Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, March 3, 1889, Page 15

THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: SUNDAY, MARCH 3. 1880, — SIXTEEN PAGES., e R i Ao it S i CELESTIAL MONEY CHANGERS, Banks and Bankers in the Empire of the Sun. OLDEST SYSTEM IN THE WORLD ntry of Universal Oredit, | re Debt is a Disgrace and the Dun is Unknown —A Yearly Setuing Day. Chinese Banking Feb. 6.—[Special Correspon. of Tug Bre.]—On one of the leading business houses of Shanghai I find a remi. miscence of the Mitkiewicz syndicate. Ttisa brass sign and bears the name of Wharton | Baker upon it, Mr. Baker is supposad here to be still working for the concessions, and during my interview with Li Hung Chang, I | kept until the accounts ure lating machine, and upon which all China does it arithmetical probloms. These banks will give you drafts on any part of the world, or lettors of exchange and credit, which will be good anywhere. Their chief officers are among the leading businessmen ot the cast, and they all scem to be making moriey THE CIREDIT SYSTEM Speaking of the dit systel there are large stores run by foreign merchants at Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tientsin and at all of the ports of Japan, These have stocks of goods which would se any American city, and the most of their business is with the ' forcign It is nearly all done on credit. ‘The silver dollar is 80 heavy that it takes more than a pound of silver to pay a £10 gold purchase, and the result is, thing is charged and settled at the end of the month, The purchaser signs what is called a ‘‘chit,” a little slip of paper stating that he has made the purchase, and these are rendered by tho or. If the foroigner takes u drink at or_treats his fricnds he writes out a It he plays a game of billiards anothor *c 1if he buye shoes ¢ he renders the account in “chits.’ YOU are unknown to the storekeeper m no difference. Any man looking half decent can get credit in China, and 1 am surprised noted that he asked very particularly as to | at the carclessness manifested in such mat Mr. Baker's character and as to his standing | ters, a carclessness which, however, does among our bankers. Iam told that Wharton | B0t extend to Chinamen. —The Chincse BUlEe Itanas b 4 RSkl sbe | to | themselves do business larzely on credit, aker intends to visit Russia soon, and 10 | 433" every Chinaman of note has his bank look into the railroad projects which pro sunt, pose a line from Siberia above Peking, west ward through Europe, and that the status of this road will materially affect his plans. Li Hung Chang feels much ashamed of boing taken in by Mitkiewicz, and he thinks that if the American banking syndicate couid bo made a fixed fact he would retrieve his rep- utation. The concessions he gave Mitkie- wicz were genuine, and he signed them as the secretary of state of China. When the government, however, found that Mitkic wicz was an adventurer they refused to sign them and left the honorable Li in the lurch. Li Hung Chang is now in correspondence with Mr. Baker, and the next agent that Balker sends to China will probably have enough sense to keep his mouth shut until the articles of agreement have been signed by both parti CHINFSE FINANCIERS, There is at present no national bank in Ching, and this American bank with its fifty millions of capital would, m u measure, take the place of a national bank. The Chinese, how bave thousands of private banks, The o four hundred banks in Peiin, three hundred native banks m Ticutsin, and Canton has banks and pawn shops by the hundreds. Tue rates of intercst are high, and short loans in tight times reach 33 per cent. The pawn-brokers charge 36 per cent a year, or 3 per cent a month, and the rates of exchange from one province to another are very heavy. China has no national cur- rency, and each bank issues its own notes, These are much like our notes, save they are in Chinese characters and on cheap white paper. The oniy coin of the coun- tryis the cash, of whichit takes from a thousand to fifteen hundred to make a dol- lar, and which, smallas it is, is counter- feited. The cash i3 athin, round coin a little lacger han one of the big American cents of n century ago, and sometimes no bigger than a nickle. It has a square hole in the center and is usuzlly carried in strings of one hundred or one thousand cach. God bricks and silver nuggets are used in making large purchases, und the unit of weight is the teal or ounce. One ounce of silver or a teal is worth about a dollar and forty cents Mexican and & common denomination is a ton teal piece, which 18 a chunk of silver cast in the form of a Chinese shoe. 1 saw some of these silver shoes at the Hong Kong and Snanghai bank in Pelang. They are stamped with marks denoting the fineness of the metal within_ them, and they contain from nincty-seven to ninety-nine per cent of pure silver. Gold bricks are of the sizo of little cakes of India ink, and these, like the silver, are subject to counterfeit. The business of the treaty ports, which includes that of all forcigners with the Chinese, is done in Mexican dollars, and ecach busi- ness house has a man called a sbroff, who docs uothing else but count moncy and pass upon its genuineness, The Chinese are the vreatest swindlers, 1 a small way, in the world, They appreciate the nccumulating properties of little drops of water and littlo gruins of sand better than any other people, and they will shuve a bit of silvor dust off of dollar after dollar so small that you caanot perceive the loss until they huve saved enough to have made quite aprofit. They bore holes in the coin, fill them with lead and cover them with silyer, and in taking money from the banks here it is necessary to ring every coin, MONESTY A VIRTUE, 1o Chinese do all their business with for- oigners on a cash basis, though the credit system prevails largely among themscl They are honest in their dealings and me chants tell me that they stick to their ba gains even if they lose by them. China h no bankrupt laws and debtors are liable to corporal punishment from their creditors. By 10t paying their debts they lose caste and are practically drummed out of busi- ness. It is a disgrace 10 China not to pay your debts, and, as a rule, the whole nation settles up at New Year's day, which comes in February, The result is that China vever has a panic, and in the ense of famine or failure of crops the government sometimes loans money to the people. ‘The silver dollar varies in value, and the Chinese now regulate the value of @& doliar by the risc and fall of siver in the markets of the world, The biggest of the Chinese cities have their stock exchunges, and the queerest sight 1 have seen was the silver exchange in Peking. In company with Mr. Charles Denvy, the son of our mimster, I v 7 tat 7 o'vlock one morning into the crowded Chi- nese city. We wound our way through streets so narrow that only donkeys aund men could pass through them, through pas- sages where men had to walk sidewise in order to get by each other, and finally found oursclves in o long, low building which tooked more like a cattle shod than a busi- ness room. 1t was lighted from the roof ana was filled with from five hundred to a thous. and round headed, pig tailed, yellow fuced men, each of whom seemed to be yelling at the top of his voice and each push ing his fngers into the face of his neighbor. These mien were buying and selling silver dollars, just as our brokers do in Wall street, and they made more 1u than all the bulls und bears of New York. At cight o'clock the rate was fixed for the day und the news was “telexraphed’ by moans of carrier pigeons to the various bunis of the eity. aro largol; The pigeons of Peking used” for messengers, and they the only pigeons in'the world . As they fly through the air they make o whistling sound which, in the ouso of a tlock, sounds like & whole school of boys operating tin whistles at the same t This noise comes from actual whistles which aro tied to their tuil-feathors by their owners, avd the noise of which scarcs away tho hawks from them. It is u curious sound THE CLEARING HOUSE, The Chinese merchants keep as full ¢ of books as our merchants do, and they do business on a smaller margin, They keen account of stock and daily sales, and I have scen some of their ledgers. The Peking banks have the clearing-house system. Each depositor has from his depositor a book with two columns, in_one of which are entered his deposits and the other his drafts. He puys his creditors by checks on the bank, and in the evening sends his book to be balanc Toe next morning the clerks of the various banks get together, checks are interchanged, and the accounts of the vari- ous depositors are squared. These banks are also expected to loan money to their depositors, aud a4 man is supposed to have the right to draw on his bank for loans equal to double the amount of his average deposit The disgrace of dishonored debt is such that a business man failing will hardly tempt to regain his standing 1 his own provinee, and dutiful sons often pay h 8" debts, This is not so in and while 4 was visiting Chemulpo, Townsend, the ~American merchant there, approached by the profligate son of Korecan unoblem The son wanted Mr. Townsend to accept papers from him Townsend had sold him 000. “Then,” sad stating that M, £00ds to the amount of he, “You can take these papers to the old man and tell him you ecannot collect the money and are gowny to have me whipped. He is fond of me and will pay rather than staud the disgrace and we will divide the proceeds.’” Mr. Townsend, of course, re fused and sent the young mun about his business. THE NOBLE HOU QUA. The honesty of the Chinese in their busi ness dealings is shown 1 the actions of Hou Qua, the Canton millionaire_who died a few years ago, leaving at least $50,000,000. One of the Chmese firms of Canton had failed, owing a great sum to foreigmers. Hou Qui got up a subscription and paid the whole in- debtedness. He headed the list of subscribers with £1,000,000 out of hisown pocket, say- that “Chiuese credit must remam un- iished.” This is the same man who, the Inglish w bout to bombard ton unless their demand of #6,000.000 paid within forty-cight hours, headed the wh ve,” said he, “$300,000 as a thank-offer- the busiuess prosperity I have had. $100,000 48 u testimony of the fidelity And £200,000 a8 a_mark of the affection which I bear' my wife.” This man Hou Qua, though dead. 15 still greatly hon- ored in Cuuton. His gardens there are among the sights of the city, and his name is vuonomous with business honon. ne average wealth in China, however, 1s not hugh, and the rich men of the country are interested in Keeping the _amounts of their property asecret. The officials are so co rupt, and they can 80 easily squeeze money out of their rich subjects, that the wealthy man is sure'to be preged upon by them, und if China had a Jay Gould the ofticls from the emperor to the mandarins would be continually poking their fingers _into his money ch Much of Li Hung Chang's fortune _of twelve miliion dollars is said to have been acquired by bribes and squeezes, and the story is told at Shanghai of how one_of Lis underlings at- tempted to send him 100,000 not long ago _in wine bottles, or rather wine baskets, for much of the wine of China is carvicd in er-tizht baskets. The supposcd wine ad to go through the hauds of native ¢ustoms oflic ho, thing, opet gold in the “AD,” said le, “that wine 1s too fine It is on} theroupon confiscated it b of the amount 1o the gov u't think he name, and_inasmuch as the a bribe Li Hung Chang dared HSTIAN CAPITALIST, A fow of the rich men among the Chinese are Christians, and I visited one of the most notea of such at Foo ( the other day Have you ever heard of Foo Chow! No. Well it is a city bigger than Chicago, and it is gne of the chief tea centers of China, It lies in the mountains about four hundred miles south of he and it is in what is called the Switzerlind of China. It has a bridge of solid granite running across the river, which flows by the city, 1,200 feet long and containing fifty arches. It'is called the bridge of, ten thousand ages. Its path- way is twelve feet wide. It is more than one thousand years old and it is as solid to- duy asthe granite of which it is built. The city has a wall six miles in circumforence, and its wholesale fish market is equalled by no place, not even Billingsgate in London, ‘This rich man of Foo Chow is known as Al Hok, and he gave $10.000 not long ago to found a school or college to teach Chinese boys the science and culture of Christendom, He9is @ christian himself, and just betore L arvived in Foo Chow our Bishop Fowic of the Methodist church e formed the marrisge ceremony which united his son with a Chinese maiden. The ¢ ywas the ehristian ceremony adapted to the Chinese and the bishop tells mo he had great trouble in getting the voung lady tosay that she would take this young man to be ber wedded husbaad. 1t is linese etiquette that the bride keop per- Ly silent on such an occasion and the coy damsel would not open her | ho bishon refused to go on with the ¢ young lady finally compromised the matter by nodding hor head. *'It was not embarr- assment,” said the bishop to me, “that made the girl tongue-tied, for I felt of her hand and it was warm and moistas yours or mine. Hud she been troubled it would have been cold and clammy. She thought it would be improper to answer and she refused to do 0. As evidence of the gen- uineness jof Ab Hok's couversion he had long sco destroyed his idols, und he gave the gold crown which covered the head of one of them as a present to Mrs. Fowler. He is a bright merchant and a good business wan, and his home is ove of the most com- fortable iu China. Returning to banks, China is one of the oldest bavking nations in the world. The people had bauks of deposit sud discount as far back as 2600 B. C., and the interest laws ina date back two huudred years be. o discovery of America, 1u 500 B, C, roment” issped paper money, and there is now in Fekine paper money in' cir- culation issued by private banks of ‘us low a denomination as ten cents, The Chinese money changer may be found on every stroet and I heard [t many times before I could find out from whence ‘it cume. ‘Yhey are the tickers of the Chinese banker, and thoy give biw all the quotatious. BIG DIVIDEN ‘The foreign banks which do business in China, bave large capital stocks, and they pay bix dividends. The Hong Koog & Shaughai Banking company, for instance, has u puld;ur capital of §7,600,000. It has a surplus of £1.000,000, und its proprictors are | 1lable for 7,500,000 in addition to the capital. L puys luterest on depostis of six months at rate of 4 per cent, and 2 per cent per snnum on daily balances. It has immense establishments throughout the eust, and its bankiug office here af Shanghai will compare in size and appointments with the best banks of Wall street or London, It is the sawe ith u number of other great banks here in English uud French capital manages theul, but & Chinaman always coumts the mone) wnd fgures up tho profits and losses on one of those jittle boxes of buttons strung wakes up the Chinese caleus corner and his shops are in nearly cvery block. He charges good rates aud MAKES A GOOD PROFIT. A great deal of the woney lending in China 18 done on somewhat the same plan as our building associations. it is more often in companies of ten who club teeether und agreo o put 80 much into @ common fund which shall be loaned in the first instance to the man getting up the company. At the oud of the second year or six months or month, us it may be, another contribution is levied and this goes Lo the second man and so on until each has had the use of an equal awount of money, and the whole matter is 80 graduated that cach member of the club is fairly treated as to interest and capital, China s full of the small associa- tions apd there is no country in the world where the art of organization” hus been ecar- ried to such an extent by the differont branches of capital wnd labor as bere. Kvea the beggars bave their grguniations and tho bankors have their trades unious, which re® ulate how all the baliks connected with them shall do business, The Shaughai baukers' guild fixes the charges of fifty-five of the banks of Shanghai. Its raleslie before me and I sce that the minutest particulars of business are given. The various kinds of silver dollars fo be taken are mentioned and checks for Iess than $10 are not_receivable, Each banker hastosend his book to the clearing house twice a day and the manager for the month has the supervision of them. Other rules more or less strict prevail among the banking associations of Peking and Can ton. and most of the difficulties of lender and borrower are settled hore rather than in the courts, FRANK G. CARPENTER, - - A STRANGE NURSERY, 1e Arrangement Provided Indianapolis Theater Goers, The other evening I met that unique raconteur, John R. Rogers, theatrical man and hz told me a tale which ranks ahead of many of his celebrated navratives, says John in the New York World, Mind you, I won't vouch for a single word the man says, as I know he h 1 ambition to cut me out in my profession as a_ putient, plod- ding and, so far, successful liar. But he will get left, Hesays, and he talks with such an air “of ‘candor that you are almost tempted to believe him, that at the Park theatre in Indianapolis therve isa large voom filled with toysof every con- ceivable varic and size. It is in charge of several nurses, who are supposed-to be adepts in the art of keep- ing children quiet, and their mission is to receive and entertain for the after- noon the its of persons attending the matinees. A baby check is given in e instance to the mother or guardian, numbered so as to facilinte identitication after the performance. During the play the babiesamuse them selves with rattles, dolls, balls, Noah's arksand the thousand and one things that are dear to the infant mind, unti the curtain drops and the owners come and present the and receive back their property, just as the cloak or nmbrells , but John R. awbacks. He it notinfrequently happens that o nuvse will walk hurried down the aisle, aling out in a stage whisper, ! ty-eight! Your bahy swallowed a doll’s log! or, “One ninety-flve, thay infant of yours is yell- ing for 1ts papal™ Or perhaps the anx- ous whisper will be heara across three ave you quit that your child hasn’t got the me Sometimes one of the nurses has to go to the mother and betray the ‘sad news that her darling has just destroyed 7 cents worth of toys, piece of intelli- geuce which usually dampens the par- ent’s enjoyment of the pla Manager Rogers thus deseribesabrief and pithy dialogue between a nurse and a fond mother, who finds herself touched on the clbow by oue of the attendunts in the middle of the performance “Beg pardon, is your haby's check ers sn What's the mattor?” girl, ain’t it, about ten months old?” “Yes, oh, yes. “*Blonde har and blue eye Tell me, Tor Pray tell——" Heaven's ves. ressed in blue and white But don’t keep me in is not dead; oh, sy she not dead!” No, madam,” replies the nurse coldly, “she is not dead nor likely to die, but T think you might have told us she tool castor-oil this thorning!” Here s o possibly frequent seene after the show is over and the vavious human items of property are being clnimed: Indiguant mother to nurse: -‘ young woman, this ain't my ! How's that; y r cheek’s No. 1927 s all vight, but the “Well,” “Well! my ‘Tommy was left bim!™ an’t understand it, then,” says the nurse, scratching her nead. “The du- icate 19 w pinued to the child’s s, but 1°11 “Here, young woman!” cries another wale, hustening to the front, “you've given me the wrong kid! 'This Tfellow L boy and my Jennie is a givl! 'Sides, my check number’s 61 and this baby had 19 on him, but I thought it was upside down. Where's my child?” Then the two women swap infants and ave satisticd. It’s a novel institution, tnis theatrical nursery; but “'it has its drawback i S iy CHIRRUPS. aboy when I New ¥ Did the boolk-keepe What did the oar-lock? Priuters like pie and hate pi. We are no doubt witty, but John G. is Whittier. Is a hall crowded with colored people a binckberry jam, or a berry-black jam. Shalkespeare suid, “Ther A tide in the affairs of man,” but we think it ap- pears to be pretty much all tide back in the affairs of women. A love letter may be of attachment. The stamp act—Applause ina theater, “Comparisons are odorous,” as ho tested the quality of several bottles of cologne. A child with three eyes has been bovn in Detroit. 1t will be able to cast an extra eye to windward for an office, but the greatest advantage of having three eyes will becone appavent when the child gevs old enough to attend a throe-vinged cireus, A lecturer s “Fulness under the eye denotes langunze.” He has prob- ably been knockod down for something he has suid. “Gently the dues ave o'er me steul- ing,” the Detroit man said, when he bud thirteon bills presented to him in one day. A temptation for milkmen to emigrate to Kansas is the fact that extensive chalk beds exist there, You can’t tell us that **Revenge don’t pay.” Tenuyson got #1,500 for his **Re- venge.’ The cheerful alacri with which a young man will guide his best gir) wirds a milliner’s show-window before they are murried is cqualled only by the marvellous skill with which he will steer her away from it after she is his wife, said to be a writ - Crema Chicago Herald: At the breakfast table—""1 see there are two accounts of cremations in the papers this morn- ing.” Yes, they are becoming very com- mou T suppose before long they will have to change ‘see that my grave is kept green' 1o ‘sec that my ashes ain't spile,"” - — An Absolute Cure* ‘The ORIGINAL ABIETINE OINTM| is ouly put up in large two ounce tin boxe aud is an absolute cure for old sores, burns, wounds, chapped hands, and all skia erup- tions. Wil positively cure all kinds of piles, Ask for the ORIGINAL ABIETINE OINT- MENT. Soid by Goodman Drug Co., at 25 ents per box—by mail 30 cents. I e It is the milkman who eught to' be cremated, ) KANSAS BOUNTY SEAT WARS, How The§ Originate and What Thoy Odst the People. ELEVEN""PLIVES SACRIFICED. The Terible Death Koll Alrcady Chargehifs to These Contests— Townsite'Specutators to Blame ~Diit§ of the Legislature, Rifhsas Stilt Blecds, TOrEKA, Kan.,, Feb. 28.—[Special Correspondence of Tie BE has been afllicted with droughts, g hoppers, chinch bugs and eyclone the greatest curse which af- flicted the state has been the numerous county seat wars of the past four year: They have not only retarded the devel- opment of the state and injured its rep- utation abroad, but they have resulted in the destruction of hundreds of thou- sands of dollars worth of valuable prop- orty, cost the state large sums of money to restore peaco and quict, put the rious counties involed to great expense for the endless litigation which always follows these contests, and, worst of all, they have caused the death of a large number of honorable and peaceful citi- zons, The county seat wars in Kansas are confined principally to the newly or- ganized counties, all located in the western part of the state. Only a few ¥y 0 that section of the state was —Kansas nss- . but ever populated almost entirely by ranchmen and cowboys, and the country was thought to be worthless for agricultural purposes. But soon civilization began to ad- vance on this frontier; settlers in search of cheap land took up cluims., and then eame the townsite speeulator Where four years ago the cowboy reigned supreme there ave now thivty- four organized counties, all of them quite well settled up. Nearly all these count have been cursed with county seat wars, The most desperate meth- ods are resorted to in these contests for town supremacy, and men who are or- dinavily honest and peaceable have no regavd for the law, and so bitter is the cling engendered that they will not top even at murder. in three coun- ties—Wichita, Stevens and Gray— there have been actual battles hotween rival towns, resulting in the loss of a total of eleven lives, hesides a number who were crippled or mained. It has been necessa on three occasions to call on the wilitia of the state to quell these outbreaks and riots. This put the statetosuch a heavy expense that the regular militia fund was exhausted and it was wéeessary for the adjutant general toliave introduced ab the pres- ent session a bill to appropriate over $20,000 to'm the expenses incurred by the militia when called out for this purpose ) Within the past year theve was pend- ing atone time no less than fourteen county seat dontests. The sume causes led to all= ofithem. Upon petition of a majority of tire residents of the county the governor designates the tempora county séat: in his proclamation of or ganization. “The law provides that not less than mimety days nor more than one hundted'days from tho date of or- ganization ah élection shall be ‘held for the permawsint location of the county seat. These counties are new in every thing elsc as well as organization, and town-site speculators, anticipating the organization of the county, boom town companies, and select townsites with a iew of securing the county t. Their 4 iove istosecure the temporary ssful, of couvse they in it. If unsuccessful, fi county seat; if succe struggle to re they immediately begin scheming to securc the permanent county seat at the which they know must take place within four months from the date of organization. are profits in townsite speculations enables the pro- prictors tospend large sums of money and they are not at all conscience smit- ten in this respect. Fach wants to own u county seat and the speculators who originate and foster these wars take into the new town enough money to huy asmall army of tramps, by whom the war is carried on to the great detriment of the bona fide settlers. The question is often asked why the settlers partici- pate in these fights, and it can easily be answered. Taice, for instance, one of the south- western counties, where there are threo towns not more than three miles apart near the center of the county,located in the form of a triangle, all started by the speculators for the purpose of secur- ing the county scat. There is room for only one town in the county: two of them must die, hence it 15 a life and death struggle. These town sites have been settled up by a class of men as a rule, who are generally found in new localities, who are ve tenacious of their rights, honest in everything but county seat matters, and who have been ied to believe by the unscrupulous schemers that the Almighty intended that particular tract of land for a county t. Having invested every dollar on earth that they own in that place, be- lieving that if’ they do not secure the county seat their property is worthless, under the leadership of the scheming proprietors of these town sit are election very upt to resort tostringent measures, The election is held. Every sidoe of svery county seat contest in Kansas is harged with fraud and corruption, and in the majority of cases the charge is trae. No pretense is made at the elee- tion that the law isobeyed. It is not an uncommpn occurrence for one town to jrocurean old hotel register and from that tAke 100 or 200 names which are plaged’ upon the poll hooks as legdl Vlvoters nd a ballot cast for théfh, Other frauds are prac- 5 voting men who have ticed such 4 been deatl ff vears or men who have removed Tt the county long befor Large sums of money aréexpended by the manifrels’ to import hundreds of voters in n‘f%{o county in the interests of their "totfh, ostensibly work on road andothér public ‘improvenim, This clas¥ pf voters changes its res dence ar “biten as elections come up in the varioyscounties, going from county to county asthe election draws nigh. The impgpthtion of this class of votors which n[:v controls the result of elections ‘i'vesentea by the bona fide settler and this causes the trouble. Parties are organized in one town to go to the rival town which is county seat by virtue of the appointments by the fu»’ernov, and capture the records, Jsuaily these attacks wre made at a time when they are unexpected, and often the books of all the county officers ave carried away, Both towns then set up a county government, ench claiming to be the legal county seat. The bitter- st luollnfi prevails “between the two towns, and upon the least provocation there is likely to be a conflict which may result ?n bloodshed. “The fight is taken to the courts, and usunlly it requires mauy years to come to u tnal determination. ‘This puts upon the veople of the county a burden of ‘indebledness from. which they can not'be relieved for yoars. The only people who derive any Dbenefit are the lawyers who have been reaping a rich harvest in the past three years. ‘Tnere arc a score or more of attornoeys who devote almost their entive attention to county seat litigation and many of them ace” making fortunes out of it. They demand big fees and in addition require the town companies to give them an interest in the town. If they are successful they have besides their railablo pro- irt and many of ywied with this wtion which will run on fees a large amount of perty. The supreme o the district courts s county soat 1it for yoars. But what is the matter with the laws of Kansas that these disgraceful county seat warscannot be stopped? This is tho quostion which naturally arises and which is now being agitated in the Kan- sas logislature. A" bill has already passed the senate which it is 1 ved will remedy this evil. It provides that when a county is organized by the exec- utive, the place de ted by him as the county seat shall remain such for a term of years, not less than five at loast. If this should be done the county seat speculators would find their occupation gone. Captain L, J. county seat lawyer in has heen employed in nearly all these contests and who is more famil than any other man, said to Tne B cor- vespondent: 1 find that a fow in- dividuals manage these county scat wars; the people outside of the town. and many inside, don't know what going on: the managers charge and counter charge frand, and stivup a bit- ter feeling, which brings on the was These contests in Kuansas in the la four years have cost $1.000,000. Mord money has been spent over every town- site in these new counties than they are worth. Some of the counties have an indebtedness of $100,000, and have not $10,000 to show for it. This money has been expended in importing voters, paying costs in lawsuits, paying attor ney's foe You must not,think that only onelside resorts to eotrupt prac- ticosy 1t applies to noarly every side of every contest in Kansas in the last four Waobb, the leading the state, who ye The remedy is to locate the county seat at the time the county is or- ganized for a period of time suflicient to enable the county to be settled ap, and thereafter to enable the hona fide sett .and legal electors to control their own affair So far as 4 now rocollect there are county seat con- sing on in this state at the pre \d if permitted to continue will cost the people anywhere from $10.000 to $35,000 in each case, without a dollars’ return to the count, L thi to suy nothing about the probabiliti of bloodshed, Bills been intro- duced in the legislature to settle the matters, It is suggested that beca use, some of these cases arve in court the leg- interfere. islature has no power to such restion has no foundation, her in 1 or justice. The legisla- not only poss the power to lo- cate o county seat where it pleases— within the .county. of course—but it ought to do s Adjutant General Campbell, who has, on three occasions, called out the mil tin to quiet these county seat w i to THr Bk correspondent: perience as adjutant genoral these rival town companies gather a lot of people . They give them homes and then them at war with each other, which re sults in loss of life and crimo and bit- ter fecling between the citizens of the rival towns. The original town com- pany which plants itself near the cen- ter of the county to be organized, should be entitled to protection and any set of men who are guilty of establish- tur ing another town for speculative pur- poses, within five miles of the original town, do so with the full knowledge that it will resalt in erime and blood- shed. It should be made a criminal offense to establish any such rival town i ction should be absolutely prohibited by law. If this had been done early in the histor, of our state many lives would have been d. The employment of persons to work and vote at county seat clections by town compan hould also be made a’crim 1 the entirc business of force in county y punished.” contests As a Nerve Tonie Use Horsford’s Acid I’hosph Dr. 8. L. Williams,Clarence, Ia 5. Also, in cases where a general tonic was needed. For a nerve tonic 1 thing it is the best I have ever used, and can recommend it most con- fidently."” = s A MATHEMATICAL WONDER. Ignorant Ol Tom Cabbag Astonishing Feats With Rigures. There died at Woodville, Va., some time ago one of the most remarkable characters the Blue Ridge country of Virginia ever produced. 01d Tom Cab- bage, as he was known, was the mati matical wonder and the pride of the Blue Ridge people. His feats at tigures and his calculations were indeed won - , and like Biind Tom, the musical , his powers were intuitive and Old Tom did not know a figure or a ietter and never went to school for an hour in his hfe. He was a rough, ignorant_and untutored native of tho hills, and yet he could solve, almost in a moment, any problem read to him from the text hooks or from the pupors and give the correctanswer, He would add & column of figures of any possible length, subtract, multiply or divide, and do'it so quickly as to surprise ths scholar who tested his remarkable powe . His answer sometimes will include adozen or more figurcs, and knowing absolutely nothing about the numerat- ing of thém he would give the figur beginning at the right,and ifa m take had been made or'n wiony figure purposely introduced by the person tak- ing down his answer,old Tom would discover it at once and give the correct one. He knew nothing of the notatic of numbers, and his whole knowledlre was limited to the giving of his an- swers, ligure by figure, ns fast as thoy could be written from the right to tho left., Persous of fair education, who tasted old Tom, say they could never stump him, though™ they hunted for the most ditficdlt problems in the books,and beliove he could give the correct answer to any possible sum. Problems involving square and cube roots,com- pleting the square of equations we readily solved by him as simple addi- tion, und yet were you to ask him what cube root meant he would tell you he didn’t know. No one knew the way old Tom did these things, indeed he could not tell you himself. He was simply sui generis, and the only one of his kind ever known to the people of the Blue Iudge. - Soothes and Heals, SANTA ABIK soothes and heals the membranes of the throat and lungs, when poisoned and inflamed by diseaso. 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Age and e: portants Consultation free and sacred, B9~ Send 4 cents postage for Celebrated Works o Chronic, Nervous and Delicate Discases. Bar Those contemplating Mairiage send for D, Clarke's celebrated guide Male and Female, each 15 cents, both 2g cents (stamps). Consult the old Doctor.” A friendly letter or callmay save fututesuffer ing and shame, and add golden years to life. ~8@~Hook “Life's (Sceret) Errors,” socents (stamps). Medicina and writings sent everywhere, secure from eXpOsUres Hours, 8108, Sundays p to 12, Address F. D. CLARKE, M. D., 186 So. Clark 8t.. CHICAQO, ILL. Health is Wealth New Y LY* The book Is very ting and should be read by every one. ND BrAIN Ti or Iysterin, Dizzi: Neuralgia, i -aused by the . Wikefulness, Mental eniug of the Bra it in ling ay and To83 of N ness, ' Convul Headache, ‘r\‘).."‘ it T i BeX, i ntar S llll‘l ¢ Spermato) paused by over-exe ol Nwicoriis hisiDodgeiSts. thie brain, buse or ovor indulgence. 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