Mistook Their Man

1895

How the Game of Poker Flourished In Georgia In the Good Old Days.

Speaking about cards and card players, there was a gentleman from one of the lower counties of Georgia telling his experience in the legislature a good many years ago, when he represented his county in the general assembly.

"Poker's a mighty funny thing," he said. "You never know when you have run against a good player. Take me, for instance. I was here in the legislature some time ago, and I know I didn't appear to be what you call up to date — not a bit of it. The members from Augusta and Macon and Savannah and the other cities thought they had a soft piece of pie when they got me in the first game. Well, I was well up. I had been playing the game a little more'n they expected to see in a fellow wearing the clothes I wore.

"Well, to make a long story short, boys, I was here in the legislature the whole of that session and had sent supplies home to the folks every now and then, built and paid for a new corncrib, bought the old lady a stove and a sewing machine and hadn't touched my per diem; which Bob Hardeman paid me in a bulk at the close of the session. Them fellers were surprised in their man." — Atlanta Constitution.

Senate Mercuries

1895

THE BRIGHT LITTLE FELLOWS WHO WAIT ON THE SENATORS.

They Mingle Fun With Work and Are Full of Spirit — Their Antics Amuse More Than They Annoy the Senators — The Many Duties That Occupy the Days.

Life is one glorious mixture of work and play to a senatorial page. He can get in more fun to the square inch in his leisure moments, and he can do more hustling and quick work with his nimble feet than almost any other individual alive. It would be a benefit to society if the average district messenger boy could be taken to the capitol occasionally and given an object lesson by being shown a senatorial page doing an errand for a statesman. It would make the heart of a schoolboy burst with envy to see this same page a minute after his errand is finished enjoying himself as only a page can. As a bundle of contradictions a page is an eminent success. His equal is scarcely to be found in any other department of life, either private or public.

In the first place, the pages are selected from that age of humanity that is most devoted to the utilization of every moment of leisure as well as of every muscle in the body. Activity and ingenuity are the page's watchwords. His first rule of existence is to do whatever he has to do in the shortest possible time, so as to have all the more leisure for his many and varied modes of entertainment. As a rule, his mornings are mostly his own; and these he uses to a certain amount of good effect by diligent work in a small room in the basement of the capitol with the athletic apparatus that has there been accumulated for the use of this interesting corps of young Americans. Here diminutive sets of dumbbells, boxing gloves and Indian clubs have been stored from time to time, and some of the pages have become quite proficient in their use.

Some good hard blows are struck in this basement room, and occasionally a black eye merges into the full light of the senate chamber. As facile with their tongues, however, as with their fists, the boys always have a ready answer, and they are seldom pressed very hard as to how they came by their bruises, for it is one of the luxuries of being a page that the senators are not hard masters, but are, on the contrary, disposed to be very lenient and easy going.

As a matter of fact, the antics of the boys amuse rather than irritate them, and it is astonishing how much confusion a senator who strolls into the chamber in the morning will endure before he enters a mild reproach. The boys use this morning hour with a great deal of freedom. They are divided into watches, so to speak, each boy having certain duties to perform in the arrangement of the desks, the straightening of the chairs, the distribution of documents and the pens. A boy is placed on guard at each of the doors to the cloakrooms to prevent overcurious visitors from strolling into these forbidden precincts, and it is one of their duties generally to keep tourists from entering the rows of desks within.

As the hour of 12 o'clock approaches calm begins to reign among the pages. They cease their romping as senator after senator enters the chamber, and their surreptitious games of marbles are discontinued. A minute or so before the hour of noon the pages separate into two groups, one on each side of the chamber, and each page takes position in front of the desk before the first row of the semicircle around the vice president's chair. Each boy has his place allotted to him and assumes as nearly as possible the position of respectful silence. Of course this is only approximate with these youngsters; who are fairly boiling over with fun and frivolity. As the gilded hands of the great blue clock over the south door point to 12 there is a hush throughout the chamber, the pages straighten up into stiff and unnatural positions, the doors on the east of the vice president's seat are thrown open, and a little procession formed of the secretary of the senate, Captain Bassett, the vice president and Chaplain Milburn, led by one of the pages, enters the room.

The boys standing by the front row of desks bow their heads and remain as though petrified throughout the prayer. Once in awhile one of the more mischievous lads will disturb the solemnity of the occasion by a surreptitious poke into the side of his neighbor; but, as a rule, they are well behaved and do not chafe under the restraint of a couple of minutes. The moment the "amen" is sounded the pages scurry to their seats on the steps leading to the desks of the vice president and the clerks, being equally divided between the two sides of the house, and a few moments later they are to be found in all parts of the senate wing as they flit about on their errands for the senators.

This senator may want a book from the library, that one a document from his committee room. Another may desire the presence of his clerk in the senate chamber, or still another may simply wish to send a message to a senator on the other side. Many of the errands which these boys perform are confidential, and they never betray the trust imposed upon them.

It is only occasionally that a boy is retained from the staff of pages in some other capacity about the senate. Of course the shining example of Senator Gorman, who was a page at one time, and who afterward became postmaster of the senate after passing through successive stages, acts, of course, as a strong incentive to those lads to remain in the service as long as possible. But, as a rule, they are retired when they reach the age limit of 15 years. Places are found for some of the brighter boys as riding pages, clerks in the postoffice and in the other offices of the senate. — Washington Star.

What Congress Has Done

1916

Congress came to a halt yesterday. In this interval between the achievement of one Administration and the choice of another we can look out, as from an opening in the trees, over the slopes up which we have climbed.

Steep was this journey, often perilous, and to climb it required of the Administration both ability and courage.

First came the tariff. The Republicans had been put into office to revise the tariff downward. They coolly revised it in the opposite direction. Their retribution came in 1912. The Democrats were put in power to revise the tariff downward. They did so. The Underwood-Simmons bill of October 1913, was the first tariff in the history of this country which was ever made in the open, where it was difficult to slip in "jokers" and such clauses as the famous "Schedule K."

To that Congress has now added a Tariff Commission for the scientific, nonpartisan study of the problem. This body is fortified by a clause against the danger of European Nations seeking to recoup their war losses by "dumping" goods in our markets to destroy our industries. In respect to tariff, therefore our commercial ship is in storm trim to meet the heavy weather which is anticipated at the end of the war.

It had been complained, prior to 1912, that the control of financial credit was in the clutch of a few financiers who used that power selfishly and unjustly. The administration proceeded with its Federal reserve banking and currency act which, though bitterly resisted in certain financial quarters, is now admitted by bankers themselves to be an excellent measure.

Our foreign trade was stimulated by permitting National banks to establish foreign branches, thus releasing merchants from being obliged to pay tribute to London for financial transactions outside the United States.

The effect of financial legislation has been especially beneficial to the farmers. It has already enabled them, in many instances, to borrow money at 6 percent, which had formerly cost them 10, 12 and even 15 percent.

The Federal Rural Credits act has been pronounced one of the greatest pieces of constructive legislation in the last half-century.

Farm and town alike will profit by the law granting Federal aid to the States for the building of good roads.

A European war, unprecedented in world history, was "sprung" on the Administration, as it was on the rest of the world. In response to a very clamorous demand the Administration has enacted measures for defense involving an outlay of $662,476,512, the largest appropriation in peace times in the Nation's history, and of a magnitude which has mollified the complaints even of the rabid militarist.

Labor legislation which other Administrations have promised this Administration has performed. The Federal law prohibiting child labor is one of the most sweeping humanitarian measures of recent history. We now have a Workmen's Compensation act for Federal employes; an eight-hour day for Government employes in Alaska; an eight-hour day for women and children workers in the District of Columbia; a law requiring better treatment and better living conditions for American seamen; and the establishment of a Federal employment bureau, which, in its first year, obtained jobs for 75,156 people.

By the Clayton Antitrust act human labor ceased to be classed as a "commodity." An income tax and an inheritance tax have shifted a part of the burden of public expense to shoulders which are better able to bear it. The Government has undertaken to build and own a railroad in Alaska and to invest $50,000,000 in a merchant marine, under certain specified conditions protecting private initiative.

Nor is this by any means the whole record of the Administration's achievements. These are but the high lights. They are enough, however, to show that campaign promises have at last been removed from the category of a cynical joke about broken pledges.

What a Progressive party promised to do if elected, this Democratic Administration has largely done. And of its total achievement this record of progressive legislation is only a part, and perhaps not even the most distinguished part.

A great philosopher once passed what he called "a quiet hint to conservatives." It was that the only kind of conservatism that is possible is progressivism. You cannot, he said, make man walk backwards, crab-fashion.

The present Administration has been conservative in the best, in fact, the only sense. It has conserved by going steadily forward. — The Boston Globe.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 8.

New Courthouse

New Hampshire, 1916

Ossipee, N. H., Sept. 9. — Carroll County's new courthouse, of Colonial design, recently erected to take the place of the wooden building destroyed in the fire of June 23, 1915, which wiped out a large section of the heart of Ossipee Village, is one of the handsomest in the State. Its cost, exclusive of the furnishings, was approximately $40,000. The equipment cost several thousand dollars more.

The structure occupies the site pf the old Courthouse, but sits back about 30 feet farther from the village square. It has a frontage of 53 ft. 3 in. and a depth of 94 ft. 4in., and is two stories high. The exterior is dark red brick, laid in white mortar, with trimmings of Indiana limestone. The portico at the front is supported by large colonial columns. There is a side entrance to the rear section.

The admirably arranged interior includes the courtroom on the first floor, 46 ft. 3 in. x 39 ft. 5 in., and the height of two stories; the offices of the County Commissioner, register of deeds, register of probate, clerk of court, judge's room, Grand and Petit Jury rooms, lawyers' library and vaults for the court and county records.

Special attention has been paid to the acoustical treatment of the courtroom. In this, it is said, the builders have succeeded well. The room will seat about 200 spectators.

The judge's, jurors' and lawyers' rooms are conveniently arranged at the rear of the courtroom and it is only a step from the judge's room to the bench.

The officers of the commissioners and clerk of court are on the first floor in the front of the building and those of the two registers are similarly placed on the second floor. All are large and well lighted.

The building is strictly fireproof. It has fire walls and steel enters largely into the interior construction. The stairway at the front of the building is of marble with steel bannisters.

Steel wall cases and other equipment of the latest design are used in the offices. The courtroom furniture and the desks, chairs and tables throughout the building are of quartered oak.

Unique among the courthouses of the State, this one is equipped with its own electric lighting plant. It is heated by steam, and the compressed air system is used for supplying all parts of the building with running water, which is pumped from a spring about 50 yards away from the building. The basement includes, besides the heating, electric and water systems, a prisoner's cell. The building is equipped with fire escapes.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 3.

The New Farm Movement

1916

A new branch of the United States department of agriculture is known as the states relation service, and dates from July 1, 1915. Its function is to represent the secretary of agriculture in his relations with the state agricultural colleges and experiment stations and to carry on the work of the department in connection with farmers co-operative demonstration work, in vestigations relating to agricultural schools, farmers' institutes, the relative utility and economy of agricultural products used for food, clothing and other purposes in the home, and the maintenance of agricultural experiment stations in Alaska, Hawaii Porto Rico and Guam. The present office of experiment stations becomes a branch of the new service.

Bill-Poster Suit Up

1916

Washington, Sept. 23. — The government's suit to dissolve the so-called bill-posters' trust reached the supreme court yesterday on an appeal by the defendants, convicted in Chicago, several months ago, of combination in violation of the Sherman law. The appeal asks review of the trial and sets forth that the defendant organization, the Associated Bill Posters and Distributors of the United States and Canada, since the conviction, has been reorganized into the Poster Advertising company and the Associated Bill Posters and Distributors' Protective association.

Helpless China

1916

Mr. Boyce's Talks

Japan has served a new set of demands upon China. Taking advantage of the fact that most of the world is at war, the Japanese have been gradually moving in on their big neighbor, with the object of gaining complete control, at least, if not actually seizing the country.

The latest move follows a fight between Chinese and Japanese in Mongolia. Japan demands that China employ Japanese military advisers for its Manchurian and Mongolian armies, that it employ Japanese military inspectors in its schools, that certain Chinese army officers be punished and that "special interests" of Japan in Mongolia and Manchuria be recognized.

Over a year ago, when it became known that Japan had forced China to yield a number of important concessions, the United States sent a warning to both countries that we would not recognize any agreement between them which impaired American rights in China or endangered the so-called "open door" policy. That warning was too late, but it kept the record straight, so that if the "open door" was closed we could say that we objected.

The "open door" was secured in 1900, when John Hay, our Secretary of State, requested Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan to sign an agreement that the treaty rights of the United States with China would not be affected by new treaties entered into by them, and every one gave such assurance.

Japan will no doubt declare that she has no designs against the "open door" — and will go ahead with her plans just the same. The Japs could say, "What are you going to do about it?" but that would not be polite and would not be necessary, anyway.

The United States has lost out in China, where we had great hopes of building up an extensive trade. Also, we are naturally concerned over Japan's ambitions, because of the Philippines and the Hawaiian Islands. Japan has long sought to get hold of China, with her great area and enormous population, which could be converted into a strong force to aid in ruling the Far East. Poor old China cannot resist the demands of the smaller nation, for she is unprepared to defend herself, and it does not look as if it would do her any good to cry for help.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 6.

U.S. Government Short of Paper

1916

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The high-price-of-paper situation, which has already forced many newspapers and periodicals to raise their subscription rates and to reduce the number of pages printed, has also hit the United States Government.

One of the last acts of the Senate before adjourning was the adoption of a resolution directing the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the soaring increase in the price of print paper. It was found that the supply of paper for the Government printing office was only sufficient to last sixty days instead of six months, as is usually the case.

The Federal Trade Commission started an investigation some time ago, but nothing had come of it other than a statement issued early last week in which it was urged that steps be taken to prevent publishers from being charged unreasonable prices for their paper.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

Clever Girls Spread Germs of Red Doctrine in Canada

1920

Bolshevist Missionaries Preach Sedition in Unions While Special Classes in the Construction of Bombs Are Being Held — Agitators Work to Overthrow Government of Dominion.

MONTREAL, Que., Canada, Jan. 1. — Bolshevists from the United States are crossing into Canada, but not, as they may imagine, without the knowledge of the authorities. The Red exodus is being closely watched by officials on both sides the line and new arrivals in Montreal have been carefully cataloged.

The Red army here is freely predicting the overthrow of what it calls the bourgeois regime, encouraged perhaps by the partial success in Winnipeg a few months ago, when for a time it seemed as tho Soviet rule had been introduced into Canada.

Red meetings are held nightly in Montreal in secret, and tons of Bolshevist literature have been imported.

Much money is coming into the Bolshevist coffers. Close cooperation between Canadian and American authorities in securing the evidence against the radicals makes the local leaders anxious to avoid the limelight.

Much of the information used in the United States against Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman and others was secured in Montreal and furnished to the United States authorities, it is declared. Lists of agitators are prepared on each side of the line and exchanged.

So confining themselves to talking, the Reds are trying to undermine the labor unions. Many unions, it is claimed, have Bolshevists in them endeavoring to spread their beliefs. In the biggest railway shops in Montreal a number of Red missionaries are at work, it is said.

The organization boasts of several extremely clever girls, and these are from time to time "planted" in certain factories. They go and secure work, and in time infect a number of their fellow workers with the Red microbe. Then they leave and go to another factory. In certain sections so-called "economic classes" have been opened. These are in reality schools for turning out Red agitators and speakers. There are tales told also of the Russian technical aid body, which specializes, it is said, on the construction of bombs.

The Government has kept a close watch on the activities of the local Reds, but has not adopted a rigorous policy to deal with them.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 5.

Music and Bombs

1920

Music and the making of bombs do not go together, and the man who is radically against his government has no music in his soul, asserts the New York Mail. These facts are both evident, say reports of those who have investigated the homes of "suspects" for the Government.

"No musical instrument, not so much as a harmonica, has ever been found in a home that was raided by Government authorities in connection with Bolshevism," says M. M. Roemer, member of a music goods sales corporation.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 6.

Two Jobs Well Done

By W. D. Boyce (W. D. Boyce's Talks)

The year 1919 had many problems. The biggest was to get our boys back from across the sea, get them settled in the jobs they held before the war and find other places for men and women who had taken their jobs while they were gone. The next biggest problem was the Red menace. The spirit of unrest developed by war was felt to a moderate degree in this country thru the efforts of the Bolshevists, I. W. W. and Red Socialists to make trouble. The strong arm of Uncle Sam reached out and interfered with these plans to make trouble and we are sending the alien Reds back to their fatherlands as fast as we can get ships and putting the trouble makers who are citizens of the United States, but don't like our Government, in the penitentiaries as rapidly as the courts can act. This element, however, will require constant watching.

It is amusing to see the Bolshevists and I. W. W. bunch point with pride to Soviet Russia, then kick violently when we prepare to send them back there on a free ticket. It is puzzling to the Government to know what to do with this half-crazy, insane, bombastic and dangerous element. I often have thought the best solution of the question would be to take one of the Philippine Islands or some other island we own and control and put the whole bunch — citizens and non-citizens, on it and let them run a Government of their own to suit themselves and at the same time let them feed themselves. Already we are using one of the Philippine group as a place to which we send the Filipinos who are not dangerous criminals, but who insist upon trying to make trouble for the Government. Why not another island for the Reds? They couldn't get off it and no one could get on it.

I doubt whether we have the right to send back to their native lands the aliens who develop Red or Bolshevist streaks after they arrive in this country. They may not have been that kind or held radical beliefs when they came over here, and so why should we send them back later anymore than we would deport an immigrant who came over in perfect physical condition and later developed some disease? Some day we may get into a lot of trouble with some country because we send back their citizens after they have been in the United States for some time.

In the first place we never ought to permit a politically Red or unhealthy man or woman to land in the United States. If we do we ought to be responsible for them ever after if they want to stay here, but at the same time have some place to put them if they try to make trouble for us. So I suggest that one of the 3,000 islands which we own might be used for that purpose. We ought never to let any of these aliens leave their native lands for this country until they have passed an examination and investigation by consular agents or representatives of our Bureau of Immigration. The stop order should be put in before the loss is made.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 6.

An Awful Mix-up

1920

By W. D. Boyce (W. D. Boyce's Talks)

Two years ago, when the United States was in the middle of our active part of the European war, the railroads of the United States became so disorganized and inefficient and the service so rotten that the Government had to take them over in order to save the day. Now, when things are getting back to normal again, it is stated that the railroads will be returned to their owners about March 1. Prior to the Government taking them over, the railroads had to do their own financing and prepare for the payment of interest on bonds and dividends on stocks as well as provide for the upkeep, repairs and new equipment. The facts are that they paid out all they took in during the year in interest on bonds and dividends on stock in order to keep up the fictitious values of bonds and stocks. As a result they let the railroads run down so much they were in no condition to supply the needs of the country at the time that the Government took them over.

Now the Government has spent a billion dollars or more on the railroads and has increased freight rates 50 per cent and the railroad officials, if not the stockholders, are glad to get them back. Some of the railroads, however, seem to be disturbed concerning their return and predict they will not get back the same baby that they turned in to the Government hospital. This the cartoonist for The Saturday Blade has tried to show on page 1 this week.

It is a very serious question whether the railroads should be owned by the Government or be restored to private ownership. Private owners have had the chance to demonstrate in times of peace what they could do with the railroads. They had the same opportunity in times of war and made an absolute failure of it. Now they will get the roads back in times of peace, but with a dividend guarantee which will require another big boost in freight and passenger rates. The public will have another chance to watch the operation of railroads by private owners in times of peace, and, unless I miss my guess, after a thoro trial they will insist that the Government take over the roads permanently.

No doubt many things which the railroads should have done under Government operation they did not do. Remember that the Government was obliged to keep at the head of the road those officials who had been at the head of them under private ownership. There is more than a suspicion that many of them did not care to do their best in operating them because they wanted the roads returned to private ownership and if a good showing was made they never would be handed back. Now we will be in the position of Finnegan and it may be a case of "On again, off again, on again, strike again."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 6.

Russian Fairy Tales

1900

A book of fairy tales was the cause of the expulsion and consequent ruin of 175 persons at Poltova. A pupil at one of the state schools there was caught in the act of reading this book of fairy tales, which had been prohibited by the censor on the ground that certain of the tales might be applied to Russian conditions and Russian politics. The boy explained that the caretaker of the school buildings had lent him the book. The principal of the school reported the caretaker to the police, and on the ground of this denunciation the offender was sent to Siberia.

The officials of the institution, together with several parents of pupils, were so indignant at the conduct of the principal that they drew up a protest describing his denunciation as a mean and despicable act. The only consequence was that the officials lost their posts, and, together with the residents who had signed the protest, were expelled from the province of Poltova for three years. The order of expulsion was extended to all the relatives of the offenders, so that 175 persons were sentenced to this severe punishment on account of a book of fairy tales which in other countries is given to every child to read. — Chicago News.

Trade Unions — Savings Bank Lifts Load of Anxiety

1910

By Daniel J. McDonald

Trade unions are formed to elevate humanity by increasing wages and by bettering the condition of the laboring classes. In work along each of these two lines they have been far more useful and effective than is generally believed. Each dollar increase in wages and each hour of leisure secured gives larger opportunity for education, thought and the gaining of knowledge.

Among the greatest of the loads borne by the workers are uncertainty of employment, heavy expenses of sickness and of death of the worker himself or of those dependent upon him or of those upon whom he is dependent; the loss of wages during such times of trouble and the lack of provision for old age. So small is the utmost possible amount of a workingman's savings that almost invariably it is swept away, sometimes repeatedly, by one of these causes, and old age finds the worker penniless.

Any movement like this of savings bank insurance that proposes to lift the financial load at times of sickness and non-employment, and make provision for old age, is in direct line of trade union effort. By providing for future emergencies it promotes independence and lifts a load of anxiety. The man is more able to fit himself for advancement.

The British labor movement has been noted from the beginning for the variety and extent of its financial assistance to its members in times of trouble. Unity, solidarity, steadiness of purpose, devotion and faithfulness of members have been the results. The splendid achievements in English labor legislation, far surpassing anything we can hope for in many years, are due to the unity of purpose and action produced largely by the fraternal care for each member. In this country we need to exercise more care for the welfare of each member, in order that each member may be more devoted to the welfare of the whole.

The ideal method of affiliation, if there is to be affiliation, between the labor movement and savings bank insurance, is for each union to insist that each of its members shall be properly and adequately insured.

Federal Clerks Receive Small Salaries

1910

By Arthur Blanchard

Government clerks are generally thought to have an easy time by many outsiders, who envy the short hours and supposedly large pay of those who labor in the big department buildings of Washington.

The facts are entirely at variance with the popular conception. The employees of Uncle Sam have had no increase of salary for years and most of them are getting exactly the same pay their predecessors drew 50 years ago.

This affects a multitude of honest, hard-working men and women who are just able to make ends meet on their scanty stipends. The condition, indeed, so far from being enviable, is pitiable.

Realizing that conditions had vastly changed and that it requires far more to live decently now than it did in 1880, or even later, Congress, a little while back, raised the salaries of senators and members of the House from $5,000 to $7,500 a year, an increase of 50 per cent.

The country at large found no fault with this piece of self-conferred liberality.

Now it is up to Congress to be as just toward many thousands of government clerks as it was generous toward itself.

Investigations lately made show that a lot of these people are forced to take their children from school to help in the family support while others are continually in the clutches of usurious money lenders.

Governor Gets Shock With Each Handshake

1915

Iowa Executive Puzzled Over the Repetition of Sensations — Discovery Is Made

DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 16. — Governor Clarke's dynamic personality was much more so than usual the other day, so much more so that the Governor shocked himself and kept on shocking without knowing what was the matter.

As visitors came and went during the afternoon, every time one received the gubernatorial handshake, the executive winced a bit and drew back his arm. Finally he decided it was time to see what was wrong.

"Say, Gus, what's going on here?" he demanded of A. C. Gustafson, his secretary. "Every time I shake hands with somebody I get a shock."

A brand new thick velvet carpet had just been placed on the floor in the Governor's office.

"Ah," exclaimed the secretary. "I'll bet that's it."

Gustafson dragged his feet over the heavy carpet as children used to do in the evening in the parlor before the gas was lighted. From the ends of the secretary's fingers the sparks of static electricity shot out.

"That's it," the secretary announced. "This new carpet is dried thoroly now with the radiator heat and all you have to do is walk across it to stir up the current."

Visitors in the office experimented and succeeded in making vivid electric flashes come from their fingers on contact with some other individual or with something leading to the ground. In the course of an argument arising from the Governor's experience, one man in a downstairs office succeeded in lighting a gas jet with a spark which came from his fingers after dragging his feet over a heavy carpet.

Saves U.S. Millions From Junk

1915

When William Jacobus sinks his hands into his pockets and surveys the great amount of Government "junk" he has sold for Uncle Sam at a big saving he must, indeed, feel like congratulating himself.

Here's how it happened. In 1911, Mr. Jacobus, who probably knows more about the scrapping and junk business than any one else, went to the "powers that be" in Washington, D. C., and placing his finger on a leak, said: "Millions of dollars go every year right here because nobody knows anything about the business of selling the Government's junk to the best advantage."

At that time there was what was known as the "junkmen's agreement." A number of junkmen had agreed that they would pay a certain price for the junk offered by the Government.

The junkmen got the scrap "dirt cheap," They carefully assorted it, and resold it at a large profit.

Jacobus changed the system of disposing of Uncle Sam's junk. He saved the Navy Department approximately $2,000,000. He also did a good job for the Light House Department and the War Department. He respectfully declined a position from Col. Goethals to handle the scrap at the Panama Canal. Recently he saved the city of New York $200,000 by judicious sale of scrap.

Social Memory

1900

Henry Fawcett, says Sir Edward Russell, had an extraordinary memory for persons. One night Sir Edward was in the House of Commons, to hear a debate, under the gallery.

A friend introduced him to Mr. Fawcett, who, learning why he was there, said:

"Oh, then you can look after my old father, and tell him who the people are. He is going under the gallery, too."

Three or four years later, Sir Edward was presented to Mr. Fawcett, who was then chief guest at a political dinner, and said to him, in "the usual conventional mumble:"

"I once had the pleasure of being introduced to you, Mr. Fawcett, but it's a long time ago." "I remember," said he, "you very kindly looked after my father under the gallery at the House." And this was the memory of a man totally blind. — Youth's Companion.

Statue Given by Indiana

1900

Although each state has the privilege of placing in Statuary Hall, in the national Capitol, statues of two of its illustrious sons, ten states only have thus far availed themselves of the opportunity in full. Six other states have presented one statue each. On a recent Saturday afternoon, in the Senate-Chamber, a marble statue of Oliver P. Morton, the "war governor" of Indiana, was presented to the nation in the name of that state.

Mr. Fairbanks, the senior senator from Indiana, was the first speaker. Among those in the galleries were the widow of Mr. Morton and several of his nephews. On the floor had gathered, besides senators, several of the representatives from Indiana, and other friends of the man whose deeds were to be recounted.

"This statue," began Senator Fairbanks, "is to stand in yonder hall. Assembled there are the marble figures of citizens, soldiers and statesmen. In good time representatives of each of the states will be gathered there, when the number will equal the membership of the United States Senate. Parties here may come and go, administrations may rise and fall, but no change will occur in the members who join the select assembly in that exalted and historic hall."

The physical difficulties under which Mr. Morton labored during the later years of his life, when a member of the Senate, were brought out by Mr. Fairbanks, and also by Mr. Allison, who had served in the Senate with him. Mr. Morton had long suffered from an incurable malady, which compelled him to be seated while speaking and to go into the Senate supported by attendants. And yet he worked so hard in the committee-room and elsewhere that Senator McDonald, his old-time colleague, described him as "tireless among the tired, and pressing on where strong men gave way."

Senator Beveridge, also of Indiana, made the concluding speech of the day, after which the Senate passed resolutions accepting the statue and thanking the state for its gift.


Sugar For The Troops

German soldiers get a ration of sugar; so do British and French soldiers when on duty in the tropics. And now, by advice of the medical staff and with the approval of army officers, the United States Commissary Department has been shipping many tons of confectionery, put up in pound packages, for the use of our soldiers in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

— Youth's Companion.

A Minute Survey Made

1904

A high official of the War Department tells of an amusing report once made by General McKibben, of the Engineer Corps, who had been sent west to examine the course and condition of a certain road. The general's instructions especially directed him to report whence and whither the road led.

Most carefully did the officer follow orders; and when the final report was rendered it was seen that the road about which the War Department hungered for information eventually made its way up a certain hill, and climbed a tree at the top.

"Don't you think we had better omit that part?" inquired the commanding officer, when the report was laid before him. "You see, this report is to go through the regular military channel, and will be filed. Really, you know, a road wouldn't go up a tree!"

"That's where this road went," insisted General McKibben. "It got fainter and fainter; then up that hill it wound and climbed into the tree, just as I have shown in the report. There was, sir, not the least evidence of a trail beyond the tree, but it was blazed far up toward the top, and that was the end of the trail. I think the report should stand as it is, sir; I am prepared to substantiate every word of it!"

The report is so recorded in the archives of the War Office.