Evening Star Newspaper, July 14, 1894, Page 13

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1894—EIGHTEEN PAGES. THE WOMEN OF COREA Noble Ladies and Degraded Slave Girls. MORE SECLUDED THAN THE TORKS The Original Divi fed Skirt in That Far Off Land. PAINT, POWDER AND JEWELS 2 SE eR (Copyriehted. 1804, by Frank G. Carpenter.) HE PRESENT WAR in Corea is bound to better the condition of her women.It could not be worse than it is. The 5,000,000 wo- men of the country are practically slaves. ‘They are bound to their husbands with fetters of iron, which only the men can loosen. They dare not go upon the streets. ‘Their Quarters are kept for them in the backs of the houses, and the best of the Corean wives would commit suicide if a stranger of the other sex rudely put his hands upon her. Many of these women are actually slaves. They have been bought, and they can be whipped if they do not obey. Little is known about the condition of Corean womanhood. The lines are so strict as to their being seen upon the street, or as to their coming into contact with any but their own sex, that such travel letters ond boks as have been written concerning Corea contain but little about them. Only the women of the lower classes go out of tha heuse, except in closad chairs, and those whom you see with their faces un- covered are generally slaves. Now and then a common woman goes about the streets of Seoul with a green cloak over A Corean Darling. her head. She holds this close to her face, leaving « crack out of whien one eye peeps, and if she meets a man on a country road she runs. ‘here are, indeed, three different €asses of women ia Corea, the upper, the middle and tne lower class. : ‘The upper class are usuaily the daughters of nobles. They marry nobles, and if their husbands can afford it, which is not often, they have slaves to do all the work for them, and they lead lives of comparative idieness. ‘Ihe dress of all classes is prac- tically the same, but that of the upper classes is made of much more expensive material. It is a very unbecoming dress. ‘The Corean women are not, as a rule, beau- tiful, and this dress does not add to their looks. My interpreter, “General” Pak, who has a wife, a concubine or so, and two or three femate slaves, has given me the de- tails. The Corean lady starts in with @ divided skirt. This consists of a pair of very full drawers, which fall in folds about her feet, and which if stretchod upwards would have room to spare when being gathered about the neck. ‘The top of these drawers has a band fully eight inches wide, and this ts fastened tightly over the breast by a white ribton drawstring, which is tied in front. ‘This garment is always white, and it is fastened so tight that the band cuts into the flesh at the back, and among the lower classes often runs below the breast, leaving it exposed. Above this band. and just meeting it, there is a little jacket with long sleeves. This jacket 1s not more than six inches long, I judge. It is sometimes of yellow, green or blue, and at other times of white. It is tied together with ribbons of the same color as the jacket, and it is so scanty that a great sunburned streak,an inch wide, shines out below the shoulder blades of such women as get into the sun. The drawers are not tied at the ankle. They narrow down as they fall to the feet, and below ~ them the woman wears stockings of wadded white cotton. These make her fect look about five sizes larger than they are, and the winter stocking is half an inch thick. it is more like a boot than a shoe, and it extends only about two inches above the ankle. The Corean lady wears no shoes while at home. She trots about in her stocking feet, and the poorer classes go barefooted. When she goes out, she puts on slippers of rabbit skin faced with silk. Some of these are very pretty, but they look rncomfortable, and are quite heapy. They have soles of oxhide, which are nailed on to the slipper with iron pegs, the heads of which are as large around as that of a ten- penny nail, and they are clumsy in the ex- treme. In addition to these divided skirts, or drawers, she has overpants of white, which are very full, and reach from the armpits to the knees, and over the whole she wears a cloak-lixe gown, which falls to her feet. and whicft is tied on with ribbon. ‘TMs practically makes up the costume of a Corean lady. It usnally consisis of good material, and often of silk. The younger Women are fond of red. The middle-aged affect blue, and the widows always wear white, which is the color of mourning. { like the way the Corean women comb their hatr. They part it in the middie, and put It up in a coil on the nape of the neck. They wear the biggest hairpins of their sex the world over. The average one 1s as thick as your little finger, and ts about five inches It is of gold, silver, or amber, and it is a poor woman, indeed, who does not own ene or two of these pins. She ts fond of Jewelry, and she likes finger rings, though she has her own way of wearing them. The custom is to have two rings on the third finger of the right hand. With such rings, and a hairpin or so, and the above Gress, she considers herself decked out, pro- vided Ler face and cyebrows are properly touched up. All Corean women paint. They ecver the face with white and dash their lips with red. They use India ink to mark this tine particular that tl line should be very deli- cate, and arched in conformity with the line of Asiactic beauty. This is supposed to be @ curve like that of a line of swans flying in the sky, and with a pair of tweezers she pulls out the hairs of her eyebrows until they approach her ideal. She is also by no means averse to hair oil, and her locks usually shine like greased ebony. The daily life of one of the Corean ladies is interesting. She rises with the sun and spends an hour at her toilet. She is wait- ed upon by her own slaves, and her rooms, in the winter time, have fires built under them, so that her bare feet fall upon a warm floor. In nine cases out of ten she sleeps on this floor, and while she is making A corean Stave. her toilet she squats upon it before a little looking glass. Her breakfast is brought imto the room to her. It is served on a Corean table about as big around and as high as a half-bushel measure. She sits on her heels while she eats it, and her table furniture consists of a spoon and a pair of chop-sticks. The food is served in brass bowls. She has no tablecloth, and she uses no napkins. She is very particular to wash after her meals, and, contrary to the general belief, the better class of the Cor- eans are cleanly. In washing the teeth a great deal of salt is used. The mouth 1s filled with salt, and with the finger or brush the teeth are rubbed until they are rerfectly pure and clean. She washes her neck and face every morning, and tn sum- mer she takes a bath every afternoon or evening. Her bath tub is a big jar, made of burnt clay, and in the summer her bath is cold. A Corean lady seldom takes a nap in the day time. These Corean nobles do nothing. They are the greatest professional loafers on the globe, but they think it would be a lazy man who would take a nap when the sun is up. The winter clothes of a Corean lady are often of fur and of quilted silk. A fur gown may cost as high as a hundred dollars, and a quilted silk gown is some- times worth $25. If she wears cetton, she can be dressed for $5, and a lady can get @ good summer outfit for $20. The clothes are made so that they have to be ripped apart before they are washed, and this Is so with many of the garments of the men. Corean washing is, in fact, about the big- gest Industry that is carried on in the country, and I shall turther of it in another place. The lady seldom does any washing herself. This is given over to the slaves. If she is blue-blooded, pcor and proud, she may do some ironing behind the doors of her apartments, but she cannot be a lady and go out to wash. The business of a Corean woman of high rank is to keep the accounts, to boss the servants and to now and then pay a soctal call upon her friends. Some of the wo- men are educated. That is, they are taught to read and write Corean. As a rule, how~ ever, they are very ignorant. There is a great difference in conditions as regards the classes of women. A middle- class woman when she meets the wife of 2 noble has to address her in reverential tones, and the lower classes bow down to middie classes. The middle-class wo- men never go out of their houses except in chatrs, and among them may be classed Corean Lady at Home. the wives of scholars or interpreters and those of doctors and of the traders which go to Peking. it is the lower classes that you see upon the street with these green shawls upon their heads. They do all kinds of work in the house, and, if they are rich, they live perhaps as well as the wives of the nobles. The nobles seldom marry them, though they sometimes take them as con- cubines. Most of the rich men have con- cubines, and some sport harems which might be compared with those of Turkey. The extra wives are not kept in the wo- man’s quarters, but they have an estab- lishment of their own in another part of the grounds. The only duty of the concu- bine ts to keep clean and good-looking and to please her master. Her daughters usual- ly marry the sons of concubines, and her sons get a portion of the father’s prope: though they have not as many rights a3 his legitimate children. The women in Corea are not much respected in the laws of the country as regards inheritance. The son gets all the property, and the daugh- ters inherit nothing. Daughters are by no means so welcome as sons, and a woman who bears many girls is considered a dis- grace to the clan. Corean giris get most of their fun in their childhood. They trot around with the boys and play as they will until they are seven years old. They wear clothes like their mothers, or, if they are poor, practically no clothes at all, and they can do about as they please. After the age of seven they are not ailowed to play outside of the wails which surround the house. They are never seen on the streets, and as they grow older their life becomes more and more a se- cluded one. At eight or nine they are taught the Corean characters and how to , to embroider and to keep house. They are often engaged at ten, and are married at thirteen and fourteen. It is a curious thing that they practically lose their names after they are eleven. The custom is just the reverse of ours. We often call a girl “baby” when she ts little. The Coreans call their girls by fixed names until they get to be eleven, after which they are called “Aga,” or “baby.” In fact, all the girls of- Corea over eleven are nicknamed “baby,” and this name sticks to them until they are married. Thus, an old maid of sixty will still be knocked about with the title of “baby.” After a woman is married she takes her husbund’s name and loses \her own. She is known as her husband's wife, and she {s universally addressed and spoken of a3 such, except by her own father and family, who may still call her “baby.” After she has children she is known as the mother of the boys. For mstance, Mary Jones, upon marrying John Smith, would be called “John Smith's wife,” and if she happened to have a boy named Jim, every one in the village or town would speak of her as little Jimmie Smith's mother. A woman never sees her husband before she marries him, nor has she any part in maki the engagement. The matter ts carried on, as in China, through match- makers, and it is customary for the groom to furnish the money for the bride’s ward- robe. ‘fhe swan is the emblem of marital fidelity, and after the engagement has been made, the bridegroom goes fa state to the house of the father of the bride, carrying a white swan in his arms. ‘There is usually a tent with a spread table in it waiting for him, end about this stand the matehmakers and the bride's father. As he comes in, he places this swan on the table, and bows to it four times and a half. He then goes to the other sid> of the yard, where the bride sits in a hall. She.rises as he comes up, nd she usually has a slave on each side of her, holding her hand. so that her long sleeves, as the hands meet in front of her face, completely hide the face from the groom. Then the two go through numerous bows, the woman atill keeping her face hid- den, and the bridegroom finally going down on his knees and bumping his head against the floor in front of the bride. After this is over, the bride and groom are offered cakes and wine. They drink out of the same glass, and it is this drinking that constitutes the ceremony of marriage. There is also a marriage certificate about as big as a small tablecloth, which is sent to the bride’s father in a ceremonial box. This Paper contains about seven lines. ‘The first is taken up with the date. The second ex- presses his wish for the bride's father’s health. The third and fourth read some- what as follows: “My son and heir is old, but as yet unmarried, and you have agreed that your daughter should marry him. 1 am much obliged to you for the compli- ment, and | herewith express it in this let- ter.” ‘his letter is signed by the bride- groom's father, and the lines which follow give the name of the grand ancestor and the district from which the bridegroom comes. It closes with the words: “I salute you twice.” This paper is folded up and put into a long envelope, which is sealed with Piece of ribbon, On its outside is the bride’ father’s address, with all the honorific titles that can be added to it. After the ceremony of at the bride’s house is over the bridegroom changes his wedding clothes and sits down with the men of the family to a feast. The bride, meanwhile, goes back to her apartments, and the groom later on goes home. Following this the bride goes to the groom’s house and she is treated to a dinner by the ladies of the family. The first night that the couple begin their life together it is the groom’s duty to un- dress the bride, and it is etiquette that she resist in every way possible. After marriage the bride goes to the house of her husband's father to live. She no longer has any place in her own home, and she is bossed by her mother-in-law. She is car- ried to her new home in a closed chair, and she changes from the prison of her girlhood to the prison of her married life. Hereafter she 1s practically the slave of her husband, who can treat her as he will and who can divorce her with little trouble. Divorces among the higher classes e not common, and the women are, among these classes, fairly well treated, as far as the use of the whip is concerned. it is only the slaves and the wives of the lower classes who are much punished, but if a woman is unfaithful, no matter what her class, she can be taken by her hus- band to the magistrate and be punished with a paddle. ‘ This punishment with the paddle or the whip is, I am told, sometimes meted out to woman servants or slaves by their masters, It is against the law to punish women as men; that is, in a nude condition. They are required, however, to take off their clothes and put on a single cotton garment which entirely covers their body. This is then wet so that it clings to the skin, and the woman is lald face downward on the ground and whipped upon the back of the thighs. I do not mean to say that such punishment is general, but I was told it is according to law, and where a master or @ magistrate is cruelly inclined you can see what a terrible weapon this might be in his hands. The slavery of Corea is by no means as bad as certain kinds of slavery in other parts of the globe, and the sons of slaves are free. The daughters of slaves are still the property of their master, but the law provides that they can pay the amount which was paid for them, and thus gecure their freedom. Slaves here bring different prices, according to age, muscle and beauty. Young girls of from fourteen to eighteen are worth, according to their s00d looks, from $30 to $60 apiece, and you can get a good, hardy woman of thirty or forty for one-third of this sum. The num- ber of slaves diminishes from year to year, but fathers can sell their children, and per- sons can sell themselves. The slavery which exists is a sort of serfdom, and many ef the slaves belorg to the old families of the past. The worst form of slavery is thai which is meted out to the families of rebels, by which the females are taken into the employ of the officials and condemned to work for their husbands’, sons’ or fath- ers’ “crimes. Such slaves are treated little better than beasts, and they become the concubines or drudges of the officials, ac- coriing to the whim of the latter. Speaking of the seclusion of Corean ladies, I saw a lady go forth to make a call one afternoon during my stay in Seoul; at least, I suppose she was going to make a call. I also suppose I saw her go forth. As far as getting an actual glimpse of her, I did nothing of the kind. The house in which she lived was surrounded by a wall of small houses devoted to servants’ quarters. These were ranged on each side of the gate, or Stable-like door, which formed the entrance to the yard, and there was another gate in- side of this, so that there was no chance to ‘see into the yard. She went forth in a chair of about the size and shape of a small ary goods box, swung between two long poles. The men who bore these poles upon their shoulders took the chair and poked it into the gate, which it entirely filled. The front of the chair was then inside the yard. The men stayed outside. The wom: crawled in and pulled down the curtain. The men then dragged out the chair and carried her away. I have looked into one or two of these chairs when they were not in use. They are just big enough for a woman weighing about 100 pounds to sit cross- legged within, and there is no support for the back, nor well for the feet. It is in such boxes that all Corean ladies go out calling, and all that they ever see of the big Corean capital is through the cracks in the chair or the little glass peep holes, as big around as a red cent, which they are now introducing into the closed paper win- dows of their houses. It fs only in this way that they see men other ‘than their hus- bands, and the man who would dare to enter another Corean house without an in- vitation could be severely punished, and a man of the lower classes who es to look over the wall of a gentleman's house to take a peep at his wife can be caught and whipped by the man or sent to prison. If he breaks in and takes hold of the women he can be banished. And if he commits a worse crime than this of a similar nature he can be killed. — 00 Powdered Sugar for Hiccoughs. From the New York Herald. “Why don't you stop that hiccoughing?” asked a man of a friend, who was con- vulsed with the annoying convulsions in the street near the Astor House the other day. “Stop them,” gulped the other, “I—I— wish I could. Held my breath—fifteen min- utes—drank nine swallows—wat: nine times. Tried to—scare myself; made be- Meve—lost my watch. No good. They won't nasi “Will you buy, if I cure them for you?" asked the first speaker, laughing at the frequent interruptions in his friend's de- scription of his troubles. The other gasped an affirmative reply, and the two entered the rotunda. “Give this man a heaping barspoonful of powdered sugar,” said the friend to the barkeeper. The man did so. “Ni swal- low it," continued the speaker tim of hiccoughs. The latter essayed to do so, and succeeded after some little effort, for it is not an easy matter to swallow a mouthful of powdered sugar. When he mastered it he looked Inquiringly at his friend. “Well, where are. your hiccoughs now?” remarked the other with a emile. “They seem to have gone,” ne replied, “but they'll come back again, I suppose, after a little while.” “If they do,” said the frieni, “it will be the first case I know of where powdered sugar has failed to give relief for hiccoughs. If one spoonful of sugar won't do it two certainly will So far as I know, it’s a Positive remedy.” rable and tight-Atting hats that constrict the vessels of the scalp. Use Hall's Hair Renewer occasionally, and you will not bog thy lly, you 13 SINCE WEBSTER’S DAY Changes Observed. in, the Character of the Senate, z BLAINE AND BUSINESS METHODS No Longer a Place for Displays. of Rhetoric. VIEWS OF OLD SENATORS Written for The Evening Star. HE EXCITING events in Congress consequent on the “personal” letter of President Cleveland to Chairman Wilson regarding the tariff pr situation furnish an interesting chapter on the “decadence of the Senate.” The out- burst of oratory, the = impassioned indigna- tion, the forensic fire manifested in the discussion that ensted show that the old- time spirit of the Senate, like Caesar's shost, is “mighty yet and walks abroad.” While there have been unmistakable changes in the upper house since the days of Webster and Clay and Calhoun, the question naturally arises, do these changes indicate a “decadence of the Senate,” or are they in the line of its development? A satisfactory answer must depend largely upon the view taken as to the func- tions of the Senate. Was it intended to be @ great debating society, a forum for ora- torical display, or a place for the dispatch of public business? And is it true, as charged by one of the leading newspapers of the country, that “the Senators of the past were men of fine intellect, broad cul- ture, having a thorough knowledge of the science of government, whereas today we have only practical business men and smart Politicians?” Few persons will be found who are able to speak with more authority upon this subject than the men who have been in Congress for the last thirty years, and are intimately acquainted with all the various changes that have taken place in the Sen- ate—such mer, for example, as Senators Harris, Hoar, Sherman, Stewart, Palmer and ex-Speaker Grow. Interviews with these distinguished men follow, and show beyond question that the Senate of today will compare favorably with any Senate of past years. A» a debating society it can- not be equaled for ready repartee, stinging sarcasm, and the lightning-like logic of facts and figures that is flashed me an argument. = As regards oratorical ability, the Present Senate does not lack eléquent or silver tongues. They undoubtedly do not reach the heights of some of the great men of the Past, but they are none the less orators of no inferior type. While ‘there is an ab- sence of a few brilliant lights like Webster and Hayne and Sumner, the loss of the giants is more than compensated by the loss of the pigmies. The ‘intellectual and gratorical average is Nigher today, and the extremes are not so far apart. The great Senators of the presetit flme do not loom into such prominence, bécause they are | Surrounded by big men of versatile attain- ments. A new element has been introduced into the halls of national legislation. We have row Senators who are essentially business | men, such as Brice, McMillan and Wash- burn. It is a matter of history that those who most shape the legislation of the coun- try are not the ones that make the most dazzling speeches; on the contrary, they are the quiet, thoughtful and energetic men, who are seldom heard in debate. Changed hy Blaine. To the late James G. Blaine, the great leader of the republican party, more than any one else ts due the change that has taken place in the Senate. It was he who ruthlessly cast aside the traditions of the past and introduced the present business- like methdds of debate, Indeed, he is called the “father of colloquial debate in the Sen- Previous to his advent in the “upper it was a rare thing to interrupt a Senator in the middle of his speech. Seno- torial courtesy, so called, required that he be allowed to proceed until he had finiched. No sermon could be hedged around with more dignity and decorum. The procedure was entirely different from what it is now. It was customary to give at least a week's notice of an intended speech. The occa- ston was really a forensic field day, The floor of the Senate was reserved for the speaker, and the galleries for his friends. He was the cynosure of all eyes, and any- thing like a colloquy would have been looked upon as sacrilegious and an insult upon senatorial traditions. Blaine was the skyrocket of the Senate. He had come from the House at the same time that Ben Hill of Georgia did, and brought with him its brusque and business-like methods. Both men were easy masters in a running de- bate, quick, keen, incisive, and would not allow an assertion to pass for an argument, even if it were in the middle of a speech. Hence, they made no bones about inter- rupting or interrogating a speaker and pitching into his statements, if they were not borne out by facts, the minute they were made. Blaine’s intellectual equip- ment was something wonderful, as is well known, and he was a walking encyclo- paedia. All that was necessary, therefore, to set him off and bring him to his feet was to make a false premise or a mis- statement of fact- Without a moment's warning he shot to his feet like a rocket and the correctness of the speaker's asser- tion was challenged. He was irresistible in his wey, and enjoyed nothing better than a spicy colloquial debate, in which he al- ways catried off the laurels. He occupied the seat now held by Senator Hale, and was therefore In a good position to “sweep the floor” by the artillery of his argument. Business Methods. With the colloquial debate introduced in the Senate came other assaults upon sena- torial traditions, and even senatorial courtesy got a rude shock, so that today the terdency of the times is toward bus- iness methods, not only as regards speeches, but with reference to political and parliamentary procedure. Hence the re- markable outburst of oratory and impas- sioned indignation the other day in the Senate was, as Senator “Hffl truly said, a “wonderful and unusual‘ spectacle.” Sena- tor Brice, for example, is,mot by any means an orator, and yet he ix one of the most effective speakers in the!Senate. The way he hurried the pension “appropriation bill through the Senate recefitly, was in perfect accord with his “railroading” proclivities. ‘The bill had no sooner passed both houses than he succeeded in getting a conference committee appointed, and inside of twenty- four hours afterward le had the confer- ence report in the Senate, He did not wait to send the report to the.desk, but read it himself, and within a few minutes the bill was ready to be signed by tlie jent. There are in the Senaje today a number of men who vary their style,of speaking to suit the occasion. Rarely: igcheard a speech that contains all the elements of oratory. This ts not due to the “pf orators, but because there are no gréit ‘Subjects to call them forth. When, however, circumstances arise demanding a statesman-like utterance Senators are not found wanting who can fill every requirement. Senator Harris on His Colleagues. Senator Harris of Tennessee, who 1s pres- ident pro tem. of the Senate, and who first came to Congress as a Representative in 1849, in speaking about the changes that have taken place in the upper house, said: “In those early days there were figures who caught the eye and the ear. The Sen- ate was only a small body then. Calhoun, Clay and Webster were the three men who, ™more than any one else, had the public ear. Of course, there were others, like Cass, Mangum and Wright, who were men of ability. In those days more attention was paid to polished rhetoric than is cus- tomary now, when the Senate has grown to be much larger. “Debates in the Senate for some years past have been severely practical, witifout much attention being to rhetoric and orna- SEE ——{_{{9[{[][{T[]—=_[_{_{ ————=SEOOSSS. mentation. Before that there used to be natural oratory displayed on great and small questions. Blaine was a splendid speaker, more logical than dramatic, while Conkling was very dramatic and his ora- tory was of the highest. “The Senate has contained for a number of years—indeed, ever since I have been a member of it—and contains now, a large amount of decided ability. In my opinion, the personnel of the Senate today gives as much assurance of safety to the country as regards well-considered legisla’ as at any other period in the history cf the na- tion. The brains of the Senate control it— they always have, and they always will— despite the fact that now and then we have Senaters whose milhons have been their only recommendation to a seat in the body.” Senator Sherman’s Views. Senator John Sherman of Ohio, who has been in the Senate nearly thirty years and |,who came to Washington as a Representu- tive in the Thirty-fourth Congress, had this to say regarding the “decadence of the Senat “There has been no deterioration in ora- tory that I can see. Webster, Clay and Calhoun were not reported verbatim, as Senators are now, and people only gave their impressions of the effect of their elo- quence. Telegraphs, telephones and big newspapers were not in existence in those days to print not only the entire speech, but also to give pictures of the scene from the pens of skilled correspondents. Be- sides this, the Senate wes a much smaller body than it is now. There were no states west of the Missouri. Iowa and Minnesota were at that time knocking for admittance into the Union. The expenses. of the gov- ernment were not more than forty millions, while today they are four hundred milliv There is ten times as much business tra: acted in the Senate nowadays as there was before the war. The Senate then had only fifty Senators in it compared to eighty- eight at the present time. Then, too, they held night sessions quite frequently, where- as, in these latter days, in spite of the rules about which we hear so much fault found, it is seldom that a night session oc- curs. To sum up, I think that the Senate of today will compare very favorably with the bodies that gathered together m the Capitol thirty or more years ago.” Senator Hoar Describes the Change. Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, whose wide learning in legal, literary and political lore has received recognition in so many public ways, but especially from the Ameri- can universities, is perhaps as well quall- fied to speak with authority regarding this matter as any one’ by reason of his long congressional career, dating back to the Forty-first Congress. “A very marked change has taken. place in the Senate within the last twenty years,” said the great Massachuretts Senator, “From .a ‘big debating society on a velvet carpet’ 1t has passed into a business body. The Senate of two or three decades ago has been likened by one writer to the ‘birth of a baby’ with its all-night session, animated discussions, more or less suppressed citement, and finally, the new addition the family of laws. “It is a rare thing nowadays,” continued the Massachusetts statesman, “for the Sen- ate to have a night session. The work of legislation is nearly all done in the day time. I think that this is a decided gain over the old way, as it gives Senators the evenings for study and social recreation. Further than this, there has been an im- provement in the matter of sociability and friendly feeling among Senators, so that it is becoming literally true that ‘there is no politics in politics.’ I remember when Mr. Conkling was in the Senate that his ene- mies charged him with acting like the bad boy at school, who goes about concealing thorns in the chairs of his classmates, much to their amazement and his amusement when they sit down. Mr. Logan was also charged with similar disposition to stick pins in his fellow Senators. Unquestion- ably the Senate of today will compare fa- vorably with any of its predecessors in every respect.” Mr. Grow’s Observations. Galusha A. Grow, at present Congress- man-at-large from Pennsylvania, and who was Speaker of the House of Representa- tives in the early 60's, said: “The recent discussion of the tariff ques- tion in the Senate will compare favorably with those of any previous time in the his- tory of that body. Times have changed since the ante-bellum days of '00. Nowa- days the newspapers discuss things 80 exhaustively that the average member of Congress doesn’t begin to have the chance of making an impression, or bringing to the front great questions, as he did once. Newspapers have, in a measure, taken the place of orators. What is more, we did not have so complete census reports on which to base speeches as we now have.” What Senator Stewart Says. Senator Stewart of Nevada, who “was elected to the Senate in 1864, had this to say on the subject: “I don’t think that the Senate is as patriotic now as it was when I first came to Washington. The govern- ment Is fast becoming a despotism. Every- thing is run by one big trust; the syndicate of bankers and all the other so-called ‘trusts’ are subordinate to this one. We don't have the great questions we used to have. The House of Representatives merely registers the decrees of the executive department, while the Senate makes a show at holding out. Hence there is a difference between the oratory of today and thirty years ago.” As Senator Palmer Sees It. Senator Palmer of Illinois, who was a candidate for Congress in 1960, gave his opinion as follows: “I do not think that the Senate has changed in the least. The only change has been in subjects, and not in the ability of the men who compose the upper house. Where the orators instructed the people forty or fifty years ago, the newspapers have taken their place today. Hence we ex- to look to the newspapers instead of our statesmen, as was the custom three or four decades ago, for enlightenment and in- formation on public questions. Six men on either side of the chamber direct the af- fairs of the Senate, and these do the ma- jority of the work, The newspapers, with their telegraphs, cables and special writers, e rest.” sai FRANCIS LEON CHRISMAN, — The Detective Story Bad. From the Chicago Record. The door opened, and there came into the Clark street offices of the famous night “watchman and detective a tall man, with a wrinkled face and a pair of keen gray “You are from North Clark street?” said the detective. ‘The man started convulsively. you know it?” he asked. “By the two shiny spots on your coat sleeves. Those spots mark where your arms rest on the window sill while you ave ut to watch the cable cars go by. Every one on North Clark street does that. west side of the street.” gasped the visitor. “You ask me why I know. Because your right arm is longer than the other. In catching the cable cars you grab the rail with your right hand, and the jerking which you receive day by day has length- ened your arm so that to a trained eye the difference is apparent. If you lived on the east side of the street you would use ihe left hand for catching the rail. You are a widower, and your wife was red-headed.” “True enough,” said the visitor, staring in amazement. “How do I know these things? Recaus¢ I see that watch chain on your vest. It is woven of red hair. If your wife were alive you wouldn't think enough of her to wear a chain made out of her hair, and if you had remarried you wouldn't dare to be wearing it. You have just come from Lin- coln Park. I can smell peanuts on you. At one time you were a police officer. I saw you look both ways before you came in that door. Force of habit, you know. You have been shooting craps. Your right hand is soiled from the little finger hack to the wrist. That is caused by raking up the dice from a dusty table. You need a shave and ate soft-bolled eggs for breakast. Now what can I do for you?” And the great de- tective and night watchman sat back in a listening attitude. “Just wanted to ask you if the Pansy Chromo Company has an office tn this building.” Thus what might have been a great de- tective story came to a short stop. a A Headache ts a Warning. From the Atchison Globe. ‘You see people every day who are suffer- ing with headache. When you see a ma- chine with a hot box you say the machine is being ruined. But lots of people do not seem to know that a headache is a sign of a bad disorder that should be attended to. Nipped im the “How did ADULTERATED FOODS Results of Recent Investigations by the Department of Agriculture. SOME OF THE THINGS PEOPLE EAT Ingenious Methods for Producing Food Cheaply. DRUGS AND BEVERAGES Written for The Evening Star. HE DEPARTMENT of, Agriculture has about the way foods are adulterated. It will not be ready for distribution for some time. The title page of the book will con- tain the announce- ment that the pubii- cation was “by order of Congress,” and the introduction, by Prof. Wiley, the department chemist, contains a disclaimer of all authority for the quota- tions made in the compilation. These pre- cautions are taken because the bulletin is made up largely of letters from druggists and other merchants all over the country containing their views of adulteration; and Mr. Wiley in his introducton says: “It is hardly necessary to call attention here to the fact that the public ideas of adultera- tion of food are in many cases very much exaggerated, and this, perhaps, is the cause of the many extravagant assertions which are made.” It is safe to conclude from this disclaimer that Mr. Wiley does not indorse the statement of the special agent who Prepared the report that there is adultera- tion of ai east 15 per cent of the food ae Pieeeey eee: cen - vestigations which Mr. Wiley has made and which heave been published in the fa- mous “Bulletin No. 15" of the department, which seems as though it would never be published, and they include facts about the adultera- tion of dairy products, spices and condi- ments, malt liquors, wines and ciders, lard, baking powders, sugar, confections, honey and beeswax, tea, coffee and cocoa and canned vegetables. The latest compilation is intended to cover, after a the entire field of food ucts. And here are some of the things which it shows the American people are-taking into their stomachs unconsciously with their daily bread: Black pepper has been found to be aduviterated with buckwheat flour and hulls, cracker crum! corn wheat four, charcoal, sand, bran, cocoanut shells, mustard hulls, sawdust, olive the special agent says that “there is hardly anything of a refuse character that is not used by manufacturers to adulterate pep- per.” The best restaurants now use pepper grinders on their own tables, and their patrons grind their own pepper into powder. But even this is not an absolute protection, for the pepper may not be pepper at ail. It ingredients made in imitation of pepper. The food adulterators make artificial eggs which pass for the real article; and as for artificial coffee beans, they ate made in this country and imported as well. Coffee and Beer. Artificial coffee is one of the most com- mon of adulterated foods. Sometimes it is: sold ‘already ground. Sometimes it is sent out in pellets, to be ground by the retailer. Sometimes it goes to the consumer in the form of an imitation coffee bean, which can be distinguished from the real article only by expert chemical examination. The Amer- ican people are now drinking in their homes decoctions of wheat flour; coffee, bran and molasses; bran and molasses; wheat flour, coffee and chicory; wheat flour, bran and rye; chicory, peas, beans, barléy, wheat, oats and buckwheat; wheat four and saw- dust; peas and molasses; pee hulls and bran, and wheat or rye flour and corn. Most of these adulterants are offered to retailers to adulterate their ground coffee, but some are sold outright as “roast cof- fee,” made in imitation of coffee beans; and even the careful housewife who roasts her own coffee is not protected entirely, for there is an imitation of the green coffee bean now made from wheat flour and genuine coffee. Here is what is put into some American beer: Burnt sugar, licorice, treacle, quassia, coriander and caraway seed, Cayenne pep- per, soda, salicylic acid, salt, carbonic gas {artificially injected), grains other than barley, glycerin, glucose, water (by retail- ers), tobacco aud seeds of cocolus indicus. may be a compound of starch and other | o! false appearance of coler or glossiness to give them commercial value. The teas ex- ported #rom China and Japan, according to the chemist of the Department of Agri- culture, “seldom escape this treatment.” The principal agents used in facing are plumbago (black lead), Prussian blue, tur- meric, and indigo. There is no evidence that these coloring agents are deleterious to health in the quantities in which they used. The fi Adalterated Candies. ‘The adulteration of candies is perhaps the most important of the adulteratioas considered since there is such an enormous consumption of sweets in this country, and since many of the adulterants used—and t i i il | Hi i He i Hibs E t z s i i 3 i z lle icle of commerce. The glucose hone figure under the names of “Pure old. Vir- ginia honey,” “Choice clover honey,” “Pure honey,” &c. The is not from white clover, blossoms, is a sufficient the honesty of the manufacturers of last named product. In bak'ng powders, which are very erally adulterated, the chief of the constituents is alum, used for cream tartar. Starch in undue quantities and coarse hominy are frequently used. In sev- eral of the states the use of alum is forbid- den unless the label of the that it is an ingredient. The users of alum profess to believe that their powders are as good as the cream of tartar powders; end no one will say absolutely that the alum powders are less healthful. But the Depart- ment of Agriculture in advocating a law for the regulation of the manufacture of these baking powders wants simply to have each sold on its merits under a plain label. In the investigetion of canned goods the greater or Jess dangers, from poisoning from copper, zinc, tin and lead. This is due to the carlessuess of the canaers, or to the use of metal vessels to give a better color The most important adulteration of beer is with preservatives, the chief of which is salicylic acid. It is a matter worthy of note that the German government, while forbidding the use of this acid in domestic beer, permits it to be used in beer intended for export. So we are not safe even in drinking the costly imported beers. In France there was a lively discussion of the effects of salicylic acid on the system, inspired by a govern- mental ‘ree forbidding the use of ihe acid in French beer. A consulting commit- tee of hygiene reported that its continued use was dangerous to health; but there are chemists who claim to have proved by ex- periment that it is not dangerous. The ease with which chemical experts’ indorse- ments are obtained for almost all food products, though, will discredit them at least a little in the public mind. Salicylic acid is much used as an aduilterant for canned vegetables, and it has been greatly condemned in connection with them. Borax, too, which is found in some malt liquors and in many wines, is used in preserving vegetables. An inspection of the breweries of Brook- lyn, made some years ago, revealed the use of sodium bicarbonate (used to correct un- due acidity), tartaric acid, cream of tartar, isinglass or gelatine, glucose, grape sugar, juniper berries and salicylic acid. are Wines. The aduiteration of foreign wines for the American market consists chiefly in the addition of water and sugar. In some cases marble dust is introduced; in others, gyp- sum or sulphate of lime. The addition of lead oxide for the preservation of the wine was common some years ago and deaths were traced to it; but this form of adul- teration is no longer practiced. The sub- stitution of other fermented juices (cider for exemple) for wine is difficult of detec- tion and is very common. As to the use of coloring matter, that fs almost universal and where the color is produced by vegeti ble dyes—logwood, cochincal, elderberri: whortleberries, red cabbage, beet root, m: low, indigo, etc.—they are almost impossi ble to detect. Aniline dyes are detected easily by chemical analysis. Imitation wines are made by various chemical com- binations, and the product is often so like the genuine that it deceives experts. As to ales, it is a fact that American dealers freqently adulterate the imported with the domestic article—a fraud which may be ~ ne in disguise to the consumer, but ich is none the — less a Pure country cider is frequen’ adulter- ated, chiefly by the addition a ener and coloring matter, but there is a marketable quality of this article made from the fol- lowing ingredients: ‘To each gallon of wa- ter add one-haif pound of granulated sugar, acidulate with tartaric acid and flavor with oll of apple, previously put in aleohol; color with caramels and to twenty gallons of this mixture add two gallons of genuine country cider. Alcoholic Mquors are adulterated with fusil oil, tannin, logwood, water, coloring matter and burnt sugar. Gin is adulter- ated with potatoes and barley, alum, spir- its of turpentine, sugar and water. Ab- sinthe is adulterated with undistilled li- quors, aromatic resins, benzoins, guaiacum, etc. Kirsch is imitated by a compound of apricot and cherry seed, peach leaves (@ried), myrrh and alcohol. ‘Ten and Chocolate. To go back to the more generally accept- ed drinks—tea, coffee and cocoa—there is quite as much adulteration of the other two as there is of coffee. The chief treat- ment of tea is by the process termed “fac- ing.” by which damaged leaves rascive « goods, is hardly to be questioned. uk and Cheese. mit examination, to be (in mos: cases) ra- tions of wheat, containing Uttle or no milk. belief that decom “dead hog grease” or peanut oil is used for adulterat- ing lard is without foundation. Pepper is not the only one of the spices which is adulterated. In many cases, the essential oils are extracted from the spices before they are ground. In some cases, cheaper spices are used to adulterate those which are more expensive. Allspice is too cheap to be adulterated profitably, but it ts used as an adulterant of other spices. Ve- netian red mixed with baked cracker or bread dust is said to masquerade as mice at times. This Venetian red is used for coloring shrimps. Here are some other adulterations com- monly practiced: Bread is adulterated with alum, sulphate of copper, inferior flour and corn meal and rye flours. Almost all com- 5 cents a pound. Drugs are frequently adulterated and the adulterations would be much more serious if there wer> not state gardiexs of cost.” As to the availability of 2 national pure food law to prevent the adulteration of foods and drugs there is a division of opin- jon. Some of those who send opinions to t (which in it just what he has probably 4 feel ‘tha A ought be dono less it to to remedy the condition of affairs,