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Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, May 04, 1891, Image 2

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THJfi AKGUb. MONDAY, MAY 4 1891.
THE AKGCS.
Published Daily ar.d Weekly at 1U Second Av
enue, bock inana, xiu
I. w. Potter - publisher.
Tun-Dally. 60e pr month; Weekly, fS.OO
per annum.
All com mnnl cation of a critical or argumenta
ttre character, political or religion, must bare
real name attached for publication Ko r-oeta arti
ticlee will be printed over flctitiona signatures
Anonymous communications not noticed.
Correspondence solicited from eery township
1 a Rock Island county.
Mosdat, Mat 4, 1891.
Tas Italian government will bare to
pay cable rates of 37 cents a word for
Mr. Blaine's 2.500 word letter.
A LADY, who has died in Glasgow,
Scotland, has bequeathed 1 350,000 to
General Booth for the saltation army.
Ax electric road is to bo built from
XIagars, to Port Erie. Electric roads are
being built in 50 cities in this country.
The king of all the lobsters was caught
of Honhegan, Me, the other Jay. lie
was SO inches long and weighed 14
pounds.
Chicago Tribune: Hon. David
Littler saja he is against Blaine, and thai
Harrison "has no show." Obviously the
lion. Dave Littler is the coming man
himself.
IIas anybody heard She'.by M. Cul
loin's name mentioned in connection with
the presidency lately f Can it be true
that Statesman Tracy told the truth when
he smilinfily observed that "Cullom is not
in itr
Thomas A. Edisox received a visit not
long since from one of his friends who
knew him well in "the old days." The
gentleman had brought his son with him
and had introduced him to the inventor.
Before leaving Mr. Edison's friend asked
him to give bis son & maxim or motto.
Mr. Edison thought a minute and then
turning to the boy. said, "Never watch
the clock."
Washbcrx is ungrateful. The gam
blers of Chicago gave their undivided
support to Carter Harrison, thus causing
the election of the man with the cigarette.
His first official act was to order all gam
bling houses closed, and he says be will
run the gamblers out of Chicago. This
is the construction the Keokuk Const itu
tion. Democrat, puts on one of Major
Washburne's first official acts.
Mue. Patti says she was never so ap
plauded, encored, raved over, flower,
decked and enthused about as in Vienna,
but she was glad to pet away from the
place, because the reporters pest ered her
0. She got so timid at last that the
trembled when she was going to open her
bonnet box, for fear she would find a
newspaper man hid away in it writing up
its architecture.
"Why shouldn't doctors advertise ?'
asks the Des Moines Leader, and then,
after discussing the question to the
length of half a column, it comes to the
conclusion that they should. Whatever
its contemporaries may think of the Lead
er's reasoning, they wiM certainly apree
with its conclusion. Tfce Dubuque Tel
egraph rightly suggests that the code
which prevents doctors from advertising
their methods of treatment and profes
sional achievements deflects shekels from
the newspaper coffers, and is, therefore,
obnoxious to the average publisher. If
the newsDapers had the power they
would obliterate it in short order. But
whether its obliteration wonld be asyod
a thing for the publis as for the newspa
pers is a question that has two side9.
Until those who uphold and those who
would repeal it haye had an opportunity
to present their argumcnts.it may be well
to reserve judgment on this point.
Tariff InroaaiHtrnrles.
There are some queer inconsistencies
about the tariff. The high taxes are a
queer lot. The Manufacturer, a Phil a
delphia high tax organ, in a recent issue
declared on Us first page that increased
tariff taxes on wool, had reduced the
price of wool and that reduced
prices for wool "always have followed,
and always must follow an iccrease of
duties." On the fourth page of the same
issue it gave consolation to the wod
growers by saying that "as the farmer is
a wool grower, he shares in the gain from
the increase of duties upon wool, and
thus it would appear that he is the great
est of all the gamers from the higher du
ties of the new law."
This is a fair sample of high tax logic.
Another is oflered by the free sugar
clause in the new tariff law. The asser
tion that the tariff is not a tax has been
dinned into the ear of the people by the
protection journals until they ached. Yet
these same papers have howled them
selves hoarse over the fact that the reduc
tion of the tariff of some grades of sugar
and its total abolition on others has
cheapened that commodity until it is now
lower in price than it ever was before.
If wool has been made higher by increas
ing the tariff upon it and sugar has been
made lower by reversing the process, the
logic is plain and can't be gotten around.
The tariff is a tax. The people pay it.
The more of it we have the higher are
ourxeceseities. The less of it the lower
what we buy.
DINING CAR MUSINGS.
BILL NYE GIVES SOME INCIDENTS
OF TRAVEL.
Two 'Way of Securing- a Round of Ice
Cream How to Find a Good Hotel
He Explains Why He and Jay Gonld
Get on So Well.
Copyright, 1831. by Edgar W. Nye.l
Ox Board the Dining Car, ,
Sweetbread, May 5, 1S91.
Pin writing this in the dining car, after
a protracted interview with the steward
regarding the business. I used to think
that to conduct a dining car required
nothing but an unctuous smile and a de
sire to please, and eo I had thought seri
ously of looking np a job in one of those
meandering refectories; but it is really a
pretty busy life after all. Of course one
does not have to attend to the running
of the car from a railroad standpoint,
but he must deal with cooks, waiters
and supplies, and besides he must keep
a strict account of stock on hand, as well
!
I
i watched the child.
as of cash received and paid out. I have
just been assisting the conductor to
make up his cash and. declare a divi
dend. It is quite a job to do while the
train goes forty miles an hour, and
while the waiters are filling the aisles
full of soiled linen and ill assorted pro-
ianity.
In the first place, of course, the checks
given to passengers at table are all num
bered like the hairs of one's head, and
in each daily report the dining dbnductor
must give the number he closed with
the day before, as well as the one he
opens with today. This makes what
Diogenes used to call a dead open and
shut.
Next the aplomb and style must be
duly considered. There are all sorts of
ways tt Joins things. For instance,
take the simple matter of serving ice
cream. I went into Mr. D-lmonicos
place last winter and had something to
eat, winding up with ice cream. It was
as good ice cream as I ever put into my
head. It consisted of the bust of a beau
tiful but rather cool brunette, the face
and figure, wherever the skin was visi
ble, being made of chocolate, while a
pale yellow vanilla constituted the eco
nomical waiht of the party dress, and a
light and gauzy veil of lemun ice was
thrown carelessly over the head. It was
highly artistic, and when it was frozen
60 fairly ami so beautifully ready for
the table I don't blame Charlie De Imon
ico for feeling proud as he put on his
coat and set the freezer back in the cel
lar way to wait for another job.
Last week, however, I saw an ice
cream siTi in the window as I journeyed
through a Texas town, and retailing the
cool yet innocuous beverage that I ate at
the alwve New York boarding place, I
went in. It was, in front, a bakery, and
the rather sickening odor of a last year's
candy pull seemed to still cling to the
costly hangings. Also a large pepper
mint candy cane hung in the window.
The memory of hot candy seemed to
be in possession of the store. There was
no one else there only this sweet mem
ory. So I passed on through an arch
way hung with costly pnrrle canton
flannel curtains, and under a coal oil
chandelier draped with scalloped tissue
paper on which the fly of the period was
holding a mass meeting. The ice cream
saloon was furnished with a rectangular
table covered with real oil c loth made
to look like marble. Why anybody
should ever try to imitate marble, when
real marble is so cold and ghastly, I do
not know.
No one was in the ice cream parlor ex
cel a hairless dog that was suffering
from fatty degeneration. There was
aldo a sun bonnet on the ice cream table.
I pressed in through the kitchen, where a
nice tin basin of dried prunes was or
were stewing. On the hearth stood a
plate with some Saratogi potatoes cr
autumn ler.ves in it. Ouc in tlio hack
yard a man was wiping th'; nos e of a
little child. It seemed almost wrong to
take him away from his job, but I asked
him how be was fixed tor ice cream. He
said he could get me some.
It seeme l that he was what is called a
model husband. I suppose that I should
have stabbed him, but I hated to get
blood all over his little child. I do not
like the model husband. Possibly be
cause he has been held np to me at times
when I was not good na tared. Wher
ever you find a model husband yon gen
erally find that he has a baritone wife
with unduly exposed fangs.
I returned to the store and stood around
waiting for my delicatessen. Meantime
I went in behind the counter and cracked
nuts with a pound weight, throwing the
shells into the sugar barrel. I like to
pick on a model husband, because it is
most always safe. I asked him if he
were unmarried. He looked around in
a frightened way and said no. His wife
was at the Association hall, where she
was at the head of a committee. The
association had in hand the Ameliora
tion of the Miscellaneous Poor; also the
Classification of Unidentified Children
on their fathers' side. The work, he
said, was getting 'to be a wonderful one,
and had grown to Buch proportions that
IIEIfil
Mm
it took all of her time, so she had to
have an office tip town.
The man wore nice long salmon col
ored whiskers and a celluloid collar. He
wiped off the top of the table with an
all-purpose dust cloth, and put a tall
goblet of rain water near me. Then he
went away, possibly to a neighbor's,
and returned with an iron spoon with
silver freckles on it. Afterward he
brought in a cake basket containing
property cake. You have seen it. It
would look well enough in a photograph,
but would give an ordinary stomach
heart disease. "
Then carus a porous towel, or napkin,
and a thick saucer of granulated ice
cream. In driving nails with the saucer
some one had chipped out a mouthful of
the rich china, and now the half melted
mayonnaise ice cream was running ont of
that notch. There were little lumps of
butter in this ice cream, silver gloss
starch, bergamot and circumstantial evi
dence that the proprietor cleaned the
lamps every morning before he made the
ice cream for the day.
I paid two bits for the cream, and re
mained watching the little child in the
store to see that its nose did not run
away with it while the proprietor went
out to the fair grounds to get change for
a dollar. I do not care much for ice
cream since that.
But to return to the dining car. As I
said, not only the stock but the en regie
business has to be looked after. It would i
not do to run a dining car the way some I
hotels are run. It would not only drive j
people to drink, but it would drive them !
over another railroad. The commercial I
man is a throbbing advertisement for I
govl or ill
He will damn a hotel or
dining car in ten days so that, nnless the I
proprietor has married well, he will be
canvassing for a snide family medical 1
work inside of a month. When I began
to travel i went to suca noteis as my
able New York manager sent me to.
Sometimes he sent me to a hotel that
had been burned two months. Some- I
times he sent me to a hotel that had be- j
come morally a little rancid under a .
new proprietor. Once he sent me to an ''
inn which had its name in the hotel
directorv. and when I trot thpro T form a
that it was a saloon with an annex J
consisting of a room in which the bar
tender filed away such customers as
could not be shipped home. !
Now. however, I simply get my eye on
good looking sample case and follow it J
from the depot. I find that I do not
make any mistakes. A traveling man
generally is a good conversationist, and j
if you listen to him you will notice that I
when not doing np a hotel he is doing np '
:i railroad or a dining car, and he is gon-
c rally on the right side of the question
too. I believe that the press and the j
commercial men together can do and ;
l ave done a good deal toward elevating
the standard of American hotl cooking, j
And yet there is a good deal of room for '
i approvement. j
After every day's run, or at the end of
the trip, th9 dining car conductor counts '
tp his cash, looks over his checks, bal- I
ances cash, looks over his stock of ,
1 quors and checks np on that, and then '
he begins to take stock in the kitchen. I
The conductor told me that the chances '
for stealing on a dining car were about 1
a 4 good as they are for robbing a slot '
machine. There used to be a chance to
n.ake" the price of two drinks out of a J
bottle of wliisky, but a keen young
J.iy Gould of a special agent discovered. '
that there were twelve drinks to the bot- 1
tl instead of ten. He was promoted, and '
ti e last perquisite, even to the empty
bottle, was taken away from the con
ductor. Toward the end of the trip, while the
pc rter is brushing the dust earnestly off
the back of one passenger and depositing 1
it on the other; while the prettier ladies
are waiting anxiously to primp while j
tha nglier ones are monopolizing the
primping facilities and replacing their '
traveling teeth with those they wear in '
town, the perspiring conductor of the
dining car begins to check off, with the
aid of the cook, the entire list of sup
plies, embracing over 4,000 articles, to 1
set what will have to be bought, so that
th requisition may go in at once. j
No one thinks while calmly eating in a
swet smelling diner, and looking out '
ov r the velvety meals where the torn- '
tit greets the jocund morn, that 4.200 "
articles are in stock, packed under the '
flo r beneath his feet or concealed about '
the car, and that all these must le kept
in f tock and in good shape all the time, '
sul ject to the order of guests, j
I W IF!
r v M 1 rl
FOLLOW1XO A GOOD VALISE.
Eggs, oysters, fish, etc., yon can see.
Highest of all in leavening Power.
ABSOLUTELY PURE
are rather fragile stock to keep on hand,
and there are a great many other things
besides that require watching. It does
not do to wait till the guest finds out
about the decadence of eggs or the pa
resis of the oyster. The guest was not
designed to act as an egg tester. So
everything has to ba practically ap
proved or condemned frequently, from
the fresh wrung oxtail for soup down to
tho flageolet bean and the flushed feat
ures of the lobster.
All, ail must be looked over. Even
the nutmeg v'aich has lasted over two
or three trips has to bo duly reported,
and its condition marked on the straw
colored report and registration. Eight
kinds of soup, four kinds of veal, four
Kind; of ducks, three of chickens, etc,
etc., are or, the list from which tho
menu is mad and from beef a la mode
to wooden toothpicks the inventory must
be made np each trip, and the financial
condition and the sanitary condition of
the cuisine stated carefully. Thirteen
kinds of fish are on the list, and any one
of them, if at nil dissatisfied with iU
surroundings, can take off the keen wire
edge of pleasure even for a congressional
funeral party. ,
Most people on board a train are like
children, they do not know where all
these things come from, but they lose
their temper if they cannot get every
thing. They often sit and rack their
brains to think of something that they
may not be able to find, and then they
ask for it. They are ?pecia!Iv arid
while going through a state where pro
hibition reigns, and they sometimes or
der a jug before crossing the frtate line,
so that they raaj acquire it inside the
state.
Of course it is to be expected that on
a dining car one can get beefsteak and
soft boiled eggs and toast and coffee, but
here are a few kitchen articles out of
about five hundred on the list which we
would hardly expect to find. Bottle
holders, bar strainers, cigar holders,
liquor jiggers, lemonade shakers, mus
tard cups, towel holders, wine servers,
butter prints, can openers, ice shavers,
cigar box knives, wire cutters, apple
corers, Marie Bains, bottle brnshes, cro
quette molds, cake turners, flesh forks,
eggslicers, flue cleaners, garnishing sets,
ice tongs, jelly molds, knife keelers,
boring knives, meat saws, paste brushes,
pot chains, wire broilers, water backs,
mustard oziers, beaten biscuit, bath
brick and cochineal, are articles that
while dining we rarely call for, and yet
they are there all the time.
Then again, who would think of call
ing in a dining room car for sandalwood,
beeswax, off bearers, sumps, snaths,
winches, peavies, sKkeshaves, hoof
rasps, manicure sets, button molds, post
angers, stump pullers, dental lathes,
raisin seeders, pile drivers or shad boners?
No one.
At least I hops so. For he would not
find them.
A young man in Dallas the other day
told me of a good joke on Drexel, Mor
gan & Co., and as they are doing so well
I presume they will not mind it if I tell
it here. You can never successfully pick
on prosperous jeople. Now look at Jay
Gould. I have always said what I liked
about Gould, and yet he and I are just
as good frJi ds as ever we were. I don't
see any difference at all. He never used
to speak to me. and he also does not yet.
But if he ha 1 been unfortunate, for
instance, and life had been a failure, or
the sheriff had made him pay his fine for
not serving as a juror last fall, or had
scared him and garnisheed his pay at the
Western Union office. Jay would have
been ill tempered over what I have said,
and either stopped his paper or refused
me the privileges of his rolling stock;
but now he and I just go along as we
used t . It has made no difference with
either of us. We are above it.
Well. The young man said that he went
east a while ago with a lerter of credit
from the Kansas City Safe Deposit and
Savings bank far $.100. He went into
Drexel, Morgan & Co.'s and presented
it, asking for $100 on account. A clerk
took down a sort of time table and looked
over it, then he asked the young man to
be seated a moment. He did so. There
was more consulting of the directory.
Later on a wide blue policeman came in
and asked the young man to join him in
a little saunter. The Texan was to be
married that evening to a beautiful
yonng lady of New York, and so yon can
see how little interest ho Mt in trysting
with a fat jioliceman who shaved him
self. The young man was shnt up in the
cold, matted atmosphere of the gaol in
less than half an hour, the accusers mere
ly telling him that there was no such
bank as he claimed to have a letter from.
We will now suppose that a week has
passed by. All is bright and chipper in
the gay. glad sunshine, but pain alone is
the portion of the felon. The young
inan from Texas had not changed his
collar for ICS hours. His trunk had not
b'-tii sent nt to him, and he had been
nightyh-ss. if vou will allow me to coin a
term.
At that moment the doors jened and
freedom entered. "You are released,"
said a kind old man. "The Messrs.
Drexel, Morgan "fc Co. present their com
pliments and regrets. They thought that
Kansxs City was hi Kansas.'
Possibly the joke is on Drexel, Morgan
& Co., but if it is not on the young man
from Texas I think it is on Kansas City.
What does the gentle reader with the
bright, new, crisp, nnsalivated postage
stamp for reply think about it?
U. S. Gov't Report, Aug. 17, 1889.
J. B. ZIMMEB,
THE WELL KNOWN -
M erchant Tailor,
Star Block, Opposite Haeper IIouse.
ba purchased for the
Spring "and Summer of 1891,
A larger and finer Hock than ever. Thc foods will arrive in a few days. Wait and see tl cu
H. SIEMOBT & SON,
-DEALERS IN-
loves and Tinware,
IPTTIMIIFS, ZLST.A.IXjS, &C,
3axter Banner Cooking and Heating Stoves oed the Gencseo Cooking Stovee
Tin, Copper and Sheet Iron 'Vork.
150S SECOND -WE., ROCK ISLAND, ILL.
HAVE YOU
MHaWaWMMawavkOTHkaHHkHaMawaawaMaiaaaHaiMavaawaaw
$3.00
Calf Goodyear Welt Shoes?
The boat aleo'i fine shoe in the city for the price.
Second and Harrison Sis.
cr. nun. ohristy,
Steam Cracker Bakery,
MAITUJACTTJRZB 0T C2&CXXSI ASD BISCTOTI.
Ask your Grocer for them. They are best.
aarSpeclati The Cariaty ,'0TSTlB, and the Chrtety "W&TZ&."
ROCK ISLAND, ILL.
SEIVERS & ANDERSON,
Contractors and. Biailders,
ALL KINDS OF OABPKNTEB WORK DONE.
tVGeneral Jobbing done on short notice aad a ati faction guaranteed.
Office and Shop 1412 Fourth ATenue, ROCK ISLAND ILL.
Agency for Excelsior Roofing Company.
i""tt - ' rr?-r" r, .
Cheaper than Shixgles.
Send for circular. Telephone
GEORGE SCIIAFER, Proprietor.
1601 Second ATecne. Corner of Sixteenth Stree - Opposite Harper'a Theatre.
Ths choicest Wines, Liquors. Beer and Cigars always on h'and
Free Lncch Every Day
B. F. DeGEAR,
Contractor and Builder.
Office and Shop Corner Seventeenth St
and Seventh Avenue,
-All kitf of carpenter work a specialty.
otuiouou n
ST. JAMES HOTEL,
Comer Twenty-third street and Fonnh ayenue.
J. T. RYAN,
" rrueainroogBontandis now in A No. 1 eond'tioa. It l.arf.riu-
"-j uu
A. BLACKBALL,
Manufacturer of all kinds of
BOOTS AND SHOES
. oc. .rpeciaiir. Kepairing done neatly and promptly .
A ahare of yonr patronage respectfully solicited.
1618 Second Avenue, Rotk Island. M.
OHAS, DANNACHER,
Proprietor of the Brady Street
RMtt.)Vt. Cl , ..
All kinds of Cut Flowers constantly on hand.
Green Houses-
One block north of Central Park, the largest
NICOLAI aJUHL,
CONTRACTOR AND BUILDER,
Bbop corner Twenty-second street and Sloth arenas. Residence 8985
Thirteenth arenue.
tans prepared to make estimates and do all kinds of Carpenter work. GIts him a trial.
SEEN THE
STABY, BEEGEE & SNELL,
Davenport.
t. H. ELLIS, Rock Island. 111.
1036. Cor. Fourteenth St and second Aw
Sandwiches Furnished on Short No
Rock Island
Pi.na and estimates for all kinds of buildine.
p plication.
EOCK ISLAND. ILI
Proprietor.
a acsiraoie family bote!.
In la.
Flower Store
H Brady Street, Davenport, Iowa.

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