Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 1, 1902, Page 4

+ amendments. THE OMAHA DXILY B MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1902. THE ©OMAHA DAILY BEE E. ROSEWATER, EDITOR. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. A TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION, Dally Bee (without Stnday), One Ye Dally Bee and Bunday, One Y jlusiealas Bes, tunday Bee, baturduy B v v Twentleth Century Farmer, One Year. DELIVEREP RY CABRIER, Blily Bee (without 8tmday), per copy. ally Bee (without Bund Daily Bee (including Sunday), per wee Bunday Bee, per copy.... Evening Bee (without Bund; Evening Bee (including Sunday), Complaints of ifrexularitie iivery should be addressed to City Circulation De- partment. e P 100 OFFICES. QmahaThe Bee Bullding, Bouth Omaha—City Hall Baflding, Twen- ty-fifth ahd M Streets. Counell Blufts—10 Pear] Street. leagb_isio Unity Buliding. New York—212% Park Row Bullding. Washington—501 Fourteenth Streef. , CORRESPONDENCE. Communications relating to news and edi- torial matter should be addressed: Omaha Bee, Bgitorial Department. BUSINESS LETTERS. Busingss letters and remittances should be addréssed: The Bee Publishing Com- pany, Omaha. REMITTANCES. Remit by draft, express or postal order, ayable to The Bee Publishing Company. Z-cent stamps accepted in payment of mail accounts. Personal checks, except on Omaha or eastern exchange, not accepted. THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY. STATEMENT ®F CIRCULATION. Btate of Nebraska, Douglas County, ss.: Georg B, Tichuck, accretary of ‘The Bee Publishing Company, being duly sworn, says that the actual number of full and complete coples of The Daily, Morning, Evening and Sunday Bee printed during the month of November, 1002, was as follows: 16. 28,435 17, .30,690 18, 30,870 19. -80,940 SERNERENEpE 81,310 Total .. 932,910 Lese unsold and returned copfes.... 9,237 Net total sales, 922,673 Net average sale . 80,755 GEORGE B. TZSCHUCK. Subscribed In my presence and sworn to before me this 30th day of November, A. D. 1902, M. B. HUNGATE (Seal) Notary Public. Cnptnm Peary luinow tllrlm|;ly nui’- fous for someone else to capture the north pole. — Colonel Mosby talks as If he meant business. What {s more, he has a record for making his talk good. - The talk of organizing the preachers into trades unions will come to nothing if it is proposed to bar Sunday work. Sipemeepmm——_tenip = o Congressman Fowler will ‘doctor his currency bill by adding a number of At that it Joes not stand the ghost of a show of becowing a law. President Palma of :;nbn 1s gradually coming to be the target of warring po- litical factions, who will soon make him realize that his position is no permananpt sinecure. — In_view/ of thie plan of the Clévélind democrats. to oust Tom Jphnson from party control in Ohio, that statesman has merely stored his circus tent in wiiter quarters. e —— The Mexican silver dellar, worth less than 50 cents, will find its antithesis in the souvenir gold dollar coined for the St Louis exposition that is already selling for three times its face. S——— After all, a respectable navy would come mighty handy for Americag farm- ers and live stock growers if any for- elgn power should undertake to close our ports or stop our access to foreign markets. em—— Half the time allotted to the work of the Board of Review t‘u. expired. The next two weeks should see some lively churning in the figures returned to rep- resent the full taxable value of personal property held in Omaba. o Mercer's obpon:nt at the recent elec- tion makes oath that he spent just $468 in the campaign that landed him in Mer- cer's congressional shoes. Mr. Mercer's bill for the billposter alone must have amounted to nearly that-much. —— The railroads are keeping mighty mum about the assessment of their property in Omaha for municipal taxation. We may be sure, however, that they are in- cubating someé smooth scheme to get away from paying thelr taxes if they can. : L ———— The conclusion of the committes rep- resenting English - lahor unions, now making a study of Amecican Industrisl conditions, that wage earners in the United States are at least 23 per cent better off than in England I8 fully cor- roborated by lmmighation statistics —— The Unlon Pacific lawyers seem to be in no hurry to press thelr charges of con- tempt against the locked-out machinists resting under the strike injunction. The offenses of the machinists cannot be very helnous or Baldwin the Great would in- sist on having them clapped into jail forthwith, e———yesee—— Nearly every lawyer of democratic per- suasion in the county is trylng to get connection with the county attorney’s office by appointment to the corps of $1,200-a-year deputies. That does not speak overly well for the abllity of the lawyers of the faith to bring In big fees from thelr private practice. A novel gchéme £9f the perpetuation of control of two corporations has got into the courts and been temporarily enjoined. It is for one company to hold contrel of the stack of another com- pany, the latter company in turn hold- ing control of the stock of the first. It is perfectly simple, and, unless held to be agalust public policy, cestalnly effec- tive. ¥t is easy, however, to see that the minority stock in both companies might not fare well CONGRESS. The memorable remark of President Cleveland about having congress on his hands implied a feeling that he had a disagreeable duty before him. The last democratic president was much of the time, even while congress was in con- trol of his party, at odds with that body. He did not get along well with some of the lead::s and his few devoted follow- ers were not able to carry out his views and wishes. This was conspicuously the case In regard to tariff legislation, the law of 1804, which he would not sign, having been declared by him to be an act of perfidy and dishonor. The meeting today of the second ses- sion of the Fifty-seventh congress will cause President Roosevelt no such feel- ing as was implled in the remark of Mr. Cleveland, On the contrary he will be glad that the representatives of the American people are again assembled to consider the questions affecting the in- terests and welfare of the nation and will -welcome the oppertunity te com- munieate to the national legislature his views on those questions. Realising his great dotles and responsibilities, instead of feeling that he has congress “on his hands,” it will be the highest satisfac- tlon to him to be again in communica- tion and In’ co-operation with the Te- publican leaders for the promotion of the principles and policies of his party. He is on good terms with all of them. Whatever disagreement there may be as to any particular policy, there is no quarrel and no antipathy. The president has proper respect for Congress as a co- ordinate branch of the government and in return congress respects the admin- istration. The good feeling that pre- valled during the first session will uu doubtedly continue through the second. We have heretofore considered the out- look for legislation at this session and nothing has since transpired to change the prospect. This is that not very much will be done beyond the passage of the appropriation bills. Theve Is promise of some legislation relating to the trusts and we think there should be, but many congressmen believe it will be impracticable. It is certain that there will be no interference with the tariff and no currency legislation, so that in regard to these matters the business and financial interests of the country have nothing to fear. ——— NEBRASKA'S SCHOUL FUND PROBLEM. The management of the trust funds held by the state as an endowment for its public schools and educational institu- tions has for years constituted the most perplexing problem confronting the peo- ple bf Nebraska. Up to this time every effort to deal with this subject in a rational manner has failed, notwith- standing the fact that to the temptation to use this money for private specula- tion is traceable all the treasury scan- dals with which Nebraska bas been so grievously afflicted. «While the chief obstagle unquestiona- bly lies in the constitutional provisions restricting school fund investments to a narow list of securities, these limita- tions promise to prove more troublesome in the future even than in the past. The bonds in which the school moneys bave been invested are gradually be- coming payable and when they are taken up by the counties issuing them the pro- ceeds must be added to the uninvested balafice, swelling more and more the idle money in the hands of the state treasurer. To amend the constitution, granting that it 1s possible, will require not less than three years, and in the interval the conditions would be getting constantly more aggravating unless measures of relief are introduced by the legislature or by the new treasurer on his own account. | The Bee maintains now, as it has in the past, that there is nothing to pre- vent the state treasurer from depositing the school fund balances together with the other moneys in his possession and crediting the Interest earned to the school fund, the same as if it were paid on investments in state warrants. The present treasurer has his school funds on deposit in various banks, some of them without the protection of depository bond. This money is earning interest which the treasurer asserts has all been turned into the treasury, but instead of being credited to the school fund the interest on the school fund deposits hi been lumped in with the interest on current funds and poured into thé gen- eral fund, out of which the ordinary expenses of the state government are pald. This amounts to a diversion of money belonging to the school fund into the general fund, which is certainly much a violation of the constitution is the depesit of the school funds in i banks d'lpfo'w‘:r’mnu disregard constitutional provisions, which all admit cannot pos- sibly be strictly observed, there is no reason whatever Why the school funds should not be managed from now on on lines of sound business principles, without any more specious juggling to cover up notorious facts. —— DISCRIMINATION IN STEEL PRODUCTS. The Wall Street Journal, a publ tion which certalnly does not speak out of prejudice against the largest corpor- ate concerns, asserts positively that it “pas confirmed the report that the United States Steel company's forelgn agents bave been jnstructed to offer finished steel abroad at prices below those quoted here.” It is within bounds to say that if this assertion is sustained by actual proofs, and if the alleged or- ders of the great steel company are adhered to as @ general poliey, it will certalnly create an unfavorable public impression. ‘The business world is familiar with the practice of large manufacturers who under certain conditions sell their prod uets in distant or occasional Iuurkets At a lower price than in the market on which they principally rely. The prac- tice is Do mew one, nor confined to for- elgn markets. It Is usually resorted to when the manufacturer has on hand an Inconvenient surplus, which he wul get rid of at a eut price in a less important market rather than derange prices In his permanent field of operations. No such excuse can be found in the present condition of the steel Industries. Not only is there no Inconvenient sur- plus, but production is notoriously in arrears of consumption. It Is well known that dependent domestic opera- tions of great importance are delayed because of pressure of demand for steel supplies. It is no time for a concern like the United States Steel company, while maintaining prices in the domes- tic market, to offer as a general policy its products at lower figures in foreign markets. While it is true that such a policy is identically the one followed immemorially by the manufacturing in- terests of England, especlally since its adoption of free trade, it Is nevertheless a fact that the tendency of the prac- tice at this time would be to excite hostility not only to our own manufae- turers, but also to the system under which they In commoh with the whole country have prospered. COMMISSIUN FUR THE ORIENT. The creation of a commercial commis- sion for the Orient is again to be urged upon the attention of congress. A bill providing for such a commission is now before a committee of the senate and its author, Senator McCumber of North Dakota, will make an earnest effort to secure action upon it by the present congress. The measure has received the endorsement of commercial organiza- tions in all parts of the country, showing that manufacturers and exporters are anxious that it should pass. The proposition is not mew, baving first been presented in a letter to the senate committee on appropriations from Secretary of State Day mn 1898, This contemplated the appointment of a com- mission and the establishment of agen- cies in the far east at which samples of American manufactures might be ex- hibited with a view of developing a mar- ket in that quarter of the globe for the product of American industries. This was suggested by the fact that several European commissions were In the Orient, the results of which had been highly satisfactory. It is quite probable that it would be to the advantage of American trade with the far east to have a goverament commission there and agencies for the exhibition of our manufactures, although undoubtedly there are some who will question whether this is a proper func- tion of the government. Some two years ago American manufacturers sent a commission to China and Japan with good results, but it is belleved that only by the authority of the general gov- ernment can such a commission be of greatest service, Doubtless this view is correct, but in any event we shall not have the success in securing trade hoped for until our manufacturers are prepared to make goods such as the eastern markets require. Evidence of this is given in a recent report of the United States consul general at Yoko- hama, which shows that in cotton espe- cially American manufacturers keep the home demand and the home tastes too closely in mind all the time. They sim- ply export their surplus product, ex- pecting foreigners to want and buy just what we do ourselves. This is the case as to other countries than those of the far east. An American doing business in Russia, who is now here in the in- terest of trade with that country, says he finds it the hardest kind of work to get the Amerlean manufacturer to take the slightest interest in matters of de- tail. It is not to be doubted that we should have a much larger trade with South America If our manufacturers had more carefully considered the peculiar needs and wants Jf the southern mar- kets. Commercial commissions may be ser- viceable in promoting trade—European experience with them shows this. But the effectiveness of their work neces- sarily depends upon the manufacturers of a country consulting the special wants and tastes of the people to whom they would sell. This, it appears, Amer- jean manufacturers generally have not yet shown a disposition to do. —— The so-called nationallst party leaders have agreed on a policy of sheer obstrue- tion to President Palma’s administra- tion. The Cubans seem not to under- stand the difference between a constitu- tional opposition and factional obstruc- tion. Constitutional government, it has been developed by the people of the north of Europe, implies a spirit of mod- eration which works out in compromise policies, The Cubans bave already shown too many signs of the radical and intolerant temperament of the Latin peoples among whom political opposition gravitates toward sedition on the ome band and tyranny on the otber. Pos- slon keeps them tormented between die- tatorship and insurrection instead of permitting sober judgment to use po- litical parties as the meaus for forming conservative policies. A leading democratic newspaper in an elaborate discussion of the outlook of the party lays it down as fundamental {bat everything depends on the man who is to lead, and then dismisses as unsat- \sfactory every man who has been men- tioned or thought of for leader. It con- cludes that the only consolation is the reflection that in great emergencies someone has always beem raised up to be & Moses. In other words, the disposi- tion is to throw the responsibility upon Providence. e The great crowds which attend the foot ball games seem to suffer material diminution when the report of the gate receipts comes in. At the gridiron bat- tle between the teams representing Ne- braska and Northwestern universities Thanksgiving day the nuwbver of specta- tors was varlously put from 6,000 to 8,000. As each pald admission was sup- posed to drop $1 Into the box office, with an extra 50 cents for the reserved seats on the grand stand, the statement that the total receipts aggregated $4,600 indi- cates either a discrepancy in the ac- counts or an unusual elasticity of vision of those who estimated the attendance— presumably the latter. Incidentally the financial exhibit for the University of Nebraska foot ball season promises a surplus of $2,500 over and above all ex- penses, which goes to show that college athletics constitute the only portion of the curriculum that is coined forthwith into dollars and cents. ——— The comment that has been indulged over the choice of a private secretary for Governor Mickey is entirely uncalled for and unwarranted. The private secretary to the governor stands in confidentiul re- lation to him and the selection should be purely personal, subject only to condi- tions requiving capacity for the work and a reputation for integrity. If the governor should be left free to exercise his personal preference for any office it should be for that of private secretary. The selection he bas made of A. B. Allen is eminently satisfactory to the public, and those who know him will be disap- pointed if the new secretary does not make the governor an efficient and re- liable aide. e . The chief of the fire department of New York City has been dismissed on the grounds “of conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline in prosecuting and unjustly discriminating against cer- tain members of the uniformed force, and of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and prejudicial to good order and discipline.” That sounds strangely familiar to Omaha people who recollect the circumstances that attended the last exit of a fire chief from the Omaha fire department. Omaha's bank clearings statement for the week shows an increase of 11.3 per dent over the figures for the correspond- ing period last year. The per cent of in- crease is mot quite so high as that of some other cities, but Omaha shows bet- ter than Kansas City in that respect, while St. Joseph and Denver both have comparative decreases to their credit. e—e—— The canal idea seems to be catching. Governor Odell wants to put $60,000,000 into & canal connecting the great lakes and the Atlantic which could be trav- ersed by the biggest boats. The next few decades are bound to see some glgantic engineering enterprises carried into execution. emm——— Silver Riding the Toboggan. Chicago Chronicie. The divine ratio does not appear to be playing to very good business in the Philip- pines either. c———— Clinging to a Good Thing. Indianapolis News. As long as the ipdependent operators are getting $7 and $8 a ton for their coal at the mines, they probably won't care how long the present state of affairs continues. A Welcome O Detrolt Free Press. A good deal of fun-has been made of Gen- eral J. C. Breckenridge's eloquent compli- ments to his brother officers; but it is relief now and then to find somebody in the War department who is not trying to work an embalmed beef pedal. You Can't Lose 'Em. Baltimore Amerigan. The plcturesque and the practical are about equally mixed in the cry of the Porto Rican mob: “Abajo con Dooley!" It s to be hoped, it only for the sake of his name, that Dooley will refuse to comply with the request and be downed. Overworking the Megaphone. ‘Washington Post. Ot course, there is nothing selfish in Mr. Bryan’s discovery that the weekly news per has taken the place of the daily as a mold for public opinion. In fact, Mr. Bryan is about the only real unselfish person striving for the center of the stage these days. Gun in the Bunch. Indianapolls News. We now have a coast defense gun that will fire a projectile twenty-one miles. Shooting at that range must be a good deal like shooting around a corner. One would think, too, that considerable diff- culty would be experienced in retrieving the game when the shots were effective. Getting at the Truth. Indianapolis News. Perhaps, in the long run, it will be better to have the investigation of the coal strike proceed, for in that way the public will find out many things that it ought to know and has a right to know. Certaln connec- tlons between railroads and coal mines and their relations to the laws of Pennsylvania will probably be brought out in a way that may ultimately serve the public well. port Mother, Baltimore American, Canada does not take kindly to the proposition to establish a navy from which Great Britain could recruit its own. Some- how or other, the colonles are beginning to grow restive under the complimentary insinuation that the children of the em- pire are too dutiful to let their old mother work, and that the latter will fondly allow them to assume as much of her burden as she can get them to accept. Betore After Tal Buffalo Express. A month before election the little great men of congress were clinging frantically to the president's anti-trust policy as the life preserver that was saving the repub- lican party. Now some of them are golng back to Washington with all manner of ob- jections to the president’s plans. A states- man who refuses to take the same view of public opinion after election that he recog- nized while & candidate is mot worth ls- tening to. Glow of Voleanfe Dust. 8an Francisco Chronicle. It wili be remembered that for nearly two years after the volcanic explosion of the island of Krakatoa rosy sunsets we conspicuous phenomena throughout northern hemisphere growing out of the distribution of voleanic dust through the earth’s atmosphere around the globe. These rosy sunsets are again in evidence, and are doubtless due to the voleanic dust dis ear into the earth's lope by the eruptive cone in Central America and the West Indies. the Increasing Freight Rates San Francisco Chronicle. It 1s evident that the railroad officials ot the country have virtually dotermined in their own minds that there shall be a gen- eral increase of freight rates, and Second Vice President Paul Morton of the Santa Fe has been selected to break the news to the country. In this proposed movement wo see the results of the general railroad consolidation which has been taking place and which makes possible a policy which would have been impossible without it. Nevertheless, the time has long passed when railroad corporations could claim the right to tax the traffic of the country at their own discretion, and a proposal to in- crease the taxation by railroad corporations 18 as legitimate a subject for public discus- sion as a proposal to increase taxation by govérnment. The question of what consti- tutes a ‘reasonable rate” for transporta- tion is sufficlently dificult when confined to one comomdity between two points. When considered in connection with a proposal to make a general increase it involves the preliminary determination of the capital upon which, upon the average, it is “re onable” that a road should earn revenue. This, again, brings up the question of the method of valuation, which has vexed the courts for many years—that is, whether the “value” of a road shall be taken at its book cost of construction, its “book cost” less losses by bad judgment or peculation, the cost of reproduction, its probable future earning capacity, or some combination of all these elements. Without discussing this most complex of subjects, there is one thing which may be taken for granted: So long as the net in- come of a railroad eystem steadily increases the roads can only justify themselves to the public by a complete expose, which it is in their power to make, but which cannot be made by any outsider, of their financial history and condition and by af- fOrmatively showing that stockholders’ money, actually invested and prudently ad- ministered, is not producing for its owners such a revenue as a competent and im- partial judge would call “reasonable.” We are convinced that this cannot be done. Rallroad accounts are notoriously juggled by placing the cost of betterments in run- ning expenses. From the standpoint of the financier this may be commendable, as showing conservative management and financial strength. It may be also claimed that by this method the “water” in the stock is gradually squeezed out by the in- troduction of hard coin. That, however, is only taking from the puble money whith it ought not to pay and placing it where It may pay unearned dividends to stock- holders in the future. It is a device well calculated to deceive the public as to the real earning of a railroad. Taking Mr. Morton's own road as an ex- ample, it is now regularly paying all in- terest on its bomds, 5 per cent dividends on Its preferred stock, and 4 per cent on its common stock of $102,000,000, which, on fts reorganized basis, may be safely as- sumed to be largely water. The net earn- ings of the system have been regularly Increasing from $165,860,217 in 1899 to $26,- 703,234 in 1901. There was an {ncrease over this in 1902. The Southern Pacific company's returna show an equally uni- form increase, which they seek to keep down by charging betterments to expenses. ‘While these conditions continue an inerease of freight rates would be robbery. —_— STORIES OF TOM OCHILTREE, Some Told by Himself; Some Told by Others, Colonel Tom Ochiltree, a noted horse- man, raconteur and rounder, “passed over the range” a few days ago at the age of 62. ‘The colonel's life was as varied and exciting as a Texan could hope for, and his wit, which sparkled in stories enough to fill a volume, was a source of unfailing pleasure to his numerous associates. Tom won his title of colonel in the contederate service. He was United States marshal of Texas under Grant, represented a Aistrict of that state in congress, was the publisher of two newspapers over thirty years ago and since then circulated between New York, London and Paris. In 1867 the colonel was editor and pub- lisher of the Houston Telegraph. He went to New York with letters of introduction to prominent people there and then took a run over to Paris. Whiie in the French capital he became a fast friend of James Gordon Bennett the elder. Colonel Ochil- tree could not see that it was possible for any metropolitan newspaper to outshine his Texas newspaper; so when Mr. Bennett ca- bled 2,000 words to his paper of the open- ing of the Paris exposition, in 1867, Colonel Ochiltree asked that the dispatch be du- plicated to the Houston Telegraph. That was to show -the Frenchmen that as an editor he was just as big as the next. Cable rates were high in those days and the cost of the dispatch was @ severe drain on the resources of the Houston Telegraph. Three days after it had been sent Colonel Ochiltree got word that the dispatch had been paid for, but as a result the paper had suspended - publication. After President Grant had appointed Ochiltree as a United States marshal in Texas the president was puzzled to account for reports of the colonel being In Long Branch, In Baltimore, in Saratoga and everywhere except in Texas. The president began to wonder if Ochiltree really lved in the district in which he had been ap- pointed. 3 “Oh, that's easily explained, Mr. Presi- dent,” sald the colonel. “I'm not the Tom Ochiltree those fellows are talking about. He is a race horse that John Chamberlain named after me.” And it was a fact. Colonel Ochiltree's father was on the bench in Texas at one time, and in pursu- ance of his duties was required to travel on horseback for many weeks to complete the circuit. Prior to one of these journeys his son protested that, If he was not made & member of the firm he would no’longer take care of his father's business. It was a fair “kick,” the elder Ochiltree thought, and he appointed his heir to be his part- ner and told him to have a sign made an- nouncing the change in the formation of the firm. Ochiltree, sr., was somewhat surprised upon his return to read across the full front of the shanty in which he had his office the announcement: ‘“Thomas Ochil- tree and Father.” ‘While in London on one occasion Colonel Ochiltree reviewed the first performance of Mrs. T. P. O'Connor's play, “A Lady from Texa Like the colonel himself, the crit- fcism was unique. It opened with a review of Ochiltree's congressional ecarcer, and then went on to say: “With such recollections surging on me, it is impossible for me to speak of the play with the coolness of the average man, and though I have been many things I have never been a dramatic critic, and cannot be expected to have reached that state of bore- dom which makes that wearied type of journalist the least easy to please.”” Then he wrote & glowing tribute to the play and the actress, winding up with, “But, then, Mrs. O'Connor and I came from Texas." Although Colonel Ochiltree once indig- nantly denied in court that he ever played poker, it has always gone the rounds that the auburn-halred Texan liked to take a hand. He once acknowledged that in former days he was one of the best players that ever flipped a card, and he says that a cal- amity befell him once, and that was during his congressional term. He had had a phenomenal run of luck in Washington, but the tide of battle finally turned and he went up against it with a party of southern representatives. In re- lating to sympathetic friends the next day the circumstances of the game, the colonel admitted: “I lost just $5,000 last night worst of it was that §5 of it w But the in cash.” Colonel Ochiltree rolled into the Fifth Avenue hotel one day and began talking with former Senator Wilbur §, Saunders of Montana. “Ah! Senator,” he sald, “I see my old friends in the senate are standing by thelr What & horrible mistake the gold- made when they counted on tiring out the silver senators! Why, 'Ed’ Wolcott and ‘Santa Claus' Stewart and Jones and the rest of them were never known to go to bed until 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning plared poker with them for twenty hours at stretch, and (hem you bad to keep your eyes peeled or they would freeze you out 1 tell you when you try to put that crowd to sleep you have undertaken the biggest job & man ever had on his hands. I'll bet on the poker crowd every trip.” “I guess you're right, colos Senator Saunders, who knew a little about T've | the game himself. “Wolcott never sleeps. As for Jones, I belleve he can go a year without winking. One day he was criticising the adminis- tion of Mayor Strong of New York. He id the mayor had shown poor judgment— “and bis fault in this respect reminds me of Senator Jones' dog story,” he went on. “A ftellow out in Nevada, you know, had a dog—a bulldog, a flerce-looking brute— which his owner sald was the greatest fighter in the state. One day a settler pasesd through the town. Under his prairie wagon trotted a mangy cur. The bulldog saw him and started to eat him up. When the fight was over the cur was not much the worse for it, but the bulldog was a wreck. ‘I though your dog was a great fighter, Senator Jones? said the owner of the cur. “‘Well,’ was the reply, ‘he’'s a great hter, but he’ poor judge of dogs.' ™ A Chicago liar tried to outdo Colomel Ochlitree one day. He said he had just re- turned from the Carlsbad Springs, where he had experienced a miraculous cure. “You don’t say?"* said the colonel. “Yes, indeed,” rambled on the Chicago liar. “You see, I was suffering from liver complaint and after consulting the greatest physicians in America I decided to go to Carlsbad."” I never supposed you took any stock in water, ald Ochiltree, scornfully. “Neither I do, when it is plain. But I carried a flask of fine old Bourbon {n my 1 de pocket and when I reached the famous rings I kinder diluted the water so as to disguise its taste, and, will you believe me, the following morning I was entirely cured and when I woke up I found myeelf the possesor of a brand new liver.” ‘Bah!" that's nothfng,” Colonel “‘Tom" ejaculated. f you'll bellfeve me——*" jure,” yelled half a dozen listeners. f you'll believe me,” continued the Texan, unperturbed. “I had a Mver com- plaint the worst way and was a perfect martyr before I went to Texas to try to get cured. ““While there I met a man who had a new brand of pills known as the American Liver and Light Cure. Being a firm bellever in American remedies, I purchased a single pill, took it, and almost instantly possessed a tin liver with electric light kidneys. Home industries! gentlemen, home {ndus- tries—'" but they led him away to the cate. Colonel Ochiltree had many friends in both houses of congress and frequently spent weeks in Washington when congress was in session. One night he was sitting in a hotel talking with several friends, includ- ing Senator Hearst of California. Senator Hearst told a pathetic story of his overland trip to California in the days long before the war. He said he and his companions suffered many hardships, lacked food and frequently were In distress from lack of water. One day, when Mr. Hearst was feeling that he would die unless he had a drink, he, with his party, passed along a trail near a ranch house. A young red haired boy ran up to them with a tin pail of water. He handed it to Mr. Hearst. “The water was cold and fresh,” eaid Mr. Hearst, in telling the story, “and I never had a draught that did me so much good and for which I . 8o grateful. Many and many a time have I thought of that red haired boy and wished 1 could see him in order to tell him how RURAL FREE DELIVERY. 1 Extension of Service Re- warded as a Certainty, Chicago Tribune. The officials of the Postoffice department look forward now to the extemsion of rural free delivery throughout the entire United States. They have made their estimates as to what it will cost to deliver letters on every American farm or plantation in the sparsely settled and thickly settled parts of the country. The cost will not be trifiing. To deliver every rural American mail will take about $24,000,000 & year. Should the present service be extended at the rate of 12,000 routes a year until the 700,000 square miles of territory yet to be covered have been taken care of, there will be for several years an annual defleit In postal grateful I was and reward him. I'd give $10,000 if T could see him now,” the senator added earnestly. Colonel Ochiltree arose and bowed. “Senator,” he £ald, “you have a chance to realize your dream and to show your grati- tude. 1 was that red hafred boy PERSONAL NOTES. Mr. Frick and Mr. Carnegle are en- gaged in deadly strife as to who can give away the most money. A Brown university student once had the audacity to ask Prof. Caswell whether his name would not be as well without the C. New York will soon have & distinguished visitor in the person of the duc de Riche- lteu. He will spend saveral months in this country. Civil Engineer Robert E. Peary, the Arc- tic explorer, has been ordered to tempo- rary duty in the bureau of yards and docks, javy department, Washington, A pool room for women was raided the other day in New York and sixteen players say the re- ‘were over 60 years old.” Postmaster General Payne forbids fe- male clerks in his department to marry. He possesses greater courage than Gen- eral Corbin, who merely suggested that young army officers remain singl Alard Sheck, military attache of to owe his appointment to his close re- semblance to President Roosevelt, the Ger- man emperor having remarked this and suggested the brilllant young officer for the billet. A good many of the very rich young men of New York are among the busiest people belonging to Manhattan 4 instance, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Astor are continually at work inventing something or other, Harry Payne Whitney takes a deep Interest in bis father's bu ness, George Gould Is up te his walst in big affairs all the time, Clarence Mackay is carrying on bis father's extensive ents prises and J. P. Margan, jr., finds ample occupation iu representing his father in Losdon. revenues of from $8,000,000 to $10,000,000. The defloit will, it is asserted, disappear gradually as the revenues increase by rea- son of the improved postal facilities. Not many years ago rural free delivery was a questionable sort of experiment. The farmers, for whose benefit it was intended, did not in all quarters take kindly to it. They are not eager seekers after novelties, and the idea of abandoning the customary trip to the village postoffice for mail, a trip which gave them a welcome opportunity to gossip with nmeighbors and discuss erops and elections, was not altogether attractive to them. But they appreciate fully now t! advantages of the new departure. There is an increasing pressure for the establishe ment of rural routes, and the representa- tives of a country district who cannot s cure something in this line for his con- stituents runs the risk of losing his pepu- larity. 8o strong is the pressure for rural free delivery that the Postoffice department offi. cials are not dealing with a remote question when they prepare estimates of the gross cost of a complete rural service. But while the cost will be la it will not frighten Americans. Indeed, they are in the habit of looking unmoved on much larger appropriations for far less useful purpos It may well be that when the letter carrier makes his trips to every farmer’s gate the farmers will make a more ex- tensive use of the mails than they do now, and that the revenues of the department will expand as they have in the past when. ever better facilities have been provided. Even if this were not to be the cabe, the “general welfare” will be promoted by an expenditure which brings the farmers of the United States Into closer touch with the busy world, from which most of them are so far removed. A DODGING EXPLANATION. Railroad Officials Trylng te Justify the Freight Rate Grab. Minneapolis Times. Railway officlals do not deny the pro- posed increase in freight rates and natu- rally feel called upon to make some defen: or to offer some explanation. The latest and most widely used explan: tion (?) is to the effect that when the lea ing western rallway companies were found out in their evasion or disobedience of the law—that requires all freight rates to be open and published, or, rather, forbids the giving of special rates to one man that are not available to another—there were many secret tariffs in existence, that they were compelled to publish these secret tariffs, that this publication made them common property and in effect the ruling rates, that it is proposed to withdraw all these secret tariffs—evasion or disobedience of the law being no longer possible—-and to issue new ones that shall control generally. Granting that all this is true, wherein is the justice of raising the rates to the basis of January 1 of this year when it is patent to everyone that all the rallways under the operation of the lower or secret tariffts are making more money than ever before, are spending more in bet- terments than ever was dreamed of. feel justified in Increasing their obliga- tions by many millions, do not hesitate in so! instances to water their stock emor- mously, knowing that high dividends can rtill be paid on the increased aggregate? ‘Wherein {s the public service with which these roads charged conserved by rail- way managers whose sole purpose seems to be to make all the hay possible while the sun of prosperity shines? ‘When prosperity's sun is clouded or sets we will be told, as aforetime, that rates must be raised or at least kept as high as the traffic will bear because of the changed conditions, the tightness of money and the reduction in shipments. POINTED REMARKS, Detroit Free Press: Political Orator— ieed of the United ? you in, what is the orying need? Man In the Crowd—Paregoric! Washington Star: “So you were held up by bandits?" ‘'Yes, and that fsn't the worst of it. They simply took my money without detaining me long enough to give me a start as a magazine writer or a lecturer. Philadelphia Press: Tess—I don't see how she can be happy with a man like him. Ji h! but she says he since he's. been married. i Brooklyn Life: ““Well," sald Noah, as he hunted for a dry spot on the top of Ararat, f 1o the pler to ! I don't mee any of them around to poke fun at our home-coming." Yonkers Statesman: Bacon—You has Just got her third divorce? = o Egbert—Yes she is an enl| Tribune: *“Colonel, would lling me how you made your Chicagn mind ~ ] ret $1,0007" “Not at all. I made it by atte girictly to business—my own Dlsthes: you now." Chicago Tribune: The haser of the eligible town lots just inside the city limits went out to inspect his property. Ho looked at the spaclous pond that eov- ered his land, and listened awhile to the hoarse music of the bullfrogs. “Yes, darn you!" he exclaimed, 're right. 'I'm & ‘chump, chump, chump] Washingt n Star: a to coroplain tl ‘ou have the assu money was {llegiti- e Sonator Boi ANSWere: nator ‘“They violated ever; rinciple of ‘They told the voters {D rllt m; keep it, and then come INU'J much more for voting their SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, um. money and and gel et Ldttle Folk. ere was a littl 1 h The Hllle‘mlld:n'l"n_l::". Y 7on For maids in country and in town Are apt to be the sam Bhe went to bed at ‘Inldlmiakt @ le nig] Mfi i he Bhe aldn't know what to 00! She went downstairs and bre With many a frown and pout, Ang quarreled with the servants, while @ ordered them about; 8he made her little brother ery, gihen cried herselfshe knew e’ iave no fun beca Ehe didn't know what to dot 8he had more dolls than you ¢o She had & hundred toys. 0. Sount, And book shelves filied with handsome books For little girls and boys But yet she wouldn't play, be She didn’t know Whlpl to do!e. 8o all day long, fre “This fittie maid would agh " ont And mope and fret about thée house, Bhe fever cowid have any Fuy could have an Like little Bister A Because, with all he it Bhe dlan’t know -L‘I lo‘