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Around the am Did You Know That Mrs. Besant Is the Potential , Ruler of India? X AMAZING question! The last the world heard of Mrs. Annie Besant she was, at the age of nearly seventy, a high priestess >f theosophy. The fascination of her Mgponality, the power of her lrarnincr, ;er logic and her persuasive faculties ivere acknowledged wherever she was jRown. Now, all at once, she emerges as a political as well as a spiritual eader. At least according to Eleanor Franklin Egan, who has contributed to -he current "Saturday Evening Post" a rery remarkable article under the un? eventful head. "Home Rule in India." "In India to-day," she widtes? "there are just two great interests. Bnd? most unhappily and disastrously!?they dash. One is the war. In the minds of all O 1'nderwood &. Underwood ?Mrs. Annie Besant A I conservative men, both Indian and English, the war should be the only interest until it is won, and by them is being prosecuted with all of India's strength and resources. But?and what a catastrophe of modifica? tion that word implies!?there is a political situation, a'situation that for complication and discordant elements surpasses any? thing of its. kind in the world; in fact there is no aimilar situation anywhere, and none ever existed." Then, coming to the special heroine of the occasion, the writer says: "The extraordinary old woman round whom the situation seems to revolve, at ?past for the time being, and who holds millions of India's millions in such hypnotic thrall that they involuntarily echo her thoughts as she utters them, is Mrs. Annie' Besant, the theosophist and religionist. For the last year Mrs. Besant has been the main fact in India's existence. The principal news of the day in the press of India has not been coming from the war zones or from the capitals of a warring and sufferinp; world, but from Mrs. Besant's headquarters, ?herever ?he has happened to be. "Just how Mrs. Besant managed to get such a hold upon the people of India would be difficult to explain. I do not pretend to Widerstand it. Neither does anybody with whom I have talked during these exciting day*. She is president of the Theosophicnl Society, and in this office has been for years the object of something closely akin to worship; the recipient of the slavish de? votion of thousands of otherwise normal people, who are said to have surrendered into her hands all their powers of volition, and who believe her to be 'the sole mouth? piece of the preat Masters of Wisdom' and 'the future ruler of pods and men.' '?And the curious thing is that, while she has a host of followers among the un? thinking and untutored masses, she domi? nates the minds of some of India's richest, most intelligent and best educated men. It is through these that she has been able to turn the Theosophical Society into a politi? cal machine, with power to grind up every vestige of opposition to itself. One hears of 'the great whispering gallery of theoso phic circles' and gets the impression that by means of this whispering gallery the will of the mahatmas?or the higher ones is conveyed through Mrs. Besant, who is their only representative on earth, to all parts of India. Her followers become fa? natic to n degree that is unknown to other sects, and one of them recently wrote in a British-Indian newspaper: Let the authorities know what great personages stand behind Mrs. Besant to protect her and her adherents and to guide India! , . . These agents of God have given ample opportunities to our rulers, and they shall yet give more. . . . But let it not fco too late. If the British cannot make themselves worthy instruments to make India free, God'r agents must and shall do so! "What i? a sane community to do with politics like that? Yet that is the kind of politics now influencing the. Indian situa? tion; and when Mrs. Besant was recently elected president of the National Congress a supposedly sober and substantial po? litical organization which was originated by Knglishmen for the purpose of giving Indians a medium of self-expression?it was openly proposed that she be deified or recognized as an immortal; and 'idolatrous practices for the acceptance of the con? gress' were seriously suggested. "lTp to about four years ago Mrs. Besant took no interest in Indian aspiration. She was a religionist pure and simple and admon? ished her followers to let politics alone and to uphold the benevolent and other-wise worthy British government. Then she got into some difficulties?which need not be detailed in this article?had some unpleas? ant encounters with the courts and made herself a host of enemies. Some of these, strangely enough, were important political leaders who, having been unmercifully lashed by her in pamphlets, newspaper ar? ticles and public speeches, are now bound with thongs of abject devotion to her polit? ical chariot wheels. She was losing her grip on the imaginations of the people and these men were contributing largely to the influences that were working against her, so she calmly and with consummate clever? ness manoeuvred her forces into a gradual change of tactics and began to woo them. And she won them." The writer next makes an astonishing statement when she states, not as sur? mise, but plain fact, that Mrs. Besant? "tells the Indians that her soul is Indian and that she is on earth now in the guise of a white woman as a punishment for some tembl? sin she committed in a former ex? istence. Yes, she does, really! And they believe her. Then she tells them that she thinks she is working it out all right, how? ever, and that the next time she visits the earth she will come in her rightful guise.' ,And that, observes this writer, would be the time for her to undertake the jot of leading India out of bondage. "Thej might," she thinks, "be ready for it bj then." And "Indian women might b> that time be allowed to know something to do something and to speak withoui waiting to be spoken to." Now it would be extremely interesting "That Weird Green Glow" ?Courtesy of 27ie Nation's Business, U. S. Chamber of Commerce. /T COMES at night from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at Washington, evidence of the heavy burden that has been placed on the plant. In a single day recently the bureau completed and delivered 81,498,000 pieces of stamps, bank notes, bonds and the like. to get Mrs. Besant's own version of all this! How to Tell J ust Where Your Soldier Is JAMES HOPPER, special correspond? ent, writes in ?'Collier's": "January 17 is the date, the historical date. On that day the American army went into the trenches for good; on that day the United States took over a sector of the long battle line in France. It is a very small sector as yet, but it will grow?it is grow? ing, in fact, as I write?and perhaps it will end by changing the world. "Where is that sector, where is that ad? vanced bastion of America in the fight to save civilization? Take a map of France, and mark with your pencil the long battlo line. It starts on a beach of the North Sea. ut Nieuport, in the last little corner of free Belgium; it runs then Eouth (soon entering France) along the following towns, approx? imately (some of the towns I name are on one side of the line, some on the other), thus: Nieuport, Ypres, Lens, Arras, Com? bles, P?ronne. Gradually it inclines cast ward till it is running southeasterly along Saint Quentin (held by the Germans), Laon (held by the Germans), and Rheims (held by the French). From Rheims it shoots frankly east to Verdun (every one knows who holds Verdun). After Verdun the line does a queer trick. It goes southward for twenty miles to a little town called Saint Millie!, then turns at right angles and runs east to Pont-?-Mousson, almost up to the German frontier. The line then follows the frontier, a few miles within it. till it crosses into Alsace, a slice of which is put back into France, and finally ends up against Switzerland, at a point near Altkireh. "Now, let us go back to Verdun, and that place where the line plays the queer trick. If Saint Mihiel is not on your map, find ?From Collier's. ? Pictorial Press "The real bond in Franco*Ameri? can relations is the French child" Commercy, and call that Saint Mihiel. Draw a cross at Port-?-Mousson. Then, just half? way between those two crosses draw an? other one, a big one?a red, white and blue one, if you wish. You can now hang your map on a wall. Teach your eye to fall without hesitation upon the cross which is halfway between Saint Mihiel and Pont a-Mousson. Look at that cross every day, look at it several times a day, look at it tenderly.that's where your boy is." Only?he isn't. That is, as the writer points out, "it's a hundred-to-one shot he isn't." For it must be remembered that?. "an army is a big affair; to keep one man in tho trenches it takes many men behind. And the man in the trenches isn't there all the timo -not by far. There was in a town, in the American zone, but well and safe in the rear, a boy who interested me. He was a private in the quartermaster's department. He was young and joyous-, a big smile was ever upon his face; he had one front tooth missing?he lo< l:ed like Jack London when Jack London was ;i boy. His special work was to act ns clerk in the commissary store. He handed out across a counter the tobacco, the jams, the canned fruit, the bacon, tha waterproofs, the boots, the sweets and trinkets which make of every American soldier in France at least a millionaire. But he did not spend all his time in this shop. This shop had given him a liking for all shops?and often you could find him at the green grocer's, or the charcuteries, or the Grand Bazar or the Magazins R?unis flirt? ing with lots of busy but jolly French dam? sels in a French of his own which satisfied him and irresistibly brought smiles from those most resolute in fighting off his gay impertinence. He knew all the children of the town; they ran to him when they saw him and gave him their small hands, and he was an adept at praising the family baby ?in short, he was having the time of his life. Yet when I mentioned that fact to him he clouded a little, " 'Sure, I'm having a good time,' he said. 'The only thing that bothers me is my mother, back in the States. She thinks I'm in the trenches.' 'But you write to her, don't you?' I objected. 'Sure, I do.' he an? swered. 'I keep writing her I'm not in ih<e trenches and all hunky-dory. But each time she writes, I can see she thinks I'm in the trenches, my feet getting all froze up and mo all torn up with Boche shell?. Can't make her believe I'm not in the trenches!'" Anyway, says Mr. Hopper, keep your eyes on your map. For? "if your boy isn't there, many boys are there, and they're a brave, jolly, fine lot the advance of our doughboys, the nucleus of a fighting army which may end by chang? ing the face and spirit of the world. But where is that cross? It is in Lorraine. There's a name that reverberates in his? tory. For one thing, Jeanne, Maid of Or? leans, was from Lorraine; Domremy, the village where she was born, lies just south, not more than forty miles south, of the trenches held by our boys. What a differ? ence between her and them?what a differ? ence in outward attitude and gesture, in ap? parel of combat, and yet, probably, what a profound similarity in the quality of their courage! Since the Maid, Lorraine has given France many heroes. She is a proud and indomitable land, ever a live and ?eady rampart against the continuous fluxes of central barbarism and hate. The Germans divided Lorraine in 1870, and now our world is saying to Germany: 'Give back Lorraine to France.' Thus our trenches there, in the land of Lorraine, become almost a sym? bol." California Puts Idle Land to Work COLONIZATION in California is be ^-^ ing pushed by the state on a 6,000 acre tract, purchased recently, near Chico. The state proposes to provide the settler not only with land, but will erect simple, modern houses, barns, silos and other necessary buildings, payments to be made on an instalment plan, with terms that may be met easily. One-third of the investment must be paid at the start, but twenty-five to thirty-six years' time is given to pay the balance. The prime requisite is a loyal, patriotic cit? izen not holding land in any other part of the state. Plans are made to invest at least $500,000 in the project at the start.?Engineering News-Record. Gutzon Borglum \ N interesting picture of Mr. Borglum **? is drawn by a writer in "The Washington Star." The sculptor, who has come prominently into the arena of public notice through his charges which have led to investigations into the air? craft industry, is well and widely known in Washington, where he has spent much time. A number of his best known pieces of sculpture have been contributed to the capital. The article under comment proceeds: "Borglum is a many-sided man. He pre? sents the rather unusual iigure in America of an artist who has taken a wide interest in public affairs. He has upheld the theory, a commonplace in continental Europe, that an artist need not be divorced from busi? ness and politics. "His interest in aeronautics, for example, dates back to the infancy of that science. He was an observer of many of the early experiments of the late Professor Lang ley, of the Smithsonian Institution, and a close friend of that aerial pioneer. He 'held the watch' on the Wright brothers here during some of their early demonstra? tions to which they invited members of . ( ongress jn an endeavor to show that fly? ing was practical. He was among the tiri? to urge the efficacy of flying machines in warfare. "No one would take Mr. Borglum for a sculptor. In appearance he js more like a business man. He wears a close cut mus? tache and is stocky of build, and is bald headed. "Officials here who believe his charges of pro-German influences and deliberate mis- ' appropriation of funds in aeroplane con? struction are unwarranted stated to-day that they have no doubt of his entire sin? cerity and disinterested attitude. "Mr. Borglum and President Wilson had known each other for some fourteen yesrs. The sculptor aljro numbered Colo:iel Roose? velt and Mr. Taft among his friends. He designed the gargoyles on Princeton dormi tory and received a degree from that uni? versity while Woodrow Wilson was its pre* ident. "Mr. Borglum has taken an active part in political campaigns. When Roosevel' broke with the Republican party befort Mr. Wilson's first election he took thi Gutzon Borglum stump for the latter. He also took a part in the last campaign. "When Mr. Roosevelt was in the Whit? House he had the entr?e there. A promi? nent New York business man wanted to reach the ear of President Roosevelt and asked a Washington acquaintance how to achieve that end. ? "'Try Borglum. He can Tget you in if any one can.' "Though he has produced a prodigious array of art works, the fact has been wide? ly commented upon that he takes his art as a profession and- seldom talks of it out? side his studio. A man who has been close? ly associated with him for fourteen month' to-dp.y remarked that he has heard Mr. Borglum discuss with remarkable knowl? edge a wide range of subjects, but never has talked with him about art mutters. "Some of his best known works are in Washington. One of these is the head of Abraham Lincoln in the rotunda of the Capitol. He made a prolonged study of the life, character and all details extant about Lincoln's personal appearance before he be gan work on that piece. From his chisai came the Sheridan Monument, in Sheridan Circle, and the Foulke Memorial here. One of his best known works is the colossal series of figures of the apostles at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City." Medicine and Surgery Wounded BARrJ floors, but not too clean; White beds, but not too white? I saw bloodstains on one of the sheets. He had not slept all night ; The shell that burst so deadly near Had struck out bis sight. His arms were bandaged thick, Broken by that same shell. He said he did not know he was hurt But heard a savage yell. He did not know it was himself Who shrieked it, in that hell. He told me that he walked For twenty yards or so, And sat down by the shelter He somehow seemed to know. A*d all around were terrible sounds Of human-animal woe. *2iey bandaged his torn head, And each' queer, moveless arm, AJid left him lying on the ground Out of the way of harm, '^?d thrust a sharp thing in his flesh That soothed him like a charm. And then-?twelve endless days | Of unwashed agony. And now," he said, "since I got here, And they have tended me, wB getting better every day? It's fine as it can be." His legs were pierced with wounds? ? Shell-fragments, stones and such, ^e day," he said, "I'll walk AU round here with a crutch." *sked him if he suffered much. H? said, "No?not too much." ^-Louise Morgan Sill, in The Atlantic Monthly. Adrenalin in Wound Treatment ? WILDT uses an ointment of boracic ? acid, to which he adds one, two * three drops of a 1:1000 adrenalin ??*-Hon to each five grammes of oint ?*-*. The results obtained were a de ?in proliferation of granulation ftarrow cicatrices and ft diroinu ' the wound secretions.?Munch* ft?zmUch? Wochenecrift. I the Great Workshop of Science Sending Magnets Forth tc Flirt with U-boats THERE'S one thing certain about this war, anyway, declares "Th< Electrical Experimenter," anc that is, that there will be nc falling off in the business of the Patenl Office. Not if the Yankee inventors car help it, at any rate. For one thing, they will be able to keep the patent examiners busy on anti-submarine devices for sev? eral years to come, apparently. This magazine goes on to say : "We thought that the magnet schemes foi combarinrr the U-boat menace were about exhausted?wo said 'thought,' but here's a new one. And it employs electro-magnets-? oodles of them, if necessary. The inventor of this newest 'sub' destroyer is John A. Gault, of Lancaster, Wis., and the modus operandi of his arrangement Is as follows: "The invention has for its object to pro? vide efficient means whoreby submarines may be located and destroyed, the invention consisting briefly of an electro-magnet, towed by means of a cable, beneath and in rear of a vessel, for locating submerged ob? jects such as submarine vessels and mines, and means for lowering a bomb to destroy the submerged object when it is once en? trapped by the magnet. The ship usinjr this apparatuses preferably of the screw-driven type and driven as fast as practicable through the danger ?one, so that a large area may be covered in a predetermined time. A substantial base is secured rigidly upon the aft deck of the vessel, as shown in the illustration herewith. This base pref? erably extends beyond the line of the hull, as it is upon this base that most of the working parts of the device are mounted. "Pivoted at the rear end of the base is a rcarwardly projecting, vertically swinging boom which is by preference extensible and retractable, set screws or clamps being pro? vided for holding it in adjusted position. The rear end of the boom is forked as shown, and a suitably shaped float is mounted pivotally in this fork, the float having formed there through a guideway through which a suitable steel cable and an electric wire cable pass slidably and at in? tervals are secured together by suitable clips, these clips being preferably disposed at predetermined points so that they may be provided with indicating members whereby the depth at, which' the magnet is located may be readily determined, the magnet be? ing carried by the lower end of tho steel cable and supplied with electric current from the duplex electric cable. This cur? rent is supplied to the cable from a storage battery at any suitable point on the ship, a generator being provided for charging the hatterv to the required extent. The rrenera tor may either be driven from the internal mechanism of the ship or from an individ? ual motor or engine. "The two cables attached to the electro? magnet aro wound upon a drum suitably mounted upon the deck base, the anchored ends of the duplex electric feed cabio be? ing passed through the hollow shaft of the drum and secured to a pair of contact rings which are insulated from the shaft; that is, the two wires which comprise the feed cable are secured to the brush rings. Suitable brushes contact with the rings, and current conducting wires lead from these brushes to the battery. It will thus be obvious that, no matter how much the cablea aro wound orfunwound, the current supply of the mag? net will always be constant. "Any preferred means could bo employed for raising and lowering the boom, but for illustrative purposes there is shown a spe? cial ciible secured at its outer end to the free end of said boom, and wound at its other end on a winding drum mounted on the base. "in operation a fleet of ships aro sup posed to travel abreast towing their re? spective electro-magnets, and the moment any one of these magnets como in the im? mediate vicinity of a submerged metallic object, it will be attracted to such an ob? ject. The magnet cables are then payed out to prevent any possibility of pulling the magnet, from the object, and in the mean timo the ship may be brought to a stand? still. In some instances the force of the powerful electro-magnet may be great enough to permit raising mines, by simply winding up the cables controlling the mag ?From The Electrical Experimenter m N INVENTOR recently patented the "magnetic bomb" scheme illustrated. Ths vessel /| using the device trolls the powerful electro-magnet astern; when its cable pulls taut ?***."? the crew know they have landed a submerged "sub." Extra electric or magnetic depth bombs are lowered into the water, the ship moves away a suitable distance, and the rest can be imagined. net and boom. In most cases, however, a bomb, which may itself be fitted with a self contained magnet, and exciting means such as a battery, would be lowered to destroy the entrapped body. The inventor mentions that before exploding the bomb the ves? sel should move off a safe distance to pre? vent injury to her hull, due to the terrific concussive waves transmitted by the explo? sion through the water for a distance of several hundred feet at least, in most in? stances." A Simple Home Made Sun Dryer for Fruits and Vegetables QUN drying is undoubtedly the sim plest and most inexpensive method of preparing fruits and vegetables for winter storing. A simpler dryer that can be nfade at small cost consists of a shallow box with a sash or piece of glass fitted over the top. Bore holes in the sides and near the top and bot? tom for ventilation, but cover them carefully with netting to keep out flies and mosquitoes. Set the box at an angle so that the sun's rays fall directly on the glass. Apples, peaches, apricots, cherries, rasp? berries and almost all fruits can be dried in this way satisfactorily. First wash the fruit carefully, discarding any that show signs of being overripe or decaying. Slice thin, and lay out in the box without overlapping the slices. Turn the slices occasionally and take them out as they dry. The only things to guard against in this type of dryer are dust and insects.?Popular Science Monthly. A New Latch for Barns ANEW door latch of malleable iron, which can be attached to the edge of single, double or parallel doors, is described in "Popular Mechanics": "It is provided with a handle mounted on a swivelled base and controlling a flat hook which ?3 eccentrically mounted ba- j neath it. By swinging the handle around, the hook is made to swing out from the ! i i\ge of the door and engage a lug in the adjoining jamb. At the same lime it draws the door to ho tightly that it is weather? proof. Provision is made for securely ? locking the latch with a padlock." God and the Devil A Prince of Pulpit and Plat? form Orators! THERE is a department in "The Living Church" called "Blue Monday Musings." The writer in charge of it has a substantial sense of humor. Recently a very re? markable advertisement came to his desk. "After reading the advertisement through the writer involuntarily loosed an ejaculation to the effect that it is good "to learn how many great men there are!" The book thus plastered with pane? gyric is published in Chicago. It emerges from the pen of "a prince of pulpit and platform orators," is "the first volume of the kind ever published," "embracing twenty-four full sermon?, forty-two prel? udes and a large number of prayers." "Every sermon is a masterpiece; there is not a dry paragraph in the book. It is thoroughly Catholic (in the New Testa? ment sense)" [!]. The preacher "Is neither Protestant nor Catholic, but just Christian. He is widely known and uni? versally admired." His publishers "antic? ipate the translation of his preludes for delivery from the pulpits of other coun? tries." Concerning his congregation, we have this information : "1,000 Seats, all Free 20 Obliging Ushers Trained Choir 50 Voices Cultured, Courteous, Cheerful, and Companionable Communicants" It is announced th?t "he conducts his work without salary, earning his living and supporting his family in business, from the sale of his nine books, and from hi^ numerous wedding f?es." "What a none-such!" exclaims the "Blue Monday" person. "Yet, 'Who's Who' has not yet discovered him."