Evening Star Newspaper, August 7, 1895, Page 9

—————SSSSSSSSSSSSS—Sqa DEMOCRATS IN IOWA Few Friends of Silver in the State Convention. THEY ARE IN A HOPELESS MINORITY Meeting of the Mississippi Dem- ocrats. OTHER POLITICAL BODIES MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa, August 7.—The democratic state convention was called to order in the Odean Opera House by Chair- man Howard at 10:20 this morning. The convention contains 1,079 delegates, every county being fully represented. Judge Nathaniel French of Davenport was made temporary chairman and addressed the convention. Caucuses held this morning prior to as- sembling convention by various districts revealed the fact that the free silver men are in hopeless minority. The committee on resolutions are nearly unanimous for sound money. Only two dis- tricts have white metal members. The sil- ver men will introduce a minority report, however, and make a stubborn fight on the floor of the convention. Judge Babb of Mount Pleasant will be mominated for governor, it is thought, by acclamation. MISSISSIPPI DEMOCRATS. Demand for Board and Rooms Sends Up Prices. JACKSON, Miss., August 7.—The demo- cratic state convention was called to order at ncon today by Chairman Booth. The weather is clear aml warm. The crowds of delegates are so largo that board and lodging ts already seiling at a premium. Congressmen Stockdale and Miller of Lauderdule county are mentioned for per- fanent chairman. R. L. Harris, candidate for state auditor, has withdrawn. This will irsure the nom- ination of Col. W. D. Holder for that office. Waite and Wenver Speak. FORT WORTH, Texas, August 7.—Despite the intense heat, thousands of people at- tended the second day's camp meeting of the populists held in Sportman Park at this place. Resolutions were adopted reaflirm- ing-the principles of the Omaha platform. Letters were read from Debs and Senator ‘Wm. S. Stewart, regretting their inability to attend. Ex-Gov. Waite and Gen. Weaver addressed the convention. The proposition to fuse with the silver democrats was de- cided in the negative. The Texas Silver Men. FORT WORTH, Texas, August 7.—Last evening’s session of the silver convention was addressed by Senator Chilton, Gov. Culberson, Attorney General Crane and a number of other free silver democrats. The platform adopted declares radically in favor of free coinage of silver at 16 to 1 and strongly condemns the financial policy of the administration. After passing a number of resolutions the convention adjourned sine die. —_—_. Defaulter Taylor Returning. SIOUX CITY, Iowa, August 7.—W. W. Taylor, the South Dakota defaulting treas- urer, was In the city yesterday on his way from Chicago to Pierre. Taylor has been in Chicago the past three weeks. The purpose of his visit was to collect $100,000, which, besides all his property, he will turn over to the state of South Dakota. He said he has been entirely successful in his mission, and the money was now in hand, ready to be paid into the treasury. “I am going to Pierre to plead guilty and be sentenced,” said Mr. Taylor, “and I am anxious to be serving it. >. The Chess Masters. HASTINGS, England, August 7.—There was considerable exciterrent among the chess masters who are competing at Bras- sey Institute, in this city, in the interna- tional chess tournament today prior to the beginning of the third round, on account of the remarkable results arrived at yes- terday. Many spectators were present, and among those the defeats which the German masters, Tarraseh and Lasker, sustained were eagerly discussed. The players sat down to work at 1 p.m. and continued play until 5 p.m., when an adjournment was made for dinner. aed Irish-Americai to Meet. CHICAGO, August 7.—The convention of the Irish race in America, which has been agitated for the last two years, will be held in Chicago September 24, 25 and 26. It will consist of 1,000 delegates, chosen by the Irizh patrictic and military organiza- tions of the country. The delegetes will be accomparied by a much larger number of representative countrymen, so that the to- tal atiendance will be over one thousand. The business meetings of the delegates will be held in the atditorium of the Y. M. C. A., but it is expected that reunions will be held in one of the big halls of the city. ——— End of a Checkered Career. SAN FRANCISCO, August 7.—A special from Santa Monica to a local paper says that Jack Gordon, a grandson of Chi- nese Gordon, died there last night of alco- holism. Gordon was born in London in 1844, and was the son of Capt. Gordon of the British navy, who was a son of the fa- mous gencral who, in 1887, was killed by the mahdi at Khartoum. Young Gordon, who, up to stout twelve years ago, was a clerk in the Bank of England, separated from his wife, owing, it is said, to his drinking, ané came to this country with about $10,000, engaging in the paving busi- ness with a wealthy Englishman in Sioux Falls, Iowa. They failed and Gordon was left penniless. He went to Santa Monica nine years ago, and of late has gained a livelihcod by acting as a porter in a sa- loon. —-__ Cut Each Other to Death. LITTLE ROCK, Ark., August 7.—Joe Hammond and Clarence Clapman of Lone- oke county cut each otlter to death in this city with pocket knives because they could mot agree as to which owngd a bull year- ling. The fight lasted fully fifteen minutes, both men standing up and jabbing until life wds almost extinct. Sheep Herders Threatened. DENVER, Col., August 7.—A special from Douglass, Wyo., says: The foreman of a Yerd of sheep owned by the Platte Valley Sheep Company reports that masked men rode into camp, held up the herders, sat- urated the wagon with coal oil and burned it. They shot half a dozen sheep, and rode off, after telling the herders they would wipe out the entire flock if they did not get out of the park at once. The company gent out arms and ammunition, and say they will stand their ground. Bloodshed is likely to follow. —————— Publisher Elverson Returns. NEW YORK, August 7.—Among the passeasers on board the steamer St. Louls, which sailed for Southampton today, was James Elverson, sr., proprictor of the Phila- delphia Inquirer. He was accompanied by Mrs. Elverson. ey The Star Out of Town. THE EVENING STAR will be sent by mail to any address in the United States or Canada for such period as may be desired at the rate of fifty cents per month. 7 But all such orders must be ac- companied by the money, or the paper cannot be sent, as no ac- counts are kept with mail subscrip- tions. JAPAN'S NEW POSSESSION Features of the Recently Acquired Island of Formosa. The People Whe Inhal It and Some of Their Peculiarities and Customs, From the San Francisco Examiner. The Japanese will accomplish a task hitherto deemed hopeless if they succeed in subduing the tribes of savages which in- habit the interior of their newly acquired Island of Formosa. These wild people have maintained their independence for centuries, refusing to be civilized or to submit to the yoke of the foreign invader. They dwell in the fastnesses of the moun- tains, and some of them aro head hunters. Bags of a peculiar network are manufac- tured by them expressly for the purpose of carrying such heads as may be secured Incidentally in their occasional warlike forays, and cne of their chiefs, when about to be executed by the Chinese who had captured him, said: “I have no fear of death. I have taken ninety-four heads, and only wanted six more to make the hun- dred.” = 2 These savages are of Malay stock. They say that they did not belong originally in Formosa, and described their origin by Pointing to the south and showing copies of the canoes in which thair ancestors are alleged to bave arrived. Their garb: ranges from nudity to gally colored garments of their own weaving, made from the fibers of the banana and ramie plants. They tattoo their faces and build elegant huts of bamboo, over the doorways of which are hung trophies skulls of wild boars and apes, and sometimes tufts of Chinamen’s Pigtails. It is only in their territory, which Strangers rarely dare to invade, that the camphor-bearing laurel grows. Conse- quently the camphor can only be obtained with their consent, and money is paid to the chiefs to refrain from destroying the distilling, plants set up in their country. Nevertheless, trouble frequently arises, and the stills are constantly being destroyed. ‘The Camphor Trade. Several European firms are engaged in the camphor trade, and they negotiate with the savages through the intervention of the semi-civilized Hakkas or Hillmen. They make advances to the Hillmen on ccnditicn that the latter shall set up a certain numter cf stills and supply month- ly a fixed amount of camphor at a price ®greed upon. The laurel is a large forest tree. It is felled and the trunk and branches are cut into small pieces with axes, the giant of the woods being scon reduced to a heap of chips. The chips are subjected with water to a crude pro- cess of distillation, the camphor crystals deposited in the condensing jars being scraped out and packed in baskets. Inci- dentally to the operation an essential cil is obtained which is exported under the name of camphor oil and is used for chem- ical purposes. Formosa is 235 miles-long and seventy- five miles wide, being as big as Sardinia and Corsica rolled into one. Estimates of the population vary from 2,000,000 to 3.000,000, ‘ause the number of savages is unknown. The soll is bursting with fatness, and nowhere is a finer quality cf tea produced. It is a great pineapple ccun- try, and a beautiful fiber is obtained from the leaves of that plant. The eastern half of the island is covered with jungles, in which grows the valuable creeper called Fattan. The Spaniards took possession of Formosa in 1526, but were expelled by the Dutch In 1642. In 1661 a Chinese pirate cbief named Koxinga drove away the Dutch and proclaimed himself king. Twen- ty-two years later the Chinese dethroned his successor, and from then until now the island has been a province of the Middle Kingdom. Race of Black Dwarfs. Formosa ts a part of the great archipel- ago, which includes the Philippines, long Possessed and misgoverned by Spain. In Japan’s newly acquired island have been found skulls and skeletons of people who belonged to a race of black dwarfs, doubt- less exterminated there by the Malays, Pigmies of the same race still inhabit the Philippines: They were called Negritos, or Little Negroes, by the early Spanish set- tlers. Some of the smaller isles were en- tirely peopled by them. They call them- sefves Aetas; they are active, very dark, woolly, small headed and average only four feet and seven inches in height. They are distinct from any other known people. Though so tiny they are very muscular, using with ease bows which the strongest white man cannot string. They are won- derful runners, and their senses are as- tonishingly acute. They distinguish by their odor fruits hidden in the thick foliage of the jungle, and recognize by smell cnly from what flowers the bees have gathered honey. These dwarfs are supposed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the Malay archi- pelago. They invented canoes, the nauti- cal qualities of which have astonished English sailors. Eventually they became widely scattered over the seas of that part of the world, and on the mainiand as well. Some tribes of them still exist in the most inaccessible and unwholesome parts of In- dia, where they are known as “man apes” or “men of the jungles.” Once upon a time they were numerous in Java, where they were wiped cut by Malays, who joined to murderous propensities a civilization capa- ble of erecting the thousands of xigantic temples, whose ruins today amaze the archaeo:ogical explorer in that island. Some anthropologists are of the opinion that the remains of a so-called fossil man recently found in Java are actually the bones of a little negro. Bigger and strong- er people gradually drove out and killed off these pigmies, who now are found occupy- ing the interior of some of the largest islands, finding a refuge among the moun- tains, while the plains and coastal regions are inhabited by intruding races. ——+«+—____ A Stunning Speech. From Blackwood’s Magazine. : A distinguished traveler, who had made the ascent of an Asiatic mountain (which may be-here called ‘‘Upapol”), was to re- turn thanks for the visitors at a dinner of the Alpine Club, but though he was a bold mountaineer, he was a timid orator. “Got to make a speech?” said a friend whom he consulted at the club. “Then there is nothing like taking a glass of sherry and bitters first.” So said other friends, one after sthe other, and on each occasion the prescribed dose was conscientiously swal- lowed. The effect, on a nervous organiza- tion, was ncthing less than confusion worse confounded. When his achievement had been described in glowing terms by the proposer of the toast ani the celebrated explorer rose to reply, he contented himself at first with smiling blandly at his audience for a min- ute or two ss he swayed backward and forward. Then he hegan: “Gentlemen, Upapol is seventeen thousand levels above the feet cf the sea.” There was a roar of Homeric laughter, but the orator smiled still and continued: “No, that is all nonsense. Of course, I mean twenty thou- sand seas above the level of the feet.” An- other shout inade him think that this statement, too, had something wrong about it, and then he gave up his task in despair, and we never heard particulars of an as- cent which we were quite prepared to cele- brate as the most remarkable feat of mod- ern climbing. ———-+e+_____ Both Averse to Interference. From the Pittsburg Dispatch. At the corner of 4th avenue and Smith- field street a lady from Glenwood entered a crowded outgoing car. The conductor knew who she was and that she resided in Glenwood. He suspected that she had made a mistake and that she thought she was on a 2d avenue car, so he crowded up the aisle and politely inquired: “Where are you going, lady?” “That's my business,” she tartly replied. ‘The conductor said nothing more, and the car sped along through the dark, crossing the Monongahela through the covered 10th street bridge and rapidly putting space between it and Glenwood. When it entered the big Knoxville incline elevator and stcp- ped nobody said a word. After a minute's wait up the precipice it started, leaving the sparkling electric lights far below. “My goodness!" screamed the Glenwood woman to the conductor, “where is this car going?” “That's my business,” dryly replied the conductor, THE EVENING STAR, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1895-TWELVE PAGES. Y. M. C. A. BUILDING] F'KISHA An Official Statement of the Kind of Structure Needed. PRESENT DEMANDS; FUTURE GROWTH What is Proposed in Advancing ihe Work for Young Men. THE MONEY SITUATION oe —— The following statement explaining the character of the new building needed by the Young Men’s Christian Association has just been prepared The Young Men’s Christian Association of the city of Washirgton is without a home, because of the destruction, by fire, of the building at 1409 New York avenue northwest, on the 24th day of July last. ‘When the population of this city is made a@ basis of comparison with other cities, and the numerous young men, resident and visiting, is-considered, also the quality of work accomplished by the management in their former limited quarters, it is without doubt the will of the citizens of the nation’s capital that a building be erected and equipped that will be equal to the assured demands of the immediate future, with a margin for growth. The history of the association demands that this building shall be such as will meet the requirements of the advanced work of the Young Men’s Christian Association,and that no permanent quarters be secured ex- cept such as are designed for the purpose. The Kind of Building. This will require a building covering an area of not less than 10,000 square feet, in @ location contiguous to the car lines, in which should be a public hall with a seat- ing capacity of 1,000 people at the very low- est—many think it should accommodate 2,000. A gymnasium with all the modern improvements and appliances, shower, tub and needle baths, improved dressing room facilities, a plunge or swimming bath, bowl- ing alleys, members’ reading room, public room, library, reception hall, assem- bly room for 300 persons, bicycle store room, educational class rooms to accommodate 1,000 students—there were 438 students crowded into the old rooms in one year. Classes in stenography, arithmetic, book- keeping, English, penmanship, algebra, geometry, physics, mechanical draughting and typewriting were cared for in the year 1894-95. In arithmetic, stenography and bookkeeping the demand for accommoda- tions for students was almost four times greaier than the supply; an illustration given is that in arithmetic; there were 147 students enrolled; the capacity of the room, A Growing Work. . The association must add architectural and free-hand drawing, languages, electrical and mechanical engineering, manual training and many other studies which young men need, requiring not less than 15,000 square feet of floor space. Then there Is call for special library for students, technical and scientific. Amateur photographers will have to receive attention, amusement and recrea- tion rooms, chess and checker rooms. The boys will need special attention and must be kept separated from the men, using the gymnasium when the men are not pres- ent and their own rooms at other times. They will need reading room and library, recreation room and lecture room. The needs include space for the office, rooms for board of managers, committees, Bible study, then come public comfort—ele- vators, heating apparatus, perhaps a roof garden, and the many things that a prob- able membership of 2,500 or 3,000 will re- quire, to say nothing of the privileges that the host of strangers and residents who are not members are always accorded. The Plans Suggested. There are two plans suggested with re- gard to an income to help meet the expense of such a building and so great a work: First—Stores on the ground floor. Second—A home for the new city library. Either would require all of the first floor. It is hardly necessary to state that $200,- 000 could be used in the preparation of such a building, in addition to the lot now in possession of the association, while . the amount of money is not so much to be con-. sidered as the necessary equipment. If the plant can be secured for a smaller amount of money the association managers will be more than gratified. The public can be as- sured that the organization which has car- ried on so magnificent a work at so small an expenditure can be relied upon to be faithful to the larger trust. In order that the required amount may be raised promptly and a lot secured, so that the work may suffer no further hindrance than is absolutely necessary, a meeting of the business men is called for Wednesday, September 18, at noon, in Masonic Hall, and the subscription list is now open at the temporary headquarters in the Lenman building, second floor’of 1425 New York avenue northwest. All interested may subscribe, such amounts to be paid quarterly, covering a term of four years. The subscriptions ought to be divided as follows: 10 subscriptions of $5,000 each. 20 subscriptions of 2,500 each. 25 subscriptions of 1,000 each. 50 subscriptions of 500 each. 25,000 100 subscriptions of 250 each. 25,000 250 subscriptions of 100 each. + 25,000 This statement is presented by the joint committee—finance and building—of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and is designed to aid any friend of young men in coming to a decision as to the amount he or she may contribute in order that the city of Washington may have a building for young men equal to the absolute needs, even more than to do what other cities have done for young men. S. W. WOODWARD, Chairman Finance Committee. JOHN B. LARNER, Chairman Building Committee. SSS A Great Linguist Baffled. From the Portland (Me.) Argus. : The late Prof. ftephen J. Young of Bowdoin was an accomplished linguist. One day he was on a train bound from Bangor to Brunswick, when a conductor who knew him entered his car to ask him to come out to the second-class coach to try and find out where a certain stupid foreigner was go‘ng. The conductor had attacked him in all the foreign lingo he could muster, and could get no other response than a stupid stare. Prof. Young went back to the rear of the train. The passenger sat there looking very much disturbed and bewildered. The professor went at him in Canadian French, then in German, then in the languages of Scandinavia, Egypt, Italy, Spain and cvery other country on the face of this green earth. Still the passenger sat “mum as an owl,” while the look of bewilderment deep- ened on his face. ‘Ihe professor was non- plused, and was about turning in defeat to his own car when the man looked wearily out of the window and remarked sadly to himself: “By gosh, I wish I was ter hum.” He was an Aroostook Yankee, and he could speak nothing but English. ——_-+e+_____ Fire Interrupts a Wedding. From the Chicago Chronicle. - An unexpected interruption, finally fol- lowed by a happy denouement, took place at a wedding ceremony in Evanston yes- terday. Frances Kempter and Patrick Ke- hoe were to have been married in the after- noon at the home of the young woman's perents, Railroad and Emerson avenues. Arrangements for the ceremony were all complete and they were about to be joined in wedlock, when a fire was discovered in a barn in the rear of the house. The blaze spread rapidly, the flames finally communi- cating to the house. There was a panic among ths guests, and Miss Kempter and her mother became hysterical from excite- ment and fear. Both became unconscious and were taken to a neighbor’s house und a physician summoned. The fire was ex- tinguished before any great damage was done, but the wedding party was given up. Last night Miss Kempter had recovered, and the couple repaired to St. Mary’s Church, where the ceremony was per- formed. aol N JAPAN The Standard Orientab Oarriage of Amer- ican" Origin, a Bx! Sailor-Missionary,. Gobel’s Rheuma- tism Was the Inteniive—The Won- erful Endurance of the Coolies. W. E. Curtis in the Chieago, Record. 5 For the ‘rikisha, which is the greatest blessing travelers in; the east enjoy, we have to bless an American sailor who came here on Commodore Perry’s flagship in 1858, and then returned seven or eight years later as a missionary of the Methodist per- suasion. His name was Jonathan Gobel, and he js mentioned in Commodore Perry's narrative as a pious man of rare intelll- gence, who took great interest in the spirit- ual welfare of the Japanese. Gobel was one of the earliest members of what is known as the Newton mission, a system vf evangelical work inaugurated very snon af- ter Japan was opened to foreigners by a Connecticut gentleman of that name. The jinrikisha is another illustration cf the old adage that necessity is the mother of invention, for Brother Gobel was afilict- ed with rheumatism in his later years, and found it difficult to navigate. The sedan chair, which was used by the nobility, was too close for him, and the kago, a vehicle in which the humbler classes were in the habit of carrying the lame and the lazy, ‘was very uncomfortable for his long legs, so he took a packing case, painted it black, as appropriate to his dignity, and set it upon a pair of wheels. For shelter from the sun he rigged a canvas awning that could be raised or lowered according to his convenience, and he hired a brawny coolie to haul him about. That was the origin of the vehicle which takes the place of carriages and street cars in Japan, Corea, India and China, for Brother Gobel’s inven- tion has spread all over this coast. So use- ful an invention needed a good name, ‘here- fore Brother Gobel called it a jin (man) ticki (power) sha (carriage). But the swells prefer to term it a kuruma. It looks like an exaggerated baby carriage and is very comfortable for riding. The ’Rikisha System. The ’rikishas are all made in Japan, and a large number are exported to the neigh- boring countries. They cost from $17 to $40, according to the care bestowed on their construction, the material used, and the character of their decoration, but they could not be made for more than twice that money in the United States. Many of them are owned by the coolies who draw them, others by companies or private individuals, who let them to the coolies for a share of the money they make. You can hire them by the week for 5 yen ($2.50), by the day for 73 sen @7% cents), 10 sen @ cents) an hour for ordinary service, or 10 sen for a trip of not more than two miles. The system of operating them is very much like that in use by our hackmen at home. Each 'rikisha man has his name and number upon his hat and his lantern. He is registered at police headquarters and pays a small tax to the government. Those that are attached to the tourists’ hotels are required to, @ small percent- age,for the privilege, as they get more patronage and many fées that do not fall to the lot of the ordinary man on the street. 2 hy They wear a loos’ ‘tunic and tights of blue or white cottoft loth that reach not quite to the knees, and are often entirely barelegged in the hat menths of the sum- mer. Sometimes on ehot day when he has to go into the country: your ’rikisha man will strip down to :ebreechclout. On his head he wears a betiiof woven bamboo, covered with canvas ‘that is the shape of an inverted wash bewl, and on his feet a pair of ‘‘waraji,” or Randals, woven’of rice straw, that cost’ leas)'than half a cent. They are made in.eyery -village and in al- most every farm ‘puse, and the covlie usually has two or three-pairs strapped to the axle of his 'rikisha, as they wear out rapidly on the grave of the roads. In winter he goes barefooted, just as he does in the summer, with nothing but his “waraji” to protect his flesh from the snow. Have Great.-Emdurance. The ‘rikisha men are very remarkable for thelr endurance and many of them for their speed. he other day I rode twenty miles in less than three hours over a coun- try road that had some long hills, and at the end of the journey there was scarcely a sign of weariness among the several ‘rikisha men in our party. It 1s custom- ary and proper on these long rides to take two men. One of them works in the shafts and the other assists by pulliiig on a rope made fast around his shoulders, or pushes from behind when the road is hilly. They will go fifty or sixty miles a day for weeks at a time, and keep a gait of six miles an hour, but they expect to have cne hour's rest in three. hey will travel further and faster and with less fatigue than the ordinary road horse. Their gait is an even trot, with the head and shoulders forward. The comfort of the passenger depends very much upon the -way the shafts are held. If they are too high or too low he tires easily, but when the coolie gets ac- customed to your :nost comfortable pos- ture he will accommodate his shafts to it and you ride with less fatigue than in any carriage. Some of the ’rikisha coolies are very elab- orately tattooed. The art of tattooing has reached its highest stage in Japan, and some of the specimens one sees on the street are very elaborate and artistic. Like everything else, the work fs cheaply done. You can have a beautiful picture in colors tattooed upon your bacike or breast that will last a lifetime for $2 or $3, and a skill- ful artist will place an indelible portrait of your lady love on your arm at about - cost of an ordinary photograph at ome. —_—_+e2____. GRAVE OF LINCOLN’S MOTHER. The Simple Stone Which Marks Her ; Last Resting Place. From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In traveling from St. Louis to Louisvills, on the Louisville, Evansville and St. Louis ‘railroad, a traveler passes almost un- noticed the small town of Lincoln, in Spen- cer county, in southern Indiana. The place derives its name from the old homestead of | Abraham Lincoln's father, the farm lying half a mile or so from the railroad depot. The mother of the martyr President is buried here in a thickly wooded spot, with- in a stone’s throw of where once stood Lincoln’s father’s log cabin. A plain white tombstone, surrounded by a neat iron fence, marks the place where her ashes lie. The tombstone has the following plain inscription: o—____—__.-______--9 NANCY HANKS LINCOLN, Mother of Présitent Lincoln. Oct. 5, Au:D. 1818 o—_—_______-______—_o A part of the old: homestead and out- buildings still remain, with a few fence rails scattered here and there in the ‘ields. The main building has;been torn down for some time, and it has been a great many years since the cabin was occupied. Relic seekers would scarcely think of stopping off at Lincoln to find anything of interest. Very few persons, outside of {he few hun- dred inhabitants of jancola, know where the grave is located, and the place has very few visitors. Attention has been call- ed to the place lately by a movement which is on foot to have a fine monument erected on the site, but as yet nothing defi- nite has been done. Enterprising Advertisers. From the Cincinaati Enquirer. Merchants are adoptirg all sorts of de- vices to attract the attention of passers- by. The latest fad is the electrical window sign. An uptown dealer has one which makes a noise and stops strollers, who read on it these words: “If your sign moves and attracts attention your goods- will.” Anether electrical eye arrester never fails to draw. It is shown by a piano man. Over the sidewalk is fixed a large circular case containing a number of white, flexible, sinuous arms, moving from.a common cen- ter. These are connected with the key- board and follow the motion of the keys on a piano inside. When a lively tune is be- ing played the bewildering gyrations of the tumbling bars in the case seem to have constant fascination for the passer-by, JAPAN'S CURRENCY. The Nippon Ginko or Central Na- tonal Bank. ‘® W. Barrett in Atlanta Constitution. : About the currency and banking system of Japan I had a talk yesterday with Mr. Soyeda, the controller of the currency. “The total currency of Japan,” said he, “amounts to $23,924,808 or yen. It consists of: a $5,379,603 27,668,564 19,200,150 5,832,849 12,411,335 Convertible national bank notes. 3,298,374 Convertibie Central bank notes.. 122,482,880 “While we have a bimetallic standard under the law, it Is really a silver stand- ard. Our bak notes are all redeemable in silver. While our gold pieces are stamped 5, 10, and 20 yen, they are really worth al- most double their face value because of the appreciation of gold.” “When was your banking system tnaugu- rated?” I asked. ‘In 1873. It was based upon the system of national banks in the United States. The first banks created had the power of issuing paper currency upon holdings of government bonds as a basis. But the gov- ernment found this a bad syste and after- ward established the Central bank, or Nip- pon Ginko, which now issues all paper cur- rency redeemable in gold and silver. This Central bank, with branches all over Japan, was established in 1886. Under our laws, it must keep on hand gold and silver with which to redeem its outstanding notes. In extreme cases it has the power and author- ity to issue extra notes to the amount of. 85,000,000 yen, with government bonds and other securities as a guarantee fund. “Besides the Nippon Ginko or Central bank, the Yokohama Specie Bank was or- ganized under government supervision, and is engaged chiefly in fore:gn exchange. Some of the old national banks are still in existence, but their charters expire in 1809. Of course, there are a large number of pri- vate banking concerns, Indeed, I doubt if any country has a better banking system than Japan, and we have ample to do the business of the country.” much gold and mined in Japan annually?” “The annual production of these metals in Japan annually amounted last year’ to 23,256 ounces of gold and 1,889,526 ounces of silver.”” “Where fs all your gold coin? I see none in circulation.” “No. It is hoarded by the government, the banks and wealthy individuals; that is, that which is here. Much of it is ex- ported.”* “Is there sufficient currency in Japan?” I asked. “Well, we should perhaps prefer more, but you know living in Japan costs very little. There are few rich men in Japan as you estimate wealth in America, but there are few paupers. Don't you observe the people of all classes to be happ} and con- tented? They tive simply, it is true, but that is conducive to health; and you have doubtless observed that the Japanese are a hearty and healthy peopl “Sul,” he continued, “we would like to have more money in Japan. Our people could make good use of it in.building large manu- factories, all of which now in existence are very profitable. We are rapidly increasing our exports annually. and, as you know, there is nothing which so increases the wealth of a country as its exports.” During our talk Mr. Soyeda conducted me through the treasury builcing. It is a plain substantial structure, very simply furnish- ed. It has no surplus of clerks—only suti- cient to transact the actual business. The ordinary Arabic figure instead of the Jap- anese characters are used in all work, and all figuring is done on the soroban, which every one has seen in Chinese shops and laundries at home. ——__+e+_. Christian Endeavor Indians. From an Exchange. During the late state convention of the Young People's Christian ‘Endeavor Union, held in Seattle, Wash., every hospitable home was, of course, willing to shelter and help entertain the numerous delegates. Among those who thus offered the hospi- tality of their homes was a gentleman havy- ing an elegant home on Beacon Hill, who, for the want of a better name and for the purpose of the story, will be called Black, White or any other color. In assigning the delegates, the committee came across tho Beacon Hill name, and trusting to fate that no offense would be given, five Siwashes from the Puyallup reservation, who were among the dela- gates, were sent to that address. When the tribe arrived with their paraphernalia there was consternation in the household, but the good people took them in with true Christian spirit. The Indians were ushered across the threshold, and they stalked along in true aboriginal style, one after the other, until the first parlor was reached, where the floors were ingrain tiling of pol- ished wood, smooth as glass. When one of the women, who was in the lead, set her foot on .the smooth, polished floor, her feet flew out from under her and she went down with a thud. The other four, two squaws and two men, immediately’ took warning and refused to budge. They stood as if glued to the spot, and their rigid, stoic figures took on the appearance of to- bacco signs. After that the Indians could not be coaxed into the house—except for dinner— and they spent the time for the next few days squatting under the trees, holiing councils of war. It is also related that at night they were so afraid of these smooth floors that they would enter the house on their hands and knees. They were happy when the convention closed, for they were of the firm conviction that an attempt had been made to maim and injure them—that they were victims of a deep-laid conspir- acy. Iver bullion ts e+. Great Freight Wagons. From an Exchange. ‘The largest freight wagons in the world are now, it is asserted, made in San Lean- dra, Cal., fof steam freighting in connec- tion with traction engines—the capacity of these wagons being sixteen tons each—and with sufficient wheel surface to retain that amount without injury to the roads. The dimensions and details show the.size of the axles to be four inches in diameter, front wheels four feet ten Inches high and sixteen inches width of tire, rear wheels six feet high and tires sixteen inches wide; length of bed, nineteen and a half feet; width, four and a half feet, and six feet high. These are made wholly of fron and steel, except the bed, which is of wood. The front wheels track somewhat wider than the rear ones, due to the fact that the continual hauling over the road, and the wagons always running in the same tracks. naturally cuts down the road into ruts to a certain extent, rendering it un- even. To overcome this the engine wheels are twenty-six inches wide and the front wheels of the wagon so designed that the tracks will lap one-half the width of the engine wheels on the inside. +e The Train Came Dewn. From an Exchange. At a small railway station in the hilly part of Alabama, an old man, carrying a carpet bag and accompanied by his wife, boarded the train. They took the first seat, the old lady sitting next the window. It was apparent that this was their first rail- way journey. The train started, and they both looked eagerly from the window, and, as the speed increased, a look of "keenest anxiety gathered on the old lady’s face. She grasped her husband’s arm and sald, in a voice plainly audible above the roam to those about her: “Joel, we be goin’ awful quick. I know ‘taint safe.” A few minutes later the train ran on to a long trestle. With a Httle shriek of terror the old lady sprang to her feet and seized the back of the seat in front of her. There rhe stood, trembling from head to foot, staring from the window. Meantime the train sped onward and was soon once more on solid earth. The old lady was quick to note the change. Her features relaxed and she sank into her seat with the fervent excla- mation: “Thank goodness! She's lit again!” ——— cee _____ The Usual Form. From the Chicago Record. “Have you issued my denial that I am a candidate,” inquired the prominent politi- cian of his secretary. “Yes, sir,” sald the obedient secretary. “Well, then,” continued the politician, “go down to the committee headquarters and tell the chairman to get himself interview- ed to the effect that it is impossible to foretell what I might do were the honor toreett on me by unanimous action of the party. WHY NOT 300 MILES AN HOUR? Discussing the. iture of Electrical Locomotives. The board of directors of the Westing- house Electric and Manufacturing Com- pany meeting yesterday in New York rat- ified the agreement between their company and the Baldwin locomotive works, which unites the two great concerns in the work of building electrical locomotives. The agreement was fully understood, and has been settled upon for some time, so that the action of the board was perfunctory. Charles A. Bragg, the manager of the Philadelphia branch of the Westinghouse Company, when asked yesterday by a Phil- adelphia Press reporter as to the prospects ef the electrical locomotive, said: “From past knowledge of the rapid development of electricity, it would not be wise to at- tempt to foretell its future, particularly in this line of motive power. I expect to see, however, with a few years all the sub- urban lines of the present steam railroad systems equipped with these locomotives. I do not mean that electricity will then have superseded steam, for the through lines will probably retain their steam en- gines, but on the short lines to nearby points, where frequent trips and numerous stcps are necessary to accommodate the traveling public, the modern electric loco- motive will fill the bill. “The speed of the new locomotives will depend upon many outside conditions. If the tracks are even and straight and the roadbed good a speed of 150 miles an hour could be achieved. If such tremendous ve- locity can be attained why not 200 or 250, or even 300 miles an hour? No one can tell. “The electric locomotives are cheaper than the steam ones, and the cars that they will haul will be less expensive, being light- er. Their operation is cheaper and they can be stopped often without entailing ad- ditional expense. “A use to which electricity might be put with advantage, I think, is in the propul- sion of great steamships. This electric fan,” said Mr. Bragg, pointing to a little brass machine that sends a current of air the length of his office, “tis built on the plan of a propeller. It makes 2,000 revolutions a minute; compare that with the greatest nuniter of revolutions that the screws on our transatlantic greyhounds can muke. The same hanrper is on them that is on the steam locomotives. If those engines on shipboard could run dynamos and the motors be geared to the screws, then the rotary motion could be secured and the screws would go as fast as you please.” —-—_+0-_ A SUBMERGED FOREST. Trees an Hundred Feet Tall Standing Upright in the Water. From the Seattle (Wasb.) Times. Many years ago, even so far back that the traditions of the oldest Siwash extend not thereto, there was some vast upheaval on the shores of Lake Samamish that sent a portion of the big Newcastle hills sliding down into the lake, with its tall evergreen forest intact, and there it Is to this day. About this time of the year the waters of the lake are at their lowest, and the tops of the tallest of these big submerged trees are out of the water, but never more than ten or twelve inches. Unfortunately for the traveling public, the submerged forest is on the opposite side of the lake from the railroad and the tion of Monohen, and very few people ever see the phenomenon unless they take the time and pains necessary to reach it. ‘The waters of the lake are very deep, and the blui back of the beach very precip- itous, so that the only explanation of the frefk is that by an earthquake or some other’means a great slide had been started in early times, and it went down as a mass until it found lodgment at the bottom of the lake. At this time one can see down into the glassy, mirror-like depihs of the lake for thirty feet or more. Near the banks the forest trees are interlaced at various angles and in confusion, but further out in the deep water they stand straight, erect and lHmbless and barkless, a hundred feet tall. They are not petrified in the sense of being turned to stone, but they are pre- served and appear to have stood there for ages. They are three feet through, some of them, and so firm in texture as to be scarce- ly affected by a knife blade. The great slide extended for some distance, and it would now be a dangerous plece of work for a steamer to attempt passage over the tops of those trees. Even now the water along shore is very deep, and a ten-foot pole would sink perpendicularly out of sight ten feet from the shore line. All over this country ere found strata of blue clay, which in the winter season are very treacherous, and, given the least bit of oppertunity, will slide away, carrying everything above with them. This is the theory of the submerged forest of Lake Samamish. It probably was growing above one of these blue earth strata, and heavy rains, or an earthquake, set it mgving. The quantity of earth carried down was so great that the positions of the trees on the portion carried away were little affected. It ts hardly to be believed that the earth suddenly sank down at this point and be- came a portion of the lake. Few such places exist. There is a place in the famous Tumwater canon, on the line of the Great Northern, near Leavenworth, which is in some respects similar. At some early time a portion of the great mountain side came rushing down and buried itself at the bottom of the canon. Now there is a considerable lake, and in the center stand tall, limbless trees, different in species from those growing along the canon. At Green lake, near Georgetown, Col. lake which is 10,000 feet above sea level—t a submerged forest of pine trees, some a hundred feet tall, but not so numerous as in Lake Samamish, A Surgeon’s Composite Snake. From the Minneapolis Journal. Dr. G. A. Countryman of Mellette, 8. D., possesses a combination snake. It is half garter and half sand snake, and this pecu- Har composition was made possible by a surgical operation performed by the doctor. His attention was directed to snakes from observing that when a snake fs killed its talk appears to live until the sun goes down, when life ceases. It is thought by many that this is owing to the nerves, but the doctor was somewhat skeptical on this point. Being a surgeon, he dissected sev- eral, and made some interesting discover- les. He found that in both the sand and garter snakes the spinal column ext22ded little more than half the length of the body. Knowing that it was possible to graft flesh, this led him to chloroform them and try splicing them, making the splice, of course, below the end of the spinal column. He made four unsuccessfw) attempts, but succeeded in the fifth. The grafted enake he has now is apparently in good health and the joined parts are perfectly knitted together. Its body is of the sand snake and its tail is a garter snake's. The sand snake is spotted and looks exactly like a rattlesnake, while the garter snake Is striped and its color ts of the different shades of green and yellow. Both of these varieties of snakes are harmless and com- mon throughout the state. ——_+-e+-____ Walk a Thousand Miles to Worship. From the Toronto (Ont.) Mail and Empire. The history of Canada, especially its ear- Her history, preserves the story of many a deed of heroism and devotion on the part of Christian missionaries who worked and perished among the Indians, but there are few stories which reflect so much credit on Indian piety as that published from Que- bec. Montagnais and Eskimos came from the southern shore of Hudson strait to worship in the Province of Quebec. This involved a tramp on foot of 1,000 miles. No pilgrimage in the middie ages was cver made in circumstances of greater hardsnip. The citizen who is loath to walk a block to church along a smboth, dry pavement, ought to think of these Indians plodding 1,000 miles through n inhospitable country, threugh forests, across rivers, mountains and lakes, to render a duty they owe to thelr religion. ——_—-e-—______ He Jum; From the San Francisco Post. é A couple of big Swedes, each carrying a roll of blankets, ran for the Tiburon boat yesterday morning. One got through the ticket gate all right, but the other, who ‘was compelled to stop and buy a ticket, was shut out. He ran around to the wagon gate and dashed out on the wharf just as the boat pulled out. He started to jump aboard, but hesitated. His friend, who had got aboard, noticing his hesitation, shouted excitedly: “Yump, Yon, you can make it in two umps.’ ythe confiding John jumped, but he only jumped once. When they fished him out of the bay he had kst a roll of blankets and @ friend. THE _ EVENING STAR has a Larger Circulation in the Homes of Washington than all the Other Papers of the City Added Together, because it Stands Up Always for the Interests of ALL THE PEOPLE of WASHINGTON; does not Strive to Divide = the Community into Classes, and Array one class Against the others; Contains the Latest and Fullest - Local and General News; and Surpasses -all the Other Papers in the City - inthe Variety and Excellence of its Literary Features. It Literally Goes Everywhere, and is Read by Everybody. It is, therefore, as an Advertising Medium, without : a Peer, Whether Cost or Measure of Publicity be : Considered.