Did you ever try it on @ bad man asked. “Well, a fairly bad man. It was a chap called "Kickapoo Jim,’ named after the town | on the north fork of the Canadian river. | He was a two-handed shooter and a sort of a terror. I entered the town of Eufavla one day and sauntered into a saloon. Jim was in there, and was bulldozing everyone who entered ‘to treat the crowd. He had his uns in holsters on the outside of his coat. When he demanded that T should treat the crowd I promptly told him to go to. He came back with a threat to do for me and down went his hands. I had fourteen feet | to go. He got in two shots, neither of which hit me, and then T had him. “Did you—you—?” : * ‘I took his guns away and made him kneel down and ask my pardon and agree | to clear out. He was a gun fighter. If T had been armed with a couple of pops we should have fusilladed until one of the other went down. Perhaps both would have been Killed. ‘The knife frightened him half to death, thoueh he was no coward. When T let up on him he walked out doors, mounted his mule, and never stopped traveling until e got Into Kansas.” ne guppose Twoke up at night to find a rob- der In my roam?” asked the drummer, who hated to yield the point. “Well, you mizht throw that pop_at him. uuppose,”” Inughed the other. “Sunnose, however it wan all right. for businen ‘There'd be just about one chance in « bup- If you have time to was Grea of your hitting him. I knife would come in any better, unless you ot out of bed and tackled him. to hand struggle the man with a hundred advantages. The other man, posing you are armed with e gun. aims Wrest it away. He may be stror if is fired you may get the bullet. He seize it so that the hammer can't be 5 Victory will be with the stronger man. ‘With a kni“> it ts different; you have a grip on the handle. If he seizes the biade he suffers for it. If he seizes your wrist he is More apt to get cut than you.” “Then. all things considered, you prefer woe amet, 5 “Yes, one must ¢o 5 carry a knife because I am « lichtweight and am troubled with — ra ry Fe show against a tough. If I weighed 1 and was in good health I'd take my 4 without a weapon. My experience ts that a man who minds his business need have no trouble, and that the chap with @ pop tn his Pocket is, generally speaking, a Guffer. ‘Throw it outdoors, my boy, and take a new start.” f it That He Had Been Called In. Frém the Yankee Blade. Young Doctor to Patient—“Let me look | St your tongue. H'm; troubled with éys- wal Patient—“Not a bit. I can eat sole leath- e.” Young Doctor—“Let me feel your pulse H'm: wakefulness at night?” Patient—"Sleep like @ top.” Young Doctor—“Let me see your tongus, Hm; dizziness and pains in—” Patient—“No.” Young Doctor—“Let me feel your pulse. Fim; easily tired, with an indisposition te mental exertion of any—”" Patient—“No.” Young Doctor—“Let me see your Him: headache od stiffness of the—" Patient—“Haven’t had a headache te twenty-five years.” pulse, Young Doctor—“Let me feel your Hm: you are using too much tobacco. Patient—“Never touch it in any shape” Young Doctor—“Let me see your pulse— er—I mean your tongue. H'm: too’ much confined to your desk. You need fresh air pow wy Patient—“T'm a letter carrier.” —that is, 1 should say. your pulse. tnt have a tired feeling come over— Patient—“Never.” Young Doctor—“Let me see your—never 4 desire for water?” Patient—""No, beer.” Young Doctor-"Do you @rink beer?” Patient—“Oh, yes!” Young Doctor—“Let me feel your mind, your tongue. Feverish at times, with Young Do: “To excess?” Patient—"No. Young Doctor—“Tell me how many Elasses a day? Patient—“Sometimes more and some- times fewer a ehough 3 Young Doctor—" ought so. ve mem- bers of the medical profession are seldom deceived in our diagnosis of @ case.” tient—"Am I in any danger, doctor? Young Doctor—“No tmmediate danger; but it’s lucky you called me inf —_—_oe- Me Hit the Mark. From the Philndelpiia Record Armed with a big Roman candle and bigger jag. a good-natured downtowner wan dered into a south 9th street saloon the other night. After ordering refreshments for the crowd, he began boasting of his skill as a marksman, Some of his asser- tons provoked smiles of incredulity whicl riled the downtowner. A bronge figure that ornamented the mirror behind the bar at- tracted his attention, and he offered to bet that he could hit it three times out of fivi smiles of in- attempts. There were more credulity, and before the bartender had time to interfere the fuse of the Roman candle had been touched to the cigar lighter and the sharpshooter was aiming at the bronze figure. Balls of multi-colored fire were seen flying in « direction, and the faloon was promptly, vacated e shooter and the employ: the curtains and netting that cov the fixtures. Something lke $50 worth of property was destroyed, but the man with the jag marched proudly down the street with the shell of his firework, chuckling to himself as he repeated: “I hit the figure anyhow.” 0+ ‘Journal, Higgins—“These her roads is mighty tough on, shoes. From the Indianapo! Hung here gravel we y Watkins—“That’s so; but where opie has money they ain't #8