Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, May 24, 1909, Page 4

THE OMAHA DAy BEE FOUNDED F‘l‘ EDWARD ROSEWATER VICTOR ROSEWATER, EDITOR. ntered at Omaha postofffice as second. 5 matter. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. Iy Bes (without Sunday), One ye Iy Bee and Sunday one year DELIVERED BY CARRIER. Dal'v Bee (Including Sunday), per week. 15c Daly Bee (without Sunday), per week.. 100 Evening Bee (without Sunday),per week 6 Evening Bee (with Sunday)., per week 10c unday Bee, One year...... 850 aturdiy Bes, one year 1.60 o . 800 Address all_complaints of irreguiariti vlivéry to City Cireulation Department. OFFICES. ‘naha;The Bee Bullding. ¥ E5uth Omaha—Tweniy-fourth and N. nefl Blufts—15 Bcott Street. incoln-518 Little Bullding. hicigo—148_Marquette Building, “% York—Rooms 101-1102 No, 3 West 1hird Street. *shifgton—72% Fourteenth Street, N. W. CORRESPONDENCE. mmunications relating to news and edi- i _matter should be addressed: Omaha Editorial Department. REMITTANCES. Aemit by draft, express or postal order, i4yabis to The Des Publishing Company. iily 2 cent stamps received in payment of mall sceounts. Personal checks, except on )maha o eastern exchanges, not ) STATEMENT OF CTRCULATION. ctate of Nebraska Douglas County, sy Goorge B. Taschuck, treasurer of The tiee Publishing company, being _duly sworn, says that the actual number of d complete coples of The Daily ening and Sunda: o ‘month of April. 1909, was s 39,260 17 eeeo. 41,000 39,080 18 . WA 19 . Total. .1,336,410 ieturned COPIOB.csusiiiine Net total VMY AVOrSg®...iiiiiiis GEORGE B. TZ8CHUCK, ‘Treasu 'er. resence and sworn to ubscribed in my ¥ ot May, 1908, %m Pub! © me this 18t WHEN OUT OF TOWN, Subscribers leaving the eity teme worarily should have The Bee wailed to them. Address will be ‘Bunged as often as requested. Atlantic City {8 to have a church for men only. The real show, how- vver, will still be down on the board walk. — A Chicago girl who sued for breach «1 promise got a verdict for 50 cents. Evidently the jury concluded that she «!d not lose much. That 30 per cent increase in com- parative weekly bank clearings, which is recorded by Om i8 something not to be sneezed at. One of the Lincoln papers corrects another Lincoln r by insisting that Lincoln is not &npt. We did not believe it in the first place. The Nashville Tennesseean inquires ““What shall we eat? After July 1 the pertinent inquiry in Tennessee will be “Where can 1 get a drink?” The Wright flying machines are to be sold at $7,500 each. Flylng ma- chines will ultimately be within the reach of all-—when they work all right. _— A Jersey City minister has ofgan- ized a base ball nine composed en- tirely of preachers. Presumably the secular manager will have to do all the talking to the umplre. —— A new record price of wheat has Leen made at Chicago of a shade over $1.31 a bushel. Now, if silver and wheat were only linked together, as Mr. Bryan used to teil' us. George Bernard Shaw is out with an anpeal for a religion which “Fits the faets.” A religion which would it some of Shaw's delineation facts would be decidedly risque. James J. Hill sa; all eyes are urned on congress. Mr. Hill is mis- taken—it is the score board they are watching, unless they are out at the game witnessing the real thing. Someone says marriage is a game ot base ball. From the divoree court tecord it would appear that a large sumber of would-be players never wake good beyond the training seasom Steallng women's hats off their beads will never be a successful in- dustry. Its great drawback is the diffi- culty in getting away with the plunder | unless the women first reduce the size. German experts are having races with dirigible balloons. There is one point where they have the advantage over track racing, there is no need for crowding on account of lack of room. The adverse decision on the Mis- souri 2-cent fare law is to be appealed up to the United States supreme court, In the meantime anyone with the price can travel all over Nebraska for 2 cents a mile. —_— Joint Rate Decision. The recent decision of the state Commerce commission on the question of joint rates by the rail- roads roaching the Portland gateway involves a most important principle. The commission takes cognizance of the right of a railroad so to arrange its rates and route its business as to preserve to itself the long or more profitable haul under certain condi- tions, but it puts important and de- cided limitations upon the practice. It decides, in fact, that the con- venience of and service to the public are paramount and that where a show- ing can be made that a substantial in- convenience to the traveler iz entalled the railroads will not be allowéd to put up an artifielal barrier to give one road the long haul. In making this ruling the commis- sfon has followed along the lines of others afirmed by the courts assert- ing that the raflroads are public serv- ants and as such must grant through rates, through checking of baggage and other fadilities for the traveler to take the most convenient route, In view of previous decisions of the court, it 1s reasonable to believe that the rul- ing of the commission is enforceable in law, although appeal/to the courts is already threatpned. While it is right and proper that the railroads should be protected in their trafic to the ex- tent that legitimate revenue be earned, the commission reasserts the principle that artificial barriers which are in re- straint of trade or which work a sub- stantial hardship upon the people are not justified. Out of the many discouragements of the early attempts at railroad regula- tion have been evolved certain and accepted well-defined rules, of which the commission is now taking advan- tage and which are rapidly correcting the abuses of rallroad management without serious detriment to the roads themselves. Ultimately a fair inter- change of trafic at all points de- manded for the accommodation of travel will redound to the benefit of the roads themselves and the losses which they occasion at one point will be made up at others. Inter- Starting on Economy. The administration of President Taft has made a commencement on the work of cutting down the appro- priations to be asked of the next con- gress. Thel Navy departmert is the first to prepare its estimates wlhich will be submitted at the regular ses- sion in December and it-carries a re- duction of $10,000,000 from the fig: ures for the current vear. .This has not been secured by the simple lop- ping off of a few large’items for the sake of show, but is the result of care- ful scrutiny of all the many items con- tained in the estimate, the taking off of a little here and some more at other points, holding each bureau and section of the service to actual. re- quirements instead of permittingseach to scramble for all it might reach. The secretary of the navy has visited several of the navy yards and is making himself thoroughly familiar with the needs of the service. As he is finally to pass upon the estimates of his subordinates, the: knowledge thus gaimed should enable him to carty out the plans for economy in- telligently without working an injus- tice to the service as a whole or to any branch of it. Other departments of the govern- ment are working along the same lines, and if congress will do as well in resisting pressure for large appro- priations there can be no question that a substantial reduction can be made in the annual expgnse bill with- out fmpairing the dsefulness or legiti- mate activities of the federal govern- ment. It the curtailed revenues shall prove elfective in stopping wasteful and excessive appropriations, it will not have been an unmixed evil. Dur- ing the years of great prosperity and excess revenue there cam be no ques- tion that the tendency is salways toward lavish appropriations. Presi- dent Taft announced himself as for economy and a businesslike adminis- tration and he and his department heads are setting about it im a spirit of fairness which at the same time | promises results. Versatile Railroad Men. If there is any man on earth more versatile than the railroad rate man it is the tax agent of the same corpora- tion,” He is not only ambldextrous, but the insulation between his right hand and his left is perfect, so that the left hand in Nebraska has no | means of knowing what the right hand is doing over in lowa. He has one |set of figures gnd one method of | elaboration which will prove poverty in Nebraska, but if they do not fit the | lowa conditions he can evolve another set for service across the.Missourl. No matter where he starts he will land his company just inside the line of solvency. The representative of the Omaha road has evolved a system which when applied to Nebraska condi- tions shows the actual yalue of the ¢ompany’s line to be $37,642 per mile, Testimony before the State Railway commission brings out the faot that there are 186 milling towna in Ne- *raska converting wheat into . flour. Nibraska is pre-eminently an agricul- tural state; but its manufacturing in- terests are growing all the time. The Washington correspondents have commenced to figure out what congress will have to do at the regu- lar session which commences In De- ~ember, The congressmen themselves baving plenty to think about im wne impending tariff bill without bor- vowing gdistant trouble, while the same method of reasoning under lowa conditions would make the lines in that state worth $121,970 per | mile, As the assessment in lowa is much below this figure there is no probability that the company's tax ! agent will spring the Nebraska logic on the lowa board. If the public coild only realize what a brilliant display of mathematical legerdemain is afforded by the tax agents before the State Boards of As- sessment the attendance upon the meetings would be largely increased. Nothing like it is to be seen anywhere else except when a rauroad rate case 1 up in gourt. The fare is only 2 cents | that it is kept in that condition. | obstructing a [per mile now and it is worth the money to go down and see the show, especially if you take along a good resume of the performances in other states or watch how the scheme which fita the case of one road falls to work out on some other and a substitute “Just as good" is offered. Law of the Sidewalk. The eity of Lincoln has been getting supreme court decisions recently on several points affecting the powers of their city government which may be applied to all municipal corporationt in this state. A little while ago had the authority of the mayor and council to levy an occupation tax on the public service corporations using the streets confirmed, and now it has secured a ruling upholding their right to prohibit abutting property owners from leasing or renting sidewalk space for their own profit. case which went to court turned on an attempt of the lessee of a stere room strip of the sidewalk space adjoining for $50 a month In violation of a city ordinance prohibiting the use of such space in that way. The law of the sidewalk is laid down by the court ae follows: Whatever space in a public street of a city fs set apart for the use of the public as a sidewalk the public have a right to use In Its entirety, free from any and all unauthorized obstructions, and it s the duty of the mayor and city council to see It is no defense to a party who Is being pro- ceeded against by the city for unlawfully sidewalk that others are obstructing the walks in like manner, nor is the city estopped by reason of its past fallure to enforce its ordinance against obstructions of sidewalks from subse- quently removing all obstructions there- from. This is plain enough that the side- walk space belongs to the public ané not to the, abutting property owner and that while sidewalk obstructions may be tolerated they can never be maintained as of right. If the city of Omaha ever gets ready to clear its sidewalks of boxes, showcases, curb posts, or extension signs, its powe) and legal authority to dosso cannot be successfully challenged. The Seattle Exposition. The exposition magnet for the year 1909 will be located in Seattle, where opening the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific ex- position next week. The exposition habit has a strong hold on the Ameri- can people and Seattle will have a this w The marvelous progress al- ready made in the far northwest and the vast natural resources yet to be developed along the north Pacific and including Alaska afford material for a great object lesson. There is no reason why Seattle should not make a hit as an exposi- tion city. Its enterprise has carried this big project along and its hospital- ity may be depended on to see to it that all visitors are well cared for and properly entertained., The ex- position is bound to bring Seattle into the limelight and attract notice to its wonderful growth and prosperity. The one handicap which the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific exposition has to meet is Its great distance from the east, to whose people it is chiefly intended to appeal, but it has a large Pfclflc coast population to draw from and ought to achieve an all-round success. By faver of the Minnesota supreme court our old friend (Clarence H. Ven- ner has gotten an extension. on his suit to force the dissolution ‘of the company formed by “Jim™ Hill to take over the Great Northern ore holdings Bvidently Venner and his methods are not as well known up in Minnesota as they are in Omaha, where he has oc casionally operated in the past. Towa wants $108,000 out of the Pullman company for filing its arti- cles of incorporation. If Iowa can get the money it will do more than even the porters have been able to accom- plish with the Pullman company, and their record for getting money is un- approachable up to date. The wife of Banker Morse insists that if her husband had been per- mitted his liberty he would have paid all of his debts before this. It is not good form to chide the poor woman, but the suggestion is pertinent’ that if Mr. Morse had been honest he would have had no trouble paying his debts and also keeping out of jail. Iowa club women are enlisting in a movement for ‘“civic betterment of cities.” Our Omaha club women have been emlisted in this movement ever since they organized their club and have several successes to their score. —_— Omaha school men will shine on the program of the National Educational association at Denver. What's the matter with getting the N. E. A. tc meet in Omaha in the not too distant | future? Execeptions to Every R St. Paul Ploneer Press. An lowa editor has just celebrated his 9ith birthday anniversary. Btill*there are fhose who insist that the good die youns. When the Real Fan Begins. Baltimore American. The next congress will have presented Lo {1t & petition with a million signers asking that women be given'the right to vote. But the real fun will come when d€tachments of the million will move on Washington in person to see If congress is reading the pe- tition and the name: Kansas City Times. It is announced from Washington thai the case ugainst Governor Haskell of Ok- lahoma is to proceed, notwithstanding the assault made upon the government attor- neys by Mr. Haskell. Perhaps the Depart- ment of Justice tigures that it would be | ditficult to select lawyers Lo prosecute ihe "l The particular | to rent to a fhird party a five-foot |w preparations are almost completed for | fleld to exploit that has never before | been brought to public attention in | OMAHA case who would be entirely to the governor. And bestdes, It may en tertain the curlous notion that the char- acter of the federal attorneys has nothing to do with the gullt or innocence of the distinguished defendant satisfactory iked Thelr Guns. Wall Street Journal Any democratic pronouncements on the tariff question in the congressional cam- palgn next year will have a hollow and in- sincere sound. On the ultimate moral or temporal welfare of our people the result of the collapse of the party on & point of principle may be more serfous. Philadelphia Record. The United States circuft court of ap- peals has decided that an Insurance com pany must pay a policy on the life of a man who was hanged for killlng his wife Other courts have held differently. It has been held that it is against public policy to enable a murderer to leave the proceeds of a life insurance policy, although the | punishment in such a case falls not on the | man who has been hanged, but on his fam- Hiy. In Nebraska a life Insurance company ihnn been compelled to pay to a widow the | insurance on the life of her husband, whom | #he had Been convicted of murdering, but ho had been released from prison | pardon Commendnble Discrimination. Springtield Republican. That feature of the British budget which provides an exemption in the income tax of 30 for every child under 16 years of age represents a growing tendency to favor the heads of familigs In taxation at the ex- pense of bachelors or married men who are childless. It is, of course, a “socialistic’ tendency, but its soundness Is easily ap- parent. Ordinarily dren nowadays benefit the state, in a ma- terlal way, much more than they do the parents; and parents who bear the burden of rearing several children deserve the in- come tax discrimination In their favor, which the British government now Intends to impose. g Limitations on Skyscrape pringfield Republican. Realty owners who claim the right do what they will with the space above their land clear to the top of the sky, no matter how it affects the health or com- fort ‘or reasonable interests of others— these persons will be much grieved to hear of yesterday's dectsion of the I'nited States supreme court sustaining the supreme court of validity of a state’s power to fmpose lim itations on the helghts of huildings or to grant similar power to municipalities. This 18 a matter coming clearly within the po- lice powers of the &tate, and there s no taking of property without due process of law when the state pre-cmpts for the pub- lic welfare the upper sections of a land- owner's “property” in the atmosphere. Activity In Steel M1 8pringfield Republican S0 rapldly is the fron and steel industry Fecovering from the recent depression that the Independent concerns, which cut wages 10 per cent on April 1 or thereabouts, have notified their employes of a restoration of the same on June 1. This Is at least true of the Republic Iron and Steel company, Jones & Laughlin of Pittsburg and several smaller companles which participated in the reduction. The radical cutting of prices which took place two months ago has proved quickly effective in starting a re- Vivalgof steel consumption, and many de- partments of the Industry, now have about all the business they can handle. Thus the Carnegle Steel company, subsidiary of the | United States Steel corporation, s operat- ing 80 per cent offull capacity, while % [per cent is reported for several Independent concerns. About 35000 men were involved In the Aprll wage-reductions CRIMINAL LAW GROSSLY FAILS Government and Soclety Menaced by Judicial Technicalities. Springtield (Mass.) Republican. The attention of many readers must have |been arrested by the statement In recent {news that the two years' penitentlary sen- tence of Fred Warner, formerly a mem- ber of the 8t. Louls house cf delegates, convicted of bribery, had been reversed and remanded by the’ Missouri supreme court There was no doubt about the guilt of the man, it would appear, but he gets an- other trial because the indictment is de- clared defective. We are bound to sup- pose that something mighty serlous had been discovered, and pray what s it? Warner's offense, as set forth, was ‘against the dignity of state.”” The learned court holds that the phrase should have been “the dignity of the state’ and that beoause the last “the" was omitted this unfaithful lawmaker had been improperly convicted! Great is the criminal law and its amazing technicalities, and mighty helpful to rascals. Nothing better caleu- lated than this case to arouse popular | contempt for the courts could be con- celved. P In this connectioni It Is interesting to | note that the “absurdities of the criminal ‘law' " are frankly admitted by Justice Robert Mayes of the Misslssippl supreme court. He tells by way of fllustration of a murder case in lils state which had been appealed. The defendant was charged with killing his man, and the Indictment alleged that the vietim “did then and there lan- | gulsh for a period of twenty hours and then died." The supreme court reversed the case because it was only alleged that the vietim “did then die.”” If it had been set forth In the indictment that he ‘“did then and there die,”” no second trial would have been required. In ancther case the man who drew the Indictment alleged tbat the defendant “did then and there wilfully and feloniously set fire and burn" | barn {trial because the Indictment failed to charge that the burning was ‘“malicious.” When Justice Mayes, In his address at a recent meeting of the Misstssipp! Bar as- sociation, said that “I condemn In equivocal terms a law “that declsions necegsary and makes a of justice," he volced popular feeling Laymen will be interested In the ex- planation given by this Mississippi judge of the survival of such absurdities In the criminal law: “It property rights were to be made to depend upon such farcical technicalities as is the life, the peace and tranquillity of the citizen, such law wodld be torn up root and branch. Soclety feels that it has a direct Interest in the law which cgntrols civil rights, consequently there has been a steady gevelopment of this branch of the law, but society does nct feel this di- rect iInterest in the eriminal law, and for this resson there has been little or no fm- provement since the i'nited States became 4 nation.” This ‘explanation does not explain. It will not do to hold “soclety” responsible for the Infinite folly complained of. What are honorable lawyers and bar associations for If not to help fiake their profession and the courts efficient and entitled to the popular respect? Greatly to be despised is the cMiminal law, the light of such manifestations, and lawyers are to blame for 1t to a farce the on a| large familles of chil- | to | Massachusetts in upholding the | Of the {ment of sitting as still as images in thelr | and will have them restored next month. | The wupreme court orderéd a new | un- | makgs such | PR R Senator 8moot of Utah and Senator Cum- mine of lowa have atiracted more average attention in the senate since the | extra sessioh began. On the pending Issue | of tariff revision they are ranged in op- poeing camps. Senator 8moot supports the committee measure, while Senator Cum ! mine ranks as an “insurgent republican" who Insists on genuine revision downward The Washington correspondent of the Brooklyn Kagle calls attentlon to the prominence of both in leglslative matters and sketches their chardcteristics in a friendly spirit. According to the writer, Senator 8moot has.shaken off the depres- his seat, and has become a right-hand man for Senatgf Aldrich in the tariff battle “Smoot \has been a and not one of the' Endowment house kind, efther," sald a republican wenator. During the hearings on the tariff he amazed us by the breadth A man- came before us the other day with some samples of cotton cloths. Smoot took them and felt them critically with his fin- N revelation, cost of manu cotton of threads per square inch, facture and other detalls that only experts would be expected to know has done the ame kind of stunt with many other articles, and has been a con- stant source of wonderment to us.' The secret of Bmoot's knowledge then came out. It seems that he has been wool grower and a woolen He has been a banker and & business man. He and at one time the main superintendent of the great institution in the Mormon church, the Zion Co-operative company handling hundreds of thousands sf dollars worth of goods every month. He is a | veritable jack-of-all-trades. Smoot made the oldtimers' eyes oyen, too, with his | willingness to work.. He has put in average of twenty hours a day for weeks. | He has lost much weight by his devotion to work. practical | Aldrich deserted the field on the sec ond day of Dolliver's vicious attack | cotton and woolen goods schedule. He |left Smoot alone to defend. The latter was aleo required to carry the main bur- den of defense against Cummins' on- slaught on the steel schedule. The same | meekness and humility which marked Smoot's demeanor during the days of the tight for his ceat is still present, but in less degrec as he champlons the Ald- rich bill. He has an endless array of definite facts at his command about the | cost of production, wages, protit, trans- | portation charges and other details. He | has an embarrassing way of quoting fig- |ures and asking pointed questions. He | was breaking down Cummins' speech the |other day by injecting statements which | didn’t agree with those of Cummins. “I refuse to be interrupted further, [ tily exclaimed Cummins, and 1 ask senator from Utah to take his seat.”” Senator Cummins has made two speeches since coming to the senate. First he talked about an income tax. It was Interesting to note how the oldtimers watched Cum- | mins in his first try out. Aldrich, Hale. | Lodge and the rest looked upon him with | susplcfon as a trouble maker, @nd they | wanted to see how he handled himself in | {@ction. They pald him the great compli- tes- the | chairs, screwed around so as to keep their |eyes glued to the far left-hand corner | of the chamber and heard him to the fin- |1sh. Cummins' bold speech shocked his | colleague, Mr. Dolliver, into the first real activity he has shown in years, ‘ummins has the same chautauqua style of oratory that so many of these mew western senators have,” remarked a man in the gallery. *“He hisses his bites his words In two at one point and sing-songs them at another." You are always surprised Cummins after reading his military re ord. He's not the kind of fighter that Champ Clark or Bob LaFollette fs. Clark belleves in the bludgeon and the battle- ax and friendship with his foe is fm- possible when the fray is over. LaFol- lette 18 much the same kind of a bel- ligerent. Cummins, on the other hand, fights flercely while the battle 1s on, but being thoroughly human, is willing to concede something to his enemy and shake hands after It is all over. He is # good mixer and at a dinner can laugh at a political foe's joke or tell a story Just as well himself. Aiready he is Popular with that set in Washington Wwhich enjoys dinner giving, and fs eq- tering largely into the soclal life of the capital, on seeing Major Alexander McDowell, clerk of the Bouse of representatives, is the president of a thriving bank up in his home town of Sharon, Pa. In his younger diys he ran @ country newspaper. A party of friends were §itting In his office recently when one of them asked: cler?” “Well,"” said he “when I was a hoy and went to Sunday school they gave us & ped ticket for every hundred verses of Bible we memorized For ten red wo got cne blue ticket and for ten hlue tickets we got a nice, leather-bound Bible. It was hard work for me to commit verses to memory and after I had learhed a few hundred of them I found thAt by shooting accurately with a marble | could accumuy- late more ‘blue tickets than I by memorizing i a lifetime. 80 1 fet the other boys get the tickets and then 1 plaved marbles for them. I had more Bibles than any other boy in town." “But what did do with Bibles? 1 traded Major. the would earn you the extra them for marbles,” said the — Waxing Fat on Hay. Boston Transeript The recent exploitation of “alfalfa muf- fing” at an agricultural conyention in Kan- sas seems 10 have taken practical root at Creighton unWwersity in Omaha number of the students have themselves into the “Alfalfa Hay club, thelr purpose being to. demonstrate the value of this product for human diet. From It, when properly prepared, are made gems, muffins, mush, and pancakes, &nd green meal for somé purposes s put through a bleaching process which makes where a organized palate. Many families in that cify dre also making the experiment. If found as sati factory as the first reports would indicate there need be no fear of famine in that section of the country, since the alfalfa can be raised In large and unfailing quan- tities on irrigated land. At present, how- ever, the alfalfa flour costs about as much as wheat Too Much Johuson. Kansas City Star What Benator Balley says In denunciation of Governor Johnson of Minnesota makes it clear that Mr. Johnson is not Standard Oil's candidate for the democratic presi- dential nomination in 1913 than | slon occasioned by his long fight to retain | and depth of his knowledge. | gers, and told the man offhand the namber | He | a| manufacturer. | was the principal buyer | on | tickets | the | it agreeable to the eye as well_as to the | WAYS OF SECRET SOCIETIES the Black Hand, Ma d Other Crd Eanizations Work. —— When a new member fs admitted to the “Black Hand'" society he first of all smears a small figure of his own favorite saint How morra ward set on fire, and while it s Quening the candidate repeats the oath of the as. soclation as follows: the brotherhosd As this saint and drops of my blood nre destroyed, so will 1 shed All my blond for the fraternity; and as these ashes and this blood can never be restored, #0 can I never become free from the brotherhnod." Then the initlate has to draw a revolver And shoot at a ecrucific to show that he would be w ng at any time to kjil his nearest relation or most intimate friend if commanded to do so. be a wearer of the “red antle.” His namo as a member s not entered In any books, but s duly férwarded to the headquarters and then It is communicated by word of mouth to all the other members of the district where he lives. The Commorra of Naples are much like the Maffia. Those who join h & horrible oath of secrecy, and even so it is.not until they have been tried and ‘hmnd true that they are accepted for full | membership. The new member {s given two daggers. On the hilt of each is graven the mystic sign of the organization. The sign is, however, ¢hanged from time to time. The l('nmmaru have a strange form of greet- ng. When the Commorrist believes any one he meets to be a member he grips him by the throat with his left hand, and with the right draws his knife from his sheath. The other, It a member, at once gives the pass- | word, and shows bath his knives, after which the palr empty the contents of their pockets in a heap, share and share alike, +Amongst the most notorfous criminal so- .(’IDHIvH of the present day, evidence of whose grewsome activit appears In the papers at frequent intervals, are the Box. ers In China, the Hatchet Boys in Cail- fornia, the Apaches in Parls, the Hip Sings | In 8an Francisco and Les Freres de la Cote all over France. | Most of the Chinese secret societies, al- though their objects are as bloodthirsty | #8 any other, have more peaceful passwords signs, and they are generally asso- | clated with the national pastime of drink- | ing tea. | Thus the Hip Sings of San Franclsco, | | When drinking tea in a Chinese restau. rant, communicate with unknown members | by the way they handie thelr cups, which they place in a certain manner, and by | | BIVing a peculiar direction to the spout | of the teapot. | The | soctety, and Tentschskists, an Armenian secret ¢ which has terrorized the Arme | comrhunities in all the blg citfes through. | |out the world, has had its headquarters | | established in London for many years, first at Shepherd's Bush and now at Peckham,— | London Answers, 3 —_— THE PRESIDENT AT PETERSBURG Almont Perfect Speech” Famous Battlefield. / Indianapolis News, President Taft made an almost perfect | | Speech at the “Petersburg battlefield. The | perfect speech of this kind has been made once—and all the world has conned 1t | since. 8o any one that comes to any oc- |casion of this sort labors under a disad- | vantage that varying circumstances do lit- {tle to remove. There is in the unvefling | |of monuments the story of valor on both | | sides, each enhancing the other, to be told, | with reflections on a united country. And | no year goes by that the theme fs not illustrated many times over, so that to! come to it with words that shall arrest attention, with thoughts that shall find | {place in the memory is to do an unusual {thing. This the preeldent did in his Peters- | burg speech. It is hot long. Like all of his outgivings it has the quality of brevity ~which is the soul of wit. We trust that lit will be generally read, for every read- | |ing of it will make a better citizen of the | | reader. The president has had the good fortune | to call up, in a few words, a graphlc ple- ture of what made this spot “the center | of the bloodiest and mosc eritical opera- tons of the last year of the war." FPossi- | |bly it is this that gives to his words their | unusual weight. Every one knows that has read the history of the war-that, as this last year began, and with Grant and Lee | locked in their bloody embrace, it was | war, indeed. There had been flelds of | carnage, many of them, whose story will rank with the world's maddest stories of | thi® Kind. But in that last year, after three years in the making, two armies | confrented each other that were probably | the equal In valor, discipline and high | fighting qualities of any that the world | has ever seen. AN the “volunteer” quali- | tles 80 beautiful, and often so brilliant | in many things, had been hammered out | |by the long =rife and in their place the | |veteran quality had been hammered in And one can not read the awful story of | what followed from the Wilderness to Pe- ' “An i helpleseness, of looking &t the workings |of fate, of realizing that the nations of | |the earth are but as dust in the balance | | before the Almighty. It may be this background |the imagination that gives to President | Tatt's words an appositeness unusual {a jest's prosperity lies in the ear | hears it rather than the tongue that utters |it. Be this as it may, his words met the occasion with a completeness, a force, sincerity that realized the opportunity is his added good fortune thut Ratsing (he Maine Wreck. Philadeiphia Ledgef. Admiral Sigsbee, who commanded the ' | Maine when it was blown up in the harbor |of Havana, has been expressing himself | ihl opposed to an attempt to ralse the | wreck. He think that it is not worth | | while, firet, because the wreck is not a | very serfous obstruction 10 the harbor | and secondly, because it would be impossi- | | ble to raise the battefed battleship in its Pentirety, and if it ‘were knocked to pieces | we should be accused of trying to conceal | something. He believes ‘that the Board of ! Inquiry reported correftly that the ex- | plosion was from an external mine and | that that conclusion should be considered final One answer to this s that It s {not so considered universally, while the desire of “concealment” actually has been suspected from the refusal to attempt the raising of the wreck. Admiral Luce and | Admiral Chadwick, both also members of | the board, have urged that the wreck |should be removed, both in the interest | l“( historic certainty as well as of Interna- | tional comity. of life of a 1t this is so Nebrask: Off for Eurepe, | CHICAGO, I, = May 2.—(Special)— | Among the cebin passengers who sailed for Europe from New York Saturday the new Hamburg:American line steamer Cleveland were the following from Ne. braska: Mr. and Mrs. Frank Johnel, Mrs. 1 €. Bowln of Kearney, Neb, and Mr. and Mrs. Olaf Hanson of Omaha, Neb, on l with his own blood. The figure is after- | “1 awear on my honor to be faithful to] He {8 then A full member, and is said to | | e to swear |18 not | the | To God. | | suffering less t PERSONAL NOTES. o sl wireloss A Philadelph indigestion used neult his family physician on an | ocean liner anA recelved a preeription that or proved helpful Re O'Kelly, a negro of Raleigh w born deaf And dumb and only one t other having heen moved because of an injury gustained while !plaving foot ball, has been admitted to the | bar. is the an from re- mptly r D A was N [} a8 1n n fight between two shopgirls and the | proprietress In a hake n New York City the combatants threw bread at each other as the upshot of a discussion of soclal su- periority. The result was that each of the | combatants succeeded in breaking through | the upper crust When L. J. Satterffeld of Milford, Del, made an investigation to see why a elgar that he was smoking would not draw, he found a dlamond, estimated to worth | over $300. imbedded In the 1t is sup- | posed that the Jewel was dropped Into the tobacco by a packer before the cigar was made. | Mrs noveliet, has remov fwill reside with he filler Marion Crawfard, widow of the late d to Naples, where she her married daughter, | ignora Pletro Rocca. Under the terms of 'Mr. Crawferd's will 'his librars and his ! g0 to his son, Harold. H recelves the greater part of the estate, and will devote hlnself to com- merce. Matthew Wilson of Dysart, Ta., claima to have Invented a process of welding copper and &teel. He also says he has weldéed two | pleces of copper as solidly as It they were molded. He exhibite in hix shop here a | hammer, the handle of which i of copper {and the face of steel. He can he seen | pounding an anvil any day with this ham- | mer. He says his process of welding is the first in the history of the world to prove successful. One of the most notable mstances of lon- gevity In modern times is that of Mr. Sam- el Salyers, now residing near Norton, Va., at the advanced age of 117 years, says Les- lie's Weekly. He has been living in a little log cabin for thirty-five years In succes- sion. Mr. Balyers was justice of the peace for tweniy-five years in Wise county. and served in that capacity after he had passed his 100th birthday, being, It Is belleved, the nldest Incumbent on record of such an of- fice. CONCERNING CANNED GOODS. Very Small Percentage Carry Adule tern: Cleveland Plain Dealer. Chief Wiley of the government bufeau of chemistry, comes to the aid of the Amer- fcan canners and gives their goods a rec- ommendation for purity {hat ought to be of appreciable value both to them and to the public. In some quarters an impression persista that supplies bought In ‘cans are likely to contalan adulterants, if viot active poisons, and that one who would preserve his health had betfer forswear the brightly labeled tins and stick to food in the forms recognized by his fathers. This is all wrong. Chief Wiley says so. aving personally conducted various polson squads and been actively engaged in seeing that the pure food law was obeved, the chief ought to know. People will generally acknowledge that he does know. The Wiley pronunciamento in favor of canned goods is contained in a letter to the chalrman of the executive committee of the natlonal organization of canned goods men. “Taking the whole matter of canned goods together * * * " he says, “only an ex- | tremely small percentage of them ever con- tain any added substance whatever, except food and perhaps a little salt or sugar.' Again: “T am, as you know, a believer ir canned goods and in the canning process. T think it is a blessing and a blessing which in dlsguise.” Food products in cams enter inte. the dally consumption of practically every fam. fly in the land and it is a matter of com- fort to be thus assured that the public is not being cheated or polsoned. Tt is well for people to know the canners are not engaged in a conspiracy for breaking down the public health; well to understand that canned goods are geferally whole- some and may be consumed without fear. " POINTED PLEASANTRIES, ‘hustled’ the copy “You say lere that the police prisoner to Jjail,” remarked reader, polsing a large pencil “I've been saying that for twenty years,” replied the reporter “Well, it doesn't go In this town,” was the reply us the pencil foll. ““The records prove that our police are not hustlers. Philadelphia Ledger. “Suppose, 1 run in a foot note here and there.” “Can’'t you without police “Police methods! mean? “Don't you rest attention hold your methods?"" What on earth do you reader's interest un in' the foot notes to ar- —Baltimore American. Doctor (to lawyer going through the medical museum)—Your profession does not offer any opportunity for the collection of professional relics. Lawyer. I am not so sure about that. 1 have a unique collection of family skeletons at my office.—Puck. She—What did papa say when you asked for my hand? He—Why, he couldn't shy 'a wordl. She—He couldn’t? He—No; your mot Yonkers Statesman. was there!— Dolon—80 Casey was running me down ' ye stood up for me? 01 did; O sig to him, “Case coward—and v work hard ala ye're n “Major, how did you become a finan- |!€TSburg without a sense of horror and Pay ver dibts—an’ ye don't get drunk an' but in_other Dolor lick yer wolfe better than respects ye're no —Judge. First Younk Turk: “How soon are we to jump on the new sultan?’ Second Young Ditto: “Not time to hide away pot Clevelard Plain Deal quigk thinking," sald 1 the houguets go until he has a of money. “In this matter the base ball umpire to the players; and we fellows have to think as quick as they Ho, if not a little quicker. If a player works his thinker too slow all he gets is an ersor. If 1 go it 1 get a pop bottle."—Chicago Tribune, “What will you say to the consumer when he demands an explanation 2. “The usual thing.' answeved Mr. Stax What is that?" ** ‘Please remit Washjngton Star. HIS FATHERHOOD, Coventry Pamore. little san, who look’d from thoughttul eyes moved and spoke in quiet wise Having my law the I struck him, and With hard words and unkiss'd— His mother, who was patient, being dead. Then feuring lest his grief should hinder uleep I visited his bed Hut found him slumbering deop. Dustin My And grown-up venth time disobeyed, jsmiss'd | With darken'd eyelids, and their lashes yet From his late sobbing wet, And 1, with moan Kissing away his tears own. For, on & table drawn beside his head, He had put within his reach A box of counters and a red-yeined stone, A plece of gluss abraded by the beaeh, And s or e shells, A bottle with bluebell And two French copper To comfort his sad he B0 when that night | pray'd 1 wept and sald: “Ah, when al last we breath, Not vexing Thee And tho remem! We made our joys How weakly understood Thy great commanded good, Then, fatherly, not less Than 1, whom Thou hast moulded from the clay Thoul't leave Thy wrath and say, ‘1 will be sorry for thy childishness, % left others of my dins, ranged there le with tranced in death est of what toys