Evening Star Newspaper, June 23, 1894, Page 20

THE JACK KNIFE Something About the Growth and Development of This Implement. AT FIRST IT WAS MADE OF STONE Some Interesting Specimens at the National Museum. NATIONAL PECULIARITIES en ne Written for The Evening Star. HOW ME THE MAN who does not recall that tingling sensa- tion of delight which ran through his youthful anatomy when he was pre- sented with his first pocket knife. I do. The knife was of the dog-handle vartety. It wasn’t much to cut with, but as a biister raiser it was @ howling success. 1 think they are seldom seen now, outside of Uittle notion shops and country stores. It ‘was all cast iron. The handle was fashion- ed in the likeness of a dog with outstretch- ed legs, and was painted a beautiful green, with red polka dots. I think it must have Been invented by some old bachelor for the Punishment of little boys. It was an in- strument of torture to the youthful carver, full of uneven lumps and jagged edges. ‘The more you tried to cut with it the more the dog’s hind legs dug into your hand, until the offending canine had to be sewn up in a piece of cloth to ease the pain; Yours, not the dog's. After the dog-knife ame the Barlow, the one we used to make boats with, out of cigar box lids, to sail in the gutter. The handle half bone and half steel, with one big sturdy blade. It was the father of the modern pocket knife. Uncle Sam, who fs a famous whittler, has a fine collection of jack knives in the National Museum. They are arranged in little black pPasteboard boxes, and were gathered from all over the world. The first jack knife ‘was a stone chip. Those in the museum are made of calcareous flint They were found in England, in the east- em and southern portions, from Norfolk to Land's End. There are also several from the caves of France. The chipped stone blade belonged to the Paleolithic or old stone age, and the polish- @d blade to the neolithic or stone age. You an get an idea of the antiquity of the hipped blade, when you remember that the animals of that period were extinct before cur earliest knowledge of natural history, nee was probably no warmer than the arctic regions today. ‘The first metal blades were those of the Dronze age. ihe two specimens in the museum are from the lake dwellings of Switzeriand. The brunze was composed of tin and copper and was partially brought from Asia. Fifty-seven foundries for the casting of bro impiements have been found in France and a number in Italy, the one at Bologna having no less than fourteen thousand pieces broken an: re: iy for recasting. I'he bronze workers were descendants of the neolithic age, their Diades being similar in shape to the stone implements of that peri: The chipped stone jac and used in our you are reading sents all of the most wont! knife ts made today. While which repre- fal modern in- country ventions, the telegraph, no typ writer, phonograph and the type-setting machine, the Hupa Indians of northern California are cutting wood with knives and catching fish with shell stone hooks. ‘The Hupa is an expert stone worker. He takes a piece of jasper or obsidian (vol- eanic glass) and heats it in the fire. In cooling, it breaks into chips. He takes one of the most promising chips in his left hand, after having first put on a rough skin glove tor protection against the sharp stone and ALASNAN Anives won) @tone. With a pair of pinchers made of . tied t er at the point with chip off little 1 ting the s th their hom tcne knife or a branch of When iron fans the nativ« not slow to adapt to their purp« knives with long thin 1 1 be t nd twis 1 int al a: use. Next to of knives ia the collection is retty in its indied pocket two and a half i The blade is of ection is the fines e of its kind in the world. The blade rf of beautiful pale green jade or pectolite, about eight inches long. Leaf-shaped and polished to the smooth- ness of steel, it tapers down to a very business-like point. It is thick in the cen- ter and is two edged, like the old Roman dagger. The jade from which it was made is found round Kotzibu sound. The Eskimo’s favorite jack knife is the file. They date the commencement of their finest {vory carvings from its introduction by the Russians. The handle end they grind to a blade, using the angles for grooving and the flat faces for smoothing. Uncle Sam has one of his own jack knives in his collection. It is the one which has replaced the old clasp knife, or frog sticker, formerly carried by his jolly tars. The sailor, you know, carries his knife attached to the white cord, or lanyard, round his neck and stuck down In the tight band of his trousers. The old knife was an awk- ward thing to use in nasty weathe:, when the wind was howling aloft, and often much valuable time was lost in getting the blade open when a rope had to be spliced or a frozen knot cut. Very often Jack had to hang on with one hand and open the knife with his teeth. Another objection to the old knife was the ease with which it could be and often was changed from a useful instrument into a apon of defense or offense. ‘he new knife is arranged with a hollow uiie, into which the blade slips by press- ing a spring in the back. It does not open like an ordinary knife, but by pressing the spring aad holding the knife down the blade runs out of its own weight. It is cut off square at the points, so that Jack is less liable to injure his fellow during any little misunderstanding which might occur, for the spring which releases the blade also al- | lows it to run in the handle when pressed upon, and as it is placed just where the hand is sure to grip it during @ jack knife argument, it would be almost sure to run into the handle, rather than thing eise. An_ugly looking knife is curve” of Chile. It ts carried by all the natives, and is used for carving beef end cutting throats. It looks like a pruning knife. The blade is heavy and has a murderous looking hook at the end. Next to el curvo !s a Japanese knife, with a long, polished blade set in a soft wood handle. It is engraved with Jap- anese characters, and is straight up the back, with a tapering curve on the cutting edge. Like most Japanese blades, it as sharp as a razor and finely tempered. In the side of the Japanese small sword you have probably noticed a smaller blade,which fits in a hollow in the seabbard. It was used in feudal days in Japan as a paper cutter, and also to slash the face in time of war. When a general believed himself to be mortally wounded or likeiv to be taken prisoner, he would take out his paper cutter and mutilate his face beyond zecognition, US Navy thereby depriving his enemies of the pleas- ure of carrying his head around on a spear, with his name, rank and ttle attached, for the edification of all beholders. A knife of Shakespeare’s time is represented in the collection by a drawing from the original in the British Museum. It looks very much like a razor, and the blade ‘s ineribed with a rhyt was the custom in those days: “My love is fixt, it will not range, My chose so good I will not change.” It was probably written by a jack knife poet. However, it is as good as some mod- ern obituary poems. I don’t {imagine the immortal William wrote such verse, al- though he refers to it when he says: “For all the world, like cutler’s poetry upon a knife, l6ve me and leave me not.” One of Daniel Boone's numerous knives is in the museum collection. The drawing will show its appearance better than a de- scription. It is very rusty, and does not look like a dangerous weapon. The knife trom Corea has one steel and one brass blade, and a ‘ortoise-shell handle, with a brass tweezer attachment. There are two knives from Norway, one with a hollow handle that looks like a miniature beer keg, the blade sliding in and out. A knife from Madagascar probably originally came from England, as its mate can be found on any kitchen table. An interesting collection of knives, made by prisoners out of hoop from and springs ANIPE OF ‘SHAKESPEARE Time from the soles of shoes, is a feature of the series. Most of them are from the Wash- | ington jail. The finest and most complete example of the cutler’s art is the knife in the Grant collection. It is the culmination of the jack knife—a regular pocket tool chest. It has three cutting blades, a corkscrew, sere’ ari saw, chis button hook, file, scis- sors, gimlet, farrier’s hank, and in a hole in the side is a surgeon's lancet. > A Pat Up Job. From the Detroit Free Press. “Girls,” he said dejectedly, as he sat with his head resting on his hand, “girls make the matter now?” inquired his mother. “Well,” he went on spasmodically, “1 went to see that Linwood girl last night; she’s been holding me off for a month; wanted me to pop, I’m sure; kept hinting every night I went there that I was staying too late; but I never took the hint; girls have a way of shying at a chap in that style; they read about it in the papers; Jast night I made up my mind to nail her to the mast; taiked right along for I don’t know how long; girl yawned two or three times, but I never iet up; finally I got where I thought waz the place to make the break, and was just en the point of asking her when the clock began to strike; I count- ed up to twelve and had no idea it was so late; clock kept on striking and I kind of gagged and had to stop for It; it didn’t stop, though; girl began to snigger; clock kept right on; then I began to get warm; when the old clock had struck sixty-seven it laid down and quit; then before I had a chance to get my second wind, the old man sung | out from the head of the stairs: ‘Say, Lizzie, if that fellow is going to remain mueh longer after the clock has struck sixty-seven, he won't get home till some time next week, will he?" and I got up and Now, what do you thing of that, mother?” and the mother got the camphor bottle and gave it to her boy. — His Soliloquy. From Truth, “Begorra, times are so hard, if Oi had me loife insured Oi'd take it.” Tiger aaa THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1894—TWENTY ea POSTAGE STAMP The Bureau of Engraving and Print- ing Will Print Them. THE GOVERNMENT WILL SAVE MONEY Different Processes to Be Employed | in the Work, CHANGES OF METHOD Written for The Evening Star. EGINNING ON TSE first day of July the government will go {uto the business of printing postage Stamps. This is al- most the last step toward concentrating in the bureaus at Washington all of the government printing. For many years the printing of currency was in the hands of private con- tractors. Now every form of security is printed exclusively at the bureau of en- sraving and printing. The publication of the proceedings of Congress was for a long time a matter of contract with a printing house. The bills of Congress and the Presi- dent’s messages, as well as the reports of the executive departments, were printed at a private establishment. Now all of this printing ts done at the government print- ing office, and at the ‘ittle branch printing offices in the departments. Revenue stamps have been printed at the bureau of engrav- ing and printing for many years. But the cortractors clung to the contract for the Pestage stamps. The profit for printing them was smull, but the company which dia the work would have been very glad to do it for nothing, so as to retain the prestige which the contract carried. Now that the contract has gone away from them, the contractors say that the government will lose money on the job—that the bureau cannot do the work as cheaply as a private contractor, despite the fact that it is sup- pesed to work “at cost,” because it does not possess facilities for doing it. The same cry went up when the contract for printing the government's currency was taken away from the contractors. The chief of the bureau of engraving thinks that he can save money on the work. Ex- perience will have to prove which of these is a true prophet. Changes of Method. For several years the government cur- rency has been printed on hard presses. ‘That was the way the work was first done. In the interest of economy and expedition steam presses were introduced, and they seemed to be doing the work satisfactorily. The labor organizations, however, went to Congress and urged the reinstatement of the hand presses, on the plea that the work of the steam presses was rrore easily counter- feited. Strong pressure was brought to bear, and the change was ordered. ‘That 1s, the royalty to be paid to the widow of the patentee of the steam presses was reduced to an impossible figure. This change from bower to hand work applied also to the printing of the internal revenue stamps. After a time the bureau began to run be- hind in tts work, and Chief Meredith con- ceived the idea of intrcducing the ordinary printing press for printing the internal revenue stamps. He used a stop-cylinder Hoe press, with a capacity of 1,5uv impres- sions per hour. The labor organizations were not espectally pleased with the innc- vation, but they made no protest, becausi Congress was not in session, and no appro- priation could be had for an additional force to get the work up by hand. The bureau had fallen far behind in filling orders trom the Treasury Department, and the work- men were glad of any relief from the strain of extra hours. The innovation meant a great saving to the government. It costs now less than $15,000 to print the 11,000,000 tobacco stamps on Hoe presses, and it used to cost $144,000 to print them by hand. The printing of the pustage stamps will also be done by steam. The chief argu- ment used by the labor organizations for the substitution of the hand work in the printing of securities was that the work of the steam presses was more easily counter- felted. This is an objection which does not hold in the case of stamps. It is not con- sidered in printing internal revenue stamps because the purchaser of a tobacco stamp is required to get them from an authorized agent of the government, and the govern- ment agent can sell only to a person whom he knows to be a dealer,in tobacco. There is no such prohibition in’ the trade in post- age stamps. A man may buy or sell them where and when he pleases. But the Value of the denominations commonly used is so small that there is no promise of a profit in counterfeiting them; and the larger de- nominations are go little used that it would be very difficult to sell them. So the gov- ernment has no fear of the counterfeiter. Bid of the Bureau. The bid of the bureau of engraving and printing for the postage stamps was at the rate of 5 cents for every ten sheets. That is, in the highest denomination of stamps issued ($5), the Post Office Departmert will pay 5 cents for what would cost you or me $5,000. But of course we pay for the service which the stamps represent. The cost of printing is almost an unconsidered quantity in the estimate of the cost of Postal service, although the aggregate of the expenditure for this work will touch $150,009 in a year. Of course,in paying the bu- reau of engraving and printing for doing this work, the government is taking money out of one pocket and putting it into another. With the private contractor, Uncle Sam knew just exactly what his stamps would cost him; they may cost the Post Office De- partment less now, but they may cost him @ great deal more. All of that remains to be seen. The printing of stamps is different from the printing of currency in some particulars. The department engraver wili take a piece of steel which has been softened by decar- bonization and engrave on it the design of the stamp. The steel will be recarbonized and so hardened. A cylinder of soft steel will then be pressed by a hydraulic ram on the intaglio engraving to form a cameo copy of the design. This cameo is touched up by the engraver to make the lines of the design more distinct. The intagllo is known as the female die. It is the female die which Is inked, the cameo die coming down on the other side of the paper and giving it the necessary contact with the inked sur- face below. This is the process which has been followed by the private contractors. The Gumming and Separating. The sheets of stamps as printed contain 200 impressions of the design. They are divided before they are placed on sale, so that when you buy a sheet from a local post office it contains only 100 stamps. After the stamps have been printed the sheets are gummed. In the early history of stamp printing this was done with large brushes. Now a roller run by machinery is used, and the result is a much more even distribution of the gum. This is not an un- important feature of the process. An entire issue of $-cent stamps was recalled some years ago, at a great loss to the govern- ment, because the gum was so badly dis- tributed that it was useless. From the gumming machine the sheets of stamps go in racks to a set of steam pipes, over which they are dried. Finally, the sheets are punched. The old-fashioned stamps had to be separated from each other with a knife or a pair of scissors, and these were a part of the “properties” of every post office. The work of separating the| stamps was slow and awkward. Many were, torn. The English government offered a) reward in 1845 for a device by which the stamps could be made easily separable. The first divice adopted was a series o knives cutting through the space between the stamps. This was unsatisfactory. Then a man named Archer devised a punching machine, which, after much experiment, was brought to its present perfection. The lines between the stamps are not punched simultaneously. The punches are arranged in rows and the perpendicular lines and the horizontal lines are punched in two dis- tinct operation Fifty sheets are punched at one time. The Waste Very Great. The waste from faulty work in the print- ing of stamps is very great. If one stamp in a shect is marred in any one of the pro- cesses through which the sheet goes the eee ee eee eee See half-sheet to which it belongs is canceled and turned back into the hands of a gov- ernment agent to be sent to the Post Of- fice Department for destruction. About 500,000 stamps are destroyed in this way every week. The bureau of printing and engraving will start its stamp work with the dies now used by the contractors. These dies belong to the government. The contractors report to the government agent every new die which is made, and when that die goes out of use it must be turned over to the govern- ment ggent to be sent to Washington for destruction. By the transfer process, any number of dies can be made at comparative- ly small cost from one engraving. There- fore the government pays nothing for ex- tra dies which the contractor may make to facilitate the work of printing. But if the government wishes to change the design of its postage stamps it must pay the cost of engraving the new design. It cost the Post Office Department several hundred dollars to have the dies for the Columbian stamps engraved. It cost the contractors $60,000 to inerease their plant for the printing of these stamps. Third Assistant Postmaster General Hazen told me at the time that he expected tu get more than the cost of mak- ing the change from the stamp collectors, but in this the department was -disappoint- ed. If the stamps had been limited to any issue of a million or even less their value to collectors would have been so great that many people would have bought whole sets of them at their face value, $16.26, and held them for a possible increase in price. But there were printed exactly two thousand million of these stamps, and with so many floating about the trade in them was vir- tually unlimited. Not only does a change of design cost a great deal of money, but a change in the color of any one of the stamps is very ex- pensive. There is a vast difference in the value of colored inks. When the Post Of- fice Department asks for bids for printing stamps it specifies the exact color and the exact shade of color wanted for each de- nomination. It would not do to say “car- mine” without specifying the character of carmine by the number given to it by deal- ers in inks. It would cost $% a sheet to print the stamps in one grade of carmine. This is a problem which meets the Post- master Gencral whenever he considers new designs for stamps. Suggestions from a great many quarters come to him in every mail indicating the popular judgment on the colors to be chosen. But ‘the Postmaster General would make himself quite as unpop- ular if he paid $5 a sheet for coloring his stamps as he did by making the popular denomination a forest green. ‘The Periodical Stamps. ‘There is one class of stamps much sought by collectors, the designs for which are a matter of supreme indifference to the gen- eral public and which seldom change in pattern. These are the “periodical” stamps. They are so searce that collectors will pay from $15 to $25 a set for “specimen: that 1s, for the stamps with the word “spect- men” printed across the front of each. ‘The Post Office Department does not issue these specimens to all applicants. In fact, their circulation ts conflned largely to persons in authority, Possibly your Congressman would have enough influence with Mr. Craige to obtain a set for you. Mr. Craige is the third assistant postmaster general under this administration, and he has charge of the stamp division of the Post Office Department. If you want to see a set of periodical stamps you will find them in a glass case in Mr. Craige’s office. But if you go to your postmaster he will proba- bly tell you that he is forbidden by law to show the stamps to you. Thése stamps are @ part of the form of bookkeeping used by the government in handling newspapers and other periodicals which are carried at pound rates. The publishers of periodicals never handle periodical stamps. Postage is always paid in cash and the publishers of important periodicals keep a deposit in the hands of the local postmaster to prepay postage. When an edition of the paper is sent to the post office it is weighed and the postage is computed. The postmaster then deducts from the amount on deposit in his office the amount of postage and sends a receipt for it to the publisher. Originally these receipts were in stub books furnished by the department. When the postmaster made out a receipt for, say, $26.26 he took from his stock of periodical stamps stamps to the value of $26.25 and affixed them to the stub of the receipt. When he made his report he sent the book of stubs to the de- partment. Now, in the large post offices, the receipts are made in triplicate by the use of carbon paper. One receipt is given to the publisher, one is kept in the post office for record and the third is sent to the department at Washington. To this third copy is attached the periodical stamp or stamps to the amount of the payment made by the publisher. Thus the postmaster acts as the agent of the publisher in buying the stamps and the agent of the government in selling them and they are supposed not to pass out of his possession at any time. They could be of no possible value except to collectors, for even if a publisher should urchase one of them he could not use it, cause the postmaster is forbidden to ac- cept it from him. There are nearly $2,250,000 worth of these stamps used in a year, yet the only copies of them which come into the hands of collectors uncanceled and not marked with the word “specimen” are those which are stolen from post offices. I suppose that the government could have any collector or dealer in stamps arrested for having one of these stamps in his pos- session, on the ground that he was a re- ceiver of stolen goods. But no such arrest has ever been made. The Only Outside Work Now. The only work which is now left to out- side contractors for printing is the printing of certain engravings used in department reports and the printing of the postal cards and stamped envelopes for the Post Office Department. The department has just awarded the contract for the printing of the stamped envelopes. These envelopes are in only four denominations—one, two, four and five cents, but they are printed on so many finds of paper that there are sixty-eight varieties. The present contract for stamped envelopes is held by two envel ope companies in Connecticut. The go a- ment sells $12,000,000 worth of stamped envelopes and $6,000,000 worth of postal cards in a year. It is not improbable that the printing of postal cards will pass into the hands of the bureau of engraving and printing if the experiment with the printing of stamps is successful. But the making of envelopes is a business which will not be undertaken by the government for a good many years to come. ee HAD TO HAVE HIS PIPE. Mike’s Preparation for Spending the Might Away From Home. From the Chicago Times. Over on the north side, in one of the swell residence districts, lives a jovial old Ivish- man, who has made a goodly fortune in the contracting line and who, several years ago, at the urgent solicitation of a wife and grown-up daughter, left the old home near Goose Island for the fashionable quarter in which they now live. The old man has pre- tended to be contented there, but his scem- ing content has been but a mere bluff. Among his friends is one Casey, a boss mason, who still lives in the old Goose Is- land neighborhood. The rich conttactor has never forgotten Casey im his prosperity, und he often recalls old times by inviting him over to spend an evening and take a drop. Casey docs not feel at home in the great house, but he likes his old boss and he al ways appears when a: Then the two retire to the contractor's little den, off of the library, where they take off their coats always, and U boots sometimes, smoke, drink and quietly talk over old umes. One evening last week Casey was invited over and he was on hand prompuy at the ap- pointed hour. The two cronies chatted to- gether until a late hour, and then Casey prepared for his long journey home. ‘The rain was falling in torrents when the two Teached the door, and the contractor said: “Look bere, Moike, there's no need yer goin’ home in this flood. Of hev a shpare ! rume e ye can sleep. Stay over night wid m “All roight, Tim,” replied C Th’ ould woman won't werr: So the coatractor summoned a servant and had Casey shown to the “shpare rume.” | ‘Then he returned alone to his den to look over the plans of a new block he had on hand. He figured and worked hard, and about midnight he was startled by a si ring at the door bell. Every one else had |? reuired, so he obliged to answer the ring in person. When he opened the front door there stood Casey, dripping wet, with simile on his face. ‘Howly murther! Moike,” astonished contracto. to stay all noight nn ‘So Oi am, Casey. “That's why Ol went home for me pipe. | ey. “Ol will, exclaimed the “Ol tought ye was replied the smiling | A GREAT NERVE TONIC, Horsford’s Acid Phosphate. | Dr. I. HARRIS HALL, State Lunatic Asslum, | Milledgeville, Ge Bays: "I have used it i cases of nervous prostration efter acute man! T also found it gave great relief In cases where there seemed te be a want of proper assimilation of food accompanylag clronic Insanity. It ta un- Goubtedly a great nerve tunic.” ; to pull out, | ductors. | tind cut until the careful examination made stances, what can they do; when the conductors and ticket collectors lere accomplices and share in the booty. WORTHLESS TICKETS Fes ernsnam een |___marunoans—__ How Railroads Are Swindled by Shrewd Counterfeiters, LARGE AND PAYING BUSINESS Nearly Half a Million Dollars Lost Last Year. RECENT SAFEGUARDS Written for The Evening Star. N THE MATTER of being defrauded the railroad com- panies of the coun- try divide honors with Uncle Sam. What the counter- feiting of greenbacks is to the government, the counterfelting of tickets is to the va- rious railroads. The discovery that hun- feds of thousands of dollars’ worth of railroad tickets have been counterfeited re- cently, to the financial lors of railroads and passengers alike, is receiving the serious consideration of railroad officlals, and it is itkely that the result’ will be the inaugura- tion of new methods in printing railroad tickets. That the counterfeiting of ratl- read tickets on a large scale has not been successfully attempted before {s, all things considered, somewhat surprising. i During the recent meeting in this city of the Association of American Railway Ac- countants considerable time was devoted to discussing this evil, and various methods for protection were ad ced. The members of this organization aré employed in the audit- ing departments of the great railroads ef the country, and are thoroughly familiat with the details of the counterfeiting und the irroads it has made upon the railroad re- ceipts of the different roads. In conVersa- tion with an Evening Star reporter, the day after the convention adjourned, one of the prominent members thereof, in discussing the counterfeiting of railroad uckets, sald: Lacky So Far. “The railroads of this country have been exceedingly lucky in the matter of having bogus tickets issued at their expense. Up to within the last two years our losses have been comparatively smali, while the losses in Great Britain and on the continent have been correspondingly heavy. Of course, tickets were counterfeited in this country, but the perpetrators of the fraud were ap- parently easily scared off, as the tickets they issued would disappear after being in circulation about a month. Then, after a lapse of about three months, the spurious tickets would again come to the front, but before we could get a trace of the counter- feiters we would cease to find them in our accounts. The successful and large business done in this line in Europe has impressed me with the idea that the counterfeiters are from that country, as the greatest inroad: in oar business were made during the world’s fair at Chicago last year. Through correspondence with foreign railroad offi- cials, we also learned that the counterfoit- ing of railroad tickets in their countries was at its lowest ebb last year. This makes it a plain case of two and two make four. ‘These foreigners are still in this country, and unless we devise some new method of checkmating them, they will divide among themselves considerable of our revenues. “I can see no reason why persons who are inclined to swindle in such a manner as was adopted by the counterfeiters whose work has been discovered lately should not find it very easy io carry out their design. The paper upon which most of the tickets are printed is not hard to imitat ct, it may be bought in the market in New York or any other large city, the same as any other sort of paper stock. There is nothing unusual or difficult about the print- ing of these tickets, the only requisite be- ing the possession of a machine which, as the tickets are printed, numbers them in consecutive series, and these machines are readily obtainable, the same as any other printing machine. Their high cost might of course deter a would-be counterfeiting gang from purchasing, but, if a printer could be found who already possessed one, had no work for it to do, and had no scruples against counterfeiting, it would be the simplest matter in the world to produce duplicates of the tickets of most of the railroads of the country. Slack work eases up a man’s conscience considerably, you know. Easily Counterfeited. “Take the tickets used by the poor bene- fit concert in Convention Hall last winter. They were an exact reproduction of our way station tickets, and the man that printed them could just as easily print railroad tickets. Several of the tickets were sent to me as a sample. The commu- tation tickets issued to suburban passengers near this and other large cities are rather more carefully gotten up than the trip tickets, but their counterfeiting would not be safe, aside from the fact of their more elaborate printing, for they are used for a month at a time. and their source could be easily traced. The additional expense to railroads cf producing tickets by means of the geometrical lathe and other work not easily duplicated, which could not be suc- cessfully imitated, would not be great, for once the plates are made the presswork on such tickets would be no more expensive than on the plain tickets now in use. Of course many of our way tickets have a small scroll work on the back, but where is the conductor that will take the trouble to turn a ticket over during the rush of busi- ness on a way train, where the chance of catching a bogus one is about one tn fifty, With so many ticket offices in every city ef the country working separately from the railroad company whose tickets they seil; with so many ticket agents, or ‘ticket sealpers,’ as they are less politely called, the counterfeiter finds t to shove hip queer, as a coin counterfeiter talks of put- ting his bad money in circulation, is an y affair, indeed. Of course this refers to 's outside the national association, the members of which are reputable and trustworthy. After the counterfelter has located. his ‘scalper’ with an easy con- science he sells his work at a nominal rate. The crooked scalper knowing perfectly well what kind of stuff he is handling, claps on a price considerable less than the railroad’s regular fare and resells the bogus ticket to the innoceat customer, happy at saving a five-dollar bill on a twenty-dollar purchase. How They Are Disposed Of. “While the customer may be the owner of a conscience, he has given it a sharp prick by purchasing from an agent minus a good reputation, the great reduction from the regular price defining the latter's status as plainly as words. He starts for the rail- read station with the ticket deftiy folded in his hand, so that the shrewd gateman at the entrance to the platform sees only one- quarier of it, which Is not enough to deter- mine its fraudulent make-up. There are many gatemen that will unfoid a ticket, but even then they are hard to detect. The gateman, with a rule forbidding him to open the gate to some hundreds of people until a few minutes before the train is scheduled is far too harassed and hurried to give the bogus ticket more than a pass- ing glance to see that the holder is moving toward the correct train. The traveler has overcome the first obstacle and has entered the cars. There the conductor, with ques- tions hurled at him from all four points of the compass at one and the same time, has to examine tickets of various sizes and col- ors, but all without a common identif mark to certify to their genuineness. Some ented to him, it should be remem- Lered, by regular patrons of the road, whom he well knows; others by iadies, children or persons whose very appearance would dis- arm, or, rather, not even awaken suspicion of the most cautious and Argus-eyed of con- No wonder, then, t the poor ches the counterfeit and does not fellow puil at the end of the run that through him his y has been duped out of a cool $25 counterfeiters are able to their business under ad-} Every now tect some of counterfeiters and argue their case so artless}, soon serire new reernite te 1 nd then a company will de- ts men defrauding it, but the pick out weak ‘individuals, that they cir ranien When the guilty men are caught they are, of course, instantly dismissed, and the fraud is checked for a short period. It is evident, Ss cash registers go to prove, that a cor- poration, to protect itself against men, whether its own or outsiders, must employ the devices of machinery. Half a M om Lost Last Year. “Last year the railroads entering Chica- go lost in the neighborhood of $500,000 through these counterfeit tickets, and the road that employs me has been on the alert ever since the fraud was first detected. W have, without altering the external ap- pearance of our tickets in any way, by using a peculiar manufacture of paper, put a spoke in the wheel of the counter- feiters that has seriously impeded and threatens altogether to stop its locomo- tion. It will not be long before all the great roads of the country follow our lead, and by the usage of a paper for their tickets that defies imitation put an end to such a system of robbery as allows a leak- age of such an enormous amount of money in a single year. The paper, which the best judges of such matters say is calcu- lated to fulfill this purpose, is a brand of safety paper, printed in three colors—pink, blue and orauge—and is, in its original State, ordinary writing paper. By means of a very expensive process {t is given elabozate and distinctive roll surface. No matter what its cost may be, it will pay for itself many times over inside of a year’s trial. Our officials knew this and were quick to grasp the situation. “The next time you buy a ticket, and I Suppose newspaper men do buy tickets once in awhile, look for the surface marks on it and you will see the precautions our road has taken to protect ourselves and our customers, These surface marks are put on the paper by a patent process when the ink is on. These marks read, ‘Rall- road ticket,” and ‘National safety paper,’ an anchor cutting the word ‘safety’ in half. Unitke a water mark, these marks are darker than the paper itself, being on the surface and not inserted. They show on both sides of the paper with equal clear- ness. These surface marks, which stand out with such boldness that the most cur- sory examination of either side of the paper suffices to disclcse them, the inventor told me, cannot be imitated, the expensive pro- cess of their manufacture being an absolute secret. A New Device. “When the different agents write the names of the different stations to which the passenger is going upon this paper with ordinary ink, it cannot be changed in any way, or rubbed out, the ink is ab- sorbed into the paper and becomes part of its color. If chemicals were applied it would invariably betray their use by marking the paper in a manner that would be obvious even to the most careless or short-sighted of ticket collectors. This same paper has been used for checks and drafts for some time past and has saved many a dollar for banks and bankers, and promises to do as much for the railroads. One most import- ant fact regarding the paper is that none can be bought In the open market. Its sale is exclusively confined to to the six or eight firms that print all the rallway tickets used in this country, ©f course the paper can leak through these firms into the hands of dishonest people, but these loopholes are very small and the quantity that goes a them hardly worthy of consider- tion, “About the most successful counterfelt- ing trick that I can now recall occurred last September, during the rush of visitors to the world’s fair at Chicago. The scheme was such a bold one that it went through on the strength of its conception. Our read had been runnsing excursions from nearby towns into Chicago almost daily, and we thought nothing wrong when a re- quest for seven cars was made for a cer- tain day, to be switched off at a small tewn about seventy-five miles out. The excursion department of the road believed it was a special excursion, and the ticket agent thought the excursion department was handling it. The counterfeiter fixed the rate $1.25 the round trip, and open- ed a private office in the little town two days before the excursion was to start, having previously advertised the event by posters and hand bills. A Big Swindle. “The people of the town had been ‘laying’ for a cheap excursion, and literally ate up all the tickets placed on sale. When the day arrived for the excursion there had been sold about 1,200 tickets, and our road went to the extra trouble of furnishing an additional car to carry the people, who packed the cars to suffocation. The ex- cursion wag @ great success. Our road handled the special with speed and safety and the people arrived home the same night overflowing with praise for our attention and ability to afford them so much pleas- ure. “The man that handled the excursion Went up to Chicago with his party, and at the end of the run shook hands with the conductor and gave him a fine cigar. That ‘Mas the last ever seen of the shrewd fel- low. The next day the tickets came into our department and we discovered the fact that the entire 1,200 were counterfeits, and on the counterfeiter had cleared a cool 500, minus the one cigar given the con- ductor, on the transaction. Our detectives are still looking for him. The strangest part of the transaction to me is that such @ cool fellow didn’t come to the With a bill for @ commission on the tickets sold. Prof. Dewar lectured yesterday afternoon at the Royal Institution on the “Solid and Liquid States of Matter.” Ice, he said, was ordinarily regarded as a viscous substance, inasmuch as we could squeeze it. When we applied considerable pressure to it we could force it Into the form of a wire. But ice Was none the less a brittle substance, and if We cooled it, as the lecturer did by pouring liquid air upon it, it would crack all over— which the ic? obligingly did. From the ice the lecturer passed to an investigation which had been traveled over in a previous lecture. He spent some time in explaining his vacuum vessels. Sometimes these vessels are made in the shape of flagons, sometimes in the form of test tubes; for one experi- ment they are made in the shape of the gob- lets which we usually adsociate with the historic drama. In the form of test tubes use is made of a double set of them, one in- side the other, to make liquid and solid air. In the outer tube liquid oxygen is placed. ure is taken off the liquid oxygen by air pumps until it cools to such anextent that it liqueties the air in the inner tube, which is surrounded by the liquid oxygen. Pressure is then taken off this liquid air by another set of air pumps until it grows so cold that, as was shown with the greatest success yes- terday afternoon, the liquid suddenly solidi- fies, and the wondering spectator sees the air which he is breathing frozen to a solid mass before his eyes. Prof. Dewar showed that red oxide of mercury when subjected to the intense cold of liquid oxygen lost its color and became yellow; that amyl alcohol solidifies to a Glassy mass, and methyl alcohol to a mass of white crystals; that a hydro-carbon, like turpentine, freezes to a clear glass. Bisul- phide of carbon when colored purple with fodine becomes a slightly red crystalline solid. The prettiest experiment of the after- noon was the last. Prof. Dewar took one of his goblet-shaped vacuum vessel and poured about a couple of tablespoonfuls of liquid air into it. The atmosphere of the goblet then became so cold that when its image Was projected upon the screen the specta- tors could see a tiny snow storm going on in the glass. “And now,” said the professor, “I will see if we can freeze a soap bubble.” He then lowered a soap bubble into the frozen atmosphere with an tron wire. Upon the screen the spectators saw the image of of the bubble becoming darker and its move- ments slower. Suddenly it contracted. It had frozen, and two-thirds of the frozen globule fell away from the wire and floated like a transparent eggshell on the liquid aur. ——-e-+—__. A Remarkable Tortoise. From the London Times. “The oldest of residents in Colombo will remember a famous tortoise which for years has been a curiosity in Uplands. The recent death of this reptile has formed the Fubject of correspondence between his ex- cellency, the governor of Ceylon, and the curator of the local museum, with whom its remains have been deposited in prefer- ence to the British museum. It is supposed that the creature was brought to Ceylon over a century ago, when the island was taken over by the British from the Dutch. It had been blind for years, and from snout to tail measured fully six feet, though ex: perts are of opinion that it reached its full- ¢st size fifty years ago. So nearly extinct has this species of tortoise become that Dr. Gunther of the British museum made an offer of £10 for it, dead or alive. Mr. Hay, the curator at Colombo, has undertaken the charge of it, and the process of stuff- ing is now going forward. The species is one that was confined to the Seychelles and the Mauritius group. This has now died out, and the class can only be obtained at the north of Madagascar.” BALL'S HAIR RENEWER CURES DANDRUFF ‘and scalp affections; also all cases of baldness, Where the glands Lair are nor slneed np. For Chicago and . por Pittsburg and levels be Fe imeher' —- Ee 710 tO es week nd om “Aaa 10 Sundaye, pm Bord and a. 50, pu 39:50 a. 9 ¥ Di ck Baggage ca! Et Pantin t and and Passenger Agent. MANVILLE RAILROAD. RECEIVERS. wanta Faghington. D, C F or connects roa for 1:01 0 ‘HE Pallan, Sleenera, Sew ‘York and h Sleeper yrough New lanta, where direct coonection oe SION: in jeradon ‘only 30 ion §:40 E Orange, Pe eeping Car reservations ond Penney! people are sett this cordial. It we years this AND ‘Br ROB: 1821 " son only regular ‘chronic diseases treated F RAILROADS. —— == BALTIMORE AND O10 RAILROAD. ule in effect June 9, 184. Leave ‘Fashingtes from station, corner of New Jersey avenue and C strect. agg Washington Junction and way 15 p.m. Principal siations duly, e440 For Bay tides. eo Mr Roxane nite tt Pu For | Philadelphia, ~ s east, daily, 4:34, 8:00 = : ng Sar), 3:00 «5:05 Dinin {2190 “p.m.” Sleeping “Car, open at 30:05 Raffet Pa For Adlawric oy. - = oy, trains. oa <hecked from hotels | mpaRy on 619 and vas Ts. ave. ame CHAS. ©. Sct. Gen. residences by Union left, at ticket iflces, oe at RB. Churnets, dell aS PENNSYLVANIA_RATLROAD. STATION CORNER OF 6TH AND B SO eatere Effect Mi “tee AM. Pax ssiLvaSna mien. Pulimas, ang Si Sleeping, Dining, Smok- Observation Su Harrisbars to Chicuzo, Gsctomatt’ Indiana and Cleveland. — Buffet | > pe Harrabes LUINE—Por Pittsbarg, Pa: Pittsburg, Di F fro Mantes |. CHICAGO AD PRE: Lui man Baffet Parlor Car to Harr! Sor ing and Dining Cars, Harris: Ciheinnatl, Louisville ‘and Chiengo. "Be Loui 7:10 P.M. "WESTERN EXPRESS Pollan ing Cara to € and Harrisburg to Clevels + me IN EXPRESS. —Poliman and Sleepin ‘ to Gacimats “26 Dining ACIFIC EXPRESS.—Paliman Sleep. i Rochester and Kane: Canandateus. rare re except cies ‘with Sleep 3040 FM. for Ete, Ganandeiges,’ Rochester and sos Gaity. and. Niaznra Eatin daily weed a x 3 a 5 ie a PMY ia SoHE ns t00 8 ogo rEpe ai Bae il a8, Fr i Fi 2 2. Le Orange ‘and inter. te gta and, through train for Froat Moral et 10:42 “wa Nats 28b Sot ak rf - e ugusta, carrying Pallas, ‘Bieepet ‘Also “cperates Poliman Yok Kew she vie Atlanta and Montgomery, New, to the to Memphis Washington to Augusta via eensboro” to Mk ja Salisbury, Bi ma via Cache. “Dining wr AND ONTO DIVT- 20 nm. daily, 4:29 except tls, for am., m. end 4:82 pan. atiy. Herndoa es ig, Jive, Washiketes turning, érrive Wa daily, from Ronnd mia, Rrattrana Washincton, D. H. GREEN, Gen. Mon. SURE. Ome. Pom. Ast. LS. BROWN, Gen. Agt. Pass. Dept. my2i MEDICAL. &ec. ik. RROTHDRS a. mmr. 7 established adverti: S gee See DR. BROTHERS, THE MOST RELIALE longest-cstablisbed ey cialist ys J os H _ Recbultation free am ne eed strictly cousteatial Jt ROTHERS’ INVIGORATING CORDIAL oe ee een and, Tonic, OF aie Yasioes cok, UNDERTAKERS. W. R. Speare, Undertaker & Embalmer, 940 F Street Northwest. Everything strictly first-class and on the most reasonable terms. Telephone call, $40. jal-tr os BURGDORF, Poussin ING USDERTA Telephone, 295. AND EMBALMER, AVE. X.W. —CSS=S_= STEAM CARPET CLEANING! auMuNLATED Carpets tee ae or. oe wk yoo See S Manneer,