Evening Star Newspaper, January 4, 1896, Page 16

16 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1896 —TWENTY-FOUR PAGES, MODERN MEXICO The New North American Invasion Across the Rio Grande. —_—_s—_——_. ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT MEN Porfirio Diaz, Spanish-Indian Presi- dent, and Uncrowned King. FUTURE OF THE AMERICAS No iL respomlence of The Evening Star. 5 Te E AMERICANS, Le, the United Fash Eaitoriat Statesers, are invad- ing Mexico. This in- vasion differs from its predecessor of half a century ago in that it is peaceful and bene- ficial in the highest degree to the invaded. American enterprise and the far-seeing wisdom of Mexico's political leaders have combined to develop & comprehensive railroad system in our neighboring republic, practically an exten- n of certain great trunk lines of the United States, already covering well the inmost important points and pusking toward the country’s remotest corners. Mexico's contribution to the pan-American route, which is to convey through passenge:s fror Maine or Oregon to Patagonia, and which is to knit together the Three Americas, is now near the Mexican southern border. The railrozds with which the northern invaders have blessel this land are developing the rick natural resources of hitherto inacces sible sections, stimulating trade, and bring- ing into the republic an annually increasing host of tourists to enjoy the magnificent scenery, the prehistoric ruins and the unique scenes illustrating the life of the peo- ple, and also with ideas of expenditure on a gold basis to scatter depreciated silver THE NATION AL PALACE. ' among appreciative recipients. With its twin agent of civilization, the telegraph, the rail- road has also rendered revolutions all but impessible. No revolt can make much head- way before the news is flashed to Diaz, and through the ald of the facilities furnished by the railroads troops may be massed and the rebellion crushed in its incipiency. Mex- ico’s railroads, with a single exception, are «-wned and run by Americans, in accordance with American methods of equipment and management. The army of railroad men constitute the first and most important branch of the northern invaders, and asso- ciated with them are the drummers, repre- senting business America, and the tourist host. Then come the Americans who, either for themselves or as superintendents. for Mexican owners, have so wonderfully de- veloped the republic's mineral resources in recent years. The coffee lands have also attracted numerous American investors, some of whom have done well for them- selves and all of whom have contribuied something to the prosperity of Mexico. The Ubiquitous American. Everywhere in the younger republic one meets Americans, here in trade, here in the hotel business, here as tourists, here intro- ducing some northern invention, as an elec- tric plant, into a progressive Mexican city, here in mining, here in coffee planting, here | in charge of railroad, express or telegrayh | husiness. But compared with the entire population they are of course a mere hand- | ful. Their influence in Mexico is out of pro- portion to their number, for the reason that they have so strong a hold upon the sources | ef national development and prosperity. ‘They are not more numerous, because Mex- | ico is not really attractive to those colonists | who must struggle individually with the soil, the class which constitutes the great bulk of home-seeking and home-making immigrants. On the plateau the soli is often thin and poor; in the hot lands fevers and the competition of Indian cheap labor at a maxir.um rate of 25 cents a day in our mon- ey discourage immigration. There is more | room here for the capitalist than for the laborer. It is not a good place for the young man to come “to make his fortune,” witzout | well-defined and reasonable plans of imme- | diate employment. Intoxicants are tempt- | ingly cheap and the moral atmosphere is u wholesome for the voluntary or involunt: loafer. Mexico has not merely railroad ties with the United States, but is bound fast by news- | ies as well. The capital city has two | y newspapers printed in English, one of which, the Mexican Herald, an en- ing, newsy, up-to-date paper, presents iers the full Associated Press re- | perts.. The republic is thus in the system of American newspapers as well as in that of | American railroads, and. no longer isolated, is In touch with the thought and action of the North American continert. The Reign of Law and of Diaz. There was a time when heavy investments of American capital In Mexico would have been viewed as impossibilities, rendered such by local hostility toward foreigners, and es- pecially Americans, and by the lack of a set- + tled, organized government to repress law- lessness and to guarantee security to invest- ed capital. That stage in the country’s hi: tory is happily passed. Diaz, one of the: world’s great men, rules the republic with a ! strong yet tactful hand. He is at once a sol. dier and a diplomatist. He welcomes tl foreigner without losing his hold upon his! countrymen. He has checked the revolu- tlonary tendencies of Mexico, formerly a sort of Ferris wheel among nations, notable for the magnificent impressiveness of its period- ical revolutions. ‘fhe army is back of him, | and through the railroad and accompanying telegraph which his policy has sent every- where in Mexico, he can, as I have already suggested, drop soldiers upon the backs of | conspirators es soon as they have fairly be- gun to conspire. He has, to a great extent, | broken up the elements which threaten re- ; volt, conciliating or crushing possible con- irators. Many restless, lawless spirits, in- ‘cluding the surviving remnant of bandits, hhavé been converted into “‘Rurales,’, the ef- ficient mounted protectors of the pubile peace. Other disturbers have been quicted 4 rendered conservative by appointment higher offices, or have been exiled, or !m- and in some cases, perhaps, shot ‘while attempting to escape.” In one way and another Diaz, who was an old revolu- tt himself, and who approached his i of rendering revolutions impossivle ‘with the acquired knowledge of an expert, long ago steadied the republic, and | gaused bis reign, if such it must be termed, to be an era of peace and good order and g@ecurity to life and property. While in the City of Mexico I had an in- terview with nt Diaz in the Na- tional Palace, the vast building which oc- Guples a part of the site of the still vaster structure of Montezuma’s world-famous lace. My sponsor and interpreter was ir. Butler, the able and genial secretary of the American legation in Mexico, ‘The stranger from Washington is at once made to feel at home here he representatives of hia government. Minister Ransom, the courtly ex-Senator from North Carolina, and his son Robert vie with each other in their tender of hospitable attentions, and no oe could be apparently on @ better footing at the Mexican White ise, OF secure for 2 visttor an interview with President Diez ander mv. 4 favorable conditions. The Mex- { | eral wealth are to him the. model Amer- i fate has sent the murdered ican president understands much that is said in English and can speak it to some extent. but he protects the presidential dig- nity In these interviews (as is natural) by speaking only Spanish, arid, when neces- sary, utilizing an interpreter. In convers- ing with him, however, there is not the uravoidable stiffness of the ordinary inter- view through an interpreter. You speak to him and not to the interpreter. for you feel that he understands nearly everything that you say, and that so far, at least, as your own remarks are concerned, your Spanish- speaking friend is a commentator rather than an interpreter. An Interview With President Diaz. We found the president in a reception room hung wita the famous Maximilian tapestries, and he sat down and chatted seciably with us for half an hour, appar- ently oblivious or careless of the fact that a crowd including a high government offi- cal cooled their heels in the ante-cham- The interview was not a formal, pre- arranged affair to furnish the basis of a newspaper publicaticn, but the president talked interestingly on many subjects in the course of the desultory conversation. He evidently appreciates fully the value of the right sort cf American in de- veloping the material resources of the country which he governs. The man who builds and manages Mexican railroads and the man who develops the republic’s min- icans. In this connection he spoke in warm terms of ex-Gov. Alexander R. Shepherd, who has spent great sums of money in making highly profitable the mines of B: topilas in northern Mexico. President D inquired particularly as to Mr. Shepherd's whereabouts (he was then tn Europe), and said that he had at least two American friends in whom he could place qt all times the fullest and most unquestioning re- liance. One of them, he said, was NShep- herd, and the other Huntington, the rail- rvad magnate. Admiration was expressed of the wonder- ful view from the residence White House of Mexico, lofty Chapultepec, and of the Paseo or driveway leading to it, with its magnificent statues of Guatemozin, Colum- bus and Charles IV. Diaz did not display any special enthusiasm on the subject of natural scenery. He intimated that so far as these particular scenes were concerned, they were so familiar to him that he had come to take them much as a matter of course. In response to a complimentary reference to the good order prevailing today in Mex- .co, Diaz spoke freely upon the subject. He was evidently pleased and proud at what he had already accomplished in this direc- tion, but in view of the comparatively re- cent date of the full supremacy of the law he deprecated an expectation of precisely the same settlec conditions everywhere in hat republic which he assumed to exist everywhere in the United States. Questioning as to the possibility of a visit by kim to the United States, I asked whether lie was prohibited by law or cus- tom from going outside of, the republic's ; jurisdiction during his term of office. He | replied that the rule on that subject had been even more stringent than at presen’ that when he first became president the law made of that official a prisoner within the federai district, forbidden to step foot cutside its limits; and that he finally suc- ceeded in securing the amendment of this law, so that now he can visit any part of Mexico, though he may not go beyond its borders. He added dryly that the Mexican | presidents were not inclined at any time to view this confinement, so to speak, as a punishment, and intimated that any one in the past who was so fortunate as td hold the presidency was apt to prefer to stay close to the seat of government in order to be sure of retaining it. Charaeteristies of the President. Diaz is-an older man, a smaller man physically, though strongly built, and a much dsrker man than photographs and paintings of him had caused me to expect to meet. He is sixty-five years of age, though he looks considerably youngeryand the In- dian blood in his veins, of which he is proud, imparts a decided shade to his com- plexion. He givea the impression of a man of great force, but with powers under per- fect restraint. He seems what he is gen- erally conceded to be, “The right man in the right place.” He has been the power either on the throne or behind the throne since 1877, and he will reign, afl elements of the people enthusiastically assenting, as long as he lives. It is also expected that he will exercise the kingly prerogative of selecting his successor; indeed, the name of the man supposed to have been chosen for this honor is already whispered in the | inner circles. Diaz is of the mixed Sparish and Indian race which controls Mexico. The oppres- sions by the mother country apparently the Spanish blood in Mexican veins. Descendants of the Spanish conquer- ors fought by the side of descendants of the conquered Aztecs Spain as a common enemy. Irrespective of ancesiry they merged into the Mexican-American. It is curicus how the up and the conquering Cortes Aztec-Spanish land. Guatemozin’s bones have moldered undiscovered somewhere in the vast forests of Central America, where Cortes hanged him, or they would occupy | the place of honor in Mexico’s Pantheon. | The most impressive statue ia the Mexican } capital is the magnificent representation of Guatemozin on the Paseo, reverenced by the India: and erected and admired by men with ie blood of the Spanish con- querors in their veins. The companion piece to Guatemozin’s statue on the Paseo is not Cortes, the conqueror, but Columbus, the discoverer, who is appropriately hon- ered in this part of the new world. As for Cortes, not only !s he uncommemorated in shot by the patriot Mexicans as a traitor, -and, being dead, reposes in the cathedral —- a monument inscribed “The Liber- ator.” In Mexico's Westminster, the Pantecr_af San Fernando, Hes Juarez, the famous In- dian president, under a tomb which fs a Tasterpiece of sculpture, and only a few feet away are the monuments which mark the last resting places of Miramon and Me- Jia, the generals of Maximilian, who were executed with him at Juarez’s order. At the foot of Chapultepec rises a monument to the Mexican cadets killed in the assault by the North American invaders. In the foreign cemetery at its end toward Cha- pultepec lie the bones of the American sol- qhers, killed in the invasion, and on their President Diaz. tal shaft is inscribed their viec- ‘ontreras, Churubvseo, Molino del Chapnitepec, Mexico.” No one, it tores: “ Rey, seems, Is begrudged a hospitable grave but Cortes! In this land of revelutions first one race has been en top and th another. For three hundred y2ars the Spanish blood was in the ascendancy; now the Indian prevails. | The Mexican Madcnna is the Indian Vir- gin of Guadalupe, who, inspiring the patriot arm.es, overthrew and superseded as the na- tional patron saint, the Spanish Virgin, de Los Remedios, in whose name the Span- lards went to battle. It is the Virgin pic- tured as an Indian who was recently crowned at Guadalupe, some of our Ameri- can bishops participating in the elaborate ceremonies. Juarez, ‘the Wasnington of Mexico,” was a full-blooded Zapotec, and he ruled, and Diaz now rules, asserting; the supremacy of the Indian through their Za- Potec blood. Is Mexico's Autonomy in Danger. Has Mexico reason to fear the invading Americans, even though they bear gifts? Not at present, and probably never. As a race we are a land-hungry people, but a belt of desert and forbidding territory sepa- rates us from the desirable portions of Mex- ico. Our colonists do not go there as set- tlers upon the land in dangerously large numbers. Not labor, but capital, is needed, and supplied. The United States must and will control the successful competitor among the canal and railroad routes to connect Atlantic and Pacific across the narrow end of the conti- nent, but this control does not render neces- sary annexation either of Mexico or of the country traversed by the interoceanic high- way. Milltons of the Mexicans are not in condi- tion to be assimilated in a real republic like the United States. The government, though admirable and the one best adapted to ex- isting circumstances, is not of and by the people. The elections have often been mere forms. The national legislature, of which the lower house meets in the old Iturbide Theater, with the reporters in a private box and the spectators in the galleries, passes entirely too many measures by a unanimous vote. Four million people, who speak and understand only some Indian dialect, and whose nee-is are so barbarously limited that twenty certs a day of our money will satisfy them, would be an indigestible lump even | for the ostrich stomach of the American republic. In many parts of the rural dis- tricts the conditions of the feudal system prevail. The Mexican hacienda is a vast estate, sométimes containing hundreds of thousands of acres, with its castle, the fort- like central building or house, around which the feudal village clusters, with its lord, generally an absentee, enjoying himself in Paris, and with its vassals in thousands of peons, who are kept chronically In debt to the lord, and who, under the laws and cus- toms, are as tightly bound to the soil as if slavery and serfdom had not been abolished by law in Mexico. From the feudal system of the middle ages to modern self-govern- ment is too sudden a transition. Neither the people to the north nor to the south of us are now knocking at our doors eee eat ca ie & Charles IV—City of Mexico. for admission, and there is no tendency to- ward or present prospect of forcible an- nexation. Canada, outside of the French province, would be readily assimilated, and is anxious for commercial but not political union. Mexico would not be easily absorb- ed. Many of her people, especially those near the border, are suspicious and appre- hensive of us. Secretary Seward, who drove out the French for them, does not entirely banish from their memory. General Scott, with his army of North American invaders. ‘The process of Americanizing both neigh- tors goes on, however, steadily. Canada is likely to secure first commercial and then political independence of Great Britain be- fore there can be peaceable annexation to the United States, if that event is ever to CASTLE CHAPULTEPEC. tablet or monument, but rancorous hatred did not even permit his bones to rest undis- turbed in their Mexican tomb. “In 1823,” says Prescott, “the patriot mob of the cap- {tal in thelr zeal fo commemorate the era of the naiional independence and their de- testation of the ‘old Spaniards,’ prepared to break open the tomb which held the ashes of Cortes and to scatter them to the winds! Friends of the family, as is com- monly reported, entered the vault by night, and, secretly removing the relics, prevented the commission of the sacrilege.” A Welcome to Hospitable Graves. This treatment of Cortes is a curious ex- ception to the general amnesty and the policy of toleration which Mexico seems to have declared in respect to the dead who in life figured conspicuously in her history. She has apparently been content to wel- come even the most hated to a hospitable grave. Under the Altar of the Kings in the Cathedral ef Mexico molMer together the bones of certain Spanish vicercys, and the heads of certain patriot Mexicans, includ- ing Hidalgo, struck off by the Spanish as the heads of traitors. Close at hand in the Chapel of San Felipe le the remains of Iturbide, who destroyed Spanish rule in Mexico, made himself emperor, was finally oceur. With Canada and Mexico self-gov- erned as republics, and closely bound to the United Statea by commercial ties and com- mon interests, and with the institutions and influence of the great republic domi- nating the American continents, manifest destiny will have sufficient gratification, no matter how long the representation of Can- ada and Mexico in the government at Washington may be delayed. With a Pan-American railroad fastening tegether the American continents with bands of steel; with reciprocity devices to foster and encourage trade; with legislation to develop American shipping and Ameri- can commerce; with consular reports and such publications as those of the bureau of American republics to guide the manufac- turers wise enough to utilize them, and with an enlarged and vigorous American doctrine, the modern application and logi- cal development of the Monroe doctrine, to unify the hemisphere, the three Americas will advance rapidly together, shoulder to shoulder, into a common and unexampled Prosperit, THEODORE W. NOYES. FOR GENERAL DEBILITY me Horsford’s Acid Phosphate. Dr. T. P. WYNN, Tarboro, N. C., says: “No ether preparation compares ‘with it in ordinary caves of general debility.” ‘WONDERFUL _GUNMAKER DEAD. Patrick Mullin, Whose Weapons Sold for From 8408 to $1,000 Apiece. From the New York Pines. The death of Patrick Mullin recently in his little two-stér# frame house in Clark- son street, Flatbush, removes from lower New York a chhracter well known to the older sperting meq’ of this city. Though living’ th Brooklyn, Mr. Mullin had becn identified for more than fifty years with businéss life in Fulton street and Maiden lage, dn this city, where he turned out guns ofthis own handiwork that were unsurpass&d-fn excellence. The great- est part of bis Wofk was done on the sec- ond floor of 36 Maiden. Jane, where he pro- cured a room after the one in Fulton street became too small. He. toiled on from day to day, always working by. himself and be- hind ‘closed doors. Visitors were allowed only to peep through the partly opened door when the old mechanic answered thelr knock in person. Should the caller happen to be a regular customer and a personal friend, entrance was granted him into the very dirty liitle room, which contained a lathe, a forge and odd lots of iron and brass. Persons who possess a Mullin gun may consider themselves fortunate, since it is not likely the same kind of gun will ever be fashfored again. -When Mr. Mullin came from Ballyshannon, county Donegal, Ireland, where he was born, to New York, he set about to make guns as nearly per- fect.as possible, He aad worked in Dublin and London as a gunsmith, and had be- come an expert In the finest kind of work- manship. When he began business in .Ful- ton street gunsmiths were not making breechloaders. Like the others he started off on the muzzle loaders, and it was noticed that those fowling pieces bearing the name of Mullin were the best. If the gun, except the forging, was his work throughout, it bore the name “Patrick Mullin.” Guns that were only finished by him were marked “P. Mullin.” His guns brought anywhere from $400 to $1,000 apiece, and consequently could only be had by men of mears. Of those who considered the guns made by Patrick Mullin cheap at any price and were proud to call the eccentric old fellow theit friend, were James C. Carter, Foster Higgins, tho Havemeyers, August Belmont and dozens of other well-known men, lovers of the pleasures of the fleld and the duck- ing blind. : Nothing turned out from the Mullin shop ever disappointed its buyers. He worked as conscientiously and skillfully on one job as another, his only ambition being to make his work perfect, and give it that finish end bet aaa) came rom persect adap- ation to the purpose assigned. He looked upon each gun that he turned out almost as a human being for whose safety he was responsible, and he did not care to make a “Patrick Mullin” gun ex- cept for the men whom he knew, and who he was sure would appreciate and care for the plece after they got it. Mr. Mullin was eighty-one years old when he died. He was a well-read and intellec- tual man who was ready to discuss ditera- ture, history or guns with a good deal of pohencs on the correctness of his own opin- ions. His favorite recreation was fishing and gardening. Since the death of his sister, Mrs. Farrel, fifteen years ago, he had lived alone at 137 Clarkson street, and was little known to the neighbors. Only four persons accompanied his body from the house to Cavalry cemetery. NEW eee. APERS IN TURKE A Censor Goes: Over Every Item im the Hroot Sheets. rom the Providedite, Jonena Without doubt the mest peculiar news- papers in the wbrld are published in Tur- key. The presst/is a comparatively new thing there, and‘ it! is’ certainly unique. It is only a few Years ago that Turkey had @ great awakening, during which many new enterprisesiwerg established and ex- periments trie@:‘Phe mosi important of these was the aflygnt of the newspaper into the sublime kinggpm, but the Turks did not take kindlysitevit at the start. It was only by means ‘6f'bribes and the aid of for- eign powers that they were allowed to get any foothold at?a¥, find even then the edi- tor was in fea#/of his life every time the paper went to présd:* ~ Every man aé “hae was metiti ined felt at Wherty #8 dentolish the plant, and It was an every-da¥"rourrence for the editor to be called to accoiint at the point of a saber. Aftér tnany had heen killed and the remainder wounded ‘and intimidated, the papers adopted a new method, and for some years dared to vublish nothing about a per- son unless {t was highly complimentary. But the Turks “finally tired of this, and fresh raids were made, with terribly disas- trous results. The government then stepped in, ‘and after subduing the riots publicly en- | couraged the establishment of newspapers, relying upon the institution of the censor- ship to render them harmless. Under this yoke-they have existed until the present time, and, notwithstanding the terrible drawback, have gradually increased in numbers. is Most of them are published in the Turk- ish and Arabic languages, and the most im- portant are naturally at Constantinople and Beyroot. The latter place has now fifteen, and all in Arabic. Each issue is as good as a comic opera, and how they manage to live and find readers for the matter they publish is a mystery, for they contain Iit- tle more than a Tew articles eulogistic of the goverument. The censors placed in cach newspaper office are supreme, and all at- tempts at free expression of opinion are rigidly excluded. This is also true of the two papers published in French and En- glish at Corstantinople. The government really holds a string to every item that is turned in, and this is how they work it: Two regularly appointed censors are sent to a newspaper office as soon as it Is es- tablished, one for day duty and one for night. They are appointed for that partic- ular paper, and are held solely responsible for every item that appears in it from one year's end to the other. In the event of one displeasing line slipping in unawares they pay for the oversight with their lives. Although they have no voice in the man- agement of the paper, tHey are the real editors, and examine every proof sheet be- fore the paper is made up. What is objec- tionable to the government, their friends or +hemselves is rigidly cut out. Armed with blue pencils, they sit in the office day und night, and as fast as the matter is set proofs are handed them. Out of ten columns of apparently harmless mat- ter, for it is so dead and dry as to be abso- lutely without brilliancy, force or charac- ter, they usually allow about two to be pub- lished. It is not merely that expressions regard- ing political matters are excluded, as the caprice of the censor is indulged regarding the most trivial subjects and affairs. If he happens to be in:a good humor the paper comes out on time and has some semblance of a “real” newspaper, but as a usual thing, after he has finished blue penciling the proof sheets, it is the problem of the hour to find enough matter left to go to press on. oo A 850,000 Apple Tree. From the I deiphia Record. An expel able tree stands on the Albert Smith f: in South Strabane town- ship, near Waghipgton, Pa. It has cost {ts owner over $4000. In 1887, when the Smith pool-gudhers commenced to break the oil market’ rnin speculators, the company which. held the lease on the Smith farm, decided’ to locate a well near the boundary lind of the Cameron and Smith properties. ‘The owner of the land objected to the location, clalm#hg'that if made on the spot chosen a favorite! apple tree would have to be cut downs’ The manager of the drill- ing company, -believing that the location was a promisitigone, decided to gain his end and get even with the troublesome land owner at! the: sama time. He had the timbers hauled a few feet, changed the intended positions of the der- rick and boiler house, placed them just across the line on the Cameron farm and drilled the hole within a few feet of the original Iccation. The well produced 3,70 barrels of oll per.day. A large percentage of this petroleum must have come from under the Snuth farm, but the hole was on Cameron's land, and he, of course, re- ceived the royalty. The well is still pro- ducing oil and the Cameron’s share of the output has reached over $45,000. The apple tree still.lives, but has been ruined by the closeness of the well. ——_—_+e+____ Reason Enough. From the Indianapolls Journal. She—‘I think I will do the cooking my- self a while.” He—“H'm! That was what yor wanted pueita take out more life insurance for, was . THE EVENING STAR'S. Almanac a8 AND HAND-BOOK FOR 1896 Is Now Ready! Larger and more complete than ever before. 416 Ambassadors of the U. 8. American Cap Record of. American Indians. Anniversaries -f Important Events. Antidotes for Poisons. Appropriations by Congress. Areas of Countries. Army and Navy. Astronomical Phenomena. Atlantic Steamship Lines, Attorneys General. Australian Sallot. Blectoral Banks. Bar Associations. Base Ball Records. Battles of the Civil Wag, Bible Statistics. Bicycle Records. British Customs Tariff. Building and Loan Associations, Cabinet Officers, Calendar. Capitals of Principal Countries. Coins, Value 0% Foreign. trteetetetententeitestetetneonetetetoetosennrtstoeetoeone deere irntntoneao iio lntndn tots oiniodntoeteeeeoin dnote eto Sein intonation letra to doo otto telethon hotter HHS Easter Sundays. Educational Statistics. Hlection Returns. Frecutive Department. Expenditures of the Government. Exports and Imports. Farm Mortgages. Fastest Atlantic Steamships, Federal Courts. Federal Government. Governors of States. Grand Army of the Republic. Great Britain; Her Dependencies. Historical Societies. ‘Homes for Soldiers. iron and Steel, Rrodnction of. Academy, French. Colleges, Statistics Judiciary. Accidents and Emergencies. Commerce, Foreign, Domestic, — Agricultural Statistics. Congress, Members of. Labor Statistics. Alaska, Statistics of. Consuls General and Consuls. Languages. Altitude, Greatest in Each State. Cycles of Time. = Latitude and Longitude Tabies. — Legal Holidays. District Government, Life Insurance Statistics. Earth, Interesting Facts About. Mails, Domestic and'Foreign. ‘Belipses for 1895 and 1896. Manufactures, Statistics of. Mexico, Republic of. Minerals, Production of. Military Academy. Mortality in the United Nations of the World. Naturalization Laws. Navy Department. ‘Negro Population. Newspaper Statistics. Vote. Billiard Records. Federation of Labor. Bishops of Relig. Denominations. Fire Insurance Statistics. Boat Races, French Republic. Laos ements ds Bridges, Largest in the World. — Caabas oad British Government. Germany, Government of. Parks of Washington. Railroads, Statistics of. pages of solidly printed national and local statistics, records and other general information, and treats fully of the relationship of the District of Columbia and the National Government, the duties of the Dis- trict Commissioners, the District’s sources of reve- nue. Information and statistics regarding its finan- cial, commercial, charitable and religious institu- tions, points of interest, &c. A Mine of Useful Information. : A Partial, List of Contents. States Statutes of Limitation. ‘Storm and Cautionary Siguuls. ‘State Department. Catholic Hierarchy. <P Omtce Cavents and ‘Trademarks. — Stes Daited States, Chinese Empire. Immigration. Pugilistic Pecords. Garistianity, Statistics of. Interest Laws »nd Tables, —— World's Fairs. Churebes and Sunday Schools. Interfoc Department. Qualifications for Voting. ai ones Cities, Population and Statistics, | Internal Revenue. — Yachting Events. Civil Serviee Procedure, Rules. Interstate Commerce. Racing Records. Yale and Hrrvard Boat Ractag. ‘Young Men's Christian Association. 25¢. a Copy. To be had at The Star Office, Cor. 11th & Pa. Ave., at News S nds, : by mail upon receipt of price. sed ex otc EVENING STAR NEWSPAPER COMPANY. A BARBER SHOP. | STEER IN matter and went home half shaved. The | barber has not yet returned to the ruins Wrecks th: Place and Incidentally | of his shop, and nobody knows bis where- Spoils Mr. Quinn’s Shave. From the San Francisco Examiner. The proximity of the Butchertown cat- tle corrals to the barber shop of Marvel M. Ovellar induced an incident yesterday that could scarcely have occurred under less incongruous conditiors, even in the neighborhood as wild and woolly as the slaughter house vicinity of the Potrero. It was the occasion of Samuel Quinn's Thanksgiving shave. Mr. Quinn had seat- ed himself in Monsieur Ovellar’s only chair. The lather was on his face and the razor was at his throat. The barber discoursed on topics timely and cheering—the latest forecast of the weather; the raffle at Ca- sey’s corner; the twins that came to the home of O'Rourke in the night—current gossip of the reservation that required no counter comment save in the intervals of stropping and sponging. The front door was open. The odor of bilge freighted the chill breezes. Kentucky street was deserted. A brooding calm lay upon the scene, and the soul of Samuel Quinn was at peace. The drone of the barber, murmuring in at his ears as the waves lap the shores of sewered Islais, en- couraged sleep, and Quinn verged upon sleep. The right side of the Quinn face had been shaved. The hand of Ovellar was raised to lift the head of Quipn to another posture, when a terrific shadow darkened the door of the shop. No time for explanations, no thought of useless warning, no effort at senseless heroism—the barber could only gasp his per fling down his razor and drop to the joor. Mr. Quirn cpened his eyes, opened them wide and stared straight into the blazing wrath of a maddened steer, the wildest of the herd. Erect, furious, pawing the threshold of that fated shop, the beast surveyed the situation—gazed in rage at Quinn as he leaped from the chair and fell beneath it, lowered his horned crest to lunge at the creeping, cringing barber, and proceeded to business. “With a leap that would have won ap- plause at a hurdle race the steer involved himself in the goods and chattels of that Kentucky street barber shop. His horns caught the chandelier and it was ripped out by the roots; one blow from the mas- sive front smashed the mirror and scat- tered the pomade pots; another sent chairs and cuspidors and shaving mugs flying in every direction; a flank mcvement over- turned the chair beneath which Quinn lay in wait for a sudden death; and, finally, with a mighty effort and a snort like the bursting of a sewer pipe, the steer planted his fcrefeet upon a marble-topped table, and throwing his head backward tore great gashes with his horns in the ceiling. By this time the animal had made one cireult of the little shop and was facing the door through which he had go uncere- moniously entered. He looked out over the unpicturesque landscape, across which the terror-stricken barber was footing It featly. The lashing of his tail was a constant re- minder to Quinn bereath the chair of a peril that environed and would not be re- moved. But the steer thought only of es- cape, and presently,with a hoarse sigh that sounded to Quinn like the last breath of a hot simoon, the beast spurned the table and plunged cut into the big, wide world, to be lariated and harried and corraled by the pursuing vaqueros. Then Quinn crawled out of the wreck of abouts. eee Ven ela im Paragraphs. From the Chicago Times-Herald. Eight states are in the union. Population of Venezuela is 2,121,998. Venezuela contains 566,000 square miles. Fifteen per cent of the population are pure- blooded Indians. The territory in dispute is abut the size of the state of Maine. British Guiana was acquired by England through treaty in 1814. In 1893 the amount of gold mined in Ven- ezuela was 47,900 ounces. Slavery in the republic was abolished by the decree of March 24, 1854. Venezuela’s export trade with a len tween Venezu ay a <5 ela and Great It is estimated that seventy-five revolu- tions have occurred since the establishment —_ republic. n absolute separation of church and state has been effected; civil marriage is in- sisted on, and other admirable and progres- sive institutions have been established. Previously to 1886 her public school sys- tem was very unimportant, only 1,312 pupils being in attendance at the public schools in the year mentioned. Now the attendance exceeds 100,000. makes presidents in- agi —— ution e le for re-election, and it is the earnest endeavor of Venezuela statesmen to estab- lish the politics of the country on a firm footing of peace and order. The financial system of Venezuela ts the admiration and envy of all South American countries, the single gold standard being in force, and the public debt of quite insignifi- cant proportions. = —_+o-—__. Unwashed Glasses. From the Proridence Journal. At soda fountains and in bar rooms, where the greatest number of drinks are sold, it is the custom to rinse glasses in sinks, and the water soon becomes filthy and cannot be other than a prolific source of disease. There are many people in their homes who would not think of drinking from a glass that was rinsed in unclean water, or from a glass used by another member of the family. Often times at pub- lic places upward of twenty persons can be szen drinking. If they were to look at the water that the glasses are rinsed in smd thirst would be quenched more quick- ly. The same glasses are repeatedly used. Many diseases are caused and spread by microbes, and it is natural that in a great many places where the water 1s filthy mi- crobes can be found. Where glasses are Not thoroughly cleaned the infectious germs are transmitted from.one person to an- other through this agency. One person may have an inflammation of the throat cr Nps, and impart it to another. In fact, any kind of ailment may be spread where glasses are used that are not clean and thoroughly wiped. This subject requires from the health department as much of an investigation the demand for pure milk. Dr. Bull's Covgh Syrup bas no rivals. A LIST OF acet AINTANCES, Very Few Men Whe Know by One Thousand People. From the New York Press. A small party seated in the Manhattan Ciub night before last was discussing the question of acquaintances. One well-known lawyer said he knew as many people a3 any man in the roam, he did not care who he was. I wsked if he could say hov’ many acquaintances he had—not friends merely, but persons known casually and slightly. After thinking it ever he said, “10,000.” “I bet $50 to $5," said another of the warty, “that you cannot name 1,000 persons of your acquaintance, and give you all night to do it.” The bet was made, and the lawyer began, a friend keeping tally. When, after two hours of hard thinking, he had reached between 500 and 600 he was going very slow and straining terribly. At midnight he was so far from the 1,000 mark that the party broke up in disgust. I doubt if there is a man in this country who could write down the names of 1,000 acquaintances at a moment's notice. I don't believe there are five men in the United States who are acquainted personal- ly with 10,000 people. Dan Lamont, Secre- tary of War, is said to know more faces than any other man. He made a study of faces when Mr. Cleveland's private sec- retary and became indispensable to the President. It might be said that there are many politiclans who know more than 10,- 000 people personally, but you can't rely upon a political acquaintance. The politi- cian has a way of pretending to know every living man who has a vote. Dr. Chauncey M. Depew probably has as wide an acquaintance as any man we know. Many men remember faces without being able to recall names. That is not an ac- quaintance. It will not do to say we have seen such and such a man before some- where, but cannot recollect his name. oo Foley’s Enormous From the Philadelphia Times. John Foley, aged fifty, single, a butcher by trade, but homeless, is in the alcoholic ward of Bellevue Hospital, New York, ®waiting the ultimatum of the surgeons of the institution as to whether it is deemed advisable or not for him to have both legs amputated. He is suffering from chronic alccholism and a gangrenous growth of the limbs. The remarkable fact in connectior. with Foley is his size. He has a very small face. but his body is enormous. On the scales be weighs 500 pounds.-He was received at Bellevue late one night from Roosevelt Hos- Pital, and to get him out of the ambulance one side of it had to be removed. The door of the reception room was too narrow to ad- mit his body, and he was carried to the alcoholic: ward, where he occupies a double Betis rae oe TO ee The Merchant's Disnppointment. From Le Progres de Bolbec. Merchant (on discovering a man in his celiar)—“Who are you?” Stranger—“The gas man. I have come to see by your meter hy much gas you have used during the last month.” Merchant—“Good gracious! I war hop- ing you were only # burgtar. 4 :