Evening Star Newspaper, December 2, 1893, Page 14

14 OLD ONES REVAMPED. Stories That Are Told to Enliven Debate. SOME OF THEM ARE QUITE GOOD. How Members Often Raise a Laugh in the House. LINCOLN AS A HUMORIST. Written for The Evening Star. F ALL THE STORY tellers that have breathed the air of Washington there | was none whose anecdotes are more often quoted than those of Abraham Lincoln. There was} also none more ap-| plicable to the sub- ject of conversation. | His story of swap-| ping horses while | crossing a stream ha. run over both hemispheres. The Amer- fear. people appreciate applicable anecdotes, and Lincoln's stories were never told with- out a purpose. They were lights that made his public policy clearly distinguishable. Whether told upon the stump in Illinois or at cabinet meetings they were equally ef- fective. The people appreciated the moral as well as the point of each story. This story-telling gift of the martyred Presi- dent gave him a popularity that became world wide. The sto told upon the floor of the House are indicative of the character and ability of the Representatives. Some are old anecdotes clothed in a new dress. Others are new and characteristic of the district which the Congressmen represent. The Senate is a staid and dignified body and produces very few reminiscences. ‘There is an abandon about the House, however, waich produces a_ story-telling atmosphere. The debate on the repeal of the Sherman law would have been a very dry discussion indeed were it not for the Stories illustrative of the situation. Some of these have already been retold; others are worth recording. Only one Senator ven- tured upon reminiscent ground. He was that glorious veteran, Zebulon B. Vance. in attacking the repealers he said that they wahted to maintain a parity between the metals, and therefore they cut the only cord that held silver up, and permitted it to drop out of sight in the abyss. They reminded him of an Irishman who had been induced to go down the shaft of a mine in a bucket. There was a charge for a blast below him. The fuse had gone out and he was to descend and relight it. When half way down he saw a spark of fire be- Jow him. Thrilled with fear, he shouted, “Pull me up, boys! pull me up quick!” They began to pull him up, but the bucket moved very slowly. The excited Irishman screamed, “Haut me up quick. Begorra if you don’t haul me up quicker, may the devil ay away wid me but I'll cut the rope.” This was an old story, but the grave and reverend seniors around Gen. Vance burst into laughter when they heard it. Not long after the Senator paid his re. spects to Senator Voorhees for incorpor- sting in his bill a part of the Chicago plat- form. He expressed his opinion by saying: “Was there ever a cat trotting through the tangled thickets of the Alleghenies or roaming over the barren wilds of the Rocky mountains so wild and untamable as this cat? Was there ever any bug discovered and classified by science with a hum equal to the hum of this bug?" This natural flow of language again set the Senate in a roar. In speaking of Sena- tor Sherman he said that he had never known a Senator more anxious for the un- doing of his own actiea than this Senator. “It is @ confession that he is wrong and it i8 an appeal from hia conscience which seems to say to the court, ‘Hurry up, judge, I am a great criminal. Let there be no de- Don’t even let the jury have water.’” Different iu the House. And this was the nearest attempt at story telling that was made in the Senate during the discussion. In the House it was differ- ent. It averaged at least a story a day. Some were good and some were bad, but all indicated the material that forms the popu- lar legislative body. Gen. Hooker of Mississippi recalled an ex- tremely interesting reminiscence during the discussion of the rules. It was concerning his first appearance in Congress. He said he had been in the House for three months and had not opened his mouth. Samuel J. Randall had an appropriation bill before the House. A friend of Mr. Hooker's went to Mr. Randall and said: “There is a new member here from Mississippi. ‘Chat state has been referred to by some one on this side and I wish you would give him an op- portunity to speak for ten or fifteen min- utes.” Mr. Randall turned and :ooked at Gen. Hooker, closing one eye as he scruti- nized him, and said: “Well, he is a new member. There is no telling what in the devil he may say and I think he had better net speak.” Gen. Hooker said that he never got even until Mr. Randall invited him to go to Philadelphia with a number of other gentle- men and make a speech in his behalf when he was a candidate for re-election. He re- ceived the Pennsylvanian’s :nvitation by closing one eye and looking at him from head to foot. Then he replied, “Weil, Mr. Randall, I am a new member and there {s mo telling what the devil I may say and I think I had better not go.” Randall acknowledged the corn and Gen. Hooker went to Philadelphia and made as fine a speech as was ever heard in that city. ‘The Hon. Leonidas F. Livingston in his speech quoted an expression of Abraham Lincoln that he said he was very fond of. Lincoln once said: “God must like the com- mon people very mu: Whereupon some gentleman present asked “Why?” “Because he made so many of them,” Mr. Lincoln replied. | | | ss His Sentiments.” Mr. Livingston said, when they can get are the bu es for society. dy of North t worker in t ¢ him in- If up he is time | @s your steel beam, and these two will up- | he could have bought Iowa corn for at the | magnificent crop of potatoes, which could | but they ail said that, while they were will. THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, said: “One beam will not hold up your house. If you take solid seasoned white cak you will have a beam just as strong hold the entire structure.” But the fellow replied: 1 won't put in wooden beams in my building, no matter how strong the timber may be. I am going to put all the weight on the steel beam and there is no use in talking about it.” He did as he said and the house soon crashed upon his head. The application of this story is self-evident. John M. Allen of Tupelo, Miss., made by far the most humorous speech on the re- peal bill. He said he never favored the Sherman law. He spoke and voted against it at the time of its passage, He did mot like it then, and did not like it now, but it was the only law on the statute books providing for any increase in the volume of currency. To remove it without substi- tuting anything in its place would put us very much in the condition of the negro’s | cow. The darkey had been left in charge of the home in Mississippi while his em- ployer was away. The cow was taken sick. In writing to the family, who were at the White Sulphur Springs, he said: “The cow have been sick. I done give her some medicine and she are now well of the disease; but I think she will die of the remedy “Now, Mr. Speaker,” said John after the merriment had subsided, “I am as anxious as any member on this fioor to cure the country of the disease, but 1 do not intend to vote for a remedy that will be worse than the disease itself.” In speaking of the democratic orators, who believe that the republicans had done a good thing in demonetizing silver, Mr. Allen said: “wo of my constituents were once can- didates for the office of treasurer of Al- corn county. One had held the office for two terms and the other was running against him in opposition to a third term. The man who was running for the office the first time followed his competitor all | over the country denouncing the proposi- tion for a third term. The people indorsed him, and he was selected in opposition to the third term candidate. He held the office himself for two terms and a new election was approaching. The time was coming when he must get out of office | himself or repudiate the platform upon} which he had been elected. The situation | was serious. He came to town one morn-|} ing and said: “ “Boys, have any of you seen anything of Beach Mitchell? “Beach Mitchell was the man whom he} had beaten. They told him that Beach | was in town. “Well,” he said, ‘I want to see him, | I feel that I owe him an apology. Four | years ago I ran against him for the office | of treasurer in this county and I beat him | ‘She Will Die of the Remedy.” on the third term issue. I heard this talk about Grant and the third term, and I thought the third term principle was all wrong. At that time I had never reflected | very much about the question, but since then I have thought about it a good deal, and when you come to apply that principle to the office of county treasurer there is no sense in it, and am glad that I have the | manhood when 1 see that I am wrong to acknowledge it.” “Now, my friends,” said Allen, “in mak- ing the application of the story those of you who have received compliments from Tom Reed today for bravery and acumen after you have been going around the country denouncing the republican party, its financial policy and the ruin and wreck it wrought, ought to, like my friend, when you find that you are wrong, have the courage to get up here and say you apolo- gize to the republican party.” One of the best stories illustrative of the financial situation was told by Marcus Aurell Smith of Arizona. To use his words: “The Secretaries of the Treasury had always been dominated by New York bankers. They tried to get Secretary Car- Usle to issue bonds for their benefit. When they failed in this they thought that they would scare him into it, so they started @ financial panic, but the panic got away from them. Instead of scaring the Secre- tary they scared the people, who gathered all the money in sight and shoved tn into their stockings and bedticks. They remind me of a fellow in Arizona who had a two- year-old colt. In talking to one of his neighbors in Tombstone one day he said that he had thoroughly broken the colt. “Why he is mighty young to be well broken,” the neighbor replied. “Well,” said the owner of the colt, ‘you walt and I will show you. I am going IP ~~ “You h...0ed Too Loud.” down after him and when I ride him up the street here you jump out from the door, Wave your hat and hallo ‘boo’ to him. You will see how well broken he is.” “The neighbor did as requested. The man came up the street on a full canter and the neighbor jumped out of the door, waved his hat and shouted ‘boo.’ The colt | shied, and when its owner picked himself up from a pile of stones on the other side of the fence, wiped the blood from his face, and got himself together, he shook his fist vengefully at his neighbor and shouted: ‘You blasted old fool, you halloed too lou AMOS J. CUMMINGS, ————-+e+. FARMING IN NORTH DAKOTA, Diversified Crops Do Not Pay so Well as Wheat Growing Does. From the Northwest Magazine. I met on a train in North Dakota a very intelligent American farmer who has been tilling a moderately large farm near Valley | City for the past ten years. He said that @ great deal of nonsense is printed in the newspapers of the state advising people to| go into diversified farming. He had tried all sorts of crops, and with good success as to yield, but when he camé to figure up cost and receipts he found that he would have done better to stick to wheat. One trouble with other crops was the lack of a home market, and another was the scarcity of experienced labor at moderate wages. One year he had raised a fine crop of corn, but atter he had paid the lazy and unskillful laborers engaged in cutting and husking he found that the corn had cost him more than railway station. Another year he had a have been shipped to St. Paul and sold for a good price, but he could not hire anybody to dig them. There were plenty of idle fellow: in town, ing to work with a’ threshing crew, they posit would not dig potatoes. So the crop froze in the ground, except the small part of it that the farmer and his wife dug themselves. “Now I raise nothing for mar- ket except wheat,” he continued, “but I produce everything I can on the farm for food and forage. T raise hogs, keep a small | fl f db | ave ® few young cattle. r I sell part of the meat d take my pay in kind an animal. I have tried/ 1 barley, but I never made on them. When I got a good e was too low. T have made nd my experience teaches h Dakota farmer who w heep an 1 T Kill a ste neleht stick to wheat the same time pro- duce as much food stuff for his family and animals as possible. so as to pay out very | little money, will do well in spite of occa- sional short crops and continued low | Pp ae — | that man insolent.Seme- | an after the disagree- | downright impudent.”” | that w renifed ay have observed fer than I, and | TO PRINT ITS BILLS. An Inroad on the Traditions of Con- gress, CHANCES OF ERROR REDUCED. Heretofore They Have Always Been Engrossed. MISTAKES MADE IN THE PAST. —————— Written for The Evening Star. HE SENATE AND the House of Repre- sentatives have tak- en a step which will probably save the! United States a great} many tens of thou- sands of dollars—a | step that should have been taken years ago, and = which would have been taken but for the well-known conservatism of Con- | gress. A has passed the two houses of Congress pro- | viding that hereafter all bills which pass | either house shall be enrolled in printed form, and that all bills which pass both houses shall be engrossed in printed form to receive the signatures of the presiding officers and the final signature of the Pres- ident. The innovation takes effect at the beginning of the regular session of Congress in December. Since the beginning of the government bills have been enrolled and engrossed with the pen. The enrolling has been done on long sheets of heavy paper—the engrossing on parchment. Now the bills will be printed | on paper and afterward on parchment. This change marks an era in the history of Congress. It is the first prominent mile stone on the road to the modernization of congressional methods. 7 In the matter of engrossing or enrolling the bills of Congress speed was not so im- portant a consideration as accuracy; and some of the costly mistakes made by the clerks of both House and Senate in copy- ing bills have taught Congress the wisdom of changing the form of this work. Of course, the proof reader of the government printing office is not infallible; but there is much less likelihood of mistakes tn a print- ed document which has been read in the proof two or three times than in a hand- written document which has gone through one revision. Especially 1s this true of the bills which come up for consideration in the last hours of Congress, when the clerks are worn with much labor and their eyes are heavy for want of sleep. It is altogether likely that the government printing office will not be called on to do the work of printing these bills. It is probable that a set of presses will be put in the Capito) or in a building not far away, and that the printing of the bills will be done within easy reach of the members of both houses and of the clerks. An Immense Amount of Work. In the early days of a congressional ses- sion the enrollment of bills is a safe and easy matter. The enrolling clerks have very little to do. They have time to revise and reread a bill as often may seem ne- cessary to insure accuracy. But in the last days of the session the work of enrolling 1s more than two or three men can handle. The other clerks in the office are always called in to assist with the work of copying and of reading for corrections. Most of the clerks have been working night and day. They are too much exhausted to take any lively interest in what they are doing. As a result mistakes creep into important bills and are perpetuated in the laws of the country by the signature of the President of the United States. Often the mistake is one of commission, as often one of omis- sion. One of the most important para- graphs in the McKinley tariff law (the to- bacco paragraph) was omitted by a mistake of the enrolling clerk. The mistake was not discovered and the bill received the sig- nature of the President and became a law in this imperfect form. An attempt was made to have the entire law declared un- constitutional on account of this omission. But the Supreme Court held that it could not go behind the signature of the Prest- dent. The law as filed in the State Depart- ment, said the court, was the law. Hundreds of mistakes made by the clerks of Congress could be pointed out in exist- ing laws. Some of them have cost the gov- ernment many millions. These are the mis- takes made in tariff laws. The omission of | @ punctuation mark in a tariff law will change the whole meaning of a Lig oiy, One of the most celebrated examples of this was the fruit paragraph in the tariff law of 1872. The bill as passed provided that “fruit plants” should be admitted free. The clerks were probably copying the bill together—one reading and the other writing —and the paragra| as engrossed provided that “fruit, plant: should be admitted free. The substitution of the comma for the hy- phen put tropical and semi-tropical fruit on | the free list, when it was intended that only tropical and semi-tropical fruit plants should be on the list. A sharp lawyer saw the flaw, went among the fruit importers and got authority from them to bring sult, and the government had to repay to these importers more than haif a millton dollars, of which fully one-half went to the at- torney. Di ties That May Arise. It is not so bad when mistakes of this character are made in the early days of a session and are discovered before the law has been enforced or before much damage has been done. A bill correcting the error can be introduced, pushed through both houses and sent to the President very quickly. But in the last hours of a Congress a mistake like this may be a very serious matter. If the mistake is discovered before Congress adjourns there may be time in which to correct it. If it is discovered after Congress has adjourned it may be too late to correct it at all. The next House of Representatives may be of a different po- litical complexion from the one which has just adjourned sine die; there may be an- other President; even the Senate may have changed color, as it did last spring. Any- thing of a partisan flavor which failed to pass the Fifty-first Congress, when the re- publicans had both branches of the legisla- tive as well as the executive end of the government, stood no show of passing the Fifty-second Congress, in which the House of Representatives was overwhelmingly democratic. The longest bill ever copied by the Senate enrolling clerks was the McKinley tariff bill. As it passed the House it filled sixty- seven printed pages—for the bills as they pass are printed in duplicate for the use of members and Senators. The Senate amenu- ments to the tariff bill filled 162 pages and contained about 40,000 words. ‘The bill was perfected near the end of the session of Congress. If the clerks had had to copy all of it after its passage they would not have finished the work in time for the bill | to go to the President for his signature be- fore adjournment. hey copied a great deal | of it in advance of its passage, using their | | | | judgment about the parts which would probably go through without change. This is an old trick of the enrolling clerks. At the end of a session of Congress the enroll- ing clerks always have on hand a number of bills which were expected to pass and which were copied in that expectation, but which failed of final action. The same policy will undoubtedly be followed with the | printed bills. The printer will be asked to/| print a great many bills, leaving the date of the passage a blank. This blank can be filled in when the bill is passed and the | print on parchment can be run off and sent! to the presiding officers of the two houses | for signature within ten minutes the | passed. Or, if it is the last day of | session,the date can be filled in anyway, and if the bill passes the Vice President can aifix his signature to it the moment after! the affirmative action of the Senate is taken | and the Speaker of the House can affix his a minute later. Three minutes after it passage it can be in the hands of the Pre: dent, sitting in the red room of the Senate} wing of the Capitol. On the last day of the | ession every arrangement Is n to “rail- | “oad” bus S.. he passageway” between | the Senate and House wings of the Capitol is kept r by a line of watchmen, and the jerks bai and forth at break-neck | peed. When the methods of the House and Ss nate are ee the m shot across the odern thoroug Capitol on a trolley wire: or resolution | 4° @ pneumatic tube will carry bills from one house to the other. Errors That Have Been Made. The mistakes made by clerks in copying tariff laws are not the only important errors which have been made by the enrolling clerks. Some years ago, one of the clerks wrote “$2,000” for “$200,000” in the river and harbor bill and thus cut down the ap- propriation for the improvement of the Illinois river $198,000. Another clerical er- ror made the salary of Mr. Wheeler, Vice President of the United States, $80,000, in- stead of $8,000. Mr. Wheeler, it is hardly necessary to say, took $8,000, Amzi Smith, the keeper of the Senate document room, came very near receiving some millions of dollars some years ago as the result of mistake in engrossing a bill. Mr. Smith's salary was $3,000. The clerk ‘ote “three thousand thousand,” instead of “three thous- and dollars.” If he had written “three thousand thousand dollars,” Mr.Smith would have been entitled to $3,000,000 for that year, though it is not certain that the ‘Treasury Department would have honored his warrant for that amount. The depart- ment saved Mr. Smith some embarrass- ment by interpreting the faulty paragraph for him and paying him “three thousand dollars” instead of the indefinite “three thousand thousand” for which the law called, Under the rules of the two houses of Congress the bill which is read and passed is the manuscript bill which comes from the enrolling clerks. As a fact, the bill which the reading clerk handles is the printed duplicate which comes from the government printing office. This bill may be identical with the enrolled bill, but it may not. The bill which passes the two houses of Congress is the printed bill which the read- ing clerk uses and which is filed on the esks of Senators and members. The bill which receives the signature of the presid- ing officers of the two houses and goes to the President for approval is the bill which comes from the enrolling clerks. So the law as it goes on the statute books may be different in some respects from the law contemplated by Congress—in fact, it fre- quently is different, What Congress has done in providing for the printing of the laws in place of their engrossment is not absolutely an innovation ‘There is one law on the files of the State Department which was printed .by special resolution of the two houses of Congress. In 1874 Congress made a revision of the statutes. The law passed was of huge bulk. The whole force of clerks of House and Sen- ate would have worked for many days to copy it, and the possibility of error was im- measurable. A special resolution was passed providing that this law should be printed. The government printing office took two days to set ft up. Only thirty copies were run off. One of these was signed by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the United States. It is on file in the State Department among thousands of man- uscript parchment record: This is the longest single law ever enacted by Congress. Probably the shortest was one of sixteen words, admitting a western city as a port of entry. A few more bills of this length would have been.a boon to the enrolling clerks under the old system, especially on days when the Senate or House took a notion to pass three or four hundred private relief bills. Hereafter a long bill will mean simply so much more copy for the printer. soe HISTORY OF ADVERTISING. From Small Beginnings It Has Grown to Wonderful Proportions. From the Boston Giobe. Emphatically this is an age both of com- petition and advertising, and in the forward rush to success only the shrewdest and best can be counted on to win the great prizes of commerce. The merchan’ must have good goods, and he mustn't hesitate to let the people know of them. A thousand ave- nues are open for the exercise of his inge- nuity, He may send out handbills: he may hire “sandwich men'’—people who verambulate the streets, their breasts and backs adorned with placards of their employers; he may decorate fences and Js with posters, hang signs in street or ull the win- dows of his shop with attr but if he desires to get “ ior his money he wili place est invest- ment in printers’ ink. Where any other de- vice attracts 10, the judiciously-worded, neatly-arranged newspaper advertisement will receive the attention of 100. It is now 250 years since the first adver- tisement was published by an English jour- nal. The pioneer in making known his want to the worid had lost a horse. He offered a “guinney’’ reward, and his steed was re- turned. Thereafter, advertising grew apace, until now it has reached enormous proportions. Like all other great movements. many lu- dicrous and amazing incidents have dotted its progress to prominence. and a fine field awaits the author who shali collect the novel announcements of the daily and weekly press during the last two and a half centuries. Here are a few of the oddities from time to time given to the public through the me- dium of the types: “A converted burglar will break the doors of hell with a gospel jimmy.” “The liquor I offer is not particularly good, but as good as most of the whisky sold in this neighborhood.” “A laundress will take pay in lesso1 the guitar and board on washing da: “Should sorrow o’er thy brow Its darkened shadow fling, Go buy a hat of Dow: You'll find it just the thing.” “Not to pile up the agony of eloquence, we state with great confidence that ladies attired in our new styles of spring and summer goods wifi find the effect so reju- venating that all cares incident to domes- tic lite will be as blithesome as kissing the dew from the roses of beauty that bloom on in perennial fragrance in the elysian fields | of ecstatic love.” “Auctioneering of the loudest kind, inter- woven with ventriioquism.” “An editor wanted who can please every- body; also a foreman who can so arrange the paper as tu allow every man’s ad. to, head the column.” Under the big display advertisement of rival an economical merchant once secured | the publication of these words: “Me, too. James Jones. The London Standard some time ago crit- icised a new poet strongly. saving, among other things: “And this extraordinary pro- duction Mr. —— modestly conceives to be equal to Goethe. The poet's publisher turned the tables by inserting among the favorable comments on the book printed in his newspaper adver- tisement the following: . traordinary production * * * equal to Goethe.”—London Standard. The above are a few of the novel and amusing features developed by the Anglo- Saxon race in 250 years of advertising. The backbone and mainstay of the practice is, of course, the’newspaper, Often the merchant who doesn’t adver- tise has to close his doors and hand his| effects over to his creditors. Such an ex- perience is a rarity for the man who com- bines the knowledge of what to put in stock with the knowledge of how to make people aware that he has for sale the things they want. Judicious liberality 1s the best economy in trade, and honest wares. honestly adver- tsed and honestly sold, bring the dealer popular See: financial competence Timber, From the Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union. Wherever and whenever in Florida suffi- cent capital, together with business energy and business judgment, has been Invested in the manufacture of cyvress timber the venture has proved successful. In three or four conspicuous instances there are firms and individuals getting rich in the business, and the fleld is still a most inviting and promising one to those who understand this particular branch of the lumber busi- ness. From several important lumber cen- ters of the west and northwest there has been a noticeably increased inquiry of late for large and compact bodies of standing cypress timber, especially for trees of more than the average height and size. The conditions of accessibility and convenient transportation facilities have been import- ant ones, of course, in the matter of effect- ing sales of these lands, but there is a growing demand for the younger and smalier growths, even if they are not easily accessible or easily transportable. —_+e-+ ___ Narrowly Escaped a Meteor. From the Boston Journal. Glines Hill is the name of a long and steep grade between the villages of Madi- son and Eaton Center, N. H. On Saturday last Mr. L. M. Atkinson was resting his horse about midway of this hill when his atcention was attracted by a noise resem- bling that of sparks falling into water. Looking to the left and up to the top of Downs mountain he descried an object about as large as a half-bushel measure coming toward him with lightning-like pidity. The missile passed within twenty of him and landed in the bank about sixt When it sed him it w ubout twenty or thirty feet from the sround. He said that he was quite sure he felt the heat from ‘+ (QUALITY OF MERCY. The Power to Pardon Vested in the President. HOW THIS DUTY IS PERFORMED. Involves Considerable Labor on the Executive, ! IT IS ABOVE OONGRESS. —— eee Written for The Evening Star. HE EXERCISE OF the pardoning power is one of the Presi- dent’s most laborious duties. During the first eight months of his present adminis- tration Mr. Cieve- ) land has released sev- enty offenders against United States \ laws has denied fif- { ty applications for is executive clemency, and has granted com- mutations in seventeen cases. His first act of official forgiveness was issued March 21 last, in favor of a man who had been sentenced for cruelty to a seamaa. The convict was in danger of losing his sight, and while in prison could not get the spe- cial medical treatment needed;.so he was Jet go. The next appeal considered was that of a man killer, whose doom was changed from hanging to imprisonment | for life. Since theo Mr. Cleveland =| —= freed two other supposed murderers—one having served already sixteen years, and the other by reason of new evidence which made his guilt doubtful. Up to Mr. Cieveland’s first term the par- doning power employed by the chief execu- tive was a mere matter of red tape. Papers begging for clemency came to the White > House from the office of the Attorney Gen- | eral, and were laid upon the desk of the) President's private secretary. If they were | favorably indorsed by the Attorney Gen-| eral, the private secretary wrote upon them | the words, “Approved by the President,” and sent them back to the department of | justice. A pardon was then duly made out in behalf of the person interested, and was _ returned to the Executive Mansion. The private secretary submitted it to the Presi- dent, who—learning of the application then for the first time—signed it as a matter of course. Mr. Cleveland upset that method | of doing business at once on entering the White House nearly nine years ago. He | demanded a full knowledge of the docu- ments in every case, and insisted on exer- clsing his prerogative of deciding for him- self in each instance, independently of the | opinion of the Attorney General or any- body else. Though the papers are often Voluminous, comprising an abstract of ali testimony at the trial, reports, letters, é&c., he goes over every one of them conscien. clously, often sitting up late at night fot the purpose. President Harrison followed his example, and future chief magistrates will doubtless obey the precedent thus es- \ablished. Investigating the Cases. The most frequent forms of crime for which pardons are asked are counterfeit- | ing and stealing from the mails. Appeals in such cases, however, usually fail. Mr. Cleveland's indorsement on an application recently made by a jailbird convicted of | making false money reads simply: “Denied. Counterfeiting must be suppressed.” On the papers submitted in behalf of a man | sentenced for stealing letters from the maiis this indorsement again reads: “De- | nied. Offenses of this kind are far too com- mon, and the public good, in my opinion, demands severity.” Using the post for fraudulent purposes is a fault seldom con- doned. A mail robber’s recent petition for — release from prison is indorsed with the | words: “Denied. Such crimes are becoming | ularmingly frequent.” In another case un- favorably decided the indorsement reads: “Shooting at revenue officers must be dis} | couraged.” Now, this practice of giving reasons for granting or refusing a pardon is likewise | original with Mr. Cleveland. He nearly al- ways states them. Entire frankness characterizes the Presi- | dent's indorsements on such applications. | On an application made by one J. A. Les- ter of Virginia he writes: “I do not un- derstand the trading and dickering attempt- ed in this case. When the officers of the ecurt determine whether thev have con- victed the prisoner or have made a con-| tract with him, it will be time enough to consider the question of executive inter- ference.” Sympathy has great influence with Mr. | Cleveland in deciding on applications for |pardons. He has let many e@ bad egg out of jail for the sake of a wife and children jlacking bread and needing the earnings of \the husband and father for their support. One recent indorsement reads: “This act of clemency is based entirely on pity for the convict’s mother.” Ike Mason, alias “Whisky Jack.” confined in the peniten- tiary at Detroit for larceny.was released the other day because he was in the last stages of consumption. On October 31 last a bank embezzier was liberated for no other rea- |son than that his sight required an opera- tion which could not very well succeed in| prison. | Limitations of His Power. | The President has power to pardon only , offenders against United States laws—such jas mail thieves, counterfeiters. {llicit dis- tillers and embezzlers from national banks. | His jurisdiction includes all crimes com- | mitted on government reservations. A mur- |der perpetrated in any post office or other federal building comes under this head. In the District of Columbia any sort oj transgression is punishable by the federal llaws, though it is only the stealing of a | peck’ of potatoes. A person sentenced for assault or drunkeness may appeal to Mr. Cleveland for clemency. | There are now about 1.500 individuals sentenced for viofations of the laws of the United States scattered about in forty odd penitentiaries in various parts of the coun- try. The government sadly needs more |prisons. It owns at present only five penal establishments—two penitentiaries in Wash- ington state and Utah, and iails at Wash- ington city, Portsmouth, Ark.. and Sitka, Alaska. Besides these it rents a few jails jin Indian territory and Oklahoma territory. The institutions mentioned being insufii- cient, Uncie Sam is obliged to make use of those belonging to tne states. A bill was passed by the last Congress establishing three federal prisons big enough to accom-) modate 0 guests, but the necessary clause appropriating money to bulid them was omitted from the law by accident. Any United States convict may apply for a pardon. He need only write a letter to the President or to the Attorney General, or get somebody else to do it for him. The communication does not have to be in any legal form. Whatever its shape. it is sure to obtain just and careful consideration. If | addressed to the President it is referred | without examination to the Attorney Gen-| eral. The latter official hands it over ta_ the pardon clerk of the Department of Jus- tice, who forwards it to the United States | attorney in the district where the applicant was tried and sentenced, together with a letter instructing that officer to make a re- port, giving the facts in the case and his opinion as to whether clemency should be | granted or not. The district attorney is also directed to get a written opinion on | the same question from the judge who acted at the trial. All the papers then come back to the De- partment of Justice at Washington. If the attorney and judge report unfavorably the | petitioner is so informed. In such a case | the appeal is usually abandoned as hope- less; but, if the applicant so wishes, it is forwarded to the President with an adverse | recommendation by the Attorney General. | | On the other hand. if the district attorney's report and the opinion of the tudge are fa- vorable, the pardon clerk makes brief ab- stracts of all the papers and hands them over to the Attorney General. The latter indorses them approvingly. if he sees fit, and they go to Mr. Cleveland. That Is to | say. they are placed by messenger on the | desk of Mr. Thurber. who gives them to the President at a suitable time. The pardoning power of the President {s above Congress, which cannot curtail ft In any manner, because it is a part of the Constitution. Mr, Cleveland can remit and penalties imposed under the reve- SAT the anmen he aannet D. C. SATURDAY. DECEMBER 2, 18983—TWENTY PAGES. cause the amount of a fine to be returned after it has been paid into the treasury. He may, and often does, mitigate sentences of courts martial; but he cannot change the manner of the punishment prescribed. For example, he could not compel an officer of the army or navy to pay a fine instead of undergoing suspension from He can pardon an offender before he is sen- tenced, or even before conviction, but this is not often done. Etiquette has its place in the matter of pardons. On one occasion Gen. Arthur referred an application to his Secretary of War. The latter ap led for counsel to Attorney General Brewster. But Mr. Brew- ster refused to give it, because to do so would be merely to advise the Secretary as to what advice he should give to the President. Governors of territories can grant reprieves, but they can only pardon with the approval of the chief executive. A governing decision in the Department of Justice is to the effect that any district attorney may assure a pardon to a counter- feiter who betrays his accomplices and gives up his plates or molds, together with all imitated paper or coin in his posses- sion. In Massachusetts a very picturesque custom holds, one convict being released from prison by the governor of the state every Thanksgiving day. One of the most notable pardons granted by Mr. Cleveland during his former term was that of Cyril T. Benedict, who had charge of the Adams Express Company's office in the treasury here. He stole several thousand dollars. He was prosecuted, sen- tenced and served one year in prison. ‘Then he was released, at the solicitation of the company which he robbed. The latter has since employed him in another capacity. The fact that respectable employment awaits a convict on his release has some weight in obtaining his pardon. The pardoning power has been evolved in an interesting manner through history. It had its beginning in the times when | Kings and autocrats had control over the lives of their subjects. They exercised judicial functions, and the throne room of those days was a police court as, well. Now the chief of a commonwealth’ uses#! m, the privileges of forgiveness, which still retains, for a different purpose. It ts designed to temper stern justice with the quality of mercy, criminals are punished not for the sake of reprisal, but to prevent offenses against lig is one of the elements of civiliza- ion. ———_+e+______ HELEN KELLER AT THE FAIR. How This Wonderful Girl Did the Great Exposition. Anna M. Sullivan in December St. Nicholas. Helen Keller spent three weeks in Chi-_ cago during the exposition, “and had a per- fectly splendid time.” Thousands and thov- sands of American young folk will share her enthusiasm as they recall the delight- ful days at the wonderful show, when, see- ing it all and hearing all about it, they took in pleasure and information at every turn. But litle Helen Keller can neither see nor hear. Everything is a blank to her until an impression can be made either through er imagination or through the deaf and dumb language of the hands and fingers: and even then, in Helen Keller's case, the words are not seen but felt by her own palm and fingers as they lightly hold the hand that is making these signs of words and letters. The president and the managers of the exposition were exceedingly kind to her, and did all in their power to make her visit pleasant and instructive. So widely is she | known, and so general is the interest in her, that wherever she went she received | loving attention. The task of describing things to her was made lighter by the help- ful sympathy of the chiefs of the depart- ments. They gladly permitted her to pass her fingers over the exhibits whenever it was possible, and cheerfully gave her all) the information they could. Of course I interpreted everything to Helen by means f the manual alphabet. She was allowed ven to climb upon the great Krupp gun, and its workings were explained to us by one of the German officers. Everywhere the show-cases were opened for her, and rare works of art were given to her for ex- amination. At the Cape of Good Hope exhibit the great doors were unlocked, and Helen was admitted to the realms of diamonds, where everything was carefully explained to us about the precious stone: how it is mined, separated from the matrix, weighed, cut and set. Wherever it was possible she touched the machinery, and followed the work be- ing done. Then she was made very happy | by being allowed to find a diamond herself— the only true diamond, they assured her, that had ever been found in the United | States. But the French bronzes afforded her more pleasure than anything else at the fair. The picture which she presented as she bent ovef a beautiful group, her eager fingers studying the faces or following the grace- ful lines of the figures, in her effort to catch the artist’s thought, was the most touching and pathetic I have ever seen. And, strange as it may seem to those who depend upon their eves for the pleasure which they derive from works of art, this little blind girl, who has not seen the light since she was nineteen months old, rarely failed to divine the thoughts which the | artists had wrought into their work. Constant practice, indeed, has given to Helen's sense of touch a delicacy and pre- cision seldom attained even by the blind. Sometimes it seems as if her soul were in her fingers, she finds so much to interest her everywhere. People frequently said to me at the fair: “She sees more with her fingers than we do with our eyes.” And in one of her letters she says, “I am like the people my dear friend Dr. Holmes | tells about, ‘with eves in their fingers that spy out everything interesting, and take hold of it as the magnet picks out iron- filings.’ ” Descriptions are to Helen what paintings are to us; and her well-trained imagination gives the light and color. One evening, as we sat in a gondola, I tried to tell Helen how the thousands of tiny electric lights were reflected in the water of the lagoons, when she asked: “Does it look as if a shower of golden fish had been caught in an invisible net?” Is it any wonder that Dr. Holmes says of her, “She is a poet whose lyre was taken from her in her early days, but whose soul is full of music.” we see, pathetic as Helen's life must always seem to those who enjoy the bless- ings of sight and hearing, that it is yet full = brightness and cheer, of courage and ope. ———_+e-+____ Orange Growing in Palcstine. From the Planters’ Gazette. It is only of late years that Jaffa oranges have obtained a world-wide reputation, for but some eighteen years since they were scarcely known save at Beyrout, Alexan- dria and Constantinople. A special feature of the Jaffa orange is that it will keep thir- ty or forty days, and if properly packed,for two and sometimes even three months. port of Jaffa is surounded on the land side by orange groves, covering an area of 1,780 acres. New orange groves are constantly being planted, and there are now double as many as there were ‘fteen years ago. Each orange garden contains about 2,000 square feet of planted area, equal to about 1,300 trees to 2 1-2 acres. The trees begin to bear the fourth year after planting, but it is estimated that it takes seven and sometimes eight years before an orange or- chard yields a paying crop. During ail this time, and even afterward, the orchards have to be watered continually, and this irrigation is the most difficuit and laborious part of the work, the water having to be drawn by means of primitive water wheels from wells dug in the gariens ninety feet and even 100 feet deep. An improved and cheaper system of irrigation is of para- mount importance, as It would tend to ex- tensive and fertile plains round Jaffa be- coming, in a short space of time, extensive orange groves, would cheapen the produc- tion, and would enable the growers and the exporters to compete with the oranges of other countries in European markets. Truth vs. Fiction. ee = . Mrs. De Swell (peering trom her carriage) —“Oh! I see Mrs. De Stickler up at her window. (To coachman). James, stop the carriage. I wish to see if Mrs. De Stickler is at home. —_—_——— The best way to avoid scalp diseases, hair fall- ing out and premature baldness is to use the best preventive known for that purpose—Uail’: Bair newer. and—in an age when | The | PLAYTHINGS FOR HOLIDAYS Ever So Many New Kinds of Toys and Games for Girls and Boys. Handsomer This Year Than Ever Be- fore—Ingenious Contrivances for Interesting Young Folks. There are more brand-new games an@ | toys for the coming Christmas than have been seen before in many a year. Some of them are inspired by the world's fair—for example, the Ferris wheel puzzle, which is a novel and interesting modifica. tion of the pigs-in-clover idea. The wheel turns around and the problem is to per- suade a number of shot to enter the cars all at the same time. | Equally new are Punch and Judy tenpins |for the little ones. They are shot at with small wooden balls fired from wooden can- non. When one of them is struck, @ spring causes it to fly apart in an interest- jing manner. The figures represented py the “pins” are comic, comprising, in addi- jtion to Punch and Judy, a policeman, a nursery maid, a ghost and so forth. A Somewhat similar device for amusing is a Humpty Dumpty target, representing the |head of a clown on a large scale. When he is hit in the open mouth by a rubber | ball thrown at him a spring causes his j tongue to wag and the stroke counts 30, i A Miniature Post Office. | One of the best of the large toy: / isa miniature post office, which looks very uch like a real one, having a full comple- ‘at of private boxes, a stamp window, a letter slot, &c. The boy who plays post- envelopes and little postal cards that look quite like real ones on a | Small scale. He distributes the mail in the | boxes, attends to the general delivery and makes up the missives in packages for inty’s ladder is a toy more enter- taining than instructive. The gentleman named is made out of wood and he start jat the top of a perpendicular stick with pins on either side of it. The pins are so arranged that it is physically impossible jfor him to be supported on any pair of hem, and so he comes scuttling down to the bottom in a most ludicrous fashion. There is a tower target—targets are much |in vogue this year—which is covered ali jover with the ietters of the alphabet and |shows a comic face at a round window. | Whenever the face is struck, another takes its place. Lessons in Sewing. Perforated cards are a novel device for siving first lessons in sewing to little | siris. The perforations form simple pic- | tures, and the latter ure filled in by the child with worsteds and a cunning little cylindrical box of wood containing needles are furnished. Oda little drawing boxes jare likewise sold, with perforated cards, | which are intended for use as stencils. One jof them being laid down upon a piece of paper, a pencil is employed to folic the perforations. In this simple manner the design is reproduced, after which it is | filled in with paints and brush. A new kind of street car of tin, drawn | by horses of the same metal, has a socket for a candle inside of it. The windows of j the vehicle ere of translucent paper with colored pictures painted on them, so that the light of the candle shining’ through them produces a pretty effect. One set of tenpins is called the Brownie Band—that is to say, a musical band of brownies, with | il the instruments represented from drum |to bass horn and a brownie drum major | to lead. Another novelty is a circus me- jMagerie with real cages containing lions and other beasts, so arranged that the jelephant, camel and other antmals drawing | the cages can be separated from them. Ferris Wheel a Doll House. | A miniature Ferris wheel is run by clock- work, carrying passengers in cars. It will go for an hour. There are all sorts of toys that are actual pieces of machinery run by | steam, from a steam pile-driver on a small | scale to a locomotive that pulls a train of cars. One such plaything represents a factory, with real boilers and a tal) chim- ney. It will furnish motive power for wheels and belts. A remarkable dolls’ house is made after |the pattern of the White House, with a , bust of Grover Cleveland on the roof. The |front of it opens, showing artistically fur- |nished bed rooms and parlors. A smailk cow utters a strikingly realistic “moo” | When its head is pulled to one side. A more complicated plaything is a device with horses and riders who race im a circle. It {is called the tournament. Each rider car- jries a spear. As the horses race around, So fast that they cannot be distinguished, ;metal rings are dropped through a fixed chute resembling the kind used at merry- |So-rounds. Most of the rings are caught on | the spears by the riders and the game te beens by = — a the great- num! 0! em. e impulse is given by a spring. ° Over the Garden Wail. } It is noticeable that the games are much |handsomer than they have been hitherto, thanks to the perfecting of chromo-litho- graphic processes. One of the prettiest is called Over the.Garden Wall. It is a varia- | tion of Tiddledy-Winks. A wall ‘of paste- | board bricks is set up around a pasteboard garden, and the wirks are shot over into the gerden in the familiar manner. A wink that lands upon the flower bed in the middle counts 3 points, on the paths 2 points, on the grass plots 1 point. Several trees grow in the garden, being set up oa Wwooder. bascs, and if a wink knocks one of them over 2 points are lost. Another game afier the pattern of Tid- dledy-Winks is called King’s Quoits. The |probiem is to shoot winks, which are in pe of rings, so that they will fall and circle numbered pegs. Another novelty is the Sociehle Snake, which is divided up into segments on a picture board. The |Moves are made from segment to segment |by inrowing dice, and the player who a upon @ red spot is obliged to move Hicedless Tommy is a game somewhat similar, the spinning of an arrow determin- |ing the moves on a board which is divided |up into squares. In some of the squarcs | Tommy is seen in the act of doing some- {thing good, as rescuing a kitten, while in jothers he is behaving badly, stealing jam, |for example. When the player alighis on bad square he goes back so many stages, uifering a vicarious punishment for Tom: my’s wrong doing. Another kind of sport is named William Tell. The players we a mark and throw rings over a pex that has a red ball, representing the historic apple, on top of it. Every time this is ac- complished without knocking off the ball it counts so many points. Shovelbourd for the Parlor. A new game of Shovelboard for the parlor has three pins, which the players try to knock down by shooting checkers at them along the board by blows with a wooden hammer. More interesting is the Magnetic Fish Pond, which, when set up, represents & tank with a lot of fish at the bottom Through the nose of each fish is a metal ring, and they are angled for with poles jand lines, the latter having little mag. on the end instead of hooks. Each fis numbered, and the player w 100 wins. The magnets weak have been used for a while, but new ones can be easily got. The Old Oaken Bucket is similar is similar in pian. instead of a fish tank there is a well, into which the bucket is dipped by the players in turn In the well are cards, each with a metal ring and bearing a single line of the fa- mous poem. In the bottom of the bucket is a magnet and the player who first fishes out the lines required to compose a whole stanza wins. For Tiny Folks. For the little one’ are world’s fair blocks, with pictures of the exposition and brownie blocks, the latter designed by Paimer Cox. Then there are fragmentary puzzles of lumbus and the white squadron, to be put together. Dolls’ houses of pasteboard are so made in sections that they out of a flat box and set up c few moments. Pantomime by open in the middle so as to give the of 8 scenes, which tell the stori Cinderella, Robinson Crusve, &e. Robin hw such as Ring-around-a-Rosy a are embraced in a little b illustrations and music comprise sports of all sorts, « 1 games for iittle folks. Fireside Fun is other Christmas book full of gam older foiks, suitable for winter ey Buckboards, single and double, for boys’ goat carts are among the most | proved juvenile vehicl: whil litte sleighs for babies, to be pushed like baby carriages, are a novelty. tee Andianoff, who murdered the yor ot Moscow in the Town Hali in March just, hae been decsred insane and was committe