Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, March 12, 1903, Page 6

I THE OMAHA DALY BEE E. ROSEWATER, EDITOR. PUBLIPHED EVERY MORNING. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION Dally Bee (without Sunday), One Year $4.00 Daliy Bee and Sunda e ¥ (¥4 ustrated Bee, One 1% =undn)' l“‘lv. 'v:r )h‘l_r 4 . i aturaay Bee, One Yea Sis Twentleth Century Farmer, One Year.. 1.00 DELIV ED BY CARRIER. - Dally Bee (without SBunday), per copy.. ¢ Daily Bee (without Sunday). per week..Lic Dally Bee (Including Sunday), per week r‘»: Bunaay Bee, per copy sqesivsoavobus O H\'rnmyl Bee (without Sunday), per week 6c Evening Bee (including Sunday), per week . o Complalitts of ifregularities 'in delivery Ihoulllpbe aadressed to City Clrculation De- tment. by ) OFFICES. Omaha—The Bee Bullding. Bouth Umaha—City Hall Buflding, Twen- p-fifth and M Street B tnell Blufts—10 Pear] Street. 1640 Unity Bullding. York—2828 Park Row Hullding. hington—1 Fourteenth Street. CORRESPONDEN o Communications relating to and ed- ftorial matter should be addressed: Omaha Bee, Editortal Department REMITTANCES. i it by draft, exptess or postal order, -fl-:'gu V5 e Bee Puhlishing Company, dnly 2-cent stamps accepted in payment of mail accounts. Personal checks, except on Omaha or eastern exchange, not accepted. THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY. STATEMENT OF CIRCULATION. State of Nebraska, Douglas County, s8. George B. Tzachick, secretary of The Publishing Company, being duly sworn, says that the actual number of full and complete coples of The Dafly, Morning, Evening and Bunday Bee printed during the month o February, 1903, was s 20 30,570 Total ¢ Less unsold and returned coples. 0,364 Net total sales. Net average sale . 80,145 GEORGE B. TZSCHUCK. Bubscribed in my g.e'enca and sworn to 25th day of February, A. D. B % B HUNGA'TE, (Seal,) Notary Public. It 1s a safe proposition for every legislator to vote agalnst every measure be does not understand. — Douglas county commissioners do not appear to take much interest’in the question of Interest on county funds. It turns out that that Bartley cigar box mever bad a lid on it. But wil that make it easier to get at the con- tents? $ S——————— Douglas county willingly sends to the state penitentiary the execution scaffold no longer required here—and it doesn't care If It never comes back. . — What property is worth for sale and income it Is worth also for taxation. That is the rule applied to individual taxpayers, and why not also to the rail- roads and the other big corporations? —— Oplnlon prevalent at Washington is to the efféct that the extra session of the senate will come to a close by the end of next week. The rest of the country would be glad to share in this oplnion. e A Jersey preacher will attempt to prove that St. Patrick was a Baptist and not a Romanist. It would be well for him, however, to draw the line at trying to disprove his Irlsh nationality. Does any one imagine the railroad lobby at Lincoln would not be fighting the proposed revenue bill if it in any way Interfered with the enjoyment by the roads of the immunity from taxa- tion they now possess? e When the opposition to the merger of city and county governments is traced down to its sources It will be found to be inspired by two motives—the cor- poration mania to shirk taxes and the politician itch for salaried office. Emp————— No political party has any copyright on tax reform. The demand for equal taxation of railroad property with other property should command the support of every consclentious and honest mem- ber of the leglslature irrespective of poiitics. e President Cliarles M. Schwab of the United States Steel trust has been sighted in Parls on the eve of his re- turn departure for the United States, looking the plcture of health. A man coming back to a million dollar job from which he came so near being dis- located ought to look the picture of health. —_— The death of “Paramount” Blount seems to have created scarcely a ripple in the sea of public opinion, although for a short while only a few years ago he occupied a place at the very front of the political stage. The explanation doubtless is that there has been a long succession of paramount issues Blount was paramount, since Governor Garvin of Rhode Island de- clares that bribery is so common in that state that many members of the legis- lature occupy seats attained by the pur- chase of votes and thereupon calls upon the legislators in question to institute an inquiry to detect the bribery and prose- cute the bribe givers. This is very much like asking the lawmakers to help find evidence agalost themsely e——————— While the school board is revising its rules, 1t might also- incorporate a few restrictions on the irresistible disposi- tion of members to use the influence of thelr positions to procure the appoiat- went or promotion as teachers and ewu- ployes of their own relatives or depeud- ents. The law prohibits members from being pecuniarily loterested directly or indireetly In school contracts and they ought .to be prohibited likewlse from belug pecuniarily interested in the em- ployment of teaching and janitor focce. DISTRIBUTION THAT DORS NOT DIS- TRIBUTE. The distribution of rallroad property values on a mileage basis for taxation purposes may be eminently sound, but under the methods pursued in the as- sessment of Nebraska rallroads the dis- tribution has been a delusion and a snare, The railroads of Nebraska coustitute integfal parts’ of several systems that have been merged and capitalized as a unit. The Burlington system, for ex- ample, includes from . twenty-five to thirty railroads, chartered in Illinols, Towa, Nebraska, Missouri and Minne- sota, under various names. Some of these rallroads, like the Atchison & Ne- braska, were competing lines. Others are lines constructed by the original Burlington company under different names. All of these rallroads are welded together and operated under one general management. The stocks of these various companies have been ex- changed for Northern Pacific and Great Northern 4 per cent bonds at 200 cents on the doliar regardless of their original value. In other words, the Burlington Eystem has become one and indivisible both in its capitalization and operation. and, therefore, under the unit system should be assessed as one property and pay taxes for every mile of its line in proportion of the total mileage to the caplitalized value of the system. ' The Burlington system In Nebraska comprises 2,416 miles of road. and the proportion this mileage bears to the ag- gregate capitalization of the entire sys- tem - constitutes its value for taxation. A correct and honest distribution of the value of the Burlington system on the mileage basis would entitle each county and school district to have fits exact pro rata of the total value of the capi- talization in proportion to the number of miles of Burlington rafiroad In the county or school district under what- ever name it may have been originally chartered. But under the present method of dis- tribution In Nebraska the Burlington system Is subdivided into fifteen rail- roads, each having a different mileage valuation, without reference to the cap- italization of the system. It has been the custom of state boards to assess the 191 miles of Burlington road from Plattsmouth to Kearney as the main line and credit it with the bulk of the traffic, although everybody knows that the main line of the Burlington does not terminate at Kearney, but extends westward from Hastings on to Denver, while another main line extends to a connection with the Great Northern at Billings. While the main line is pre- sumed to extend from Plattsmouth to Kearney, it is not credited with the valuable terminais at Omaha, which are all presumed to be distributed to the so- called Omaha Southwestern road, that figures on the map as a road fifty miles long, but in fact is as much a part of the main line as the line from Platts- mouth to Lincoln. The upshot of all this juggle is that only five of the South Platte counties are credited with main line valuation, while the other thirty- elght counties are credited merely with branch line assessments at from $3.500 to $4,000 per mile. ‘What is true of the Burlington Is {rue also of the Union Pacific. The Union Pacific system is capitalized as a unit at more than $100,000 per mile. Tts stocks and bonds cover the entire sys- tem, whether it was formerly incor- porated as the Omaha & Republican Valley road or Black Hills line, and by rights the, value of the whole system in Nebraska should be distributed on an absolutely equal mileage basis instead of being distributed as now at $9,800 per mile from Omaha to the Wyoming line, and one-third of that valuation to the counties traversed by the Omaha & Republican Valley road. Under the present jughandle assess- ment system the terminals at Omaba are presumed to be distributed to the countles on the line from Omaha to Sidney, whereas they shoyld be dis- tributed over the entire system on ex- actly the same value per mile as the line from Omaha westward. In the lunguage of John N, Baldwin, under the unit system of taxation, “Each mlile of the line that contributes to the bullding up of the terminals in Omaha should have an ecual proportion of the value of the terminals for taxation purposes.” This would be honest and sound dis- tribution for state, county and school distriet taxation. Every attempt to separate the trunk lines from the bal- ance of the system is simply an ingen- fous scheme to msullify the principle of unification in order to exempt a large percentage of the eapital represented by railronds from its just share of taxa- tion. This does not, however, cover the taaation of rallroad terminals and im- provements for municipal purposes which cannot be distributed, but should be assessed the same as any other class of property ASPECTS OF THE LABOR SITUATION. While labor is well employed through- out the country, there is u good deal of unrest among wage earners and some aspects of the situation are rather dis- quieting. Threatenea strikes are more than ordinarily numerous and some of these, should they oeccur, could not fail to have an effect injurious to the gen- eral prosperity. It is reported that preparations are being made for a strike in the building trades throughout the country on May 1, which may Involve 500,000 workmen. It is easy to under- stand that this would be a very serious matter, for a general strike of men In the bullding trades would affect numer- ous industries and force out of employ- ment a great number of other workmen. In other divections dissatisfaction with existing conditions is being shown and there is apprehension that the_coming summer may witness an unusual ex- tent of labor disturbances, . . The explanation of this situation Is found in the iucreased price of con:- THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: modities, with which the advance In wages in most industries has not kept pace. This leads the working classes to feel that they are not recelving thelr share of the prevailing prosperity. It is not a groundless view, at leas. as to many of them, but will they better their conditfon by resorting to Industiial war. farer That Is a question which would scem to be worthy of thelr serious con sideration, since it is a pretty well established fact that widespread labor troubles are productive of industrial prostration. The situation plainly sug gests that the era of general peaceful relations between capital and labor is still remote and that there yet de- mand for the most earnest efforts of those who are anxious to prombdte In- dustrial peace. It is a very simple mat- ter to theorize on the subject and to say that harmony between employers and employes Is essential to business success and the general welfare, but It s ex- tremely difficult to find a practicable way of securing this most desirable con- dition. As it is the ehief if not the only menace to a continuance of prosperity is the danger of widespread labor con- filcts. S —— UBSERVING THE LAW. There appears to be a general de- termination on the part of the railroads of the country to observe the anti- rebate law in letter and in spirit. Such actlon as has been taken in this direc- tion indicates that at last rallway man- agers have concluded that it will be wise and expedient to obey the acts of congress and that it will be to their in- terest and advantage to do so can need no demonstration. In his recent report the president of the Pennsylvania rail- road sald that the better class of rail- road men were doing all in their power to maintain echedules. THey have found it profitable to do this and with the additional incentive of the Elkins act they may reasonably be expected to adhere to this policy. It is said that the organizations of shippers which secured the enactment of the anti-rebate law are beginning to fear that they have not bettered them- selves. There is distrust, it is stated, of the efficacy of the measure and it is! pointed out that {ts evasion is easily possible in several ways. The sugges- tion is made that so long as the rail- roads have a greater demand upon thelr facilities than they can meet there is little danger of the law not being obeyed, but whenever times change and the roads are anxious for traffic the law is likely to be evaded. That is a possi- bility about which shippers need not now disturb themselves. No one can tell with certainty how long the exist- ing prosperity will last. The conditions seem favorable to its continuance for several years. Yet a change may come within a year. All that can be nsked or expected Is assurance that the railroads mean to observe the law and whenever it shall be found that they are not doing so it will be time to question the efficacy of the statute and consider what additional legislation may be required. The anti-rebate law has increased the powers of the Interstate Commerce com- mission in a very important degree. It has given that body an authority con- siderably greater than it before pos- sessed and which If properly exercised should keep every rallroad in obedience to the law. The act Is comprehensive and its provisions are clear and cannot be misunderstood. The receiver of a rebate may be punished as well as the glver. It 1s a misdemeanor to accept as well as to grant a rebate. The law thus applies to shippers as well as to the common carriers and is rendered doubly strong thereby. Evasion of the law Is of course possible, but the danger of this 1s minimized when the shipper may become involved with the corpora- tion in a prosecution. Good results from the anti-rebate act are promised and can be confidently expected, but there 18 still required of the commission due vigllancé and care to see that the law is observed In all respects. SpT— BUDY BLOW TU GREATER OMAHA. Omaha is beset by foes from within and foes from without. Every city of Omaha's commercial standing and popu- lation has been striving for expansion 80 as to make the most favorable show- ing of commercial growth and popula- tion. Greater New York has not only absorbed Brooklyn, but other neighbor- Ing towns and villages that aggregate more than one milllon in population. Chicago has annexed the towns within & radius of more than fifteen miles and today covers an area of 180 square miles. Cleveland, Detroit, Loulsville, Indianapolis, Denver and scores of other cities have expanded within recent years by annexation of adjacent terri- tory. Omaha has not only falled lamentably in its ambition to overtake ri cities, but has suffered Irreparable injury by the padded census of 1890 that placed Omaha in the retrograde column in 1900 with a deficit of over 40,000 population. That damaging advertisement would have been averted but for the selfish, shortsighted intérference of certain franchised corporation managers, that have defeated every effort to give Omaha home rule and enlarged bound- arles. This cut-throat policy they have again repeated in the present legislature in securing the defeat of the proposed con- stitutional amendment that would have opened the way for the annexation of South Omaba and an eventual consoll- dation of city and county governments. The uprising against the annexation of South Omaha and the Intrusion of fifty or sixty remonstrants in the state capitol was all worked up for the occa- sion and the extraordinary complaisance awith which the state senate lifted the amendment bill out of its place in the calendar in order to satisfy the clamor- ous anti-annexationists was part of the play. It does mot take & mind reader to THURSDAY, MAR 12, 1903 guess who paid the fare for these patriots to rush to Lincoln and who assisted them so cleverly and ex- peditiously from behind the screen. On the one hand, two franchises are worth more than one franchise, and, on the other, the game of shuttlecock and battledore before tax commissioners can be more successfully played than it all | the property of a corporation were located within the boundaries of one city. South Omaha has, moreover, granted a franchise to an independent telephone company. The annexation of South Omaha would have given the independ- ent telephone company an entrance into Omaha, and the Bell Telephone com- pany wants no competitors, conse- quently it wants no annexation. Is it any wonder that Omaha Is not able to catch up with its rivals in the race for supremacy ? e— The biennial report of the auditor of Nebraska for 1882 shows that the total raflrond mileage in this state was 1,944, assessed for $12,680,670, or $6,510.76 per mile, In 1002, 5704 miles of railroad in Nebraska were assessed for $26,422,- 732, or $4,636.92 per mile. Assessed at the mileage rate of 1882 the valuation for 1802 would have been $37,197,880, or $10,775,148 more than the rallroads were assessed for last year. Within twenty years the raflroad mileage has not only trebled, but the value of every mile of rallrond in Nebraska has more than doubled. With nearly three times the mileage returned twenty years ago, the assessed valuation of the roads In Ne- braska is only a small fraction more than double. When the primary election bill which Is belng pushed through the legislature by the Douglas delegation is carefully scrutinized it may be discovered that 1t dors not merely contaln safeguards ‘aganst afidavit voting and imported voters at primaries which could have becn prevented by an enforcement of present election laws, but it will be found to also contain provisions de- signed to promote factional schemes of disfranchisement. It certainly would be very strange that the delegation which owed its nomination to the lawless prac- tices complained of should be so anxious to prevent their repetition. B Senator Gorman has set for himself as the leader of the democrats in con- gress the task of bringing about party harmony as the first essential to revive party spirits in anticipation of the next national campaign. On the other hand, Colonel Bryan seems to have had him- self designated to see to it that no har- mony of the Gorman brand is accepted by his Kansas City platform following. It will now be in order for some self- appointed peacemaker to appear who will undertake to harmonize Gorman and Bryan. If the very letest-charter revision goes into, effect on?‘.‘i‘ Wil be subdivided into thirteen 'wards, providing always that the franchised corporations will permit the city council to add six more councilmen to their own number, and providing further that the nine future councilmen of Omaha will consent to decrease the value of their own im- portance to the corporations in propor- tion to the increase in the total number of councilmen, The bill authorizing railroads of Ne- braska to place an unlimited amount of mortgages upon their properties has passed the house. What emergency there is for such legislation has not yet been disclosed, but there is a well- grounded suspicion that this measure is designed to legalize the conversion of stocks Into bonds a la Burlington and Northern Pacifie. E——— There is a provision in our ecity cbar- ter which makes every councilman re- sponsible on his bond for any appropri- atious voted In excess of the. revenues of the clty agalnst which the warrants way legally be drawn. If this provision were enforced once or twice the council would not be so reckless in voting money for all sorts of things without the funds in sight to pay the bills. E—————— Senator Cullom is sald to have been taken severely to task for discussing in open session business .that should be ‘transacted in executive session of the senate. It would be a good deal better if all of the senators should make the same mistake and quit the farce of sitting behind closed doors altogether. The secret session has long since lost every excuse for its continuance. S—— And now one of the Spanish cabinet ministers wants to hold a post mortem on the remains of the Maine to find out what was the cause of its sinking and whether the responsibility for its de- struction was properly laid at Spanish doors. So far as Spain s concerned, it might be a good plan for it to revise the old motto Into “Forget the Maine.” Follows One Flag Only. Chicago Chronicle. The latest political insanity is the pro- posal to guarantee to Canada profection under the Monroe doctrine. Before that proposal can be seriously considered Canada must decide under which flag it would like to be protected. The Monroe doctrine follows only one fi Why They Stick Tomether. Boston Transcript That the Unitdd States government has spent something like §75,000,000 on the transport service out of and Into San Fran- clsco helps to explain how the California conferential delegation has come to stand 50 solidly with Providence in carrying out the work of benevolent assimilation. Let Consumers Rejolce. Indianapolis News. The $100,000 that Armour & Co. hope to save in telegraph tolls by establishing a wireless system of their own will be no concern of the consumer. The packers need all the money they can get, and when put to It, can gemerally get all they need Meantime, we think longingly of the por- terhouse while we eat the chuck. THE NEW ELECTORAL COLLEGE. Effect of the New Apportl the Votes of States. New York Sun ment The presidential election of 1904 will be the first held under the al- tered representation of states in the electoral college and the changed division of delegates to the two national conventions based upon it. At every previous election held following a new apportionment the chief gain in rep- resentation has gone to the states in the west. It will not be so in 1904, There will be no addition to western rep- resentation through the admission of new states, the defeat of all statehood meas- ures in congress leaving the number the same as in 1896 and 1600. In the whole territory west of the Mis- sissipp! the gains In electoral representa- tion will be one member in California, one in Colorado, three in Texas, one in North Dakota, one in hington and one in Missouri, eight In all. The eastern states gain twenty electors. The political importance of the trans- Mississippi territory seems likely to be fur- ther diminished by the practical elimina tion of certain formerly “doubtful state: In 1900 Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Mon- tana, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota and Washington had democratic or fusion gov- ernors, and the state administrations were generally in the control of the democrats or fusionists. At present the only states in the west having democratic governors are Montanay Nevada and Oregon, and Montana and Oregon were carried by the republicans at the last election by 10,000 and 15,000 majority respectively. Nevada is the one state in this whole vast west- ern territory which on the strength of the last election could be classified as “‘doubt- tul. New York will have in 1904 thirty-nine electoral votes, a gain of three. SCOPE OF 1D ARATION ACT. Likely to Have a Wider Effect Than Congress Intended. Philadelphia Press. The new immigration law appears to have a much wider scope than congress intended. It provides “that for the purposes of this act the words ‘United States’ as used in the title as well as in the various sections of this act shall be construed to mean the United States and any waters, territory or other place now subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” This seems to extend the law over Porto Rico, Hawallan lelands, Philip- pine islands, Alaska, Guam and Tutuila. These are all under the jurisdiction of the United States, and while this point was not mentioned in the discussion of the subject to either branch of congress, the wording of the law apparently leaves no room for doubt. There is no reason why this act should not apply to the United States and all ter- ritory under its jurisdiction excepting the difficulty in carrying it out. The $2 head tax s not necessary for some of theso islands, to which thousands of persons go, not to settle, but to labor, and their labor fs needed. This 18 the case in the Hawallan islands in particular. provided for to extend the law over these various islands, and that would require im- migration officlals and conveniences. The such as the Philippine commission, now look after immigration in their respective epheres, but the mew act, which to a large extent codifies the laws on the subject, puts this work all under the Treasury department, which now has noth- ing to do with the Philippine islands. The provisions of the law excluding per- sons who have been or are insane, profes- sional beggars, anarchists, contract labor- or those who are physically disabled, and the fines inflicted on any person bringing to this country an allen affiicted with a loathsome disease will make the en- forcement of the law more difficult. As it will not be easy to apply the law to the Canadian border, Canadlans being exempted from the head tax, immigration by way of Canada will probably greatly increase. The emigrants leaving Europe for Canada are much more numerous now than ever before; but a,large proportion of them evidently g0 to Canada for the express purpose of getting into the United States with com- parative ease. The $2 head tax will help the Canadian steamship lines, which will not have to pay the tax. Immigrants from forelgn countries might well be excluded trom coming to the United States by way of Canada. PERSONAL NOTES. Senator Clark's first corner was in bak- ing powder. He, had all the stuff in sight in one of the early Montana mining camps. Governor John L. Bates of Massachusetts has been elected president of the newly formed Old-Home Week assoclation in his state. B ¥ An automobile out in California ran away the other day just as Admiral Schley ap- proached. Is it possible that the chaut- feur was a Spaniard who didn’t know the war was over? Paul St. Peter is to be president of the Window Glass Workers' association. It there s anything in a name he should be able to derive large profits from the stained glass window part of the trade. Lord Dundonald, speaking last week at the annual meeting of the Canada Dominion Artillery assoclation, sald that guns of that country were only fit for scrap iron and the department correspondingly weak in every way. Because the inhabitants of Scituate, near Boston, refused to hear a letter read from Thomas W. Lawson expressing his views on liquor licenge at a town meeting he has reconsidered his promise to give the place a $560,000 soldiers' monument. W. A. Melbourne, sald to be the oldest telegrapher in the world, has removed from Swanwick, 111, to Denver, where he intends to pass the remainder of his days. He bc- gan manipulating the keys in 1847, and dur- ing the civil war was attached to the army of the Potomac. Harry B. Tierneys of St. Joseph, Mo., a student at Kenrick seminary, St. Louls, recently won the prize In the poem con- test conducted by the king of Denmark. The 'subject of the poems was the recent visit of the czarina of Russia to her father, | the Danish king. Fifty-four years ago this month Presi- dent James K. Polk signed the bill that made Minnesota a territory. - Alexander Ramsey, who was appointed its first gov- ernor and was subsequently governor of the state, then United States senator, and afterward secretary of war in the cabinet of President Hayes, still survives. Senator Depew’'s autoblography in the congressional directory, which occupied nearly a page in the late volume, has been eclipsed by that of Robert Baker in the new directory. Baker Is the new demo- cratic representative from Brooklyn, and the story of his life, about 1,000 words long, occuples considerably more than & page Several bundred words are devoted to minor incidents in his career. John D. Long, former secretary of the navy, who has been under treatment at St Margaret's hospital, on Mount Vernon street, Boston, for about two months, is now making fast progress toward recov- ery. He is able to sit up and has been enjoying this pleasant diversion for a few days. He 1is still under the eye of his physicians, but it Is sald that he is gaining rongth and may be able to leave the hos- pital for his bome la Hingham within & fow days, No arrangement was | THE OLD RELIABLE Absolutely Pure THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE ROUND ABOUT NEW YORK. Ripples on the Current of Life in the Metropolis, A New York preacher, rector of an Epls- copal church, with a congregation of the ultra-rich, threw a few verbal bombs among the worshippers during his sermon last Sunday. The strenuous hunt for the al- mighty dollar was his theme. “We are in danger of a commercial decline,” he sald, “because men, as a whole, are too much interested in the selfish motive to get rich, and in consequence the great national questions are not getting the unblased, un- selfish, heartfelt consideration which they should have. There are thousands of men who do not take time to eat properly. The sidewalks are filled with a hurrying, rush- ing, bustling crowd of men, women and children, who are rushing through Ilife. This disposition is stamping out family life the state is affected by it. ““The dominant spirit to get rich is tend- ing to make our halls of government more like marts of commerce. Are not United States senators optioned in some cases to the highest bidder? A poor man cannot go to the United States senate. The first con- slderation is always, ‘Can I afford to go?" Another baleful result of the mad rush for riches Is an age of dyspepsia, morose dls- positions, sleepless nights and selfish hu- manity. This kind of strenuosity is a sin.” According to the calculations of the Sun, there are more than 1.250,000 nativcs of New York now resident in other states of the country, and very few of these, rela- tively, adopted the advice given to New Yorkers many years ago to go west and grow up with the country. Only one state of the west has a consid. erable population of native-born New York ers, and that state is, strange as the an- nouncement may seem, Michigan. There are 160,000 natives of New York resident in Michigan—more than 10 per cent of the whole number of native New Yorkers resi- dent in other state After Michigan, but with a much smaller number of New York residents, comes Illi- nois. The two western states which have the largest number of native-born New Yorkers next to Michigan are Wisconsin and Minnesota. Emigration from the Empire state has not been on the usual lines of travel through the middle west, but has been de- cldedly toward the northwest, and especially into states along the Canada border. There are some curlous facts shown in the distribution of native-born New York- ers through the country. There are nearly twice as many in California, on the distant Pacific, as there are in Missourl, in the Mississippl valley. There are more natives of New York resident in the single state of Massachusetts than in all the states of the south collectively. There is a very small number of New Yorkers in Indiana, and actually fewer by several thousand in Ohio, one of the most populous states of the country, than in Connecticut, one of the smallest. The largest numbers of natives of New York resident in another state are found, of course, in New Jersey, and Penneylvania, which adjoins New York throughout nearly all its south boundary line and a portion of its west boundary line, has a considerable number, A New York lawyer tells of a contract he was called upon to draw a short time ago between a widow and a widower who had decided to pull together in the matri- monial harness for the remainder of thelir natural lives. They had apparently pon- dered every possibility. and to make sure of no disputes in the future had agreed to reduce their agreements to writing. It was specified in the first place that the wite should hold and manage her own property absolutely and on her death it was to go to her natural heirs, unless she disposed of it otherwise by will. He was to utter no criticism as to how she dis- posed of the income and she on her part agreed to purchase all her own clothing and provide her' own pocket money. A similar provision In all respects was in- serted as to the husband. It was further agreed that when the wite dled she was to be lald beside her first husband and he was to repose in the same burial lot as his first wife. If a son were born to them he to take the name of her first husband; if a daughter, the name of his first wife. The husband was to have the sole say as to the furnishing of the library and his own sleeping apartments; she to control that of the rest of the house. The husband agreed to pay all the house- hold expenses and the wife was to per- sonally control and direct the housekeeping. Neither should utter a word of criticism as to the attendance of the other upon clube or other places of amusement. “They were four hours at my office in getting this thing settled, 14 the lawyer ‘‘At one point the widower said, ‘Sarah, you don’t talk much like my first wife. She was willing to leave everything to me.' ‘Yes,' the widow responded quietly, ‘I was a fool, too, when I was first married. I know better now.' " The gorgeous marble mansion of Senator Clark of Montana, on Upper Fifth avenue, New York, is slowly approaching comple- tion. Through a lattice of scaffolding the roof lines of the massive pile are already visible. It is easily the most massive and magnificent (if not the most artistic) private dwelling house in New York. The Clark house is always a stopping place for conching parties. LAUGHING GA! “Bay pat “wan b “Did Adam and Eve keep Lent?" “Certainly not. Eve didn't need to have any dressmaking done in order to be ready for Baster."—Chicago Record-Herald. Teacher—Little girl, wouldn't you like to be educated and make your mark in the worl Moll, the Waif—Naw; watche givin' me? Hit hain’t de eddicated ones that makes deir marks. Dey signs deir names.—Balti- more American, “You magazine editors,” the critical per- son was heard to remark, ‘“accept stuff every month that a first-class newspaper reporter would be ashamed to write.” ““We do the best we can' retorted the magazine editor, with spirit. “We can't get the newspaper reporters to write for —Chicago Tribune. phragm of the teléphone receiver in re. roducing speech 1s about the twenty-mil fonth of an inch. If you have any dot about this, just get out the old snd measure or 0 foot rule yourself.—Somerville “Do I understand you to say, Senator Graft, that you will sustain and support the trusts?”’ howled the enthusiastic legis- tor. “You mistake the phrase,” sald the sena- tor calmly, “I did not say 1 would ‘support’ or ‘sustain’ trusts, I merely said { ‘hold them up.'’'—Baltimore Herald. “Friend of mine tod: sald Mr. Kidder, as g of coming here to board.” 1 hoj remarked Mrs. Starvem, “‘you w-;:_'y‘f:uefl to re¢ommend our table, “‘Sure! just the thing Told him it w He's a ugil and wants to .'y—;h" delphia Cathollc THE MAN WITH THE HO! HO! HO! A. J. Waterhouse in New York Times. 1 lev? the ringing music of a cheery, hearty ugh, For it routs the imps of worry as the reezes scatter chaff, And there’s not a sce..e of gladr to mortals here below. But is made a little gladder by & merry ho! ho! ho! For Merriment's a his song, And where the singer singeth the heppy known inger, and laughter is ce’e’ltlll anthems nothing sweeter is, 1 trow Than the melody that lures us in & ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ‘tis an oft~ And you fancy Trouble's demons all are camping on your trail, You are feellng rather weary: record o— THI you meet the man of laughter, with }is cheery ho! ho! hot And, me Wway, you listen, all the nting demon: T‘J. Then you vow that this pld planet is a place of joy and cheer. And there's pleasure in reflecting that you now are living here And you wouldn't for a fortune lose your grip on things below— All because you hear the music of a ring- ing ho! ho! ho! 0 gels walk upon the earth, walk dally to and fro. The one is clad in robes of white, the other in garb of wo ‘The voice of one the other's is ; tor souls of ughte: a sigh, Joy 1s the one, the other Wi men they vie; And the one comes running, running, sum- moned by the witching s Of the rippling notes of laughter that the spirit’s rapture tell; ‘While the other straight is driven from the souls it haunts below By the ringing and the singing of a ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! We all do hearty laugh— To spirits bowed with trouble 'tis a Heaven- given s But our burdens seem 80 heavy as we pass them in review That we often let another do the laughing love the music of a cheery, we shouls H iy At any rate it's so with me, for I'm of brittle ci: And haply it is so with you, although I do not say: Ana so, perchance, you'll join with me, this one bouquet to throw, To the man who brings us blessing with the ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! Our Spring Hats —as well as caps for spring wear—are considerably different from the usual quite unusual. order—in fact they are But are very becoming shapes to nearly every one—and becoming in price as well— $2.00—$2.50—$3.00—$3 5) —and $4.00. Caps 50¢c to $2.50. NO CLOTHING FITS LIKE CURS Browning, Ying e Go R 5. Wiken, Managr, T The amplitude of vibration of the dia. ' woule B