Evening Star Newspaper, September 1, 1894, Page 12

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER. 1, 1894-EIGHTEEN PAGES, A TROOP OF OSTRICHES. OSTRICH FARMING An Interesting Account of the Habits of This Curious Bird. HOW THE FEATHERS ARE SECURED The Savage Mode of Attack of an Enraged Male. SOME TRAVELERS’ TALES anes oF From the Strand Magazine. CRHAPS NO OTHER English colony is ex- eiting so much inter- est at the present time as South Africa. For months past the pares of newspapers and periodicals have been filled with news from the north,where our admirable band of volunteers have suc- ceeded in repulsing the redoubtable Lo- bengula, king of the Matabele race. You arrive at the homestead, a square, Fed brick building, with a sigh of relief, and glad to Le out of the blinding glare and allow for hatching. When a nest is hatched out the family are taken out of the camp, and brought to the homestead to be tamed, where they come in continual contact with the farm hands, and are housed at night out of the reach of wild animals. During the summer months they will do well, but in winter, when food becomes scarcer, must be fed morning and evening on barley or rape. it is during the breeding season that the male becomes so savage, and his note of defiance—“brooming,” as the Dutch call it —is heard night and day. The bird inflates his neck in a cobra-like fashion, and gives utterance to three deep roars. The first two are short, but the third very proionged. Lion hunters all agree in asserting that the roar of the king of beasts and the most foolish of birds resemble one another almost exactly. When the birds are properly sav- age they become a great source of amuse- ment—or, as scme think, of danger. Driving the Birds. I have seen a bird so savage as to charge seven times in fifteen minutes, twice re- ceiving the prongs of the fork through his neck. On horseback one is even more ob- noxious to an ostrich than on foot, but, so long as the horse is not afraid and will stand up to the bird, there is no fear of an accident. As he charges take care to have your horse well in hand, and as the bird makes his first strike, catch him by the neck and hold on for all you're worth, till the bird becomes exhausted from want of breath and falls. The female bird is seldom vicious. When she has a nest or brood of young chicks one must be prepared, but her manner of charg- ing and whole demeanor is a very mild affair compared to the male's. Perhaps it may Suggest itself to some of my readers: what would result supposing three or four birds tackled you at once? It is a very rare occurrence for more than one bird to charge at a time. Should three or four male birds all imagine at one particular moment that you are the meat of each one of them sep- sandy plain. On every homestead the same familiar sights meet the eye. On the one side of the house stand the kraals; cn the other, the shed and wagon house. In front stands the dam, adjoining the vegetable garden and lands, with farther away the camp. Behind the house are the chaff house, tramp floor and butcher’s shop, where the uiygers are rationed. In the camp run the large stock, cattle, ostriches and horses; and on the flats and mountains the sheep and goats. In this article I shall con- fine my remarks to ostriches. A well-feaced and secure inclosure is quite a luxury in the colony, and Is only to be met with on the wealthier farms, the owners of which can afford to keep them in repait and to place in them stock of the more expensive Kinds. Every ostrich farmer has his camp, which varies in size ecnsiderably, from 3,000 to 8,000 acres, and in it he keeps his 300 or 500 birds, as well as a few cattle and horses. A camp is al- Ways selected as being the best piece of grazing ground cn the farm, and capable of holding more stock in proportion than any other part of the farm. Here the birds remain year in and year out, and are only collected and brought together, on the average, once every four month;. A Timid Animal. These oceasicns are, let us say, in June, to pluck the p-ime feathers. By these we mean the long whites, numbering from eighteen to twenty in each wing, eight or gine fancy feathers and a few long biacks, all taken at the same time. Four months later the stumps of these feathers are drawn out,and two months later again—that is. six months after the primes—the short blacks and tail feathers are taken. Of these it is impossible to give any accurate num- ber. As a rule, you pluck as many as pos- sible without inflicting pain on the bird, and at the same time leaving enough to keep out the cold. An ostrich, like most other animals, in its wild state is terribly afraid of man, or of any unfamiliar sight, and flees at the ap- pearance of anything new to its ken. When domesticated it becomes docile, and after a time assumes a position of authority and becomes master of the situation. From June up to September, or, in fact, till Christmas, thousands of chicks are reared year, and thousands meet with death every year “from some form of accident. Chicks up to twelve months old die from various maladies, but seldom after they are full grown are they the victims of any sickness, death usually resulting from a broken leg, killed fighting. or from scarcity of food in times of drought. The nest of an ostrich is a very crude af- fair, consisting simply of a round hollow carved out in the sandy ground. Sometimes the female bird may be seen scratching in Ostrich on Nest. the ground preparatory to laying her first egg; but this is not often the « the hol- low generally being made by th uous sitting of the birds on the one spot. One pair of birds will lay from ten to twenty eggs, but, as is often the case, three or four birds will lay in the one nest, thus making the number of egzs up to sev- enty or eighty. These, of course, have to be weeded out. ts a bird cannot comfort- ably cover more than sixteen eggs, the re- mainder being thrown on one side and left to decay. The Savage Male. Forty-four days Is the recognized time to _AN OSTRICH FARM, CAPE COLONY. arately, they first of all tackle one another, the conqueror fighting you. Collecting birds for plucking is always a great day the farm. Orders are given overnight to the Kaffirs and Hottentots to catch every available riding horse and have them saddled up and ready next morning at sunrise. This is done, and every “boy” on the farm who can find a horse Is mounted, and a regular cavalcade enters the camp, under the superintendence of “De Boss van de Piaats”—the master of the farm. They split up into parties of two each, and start off in different directions to drive up the birds from the remote spots to which they have wandered. Warfare, of course, is freely indulged in. It is immaterial to an ostrich if there be one or fifty against him, he fights just as merrily. Seme Errors Corrected. There exists a traveler's tale at home that, as soon as an ostrich catches sight of a human being, he turns tail and bolts in an opposite direction to hide his head in the sand. Another fallacy. equally devoid of foundation, is the belief that the female leaves her eggs in the sand to be hatched out in the sun. This is not so. The male and female sit alternately for fourty-four days, the male at night, the female during the daytime. As an article of food, an ostrich egg is, to my taste, the most nau- seous of dishes, and far more suitable as an effective weapon in Chinese and political warfare than to grace a breakfast table. From all one had heard previous to be- coming oneself an owner of ostriches, the actual plucking of the birds is very un- interesting and disappointing. The birds are all huddled together in a kraal—when every bird becomes as meek as a lamb—and are caught one by one; a bag or stocking is placed over the head and neck, while two experienced niggers clip the feathers. Dur- ing winter the birds must be attended to and carefully watched, as sometimes the weather is very inclement for weeks to- gether—the thermometer often registering ten degrees of frost—and birds are apt to fall off in condition. If a bird once begins to sink In condition, the greatest difficulty is experienced in getting him right again, and often no amount of extra feeding will pull him through. ——___- e+ --___ REVENGE IS SWEET. An Instance in Which Democracy Got Even With Aristocracy. From the St. Louis Republic. An amusing incident that occurred on Deimar boulevard a few days ago serves to illustrate how in the young, at least, the desire to get even manifests itself. Seated in the gutter in front of one of the handsome dwellings on that thorough- fare was a typical street gamin. He was hatless and shoeless, and such garments as he did wear were ragged and dirty. Constant contact with the soil of the streets had made his complexion of a sameness with the pavement, so far as color and other outward appearances went. Presently from out the mansion in front of which he was playing there came a boy of about his own age. But in all respects he was differ- ent. With carefully combed curly locks, a Fauntleroy suit, black silk stockings and atent leathers, it was seen at once that he Was the pet of wealthy and indulgent par- ents. He was proud and haughty, having been, no doubt unconsciously, taught to be so by a loving father and a doting mother. After an inspection of the youngster play- ing in the dirt, the little lord remarked: “Hello, dirty face.” Receiving no answer he repeated the re- mark in a louder tone, and the ragged ur- chin, noticing the other apparently for the first time, slowly rose to his feet and sur- veyed him. Then, without saying a word, he approached, ‘and suddenly swinging around gave little Lord Fauntleroy a slap that brought tears to his eyes and knockea tim down on the sidewalk. The gamin quickly rubbed his dirty hands over the other one’s face, mussed his hair, tore his iace collar, and left him with a tear-stained countenance that was anything but immac- ulate. Silent up to this time, the gutter snipe aow remarked: gw you're dirty faced youself, durn you. if. wilt J. La What a darling I'd be In the highest degree, To mammas wherever I'd go; What charms they would sce In whatever pleased me, If 1 had but a million or so! What a beauty and grace They would find in my face, With a soul in me pure as the snow; No voman would think For a moment, to shrink, If I had but a million cr so! What a feature I'd be At a german or tea, What a man for all women to know; And men, none the less Would my virtues confess, If I had but a million or so! AN ISLAND MYSTERY Conflicting Stories About the Fate of a Newspaper Correspondent. A VICTIM 10 INDIAN TREACHERY Other Claims That He is in Hiding for Sensational Purposes. WITH MEXICAN INDIANS — Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. NEAR SAN JOSE, STATE OF SONORA, MEX., August 25, 1804. ANY CONFLICTING stories avd comments have gone the rounds of the rewspapers re- garding the reported tragic death of R. E. L. Robinson, a news- Paper correspondent, at the hands of the Seris Indians, on the Island of Tiburon, off the coast of Sonora, Mexico, in the Guilt of California. On my arrival in Hermosillo, Mexico, I was so fortunate as to meet George Flavell, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., one of the surviving members of Kob- inson’s party of four, who visited the Ti- bron Island for the purpose of writing about this interesting tribe of Indians. I give Mr. Flavell’s statement of the affair and that of Gen. Torres, who sent an offi- cer and fifty men with Flavell to inves- tigate the matter, and leave the reader to draw his own conclsions. Flayell’s story is as follows: “About noon on the 25th day of May we cast anchor off the shore of Tiburon Island, and going ashore were met by the chief of the tribe, Pedro Robles, who received us in a most friendly manner, at the same time proudly skcwing a paper, stating that he was offi- cially appointed governor of the island by the governor of Sonora, Mexico. This docu- ment he constantly carries in a buckskin ecver tied around his neck, which he guards mcst jealously. The friendly reception al- layed any suspicion we may have had of hostility or treachery. We returned to our boat for the night, and early in the morn- ing of the 26th Robinson and James Logan went ashore to hunt for deer, which were reported to abound on the island, They had been gone about two hours when I heard rapid firing in the direction they had gone, as many as sixty shots being fired, and then there came to our ears in a voice of terror the cry of ‘Oh, George!’ Then all was as still as death. Myself and one com- panion were on board the boat, fully ex- pecting an attack from a group of nine or ten Indians on the shore, and many more who came running toward us from ‘the di- rection of the firing, gesticulating in a wild manner and giving vent to blood-curdling yells 'e were not able to cope with such a formidable body, raised the anchor and sail- ed to Guaymas, and from there by rail to Hermosillo, and reported the case to Gen. Torres, who at once sent an officer and fifty men by steamer, and six scouts from Hermosillo. I returned to Guaymas, and with our boat I joined the soldiers at the island. Upon landing the troops on the 25th of June. there was not an Indien to be seen. We went where my companions were supposed to have been killed, but could not find thelr bodies or any trace of them. The troops first landed at El En- flernillo Island ard marched up the beach about twenty-five miles to camp on Fresh- water bay; frcm there we re-embarked on board the boat. During the march we pass- ed several deserted Indian villages, saw many fresh signs of Indians, but none of the trails were followed. | During the search more ingenuity was exercised by the officers and men to avoid finding the supposed murderers of Robinson and Logan than to follow the well-detine? trails often met with. The movement was but a pre- tense on the part of the officer in com- mand to hunt down and bring to justice the murderers of my two companions.” : A Fruitless Search. After my interview with Flavell I called upon Gen. Torres, to whom I repeated the substance of Flaveil's statement, and asked a statement from him. The general speaks English very well, and the task was not difficult. He said that when the reported killing of Robinson and Logan was brought to his notice he detailed an officer and fifty men, who went by steamer to the is- land, with instructions to search it care- fully for the bodies or some trace of them, and to find the murderers, if possible. The troops were guided by Flavell to the spot where the shots were fired, where the men were deployed in skirmish line to cover the ground, with instructions to look care- fully for the bodies, or any trace of a strug- gle having been made. As no trace could be found on this line, the men were march- ed to the right flank, and again by the left flank in the same ‘manner. In this way the ground was thoroughly inspected with- in hailing distance from the point where the Examiner was anchored at the time of the supposed killing, and from where Flav- ell says he heard ‘a voice cry out, “Oh, George.” The soldiers remained on the island for ten days and then returned with the above report. The general expresses much doubt as to the death of Robinson and Logan by the Seris Indians as re- ported by his two surviving companions. We are quite sure that Flavell is honest in his statements and firmly believes them both dead. It is truly a mysterious case. We copied from Robinson's note book the last entry he made, which Is as follows: “If Edward Bellamy were here, he could see his commercial theory carried out to the letter by the original sons of the Islands, or ab-original, whichever 1s proper; every- thing that is mine ts yours, and that yours is mine, is a theory they ¢id not fail to put into practice today’ when they care on board the sloop. They have the same pen- chant that belongs to other Indians, and when they went on shore they left nothing lying around Icose. What we did not give them they simply took. Some of them re- member the visit of the Narragansett, and with that exception, we are the only white nen who ever came hers. The Mexicans are afraid to come anywhere near, and well they may be, for the Indians bear thom no good will, and have shown it on many occa- sions, when lead and arrows flew thick and fast. The natives seemed to be all armed, and when on shore today I say six rifles of good quality, which they got from the Ya- quis, with whom they affiliate. They also carry knives with long, keen blades, and bows and arrows pointed with polished steel. In the matter of dress, they go much as nature made them. The babies and the old people are clothed in the evening, when the ccol winds come off the water, with the skins of the brown pelican sewed together with sine The others wear a kind of cloth made of rushes, and all the males hats of the same material. The Closing Words. “In features they are different from any Indians I have ever seen. The men are of medicm size, lithe and muscular, keen of eye and feature and look as if they were above the average in intelligence. They all wear beards, which is another exception to the general rule applying to the Indian of the west. The women are smaller and featured much the same—in fact, some of them are very good looking. Their hair, while it is perfectly black, is very fine, and both men and women wear It in long plaits hanging down to their shoulders. In my opinion, they are the unmixed descendants of one of the lower branches of the Aztecs, and in that manner the radical difference between them and other tribes may be ac- counted for. When I am better acquainted with them I will give a more extended ac- count of their customs. So good-bye, old log, and if I never get back from my hunt tomerrow, may you live long and prosper.” The last sentence may contain a solution | to this mystery, if, as has been stated by a few, that Robinson is in hiding among these Indians for the purpose of creating a sensa- tion. Of this I am not able to arrive at any definite conclusion. Of one thing we are | quite sure: if he is still alive and among | those Indians, it is with his own free will. The Seris Indians are a small tribe, num- bering about 200. They live dezraded lives. Their food consists of partly decomposed | fish and turtles, frequently evten raw. The | little cooking they do is done in a tightly woven basket made from sea grass or wil- lows. The boiling of foof is accomplished by heating stdhes dha dropping them into the basket in which the food is placed, with water sufticient to cook it. ‘The men are reporte! to be fleet of foot and possessed of such endurance that they can outrun a They ofxen visit Hermosillo to trade baskets, shells,and small nuggets of gold, which they gather ‘from the sands of the island, in exchange for which they get ar- ticles for ornamenting thelr persons and cheap calico of bi it colors. Driyen From Home. About one hundred years ago this tribe of Indians lived just across the river from Her- mosillo, where how is built the adobe viliage of Seris. How mych earlier we are unable to learn, but about one hundred years ago the then governor of this state gave these Indians the island on which they now live, driving them from their former home. Their language is monosyllabic and differs from that of all other tribes. Many of them speak the Spanish language quite well. The island on which they live is attached to the mainland by a natural bridge made of coral shells washed up by the incoming tides. At low tide a horse can be ridden across to the island. On the Sonora shore the sands are quite rich in gold, but no effort has ever been made to mine it. Evidently this is the source frome which these Indians get the sold nuggets they bring in for trade, al- though it is reported that the island’ has vast riches in gold in its hills and valleys, which the Indians guard with jealous care. No native Mexican can be induced to 5o there singly or in small numbers. ‘The In- dians have an hereditary hatred toward the Mexican, owing, perhaps, to the fact of their tribe having been driven from Her- mosillo about one hundred years ago. Be this as it may, it is certain that the Seris Indian keeps the Mexican in deadly fear of crossing the line into thelr territory. sito Foes AN IMPERIAL TROUSSEAU. Frocks an Lingerie Made for a Grand Duchess. From the Philadelphia Press. What a whiff of royal magnificence came to us from across the sea in the closely- written sheets of thin paper telling of the lovely things prepared for the czar’s daugh- ter, who by this time has been several weeks the bride of her cousin, the Grand Duke Alexander Michaelovitch. The favor- ed individual who was privileged to gaze at the gorgeous trousseau as it was displayed in several apartments set aside exclusively for that purpose in the Lamson palace, St. Pe- tersburg, writes of many Interesting details certain to please the free-born daughters of America who may some day marry grand dukes themselves, The rooms were hung with exquisite old brocades that furnished a truly royal back- ground for the exquisite gifts set about in extravagant profusion. In the first room were the priceless furs which the imperial Farents presented to their daughter. Nearly all of these were of black sable and were in the form of linings, capes, trimmings, boas, ete, The long court train of dark purple velvet was ned and edged with the richest ermine. This train is always worn by the imperial brides during the marriage cere- mony. It is fastened at the shoulders and Sweeps away over the snowy whiteness of the wedding robe proper. An opera cloak of emerald green velvet was lined throughout with sable, an immense collar of the same turning back from the throat. A driving cape of ermine was the most jaunty gar- ment in the aqllection. Like Other Girts The costumes, such as real flesn-and-blood girls who never eXpect to be princesses are interested in,‘ were of great number and made very simply, the czarina being a royal dame pf the quietest tastes. The skirts were all untrimmed, save, perhaps, by a single ruffieof chiffon. The bodices were elaborately Greed in this fluffy ma- terial, but the beauty of them was marred, according to present fashionable ideas, by the tight, plain sleeves that were a marked feature of all bf them. This is likewise an- other fancy of the,goyal mothers, and there- fore at the Russian court one does not see the large puffed affairs that ure in evidence everywhere else in high circles. The tailor gowns and jackets looked particularly odd with the sort of sleeves worn six or seven years ago, : The lingerie, howeVer, left nothing to be desired. Everyihing was made of the finest cambric and lavishly trimmed with real Valenciennes lace and pink ribbon, each article embroidered with the initials K. A., which stand for the bride's name, Kzenia Alexandrovna, surmounted by the imperial crown. The dressing jackets were of cam- bric, just smothered in lace, each one being tled with a different colored ribbon, the tollette capes being to match, There were silk petticoats, cambric petti- coats and flannel petticoats, the last being particularly pretty, with a ruffle of silk, over which another one of lace was placed. Pirk was the prevailing color tone, being seen in the dozens of boxes of gloves, the parasols, shoes, silk stockings and even car- ried Into the handkerchiefs. Several rooms were filled with household linen, on every piece of which, even to the kitchen cloths, was embroidered the im- perial crown. All the pillows were covered with pink silk, and there were dozens of them, from great giant affairs to tiny mites hardly larger than a pocket handkerchief. It is a Russian custom for the bride to provide some portion of the bridegroom's trousseau. Embroidered shirts and gor- geous dressing gowns were therefore on view as the prospective possession of the grand duke, and many there were who took quite as much interest in these as in the daintier garments: prepared for the bride. —— 200 “PALACE OF POVERTY.” Philadelphin Headquarters of the Knights of Labor Lensed—May Move to Washington. From the Philadelphia Telegraph. For some time past negotiations have been pending between Secretary-Treasurer Hayes of the Kniglts of Labor and Richard C. Schirmer, director of the Philadelphia Con- servatory of Music, with regard to the leas- ing of the large brownstone residence at No. 814 North Broad street, which for the last seven years has been the headquarters of the knights. The transaction was com- pleted last week, and Mr. Hayes has agreed to lease for three years the greater portion of the building to the conservatory, merely retaining office room for the clerical force of the organization. Practically, however, the conservatory will occupy the house, and next Saturday the school will move in, It will take possession of the spacious recep- ticn room to the north of the entrance, all the second floor except Editor Schonfarber's sarctum, the third floor with the exception of two rooms and the entire fourth floor. This announcement will, without doubt, create much surprise among the knights all cver the country, and especially in this city, for the negotiations have been kept very quiet. By one element among the kmghts the news will be greeted with satisfaction, for they havé log maintained that the pos- session of such large headquarters was simply a useless expenditure of money. ‘There is also a significance in this move on the part of the organization, and it looks like a final effort of the knights to keep their heads above water in this city. For a long time past the membership of the or- ganization here ‘has been growing smaller, until now it 1s approximated at a very low figure, and the leaders realized that the “Palace of Poverty,” as the house was called, was an elephant on their hands. The building ‘Cost originally $45,000, of which amount $8%000 is held in a mortgage. This include# a stable in the rear, which ts used as a printing and publication office of the Journal of the Knights of Labor. It was stated yestefday on good authority that the knights were very much dissatisfied with the way thifigs have been going in this city. They are anxious to sell their Broad street headquarters and move to Washing- ton, D. It is only a question of a short time, It 1s rumored, before they will make their headquarters at the capital. e oo The Best Patd Author. From the Springfield Republican. Rudyard Kipling’s seven words for $1, said to be the highest price paid any lt- erary man of our times, reads very small in comparisan with what was paid Judge Paxton for a literary article. Until Mc- Leod came on the scene the Reading rail- road had used an old sign at the crossings, “Beware of the engines and cars,” with a mass of further instructions in small print. n some suits for damages it was claimed that the warnings were not clear. McLeod went to Judge Paxton, who composed this admirable notice, “Railroad crossing—Stop, Look and Listen!” For this little composi- tion he received the modest sum of $4,780, or over $7966 a word. When it comes to emoluments the poets are not in it with the lawyers. THE LABOR PROBLEM The Pressing Need of Raising the Standard of Citizenship. A FLOOD OF DEGRADED IMMIGRANTS The Responsibility of Those Who Import Cheap Labor. ge SOME REMEDIES PROPOSED Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. For several years the constantly recurring industrial upheavals have been bringing prominently to the attention of the public the necessity for a new standard of citizen- ship for those who desire to avail them- selves of the advantages of residence in the United States in preference to their native land. The boasted liberality of the United States government in offering this coun- try as an asylum for the oppressed of all the -world has become synony- mous with an offer of harbor for the crimi- nal and other undesirable classes of Europe. So long as there Was a great preponderance of American and Americanized English- speaking people to assimilate those who landed on our shores there was little danger from immigration, and the early Scotch, English, Irish, German and Norwegian emigrants were of a class who added to the real wealth of the nation by coming among us. Most of them were healthy and strong (the first requisite to desirability in a new country), and were sutfliciently ambitious and thrifty to render them very welcome as assistants to the sturdy pioneers who were constantly pushing the star of empire west- ward toward the Pacific ocean. In those days the emigrant was willing to become an American citizen as soon as the laws would permit him to do so, and very readily adapt- ed himself to the customs and usages of the land of his adoption. In coming here he bade adieu to the fatherland, and, while he longed for a time to dwell upon the beauties and pleasures of his birthplace, yet he was ever willing to concede the right of eminent superiority to the land of civil and religious liberty. Such emigrants made good citizens and zealous patriots, as this country has learned by experience both in halls of legis- lation and on many a field of battle. But how different the situation is today! Citizenship Too Chenp. The time has_ come in our national de- velopment when there 1s not enough em- ployment in this country for the people who are here, and the wisest heads and truest hearts of the nation should at once devise ways and meuns for the correction of what has come to be a great evil and injustice to the people of the United States. Laws have been enacted in the past, de- signed to meet these conditions, but have been proved by experience totally inade- quate to effect a remedy. Statesmen can be induced to enact legislation prohibiting the admission of Chinese, but they are dumb when asked to legislate for the tem- porary suspension of immigration of all kmds. The great difficulty is, and has been, that citizenship in the United States has been altogether too cheap, and those who have been coming here for the past twelve or fifteen years have not prized it. Hence we find the Italians, Hungarians, Poles and Slavonians huddling themselves together like so many cattle in clannish settlements, speaking their own tongue, perpetuating thelr native customs, and in many ways bringing into this country a state of civ- {lization much lower than the lowest of that already here, and generally introduc- ing a social system so demoralizing and de- grading as to cause us to seriously con- sider whether the strong arms of the law should not be invoked to suppress it. Effect of Low Class Labor. Within five miles of the city hall of Detroit, Mich., it was discovered a few years ago that Hungarian men and women were working side by side on the brick yards, making brick, and living amid social surroundings such as would put to shame respectable Berkshire hogs. One shanty of five rooms was found to contain an average of three families to each room, all eating from one common kettle of food placed on the center of the rude table, and sleeping in one common bed. This’ was discovered by the Michigan bureau of sta- tistics. And, what was worse, those people were establishing wages and modes of life for others, for competing employers were compelled to reduce the price of labor to their level or close down. It is not neces- sary to say that they did not suspend opera- tions. It was too easy to procure some of the same class of labor. They were being landed at New York harbor every day. From Michigan we will pass along to the coke regions of the keystone state, where, a few years ago, a strike in the coke indus- try developed the fact that foreigners were working for a less sum of money per day than ts paid by the average state for the board of prisoners at its penitentiartes. ‘These, too, were Huns, Poles and Italians, and their standard of life was even worse than that of the Michigan colony. With such conditions confronting us, is it strange that people organize themselves into so- cieties for the purpose of securing better immigration laws? For one thing is cer- tain: If we would not see the standard of fe which has made this country superior to others brought down to that of the Hun- garians or Poles we must see to it that every one of those who bring such a stand- ard with them to the Uniteds-States is com- pelled to lay it aside and adopt our higher civilization. There is no middle ground If there is to be a leveling process in the United States the writer of this article be- Icngs to the class which believes in leveling up, and not down. Some Proposed Remedies. But what of the employer's obligation to seciety? Must he go free after bringing In- to the United States an army of vicious and undesirable people, an army which has been constantly increasing until it now overruns the state where first introduced, and had supplanted American Jabor in a dozen others? Let us look, briefly, at some of the meas- ures proposed as a remedy for the evil un- der consideration. One of them is that a head tax be collected at the port of de- barkation. Pray tell how this would afe@&t the result? It would defray the expenses of booking and looking out for the immigrants, and would provide fat situations and fees for the faithful. But it would not serve as a wholesome check on immigration, The very man whom it would be desirable to keep out would be the fellow able to pay his fees and secure entry. And no matter how high the tax was placed, it would not pre- vent the vicious and criminal classes from coming. And, too, if the fee was large, it would be an incentive to smuggling across the border, and Uncle Sam has not enough soldiers in the whole of the standing army to guard one-half of the northern border, not to mention the thousands of miles of coastline on the east, south and west. No head tax will ever correct the evils of im- migration. Guarding Immigrat! Another plan proposes that all steerage passages shall be prohibited, thus compel- lng the emigrant to take at least a second cabin accommodation. The effect of this would be to allow only those to come who might be able to pay this advanced price. But this, like the other, is drawing the line at wealth, instead of at real moral worth, and is unjust to a worthy man or woman who might make the best kind of citizens. This plan is, therefore, not a desirable one for enactment into law. Still another proposition, and one which appears to meetwith much support from stu- dents of the question, is that each intending emigrant shall present himself to the Unit- ed States consulate nearest his home and register his intentions, giving such informa- tion as this government may require re- garding himself, to the end that an investi- gation may be made on behalf of the United States as to the fitness of the candidate for citizenship. But if the reform is to be in the line of restriction of the flow of pauper im- migration to the United States, then this last plan comes nearest to a practical solu- tion of the problem. What is wanted is an educational qualification, not only for immi- grants, but for citizens as well. We refuse the ballot to the fairest and brightest of our nation, and then thrust it into the palm of the most vicious and stupid, the only difference being one of sex. A New Party Platform. What is wanted in the United States to- day is another party—a party which shall represent the truest and best element in every community; a party in which indus- trial and moral worth, not wealth, shall be the standard of individual and national greatness. The party of the near future, round which the people will rally to victory for the party and for peace and prosper! for the nation and the nation’s people, will be that party which shall have the courage to adopt a platform shutting out the com- petition of foreign labor by closing the ports of entry to immigration for twenty- five years. M. DEWEY. ———___ THE TYPHOON. The Storm That Blows in the China Sen. From the New York Evening Sun. “The worst storms,” said the captain of a tramp steamship the other day, “are the typhoons of the Chinese seas. They cover a large area, are uncertain in their move- ments and follow each other quickly. The typhoon season is on just now. And I see that one reason the Japanese and Chinese war fleets are anxious to stay at home is because they are efraid of the big storms. “The first signs of the storm ire light cirrus clouds coming from the east, with hot, dry weather, very light winds and a slight rise in the barometer. This fine weather lasts for several days. “There are usually halos to be seen around the sun by day and round the moon by night, while the phorphorescence of the sea becomes suddenly increased; the sunsets and sunrises become gloriously colored with crimson, gold and amber, and the twilight rays are beautiful beyond description. “Then at a distance of about 500 miles from the center activity of the typhoon heavy swells begin to heave the surface of the ocean. A heavy swell in the China sea is a certain indication of a distant typhoon. “Then the cirrus clouds begin to be re- placed gradually by heavy masses of cura- ulus, and where the blue sky is visible be- tween it is seen to be streaked by faint dashes of pale cirrus clouds. Next the tem- perature begins to fall and the air becomes very oppressive from increasing dampness. During the early hours of the morning a slight haze is noticed, and the sky presents a threatening and vaporous appearance. “At this stage of the typhoon’s growth the animal world, including human beings, is seen to be strangely affected. Numerous | writers have very graphically described the | ominous terror of some animals and the nervous excitement of others, while the overpowering sense in the human mind of foreboding, presentiment and coming dan- ger are in many cases little short of abject terror. “The weather is depressing and many peo- ple find it impossible to sleep. All sorts of vermin, including snakes, spiders, beetles, frogs and typhoon flies, become unusually active. “The larger animals, such as horses, cat- tle and dogs, show all the signs of nervous terror that may be noticed in a very heavy thunder storm in western lands. There is no thunder with a typhoon, though the sound of the wind may often be mistaken for it. The air becomes very dry, and the wind blows in sudden, short and terrific squalls, lasting perhaps six to ten minutes. The sky is black and threatening, and has a peculiar, ominous appearance. ‘Among the rigging of a ship caught in @ typhoon the sea birds, as well as butter- flies, birds and insects from the land, may be seen. The surface of the sea presents the appearance of boiling water, due to the air, which is caught and imprisoned by the seething foam and the crest of the huge waves lashed into fury by the force of the wind. “In the exact center of a typhoon the sea is calm and the winds are hushed, while overhead the clouds are thin and high, often allowing the stars to peep cheerfully through. “But woe betide the ships that are de- ceived by the lull of this central calm. “For around it on el! sides the winds are howling and shrieking and apparently blowing in a dozen directions at once, and the moment a ship passed out of the calm it will be tmpossible to tell from which quarter the dangerous squall will swoop down and strike her. “The central calm is often twenty square miles in size. It ts caused by the rotary motion of the winds and the sky is usually clear directly over it. “During the typhoon season the storms follow each other quickly, and there are often several at once raging in different parts of the far east. During August and September, in fact, just at this time, the season is at its height.” ——_ee How the Days Follow Each Other. Goldthwaite’s Geographical Magazine. The maritime powers of the world have agreed to make London the time center, and the 180th degree of longitude from London (or Greenwich) as the point where the day changes. This meridian, therefore, leads the day. Its passage under the 180th, or midmght, celestial meridian marks the be- ginning of a new day for the earth; hence today becomes tomorrow. We have a new date for the month and a new day for the week in the transition. It is here, then, that Sabbath was born just to the west of Honolulu, but bear in mind that the day travels westward, there- fore this new-born day does not visit Hono- lulu until it has made a circuit of the globe. Honolulu and New Zealand are only about thirty degrees apart in longitude, but they are a whole day apart as regards any par- ucular day, because the point at which the day changes lies between them. Sabbath was born on the 180th meridian, and is a long way off from Honolulu. It is morning there, too, but it is Satur- day morning, while in New Zealand it is not yet day, but the Sabbath dawn Is break- ing. It is clear, then, that if it is Friday {near midnight) at Honolulu to the east of the line, and Sabbath (near 1 a.m.) to the west of it, a ship which sails from Honolulu to New Zealand, or from east to west, must sail out of Friday into Sabbath, and ‘there- by skip the intervening Saturday, and gai: a day; and, vice versa, a ship which sails from New Zealand, where Sabbath has be- gun, to Honolulu, where Friday has just ended and Saturday begun, or, from west to east, must lose a day. —— eee) FRENCH BATHING HOUSES. They Are Fitted Up in an Art Cony Style. From the New York Tires. To those accustomed to the rough board closets, entirely undecorated and barely de- cent, which do duty as dressing rooms at most American beaches, the beautiful little nooks that are found on the French coast at fashionable resorts are little short of palatial, Most of the dainty women who, in their costly and beautiful, if sometimes surprising, costumes, sport with the waves at Trouville have their own private bath- ing houses, or “machines,” as they are called, which, on wheels, are capable of be- ing moved about to suit the convenience of the owner. They are tall, square boxes, with roof sloping on four sides, and look, as they dot the beach, like rows of turrets set down from their high estate. The floor is elevated perhaps two feet from the ground, and an easy ladder, with board steps, lets down to gair access to the interior. With- in is the most conventent of dressing rooms, well lighted, prettily decorated, and cozy and attractive enough to tempt consider- able occupancy. i described is fitted in ecru fish netting drapery, lined with Tur- key. The door is draped on the inside with this, finished with a ball fringe, and the wall hangings and cefling drapery are of the same. The plain cloth is carried as drapery around the windows, looking glass and valance to the shelf, which forms the dressing table. The floor is covered with Mnoleum, with a pretty rug over it; there is a low chair with a hanging pocket for shoes and stockings, a foot bath, and pretty toilet set. Bunches of flowers and grasses decorate the walls, the windows have silken curtains, with an embroidered monogram; there are ornamental clothes hooks, pock- ets holding brushes and sponges—every fit- ment that is needful, and all got together in an artistic way. soe No Danger. From Puck. Maud—“Isn’t it calm and peaceful here by the sea?” Ethel—“Oh, yes, indeed! I haven't once felt as though I ought to look under my bed before going to SLUMS OF THE WORLD How the Submerged Tenth Live in the Big Cities. A Comparison Between Methods of ‘This din Europe. Selving the Problem Country From the New York Herald. In traveling, 1 have always made it a rule to visit the slums of the large cities. There one finds what the economists call the “lowest margin of social culture,” and un- fcrtunately one knows that then he is much nearer the masses of the people than when he is wandering through the dreary palaces of kings with bis monotonous guide. And while the search for the palace is some- times in vain, the search for the sium is al- ways fruitful. The wealth of Paris and the natural beauty of Naples cannot escape it. And Athens even, the queen city of ancient art and beauty, has a slum. And though the Acropolis seems to gather up its classic skirts to escape contamination, it gets it, nevertheless, and right at its feet, too. In Berlin and St. Petersburg these people seem the least dangerous. In the latter because of the severity of the police in- spection and in the former because of the systematic attention given to their order and arrangement,few being allowed to gath- er together and the most careful attention being given to their housing and living. In St. Petersburg they are almost wholly freed from one troublesome element, the drunken. A».d strange to say, in no city have I seen drunken men treated with such mildness by the police as in this city of autocracy. The fact is that the Russian, when intoxicated on his favorite vodka, ts bubbling with good nature, however weak he may be in logic and the law of gravitation. The police recognize the harm- lessness of this condition and so only pack the inebriate off into some back alley, or if they know where he lives, tbey often put him into a sleigh and send him home. I happened to be in St. Petersburg during one of the leading sacred festivals which the orthodox Russian, who will cross hir- self whenever he passes a church, will, with equal devoutness, celebrate by getting | drunk, and, while I saw many of the faith- ful in a condition of pious ecstasy, there were no arrests. My own sleigh driver wai | intoxicated on one occasion, but though he | could hardly hold his seat, he was brim- ming cver with good nature and found inef- fable delight in repeating the name of my hotel in French, apparently the only foreign words that knew. Must Have Warm Air. For living accommodations, while a large section of the poor quarter is made up of rear tenements, a larger one is composed of small houses of the customary stucco, thick-walled according to the need of the cold winter weather. But inside a close, stuffy air aud genuine warmth may be confused. Yet I have noticed everywhere, even in personal -experience, that if one cannot have the pure warm air, he pre- fers to have a close atmosphere as the next best thing. Of all cities I have seen, Constantinople is certainly the dirtiest, and Port Said, on the Mediterranewn, the coarsest and wickedest. It is, in fact, all siums, with only a partial exception in favor of a couple of second- class hotels. Paris, our normal standard of depravity, is a Sunday school in comparison with this famous coaling station. And the excuse that might be offered for a rough mining town, that it is out of sight, is not in point there. In New York and Chicago the wear of poverty seems greatest. The poor work longer and sleep less in the American cities than m those of Europe. The Russian He- brews, who have come to this country as to a house of refuge, when at home toiled ten hours a day and lived in less crowded ac- commodations than here. Now they work twelve, fourteen or more hours a day, and live in two-room tenements, and likely have couple of boarders to help pay the ex- orbitant rent that inevitably follows on close crowding. im Other Cities. For immorality Budapest, Vienna and Amsterdam certainly compete successfully with Paris for the palm among the higher classes. The lower classes of the French capital are probably not worse than those of several other large cities of Europe. Parts of Naples and Smyrna are probably least safe to the stranger of ali the large cities which the traveler may visit. Three Greeks had beer caught and burned alive almost in the suburbs of Smyrna just be- fore I was there, and it was not an orderly American lynching ether, but an act per- petrated by robbers who thought that the best way to insure the quiet of their vic- tims. There was a round of night attacks in Paris a few years since in which the sand- bag was the chosen weapon of attack, as there was about the same time in London and Berlin, but these were soon suppressed. If one looks for dirt neither pure nor simple, but compounded with the rags of disease and the vermin of countless beggars and scented with the odors of Arabia, he will undoubtedly hie himself to Constanti- rople and his every wish will be more than sratified. What that city, so beautiful at a distance and so filthy nearer view, would do if It were not for the army of dogs which act as a board of health and the re- movers of all garbage, it is impossible to say, but certainly it would #e uninhabitable by the least sensitive European. As to Government Ald. Not simply for the so-called “delinquent and defective” and the “submerged tenth,” but for that tenth which may be submerged at any unusual rise in the tide of public misfortune, does the orderly municipal gov- ernment in Europe give heed and relief. Not simply lest it should be a menace, but for the public health, the city government in Germany exerts itself to prevent too much crowding of the poor in one quarter of the city. Paris does the same. Glasgow and several of the large cities in England have estab- shed public lodging and tenement houses and make a thororgh inspection of all similar private dwellings. As a result, Glasgow is rapidly rising in the scale of \holesomeness and respectability among the cities of the world, though it once was almost at the foot of the list. Nearly every country in Europe aids the x in their business to the extent of es- tablishing government pawn shops, so that during the last winter the unfortunate in those cities were able to pawn their goods and chattels at 7 per cent per annum, while in New York they were paying 3 per cent per month and in many cities more. Slums Are Not Necessary. Is, then, a slum necessary? From my ex- tended examination I believe not. When we see how in Paris, which used to be noted in the old days for the cours des miracles (court of miracles), where all the beggars used to herd together at night and hold high and low carnival, and which received its name from the remarkable fact that those who on the public streets were lame and blind and dumb there had their sight and use of their limbs. All these things have been changed, and one must make careful inquiry to find the abodes of ex- treme poverty, and when we see in Eng- land that more comprehensive schemes yet are being lai4 out, we may fairly ad- mit that the confidence in some of those countries that the day when a pestilence will not find a fleld ready for the seed of death, or a revolution reveal a large class which has absolutely nothing to lose by @ social upheaval, with every stimulant which uncomfortable living and bad food can supply to incite them thereto, is a hope not so utopian as it might appear at first thought. At any rate, both the health and the safety of the world demand that the at- tempt should be made with much more se- riousness and strength than have been ap- plied In any American city up to date. The waste in voluntary charity is enormous, and the overlapping continues and always will continue so long as the present system endures. And certainly an enlarged and improved department of health and food inspection would more than pay for itself in the im- Proved ccnditions of health and working power, And if the large school buildings which stand “blank and bare” every even- ing were open to the public use an equiva- lent would be given which could be stated in dollars and cents and in some other coins of even ereater valna