Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 3, 1889, Page 19

DIRIGOS = Warranted The Best B Cisar i Amenca THE ABOVE CIGARS CAN BE FOUND AT THE >arties purchasing 1,000 cigars of this brand will have their C. Mansen, 01 N. 10th St. W. R. Plcard, 172 St, Mary's Ave, R. M. Downey 4 ', Btabrel. W8 M Ed. N, Brown, 112 N. 16th & R. A. Tenharf, 624 N. 10thSt. C. Wilrodt, 811 N, 16t St J.8. Lyon. Woodbine In. T, Davidson, South Omahba, Jno. Anlt, Blue Sprines, la, H. C. Mosher & Co., Blenco, a, Wm. Gentleman, 701 N. 10th St. J. W, . Gouncil BinfTs. n Ave, Tn, A. 0. Peterson, 2305 Les Geo, Birdsal J. H. Lutl WILL H. & PEYCKE BROS. CO., - JAMES MORTON & SON, BUILDERS A RDWIRK, Cutlery, Mechanics’ Tools, Telephone 437, One door west of Postoffica. 1511 Dodge St. DON CARLOS LUMBER CO., Manufacturers and Whole le Dealers in Yellow PPine. To denlers only. Mills Southern Missourl. Rooms, 1, 2 and 3, U. 8. National Bunk Building Telephone 1357, Omaha, Neb. THEOWNERS OF THE COUNTRY. An Interesting Answer to a Perti- nent Question. WHAT THIRTY YEARS WILL BRING Ine Man Will Hold the Wealth and Five Hundred Will Haye Noth- ing—A Comparison With England. The Owners of the United States. Thomas G. Shearman tn November Forum. It has been and still is the boast of the American people, that wealth is more equally distributed hero than in any other part of the world, While every one admits that the old days of New Englang, in which none was very rich and none was very poor, have passed away, vet it i3 believed that the land, buildings and personal vroperty of this country ure owned mainly by the majority of its people, and that there is no danger of any such concentration 'of wealth 1n a fow hands among us_as exists in older and more aristocratic nations, ~ Statistics as to the wide distribution of wealth, shown by the deposits in American savings banks, by the large number of American furms and by the supposed high standard of American wages have been constantly set forth as conclusive evidence that American wealth is substan- tially owned by the mass of the American people. ‘The object of the present inquiry is oot to determine whether such a condition would be desirable or not, but simply to as- certain whether 1t actually exists. Interezting as such an inquiry must be, especially to that laboring cluss ou whose behalt it was supposed that labor commis- sions wero established, little effort has been wade by any of them to solve the problem, The very able gentleman at the head of the national labor burcau, after taking statistics of industrial depressions, conviet labor, and striies, scems to have felt that he had ex- nausted all subjects of special internst to the laboring classes; and he therofore directed the energies of all his assistants to an iu- vestigation of the subject of divorce—the one subject among all grave social questions, with which the musses of lavoring men have the leust practical concern. Oue who de- sires to investigate the great problem of the distribution of wealth in his country must, therefore, feel his way, without much assist- ance from the official representative of the very class which bas the deepest iuterest in the question. In the “effete monarchy" of Great Britain, where the laborer, deprived of all the bless- ings of a protective tariff, Las no representa- tive in the national government, no bureau, no commissioner and only five members of parliament among twelve hundrod, there is nevertheless no serious aificulty in' the way of forming a pretty closo estunate of tho dis- tribution of wealth, The income-tax returns combined with those of the probute and suc- cession dutios, furnish the means of estimat- ing, at frequent intervals, the proportious in which wealth is distributed among different classes of the nation; while a return of rent rolls, wade in 1872, enables us to determine with considorable uceuracy the proportinns in which the land of the whole country is owned. Mulball's estimate is as follows : DISTRIUUTION OF BRITISH WEALTH, 1877, § Wealth in Wealth per Millions, Fawily. 27,751 $125,145 9,143 4,874 1,020 413 0,676,000 35, 5,828 English people own two-thirds of the national wealth, With what scorn we have long pointed to these figures; and with what pride we have bade foreign nations look upon our own beloved land, where such thiugs not ouly did not exist, but were made im- pou:l:lu by our republican form of govern. men Can uny light be thrown upon the distribu- tion of American wealth by a stuay of Eng- lish statistios| Eet us sce. By adding the blished returns of the personal estates of ilish decedeuts & capitalization of the rental value of their estates, at 4 per cent in- terest, we may form a tolerably accurate es- timate of tho aggregate wealth, real und por- sougl, of the uoblemen and bawkers 1,524,400 Working. 4,020,100 of England who have died within the 1 quarter of a century, We may then compare these figuree with the known wealth of a few American_citizens, and thus obtain a starting point for further comparisons. In this way, we find that the richest of the Rothschilds, and the world-ranowned banker Baron Overstoue, each left about 17,000,000 arl Dudley, the owner of the richest iron mines, 1ef5§20,000,000. The duk of Buceleuch (and the duke of Bucclouch carries half of Scotland in his pocket) left about $30,000,000, The marquis of Bute was worth, in 1872, about §25,000,000 in land; and e may now be worth $40,000,000 in all. " ‘The duke of Norfoll many be worth $£0,000,000, and the duke of Westminister perhups 50, 000,000, “There 18 no official classification of Br wealth or rents. I3ut incomes derived the profits of business, exclusive of railways, wines, etc., are classified as follows BRITISH INCOMES FROM BUSINESS PROFITS, 1884, Persons. Incomes. Av. Income. 104 £50,000 and over £91,883 10,000 to 50,000 17,644 5,000 to 10,000 6, 4,000 to 5,000 4,270 3,000 to 4,000 3,206 2,000 to 3,000 2,989 1,000 to 2,000 400 ta. 1,000 200 to 400 % 150,189 285, ‘T'he great law of averages may be relied upon as confidently in America as in Europe. We need only find a starting point; thon we may safely proceed to calculation uased upon general experience as to the a acrease 1n the number of persons owniug W proportion to the decre of ‘tue amount owned by each individual. To find this start- ing point, it will be sary to give a Americans whose wenith 18 approxima known, The writer abstains fron ing in this list a single name which he has any information which m possibly be confidential; and, to make quite sure of this, he omits the of all gen- tlemen with whom he has any confidential relation. The nam of persons who have died within @ recent period (six of them within one year) will be includ curate 1 formation being obta ing their affairs than in any other ! Their estates ure nearly all eithor undivided or m the hands of so small a num ber of porsons as to make no practi- cal difference, while the number of names which have been omitted will far outweigh all possible errors in the list. No name 18 glven which 18 not believed, for good reasons, to represent an individual wealth of at loast §20,000,000. The figures indicate the wealth believed to be possessed on the average by cach of the persous whose names follow : $150,000,000--, J, Astor, Trinity Chureh, $100,000,000-~C, Vanderbilt, W. K. Vander- biit, Jay Gould, Leland Stanford, J. D, Rockefeller, £70,000,000—Estate of A. Packer. $00,000.000—Johu L Blair, estate of Charles Crocker, £50,000,000—Willlam_Astor, W. W. Astor, Russell Sage, E. A. Stevens, estates of Moses Taylor, Brown & Iy $10,000.000—P, " D, ' Armour. ¥. L. Ames, William Rockfeller, H, M. Flagler, Powers & Weightmuu, estate of F Goolet, $35,000,000—C, P, Huntington, D. O, Mills, catates of T, A, Scott, J. W, Garrett. $30,000,000—G. B, Roberts, Charles Pract, Ross Winans, E. B. Coxe, Clau Spreckels, A. Belnont, R. J. Living- ston, Fred Weyerhaus Mrs. Mark Hopkins, Mrs, Hetty Green, estates of 8. V. Hurkness, R W. Coleman, I. M, Singer. $25,000,000-—A. J, Drexel, J. 8. Morgan, Mar- shall Field, David Dows, J. G. Fair, £ T. Gerry, estates of Governor Fair- banks, A T, Stewart, A, Schermer- hor. $22,500,000—0. H. Payne, estates of F. A. Drexel. L V. Williamson, W. F. Weld, $20,000,000—F. W, Vandernilt, ' Theodore Havemeyer, W. G. Wacden, W. P, ‘Thompson, ' Mrs. Schenley, J. B. Hag- gl , H. A, Hutchios, estates of W, loane, E. 5. Higgins, C. Tower, Wil Lam Shaw, Dr. Hostetter, Williaw Sharon, Peter Donotive, Trinity cburch is included in this list ba- cause it is practically an individual owner. For the purposc of estimating the distribu- tion of wealth, it is obvious that shis corpor- ation, which has no stockholders, must be treated us a unit. It will be said that theso estates could not H.B Brown & V venivorth 8t., City. L Fd. fall, Yutan names inserted in this adver +, West, Little Drug Co.. aively, Surprise, N patten, Mo. . Carrig, Platte Cent Hand Made and Long Clear Havana Filler FOLLOWING PTACES: ement. toux, Tn litect, Ne Vail . Nel . Wilber, Neb. for, Nebraska City, Neb. Councll Bluffs, Ta. <on, Neb. Creta, Neb, 0, Neb, H. H. Nolan, Carroll, In. ETCHINGS, ENGRAVINGS, 43 ARTIST SUPPLIES &3 MOULDINGS, FRAMES, 1513 Douglas Street, be readily sold for their estimated value. In a few cajes this is true; but it is immaterial, becanso it is equelly true of the property of farmers and other small owners, and 85 does ‘hango the relative proportion of wealth, is the only important quesiion. Oar estimate of the whole national wealth is based upon the census of 1880, in which the capital and_ debts of railway, tele- graph, and _ steamboat companies were included at par. But in the foregoing estimates of individual wealth the current market value is adopted, which is much less than par. or purposes of cor parison bevween different classes the cens valuations onght to_ve adopted all around. 1But it they were, the weulth of Mr. Gould would bo fixed at over $125,000,000, and that of Messrs. Crocker and Huntington at nearly us much; and the proportionate shave of the very rich would be greatly in- creased, Making the largest allowance for exag- gorated reports, there can be no doubt that these seventy names represent an aggregate wealth of $2.700,000,000, or an averaze of $37,500,000 each. The writer has not es- pecially sought for information toncerning any one worth less thau $20,000,000, but incidentally learned of fifty other p worth over $10,000,000, of whom thirty valued in all at $£0,000,000, making to 100 persons _worth over $3,000,000,000; vet this list includes very few names from New England und none from the south. Evident 1y, 1t would bo easy for any specially weil- informad person to make up a list of 100 per- sous averaging $25,000,000 e in addition to ten averaging $100,000,000 No such list of concentrated weaith could be given m any other country in the world. The richest dukes of England fall below the av rage wealth of u dozen American citi while the greatest baukers, merchants, and railway magoates of Kngland cannot com- pare in wealth with many Americans. Lists were lately published of sixty-seven millionaires residing in Pittsburg, of sixty- three residents of Cleveland possessing in the aggregate $300,000,000, and of sixty pe sons residing in three villages near N York whose weaith was sa‘d to aggr £500,000,00, tlemen include in the last estimate said that if it included one of his neighbors, with whose affairs he is intimately nequainted, it was entirely too low 750,000,000 would be none too much. The Goelet estate, in New York city, pays taxes on $25,000,000 real estate. The mayor of Chicago says that four gentiemen of that city are worth over §20,000,000 each ; but only two are included in the'above list. ‘The Bos- ton Advertiser lately asseried that there were not fifty millionaires in Boston; but the official tax-1ist shows that more thun fifty familics pay taxes on over $1,000,000 each, and 200 persons pay taxes on amounts which clearly show that they arve really mil- lionaires. The facts already stated conclusively dem- onstrate that tho wealthiest class in the United States is vastly ric than tne wealthicst class in Great Britain, The aver. age annual income of the richest hundred Euglishmen is about $150,000; but the ayer- age anuual wcome of the richest hundred Americans_cannot bo less than 1,200,000, and probably exceeds $1,500,000. Tt follows, inevitably, that wealth wust be far more concentrated in the United States than 10 wreat Britain; because, whera enormous amounts of wealth are placed in a few hands, this necessarily implies that the greau mass of the people have very small possessions. On the other hand we know with tolerable certainty what are the aver- age earnings and possiole savings of the masses. ‘The earniugs of fully four fifths of American families do not average as much 28 $500 per annum. As the average age of busy men 1s less than forty years, their saviogs caonot spread over more than an averago period of twenty years. Farmers being always more economical than me- chanics or other lavorers of the same income, the savings of farmers, represented by their farms, will afford a maximum standard for the classes to which they correspond. According to the census of 1550, the average value of 25 per ceut of the farms was $435, of another 2 bor cent, $1,750, and of about 35 per cent, #3,500; the remaining 15 per cent bewng beld by walthy ownors. Fo allow, in marketabie property, $150 each to the mass of the com- munity, §2,000 each to the next class, and $3,500 each to the small tradesmen, higtly skillea mechanics, and others whose eoudi- tion corresponds with that of the best class of ordinary farwmers, will be quite as much as facts will justify; especially when we take SOLE AGENTS, OMAHA MERSON, LLET & DAVIS KIMBALL, Omaha, Nebraska. out of this lighest class, as wo must, a con- siderable number (say one-sixth) who, by saving one-third to one-half their income, have accumulated four.or five times as much as their fellows. In 1877 the number of British copitalists nossessed of over 25,000 cach was about 232,000, while the number of persons deriv- ing profits of over $1,000 per annum each from business was nearly $00,000. The two classes of persons - were = not at all tne same; on the contrary, prob- ably not ' onethird of eithor class, possibly not even_one-fifth, was wcluded in the other. Yet, in the absence of any de- tailed information as to the distribution of wealth, tho ¢ tion of incomes must be taken, with much resorve, as the ouly at- tainable guide. But incomes in their na- ture, are much more equally dis than wealth. Millions have incom have practically no weaitn. T computation on this basis will greatl estimate the concentration of woalth in the higher figzures, while it wil) lead to such an overestimate of wealth in the lower fizures to make it gradually quite misleading. Such a compatation 15 indeed of no use whatever outside of the first 250,000 fami- lies and must be greatly modified long be- fore reaching that numver. Bearing these_considerations 1 mind, wo procced to estimate the distribution of American woalth, Judging from vhe rate of ncrease in wealth indicated by the last cen- sus, it 18 probuble that (estimated by thoe same method) it n0wW amounts to aearly $1,000 por head, or $53,000,000,000 1 all. In_ 183, 30,000 was_invested i public buildings, hes, colleges, cf itable institutio and this item must be about & 000 now. Taking the number of British incomes ex- oceeding £200 as a basis forcomparative class- ification, starting on the basis of kuown facts coneerning American wealth, and mod- fying the fignres gradually, for tho reasons stated, we arrive at the following DISTRIBUTION OF AMERICAN WEALTIL, ON Thg BASIS OF DRITISH INCOME RETURNS, Ayerage Wealth Total in Thousands. in Mil 52,000 160,000 20,000 1,000,000 100,000 45,000 4,000,510 Public property, churches, etc., 835,075 Condensing this table, 80 as to arranze it in three great classes, wo arecive at this re- sult: DISTRIBUTION OF AE We Mi: ICAN WEALTH, Ith in Average per Class, ions. Familios Rich Middlo. ... 1,200,00; Working..11,503,000 2,675 On this basis, 50,000 families would appear 1o own one-half of the national wealth. In this table smal farmers, skilled me- chanics, foremen, conductors, engineers, ete., areincluded iv the ‘“working class,” and $00S hus been allowed as the average saviugs of cach fawmily in this class—more than double the highest claim made on behalf of the same class in England, and nearly weble the average deposit in Americau sav- ings baoks. This aweunt is certainly too large. The number of thé very largest mil- lionaires has been kept down to very nearly the limit of the writgr's personal informa- tion; while in his judfment there must be at least us many more, 0f whoin he bas never neard. If this surmise is correct, it would add et once $2500,000,000 to the share of wealth belonging to 1 willlonaire class, and would copfirm tie writer's rough esti- mate in the Forum for september, that 25,000 persons own just about one-half of all the wealth of the United States, Objection will doubtless bo made to any estimates based upon British statistios. 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NO AGENTS American basis for estimates of the distribu- tion of American wealth, A list of the largest individual taxpayers in Boston, pub- lished this year, including all (exclusive of corporations und executors) who paid more than $1.00) in taxes, and_who were therefore assessed at more than §75,000 (the tax boing 13§ per cent), showed the' following results: BOSTON TAX LT3 dividual Amount yers. of Ta: £0,000 t0 5 40,000 to 40,000 to 20,000 to 10,000 to 5000 to 1,000 to Average As- sessed Wealth. 5,000 £4.61 40,000 160,000 safcly be assumed that e who is “usscssed at $410,000 is $1,000,000, because large estate a sessed ab their full value, o ussessments include no shares in ecorporate stock, nor government, municipal, or mortgige bonds, in which a vast proportion of the wealtn of the very rich is invested, For the same reason an as- sessment of 15,000 represents in actual 1t ot loss than $150,000. The wealth of very rich is always mwore under-estimuted a8s0830rs than that of men in moderate 1ces. Assessmenis of £:00,000 and therefore muitiplied, in the nexu tuble, by two and one-half, while those below that line are only doubled. Tn both cases the incroase is too small. Boston has less than & forty-fiith part of the n waoallh, and 88 than a hundred and th B tcf its Multiplying the Boston figures ery one iy worth 2 never as- and because hom at least Classifying to the propor- ssment returns show thut alth is divided in Boston, but adding 1y persons who have been specifi- numed us av arrive at the following estimau only on the side of moderation : DISTRIBUTION OF AMERICAN WEALTH, BASIS OF BOSTON TAX RETURNS, Weaith in thou- Average Total sunds. tvealth in wealth Over, Under, thousands. in millions, $37,500 § 2,625 20,000 11,500 10,000 8,000 7, 6,800 4,600 2,300 8,500 are worth ove wen of wealth in conforuiiuy tion in wi their w the so calty 500,000, wo which' errs 0N THE Families. ) $20,000 $150,000 ) 10,000 6,000 7,000 11,000 14,000 16,500 200000 1,000,000 2 000,000 9,620,000 13,002,000 DISTUIBUTION IN CLAS Ith Class. Rich, Middle ¥amilies. 152,090 . 1,200,000 13,002,000 Ou this basis, 40,000 persons own over one- half of the ‘wealth of the United States, while one-seveutieth part of the people own over two-thirds of the wealth, It will be seen that in these tables, which are prepared upon the basis of purely Amer- ican statistics, the concentravion of wealth appears to be much greater than in tables prepared upon the basis of British statistics, By either table, 70 per cent of the natioual wealth appears 1o be concentrated in the hands of @ very small minority of the peo- ple; but dividing this wealth in proportion 10 the Eoglish ratio, it is distributed among 935,000 families, while dividing it according o the Ioston’ ratio, it is possessed by only 182,000 families. The truth probably lies between the two: and it may safely be assumed that 200,000 persous coutrol 70 per cent of the national wealth, while 250,000 persous control from 75 Lo 80 per cent of the whole, * Q'hese counclusions are of course very un- palatable to comfortable optimists. ~ But what other results could possibly bo expected, in view of well- known facts! No ono can entertain a reasousble doubt that there has been ap ac- cumulation of wealth in a few individual hands in the United States, during the last twenty-five vesrs, vastly in excess of auy which has taken vlace in other parts of tho world. In no other country have railroad managers, manufacturers, oil refiners, mine owuers, ban and 1 speculators accu- mulated fort: idly as they have in this. In no other country, and least of all in England, during the last thirty years, has the burden of taxation been cast so exolu- upon the working class, or the chinery of public taxation beeu used so un- scrupulousiy for private profit. In Great Britain, although indirect taxa- tion still constitutes the greatest part of tho public revenue, a large share of direct taxa- tion has been mamtained, and, as far as pos- sivle, all tribute levi the rick upon the poor, under the pretense of taxation, bas been abolished, The natural consequenco is that the disproportion between the vieh and the poor in Great Britain is less to-day than 1t was forty go; that wealth is more 4 that the middle class is more numerous, and that the musses are rapidly gaining in power and influcnce. In America the drift has been in precisely the opposite dire . Federal taxation has increased six fold since 1860.and the whole of this increase has been taken out of the relativeiy poorer classes. AU the same time, the profit which lasses by the t of indirect taxation in their m- o as been increased not less than ten fold. The wealth s, collectively, have made a clear profit outof the indirect effccts of taxation to an amount far exceeding all that they have paid in taxes, although this profit has been absorbed by a minority of oven the rich. Bub, apart from this, the wholo sys! of taxation and has been such as to take from the rich oniy 3 to 10 por cent of their annual savings, while tuk- ing from the poor 75 to 90 per cent. It is true that the same system existed, in form, betore the war; but, taxation being lignt, the amount taken from h individual was far less, and the disproportion between the rich and’ the poor not 80 great, while the profit levied from the poor by the rich was far smailer. The amouut of the burden has in- cressed, und it has been more and more shifted over upon the poor. 1t is childisn to imagine that, under such circumstances, the concentration of weulth can go on less rapidly here than in Kurope. On the contrary, it has gone on far more rapidly here; and it will continue Lo doso, at a tremondous pace. It is intended to confine this paj toa simple investigation of facts, witliout sug- gesting remedies; buat, o avoid misapprehen- sion, the writer wishes it to ba distinctly undérstoood that e is opposed, on principle, to all schemes for urbitrary limitutions of individual wealth, whether by a graduated iucome tax, @ heayy succession tax, or other- wise; that be is utterly opposed to com- munism, socislism and anarchism; and that he is of ‘opiion that the enormous wealth of the few 1n this country has been forced upon them by the votes of the very musses who have been impoverished for tucir benefit. Populus vult decipl, The farmers insist upon throwing away their inheritance; and sinco they are determined o heap their earnings upon somebody, it is well that the list of tucir chief beneficiaries should be, upon the whole, £0 re able. And, indeed, has it not bean clearly explained to us that it makes no sort of difference who owns the wealth of the nation, 80 long us it is kept at home? - But the facts should be known, without regard to the iuferonces which may be drawn from them; and we are now prepared to answer the question; “Who owus the United Statest’ The United States of America are practi- cally owned by less thun 250,000 persons, constituting less than one in sixty of its adult wale population, Within th years, the present methods of taxation being continued, the United Stawes of America will be substantially owned by less than 50,000 persons, constitut. iug less thau one in five hundrod of the adult male population. An Absoiute Oare, The ORIGINALABIEINE OINTMENT i only put up in 1arge two ounce tin boxes, and is an absolute oure for old sores, buras, wounds, chapped bands, and all skin erup. Will positively cure all kinds of piles- Ask forthe ORIGINAL ABIETINE OINT- MENT. Sold by Goodmaa Diug compaay ab 25 cents per box—by mail 30 cents. o N S Res Aspii-Coucks) N ESH ) oL u NACSxS 5 E}l} on GunrVIE Send for cncuhr,fll.puln"lng fro INE MEQ co.0ROVILLE, CAL. D Tz ONLY—| SRR (UARANTEED CURE FOR SANTA : ABIE ; AND : CAT: R: CURE_ For sale by Goodman Drua Co 1 Will be Worthy of ir, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, &% T may not reath tho heights I seel, My untried strength may fail me; - Or, half way up the mountain peak, Ficrce tempests may assail me, But though that place 1 never gain, Herein lies comfort for my puin— Twill be worthy of it. 1 may not triumph in success, Despite my earnest labor; 1 may not grsp results that biess The efforts of my neighbor. But though my goal I never see, T'his thought shall always dw 1 will be worthy of it. with mo The golden glory of love’s light May ne'er fali on my way: My path may always lead tir Like some deserted by But though life's dearest joy T miss, There lies a nameless joy in this— 1 will bo worthy of it. B TIMPISTLES, ugh night, The wise king said: *‘Go to the ant, thon sluggard !’ In Florida the ant saves the sluggard the journcy. “Who was the first man, Tommy? asked the Sunday school teachor, dfter oxplaining that our first parents were made from tha dust of the earth. *Henry Clay, ma'am,” “What do you_mean, sir, by swearing be- fore my wife! You must apologize?’ Pa don, monsieur! Pardon! 1 do make ze apol- Tdid not know ze lady wish to swear zo first.” They were speaking of an invete talker. ‘‘Dia sho have the boldness to say that?” exclaimed the gentlo Mrs, Low in i horrified voice. “Say that! She'd say any- thing except her prayers.”’ Mr, Smart (a8 the church D'm surprised that Miss Sweet permits od- worth to accompany her. He's about the freshest young fellow I know. Mrs, Swart — Perhaps that's the reason why she lots him carry her psalter. Instinct is strong everywhere, It will be safe to bev that whena man is abouv to euter the Pearly Gate that he will stop to feel and sce it his ungelic robe is buttoned up in front aad s wifo scurge her neck to see if her dress hangs right behind, He—Tho caso of Jacob sometimes nas o modern paraliel, 1 knew u man once who seryed five years for his second wife. She— How romantic. He—Not so remarkably romantic. e married the second oue with- out gettmng a divorce from his first, and served five years for biguwy, don't you know. Deacon Watts and Deacon Podberry had been trading horses, which muy account for the following r offered up by Deacon Watts at the regulur weekly prayer meet- mg: “Oh, Lord, we pray that you will cons tinue to shower down your manifold bless. ings upon us as we deserve. And perhaps, Lord, you had better shower onto HBrother Podberry a fow that he doesn't deserve, or there's some danger that he won't be in in” It was at the last session of the Southern Tllinois conference, Recommendations for local deacons and elders’ orders were under consideration, and tho bishop put the quoss tion to & candidaie whoso case was under considoration: “Will you wholly abstain from the use of tobacco?"” ro Was i mos ment’s hesitation, which gained the attans tion_of the conference: ~*Hishop, I don't use it for smolang or for chewing, but—but— 1 wan's to continue it for horse medicine," For a few mowments the laughter was irres pressible. goers ass)— Why don’t y Red Cross Cough Drops, five cengs per box. Forging Russian Money. The Bank of Russia has just discove ered that the new bilis of 25 rubles, which were put into cireulation only & short time ago,have already been forged i ry porfect way. Several hundred nds of other forged bills are sup= posed to be in circulution throughout a. It issupposed that the bills are manufactured in England or in the United States. Don’t buy trashy imitations. Get the genuine RRed Cross Cough Drops,