The Topeka state journal. [volume], October 13, 1900, LAST EDITION, Editorial Section, Image 14

About The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1892-1980

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
His Holiness, the Pope, is said to have remarked ia a recent interview
that his days on earth would be bounded by the close of the year 1900.
Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs, one of the richest women of the New York Four
Hundred and the sister of Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, jr., is to be the leader of
the younger set of Gotham's wealthy society folk. She takes a prominent
part in the Galveston Fair.
John D. Rockefeller, jr., the young man of many millions, wtiose deeds
in Wall street have won him the applause and approval of his elders, wa3 re
cently, it is wnispered, cheated out of $2 by a street fakir whom ne endeav
ored to instruct in the art of playing a little trick.
GORE IN SEARCH OF APE-LIKE MAN.
Again Scientists. Will Try to Find the 3Iissing Link, This Time in the
Wilds of Distant Java.
George W. Vanderbilt gives the best
answer to the critics of the money
class. He never has desired to be rated
with the Four Hundred, but the in
heritance o large wealth has forced
him into a. social plane from which
neither argument nor willing seclusion
can release him. But he has decided
to do something of consequence for the
human race.
To prove that the moneyed class i3
not wholly indifferent to the advance
ment of science and the progress of
thought, or idly intolerant regarding
the great problems affecting the hu
man race, the young master of Bilt
more manor house has selected a bril
liant Yale student, David J. Walters,
to lead an expedition into far-away
Java to settle, so far as human re
search may do so, the most important
problem that now confounds the biolo
gists of the world namely: Does the
actual species of ape-like men that the
logic of biogeny (worked out by La
marck, Darwin, Huxley and Haeckel)
demonstrates to have lived at a remote
period of the earth's history, still exist?
Ernest Haeckel, the distinguished
professor at the University of Jena,
maintains that this soulless, voiceless,
five-fingered, tailless creature is still
extant amid the jungles and tangled
forests of Northeastern Java, and he
last spring announced his intention to ,
'J
1
"ft V-L-v"
iff,
4 VI VJ
SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT THIS SOULLESS. VOICELESS AND TAIL
LESS CREATURE IS THE ONLY LINK MISSING TO COMPLETE:
THE CHAIN IN THE THEORY OF MAN'S DESCENT, AND
THAT IT 13 EXTANT IS THE JUNGLES OF JAVA
y-
m fli?
set out in quest of this only link yet
missing to complete the wonderful
chain in the theory of man's descent,
beginning with the monera, or organ
isms without organs; advancing to the
amaeba, thence by seven stages to the
skull-less vertebrates.
THE MISSING LINK.
The specimen of the Pithecanthropi,
or ape-like men, that Mr. Vanderbilt
hopes to find, marks the twenty-first
stage of advancement from the single
celled monera or protoplasmic germ. It
is the one link that must be found,
alive or in the fossil state, to com
pletely demonstrate the new, wonderful
and startling philosophy of human ex
istence that eliminates a God, and to
clinch what must be admitted to be
the most brilliant product of the hu
man b -ain the theory of development.
Whether it is called Darwinism or
Haeckelism is of little importance. The
doctrine of evolution owes its own de
velopment to several stages, but to La
marck, Goethe, Huxley and Darwin in
particular. It has divided the Christian
church, it has made a warfare of
science, and has commanded more, se
rious thought by the brightest minds
than any theme of the nineteenth cen
tury. Into this arena, in which the death
grapple between religion and advanced
science will be fought out, Mr. George'
!1
m i xx
Alfred Vanderbilt, heir to the Vanderbilt millions, has "gone to work." Two weeks ago he entered the em
ploy of the New York Central, and can now oe - .. . Nony o uie men of this tamily has been
an idler. Youn? Cornelius works in the car shops and wears overalls at his daily tasks. Alfred will shortly marry
Miss Elsie French.
men.
Tolstoi has, it is said, yielded to the entreaties of his friends on this side of the water and wi"l jour
ntry. The Count is opposed to war and does not wholly approve Ruga's vigorou- rolicy in dealing
Count Leo
nev to this countrv. The Count is opposed to war and does not wholly approve
with criminals. He works half the day
books.
W. Vanderbilt casts his wealth and
American enthusiasm with a prompti
tude that is characteristic of his grand
father, the old "Commodore." The
finding of the North Pole, the deter
mination of the Nile basin, the genesis
of the polyg'otic languages of the Sar
gasso Sea, are as nothing compared to
a final determination regarding the
truth of the Biblical theory of crea
tion. Upon the result of a successful
hunt for the Pithecanthropus depends
the faith of 230.000,000 Christian peopie
who cling to the beliefs of their ances
tors. Mr. Vanderbilt is a believer. He im
bibed a devout reverence for the Chris
tian faith from his devoted mother,
and, however great his respect for
science, he never has wavered in his
acceptance of the Adamic theory of
creation.
. Mr. George W. Vanderbilt wants the
truth. He Is like the editor of a news
paper in quest of facts. He has adopted
the practical and natural method of dol
ing what Prof. Haeckel wants done.
He has sent out a party himself. Mr.
David J. Walters is now on his way to
Japan, where a special steamer will be
hired and properly equipped for this
expedition to the island of Java. It is
hoped to render the projected voyage
of Prof. Haeckel unnecessary. Mr.
Vanderbilt expects to find the Pithe
canthropus at once if he be where Dr.
Haeckel believes him.
If the ape-like man is not in Java,
Mr. Vanderbilt's agent will search the
forests and the swampy savannas until
he is convinced of that fact. The Pith
ecanthropus must be found or dismiss
ed from the field of contemporaneous
existence.
Although it is possible to discourse
with a great deal of chimpanzinity re
garding the subject of apes and man
like apes, Mr. Vanderbilt's agent will
readily distinguish the Pithecanthropus
from all other members of the simian
race. He cannot be deceived, because
he is looking for the ape-like man; not
the man-like ape! The difference is
radical, as a little thought will make
clear.
Man began to be a foreshadowed
possibility when the primarv form of ,
ape appeared. Our semi-ape ancestors,
if Darwin and Haeckel be right, pos
sessed only a faint resemblance to the
still living short-footed apes. The ter
tiary period probably produced them.
They "originated" perhaps out of mar
supials, or pouched animals (of which
the kangeroo remains). "The certain
proof that genuine apes are the direct
descendants of semi-apes is found in
their comparative anatomy," declares
Haeckel.
with the peasants in the field and devotes
THE GREAT DEAL
Of A GREAT MAN.
Honr M. C. I'. Tordn, the "Ca! c
Kin
!u,'tK 15,000 la.ua
0. tvt.Oj aud fiuVea a city.
Matthew C. D. Borden, the head of
the largest cotton manufacturing busi
ness in the world, has again proved
himself the friend of labor.
By purchasing 500,000 pieces of cotton
goods at 2 7-S cents he has foiled a con
spiracy to reduce wages, averted a
strike and saved an entire community
from undeserved disaster.
This Is not the first time that "the
Calico King" has appeared as the
champion of the toilers against his
fellow-manufacturers.
In lSil he cleared out a glutted mar
ket and saved 50,000 mill hands from
idleness and famine by buying 850,000
pieces of cotton goods.
In February, 1S97, he repeated the op
eration. This time he took the entire
stock held by the Fall River mills
750,000 pieces and paid $1,000,000 for it.
The effect on the market was an active
demand at advanced price's. What ap
pealed most to Mr. Borden was the ef
fect on labor 3,500.000 spindles working
full time instead of half time.
In November, 1&99, Mr. Borden again
startled New England by compelling
his fellow-manufacturers to advance
wages 10 per cent. He had tried his
usual remedy of buying a. large block
of goods, but his rivals had balked him '
by delaying the completion of the deal.
Determined that the army of wage- .
earners should suffer no longer, and
that all talk of a strike should cease,
he voluntarily granted the advance of
10 per cent, to the 4,000 hands employed
in his own enterprises the Fall River
Iron Works and Cotton Mills, and the ,
American Print Company's works. '
Only a month passed before the other
manufacturers of cotton goods, much
to their disgust, were compelled to fol
low suit.
Fall River alone gained S25.000 a week
in wages by Mr. Borden's action, and
throughout New England not less than
100,000 operatives were made prosperous
and happy.
And now, in 190, "the Calico King"
has won another victory for labor.
Again the cotton goods market was in
a perilous condition. Again the mill
owners were threatening to cut w-ages,
and the hands were preparing to strike.
New England seemed on the eve of an
industrial cataclysm.
Mr. Borden's purchase - of 500.000
milium
Kus a s vigorous ro!:cy m dealing
the other to the writing of his
pieces cf cotton goods at a total price
of $720,000 relieves the mills of over
produced goods and stimulates the mo
ribund market into activity.
As each piece will run from forty-six
to fifty yards, he has become the owner
of 25,000,000 yards of cotton enough to
carpet a footpath from New York to
San Francisco five times over. But this
is not such a vast quantity to the man
whose own mills in a single year pro
duce enough calico to make a bandage
round :he middle of the earth, with
5,000 miles to spare.
The story of Mr. Borden's life makes
interesting reading. He comes origi
nally of French stock, and can trace
his ancestry back to Bourdonny. an
ancient village in Normandy. The first
member of his family to land on Brit
ish soil entered England with William
the Conqueror and having served His
Majesty faithfully was rewarded with
vast estates in the County of Kent af
ter the overthrow of King Harold.
From that time until the middle of the
seventeenth century the original Bor
dens lived in England steadily increas
ing in wealth and number of family.
In 1665, however, Richard Borden,
who then was the lord of the estate,
came to America and settled in Rhode
Island. With his emigration to thi3
country the family fortune was confis
cated by the English and he was left to
share the privations of the early colo
nists. Finally he married and the
union was blessed with a son, Matthew,
the first child of English parents to be
born in Rhode Island. From this point
the family descent is authentically re
corded up to the present time.
In spite of his illustrious ancestry
and the fortune that smiled upon his
forefathers, the present Mr. Borden
was born in 1S42 amidst humble sur
roundings, endowed only with the love
of devoted mother and father and good
health. When he was quite a boy his
father removed to Fall River and thero
became a leader in all that contributed
to the success of the thriving village.
Later t;:e elder Mr. Borden went to the
war and came out, decorated with the
regalia of a colonel.
Young Matthew was sent to Phillips
Academy at Andover, Mass., to be fit
ted for a course of higher education,
and when his term was completed there
he went to Yale, graduating with hon
ors in the class of 1S64.
As soon a3 he had graduated he was
offered a position in the stock depart
ment of a New York dry goods store,
which he accepted and held for three
years, until he became a partner in one
of the leading commission houses of
the metropolis. He continued a mem
ber of this firm until 1879, when it
failed.
c
Mrs. McKinley and Mrs. 'Bryan are at present the subject of exeat Inter
est to their fellow-women; one of thera will be the next lady of the Wiiita
House; both are well fitted for its trying duties.
Mrs. Carence Mackay, considered by many to be the protticst womnn in
the United States, is one of the earnest workers lor the great Galveston Fair,
in which all New York is interested. It ie to be conducU-d by the world of
high society women, and New Yorkers will pay well for the privilege of
buying trifles from their fair hands.
ALASKA'S WEALTH NOT HALF TOLD.
Wcnderlul Climate Prevails in the South, With. Great Possibilities
lor the Sportsman and lanner.
Reindeer have made themselves thor
oughly at nome in Alaska that mar
vellous country whose richness in ani
mal life and agricultural possibilities is
not yet half suspected by the majority
of Americans.
The pilgrim fathers of the family
w-ere imported from Lapland in the
early stages of the Klondike craze to
be worked and eaten by the starving
miners. They luckily escaped being
eaten, and were later reinforced by 700
reindeer doe imported by the Govern
ment from Siberia.
From the mixed herd of 1.000 head, or
a little more, they have multiplied to
3,000, and under Uncle Sam's protec
tion they promise to play an important
part in the future of Alaska and add
greatly to its wealth. The twenty-five
Laplanders who came over with the
first consignment are on their way
home with about $700 each, saved out
of their earnings as reindeer drivers
and mail carriers.
But Alaska needed no importations to
add to its fascinations. Gold? Of
course everybody knows about that,
but everybody doesn't know that gold
j&P5; hi
W H ) f
XV it
s , M I
Determined to prove to the wor'.d that men of wealth are not Indifferent
to the progress of science, Mr. Vanderbilt has equipped a party of explorers
with the necessaries required to search for the missing link in th theor
of man's descent.
-'"U v-."'"1-
is one of the least Interesting thjncs
about the country that Uncle Sam km
shrewd enough to buy from Russia.
Take strawberries. Alaska has nmr
Big Stone a strawberry bed seven miles
long and two miles wide. Fourteen
square miles of strawberries! And thpy
are beauties. Nothing finer Is urown In
this country outside a hothous". Unci
Sam can produce no nearer appro' h
to the English straw berry, w hoss
haunting fragrance is equalled by ru)
other fruit.
Raspberries and blackberries, too,
reach a high pitch of cultivation In
Alaska, which is popularly supposed to
grow nothing more nourishing than
glaciers.
Oats FPilW by mules as they feed
grow wild higher than a man's head,
and would yield, it Is estimated, 209
bushels to the acre. Alaskan tomatoes
are described as big as a man's hat.
All manner of fruit and vegetables be
longing to temperate climes thrive
amazingjy and under proper cultivation
there Is'no reason why Alaska should
not become Uncle Sam's kitchen gar
den.