Evening Star Newspaper, October 17, 1896, Page 17

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1896-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. AN AUCTION SALE. THE HORSE MARKET —_—_.+—_—_. Scenes That Can Be Witnessed at the Local Sales. SOME FIGURES THAT ARE SURPRISING Swell Carriage Pairs and Hunters Bring Big Money. How IT IS ACCOMPLISHED Se The activity of the fall sales of horses in Washington seems to be no less than in former seasons. Certainly the crowds of people that attend the various auction * sales are as large as ever. Hundreds of m gather every eales day, and, whether y buy or not. stand out the long and lively vendue. The scene is one well worth going to see. There is a continually mov- ing mass of horses and men, the former of all sizes, colors and conditions of sound- ness, the latter from every walk in life, including the rough-clad farmer, whip in hand and trousers in his boots, to the well- dressed city man in search of a driver; and there is the endless din of the auc- tioneer, the seller who is crying up his stock, and the warnings of the colored caretakers who show the horses. “Now, there's a chunk,” the auctioneer as a big, heavy-bened animal will cry, Some Bargains. “Gentlemen, there's a beauty; sound in wind, limb and pelt. Just as good a hors as 3 eat hay you p vody wants. Able to ride, drive and u can hitch him to anything and work him anywhere. No- body any better horse than that. Now, m I offered?” - A man steps up, pulis the horse’s mouth open, takes a wise, canary-like look at his teeth, and steps back. Another and an- Some one else him up from the rear. At this point the drover, who has picked the animal up somewhere out In the coun- try 's a little speech. He avers he knows the man that bred this horse; that the animal is true and sound, and has the Looking Him Over. blood of some famous sire in his veins. He also agrees to hitch him up right then and there and drive him to the satisfaction of any one who wants to buy. Around the Ring. “Let him go round the ring,” shouts the auctioneer. “Show them how he travels.” The colored bey on the back of the horse flops his arms like a buzzard, gives a wild whoop, and sings out, “Clear the track there; hold yourselves now, we're coming,” digs his heéls into the heaving ribs of his mount, and goes about the track at a break-neck pace, In and out among the horses and men and posts, until the callow and tender-footed visitor becomes nervous with the thought that the jockey will surely kill himself and horse before he gets around. Reining up with a sharp yank in front of the auctioneer’s stand, the jockey waits until half a dozen men have again looked ~over the horse, and the auctioneer invites the crowd to bid. > “what @hirty: will Twenty!” There is a moment’s pause, and the you give? Fifty! Forty! @uctioneer, with a pairtied and sor- YFowful countenance, looks over the assem- Dlage, and exclaims: “It’s a shame, gentle- men, to sell such a fine horse as that for little money. Now, what will you give? Beare him at some figure. Twenty dollars? ineteen? Will you make it eighteen? Who will give fifteen? What a shame! Will give fourteen? Well, twelve; make it — Ten dollars; who will give ten dol- Perhaps not a single bid has been made. red men, hucksters, expressmen, and and then a farmer from over in Vir- nd behind the animal and sizesy | feed him. ginia, come up and look the animal over, but no bid fs offered. rere A New Start. The auctioneer then takes a new turn. “Will somebody start this Norse at a dob | lar?” An imaginary nod somewhere in the crowd is caught by the crafty auctioneer. Whether there is another or not nobody can tell, but in a moment the old man sings out: “I am bid a dollar and a half. Make it two. Two dollars and going. Who'll give the half?” Too Mach Dope. By this time somebody in the two or three hundred people present is ready to bid, and a genuine offer of two dollars and a half comes from the outskirts of the as- semblage. The auctioneer is very careful of this bid, and keeps his eye’on that man. He would not lose him or his bid for a good deal. He keeps singing out the two dollars and a half and asking for three, and finally sees in another part of the crowd an imaginary bid of three dollars, With this he turns to the real bidder and tries to excite him to a rise. If he suc- ceeds he may knock down the horse even at that low bid. If not they start over again. This time failure to get a bid sends the animal back to the stall and another is brought out. An average day's sales number from a hundred to a hundred and fifty horses. No time is lost. It takes but a moment to send an animal around the track. There are al- ways veterinary surgeons present to make an examination of the animal and give an approximate idea of his worth. The own- ers are present to make quick decisions and reject or refuse any offer made. Some Money in It. Of course there must be some money in selling horses in this way or it would not continue. The way in which it is done is systematic and reasonably safe to the drovers and the auctioneer. The former are, as a rule, thorough-going horsemen, sometimes jockeys or trainers out of a job, or rustling and active farmers who prefer to knock about over the country and buy stock at low figures. Hundreds of horses are bought for one and two dollars apiece. Some of them, of course, are utterly worth- less. A heavy or a balky horse in these times of low prices is practically worthless. A farmer who has stich an animal can easily afford to give him away rather than Many a drover has paid no more than half a dollar for such a horse, taking him off the farmer’s hands and get- ting him to market on the chance of mak- ing something for himself for his expense and trouble. The stable expensess and auctioneer’s commission are uniform items, and the. drover can usually tell precisely where he is coming out in every deal. It is not often that he loses. If he does make a mistake now and then he is pretty sure to make it up in the average of his sales. A Plug Lottery. Thus it may be seen that in the cheap horse sales, where most of the stock is of the “plug” order, the buyer is simply tak- ing a share in a lottery. Now and then some fine horses are picked up by the drovers and sell at very low prices. Not infrequently it happens that good forses are sent to a quick sale by people who are giving up their establishments in Washing- ton and have no further use for their stables. At the same time that horses, as a rule, are selling low, it was never harder te make up match teams and find first-class carriage and saddle animals than it is now. Prices for such animals are as high, ff not higher, than they have been any time during the past ten years. Trotting stock. —that is, the distinctively speedy horse with the ewe neck, undersized, perhaps vicious, and inherently prone to some con- stitutional weakness—sells low. Animale with the best blood still sell at ridicu- lously low prices. Nevertheless, the trot- ting-bred animal which presents a full, handsome conformation, with strong, well- made legs, intelligent head and fine action brings a good price, and in matched pairs even better money. Hackneys, which have been so fashion- able of late, still bring large figures, but as a rule the long prices so lavishly paid three years ago are now unheard of. The extensive importation of fine sires, the in- crease of the number of home-bred colts, together with natural competition and sym: pathy with the hard times, have combined to, produce very conservative estimates of value. ———— Victoria and the Monarchy. Arthur Warren, in the Boston Herald. Queen Victoria has done much to Strengthen the monarchical idea in the affections of her people. When you know England you see that this is not an “effete” idea, as our humorists and stump speakers are accustomed to define it. When you gsk the Briton if he means ever to dis- sociate himself from this idea, he points out that he has nothing to gain by doing so. He has everything that we have, and he reminds us, with some humor, that his national affairs are giving him rather less uneasiness than ours are giving us: just now. We remind him that we have a huge country to govern, and he retorts, “But Britain has a vaster empire.” You say then that royalty is expensive. He says: “Not very. Not more than we can af. ford.” You raise other criticisms, but he replies with a reason for each article of his faith. When you know England well, you find that even here there is a reason for most things. You also discover that you are as little likely to convert the Englishman to a desire for republican government as he is to convert you to a wish for the monarchical form. He is content, and so are we. He takes his monarchy quite as seriously as we take our republic. If we raise the old fetish about bending the knee, we are reminded that the Englishman is quite as self-respecting a person as any other. Sometimes we find reason’ to be- lieve that he thinks a little too much of himself. But that is a matter of human nature. —_+- e+ —____ A Startling Trath. From the Boston Courler. Mr. Shocker—“Do you remember, my dear, our honest old neighbor, Mr. Withers,. who met with such heavy business re- Mrs. Shocker—“Very well, indeed. What of him?” : Mr. Shocker—“Poor fellow! He is now fill- ing a drunkard’s grav. Mrs. Shocker—“Impo: ! Mr. Shocker—“Not at all, my dear. He recently got the position of sexton at the chapel, and ts over there now burying an inmate of the Inebriate Asylum.” 17 FACTS ABOUT GOLD How thé Precious Metal is-Hoarded in India and China. : CURIOUS FORMS IN WHICH IT 18 FOUND About the African Mines and the Australian Gold Fields. THE CYANIDE PRODUCT + (Copyrigited, 1896, by Frank G. Carpenter.) DENVER, Col., October 13, 1896. MRT HERE THE chief American agent of the cyanide process for reducing gold. The process is pat- ented, and the agents of the Scotch firm who own the patents are now to be found n all the gold regions of the world putting up mills. The Ameri- can agent told me that he had recently contracted for mills in Montana ‘and Nevada, and that a number were going up in Utah, Colorado and Ari- zona. In Juab county, Utah, the old dumps of gold mines are now being worked over by means of cyanide, and the same Is to be done with many of the abandoned gold mines of Mexico. I am surprised at stories I daily hear as to the new developments cf our gold territory. The old districts are being reprospected, and from the results it 1s safe to say that the best of our mining regions have not as yet been touched. The great mountain chain running from Alaska to Nicaragua seems to be an almost un- broken mineral bed. Gold and silver are found in the continuation of the chain in South America, and miners are working to- day at intervals all along the western part of our hemisphere from the Yukon river even to Patagonia. Gold in Gaa and Water: The most of the gold which has made the world rich in the past has come from nug- gets and from veins so large that you could see them. The flood of the precious meta! which is now beginning to deluge the earth comes from infinitesimal particles, so scat- tered through the rock that not a gleam nor a glint of them can be detected by the naked eye. According to some scientists th gold has been deposited in the rock in he torm of gas. Ages ago,say they, there was an eruption in the bowels of the earth, at which time this gas mixed with gold rushed up through the vertical fissures with great force and soaked its way into the porous rock in which the gold is now being found. It was by this means that the little bits of gold were dropped throughout the rock, the precious particles being so small that they could not be detected. Many of the old miners had no idea of their existence, and their extraction now 13 only possible by rreans of the cyanide proc There is plenty of gold in salt water. Scientists say that gold is generally diifused in the waters of the ocean, and one eminent chemist states that the sea water of the Britisn coast contains one grain of gold to every ton of water. ‘The proportion is much larger in the Great Salt lake, and the man who can invent a cheap process of getting out such gold will have a fortune. Forms in Which Gold is Found. Few peopie have any idea of the queer forms in which gold is found. Dame Na- ture is the most wénderful of jewelers, and she has decorated the bosom of old Mother Earth with gold in a thousand different shapes. I saw a box of gold nuggets and crystals taken from the Little Johnnie mine rear Leadville. Many of then would have made beautiful brooches without re- decoration. Some appeared frosted, and others had been torn from the rock in th form of sheets and plates. A great deal of gold {s found in crystals. Not long ag there was brought to the Philadelphia mint four thousand dollars’ worth of Aus- tral‘an gold. It was made up of little gold crystals, ranging in size from that of a marrcwfat pea to that of the head of a pin. Gold is also found in cubes and eight- sided crystals are common. Soine of the gold niggets from the California mines are shaped like moss. The Little Johnnie has prcduced a great deal of wire gold. I have seen bits of rock from Cripple Creek upon which when subjected to an intense heat the geld would bubble out and stand up like little gold pin heads upon the dark stone. Gold in its natural state is usually mixed with silver. The new Utah gold de- posits are associated with arsenic. In the Mercur mine you find the yellow ore in connection with quicksilver, and in South America it is sometimes mixed with bis- muth. : Placer Mining and Gold Nuggets. I have spent some time watching the placer miners in different parts of the west. Placer mining was the chief source of gold production in the days of 1849. It is still carried on, but the output is_much less than in the past. The chief placer mines of to- day are in Siberia, where the earth has sometimes to be dug up in a frozen state and melted before the gold can be extracted. This is the case in some parts of the Yu- kon river mines. The fact that there is a gold placer is an evidence that there is gold-bearing rock near by, and miners pre- tend to tell from the character of the gold of the placer as to the nearness of the gold- bearing rock from which it comes. If the gold dust is very fine It is supposed to have been carried a long distance. If coarse it is thought that the lead is not far off. Some of the first mining of California was of gold scales which measured less than 1-16 of an inch in length and one milli- meter in diameter. Plecer miners usually find their biggest nuggets in streams where the bowlders ar large. Where the streams are fine gravel the gold is generally small and scaly, The biggest nugget ever discovered in this coun- try was taken out of a mine at Carson Hill, in Calaveras county, Cal. It weighed 195 pounds and was worth more than $43,000. A number of other large nuggets were found in this same region, ranging in value from $1,000 upward. In 1855 a nugget of gold was discovered in Sierra county, Cal., worth $10,000, and in 18 a mass of quartz and gold was picked up in Tuolumne county which was worth $80,000. Outside of California some of the biggest lumps of gold discovered in the United States have come from the south. North Carolina has produced three nuggets ranging in size from 13 1-2 pounds to 37 povrds, and in Georgia a number of big nuggets have been discovered, the largest of which weighed 737 pennyweighis. Thee Wonderful African Mines. Through the mining enginecrs whom I have’ met here in the west and information which has recently come to the director of the mint at Washington I am able to give some facts as to the mines of Africa which are making such a change in the gold product of the world. These gold mines are a surprise to geologists. One famous man said that he would have rather ex- pected to find gold in the fens of Scot- land than in the Rand district of South Africa. Mr. Wm. Weston, a leading mining ergineer of Cripple Creek, and a graduate of the Royal School of Mines of London, tells me that he believes that the South African gold deposits originally consisted of the bed of a great lake, which, having been dried up and solidified, was by the ac- tion of the elements so heaved up that it stood half on end. The upper part of this great gold deposit is now being mined, but as the region is further developed the miners will have to go deeper and deeper into the earth and the cost will be much greater. As it is, the prospects of an enor- mous quantity of gold from South Africa are excellent. Hamilton Smith, who is perhaps one of the best mining engineers of the world, and who was here not long ago as the agent for the Rothschilds to look up their American investments, esti- mates that the Rand gold district of Africa will produce a billion and a quarter dollars’ worth of gold. _ He says that gold has been found there as far down in the earth as 2,500 feet, and that it exists in all proba- bility to a depth of 3,000 feet. Much of the mining will have to be ‘done at this depth, and according to his estimate it fould’ take ‘abot $3,000,009 to-equip-x mine working at a depth of 3,000 'f He ex- pects the product of the African mines to exceed $60,000,000 a Iymar by the close of the century, and'he telieves that they will be profitable for years to come. Today all of the African mts must be etonom- ically managed in arder for. them to pay dividends. A greatopart of the gold has to ga back into thes nfipe in the shape of machinery and Imbor; giid-up to the present only about one-fifth d& the gold gotten out has been clear profit. :sThere are now em- ployed in this. Afri¢am gold district 5,000 white men and 50,000 blacks. Wages are low and everything is {done on- the: largest and most economical; seale. y Mining 1%) Miniralia.~ A number of new ¢yanide mills are being put up in Australiay, I am told that new mines are being discovered in different parts of that countr3, ‘and a recent report to our director of the mint states that the Australian gold fields have hardly been scratched. Some of the best mines of to- day are in West Australia, in a district where there Is little water.’ In the. Cool- gardie gold region, for instance, water sometimes brings as high.as 25 cents-a gal- lon, as there are no great quantities of water within three hundred miles of the gold fields. There is a great gold reef in this district. It was discovered by two young men, who found a forty-five-ounce nugget sticking out of a mountain. of quartz. They took a bag of nuggets off of a single claim and caine back to their camp loaded with gold. The Mercur mining dis- trict, south of Salt Lake, is also affected by the lack of water, but this has been remedied by forcing water over the moun- tains from a stream on the other side. The parties who own the water works have @ fortune in them. Water, in fact, costs so much In Mercur that the mills using it do not allow the steam to escape, but run {t off into pipes up the mountain. As the steam strikes the cold pipe it condenses and flows back’ so that it can be used again. How the Hindoos Are Hoarding Gold. An enormous amount of the gold of the world ts locked up in India. During a visit to that country a few years ago I found that gold had gone out of circula- tion. The people seemed miserably poor, but they had quantities of jewelry. Girls dressed In cotton often wore gold and sil- ver bracelets and anklets, and many a barefooted girl had gold rings and gold belis on her toes. For ages the East In- dians have been oppressed. They have not dared to loan their money for fear they would lose it, and they have preferred to put it into ornaments, This ‘custom prevails today, even though there is now under the English security of property. Among the chief hoarders are the Indian rajahy, who Wear the most expensive of Jewelry. I saw many gold rings set with precious stones worth a thousand dollars and upward, and I found gold chains for sale everywhere. Sir David Barbour es- timated the amount of the gold hoarded in India during the half century previous to 1885 at $650,000,000, ‘This w the ac- cumulation of only fifty years He esti- mated that $800,000,000 worth of silver was hoarded in this time, and states that near- ly all of the gold and silver which came into India in return for its exports was thus kept. The Hindoo buys but little from other countries. He lives on rice or coarse grains. A cotton rag in most cases forms his clothing. All the money he ge’ he keeps, and if this hoarding is to con- tinue it is ce a great part of the gold will eventually be absorbed by the t Ind The Englisii have realized is for a long time. They have attempted to remedy it, but in vain. About ten years ago they tried to get the hoarded gold and silver into circulation by offering high rates of Interest for money, but the natives would not respond. ‘There are about 300,- 000 native bankers InvIndia, who lend to the peasants, but the ‘most of their bus ness Is done in kim, the money lender a vancing so much grain with the under- standing that he shail receive so much back when the crop is“harvested. The Treasures of the Rajahs. The wealth of the: native princes of India is known only to themselves. A recent report from an English officer in the In- dian post office shows that one native prince has been storing away gold at the rate of from two hindré1 to three hundred thousand dollars g* yetr, He_ bu: mohurs, a coin worth about $5, silver rupees, and puts the gold in a vault in his’ palacé: and 1s lost to cirdplation. Not long ago two native princes‘dfed in India, each leav- ing, ft is supposed,*abdut $20,000,000 worth of xold:* One of 'ttiesé princes, who had his twenty millions stored up In his’ vauits, borrowed from the government of India something like $2,000,009 to tarry en his establishment. He preterred to pay in- strong Once there it stays Di terest to going back on his pile, and when he was asked if he could pay his loan on demand he replied yes, and that they might call for it at any time. = Another gold hoard was discovered not long ago upon the death of the Maharajah of Burdwan. This was opened up on the death of the maWarajah. It consisted of seven rooms filled with gold and silver and precious stones. Three of the rooms were locked and the doors bricked up. One room, 48 feet long, 14 feet wide and 13 feet high, was filled with gold plates and cups, gold and silver ornaments and precious stones. In nearly all of the rooms vaults were found containing money, and in one vault there were ten thousand gold mo- hurs. All of the vaults were so protected that it w not possible for the govern- ment to find out exactly how much they held, and even the exact number of the vaults Is not known, This treasure ts now in the hands of the maharajah’s descend- ants. The Gold of China, There is undoubtedly a vast amount of gold in China. There are mines in differeat parts of the empire, and a great-deal of gold is brought down every year from Si- berla. It comes to Peking and is there melted down into small bars of about the size of the little cakes known as lady fin- gers. It is almost pure, often running over twenty karats in fineness. It is cast in this small shape in order that it may be hoard- ed and easily passed from nd to hand. The officials, who in many cases make for- tunes out of their offices, buy these gold bars and secret them. They do not dare to put their money into the banks for fear that their brother officials may discover-| their wealth and confiscate it. The result is that such gold bars will bring two per cent more in Peking than they will in Shanghai. ‘There are said to be more than 100 places in China where gold 1s found. In Mongolia there are a number of mines, and in the southwestern part of the empire there are gold workings which are 100 feet deep. The Chinese cannot understand the fall of silver. I was often asked as to it during my stay in the country two years ago—the Chinese many times putting to me this ques- tion in their queer pigeon English: “What for makee gold so dear?” They did not speak of the fall of silver, but of the rise of gold, At that time silver was just about as lowe as it is now. I carried my money in drafts on New York, and usually received about $1% in silver for each $100 of American money I cashed. Gold in Old Shoes. I see from the Japanese newspapers that there is some possibility ef that country establishing a gold basi. If this scheme is carried out Japan willhave to get“Its gold from other countrigs, €§ ite own production is less than a milion Gf dollars a year. Its gold mines are woxkedggy Japanese laborers who wear shoes of s@@jals of straw, the soles of which ard abg@t as thick as your little finger. These als wear out very quickly, and the laborérs then throw them away. During my stay.in Japan I heard of @ queer gold speculatig® in connection with these old shoes. A man living near the mines had for yegrs collected all the old shoes he could figg @nd stored them away. After a long timgpe burned them to ashes and panned’ the result, getting: a large amount of gold from them. The story was told for truth, bat, like many oriental state- ments, it sgynds rather fishy. Corea’s Wonderfyl Gold Fields. { A great “part of thef/gold of ‘both~Japan and China-comes from Corea. The Corean mines are said to be very rich. Corea is mountainous, and nearly alk ofits moun- tains contain minerals..During my vis- it to the country eight years ago our American minister told’me-that-he: believed the gold product amounted to $3,000,000 a ear. Gen. Clarence Greathouse, the Amer- can foreign adviser to the king, described the mines as very valuable, and foreign merchants showed me quills of gold dust and little nuggets which had been’ brought to them by the people. So far nearly all of the gold gotten out of Corea has come from Placer washings. There.are .a few quartz inines, but these are worked in’ the crudest of ways. The loose rock is pried out with picks or crowbars. When such means fail @ fire is built upon the rock, and when it is hot cold water ig thrown upon it to crack it. After the ore is gotten out itis erushed be- tween two stones, the under stone being flat and the upper one somewhat round, 50 that it can be rolled backward and forward over the ore, crushing ‘it. After* itis crushed, the metal is saved by hand pan- ning. No pumps are used, and blasting powder and dynamite are practically, un- known. There is no quicksilver to gather the gold, and in all probability the mast of it goes to waste. The mines are the prop- erty of the king, but those who work them undoubtedly steal a great part of the prod- uct. A number of foreigners are now trying to get possession of the mines, and within a few years they will probably be owned-by English, Americans and Russians. FRANK G. CARPENTER. ———— FRESH EGGS ARRIVING FROM CHINA Unique Invoices Now Keeping the Custom House Officials Busy. ‘From the Chicago Inter-Ocean. “Fresh eggs from China,” is a conspicu- ous sign posted in the windows of Chinese stores and restaurants on Clark street. But the announcement is in Chinese char- acters. The eggs are a delicacy that come to Chicago every fall from China. The ex- aminers’ room in the custom house has for the past two weeks been strewn with the square paper-covered boxes, wrapped with bamboo splits, which hold the consign- ments of fruits, vegetables and groceries for the Chinese of Chicago and the central west. Not the least among the things jm- ported are the duck eggs. At least 30,000 of them have passed through the custom hcuse the past two weeks. Each egg is wrapped in a mass of black mud, that re- tains its putty-like consistency for months, even when exposed to the air. They co! in boxes holding twenty-five Chinese do: =the is, ten. Everything that comes from China is purchased by tens. The eggs thus keep absolutely fresh. Peeling the mud coating from them the faint blue tint of the shell is disciosed. The only difference between the eggs of an American duck and a Chi- nese fowl, and an unfailing mark that keeps the dealer from practicing a decep- tion, is that the yolk, instead of.being yel- Icw, has the color of an American beauty rose. Another big importation is rice prepared as a gelatinous thread-like substance,which locks most palatable. The canned goods include vegetables, mainly beans and cab- bage. But the Chinese dote on salted fcods and most of the cabbages come shredded and salted, together with beans and mushrooms, and a sea moss that re- sembles black wool. Shark fins and oysters ave dried and salted, and salted plums are a delicacy. Lichee nuts are canned in a thick sirup, and others, dried in the husk, are picked in baskets. The nut is not un- I'ke the date in vor. Huge boxes filled with the thick white tubers of water lilies are in demand at this season. The custom house people call them “Chinese sweet po- tatoes,” because they are prepared for the teble in the same manner. With every consignment are several bexes of oils and pills for medicine. The pills are an inch in diameter, covered with a thick coating of white beeswax, and stamped with Chinese characters. A sick Ch breaks off a portion of the wax and makes his pills-to suit himself m the black mass inside. The oils are inly extracts of mint. A package of books consisting of four volumes in a set, each set being inclosed in a flexible cloth d with ivory sticks, said by the importer to be a history of ar with Japan from the Chinese standpoint. The Chinese importations at Chicago amount to $100,000 annually, most of which is cleared during September and October. a any Doesn't Care for Leap Year. From the Chieago Post. She snapped her fingers disdainfully. ‘That for leap year,” she said. “I wouldn't give one common year for a whole bushel of them.” “Perhap id her dearest friend, with that solicitude for which dearest friends are noted, “some one has given you the mitten. “Not at all. He jumped at the chance to get me, and we're engaged.” The dearest friend su didn’t see just what fault could be found with leap year under those circumstance the compiaint usually coming from girls who had made a trial and failed to score. “Why, there’s nothing artistic about it,” explained the engaged girl. “It isn't sports- manlike to bag your game that E there’s no real excitement or fun in it—just a little nervousness and it's all over. Any girl can ask a man to marry her, but it's more of a trick for her to make a man ask her. That calls for careful and artistic work. My ‘95 engagement was twice the sport of the "96 affair.” See Benny’s Idea, From the Texas Sifter. Little Benny—“Mamma, please let me hold the baby for 2 minute. Mother—"I’m afraid, Benny, let her fall.’ Little Benny—“Well, if she does fall, she can’t fall very far.” —+-2--————— The Development of a Vivisector. From Life. you might s, | from the i PICTURES BY WIRE Becent Inventions and What is Claimed for Them. DISTANT SCENES BROUGHT NEAR Light Waves and the Problem of Transmitting Them. SOME CURIOUS DEVICES —_—_-___ RANTING THA? ( ie promises of sev- eral ingenious inven- tors are to be ful- filled, the presiden- tial candidates com- peting for lection four years hence will be able to perceive distant demonstra- tions in their honor, both by the eye and ear, rather than by the ear alone, as dil McKinley and Ho- bart last week whcn they heard the cheers of the Chicago paraders through the long- distance telephone. The wonderful invention of Alexander Graham Bell, recently described, whereby sound may be transmitted through a sim- ple ray of light §s perhaps secondary in value to the projected devices of the sev- eral experimenters in question, now labor- ing diligently toward enabling man to gratify his seeing sense with accurate im- ages of far distant occurrences, brought to his eye simultaneously with their taking place, To be able to sit in one’s home and at the same time to view goings on abroad would indeed be one of the most wonder- ful accomplishments ever anticipated. When there is granted us the possibility of Seeing, as well as of hearing, and talking through a wire, vehicles for transporting us from place to place will be no more uecessary for the gratification of the so- cial instinct than they now are for the transaction of business. Used by Mr. Bell. Selenium, which Mr. Bell at the outset used in experiments with his radiophone, has been adapted to sight transmission, or perhaps we could better say the long-dis- tauce transmissien of images. First a word as to selenium: It is found in sulphur depos- its, and when precipitated appears as a red powder. This meits when heated, and cn cocling forms a brittle mss, nearly black. 1ts characteristic found to be of articular value to modern experimenters its strange ability to sympatheticaliy aller its resistance to electricity when sub- jected to varying intensities of light. Soot or ordinary lamp biack, found to have this same property, is utilized by some of these experimenters as well as by Dr. Bell. One of the most interesting inventions in this line is that of Prof. Herri Sutton of Vv ; apparatus con- ver and a transtaitter, dif- truction. According to his principle, a picture or the image on the Sround glass cf a camera is held before a system of lenses, which focus it upon the center of a glass plate, containing selen- ium. Before reaching the focus the wavs cf light pass through a revolving disk of metal, containing a series of holes arranged over its face in a closely wound spiral curve. This separates the light rays coming age, So that they fall, one after another, upon the selenium spot. By aa in- Senious arrangement only ene of the holes can transmit the focused light at the Same time. Hence upon looking through the disk when rotating, circles of light would appear ty follow one another over its | fece, beginning at the center and ending | at the cireumierence. The disk revolv: sixty-tive simes in a second. On account of this speed, the hundreds of light. rays | flashing Uhrough it singly appear to travel together in circles. Transmitting Light Waves. The spot of selenium is connected with an electric wire, the current in which flows in vibrations continually differing a cording to the strength of each light ray as it comes through the disk. In this manner each light wave issuing from each shade in the p.ctyre is taken up in turf and transmitted through the wire. At the opposite end of the line the same current is received in a metallic contrivane through which the light of a lamp is re. flected. By a complicated arrangement the induced light rays in the receiver are caused to flash with the same vibration as those focused in turn upon the selenium in the trarsmitter. Another revolving perforated disk in the receiver separates the rays before pre- senting them :r turn throug the eye piece, which latter may be connected with a camera for preserving the view. Of course, | the two disks must be revolved simul. taneo.sly to the exact hundredth of a second. This exact sympathy of revolu- tion cannot as yet be accomplished at any great distance. It therefore remains | to be solved how this motion can be pre- cisely duplicated when the two wheels are not revolved on a common axle. A similar instrument, patented by an American, employs two revolving cylinders, connected in electric circuit, which dupli- cate in the receiver a photographic half- tone plate placed in the transmitter. As in the other case, however, the two cylin- Gers must revolve together and at exactly the same speed. If they could rotate upon the same axle, reaching from city to city, the contrivance would doubtless be found to be of greater value than for pure: scientific experiment made upon the labo- ratory table. Somewhat different in details of construc- tion is a very recent invention by C. B. Davis of New York. The image to be transmitted is placed in front of a camera, in the back of which the emanating light rays are brought to a focus upon a sieve. The ends of 200 wires, tipped with selen- ium, protrude through the meshes of the sieve. After passing through they come together in a point, which is connected to a telegraphic wire. In the receiver the transmitting wire connects with a similar point of wires, which branch out and pro- trude through a sieve as before. By Photography. Atross their expored ends is placed a copper plate, snd upon this is spread a ‘sheet of paper saturated with phenolph- talein, alcohol and glycerine. The electric current being turaed on, it is claimed that the image appearing before the camera is reproduced upon this sensitive sheet. Ac- corcing to the description of the inventor, the 200 wires in the camera combine their separate Impressions in the single trans- ‘mitting wire, the same impressions being sorted out automatically at the re@iving end and distributed in the appropriate wires leading to the copper plate. F. M. Close, an inventor of Oakland, Cal., | lately made the announcement that he had + 2 to see through a and not merely reproduce images transmitted thereby. His invention is de- scribed as consisting of a soft iron magnet, irclosed ina box, and connected by wi with another soft iron magnet at the other «nd. A candle or ¥ght placed in front of an cpening in one box excites a series of ele tric vibrations in the connecting wire. The vibrations are repeated in the receiving end, where they. are reconverted into light of the criginal quality and form. The details of hfs discovery the inventor withholds from the public until his satisfaction as to its perfection ts further gratitled. As Early as 1867. American patents for instruments devised for transmitting illustrations over long dis- tances date from as early as 1867, when a Frenchman, Lenoir, was given the exclusive right of selling an apparatus for telegraph- ing fac-similes. The drawing to be tele- graphed was made upon a sheet of metal foil; with a fluid non-conductor of electrici- | ty. The sheet was wrapped around a rolier | in the-transmitter, a similar roller in the receiver containing a sheet of white paper, chemicattytreated. Resting against each roller was an arm which’ traced a close spiral on the cylin- FERAL H Gladness Comes Wits better understanding of the transient nature of the many phys- ical ills, which vanish before proper ef- forts—gentle efforts—pleasant efforts— rightly directed. There is comfort in the knowledge, that so many forms of sickness are not due to any actual dis- ease, but simply to a constipated condi- tion of the system, which the pleasant family laxative, Syrup of Figs, prompt- ly removes. That is why it is the only remedy with millionsof families, and is everywhere esteemed so highly by all who value good health. Its beneficial effects are due to the fact, that itis the one remedy which promotes internal cleanliness without debilitating the organs on which it acts. It is therefore all important, in order to get its bene- ficial effects, to note when you pur chase, that you have the genuine arti- cle, which is manufactured by the Cali- fornia Fig Syrup Co. only and sold by all reputable druggists. If in the enjoyment of good health, and the system is regular, laxatives or other remedies are then not needed. If afflicted with any actual disease, one may be commended to the most skillful. physicians, but if in need of a laxative, one should have the best, and with the well-informed everywhere, Syrup of Figssstands highest and is most k used and gives most general satisfaction. Satisfaction will result. Have the Yale Laundry do your laundry work hereafter. Phone 1092. 514 roth st. drical surface when the roller was put in revolution. The rollers were connected to cells, the circuit between the two former being closed when the tracing arms rested upen their surfaces. While passing over the non-conducting fluid on the foil, the transmitting arm broke the circuit. As long as the current was closed, however, the re- ceiving arm continued to discolor the ch cal paper beneath it. When the cur a but this could to revolve simultaneously, done by clockwork without causing scrious error. A modern patent, given to Patrick De- laney of w York city,is somewhat simi in principle. He employs as a transmit a wide comb of metal, under which a p also of metal,may by A single electric tween this and a nilar contrivance, con- stituting the rece The illustration to be transmitted is drawn in non-conducting te, drawn back and forth. » closes a circuit be- ink upon a sheet of paper placed between the first comb and the underlying plate. Chemical paper likewise rests beneath the receiving comb. By a complicated arrange- ment the current is dispatched through the teeth of the combs, one at a time, but in such rapid succession as to appear instan- taneous. The result upon the chemical pa- rer is as before, the comb being drawn over it, IMustrations by Wire. An excecdingly simple system of tele- graphing illustrations by means of an ordi- nary key and sounder was patented a few months ago. Jt is for the use of any tel- egrapher who knows his alphabet. The re- ceiver and transmitter each has before him a diagram, consisting of a series of rulings, running up and down and from left to | right, intersecting so as to form small squares, The ndicular lines are marked “1, 2, 3 in the top and bottom margin 5 rizontal lines are lettered “A, B, C, D, E, etc.,” in the right and left margins. The original drawing is made, as large as possible, by an artist upon one of these diagrams, It is then telegraphed to the receiver merely by naming in order the points of in- tersection of the various cross-lines of the | diagram and the marks of the artist. For instance, the outlines of a face might be telegraphed thus: “R3—P’ and so on until the whole outline drawing is scribed. The larger curves may be made in this manner, since all curves in reality are made up of many straight lines. Definite curves, however, may be indicated by addi- tional signs. A brief message describes the finishing of the portrait. as, for instance, the quality of the hair, the style of cloth- ing, ete., to be filled in between the out- lines. The receiver hands the telegram to an- other artist, who traces the portrait or fig- ure upon a duplicate diagram simply running the pencil over the surface between the points indicated as the transections of the proper cross-lines. The picture is lastly touched up in ink and handed to the edi- tor, if it be for journalistic publication. The perfection of a practicable system of transmitting illustrations over long dis- tances will, of course, enable newspapers to exhibit accurate portrayals of distant events occurring within the day of publica- tion—pictures of campaign demonstrations taking place a thousand miles away, of battles in Cuba or of massacres in Arme- nia. The possibilities of an adaptation of long- distance image-transmission to the kineto- Scope or vitascope principles are by no means more discouraging. Then, indeed, we might witness our base ball games as they really occur and while they are in pro- gress. But in anticipating what we might do under such a condition, we can, step by step. go logically almost into the ideal world. — Only Appetizer, From the New York Times. A popular politician and after-dinner ora- tor from Buffalo was met rushing from a swell 23d street restaurant at 1 ) pan. by Officer John Thistledown, just appointed to the force from Erie county. Orator—“Thank heaven I've met you, Jobn! Where's a restaurant that’s open ut this hour? I'm starving!” Officer Shistledown—“Starving? Thought vere to speak at a banquet this even- Orator—"So I did, John, so I aid. But I've been bunkoed, and I’m starved. t roped into the annual dinner of the Vege- tanan Society.’ Where She Wo From London Tid-Bits. “This liver is awful, Newwed. “I'm very sorry,” returned the bride. ‘T'll tell the cook to speak to the livery- man, about it.” Maud,” said Mr. will make the hair beautiful, lossy and natural, no mat : 3, BLEACHED or GRAY ii may be. Tt is cléan, odorless, Ins It does 10 Poisonous ma Dot affect it, curling or crimp parable Account of its dur No. 3. Medium Brown. No. 4, Chestnut. No. 5, Light ‘Chestnut. No. 6, Gold Blonde. No 7, Ash Blonde. Price, and $3.00. Sole = Manufactur- ers and Patentees: Inperial Chemical Mfg. G 4 In Washington, sold} yal, Ed. P. Mertz. Applications made at Marlborough Parlora, xo. 1110 G st. a. Monday’s none too soon to tele- phone (1092) the Yale Laundry to call for your bundle. It