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The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, March 26, 1911, DRAMATIC SECTION, Image 34

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THE WASHINGTON HEBAID, SfTlTDAYpMABCH -26, 1911.
DEMOCRATIC ECONOMIES AND
HOW JOHN J. FITZGERALD OF
NEW YORK WILL LEAD BATTLE
As Chairman of Commit
tee on Appropriations
He WiU Have Charge
of Issue.
By JVMKS D. MORROW.
Going to the mantelpiece of his plainly
furnished sitting-room, which he hires by
the month, John Joseph Fitzgerald point
ed to a group photograph of a mother
and her six cftlldren
"Those are the yc ungsters," he said.
mlxiDg some pride and considerable af
fection with his smile. "who keep me
busy with the fundamental questions of
life They are ultimate consumers, and
their appetites, I am glad to say, couldn't
be improved."
In appearance, John Joseph looks
enough like Theodore Roosevelt to be
his younger and smaller brother, though
his mustache is redder, hi? hair is blonder
and thinner, and his eyes are grayer, but
not so round or large While he lacks
Roosevelt's vocal energy and fluency, hs
is a ready Tian of flaming words, and
-will be heard all oier the land from now
on until after the campaign of 1912.
The Deirocrats will center their voices
and efforts next jear on tariff reform,
the cost of living, and the tjranny of
the trusts Economv. however, as a reg
ular quadrennial issue 'Rill not be over
looked Fitzgerald, as chairman of the
Committee on Appropriations in the
Houe of Representatives, will attempt
to reduce national expenses during the
first -cgular session of the Sixty-second
Congress, which convenes in December,
and to prove by figures that the Repub
licans and Democrat1? iave been extrava
gant, but he will omit the latter from
his censurp l"nderwood. of Alabana,
wll write the campaign tariff bills Fitz
gerald, of New York will try to excite
the countrv with his tables of dire sta
tistics and by waving the red flag of
tl e auctioneer on tho front steps of the
National Treasurj
known Valne of Honey.
Aside from political ambitions and out
side of political considerations. It is well
to have a poor man with six children at
the head of the House Committee on
Appropriations Such a, man has a prac
tical knowledge of the value of money.
His own mathematics arc reduced to
cenf, and the pn"e of shoes becomes a
pergonal problem The word millions"
Is instinetivelj associated with himself,
even while he is financing for his coun
try and is thinking of battle ships, har
bors and public buildings Tawney. of
Minnesota formerly a blacksmith, now
a lawjer without propertv, who is to be
displaced bj Fitzgerald, has fought
bravely and intelligentlv against prodi
gality Holman, of Indiana, weasel-eyed,
chewing Incessantlj, an economical per
son in rusty black, was called a skin
flint and was generallj despised, but he
saved the United States manv millions
of dollars by his unwearied and rasping
objections The fcerate heretofore led
bj millionaires, has increased appropria
tions and not reduced them
"This is a billion-dollar countrv,"
Thomas B Reed erclaimed, in excusing
the monev bills of the Fifty-first Con
gress Since then it has grown to be a
two-bilhon-dollar countrv, and Tawney
predicts that it will be a four-billion-
dollar countrv within a few years if the
pressure for public funds continues The
matter is brought home to every man or
woman, whetiier a worker or an owner of
propertv. by the ccrtaintv that if ex
penses are not kept in check new taxes
will have to be laid and collected It
does not follow that a tax on incomes will
le paid bv the ricn and well-to-do
cxclusivclv
One or the accepted principles of
respectable existence is that everj one
should pav for what he enjovs or uses
The principle is strongly established in
Congress No man of spirit, it is argued.
wants his food, clothing or rent for
nothing Nor should he accept govern
ment as a gift from anv clas of his
fellow-citizens Government can be a
form of charitv as bread is given to the
nefdv, but the recipient parts with his
independence and identity The men who
pay for government will control govern
ment finallv A republic could be turned
into an a-istocracj by methods of tax
ation An income tax, and It seems to
be sure if expenditures keep increasing,
mav Include the lawver and doctor as
well as the mechanic and dav laborer-
graded, of course, with respect to earn
ings, but pa able bv everybodv So the
finances of the national government con
cern all workers and all capitalists
Will Be In I.ImcIlRlit.
Just now Fitzgerald is potential by
reason of his position Presumablv, he
will deliver a good many stump speeches
in Congress It is probable that he will
pare his supplj bills to the bone for
political effect, knowing that a Repub
lican Senate will mark his figures up,
notwithstanding his show of disgust and
thunder-like protest Doubtless such a
man as Tawney would undertake the
same performance were political condi
tions reversed. Congress is alwajs a
chessboard previous to the solemn ef
forts of the electorate to choose a Presi
dent. However, Fitzgerald will make
the real economv issue of his partj next
year, no matter what mav bo said of his
motives, and Fitzgerald, parliamentarian
and Democrat, tnoroughly understands
his business. He has been studjlng gov
ernment finances for twelve jear3, be
ginning at the -very outset of his career
In the House of Representatives Coming
to Congress at the age of twenty-six, he
discovered, st he sajs, that the men of
commanding influence understood parlia
mentary law that is, how and when to
get things done and how the money of
the government is obtained and distrib
uted. Thus he immediately specialized
in rules and appropriations.
"I remembered something that Fox
said about his self-training in the House
of Commons. ' Fitzgerald told mc, walk
ing away from the mantelpiece and the
group photograph and sitting down at
his desk. "Fox owned up to speaking
each night but two during his first five
years In Parliament, and, looking back,
was sorry that he had not spoken every
night. So I followed Fox in one respect,
at least, and was regarded, I know, as a
nuisance. Old members are indulgent
when a new member merely wants to
take the floor and make a speech, but If"
he attempts to help run the business of
the House he is thought to be an unbear
able upstart: I ignorantly trampled on tra
ditions and became a bore, I now realize;
but by dally practice I learned a good
deal abo:t lawmaking."
The eider Fitzgerald, who came from
Ireland when a child, and Hugh Mc
Laughlin, the boss of Brooklyn, worked
together in politics. Dying, Fitzgerald
left his family in lean circumstances.
John Joseph was six years old. "I was
, -weakly," .he said, "and remember going
from one doctor's office to another to
be examined and given medicine. I sold
newspapers in the streets to earn money
for a pair of rubbr boots. When I was
eleven jears of age I was sent to the
Sacred Heart Academy, which was in
the country. The doctors said I ought
to leave the city and get pure air and
plenty of sunshine. At fourteen I re
turned to New York and ente'red Man
hattan College, being helped financially
by a relative. Then I read law, working
in an office at $3 a week and attending
lectures dally.
"Those who knew me were amazed,
and amused. I suppose, when they
heard what I was doing. I might get
along in medicine or in one of the re
ligious orders of my church, they said,
but I was timid and clumsy at speech
NEW YORK'S AGGRESSIVE DEMOCRAT.
REPRESENTATIVE
and would fail in a profession where
talking was an Important part of busi-
ness I was admitted to the bar whent "where should the big cuts be made
I was twentj-one vears old. neverthe-'in the money bills of Congress'" I in
less and soon afterward the regents quired
of the State of New York gave me the "I would begin with our military ex
degree of bachelor of laws, cum laude " , penses The people do not realize that
Railroad Ticket III Capital.
. . u i. i 'fh,r
iiv .l )UU. u.u t,.. .. "".the sufficient sum of $22.000000 in 1SS4
time'" Dewev's victory at the battle of Manila
"I had just enough money to buy a Bay. let me add. is costing the Amerl
rcturn ticket from New York to Pough- -an people an immense sum of money
keepslo. where the bar examination every jear In the meantime we are
was held I kept on working for J3 'annually spending $100,000,000 on our army,
a week, but within a car Thomas !'.. against C4.0n0.0W in mi Pensions, a
r .. .. o.. ., ,i, i.. war charge, amount to Jla2.000.000 a year.
Grady, the State senator, took me into .," u , , v, ,
. , ... .. ... i Tne three Items, the nav, tne army,
his office and paid me $40 a month In land p.nsi0ns. amount to J3SS 000.000 Be
a little while I formed a partnership sides, we are paving interest on the war
with a college friend I got into pol-'debts of lan-65 and 1S3S. Moreover, we
itics and was active In several socic- are supporting the military schools at
ties connected w Ith the Catholic
Church My voung friends went to
Hugh McLaughlin and told him they
wanted to send me to Congress. He
remembered mi father and gave his
consent "The Boss' as wc all called
him, ruled the politics of Brooklj n
for manv e-ars He was a reticent
man and when delegations came to
speak for a candidate he would listen
and then tell a storj. If the delegation
knew his was, they would interpret
the story and get his answer. Like all
the old leaders in New York and
Brooklvn, hchad worked his way up
b a good use of his physical strength.
"When he was an old man a group of
minor politicians tramped into the auc
tion room where he had his desk and
demanded the nomination of a certain
candidate He stood on his feet, ex
panded his chest, threw back his head,
doubled up his fists and said- 'If you had
come around here ten jears ago demand
ing that I do anything. I would have
knocked all of jou down and then
thrown you Into the street,' I never met
him until after I was nominated When
I called to pav my respects he quietly
remarked that he had expected to see a
little boy In 'short pants ' "
"Have the appropriations of Congress,"
I asked, "become so large as to be
dangerous'"
"Well, they are more than Jl.000,000.000
a jear that is, putting the figures in
another wav. they are more than one
thousand million dollars annually. The
wheat crop of 1310 was valued at JG21.
433,000 and the oats crop at J3S4,O0O,O00
Tho expenditures of the national gov
ernment, therefore, are equal to the sum
of the money obtained for all the oats
and wheat grown in the United States.
The cost of governing the separate
States and of cities, an enormous out
lay In itself, is not Included The equiv
alent of our wheat and oats Is being
spent from Washington for national pur
poses. Any man with a business head
on his shoulders can tell If our national
expenses have grown so large as to be
dangerous.
MaLe the States Spend Money.
"One of two things must bo done. In
my opinion. We must cut down the
appropriations of Congress and have
the States do some of the work now
performed by the national government,
or we must find new ways of taxation.
As for myself, I believe In taxing In
comes. A tax on inheritances has also
been suggested. It is the habit now
adays io come to "Washington for al
most everything. Moreover, we are
constantly expanding In new directions.
We are legislating against impure food
and bad meat. The Inspection of meat
costs J3.000.000 a year. We are spend
ing $5,000,000 annually to protect our
forests.
"In my State the taxpayers are en
larging the Erie Canal and are spend
ing $110,000,000 of thelr own money
on the work. They are to spend more
than 50,000,000 to improve their wagon
roads. There is a -serious -surceatlon
that Cohstcm shall set aaide great
areas of forests along' the Atlantc coast
that the purity of the water supply
for many towns and cities may be
secured. The State of New York, by
a very large expenditure in the Adiron
dack Mountains, is paj ing to safeguard
Its own water supply. Jamaica Bay is
being Improved and business men in
New York City are helping to foot the
bill. Elsewhere, however. Washington
Is asked for money with which to pay
for all kinds of local projects. I think
that when a State or region desires
help from the national government it
should be willing to meet a part of
the expense to pay Its share toward
the thing It, wants and the thing that
will Increase Its prosperity. In that
way pressure on the Treasury in Wash
ington would be substantialy lessened
Copyright. EM, by HwiBnac.
J0E3T J. m'ZtrKrtAT.T).
land the cost of the work would at the
same time be cheapened "
"r naval establishment cost the trcmen-
Idous sum of S1C6.0CO.CO0 in 1910, as against
West Point and Annapolis, ana are spend
ing about JS.OOO.OOO a year on fortifications
Army Too Expensive.
"Wc talk about Europe groaning under
the burden of military taxes If we are
not doing some groaning ourselves we
ought to begin right off. The gross reve
nues and the military expenses of Great
Britain, Germany, France, and the United
States are not so widely different, even
though the army and navy of Great Brit
ain are almost three times larger than
our own Because European countries
are draining their treasuries and grind
ing the faces of their taxpayers, we must
imitate them, now that we are a wrld
power and hav e become the sole pretec-1
QUEER MEDICINES STILL IN USE SOUND
LIKE INGREDIENTS OF WITCHE'S CAULDRON
The queer things we use in medicine in
the United States relics, most of them,
from our ancient "dispensatories" that
jet linger In the modern, official pharma
copeiarival the most repugnant rem
edies In benighted China.
We employ all sorts of animal products,
from greases for ointments to pepsin ex
tracted from the hog's stomach to help
out our weak digestions. The man who
revels In ham and eggs and takes a pep
sin tablet to escape the dire results con
verts himself into a genuine cannibal.
But medicine has to go further afield
when it wants a well-known antispas
modic and stimulant m the exhaustion
cf tj-phold fever. It uses a musk that Is
extracted from the glands of the musk
deer. It goes to the whale for the sper
maceU cmplojed In numerous ointments;
to the liver of the codfish for the oil so
widely and so reluctantly swallowed in
wasUng diseases; to flics fqr the burning
powers and to bees for the wax that help
make up a first-class fly blister; and to
tho tiny red cochineal Insect, pulverized,
for the bright red color that distin
guishes many preparations.
Some Qneer Extract.
Unofficially rated, yet ctill in use, are
ptyalin. a fermentative substance found
in the saliva, which helps a patient to
convert starch into dextrine; shark oil
and skatefish oil, extracted from the liv
ers of these fish, and dugong oil, from a
denizen ot Eastern Australia's waters,
used instead of cod liver oil; hemoglobin,
extracted from the blood qf dogs and
pigs and fed to anemic 'people as a sub
stitute for Iron; 'dried and powdered
chicken gizzards, fine for dyspeptics; for
mic add. used In '"rheumatism and neu
ralgia and secured by distilling the bodies
of red ants; rattlesnake -venim, In which
there is Quite a business noV done, ad
ministered as a specific for, consumption.
ana pnynin, exxraciea -rroin cue TOan or
nopioaoa. as eaecuve-cerve outeter ana
Heart aumuiaat, Hi.tM
tor of the Phll'pplnes. We ought to have
a navy and an army, of course, but there
is no sensible reason why we should
waste our money In strutting up and down
the earth carrying swords and suns and
wearing feathers in our hata. We are
not soldiers or .sailors., but farmers, me
chanics, and business men.
"The phrase, 'be prepared for war,'
sounds very patriotic, but it is mostly
professional and commercial. The manu
facturers of guns, ammunition, battle
ships and armor -plate, together with
their salesmen and lawyers and our army
and naval officers, are the chief ex
ponents of the rPoIlcy of preparation, if
Congress listened to and followed the
counsel of military experts the Treasury
wruld be empty every day in the ear.
War with them, you understand, means"
opportunity for heroic deeds and per
sonal advancement. Also, they arc nafr
urally proud of their profession.. So are
lawyers and physicians. But experts can
bo extravagant and visionary. Occasion
ally they are funn.
"I went down the Chesapeake Bay
onceas a member of a committee. Mili
tary gentlemen had pressed upon Con
grefs the urgent necessity of building and
fortifying an Island between Cape Charles
and Cane Henry. There was a shoal,
they Bald, that could be pieced out with
cement and masonrj. When wo got down
there, however, wc discovered that the
military experts did not knowKwhether
the shoal was mud. sand, or rock. But
they had the cost figured out.
" "Suppose." said one of them, 'that
Great Britain and England should de
clare war on the United States.' The
supposition was rather grotesque, but I
did not want to be Impolite and so kept
quiet. They would put an arm of 100.-
000 men on transports.' the expert went
on solemnly to say, 'and send it to Cuba.
From Cuba the army would be brought
right into Chesapeake Bay and disem
barked. Then It could march on Wash
ington and the other cities of the East,'
"Would Take a Year to Invade.
" 'In the meanwhile,' I asked, 'what
would wo bo doing? It took England
three years to get 100.000 men Into Africa.
It would probably take a year or two
to land an army of that size In the
United States by way of Cuba. 'Your
hypothetical Invasion,' I said, 'is not
particularly Impressive." Neither was
his lslanJ. The appropriation was not
made. However, the proposition may bo
living jet. It is possible that some Con
gress in the future will authorize the
building of the island
"War seems to be an attractive pros
pect to many Americans, other than
soldiers and Interested manufacturers,"
Mr. Fitzgerald faid in conclusion "They
do not stop to think that even In time
of peace the support of our army Is
equal in monej to the jearlj gold pro
duction of the whole country, including
Alaska. I-ast jear the mines of the
United States produced JS6.000.ono of gold
and about JS.OOO.OOO of sliver, not enough
by a considerable marfiln to maintain
the navy and pay for our new ships"
"Is too much monej being appropriated
for public buildings?" I asked
"About 500 buildings have been au
thorized. Some of them are under way.
They are half for use and half for monu
mental purposes. When one of them Is
outgrown It cannot be employed to ad
vantage either for stores or offices. With
out saying there ore too raanr buildings,
1 would criticise the architecture that
makes them unfit for any but govern
mental occupancj- "
One Committee In Control.
"Would it be better if all the appro
priations made by the House of Repre
sentatives came from a single commit
tee'" I inquired.
"I think it would The Committee on
Appropriations prepares supply bills for
about JiiOOOOOOO. It does nothing else.
Appropriations for the armj". the navy,
the Indians, the Post-office Department,
the Department of Agriculture, and for
rivers and harbors are prepared by other
committees. Primarily, these committees
were created to consider legislation per
taining to the various government de
partments As it is. most of their time
is now given to the writing of bills ap
propriating monej. Furthermore, the
Naval Committee, by a perfectly natural
process, has become the representative
of the navj-, the Military Committee the
representative of the army, and so on.
It seems to me that all appropriations,
with the exception, perhaps, of those for
rivers and harbors, should emanate from
one committee, which would examine the
estimates of the different departments
and write its bill in a full understanding
of the revenues of the government and
the government's legitimate needs Re
sponslbilitj would then be centralized,
and not scattered. Monej'. I am sure,
would be saved And all interests, I
think, would be certain of fair treatment.
"Fifty vears ago the total , expendi
tures of the government amounted to J66.
546.000 TwentJ-five jears ago they were
J242.4S3.0C0. a sum that is now required
each jear for our armj our navy, and
our scheme of coast defenses. Militarism
is a disease of nations. The germ came
over the ocean after we went to war
with Spain We have been suffering
financially ever since. As an everyday
proposition, if a man were to spend a
large part of his dally wages or Income
for pistols, guns, and bowle knives, the
shsriff ultimately would get the residue
of his substance Likewise, there would
be a commission in lunacy to sit upon
his case"
(Copjritht. 1911. bj Junes B. Momxr )
cockroach, which Is useful in affections
of the kidneys.
Over In England the tincture made
from the red or wood, ant Is valued as a
cure for gout as well as rheumatism; the
potato bug, in extract. Is used for back
pains and trembling of the limbs. To
homeopaths has been credited the use of
the familiar ladybug as a cure for tooth
ache and neuralgia; of the hornet for
swellings of the ejes and the face, and of
the bodies of cockroaches, crushed In al
cohol, for sore throat and erysipelas. In
the "chemists' " shops, someUmes, old
bcttles can still be seen, containing the
dried bodies of earwigs, which were pop
ular as a nerve tonic moro than 100 years
ago, and of wood lice, which were ad
ministered in cases of Jaundice.
Go back another century or two and
on noars the Ume when William Penn
sailed from England to found his colony
in the New World, and was solicitous to
Include in his library the very latest,
most reliable work on the practice of
medicine as embodied in "Schroeder's
Dispensatory." It is worth more than
J1.000 now, and Penn's own copj' Is In the
l'brary of Prof. Joseph P. Remington,
dean of the PhUadelphla College of Phar
tracy and "chairman of the committee, of
revision of the pharmacopeia of the Unit
ed States. Thej made a specialty. In
those days, of drinking the liquors that
sweated from tho tombs of the dead, ot
boiling mummies and more up-to-date
corpses for tho sake of extracts, which
wero "good for cough, -wind, stopt terms,
and -outwardly heal wounds." A fine,
wholesome mummy could be made by
slaughtering a red-haired roan -twenty-tour
years of, age and drying the flesh.
It may be that this suggestion was the
first of the pure food and drug schemes
formulated, because the author casually
remarks that the modern, red-headed
mummy flesh "takes us from the fear
that our (Shop-mummy, is the Juice of a
rotten carcass. Inspissated and danger
ous." Toads to Cwr Drt
EMe bV, side., with the corpse extracts,
ad Um ttootw koawa sksUs for. efl-
CALL OF THE NORTHLANDS
NOW SOUNDS ITS MESSAGE
TO THE BIRDS OF MIGRATION
Great Flocks of Wild Fowl
Begin to Wing Their
Way to Northern
Waters.
This Is the tlmo In the year when a
semi-annual miracle is taking place.
Only a few of the moro favored folk
in the big towns ever have a chance to
observe It. for those who witness It must
go out along the rivers, the reedy ponds,
and the thousands of little lakes where
the wild things pause for a few hours
or for a night on their way to the Cana
dian country. The winged life of the
whole continent Is moving with the first
warm dajs. Winter drives them South
in October and early November and the
gradual approach of the sun from the
line northward turns their beaks toward
their native lakes in the dim North or
the millponds and little creeks of the
Middle States and New England.
Men have been studying the mystery
of bird flight since the days of Leonardo-
da Vinci Iinglcj', builder of the first
queer and misshapen hint of the aero
plane, had studied bird wings for years.
Ltllenthal, who fell from his gliding
machine In tho early days of aviation,
was long a student of the curved and
wonderful pinions of the wild bird.
Chanute, the real father of the aeroplane,
marveled at the perfection of the stif
fened pinions, the slender muscles and
the knife-like edges of the tireless wings.
The mechanism of tho fljing machines
of 1911 approach more closely the con
struction of the keel-breasted wild bird
than thej' do anj thing else in nature
The mechanism of actual flying has
been stripped of some of its mjstery,
but the scientists have slgnallj failed
in their efTorts to explain that amazing
instinct of bird life that enables the
winged creatures to cross States and
continents. Inland seas, and even oceans
In a flight as unerring as light. A wild
duck that has Bpcnt the winter in some
southern bavou rises from the warm
waters and with stcadj- wing places the
long miles of the vallej- and the Great
Lakes countrv behind him, and out of
tho vast wilderness that stretches be
tween White Horse Pass and the rocks of
Labrador he drops into his native place
without faltering, or hesitancy. He
passes over a thousand ponds, a thousand
creeks, and Innumerably nesting places
that might be his own and that of his
mate, but some strange sense of location
carries him steadily toward his own na
tive pond
Birdu on the Move.
Straggling lines and V-shaped flocks of
winged things are already beginning to
appear high up in the March skies. The
duck hunters up and down the vallej
are finding the birds on the move. The
great fliers are going North. At the four
and five thousand feet level they have
set their wings aslant and pointed their
stubby beaks toward the Hudson Bay
countrj". Behind them a tremendous
cloud of slower-winged bird life Is mak
ing lt3 leisure! j way northward to the
fields and orchards, the meadows and the
groves of the wheat and the apple
countrj'. By the time the apple trees be
gin to bud and burst into clouds of white
blossoms, by tho timo oak leaves arc
as big as tho ears of a fox squirrel: bj
the dajs when the great wheat Is tall
enough to hide the ears of a rabbit, the
birds will have mado their nests in the
same trees, the same barn lofts, and the
same fence posts as they did last year.
They may have spent the somber daj-s
of midwinter amid the bright groves of
the South, possibly a thousand miles
from their own nesting places: but when
the mating season was at hand they
were already far on their way north
ward Many times the whole subject of bird
migration has been explained by orni
thologists as being due to the appetite of
the feathered things who make these
long flights. There are birds that will
make a detour of a thousand miles in
a three-thousand-mile trip from the
North to the South to linger for a few
days In the rice fields of the Carolinas.
Others have been found and noted who
have made apparently aimless flights,
carrying them many hundreds of miles
out of their way In their passages from
one end of the continent to the other.
The curlew, the crane, and the catbird
each have their own little personal con
cerns to look after in their long trips,
but no amount of stopping here and
there or wandering from their direct
line of flight can explain by what mys-
lcpsy, appears the same old toad still
flourishing In the modern pharmacopeia,
but urged by wiseacre Schroeder as a
cure for dropsy.
"These queer remedies," explained Prof.
Remington, "are all we have remaining
of the horrible things Included In the dis
pensatory of the ancient days, and they
are steadily being reduced In number and
frequency of use. Medicine has long
since learned Its lesson of employing the
active principle of the drug administered,
and of using only those substances which
have. In their essential natures, remedial
effects independent of the old horrors
and fables as to character and virtues.
"Tet there is one modern tendency in
medicine which, quite apart from the
queernesscs that linger because of some
Intrinsic merit they are thought to pos
sess. Is bringing us back toward the an
cient copiousness of dose in certain
drugs. Not a few physicians, in pre
scribing drugs liable to lead to danger
ous habits, are reverting to large vol
ume by means of infusions or dilutions,
and so make the patient take a maxi
mum of stuff which might well have been
swallowed In smaller apparent quanUty.
The object Is to make Jt Impossible for
the patient to overdose himself, and so
safeguard him from becoming a slave
to that particular drug.
"But this Is only a- matter of form, an
expedient in prescrlpUon, and it doesn't
argue In the least for any general re
turn ,to the old decoctions, either In
volume or substance. Those freak reme
oles we have escaped from will never
overtake us again; and those still with
U ars being gradually eliminated from
our pactlc.,', -
A Charehleas Tewa.
-The little town of "Hartford,. N. J..
-which is now sixty years old, has never
had a church. Nothing, comments the
Philadelphia. Evening Telegraph.' could
more plainly demonstrate the. mistake
of .founding a town along a stream
where the Sunday flshteg'js as good as
it Is In Rancocaa Creak. -- -
MYSTERIES OF
How can the frail wings of the tiny warbler carry it from the
Hudson Bay country to Southern Mexico in a few days?
Where have those birds that are blown on the Tortugas during
Gulf storms flown from?
Why do the wild ducks and geese follow the same aerial high
ways, year after year?
Why does the curlew make a single detour in his fall migra
tion that carries him a thousand miles out of his course?
How can our tiny songbirds keep their sense of direction when
flying at a height of three miles after nightfall?
What causes our birds in the Mississippi Valley to winter as
far south as Venezuela and the Amazon Valley?
terious sense they are able to set their
course across the misty ouUlncs of a
continent and fly unerringly from tho
bayous of Louisiana to the orchards of
New England and the wlld-rlce fringed
lakes of Minnesota. The little catbird
hardly seems substantial enough to make
a long flight from Northern Florida to
Southern Maine twice a year. He sum
mers in tho orchards and tho groves
away up North, and when the first frosts
set the maples of the North on fire he
sets sail for the rice fields and the green
groves of the South Atlantic Seaboard.
No aviator can set a course better than
this diminutive migrant.
Myxtery In Sky Lines.
The very word "wild duck" suggests
to most folk who have ever lived In the
open a line across the spring sky at sun
set. There is always a hint of mystery
In these lines and the dark triangles that
move across the red tints in an April
sky at dawn or at dusk. The imagina
tion follows the V-shaped flock into the
fogs and mists that lie over the land that
Is beginning to steam under the rajs of
the sun of spring The frost Is coming
out of the ground and here and there
along the streams the willows and the
elms have a pale greenness about them.
Tho eye of the wild duck can doubtless
sec on either flank of his own swift and
high-fljlng squadron- a sco-e. majbo a
hundred, other flocks that are all moving
in the same direction
Generations of flight, countless genera
tions, have given the raucous-voiced
leader an unerring .sense of direction.
He may be moving faster than an ex
press train, an aeroplane moving at forty
miles an hour beneath him would seem
to be standing still among the tree tops,
but somewhere In that misshapen head
of his that wise old black duck has a
hereditary sense of direction. Doubtless
the ducks and the geese that dart across
our hunUng fields and over our care
fully concealed blinds among tho high
weeds bj- the lake shores have been
moving North and South as regularly
as clockwork for a few thousand jears.
Feels Call of South.
A lone duck, but a season old. If lost
from his companions would never stay In
the Canadian woods all winter. If reared
along the banks of a New England river
or in the Hudson Bay country or any
where else that wild ducks build their
nests ho would feel that mysterious In
stinct tugging at his wing muscles before
the first flake of snow sifted into the
reeds around his feeding grounds. The
first graj' sky and breath of chill wind
would wake all the inherited memories
that have etched themselves on wild
GHOSTLY TENANTS HAUNT
OLD WASHINGTON HOUSES
There are In Washington, and probably
in everj other city, for that matter, dilapidated-looking
old houses, standing among
elegant and modern buildings, marring
the appearance of the surroundings by
their unsightliness. Tenantless, with win
dows broken and cracked doors and shut
ters, sadly in need of paint, with grass
growing between the crevices of the front
pathway and steps, with the plaster
peeling oft in strips and patches, these
houses seem as much out of place as a
pauper In the midst of an assembly of
society people.
There are often strange stories connect
ed with such houses tales of "spooks"
holding high carnival at night in the
rooms and driving the tenants away in
fear and trembling. Every resident of
this city can recall such houses The
story of their existence In the midst of
thriving neighborhood Is probably
prosaic one. based fundamentally on the
fact that the price asked by the landlord
for the property Is too high.. But the
popular mind will not be satisfied with
prosaic fact, and "ghosts" and "hob
gobbllns" are brought In to lend their
aid In accounting for the presence of the
forlorn structure.
How Report Spreads.
To account for the origin of these tales
of haunted houses Is sometimes Impossi
ble. There is a rumor current among the
Juveniles ot a certain neighborhood that
such a house Is tenanted by "ghosts" and
the youngsters take a fearful delight in
daring one another, when the shades of
night have made the time propitious, to
go up the front steps and peer in at the
windows and ring the bell, or Inaugurate
a game of follow-the-leader In the tangled
and weed-covered back garden. Such ex
clUng proceedings are usually terminated
bj an alarm given by one of the party. Im
mediately, each youthful member, feeling
vividly that a ghost is after him. makes
a precipitate rush, and the Investigating
urchins come together again under the
nearest light and tell fearfully of what
they have seen, such narratives being
renerally remarkable for imaginative In
vention. Some bold and reckless spirits
there are, who, ignoring all supernatural
subjects whatever, scrawl fn chalk on
the walls of the haunted house sentences
derisive of the terrors of the ghost.
An old gentleman of this city, and a
member of the Oldest Inhabitants' Asso
ciation, recalls am Incident that happened
In his young days, which he affirms to
be his first and last supernatural experi
ence. It seem that the old mansion In
Georgetown once occupied by Baron
Bodlsco, the Russian minister, was re
ported and believed to be haunted. The
boys in the neighborhood of the bouse, of
which the narrator was one. were in the
habit of affecting to despise the ghost.
of which they had, nevertheless, a very
wholesome fear. This ghost, who-seems
not to have been remarkable for origi
nality, and who manifested himself by
the manner common to bis kind, of rap
ping, but never coming In. had long been
the terror of the neighborhood, and had
rendered the mansion he Inhabited im
passable after nightfall to the nervous.
The boys on the occasion in quesUon,
mounted -the, front steps and stood, on
It platXorss Jauaealately brfroat ot tha
BIRD MIGRATIONS.
goose brains and wild duck ganglia for
the last ten thousand years. There
would be a flurry In the water, a black;
object would flap steadily up above the
tree tops and set Its course southward.
In a minute it would be dwindling to a,
mere speck on the southern horizon.
The downy little wild ducks that hide
among the grass roots along the summer
ponds feel the same pull southward as
the wise old leader who understands
something of decojs, traps, and guns.
Great Migration Under Way.
If it were possible for the ornithologist
to get a comprehensive view of the feath
ered things at this time in the year it
would be easy to see that a great migra
tion Is taking place. First come the tire
less, high-flying gama birds, who reel off
the miles as tape unreels from a stock
Uckcr. Then follow at the lower levels,
fluttering from grove to grove, hopping
and running along the warming earth,
the more homely birds who move In a
multicolored cloud of red, blue, black,
gray, and scarlet wings. Here and there
a portion of this moving column halt3.
It has reached Its home grounds. Tho
familiar trees and orchards, barns and
wood lots will again be the scene of their
nest building and the rearing of a
family.
The greatest of all the migratory birds
of the New World has -vanished. Ten
years ago the wood pigeon was common
enough In many localities. They were
still building their nests In the depths
of the woods and rearing a large brood.
In Irvlng's day the wood pigeon, or pas
senger pigeon, was the most striking
example of bird life in America. They
flew in such clouds as to darken the sun.
Great clouds of them whirred and called
over the Mississippi Vallej-. They mi
grated in communities of millions, but
now it is doubtful if a single bird of all
the billions that were once in the United
States can be found. A large reward ha
been offered for the capture alive of a
single rair of the once numerous "ecto
pistes mlgratores." The quest for food
explains much of the wandering done by
this remarkable but now exUnct bird.
There are about fifty-one species of mi
gratory birds In the duck family alone
In the New World. These fifty species
make up the greater part of the migra
tory squadrons that sail overhead every
jear in the spring and the fall. There
are others, however, who help to form
the grand army of semiannual fliers.
Great and small, fast and slow, from
the tiny humming bird to the giant sand
hill crane they all feel the same mysteri
ous Impulse when the frost comes or
when the sun crosses the equinoctial
line.
entrance, listening attentively. Sure
enough, a distinct rapping was heard
as though at one of the upper windows.
This wa3 enough. The urchins took tha
steps in a bound, and never stopped run
ning until they were at a consid'rabld
distance from the house of terror.
It was afterward ascertained that tho
ghostly tapping was caused by tho
branch of a tree which crossed one of
the windows, and, moved by the wind,
beat against the glass.
Some "Real" Ghosts.
This experience and its subsequent ex
tlanatlon Is probably the counterpart of
nanj' others, though In some cases the
explanation Is unfortunately left out. It
would. Indeed, be difficult to furnish an
explanation of the facts as narrated in
seme instances, as these are so ex
traordinary as to ' stagger credulity.
Whether to Impute such narrations to a
diseased imagination, a love to astonish
f d, c0"'0"1"1 the hearer, or an abso-
lutely truthful recital of actual occur
ences witnessed, is sometimes a puz
zling matter. There are, unquestionably,
people living in this cltv who have to
the best of their belief' lived In haunted
houses, in which they are convinced they
witnessed the most astounding and un
accountable phenomena.
To recall an Instance In point, the nar
rator of which was of unquestionable
veracity. A certain house in the city waa
rented by a married couple. A stair
case In this house was very dark and
steep, and It was rumored that the wifo
of the landlord, who had previously ten
anted the place, had fallen down these
stairs and was Instantly killed. Both the
gentleman and his wife heard what they
described to be groans, as of a human
being in extreme agony, coming apparent
ly from the foot of the dark staircase,
and continuing at intervals during the
night. They were, up to that time, un
acquainted with the tragic event which
had happened In the house. The landlord
called In person, one day, to collect tho
first month's rent. On that occasion, and
during the course of a pleasant conversa
tion on different topics, a sound resound
ed through the room as -throuh a body
had fallen from the top to the bottom
of the stairs, which opened Into the
apartment, and near the footj of which
the landlord was sitting. The noise was
as If a body had fallen with a frightful
thud at the very feet of the stairway.
The landlord started back with an outcry
and facial expression never to be forgot-
ten. Nothing was to be seen, but there
was something so ghastly about the
whole affair, especially taken-in conjunc
tion with the story of the death of the
landlord's wife, heard shortly afterward
by the tenant, that the abode was soon
vacant.
Tre.e Frogs Plasest.
A tree frog, native of Paraguay, makes
Its nest in a bush overhanging a pond.
The lower ends of a number of leaves are
drawn together and fixed In position by'
a number of emptj" egg capsules. The
eggs are also covered with a shield of
empty capsules to protect them from the
sun and air. When the eggs aro'hatched
the plug at the bottom appears to fall
out -and the tadpoles twahto iU ifc
water. ,
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