Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 23, 1903, Page 6

THF ()MAHA DA!L} BEE: FKIDAY. JANUABY 23, 1903. THE UMAHA DAIDI BEE. B ROBEWATER, PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. Datly Bue (without Sunday), One Year.34.0) Daiiy Bee and Sunday, One 'Y (3] Lliustrated Bee, One Year Bunday Bee, O5e Year Baturday isee, One Year. Twentleth Century Farmer, DELIVERED BY, CARRIER. atly Bee (without Bunday), pet copy Daily Bee (without Sunday), per week ly Bee (inciuding Sunda: unday Bee, per copy Evoning Bec twithout Bunday), pe week 6o Evening Bee (ncluding gunday), pef Lumdylflnu ‘of "irreguiarities in ' deiivery should be addressed lu (_lly Circulation De- partment. OFFICES. Omalia—The Bee Bufldl Bouth Omaha—City Hall Gullding, Twen- ty-fifth and M Streets. 1v Pear] Street. ity ll\llldlng. ork—228 Park Row Building. ngton—1 Fourteenth Street. CORRESPONDENCE. Communications relating to news and ed- ttorial_matter should be addressed: Omaha Bee, Editorial Lepartment. STATEMENT Btate of Noprasks, uck, secretary of PUSHARIAE company, being Quly swOrh, that the actual number of full and_ com- lete coples of The Dally, Morning, Even- ng_and_ Sunday Beawyrlnltd during _the month of December, 1002, was as follown: HEBRREREEEEZEES Less un-oid and Nlurnod coples et total sales o rage AVerREe MG G . TZECHUCK, Subscribed In my presence and sworn to before me this Slst & iy of December, A (Eeal) fotary Public. e ———————— The suspicion s growing that the coal barous are simply playing for time —and winter time at that. A — Just now a municipal coal pile would be more satisfactery to men out of work than a municipal stone pile. —— All of which leads us to remark once more that there is no improvement Omaha needs quite so badly as a new first-class fireproof hotel The legislative committee on revenue and taxation will soon grapple with the question whether wireless telegraph lines should be assessed by the state board of assessors. ‘Why should Marcon! want to erect his experimental plant for wireless teleg- raphy between Italy and Argentine? Is he afraid the line might be overworked? . EEe————— No gallery visitor ever ventures to ery out “You le” at meetings of our municipal legislature, . That privilege is reserved for the city councilmen them- selves. e ' L R —————— The Postoffice” department will make an allowance for horse feed for the mounted létter carrlers at Lincoln. ‘Wonder if it would pay for fuel and repairs iIf the carriers discarded horse locomotion for automobile transporta- tion. pp——— For a good county officer a four-years' term Is none too long, but for a bad one, two years is more than plenty. If the term I8 to be lengthened, some quicker way should be provided for getting rid of incompetents or crooks than present impeachment methods permit. WES—— President Bliot of Harvard insists that before long none but educated men will rule the government. It behooyes us all, then, to get into the educated classes, and with universal education in free public schools there is no reason why such a rule should bar any one out. One thing the Colorado legislators are doing most successfully—they are laying up a whole lot of material to form the groundwork for a healthy junketing committee of Investigation when the eredentials of the new senator come to be fought over in the United States senate. e——— Venice Is spending a quarter of a million of dollars in an effort to save it historic bulldings from old age de- struction. Most of our progressive Amerigan cities would be improved if they would spend a like amount hasten- ing the destruction of their most historic structures. Ase—— The bee keepers of Nebraska have beld their winter meeting at the state capital, but if all the keepers of The Omaha Bee were to swarm to the capl- tal ety they would outnumber the per- manent as well as the translent popu- lation in the vicinity of Salt creek by several thousand. —_— It 1s sald that enforeing the law for the removal of the fences {llegally erected on the publie domain in the cattle raising district would work a hardship disproportionate to the benefits that would accrue to the public. The non- enforcement of the law to which the fllegal fencing of the lands is due is what has worked the hardship. Manager Kenyon of the South Omaha stock. yards and managers of stock yards' in other Missouri river cities are wasting a great deal of valuable time In reciting the Wrongs to which ship- pers and communities are being sub- Jected on the part of rallroads by reasqn of their anxiety to get the long from points west of the Missouri Obicago. The Interstate Commerce commission will listen patiently to their tale ‘of woe, but there it will end in smoke. The commission does not have @8 much power to enforce its findings as 8 Jgstios of the peace. BENATE FILE NO. ¥ The compiilsory Waterworks purchase bill has been railroaded throggh the senate without discussion as an emer- gency measure.. While strictly local in its scope and affecting only the tax- payers of Omaha and South Omaha, this bill violates a fundamental prin ciple of self-government. It Is, in fact, an Indictment of the intelligence and in- tegrity of the citizenship of Omaha and a public de<laration in favor of placing Omaba in the hands of a receiver, or appointing a guardian to protect it from itself. The sallent features of Senate File No. 1 are that Omaha must either buy the existing waterworks or build water- works of its own by legislative man- date. With this end in view the gov- ernor is empowered and directed to ap- point a water commission composed of six citizens, clothed with unlimited power to negotiate for the purchase of the waterworks now existing or to pro- with the construction of new watérworks, and when the purchase or construction 1§ completed to operate these works, purchase the supplies therefor, collect the rents and in fact hecome a government within the gov- ernment, responsible to nobedy and re- movable by nobody after they are in- ducted Into office. With the exception of issuing bonds already voted and voting more bonds hereafter for the consummation of the proposed purchase by the commission, Omaha 18 to have nothing to say about the management of the waterworks, which will involve an outlay of any- where from three to six millions until after the expiration of four years, when the governor-appointed commission s to glve way to a commission elected by its citizens on the gradual Install- ment plan. The dackey in that woodpile is the provision requiring the governor-ap- pointed water commission to appoint a water commissioner at any salary it may see fit to pay, and we betray no secret In saying that the progenitor of this scheme and author of Senate File No. 1 is to be the beneficlary with an income anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 a year. That this 1s to be the out- come If the bill should become a law in its present form may be judged from its context, which provides only such qual- 1fications Mr. Howell belleves him- self possessed of. In this regard Senate File No. 1 is decidedly ingenlous. The creator of the commission expects, of course, to be favored by the commis- slon, and to make sure of this result he makes it the paramount duty of the commission to appoint the water com- missioner immediately after its organ- ization, although by reason of litiga- tion, or by a failure to secure popular endorsement of the bonds the commis- sioh may have no waterworks to man- age or to plan for from six months to two years after the ipduction of the high-salaried water commissioner. .. If the people of Omaha can be trusted to elect an honest and capable board of water commissioners four years hence, why are theéy not equally com- petent to elect an honest commission before the negotiations for the water- works are submitted for their ratifice tion? Why should the citizens of Omaha be deprived of the right of home rule in the selection of a water com- mission so long as they have a right to elect thelr mayors, treasurers, comp- trollers, police judges and city councils? If it is right for the governor to ap- point a water commission for Omaha why not also empower him to appoint & water commission for Lincoln? Why not empower him to appoint the mayors and councils of all other towns In the state so as to Insure nonpartisan gov- ernment, on the lines lald down by Senate File No. 1? There might be some excuse for governor-appointed po- lice comndssions on the plea that the public safety demands the extension of police powers over large cities. But no Nebraska legislature has ever sought to deprive the citizens of any town or village of the right of self.government, which Is at the base of our entire fabric. Incidentally, and quite apart from its anti-American spirit, Senate File No. 1 18 crude and serlously defective in many particulars. It contemplates the pur- chase of waterworks on the three ap- praisers plan, which would expose the city to the risk of paying from one to two millions more for the works than they could be duplicated for, or force it into the quicksands and shoals of new construction on engineering esti- mates that may fall millions short by the time the city got through building. It ignores and rejects the right to pur- chase the plant by the condemnation process under eminent domain that would give the city the privilege of appointing all the appraisers and re- jecting the appraisement in case it is deemed too high. Under the provisions of the bill no appralsement of the works can even be submitted to the people without the ap- proval of the governor-appeinted water board. If this board should be in- duced, by fair means or foul, to balk the negotiations for the purchase of the works, no proposition could be sub, mitted to the people. While the bill empowers the board to compel the mayor and council by mandamus to submit a bond proposition, there is no pcwer given to the courts by the bill to compel the water board to take ac- tion In the premises, They are con- stituted a trust unte themselves. Not only is this close corporation to be above the mayor and council and it zenship of Owaha, but above the gov- ernor even. After it has once been Installed all vacancies are to be filled by It, and not belng removable for wmisdemeanors in office by the governor, or by anybody, it may be depended upen to hold the fort until the job which Mr. Howell is trylng to secure for himself has been anéhored. Under the provisions of Bea- ate! Flle No. 1 the water comumlseloner ceed cannot be rvmuvw! after the first year except for cause by less than a vote of two-thirds of the full board. There are other holes in that water works skimmer which should plugged before the bill passes the house The bill grants authority to the water commission to operate ten miles beyond the corporate limits of Omaha at its discretion, but nowhere the bill make provision for aceountability to South Omaha in collecting water rents, planting hydrants or extending water mains. That omission alone Insures nfficient litigation to complicate the ne- gotiations and acquisition of the water- works for months if not for years, The safe plan for the house of rep- resentatives would be to indefinitely postpone the bill or to recommit it to its parent for reconstruction on the lines of home rule and popular sover- eignty. be does THAT BOUNDARY QUESTION. In the national house of vepresenta- tives on Tuesday, during the debate on an appropriation bill, a democratic rep- resentative took occasion to discuss the Alaskan boundary question and to de- nounce the course of the State depart- ment as a cowardly surrender. He charged that the United States had truckled to Great Britain in the matter of the boundary dispute and stigmatized as pusillanimous the provisional ar- rangement entered into by our govern- ment with the British government. There are a great many who enter- tain this view, but it is erroneous and unjust. As a matter of fact there has been no surrender of American territory in Alaska and It is safe to say there will not be. When the Anglo-American commission failed to reach a decision on this question or to agree upon arbitra- tion, and the situation in Alaska became 8o acute as to threaten very serious trouble, the matter was taken up by the American and British governments. The diplomatic negotiations resulted in an agreement by which the existing status was to be maintained tempo- rarily, or pending a final adjustment, which it was understood would be sought at the earliest time practicable. In this our government yielded no part of the American clalm and made no surrender of territory. It pursued a concillatory course, as the circumstances called for, but there was no truckling to Great E.itain. It would have been an easy thing at that time to have aggra- vated the dispute, but we think every one who is capable of taking a fair and reasonable view of the question must conclude that the course pursued was the wiser one, as it Is not to be doubted time will demonstrate. Before that agreement a collision in Alaska between Americans and Canadians was im- minent. There was a very bitter feel- Ing on both sides and a very grave con- dition of affalrs. Since the agreement peace has prevailed and there has been | very little complaint. Meanwhile oyr government has beem prosecuting in- vestigations with reference to the boundary line, with results generally tending to more strongly confirm its claims. In the course of the house debate a New York representative expressed the opinion that there was no doubt of the title of the United States to the dis- puted territory. We know of no Amerl- can, certainly none in public life, who doubts it. Secretary Hay, who carried on the negotlations by which the exist- ing arrangement was effected, undoubt- edly belleves that our fitle to the dis- puted territory 1s good. The present administration, there is no question, so regards it and no one need have ady fear that it will favor the surrender of a single foot of American territory in Alaska. This question ought to be finally settled and disposed of in the near future. While not at present a source of frritation, it may become so at any time, therefore It should be removed from controversy. The course of our government in regard to the dispute has been conservative and conciliatory, but never truckling. —— NO RETROACTIVE EXTENSION. The state assoclation of county com- missioners has endorsed the proposed enactment of a law extending to four years the term of office of county clerk, county treasurer, county surveyor, county commissioner, county supervisor, county judge and sheriff. In other words, the legislature will be invoked and pressed hard to grant a retroactive extension of terms to all the county officers In the state, excepting alone county attorneys, justices of the peace | and assessors. On broad gauge lines all back-action legislation is perniclous and viclous. When the people elect an officer for a fixed term, he is entitled to serve out his term, if he behaves, but he has no rightful claim to a back-door extension by legislative enactment. With the ex- ception of county and city treasurers, all municipal and county officers are eligible to as many terms as the people are disposed to give them. The people rarely turn down a good officer for a second term, and often re-elect county and city officers a third or even a fourth time if they are exceptionally com- petent and efficlent. The only plausible excuse for the retroactive extension s that it would reduce election expenses and Improve the breed of office holders, but inasmuch as the state constitution requires one general election every year, we fail to see where any saving can be effected by retroactive extension. The proposition to change two-year terms Into four-year terms for the sake of Increased effi- clency by reason of experience is more than offset by the disadvantage of re- talning an incompetent, shiftless or dis- reputable officlal for four years when under the present system he can be got rid of In two years, Good men In public office are soon found out, and the people always appre- clate and are ‘willing to reward honest service well done, but they reserve to themselves the right to extend the term of any man they deem worthy and re- tire any man whose service is not sat- isfactory. ‘Why should tlu\ school board make a supplementary coal contract when the regular contractors are obligated by their agreement to supply all the coal needed at the prices bid or to stand the difference? The ordinary procedure where a contractor fails to live up to his contract is to procure the goods on the open market and hold him for the excess over. his figure. If the school board’'s contract Is not drawn so as to be binding, it 1s high time to get an at- torney to draw up forms that will stick. There is no question that the labeling of Nebraska in the geographies of twenty years ago as “the great Amerl- can desert” retarded its settlement. And the constant advertising of semi-arid regions where it takes twenty acres to feed one animal is equally subversive to population expansion. The truth is that only a comparatively small part of west- ern and northwestern Nebraska is semi- arid to that degree, but it will be diffi- cult to get possible Immigrants to look into the subject that closely. It is much easler to create new offices than to abolish old ones. The proposed creation of the office of matron of the penitentiary is simply another attempt to create a sinecure for somebody’s sis- ter, cousin or aunt. There have never been ten female convicts in the Ne- braska penitentiary at any one time and none so tender as to require the care of a special matron, If the belated passengers of the ocean liner St. Louls succeed in securing dam- ages from the owners for fallure to make the passage promptly, it will open up the same question with reference to delayed rallway passengers where the rallroad has no reasonable excuse for not keeping schedule time. What's law for the steamship will be law for the passenger train. No haste seems to be manifested to have that inventory of property belong- ing to county, eity and school district made. An inventory with proper records and checks might be an ob- stacle to the loaning of grading ma- chines, school books, stationery, chairs and desks belonging to the taxpayers to special friends of the authorities in charge. 1t is proposed for the city of Lincoln to take the school board out of politics by vesting the appointment of members in a commission named by the mayor. It is noteworthy that the idea that non- partisanship can’ be secured only by de- stroying home rule;and turning the local government oversto ‘the governor has 8t. Louts ‘Blobe-Democrat. As soon as government ownership of rafl- roads shall be determined upon, the first step should be to.take possession of the coal roads. The rest will come easy. Give the Reaper a Show. Baltimore American, Cleveland doctor wha, claims to “ave discovered the power of restoring life should be looked after. The possibilities «f some kinds of people liying indefinitely ure too appalling to contemplate with calmness. ‘ Successful Assimilation. Indianapolis New: Our fellow citizén, the sultan of Jolo, having died, it is up to us to forward our condolences, in wholesale lots, to his sor- rowing widows, who have suffered such an trreparable loss. His ways were not our ways, but no doubt he pald dearly for his perversity. Finest in the World. Chicago Chronicle. ‘That grand old patriot Gin'ral Grosvemor asseverates with emphasis that our con- sular officfals are the finest in the world. From the gin'ral's point of view this fs probably true, since, according to Con gressman Slayden, our consular representa- tives abroad can drink more whisky, man for man, than the agents of any effete despotism on the ma From Frying Pan to Fire. Minneapolts Journal. After all, why shouldn't the cattlemen put up packing houses and sell the finished product to the public? They have the cattle and the hogs and they have the capital, If they can make the prices right the public will patronize their $4,000,000,000 combine in preference to the little $500,000,~ 000 beef trust. The consumer may be jump- ing out of one trust into another, but the intermission of fair prices will be worth while. Divorce Industry Checked, Philadelphia Press. The declsion of the United States Su- preme court again upholding the divorce law of any state in regard to residents of that state is very encouraging. A Massa- chusetts citizen who went to South Da- kota and remained there six months to ob- taln @ divorce, and who married again, dled and his second wite claimed the right to administer the estate. The supreme court decides that she was not his wife, as the laws of Massachusetts, in which state he lived, did not recognize the divorce as legal. That is saifstactory in every way, as it upholds the Massachusetts courts. TRAGEDIES OF THE RAIL, Killing Apparatus of Steam Romds Working Overtime. New York World. Accident Bulletin No. 5, just issued at Washington, shows that in the three months ending last September 263 persons were killed and 2,613 injured in train acel- dents on the railroads of this country. In the first quarter of 1902 the corresponding dead numbered 212 and the injured 2,111 For the last three months in 1901 there was a death roll of 274 and the injured were 2,089, These returns, which come from the In- terstate Commerce commission, do not in- clude victims of accidents other than train wrecks. These multiply by three or four the death totals quoted. For instance, the grand totals in the qua ending with September last were 845 killed snd 11,162 injured. The lesson of these figures is plain. Care- ful conduct and safety provisions do not keep pace with expausion in our great ear- Fler aystems. KEEP IT BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE Nebraska Railroad Assessments—What They Have Been— What They Are—What They Should Be. Assessment County, for 1502, Adams Mites. cesee 13207 8 Antelope . Dintae Dox Butte 64,400.00 147,875.00 142,950.00 740,721.00 Boone .. Batler . Cass .. Cedar R3%,082.00 227,870.00 e Cherry Cheyenne Clay Colfax Cuming Custer Dakota Dawson Dawes . Deuel Dixon Dodge Douglas . Dundy ... Fillmore .. Franklia . Frontier . Furna 438,418.00 725,492.00 $32,942.00 181,600.00 284,055.00 288,5265.00 569,025.00 408,550.00 296,800.50 218,156.00 564,308.50 761,004.00 109,392.00 T81,400.00 205,008.00 128,520.00 258,400.00 760,710.00 16,485.00 £3,320,00 108,115.00 190,665.00 504,768.50 820,368.00 345,012.00 87,770.00 208,388.00 877,075.00 105,630.00 873,145.00 03,194.00 275,136.00 897,744.00 465,612.50 425,372.50 138,300.00 1,198,447.00 840,533.00 281,505.00 B8S,767.00 162,730.00 Garfiela Goaper . Grant Greeley Hanl . Hamilton Harlan . Hayes . Hitcheoek Jeflerson . Johnson Kearney Kelth ..., Kimball Lincoln . Madison Merrick Nance ... Nemaha 862,670.00 Nuckolls 596,828.00 . 3 532,185.00 wneoe 390,024.00 Perkins ... 175,400.00 181,5660.00 283,690.00 082,574.00 $4,870.00 217,079.00 306,060.00 115,600.00 567,817.00 ' 606,713.00 498,748.00 412,700.00 830,415.00 220,035.00 217,930.00 114,000.00 454,130.00 i16,550.00 04,400.00 154,255.00 267,000.00 227,700.00 814,837.00 11,760.00 443,622.00 Thurston Valley . Washington Miles. 132.07 tor 1002, 652,521.60 § 1,284,300.11 205,402.50 55,200.00 148,500.00 132,228.75 1,858,764.76 241,208.71 552,405.10 1,052,712.50 1,141,147.08 245,833.50 55,440.00 521,283.76 1,089,010.40 TT4,448.41 468,300.40 179,398.40 470,226.00 326,5628.86 1,214,446.00 865,308.78 525,506.40 814,085.88 785,025.35 1,067,805.52 762,322.82 834,188.38 527,878.48 $6,300.00 298,018.05 2,629,730.27 12,610,00 62,490.00 $2,670.00 308,471.60 1,046,540.71 1,108,240.58 710,832.00 87,770.00 639,252.98 816,086.25 00,540.00 1,270,854.20 1,161,201.79 001,002.53 467,800.44 815,452.80 711,164.40 167,456.78 2,820,812.11 1,201,686.80 467,187.33 1,022,166.28 717,491.60 985,520.44 775,076.18 1,848,585.55 878,998.05 18,40 40.02 28,50 181,456.00 491,133.00 K62,614.20 204,780.00 56, 440.00 405,756.00 609,366.00 645,810.10 272,494.00 144,688.00° 807,108.80 263,022.00 408,801.50 820,124.00 262,248.00 261,546.00 453,022.00 745,531.00 186,930.00 626.,924.50 185,861.00 110,848.50 252,297.00 763,042.00 12,676.80. 71,863.50 105,026.00 161,861.40 450,570,000 280,657.00 817,076.50 37,770.00 194,070.00 207,282.00 102,612.00 302,191.40 587,938.00 258,289.00 355,500.00 +06,596.00 854,858.00 120,824.00 1,205,867.20 735,694.50 215,099.00 518,018.40 118,790.00 862,211.00 517,119.50 525,453.00 869,377,00 151,282.50 156,767.00 206,620.00 465,608.00 76,648.00 200,678.00 401,097.00 83,232.00 527.578.20 581,679.00 847,001.80 £8,110.00 832,580.00 271,842.00 188,862.80° 170,542.00 85,960.00 415,504.50 118,220.00 87,778.00 146,944.40 239,800.00 236,808.00 287,358.60 10,214.40 853,262.00 &R0 03.60 00.70 26.70 56.07 81.80 107.09 41.54 127.86 40.34 a3an 6287 17136 417 20.88 80.80 61,85 7406 66.33 8156 12.690 49.16 77.6% 30.18 91.20 11941 68.40 70.52 41.52 36.21 27.08 228.16 108.35 58.48 ' #26,559,602.70 Aversge assessment per mile, 1902, FPairly assessed, would be The figures above presented are carefully compiled from reports of the state auditor, the bulletins issued by suthority of the raflroads ‘and. the reports to-thelr stockholders published within the past year. These 'documents afford conclusive proot that the aggregate true value of rallroads in Nebraska based on net earnings. after deducting operating expenses, betterments and taxes paid, exceeds $812,000,000. An fnspection of the table herewith presented shows just how much each county bas lost by gradual reduction of the railroad assessment within the past ten years, the aggregate apportionment of railroad aesessments to each county for the year 1902 and what the aggregate assessment should be if the raliroads were assessed at one-sixth of their value based on net earnings. which constitute less than one-sixth of the that b not reported met earnings, entire railroad mileage in the state, property. is based upon The appralsement of rallroads the ‘value of their tangible BITS OF WASHINGTON LIFE, \ Minor Scenes and Incidents Sketched | on the Spot. Senator Vest signalizes his approaching retirement from public life by tendering to the library of the University of Missourl a bound copy of every public document which has come to him during his twenty-four years in the senate. The glft will embrace 900 volumes of the most valuable publica- tions {ssued by the government in that time. In the collection s a eomplete set of the Congressioffal Records, from the be- ginning of the government until this time, the earlier numbers belng now out of print, and many historical, scientific, agricultural and books upon other subjects, many of which cannot now be purchased anywhere. “While I had the right to sell these books,” sald Mr. Vest, “I do not think it proper, after my term of office expires, to appropriate to myself the proceeds of such the Intention of the act of con- gress was to furnish senators and repro- sentatives with information which would enable them to legislate properly. Under the circumstances I thought the most ap- propriate disposition of these volumes was to donate them to the State University of Missourl, where 1500 young Missourlans can obtaln from them a complete history of our government and its workings.” Representative Fitzgerald of New York had the pleasure of escorting a bride and bridegroom—"two constituents of ~min as he designated them—about the city t other day. They had come fo Washington on a wedding trip from Brooklyn, and were desirous of seeing all the sights, After the rounds had been made Mr. Fitzgerald threw out his chest with some pride that he could nd then remarked with “If you would like to see the president of the United States I will take you to'the White House and in- troduce you. Not the slightest interest was awakened by this offer. The bride looked at the bridegroom with a quizz expression of indifference, and the bride- groom waved the offer aside with a doubttul shake of his head. “We don’t kmow who the president 1s," he declared in the broken English of o' Norsemad, “but we would much like to see Senator Knute Nelson He, we know, is the biggest man in the government.” Mr. Fitzgerald lost no time in calling, Senator Nelson into the Marble | room, and there the bride and bridegroom were completely happy talking their native tongue with the statesman from Minnesota. A New England senstor’s fair constituent 1s enraged with him for not burrying her pension eclaim, reports the Washington Post. She has written him a tart letter, wherein she expresses herself in this terse and_picturesque fashion: “This beautiful government, for which my husband gave his health and for which we lost our home, requires a good wife and mother months and years to keep swearing and swearing to even her marriage and other things too numerous to mention. I wish the whole Pension department was obliged to go, as I do, without their over- coats or decent underclothes. I wish 1 held the reins to keep their rightful pay from them until they were purple as any old damson.” Of course, the semator will now “bump himself” to secure this fair constituent a sufficient pension. Last winter Miss Alice Roosevelt was compelled by her delicate health to decline many soclal inyitations, but this season she is making up for lost time. The othe. morning about 2 o'clock & solitary police- man was parading near tl it ;}lfl ot the White House. The rain was coming down in torrents and to cheer himself the officer was humming, “Alice, Where Art Thou?t" A passer-by halled him. “Oh, Miss lice is out again,™ id the policeman, ‘and T hitve to walt until she comes home, for this gate can never be closed till all the family are in the house. More's the Pity, shefs out nearly every night now." A vinegary old woman called Senator Morgan to the Marble rogm to ask about a claim. As the senator stood talking to her he no- ticed Senator Mason chatting gayly with half & dozen young women. “How 15 it, Barney,” asked Senator Mor- gan plaintively of Assistant Bergeant-at- Arms Layton, after his visitor had left, “that 1/hayeita see )} the old heus when Mason soes the youus chickal BLOW AT DIVORCE MIL Dakota's Thriving Industey Gets I in the Neek. Chicago Inter Ocean. The United States supreme court's de. clsion in the Andrews case would eevm te have dealt an Indirect but eevere blow te the divorce mills of South Dakota and some other states The contest arose over property bequeathed by Cha drews ““to the wife of my son, Andrews.” Annie Andrews, wite, and Kate H. Andrews, divorced wite, claimed the The Massachusetts courts Charles 8. Andrews had gone to South Dakota merely to get rid of his wife, the courts there never obtained Jurisdiction over this citizen of Massachusotts, and that Kate H, Andrews was never ‘divorced and was the helr of her husband’s Massachusetts H. An- the the slate 1d that eince alloged The United States supremo court sweop- Ingly sfMirmed the exclusive contral of the states over the narriages aud diverces of thelr citizens. No temporary chunge ot residence for the purpose of evading a state’s laws, it held, could deprive the state of that control. It aleo held that the Federal constitu- tion was in no way involved, for the son that congress never had been given power to regulate marriage and divorce. Hence the agitation for a national mar- riage and divorce law s evidently futile, since & constitutional amendment would firet be required. States which disbelieve in. easy divorce can evidently make the decrecs of (he South Dakota and other divorce mills prac- tically warthless to their eitizens. Under the Andrews decision it is cpen to either party to such a diverce to attack its validity at any time in any sigte from which the other party may have tempo- rarily emigrated to secure the decree, PERSC oT No member of congress is s successful in keeping his views out of the papers as Senator Allison of Iowa, Pullman sleeping cars are now numbered instead of named. The breakfast foods have copyrighted all of the protty names. Adrian C. Anson, the well known base ball captain, Is a candidate for city treas urer of Chicago on the democratic ticket. European countries are complaining of the increased number of old maids. Next to grass widows the old matds now con- stitute the largest part of the old world pepulation. Ohicago bas at last found & legitimate reason for clivilized man's settling in its Ighborhood. The death rate for 1902 has reached the low water mark of 13,85, Pure water and hard work did it. Andrew Langdon, president of the Buf- falo (N. Y.) Historical society, has pre- sented to that city a copy of the bronze statue of David, by Michael Angelo, which will be erected in one of Buffalo's parks Five American ambassadors to forolgn courts are graduates of Harvard. They are Joseph H. Choate, Horace Porter, Charle- magne Tower, George Von L. Meyer, Bel lamy Storer, who represent the United States respectively at London, ‘Paris, St. Petersburg, Rome and Vienna. A mi ssive and costly monument to mark the last resting place of Bret Harte has just been erected in Frimley church yard, Surrey, England. His grave 8 in the north- eastern part of the church yard snd around it have been planted & number of young fir trees. The monument consists of a mas- sive slab of white grahite, welghing two and a half tons, on which is placed a block of Aberdeen RIAITs, AIGHIHE UpWard in the form ot a' cross. Simplicity ft olf 18 the inscription: “Bret Harte, At May 5, 1902; Death Shail Reap No Binses Harv MILING REMAR) iy here are you going for the winterr: tere. I can get enough of it here.— cwmua Plain Dealer, Her Friend—Didn't-you play an engage- ment at Saratoga last summer? Soubrette—Oh, Thag was with Archie Flipchap. Poor fellow! e thought It wis lous.—Chicago Tribune. "Do you take’ this internally?’ adked gustomer asihe put the Boitlg) in”his puck t and handed over the chan “Me?" #aid the Artugilst’s new assi “Great Scott, no! I sell ft’ —Plalu ¢ odu\ last 98,1 bt Datord gofhg to re in the house.’ vhucky man!” exclatmed i"’n}udl “In_the ok stove or ithe heater?'—Ine lis iy e e Inhm My wife wes n night,” sadd Jink: bed we discovere duate T am going nt_and, write for M amph, :nhn' yon ought'to bb success- ful. That's al d the four years you spent in couen '~Punch Bowl, "Yel. father, when I {o foliow, my literary wIs he‘such a poor shot, then?" “Poor shot!” exclainmed Dangerous Dan scornfully. ““Well, rather. Why, say, ust as soon havé him shoot at me when o's, sober ae whem he's drunk.”—Chicago s “It's all your own fault,” exclaimed the deacon to the minister who was compliin- ing that his salary was not large enough. you don't get enough to pay you for the sermons you preach you have only to shorten the sermons. ‘ashington -Star. “Whew!" exclaimed Nuwed, “what's the matter with (his mince pie?" Nothine: repliod bis ‘wite, who'was a while ribboner. “I followed vour moth recipe, ucer* where it called for bran: ). I put'root beer in instead.”’—Phijgdelphia Press. CINDERELLA ON SKATES. Minna Irving in New York Times. In a worn satin hood and a !hnbby old cloak And a dress that had long been outgrown, Apart from the girls in theft teathers and She quietly skated ajone They laughed at the quaint littls figure she made, And pagsed her with glances of scorn, "Till she darted away like a swallow The infinite blue of the morn. As swift as an arrow she gracefully s, O'er the smooth, shining floor of th Leaving crosses and stars, and the lnes of her name On the glittering foe In her wake. The scant woolen skirt in its shortness revealed The trimmest of falrylike feet, And the fur-bordered hood was a - frame for her face That was as pink as a rose and as sweet. The lads as they looked left the circle of Eirl 7o follow the faded blue hood, And the tallest came forward to walk with her home, Through the shadows and smow of tho wood. He wedded the lass, and in sables and silks Bhe rides in her carriage today, But she tenderly treasures o biue quilfca With & moth-eaten border of gray. Every Day’s Iloiay means eyesight. We provide glasses to meet every défect of vision and our charges are moderate. J. CHUTESON & €O added danger to your health and