Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, May 14, 1913, Page 9

I \ ? a PAGE EIGHT HOUSECLEANING AT THE CAPITOL Number of Officeholders Rele- gated to Junk Heap. MANY OTHERS SLATED TO 60 State Board of Control Said to Be Planning Wholesale Changes in the Near Future. (Special Correspondence.) St. Paul, May 12.—With the legis- lature out of the way this is house- cleaning time at the state capitol—I mean that portion of the building pre- sided over by Governor Eberhart et al—and the renovation is due to be most thorough. Before the next two months roll by there will be more than one name missing from the ad- ministration pay lists. It has been so decreed. H. J. Maxfield, commis- sioner of immigration, got his last week. I can’t say, though, that he was listed for the junk heap origin- ally. Next came what the Twin City papers called “the passing of Sam Fullerton,” a member of the state fire marshal’s office, and since his re- tirement, temporarily the administra- tion leaders say, a dozen or more new faces have appeared on the political horizon in the vicinity of the game and fish and oil inspection depart- ments. They take the places of as many game wardens and oil inspect- ors who have been sent to the dis- card—resigned those in charge dip- lomatically explain it. Within the next two weeks his excellency, who is now in the Hast, will revise the list of boiler inspectors—there will be fifty or more—and for the benefit of those who do not know I will say there will be a few changes. Hop- ing you will keep this tip to yourself I will further say the new list of boiler inspectors, which is made nec- essary by the passage of the reap- portionment act, has already been agreed upon and the commissions for the lucky ones are now being prepared. Their publication at this time might show undue haste and so any announcement has been deferred for the time being, at least. Te The renovation of the immigration and fire marshal’s offices and the cleansing which the game and fish and oil inspection departments are now receiving, however, as I get it, will not be a marker to what will happen when the mop and pail crew reaches that part of the big marble pile on Capitol Hill occupied by what is known as the state board of con- trol. To use a bit of slang, the whole thing may be a bum hunch, but they do say that Ralph W. Wheelock and C. J. Swendsen, the governor’s ap- pointees on the board, wlio consti- tute a majority of that department, have agreed that some changes are meeded and that the incumbents slated will have to go. The whis- pered changes are the secretaryship, the: purchasing agent, several of the office menials and some of the heads of the institutions under the board’s charge. J. D. Mills is the secretary and Downer Mullen the purchasing agent. Both have been connected with the department ever since its organization. Up to a year ago Mark Cutter of Anoka was _ purchasing agent, but he saw the handwriting on the wall and retired to go into the publishing business at Thief River Falls. Mark never hitched with the administration and he saw what was coming so he got out. ob + You probably will ask, why this house cleaning, why this disturbing of departments that seem to be deliver- ing the goods? Dear reader, this ad- ministration keeps books and just now they are being posted. Those ‘who have failed to come up to the standard fixed by the leaders have simply got to go. Lese majeste is not tolerated up here in any form. Every political leader keeps books—they say E. E. Smith, the state Republican chairman, does not; but he does just the same—only there is a difference in the method of bookkeeping. Those now in charge are inclined to the old method, which in effect is be good or quit. When the Johnson adminis- tration held the reins ability to de- liver was the sole requisite. Placate your enemies was one of its slogans and more than one “knocker” of influ- ence was taken into camp as a result. To the victors belong the spoils was regarded as all right, but it was not permitted to interfere when the tak- ing over of an enemy was decided upon as necessary for the good of the cause. It was just like the good old days of the caucus. When the man with a pocketfull of embarrass- ing resolutions, or one likely to make trouble showed up he was promptly made chairman by the gang. His wings were clipped. Sometimes I think there is too much of the Indian about one or two of those close to Governor Eberhart. They refuse to forget, for the time at least, several now without the breastworks and let me tell you these several would be a formidable factor in the perpetuation scheme which is on if they were taken in. No good leader is without his enemies. He would not be a lead- er if he did not have enemies, but there is such a thing as keeping the number as small as possible. What is your opinion, eh? tb +t You have undoubtedly heard of the sudden resignation of H. J. Maxfield, state immigration commissioner, and the just as sudden acceptance by the state board of immigration of the resignation—at once, mind you. Max wanted to remain until next August. Though the commission gave it out that his violation of a rule forbidding the sending of lists of inquirers for state lands to real estate men and concerns was responsible, and Mr. Maxfield in turn explained that he could not stand for the secrecy im- ; posed, the whole thing is shrouded in more or less mystery. As I get it Maxfield, when called for favoring certain real estate concerns, which he has since denied in a published state- ment, promptly told the members of the board that he had done so because certain persons close to the governor had requested it. His loyalty, how- ever, did not save him, as the board, with Secretary of State Schmahl and State Auditor Iverson heading the out- raged forces, met the next day, and proceeded to get his goat. His ex- cellency would like to have interfered, as Maxfield has made a good immigra- tion commissioner, but he scented trouble and held aloof. Maxfield, I am told, is going into the real estate investment business. ++ + Following the skidding of Maxfield the commission conferred the title of assistant commissioner on Fred Sher- man, chief clerk in the office, and raised his salary from $1,800 to $2,400, but that is about as far as he will get. Sherman is a protege of W. E. Lee, who ran for the Republican nomi- nation for governor last fall, and while Sherman did not get out and la- bor for Lee he refused to tear his shirt for the administration candt- date. He frankly told the leaders that he could not bite the hand that had fed him. Iverson and Schmahl, it is said, are for Sherman strong, but oth- er interests have interfered and for the present Maxfield’s job is open, with a horde of candidates clamoring for recognition. Sherman has been with the department since its organiza- tion. At one time he ran a paper at Gray Eagle. ela An economical streak is on in the state fire marshal’s department and salaries have been cut, not to speak of the temporary retirement of Sam Fullerton, long in the employ of the state. Temporary is the way Fire Marshal Keller speaks of Mr. Fuller- ton’s retirement. Another who it is said is booked for a lengthy vacation is A. D. Brown, who figured as state chairman when J. F. Jacobson made an unsuccessful run for governor. The reason for the economy is a lack of funds. The department spent too much last year and the legislature failed to make the deficit good. Tr & The so called mothers’ pension law passed by the last legislature threat- ens to work out in a raid on the sev- eral county treasuries of thé state. Since its enactment hundreds of peti- tions for county aid have been filed under the impression that the main purpose of the act is to pension needy mothers. The title given the bill is really a misnomer and is responsible for all the trouble. The bill is for the purpose of caring for dependent and neglected children and they must be shown to be such before any aid can be given. The number threatens to run up into the thousands. The mothers’ pension bill may yet be the costliest thing attempted. oe The late legislature amended the anti-pass law to the extent of permit- ting municipalities having street rail- ways to contract with the companies owning the same to carry uniformed officials at a low rate of fare. St. Paul and Minneapolis, the first to take ad- vantage of the law, entered into a con- tract with the Twin City Rapid Tran- sit company on a basis of $2 a year for three years. Now the state legal department has come forward with an opinion to the effect that there is nothing in the way of the federal gov- ernment entering into a similar agree- ment. When George T. Simpson was attorney general he delivered himself of the opinion that the anti-pass law was not worth the paper it was writ- ten on. Class legislation was what he called it. ++ & Miss Eliza Evans, a woman attor- ney of Minneapolis, pulls down the job as secretary of the minimum wage commission, one of the products of the late legislature. It pays $1,500 a year and under the law the position must go to a woman. Governor Eber- hart had one strenuous time with can- didates and delegates while the job was open. ke His excellency is now in the East and for the next two weeks he will divide his time between being the guest of honor at a number of func- tions and an investigation of the pub- lic utilities question. The East was among the first to adopt the state- wide control idea of public utilities. tis + The progressive order of things is all right, but there is danger of over- doing it. Portland, Ore., has taken over the commission idea of govern- ment and already over 100 candidates are in the field for mayor alone. This means that the minority candidate will win, And to think they are ad- vocating the commission form for the Btate of Minnesota. Heaven forbid. THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN. DARK, DEAD STARS Millions on Millions of Them Are Flying Through Space. THE PERILS OF A COLLISION. What Would Happen if One of the Lar- ger of These Erratic Derelicts Should | Whirl Itself into Our Solar System. The Birth of a Nebula, Possibly it bas never occurred to many people that there are such bodies as dark stars, but so great an authority as Sir Robert Ball has said that the dark stars are to the bright for num- bers as the cold horseshoes in existence are to the red hot ones. For every such hot one there must be many hundreds of cold ones, so that if the simile is sound the heavens must contain an in- credible number of these derelicts on the ocean of space, which, having lived their life, have grown cold and dead, but are still racing about at star speed until in their wanderings they meet some other heavenly body in terrific collision. Such gigantic catastrophe as the clash of two suns, each perhaps mil- lions of miles in diameter, rushing at each other at the rate of twenty or thirty or even more miles per second would result, so the mathematicians tell us, in a world splitting explosion exactly as if each were composed of billions of billions of tons of gunpow- der, and as when gunpowder explodes nothing is left but gas and smoke, so in the clash of stars nothing would be left of the two great solid bodies which had collided but an immense whirling mass of incandescent gas called a nebula, of which, as most people know, there are quite a number dotted over the heavens. This maelstrom of gas would sail about among the stars for ages, in the course of which it would naturally cool down and condense into a star system much like our own, with probably a central sun, planets and moon. Some of these would sooner or later arrive at a condition of temperature suitable for the support of life and as the centuries passed would become peopled with sentient beings. Grad- ually they would grow too cold for life |to exist and finally become frigid, cold. dark stars once more. The number of istars visible to the naked eye is only a few thousands. With the best tele- scope and other instruments it is cal- culated we can detect about a hun- fred millions—not a large uoumber (there are fifteen times as many peo- ple as that living on this globe); but, judging by Sir Robert Ball’s horse shoe simile and reckoning only a hun- dred dark ones to every bright one, we may take it that there must be at least | 10,000.000,000 dark stars chasing about in space, most of which we have never |seen and probably never will see. I say most of which, for perhaps it may come as a surprise to some that the earth we live in is a dark star. So are all the other planets and plane- toids of our solar system, which with their moons, of which bodies, shining only by the reflected light of the sun. there are at least 600 known to as- tronomers. Nor must we forget to mention those bodies called shooting stars which may be seen almost any clear night if patiently watched for. These, though they look like stars, are hardly, as every one knows, to be dig- nified by the name, being mostly but very small masses of matter flying about in space. They are quite cold and dark until they enter our atmos- | Phere, which they do at such a speed as raises them at once to a white heat by friction of their passage through It, and thus they are revealed to us. For every one we see there must be many thousands whose paths miss us entirely, ships that pass in the night. silently and unknown. Some of these are of immense magnitude and are un- |doubtedly regular in their course. | Others are doubtless flying about the heavens on haphazard paths, and it it conceivable that one might come along and collide with us or our sun. The result of such a collision would undoubtedly be the end of this earth and its inhabitants. If the intruder were of any respecta- ble size a collision with any of the lar- ger members of the solar system would produce such a conflagration as would raise the temperature of all the rest above the point at which life as we know it could exist “The earth and all the inbabitants thereof would be burnt up and the elements would melt with fervent heat.” Even if such a star did not collide, but merely passed through our system, the effect of its attraction would altogether upset pres- ent conditions and almost certainly bring about the cessation of life on the earth. Neither can we encourage ourselves with the hope that the collision would be too sudden for us to know much about it No such thing. Onr astrono- mers would see the star directly it got near enough for the sun to light it up, probably fifteen or twenty years before it arrived, according to its size and speed. They would be able to calcu- late its path and foretell to a few min- utes the precise moment of the catas- trophe, and we should have the added horror of the anticipation of our slowly advancing doom. Indeed, the passage of even a small star quite outside our system by many millions of miles would still have a sufficiently disturb- ing effect on us to draw us out of our path and alter entirely our climate and temperature.—Chambers’ Journal. Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers and famous preservers of youthful looks.—Dickens. ! when be and Charles Freeman sailed FEROCIOUS _ DOGFISH. These Ravenous, Sharklike Gluttons Would Eat a Man Alive. - “°N’ be said, ‘My God, Frank, shoot me quick, shoot me quick—th' dogs are eatin’ me alive! “I bauled up my shotgun, ’n’ f pniled back tb’ hammers, but | couldn't do it, though 1 warn’t more’n ten feet frum him ‘pn’ could bev blown his whole head off. 1 don't b'I've th’ Lord would bev called thet murder eitber. z “I gasped for air ’n’ dropped my gun on th’ seat, ’n’ then | Jooked at Charlie again. ‘pn’ it was all over—jest a dark red in th’ water ‘n’ a bundred ugiy snouts ’p’ shinin’ rows of teeth jest gleamin’ ’n’ snappiv’ thar ip wb" gray | of that October afternuvu.” It was Frank Oleson, a fisherman of Rockland, Me, who spoke. He was { telling a little group of vilskin clad fishermen about a tragedy of 1885, out of Tenants Harbor, Me., one Oc- tober morning. Oleson brought the tit tle sloop Alpine back the next morn- ing alone. Freeman had fallen over- board in the midst of a scbool of dog- fish, which had eaten him alive before | the eyes of his helpless companion. They were bound for the fishing grounds off Matinicus island. Free- man had taken along a shotgun. When five miles from Criehaven a bunch of coots, flying low, came skimming along. Freeman fired into theru. and three or four dropped. The Alpine was brought up into the wind, and witb her main- sail and jib flapping the gunner jump- ed into the dory and started to pick up bis game. There was a sbout, a splash. and Freeman was struggling in the water. In reaching over the side of the dory he had Jost bis balance and fallen into the choppy sea. in x moment the bun- gry. sbarkisb dogs were after him. The opening paragraph tells all there is to tell Many stories are related to show the | ferocity of the dogfish. It was not | more than half a dozen years ago that two New York yachtsmen were lolling along in a sloop yacht in Penobscot | bay one July afternoon. One of the yachtsmen, a physician named Bow- | ker, decided to take a plunge. He stripped and dived off the bow of the sloop, intending to pull himself into the tender trailing behind as it passed him. He had scarcely hit the water before he let out a yell. He just man- aged to catch the gunwale of the row- boat when his companion reached him and hauled him in. Three ugly wounds showed in his legs where the voracious dogfish bad bitten out chunks. de was taken into Rockland. where a phy- sician treated him for several weeks before he was out of danger—New York Sun. i WORSE THAN MIDDLE AGEs Investigation Describes Conditions at Sing Sing. { Albany, N. Y., May 13.—‘“Stories of the torture of the prisoners in the | Middle Ages sound like descriptions of luxuries in comparison to the t that have been told me of the | that some of the prisoners in Siz Sing live.” This in@ictment of conditions al- leged to exist within New York state’s oldest penal institution is con- tained in a report of an investigation by George W. Blake, commissioner appointed by Governor Sulzer to probe prison affairs. The investigator described condi- tions as “frightful.” The prison cells, he says, are dark, small, damp, filthy and infested with vermin. In them men contract rheumatism and go out crippled for life. Into none of the cells on the lower tiers has a ray of | sunshine entered for eighty years. Chemistry and Truth. Dr. Benjamin E. Smith, the noted lexicographer, once made an autobi- ographical statement which may inter- est advocates of scientific education, says the Manchester Guardian. Some one had asked his opinion about the | best methods of teaching truthfulness to children. “Frankly,” he replied, “I know | told the truth as a child purely from a desire to please my mother, as I would have carried out any other course of action on which she insisted. But | never saw any other reason for doing it until as a lad I worked in a chemical laboratory. Then | realized that nothing that was said made the slightest difference to the elemental! fact, and I believe I have loathed exaggeration and falsehood ever since.” STILLWELL IS _ INDICTED Action Is Result of Bribery Charge Against Senator. New York, May 13.—An indictment charging State Senator James Stil!- well with bribery as a result of charges brought originally before tke senate by President George M. Ken- dall of the American Bank Note com- pany was filed with Justice Seabury of the criminal branch of the supreme court by the grand jury. A warrant was not issued for Stillwell, as it was | understood his attorney would pre- sent Stillwell! in court. Cost of a Boat Race. A writer in Bailey’s Magazine of England bas been tiguring on the cost of the annual boat race between Ux- ford and Cambridge and says the ex- pense to each crew may be approxi- mately estimated at $3,000 for each. He then says that as the contest rare- Italy Teems With Worthless and Counterfeit Currency. IN ITS COINS. —_— They Almost Rank With Those of Korea, Where the Descending Scale Is Good, Half Good, Bad and Coun- terfeits Good Only After Dark. Of all the so called “great powers” Italy has the most unstable and most unsatisfactory currency. Not alone is CONFUSION tain unsold state lands, and the exchange subject to fluctation there is a great mass of counterfeit and worthless money floating about the country for the undoing of the un- wary. In the first place, the engrav- ing on the paper money is of inferior quality, and hence it is quite easy of | {mitation: secondly, there are so many worthless or doubtful coins in circula- tion that the temptation to add to their number is not easily resisted. Like some of the paper money that not so long ago used to be quite com- mon in our-own country, the Italian is allowed to remain in circulation until disgracefully dirty and nearly obliterat- ed and therefore difficult of recogni- tion as counterfeit or genuine. To add to the confusion, French silver is gen- erally accepted, while the coins of though officially recognized, are, as a rule, refused in commerce. Numerous papal and Roumanian coins are still in circulation, although they are value less and accepted only by unwary for- eigners, whom the Italians regard as fair prey. In addition, none of the large num- | ber of one lira pieces coined before 1868 can be passed, although intrinsi- date, since the period arbitrarily fixed for their redemption has passed and the government refuses to accept them further. Under this caption fall all coins bearing the head of Victor Em- manuel and the word “eletto” (elected) on the face. The Italians possess a mania for mu- tilating and perforating the five and ten centesimo copper coins, but owing to their small denomination this usual- ly acts as no bar to their acceptance. “Oh, it’s half good!” is often heard from some philosophical storekeeper as he tosses a doubtful coin into the till. Indeed, the traveler is constantly re- minded of Korea, the classical country of counterfeits, with its complicated scale of descending money values, which are good, half good, bad, and counterfeits that are good only after dark. But let the foreign visitor who has served asa clearing house for worth- less money beware of entertaining the fallacy that the rule is capable of in- verse application. Like the legendary memory of elephants is that of the | Italian cabby or retail merchant, lead- ing him to pursue through storm and darkness the man or woman who has passed a worthless coin into his keep- ing. On one occasion I was tracked even to the dinner table of friends and forced to redeem a doubtful ten cen- tesimo piece (2 cents) which I had in- advertently offered as a tip. Instead of seeking to strengthen the basis of the country’s paper and silver money, the government adopted the very measure calculated still further to debase the currency in the public mind. According to the ruling of the postof- fice authorities, all money orders must be purchased with gold, silver and pa- per being refused. Owing, however, to the premium at which gold is held by the banks, this results in considerable | loss to those sending money in this manner and often also to great incon- venience after banking hours. To accentuate the inconsistency of the country’s refusal officially to recog- nize its own currency, it need oply mentioned that the amount of Italian gold in existence is 4 negligible quan- tity and that the government ruling re- sults in forcing those patronizing the postoffice to purchase French gold. Justly angered by this inconsistency, on one occasion I relieved my feelings in the presence of the official who had refused the offer of Italian paper mon- ey by a sarcastic reference to the non- existence of native gold coinage. The resultant indignant search through his money drawer failed to reveal a single Italian gold piece, although it resulted nearly in an attack of apoplexy brought on by patriotic wrath. The application of my little article is this: Are not these conditions in the home land responsible for the fre- quency with which Italians of low class in America are caught counter- feiting our Uncle Sam’s silverware?— W. W. Whitelock in Chicago Record- Herald. Didn’t Want the Moon. “There's no use crying for the moon,” she said when he threatened to do something desperate unless she changed her mind. “I’m not crying for the moon,” he replied, “but I do hate like Sam Hill to give up the idea of becoming your father’s son-in-law.”—Chicago Record- Herald. Something Different, The Town Cousin — Your husband seemed to enjoy his dinner. He ate with avidity. The Country Cousin— ly takes more than twenty minutes the cost works out at about $300 per minute, or about $8 every time oars dip into the water. The cost of the boats is placed at at $70, the I’m right glad to hear it. I couldn’t see him, but I was so feared he was eatin’ it with a knife—Kansas City (that is true in greater or less degree | of interest on the unpaid balance is of the currency of every country), but|Per cent per annum, payable in advance Switzerland, Belgium and Greece, al-! | State Commissioner of Immigration at cally of equal value with those of later ; Anna Eloise McAllister St. Paul, May 6th, 1018. St. Paul, April 1st, 1913. Notice is hereby given that on 16, 1913, at 10 o'clock A. M., in fice of the County Auditor Rapids, Itasca County, in of Minnesota, I wil offer for Office. ee qe i i state lands which have reverted to state by reason of the non-paymnet interest. Terms: Fifteen per cent chase price and interest on balance from date of sale 1914, must be paid at the The balance of purchase money able in whole or in part on or forty years from date of sale; the & 5 i geen is | of is % Th on June ist of each year; provided, the principal remains unpaid for ten years; but if the principal is paid within ten years from date of Sale, the rate of interest will be computed at five must also be paid at time of sale. Lands on which the interest ts delin, quent may be redeemed at any time up to the hour of Sale, or before resale urchaser. nish affidavit of authority. reports, showing quality and kind of soil, are on file in this office. Lists of lands to be offered may be obtained of the State Auditor or the St. Paul, and of the County Auditor at above address SAMUEL G. IVERSON State Auditor. Herald-Review May 14, June 11. STATE OF MINNESOTA, COUNTY OF ITASCA—ss District Court, Fifteenth Judicial Dis- trict. Plaintiff. vs Allister T. McAllister Defendant. SUMMONS The State of Minnesota to the above named Defendant. You are hereby summoned and required to answer the complaint of the plaintiff in the above entitled action which is filed in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the Fifteenth Judicial District, in and for the county of Itasca, and State of Minnesota, and to serve a copy of your answer to the said com- plaint on the subscriber, at his office in the city of Moorehead, in Clay coun- ty, within thirty days after the service of this summons upon you, exclusive of the day of such service, and, if you fail to answer the said complaint with- in the time aforesaid, the plaintiff in this action will apply to the court for the relief demanded in the complaint. Dated this 11th day of March, 1913. CHAS S. MARDEN, Attorney for Plaintiff, Moorehead Nat’l. Bank Building, Moorehead, Minnesota. Herald-Review April 23-30 May 7,14,21,28 Citation for Hearing on Petition for De- termination of Descent of Land. STATE OF MINNDSOTA, COUNTY OF ITASCA, in Probate Court: In the Matter of the Estate of Russell Ramsey Decedent. The State of Minnesota to all persons interested in the determination of the descent of the real estate of sald dece- dent: The petition of Mrs. Kate Me- Donald having been filed in this court representing that said decedent died more than five years prior to the fil- ing thereof, leaving certain real estate in said petition described, and that no will of decedent has been proved nor administration of his estate granted in this state, and praying that the de- scent of said real estate be determined by this court; Therefore, you, and each Of you, are hereby cited and required to show cause, if any you have, before this court at the Probate Court Rooms in the court house in the Village of Grand Rapids, in the County of Itasca, State of Minnesota, on the 15th day of May, 1913, at 10 o’clock A. M., why said petition should not be granted, Witness the Judge of said court, and the seal thereof, this 21st day of April, 1918. a CLARENCE B. WEBSTER, (Court Seal) Probate Judge. Herald-Review April 23-30,M ay 7. NOTICE FOR BIDS Sealed bids will be received by the town board of the town of Ar- bo until 41 o’clock p. m., on May 26, 1913, for the building of the town- ships share of road No. 114. Said bids to be opened and considered on May 27, 1913, at the office of the town clerk. Plans and specifications may be seen at the office of the under- signed, four miles north of the vil- Sr of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. he board reserves the right to reject any and all bids. rated May 6, 1913. . H. C. WILMOTH, TownClerk. Herald Review May 7-14-21. :