Evening Star Newspaper, February 5, 1898, Page 18

(se) Ge) I don’t suppose you ever heard of the republic of Orizaba, remarked my friend, Mr. James K. Smith. It only existed as an independent republic for about a dozen years. You see, it used to be a part of the republic of Central America, and it was scch a worthless strip of land and fever that when it set up on its own account the Central Americans didn’t take the trouble to reconquer it, and waited till the United States reconquered it for them. Orizaba had one seaport, where perhaps three or four tramp steamers called in the course of the year, to see if they could pick up a cargo of logwood. The country was full of logwood of the very best qual- ity, but the natives were so lazy that they would never cut it unless they were paid by the day, and even then they worked so slowly that it took about two months to fur a cargo for a 2,000-ton tramp. This same little seaport, which called itself the city of Santa Rosa, consisted of about “#0 inhabitants, living mostiy In one- story adobe houses, and it was the capital of the republic. The way I came to be president of Ori- zaba_ was what I started out to tell you, and I'll try to keep to the point. If I get wandering off into other subjects just pull me up, and start_me again on the right track. Along in 1876 I was the junior part- ner of a firm in San Francisco that did a big business in lumber. Bromley, Twitchell & €o. was the name of the firm, and I was the company. Old Bromley, the senior partner, was a mighty enterprising man, and one day he came to me and told me that there was a chance of building up a tremendous trade in logwood, provided somebody w © to Santa Rosa and run thing. “So,” says Bromley, “I have ided that you are just the man for the and I want you to start by a steam- er that is going to sail for the Central American ports next Wednesday, and will put you ashore at Santa Rosa. I've in- duced the administration to make Santa Rosa a consular port. and you will be ap- Pointed consul at that place in the course of a day or two. There won’t be any money in the office, but you won't have any ofti- cial work to do, and the fact that you are consul will give you all the opportunities you need for collaring the logwood busi- ness. I believe that is all I have to say. and I presume, Mr. Smith, that you will be reedy to sail next week.” That was just old Bromley’s way. He never wasted a word. Some men would have taken half a day to tell me what they exp d me to do in Santa Rosa; but Eromley just let me know that I was to go there and collar the logwood busi- ness. I was to do it in my own way, and if 1 succeeded it would bring me a lot of money, and if I |. why Bromley wouid ize the thing up, and put the blame where ed. I never hesitated a minute and when I landed at Santa . an American flag. and new that I had my an in my own hands. ice, and had then made ctions were a wasie of uy held ing any perm 0 be gnized as I was the oni i on to his office \ Santa y was full | alculated ness in that as well , I meant to induce $s to go in for e s2-growing. In I saw my way to make a | r myself and partners, and republic of zaba a prosper- | low—Col. | » commander of the presi- | came rushing up to my door | drawn sword in his hand, and a | soldiers and citizens—if a lot of lazy half-dressed Indians ean be called citi- | t his heels. I let him in at once, for evidently in a big hurry, and so ¥ » crowd that was after him He dropped into a chair clean out of breath, and by the time I grasped ihe situation and ¢. the whoie crowd was g at the door, and yelling for the come out and be killed. I will a brave man, for although he had every reason to believe that the mob would break in and massacre him, he sat smiling and gasping in bis chair, and as goon as he got his breath he began to apologize for disturbing me, and offered to leave at once if he was putting me to any inconvenience. I told him to stop wher3 he was. and then I opened the door, and holding my Winchester in my left hand, I asked the people what they wanted. Some- body sings out that they wanted Mendoza’s | life, and meant to have it, and that if I interfered in the circus I would de hung on the nearest tree. I didn’t make any answer until I had seized my big Ameri- can flag and spread it out on the front door sill and all along my entrance hall. Then I} says to the crowd that I was the Ameri- can consul; that nobody could get into the house without trampling on the American flag, and that if any living Orizabian dared | so much as to touch it with his dirty bare foot I'd send for a man-of-war tha: would blow the town to smithereens and hang the president and every other man in the Fepublic who was respectable enough to “I give you fair warning,” at I shall open fire on you from ows in five minutes, and I'm to fight you and your whole years to come.” That ike all half-civilized balf- y could understand the meaning im a white man’s hands. They siunk away as ‘f they had been operated on with a horsewhip, and when I went back to the room where the colonel was sitting put his arms around my neck | and kissed me on both cheeks, and swore that he would never forget that I had | saved his life—which there isn’t the slight- | est doubt that I had. P ginning cf my friendship We got to be as thick as in a short time, and the colonel i to come and smoke my vening when he was off a polite, brave and good- as for honesty, he seemed nd then to have a little inkling of . which was more than could id for any other Orizabian. If he had been raised in a Christian land, with Sun- day schools and newspapers and honest elections, he would prebably have turned cut to be a first-class man. One evening Mendoza said to me as he was starting for home, “Don Smith, I want you to promise me that you won't go out of this house for the next two days. You will be perfectly safe so long as. you fre In your own hobse, but I can't answer for your life if you step outside your door, un- iil I send you word that the danger is over.” “What's up?” said I. have a revolution?” “I can tell you nothing,” he replied. “Re- member that you once stood between me and a mob that would have shot me in an hour's time if you had not interfered. That mob was acting under orders from the president, as I suspected at the time, and now know. You are not exactly a popular person at the palace just at present, and I beg that you will listen to my advice, and not run inte danger.’ : ¥ It so happened that I was behindhand in my correspondence .just. them,’ and the monthly steamer for San Francisco was to sail in three days more. While I didn’t feel like hiding tn my House any num- ber of greasers, Mhought that T might just as well take the next two days for squar- ing up my correspondence, and at the same time avold the danger that Mendoza hinted at. So I told him that I would do as he said, and be went away. tharking me warmly and assuring me that I could count en_him to the death. The next day at daybreak I thought 1 “Are you going to AN INVOLUNTARY PRESIDENT, ———————s ‘WRITTEN FOR THE EVESING STAR BY W. lL. ALDEN. ——— (Copyright, 1898, by W. L. Alden.) heard a lot of musketry, but I fell asleep again, and when I woke up for all day I rather imagined that I had been dreaming. ‘The next day after that was as quiet as a New Englané Sunday, but on the third day, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, Mendoza marched up to my door with an escort of fifty soldiers, and when I showed myself the whole gang began to yell, “Long life to President Smith!” “What's the meaning of this?’ I sald to Mendoza, when he and I were alone in my back office. “Tt means,” said he, “that you are the President of Orizaba, and I have come to escort you to the palace.” “Considering that I am not a citizen of Orizaba, and that I am an American con- Zz hadn’t been president three days before I saw the tremendous advantages of the produce. I found that there weren’t any taxes whatever. When old Alvarez wanted money he sent word to the rich men of the country that he wanted a government loan at 15 or perhaps 20 per cent, just as the notion struck him, and that each man would please to send so much—mentioning the exact amount—to the palace within twenty-four hours. When I made it un- derstood that no more such loans would be asked for, I had every man in Orizaba who was rich enough to wear shoes on my side. To raise a revenue, I imposed taxes payable in logwood and mahogany, a.nd cof- fee and bananas, and the way the taxes poured into the palace yard would have astonished you. I satisfied my conscience, “LONG LIFE TO P| RESIDENT SMITH sul, and furthermore, that I know nothing whatever about your political affairs, it seems to me that a man ought to be shamed of telling me at so early an hour zs § o'clock in the morning that I am pres- ident of your rubbishing republic.” “Pardon, your ex said Mendoza. “It pleases you to joke, and it is not my piace to find fault with a president's jokes. Permit me to remind you that I owe you my life. Also I beg to say that I very nearly ewed the late President Alvarez my death. I have rewarded Alvarez by over- throwing him, and he is now on board the steamer on his way to your former country. To you I have tried to show my gratitude by making you president. I fail to see that there is anything amusing in this.” “But, my dear young man,” I exclaimed, m very much obliged to you for your gratitude, but, as I said before, I'm not a citizen of your republic, and I don’t see how you are going to make a president out of a foreigner.” “Again I beg your excellency’s pardon,” said Mendoza. ‘The day before yesterday, when I arrested Alvarez, I made myself dictator. The first decree I issued was one making you a citizen. Then I ordered an election for president, which took place yesterday, and you had the usual majority of 748,000 votes, your adversary, Dr. Del Valle, having 209. So you see you are regu- larly elected, and I have, of course, re- signed my position as dictator.” “But, you amiable lunatic,” said I, “do you mean that 740,000 people, or there- abouts, voted for me, though most of them had never so much as heard of my exist- ence before election day?” “I have not said that 740,000 people voted for you, Don Smith,” he replied. “There | are never more than 300 or 400 who vote in any election in this country. It is the busi- ness of the police to conduct an election, .d to give the proper candidate the proper number of votes. Alvarez alweys had from 740,000 to 750,000 majority, ard we thought it right that you should have the same. I assure you that everything has been done in the most regular and constitutional way, and your election is as valid as that of the President of the United States.” “I'll admit,” said I, “for the sake of ar- gument, that I have been elected president, and am’a citizen of Orizaba. But I am still the American consul, and if I accept your presidency I must resign my consulate, and give up my logwood business, and { don’t mean to do either.” “Your heart {s most noble, Don Smith,” said Mendoza, “but you do not as yet fully He Could Not Restrain the Men. understand the customs of this country. The United States will never know that you are president unless you inform them of the fact. Then why not continue to be con- sul? There is no reason why a president should not carry on a great and glorious business like yours, especially when he can, if he chooses, confiscate all the logwood in the country. Beloved friend and preserver! Let me beg you to accept the presidency to which an admiring nation has elected you. If you do not like the position, you gan retire before your term of office ex- pires, and I will take your place. I forgot to say that I am your viee president, and that while dictator I also promoted myself to the rank of lieutenant general, and to the supreme command of the army.” Well, 1 falked a while longer with Men- doza, then I took ten minutes to think wen m0 work dor a Sener eet eee ras for an in Orizal and I didn't see that I need re. sgn an that wasn’t anything Bet a name. So, on the whole, I decided to ac- so far as my San Francisco partners were concerned, by sending them about cne- half the amount of taxes, and the rest I sold to any purchasers that happened to come along, and turned the money into the treasury. Considering that I never claimed nor iook a cent of salary the whoim time I | Was president, I think T pretty mid- dling honest. I considered then, as 1 du now, that my first duty was to the people that I ruled over, and I was satisfied with the profits that I made out of my logwood business. There is no denving that I did use the combination of presidency and consulate to the advantage of my San Francisco firm. When I wanted any favor from the gov- ernment I used to write as a private Ameri- can citizen to myself as consul asking for it. Then I would forward the letter, with a strong recommendation, to myself as president, and generally I granted the re- quest. Some men in my place would sim- ply have taken possession of anything they wanted without any formalities, but I always-had a resp2ct for law and order, and I always endeavored ‘o be as honest as the particular situation in which I found myself would allow me to be, without seri- ously injuring myself or my friends. I hope you won't think I am boasting cf my ex. treme honesty. I’m no Pharisee, and if I am. better than the ‘average inan I'm the ie to go 3 the sce go about calling attention to tried to improve the moral rial condition of the natives, but'T reodinnté make the least impression on them. You can't make a man work when he can earn a living by lying cn his back in the shade and eating ripe bananas. As for getting the people to understand the benefits of education, I might as well have tried to get a milkman to understand the benefits of not yelling his head off in the streete ‘There were about a dozen men in Santa Rosa, not counting the priests, who could m good earnest. However, I did accomplish one great ie form. When I took the presidency the whole country was swarming with police, who stole pretty much everything they could lay their hands on, and kept the Population in a state of ‘terror by their crimes. TI just abolished the entire police force, with the exception of two consta- bles whom I kept in the palace yard, where I could keep my eye on them. The army consisted of fifty men, under Lieut. Gen. Mendoza, and I gave orders that the sol. diers should shoot any man on sight whom they might catch in the act of committing any police operation. This very nearly put an end to crime in Orizaba. You see, the average Orizabian, providing he wasn't a Frofessional policeman, hadn’t the energy to steal, and with the exception that row and then there would be a quar- rel, and one man would stab another’ there was less crime in Orizaba than in any community that I ever knew anything about. Well, not to take up too much time, I will just say that I ruled Orizaba for a year and a month, and in that time I made the fortune of my San Francisco firm, besides doing more to develop the trade of the country than any central American president ever dreamed of doing. I filled up the empty treasury till it contained over $17,000, which in the eyes of an Orizabian Was a tremendous sum, and Lieut. Gen. troops had revolted that ‘morning, and made him director, and that unless I left for San Francisco by that day's steamer, he was afraid that he couldn't restrain the Tdi repeonels Meee ai "t rep lendoza, though he knew well enough that I understood just how much truth there was in his pretense that the soldiers had revolted. I told him that I would yield only to force, and that if be wanted me to leave the palace he and clean out the town, I told him it be Ri. And - it proved to be. be lendoza had forgotten that was United States consul as 5 ae dent. When I got back to San incisco: Seer cone, phe Screener that I had ‘orcibly expe! ‘rom demanded $17,000 as a the wore well as the presi- Fra I Cl but required him to Bosition as president in favor dent of Central America. The final was that Orizaba lost its i Mendoza couldn’t resist the temptation to handle it. He came to me one day, with a file cf soldiers at his back, and said that he was awfully sorry, but that the captain was considerably astonished to see me handcuffed, and offered to take his crew inde lence, ‘became once mores part of Central Amer- J — 3 the United States and It never leaked out'in E at bee re Ebi! Union of Washington city and vicinity, Baltimcre confsrerce, M. E, Church-South, will have a mass meeting Friday evening next at Rockville, Md. The exercises will begin with a song service at 7:15 o'clock. The themes of the principal addr2sses and those by whom they will be delivered are as follows: ‘‘The Literary Department and Its Objects,” Rev. J. O. Knott, Washing- ton, D. C.; “Literary and Social Mestings,”” E. B. Kemp, Alexandria, Va.; ‘‘The League Library,” Fred. E. Woodward, Washing- ten; “Lectures and Reading Courses,” Miss Sally Kilgour, Potomac, Md.; “‘The Bible in the Literary Department,” Samuel B. H2ge, Rockville, Md. At the close of the addresses question box and general discussion will follow. George H. Lamar of Rockville is presi- dent of the union, and L. Pierce Boteler of this city secretary. Mrs. Anna C. Pollock will deliver a lec- ture In the Eckington Presbyterian Church on “Domestic Economy” Friday evening, February 11, at 8 o’clock. There will be select r2adings by Miss Eva Hurd. During the past week Gospel mzetings Eave been held each evening at the Ver- mont Avenue Christian Church by Rev.-Dr. B. B. Tyler, a well-known evang2list. Dr. Tyler has also conducted Bible studies each morning at 10:30. The pupils of St. Cyprian’s School will give a musical and dramatic entertainment in the Sunday school hall, 13th and C streets southeast, Monday and Tuesday evenings, February 7 and 8, at 8 o'clock. These entertainments have been postponed from the Christmas holidays. A mass meeting at which the subject of discussion will be‘Japan and Universalism” will be held Sunday evening of next week, et the Church of Our Father, Rev. Leslie Moore, pastor. The principal address will be by Rev. Hidezo Yoshimura, the first rep- resentative of the Universalist Church in Japan to come to this country. The Junior Order of American Mechanics of Takoma Park have requested Rev. John Van Ness to preach a patriotic sermon be- fore them on Sunday of next week. Mem- bers of city lodges have been invited to be present. The services will be held in the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church. The announcement is made that Rev. Dr. McKim, rector of the Church of the Epiph- any, will this evening begin a ten days’ mission at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York. The annual report of the Building Society of the Congregational churches, with which the congregations of that denomination in the District are connected, has just been T™ade public. Briefly it states that the rec- ord of the work, receipts and expenditures for the year 1897 edsily takes the highest Place in the histery of the society during the last forty-five years. + One hundred and jeighty-three churches made application for. aid, to the amount of 865,16 The board voted $296,495 to 166 churches. There is paid to 116 churches the sum of $232,323 In form of grants or joans on houses of worship. Sixty-three churches asked loans to the amount of $43,990. The board voted $35,190 to 57 of these churches. Thirty-eight churches have been paid $21,- 867 on parsonage loans. The whole amount received into the church building loan. fund was $412,883; number of churches contributing, 2,714: young people's societies to the number of 240 contributed $1,244 and 150 Sunday schools contributed $1,088; contributions from- individual ladies,,; W. H. M.. U.’s, young ladies’ missionariy societies, King’s Daughters, etc., amount to $17,841. A final settlement has been made with the society by the exeeutor of the will of the late J. Henry Stickney of Baltimore, Md., under which the society will get about $400,000. From the sale of securities a total of $153,976 has been realized. The receipts from all sources, aside from this legacy, were $141,528, making a grand total for the year of $295,504. The Catholic Women’s Benevolent Le- gion of Immaculate Conception Parish has been organized, with the following officers: President, Mrs. Margaret Duffy; vice pres ident, Mrs. Robina Holtze; chancillor, Mrs. Ellen Toumey; secretary, Miss May Duffy; collector, Mrs. Margaret McKee; treasurer, Mrs. Cecilia Imrie; orator, Mrs. Anna Mur- parsonage Tay; marshal, Miss Catharine Judge; guard, Miss Mary Peck; trustee, Miss Catharine Scanlon; chaplain, Rev. 8. F. Ryan. At the annual meeting of the congrega- tion of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church a few evenings ago the officers were all re-elected. The Woman's Guild of St. Mary’s P. E. Chapel gave a “Klondike social” last even- ing at the rooms of the Y. M. C. A., No. 1607 11th street northwest. The formal opening of the contribution boxes issued by the vestry of St. Luke's P. E. Church one year ago took place Wednesday evening last. In conversation with a Star reporter Mr. Fred E. Woodward, the well-known Bp- worth Leaguer, said: The published fig- ures of the condition of the religious de- nominations of the United States at the beginning of the year 1898 contain some in- teresting statistics of Methodism. The Methodists of the United States, comprising 17 branches, now number 5,- 735,898 communicants. The gain in the past seven years has been 1,146,654, or an annual gain of 163,808. This means that every week there is added to the com- bined Methodist Church of the United States 3,150 members. The Methodist Church South reports a net gain of 40,000 members during the year 1897, and a total of 1,482,665. This is a gain in seven years of 272,689, or an annual increase of 38,957. This means that every seventh day there are added to this church 730 souls. The churches in Southern Methodism now aggregate 13,800, an increase of 1,712 in seven years, or an annual gain of 245. This means five new churches each week, fin- ished and dedicated. The value of church property in the M. B. Church South is $12,000,000. The cantata of Jurusalem, postponed on account of sickness, will be given at Ham- line M. BE. Church by Mr. Frank Wilson and fifty trained singers, with special soloigts, orchestra and other features, Wednesday, February 16, at § o'clock p. m. Rev. Hedding Bishop Leech has been unanimously invited, ywith the approval of his presiding elder,.to the pastorate of Sandford Street M. BE. Church in East Or- ange, N. J. Mr. Leech is a Washington boy and is well knowh in Epworth League circles here. ‘Two years ago Mr. Leech resigned a po- sition in the engineer’s é#epartment of the District_government enter Drew Theo- logical Seminary. ‘t= recent examina- tions he came out with a star opposite his name. He took charge of @ mission church, St. James’, in Newark, at-the time he en- Buns “Annually Through the Chan- nels of the Pension Offic, THE KLONDIKE OF THE OLD SOLDIER Huge Proportions of a Business That is Still Growing. INSIDE THE BIG BUILDING Written for The Evening Star. (Copyright, 1898, by Frank G. Carpenter.) I, spent two hourg recently traveling thfough the pension office with Mr. Hen- ry Clay Evans, the United States com- missioner of pension. I had asked Mr. Evans to give me some idea of Uncle Sam’s pension business, and together. we walked from bureau to bureau and office to office, asking questions of the officials in charge and gathering the material which I give you in this letter. The com- missioner has the office in a better business condition than it has been for years. He not only ordered that everything be fur- nished me, but he personally aided in my investigations. The journey was no small one. The pension office at Washington fills the biggest brick building of the world. I doubt that there has ever been a building made of brick which surpassed it in size, although the baths of Diocletian, the ruins of which stand by the Via Nazionale, in Rome, were a mile in circumference. This building covers only two acres, but it is three stories high and there is a big attic up under its glass roof. It has a court in its center bigger than any barn yard you have ever seen, and the huge brick pillars which rise from floor to roof each contain enough brick to build three good-sized houses. The Pension Files and Mail. Both court and offices are filled with pa- pers. There are hundreds of millions of pages of writing packed away here. There are enough files in the cases of the pen- sion bureau court to carpet a county, and the old documents among its records, if they could be pasted together, in a single strip, would be long enough to cover a wagon road reaching clear around the world. The pension office deals in big fig- ures. Take the mail, for instance. It was to this division the commissioner and I first went. The commissioner receives 20,- 000 pieces of mail a day, or more than 7,000,000 pieces every year. He gets more than 5,000,000 letters in a year. If you could paste the answers to his mail to- gether in one single strip it would make a ribbon of white letter paper covered with typewriting reaching ftom New York to Chicago. If he had to pay his postage at the rate of 2 cents per letter his stamp bill would be over $100,000 a year, and when you figure up the labor and brains you would have a number of life times em- bodied in that one item. It takes forty- three clerks to handle this mail. There is one corps of men who do nothing but open letters. Another stamps the date of re- ceipt upon them, and a third reads the iet- ters and sends them to the proper divisions for answer. From four to eight thousand letters are answered every day, and the correspondence increases from year to year. The Klondike of the Old Soldier. Every one of these letters has a money end to it. The pension office Is the Klon- dike of the old soldier, and not a few men and women who are not old soldiers seek to pan gold out of the sands of its rivers. Last year the amount of money distribut- ed was more than $140,000,000. This was an increase of more than $1,500,000 over the sum paid out in 1896, and the commis- sioner tells me that there will be more paid out this year than last. The gold mines of the world are now producing more than ever before, and still the total output of them all is only about $240,000,- vo0 a year. If the gold mines of all the world were run to their full extent for the next ten years they could not get out as much gold as this office has paid out for pensions on account of the war of the re- bellion. Up to last June the amount was more than $2,000,000,000, showing a steady increase from the close of the war up until 1890, and an enormous increase since then. This sum is beyond conception, and, as I have stated, it is on the increase. It amounts to so much now each year that if every man, woman and ehild in the United States contributed $2 the aggregate sum would just about pay the pension bills. This is equal to about $10 for every family in our country. Of this, over $500,- 000 goes abroad. Between 3,000 and 4,000 pensioners live in foreign countries and draw their money from us. The remain- der are scattered over the United States from Florida to Maine and from Massa- chusetts to California, and the streams of money which flow here and are dammed up in the treasury are turned into the great pension irrigating ditches every year erd carry this golden flocd to all parts of the country. The Work of the Pension Office. During our walk through the pension office Commissioner Evans and myself spent some time in each of the divisions watching the hundreds of clerks at work. There were old and young men among them, and there were plenty of old and young women. I asked a number of ques- tions as to the efficiency of the employes, and was told that while the most of them were very efficient clerks, some were lit- tle good except to tie up papers. One man told me the poorest clerks he had were the old schoolmasters, and another said the girls in his bureau were of less value than the men. One chief of a division said some of his best employes were colored, and he pointed ont a young man with a face as black as a plece of cannel coal, who, he said, could take the heart out of a pension case quicker than any man he had. There are examiners and clerks scat- tered over the country, so that, all told, Commissioner Evans has about 7,000 men under him—an army more than half as large as that which Xenophen led on his fa- mous march to:the sea. In one division I found about 75 doctors. These men pass upon the medical testimony, and they can see a misstatement in the evidence if it is not very carefully covered. All of them have studied medicine and not a few of them have been active practitioners. An- other division is largely made up of law- yers, who pass on the legal aspect of cer- tain cases, and another might be said to be made up of detectives, for it is their busi- ness to ferret out frauds. A great part of the work of our congress- men consists in pushing along pension cases. There are now an average of about five hundred congressional calls every day, and during the last four days more than two thousand congressional applications for information have been received. Each of these necessitates the looking up of the papers in a certain case. What One Pension Case Means. Since the close of the war more than two million claims for pensions have been filed, and of these more than a million and a half have been allowed. There are hun- dreds of thousands of additional claims filed for increase of pensions. After the pensioner dies his widow and children are kept on the rolls and a single pension case and those pending, has kept by itself. And when it is remembered ,000' ing pensions for the service which themselves or their deceased husbands gave Urcle Same at that time. You would think that the rev- olutionary widows would have long since passed away. The last pension soldier of the revolution died April 5, 1360. His name was Daniel Frederick Bakeman, and h2 was one hundred and seven years of age befere he asked for a pensfén. He then re- sided et Freedom, N. Y.. Congress took up his case and gav2 him a pension of five hundred doliars per annum. Had this man been on the ordinary pension list and mar- ried a year before his death a girl of eigh- teen, and she, in turn,-had lived as long as her aged husband., viz., to the age of one hundred and nine, Uncle Sam would be Commissioner Eva’ paying that woman a pension up to the year 180. There are now seven widows of revolutionary soldiers on the pension rolls. The oldest of these is Lovey Aldridge, and her age is ninety-seven. She lives in Los Angeles, Cal. The other widows are Nancy Cloud of Virginia, aged eighty-four; Esther S. Damon of Vermont, aged eight Nancy Jones of Tennessee, aged eighty Rebecca Mayo of Virginia, aged eighty-four; Mary Sn2ad of Virginia, azed eighty-one, and Nancy Weatherman of Tennessee, aged eighty-seven. It has been estimated that widows of the vet2rans of the late civil war may We living in the year Some Big Pensions. Th Presidents’ widows get, you know. $5,000 a year by special act of Congress. M! Gen. Grant and Mrs. Garfield and Mrs. Ty ler, I think, are still drawing pensions. Mrs. President Lincoin received $3,000 a year frcm 1870 to 1882, when the amount was increased to $5,000. Mrs. John A. Logan gets $40 a week, and the widow of Adm! Farragut received $2,000 a year. A mim- ber of widows of noted generals of th late war have received or are receivin; pensions. Among these were the widows of E. D. Baker, George H. Custer, the Indian fighter, of Robert Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter, of Daniel McCook and Frank P. Blair. Among the biggest single pension amounts now granted are those given to widows on account of a clause in the pen- sion act of 1896, which makes ihe wido pension date back to the death of her hus- band. The other day a widow who had been married in 1858, and whose husband om had died in 1867, applied for a pen She claims the right to be paid $8 a mon: for every moath back to the death of her hvsband, a period of thirty years. The law, I am toll, will give her the pe Arother widow from Ohio, whose husia died in 1871, married again about en years later. She now claims a pension on account of the death of her first husband } fcr her fifteen years of widowhood, and wents it in a lump. Famous Autographs. There are many rare old papers among these pension records. Among the widows, for instance, I dnd an autograph showing that Blaine’s great-grandmother drew a pension for a long time as a revolutionary widow. This woman was the wife of Col. Ephraim Blaine. He wes a rich man, a great frierd of Washington, and he did sion. goed service during the revolution. He died | in 1504, and the application for pension Was not made until 1848. Mer Bis autograph was evidently made w trembling hand, but the letters are alm as plain as those which her famous grand- son used to make. There are papers here from Benedict Arnold, there are autograph letters of George Washington, and there are applications for land warrants from Abraham Lincoln, U. S. Grant, W. T. Sher- man, Winfield and Jefferson Dav I have traced the autographs of these men, as they were made in applying for war- rents when they were young. Sherman arked for two quarter sections of land, one for his Florida servi: and the other for his record in the Mexican war. Gen. Scot! got his bounty for his bravery in the war of 1812, and Jefferson Davis was granted his for his services as an officer in our war with Mexico. President Lincoln’s grant was given for his services in the Black Hawk Indian war, and John A. Logan re- ceived 160 acres for his Mexican war record. During my walk through the office with the commissioner I referred to the petition which is being circulated in Indianapolis umeng the old veterans. This petition re- quests Congress to pay the pensions in a lump on the basis that every soldier now living will last for twenty years. These men want the twenty years’ pension given at once, and if their request is granteu they are willing to release Uncle Sam from all pension in the future. I asked the com- missioner what would be the effect of such a law. He said t would necessitate the paying of at least $3,000,000,000, and the probability is that within three weeks a large number of the pensioners would have lost all they got from the government, and something else would have to be done for them. There is, of course, no possibility of such movement succeeding. It would not be seriously considered for an instant by Congress.” FRANK G. CARPENTER. —__.___ INTERVIEWING IN ENGLAND. A Yankee Reporter's Experience at Work Over There. Lendon Letter in New York Times. Another surprise awaits the American re- porter in England when he goes out inter- viewing. Objectionable as some features of American journalism are, the general re- spect for a reporter over there is such that never once, even when I have had such a @isagrecable assignment as going to a house where father or husband, son or brother lay dead, in order to get up facts for an obituary, have I ever been received with anything except the greatest courtesy and given the information I wanted. The aver- age for courtesy, certainly fo> polish, is higher here than it is there, but an En- An. Emaciated Boy. HIS LIMBS NO LARGER THAN A PERSON'S WRISTS, ‘The Peculiar Condition of 3. F. Wil< Hams’ Four-Year-old Boy — The Case Attracting Wide Attention< Many Parents and Physi<« cians Interested. From Residents of Damon, the village fourteen miles Rerthwest of Mt. Sterling, Dl., have recently told ® remarkable story of the almost miraculous re- covery of Iittle Josie Williams, the four-year-old son of John F. Williams, who resides a short dis- tance northwest of Damon, ‘The Democrat-Message dispatched a representa- tive to the scene to obtain the actual facts in con- nection with the case, and stakes Its reputation as icepaarson nee the truth of the incidents bereiu Mrs. Williams is a pleasant-rolced matron. She has the forceful personality, the positive manner thet Is nurtured and developed by the cares and responsibilities of a farmer's wife. She would make a good witnevs for any enuse founded upon the principles of truth and equity, and sbe told the story of little Josie’s sickness and recovery fm a convincing way. “He was never right from the time of bis h.”" she said. “He was weak and puny, and did not grow Uke other children, A year ago last February, when he was two years old, he had amr attack of lung fever, We had the services of Dr Jenes for two or three weeks. After Josie had re- covered from the fever he did not seem to get any Strength. He had no appetite and could not keep anything on his stomach, He would fall trying to walk across the room, and after while be could not bear bis weight. His legs seemed to wither Away, until there were nothing but skin and bones, and he kept up a continual coughing. We had a boarder named Asa Robinson, who ad rheumatism so severe that he was bent nearly dcable. He bad used Dr. Willams’ Pink Pills for Pale People, and had become so well and strong that he was able to chop wood every day and never fecl a tonch of his rheumatism. He said that he believed the pills would help At that time I also read an arti: Whig regarding some people wi by Dr. Will ns’ Pink Pills for Pale I said to my nusband that we should get some for Josie, an nly 5 conts 2 box or six boxes fe Jd be bought at any drng- gist. 1. dt» try them, and went to Mr Sterling to Dr. Irving and bought three be the last of March giving him one- a pill three times a cay. In three day an improvement, and we increased the dose, ing him half a pill at a time. He kept Improt and finally we gave him one pill at a dose th» first of June we gave him the last of the thro exes which we had bought in March, and now little Josie is as fat and hearty as any boy in th He bas a good appetite, and never ple with his stomach. I never had any faith 1a proprietary medicines before, bat Dr. Will inms’ Pink Pills for Pale People saved our Josie from the grave, and I do not belleve anything else (Signed) “Mrs. JOHN F. WILLIAMS.” Subscribed and sworn to before me this 2ist day of June, 1897. (Seal) DAVID CRISP, Notary Publte. Dr. A. A. McCabe is the corom ty, and is a physician of ext of Brown psive practic accompanied the Demo aud made a thorough exa with reference to bis physical ment under eath Is append TE OF ILLINOIS, BROWN A. A. McCabe, at Mt. Sterli that I made ams, clan state wil ims June 7, of Josie wii on Monday rough exam rold son of John F . mL, his pr with whieh bis p. flicted, was gren:- ly prostrated and in a very serious condition, and for a number of days its life was despaired of, maity took a change for the be: > a com- y ensued. N. A. JONES, M.D. znd subseribed before me this 17th day of (Seal) GEO. RUPP, Netary Public. glishman can never get it out of his head that an interviewer is an intruder. He has not been educated up to the tact that his is. It busi takes more tact and diplomacy to find out ss is also other people's busin from an Englishman the est detail of every-day life n it would to make good friends of France and Germany. To interview a man on anything except something wants to get into the psper as e “puff” is an art. You try to make a geod first impression ou your vict‘m, then endeavor to give an idea that it would be no harm io anybody and a great favor te you if he would tell about ew unim- portant little facts. Of course, this 1s only the A, B, C of the science. Bometimes a too artful to be easily caught ts sur- into telling ail he knows by a * of knowing all about it anyway; telling him that some outrageous you are go- or by canard floating about ie what ing to print the following day. if he can- not aid you by showing how false it is. Almost any Englishman of any import- ance that I have ever talked with has pinctuated his conversation with, “Well, 1 really can’t see how that would be of any interest to the public.” “That would rath- er be going on private grcund, would it not?” “Now, I can tell you just where to find that. it was printed in the Times last February a year ago, or, let me s wasn’t it two years ago?” Then English- men are as yet so little accuctomed to see- ing themselves interviewed, or so punctil- ious over the matter of a comma or 80, sometimes so horrified that they have been seying more then they had any intention of (things do look so different in type) that they generally write a letter to the editor as and issue of faischoods, $8 an apology is at once published he hear from the interviewed man’s solic- I once interviewed a woman who ciatmed she was the daugiter of the Hon. Mrs. and had been robbed. ‘The next cay her husband demanded a public ret tion—which was not given—and a few ¢ efter the daughier of the Hon. Mrs. was turned out of the hotel for not paying Ler bill and for being a common swindler, From Life. Sport—“It is a true saying about there being only two classes of men in the world —those that can play poker and those that can’t.” Short—“Possibly; but there’s a bad leak in it, after all “How's that?” “It costs so much to find out which class one belongs to.” TABLEAUX VIVANTS AT A CHRIST“JAS HOUSE PARTY.