& T\mnermcn!s. ACADEMY OF MUSlC— 2—6 :ls— Monte Crtsto. AMERICAS THEATRE— 2— Fans!. BlJOU— 2— M2i>— Madge Smith. BROADWAT THEATUB— 2:IS— B:IO— A Kor»J Rcgae- CARNEGIE nAUL— S— The Messiah. PAT THEATRE— 2:I*— «:»— A RoT^ Ho*»- IE HAUL— S— Tlie Messiah. -1' '¦ : Jf — ¦" lorodoM. _ . . CRITKKIOJ* THEATRE— Gar l * r * . i : !L. rI DAISY'S THEATRE— — — Huntworth • Experi ment. f K>t< MCBEE— The World in Wax. EMPIRE THEATRE— 2:ls— *:2o— Richard ff™ 1 - „,„._ FOURTEENTH STREET THEATRE— MllM» Pwtmaster. GARDEN TH *— Hamlet. OARRICK THEATRE— DarMHinitn. GRAND OPERA HOlST— 2:ls— *—Th« Old Homesteaa. ¦ARUCM OPERA HoraE— 2— B— Zaaa. OLJT*.V OPERA HOUSE— 2— La Boheme— 8 — an.-RRAY O HrLL"THEATR&-2-«-L!ttl* Lord MM NTTr^TfmK THEATBB— 3— *— Tfce Olddr Thron*. PASTtiR'P— Day and N»eM— Costlnucus Show. priOCTOR'3 — CVnt!nuou» Performance, RTPi'RLIC— 2:2O— The Sprightly Romance of Mar eAVOT—2:2o—Mlrtrew NelL er V'*HOW« MCATDHJ RlVK— «:ls— Hockey Match. VICTORIA— 2:55— Prlnnt. . \TXLJ-ACK-S THEATRE— — B:39— Janice Meredith. 3nbcK to QUtocrtiscTnents. raCol i Amusement* 1« *-« Help Wanted 14 5 B&nkerr & Brokers.. 1 3 4 , Instruction.... 13 4 Board *r. 14 'Work Wanted 14 &-*> i3neiiuss Xonct*. REMEMBER this ie "Hospital Saturday" and that • -m>now if 'Hospital Sunday." _^_^__ iVi^xrrkUciil^S&ribirnt RATI'KDAY. DECEMBER 29. 1900. THE \EWf THIS MORSISG. FOREIGN. — Fierce storms raging around th« British Isles have done great damage, to ship ping and caused serious loss of life. . ¦¦ Ef fort* of De Wet to break through the British lines In the Orange River Colony and go south have been unavailing; an unconfirmed report in London said that De Wet had been captured; Several British officers concerned in the dis aster of Lindley last May have resigned. = The Turkish Government has contracted for the reconstruction of an Ottoman battleship at Kiel. in order to meet a demand for payment of German claims. ===== Many prominent natives have been arrested in Manila as alleged insur gent* under General Mac Arthur's recent proc lamation. ===== The Emperor and Empress and many princes attended the funeral of Count yon Blumenthal In Berlin. ===== There Is alarm among the planters of Barbados over an out break of incendiarism. --' - A Copenhagen dispatch says that the Danish Government is about to submit a fresh proposal to the United States Government for the purchase of the Danish West Indies; in Berlin it was denied that Germany is trying to buy the Danish island of St. John. In the West Indies. DOMESTIC— The President has selected Frederick Rittman, of Cleveland, to succeed Auditor Morris, who was killed by Samuel Mac- Donald. — . - Chairman Jones of the Demo cratic National Committee denied reports that a movement was on foot jto shelve Bryan as party leader. — Senator Foraker replied to ex-President Harrison on the Porto Rico ques tions. = Educators are in .session at Ann Arbor. Philadelphia and Richmond. == It is Raid that a new State Forestry Department will supersede the State Forestry Preserve Board and Forest, Fish and Game Commission now existing. = The military Court of Inquiry which is investigating the hazing at West Point v.ii! finish taking testimony to-day; sev eral cadets testified yesterday that "plebes" had been hazed to exhaustion. ClTY.— Stocks were Irregular and active. ¦ . Devery. it was announced, will fight his re moval; Oh trial 3f Captain Herlihy was begun. r= The Coroner's jury held Davis. Dean and Marshall, formerly nurses in Bellevue Hospital, responsible fcr the death of Louis H. Milliard, who d'ed in the pavilion for the insane. ..,. ' ¦ The Palisades Commission's report told of the cessation of Palisades blasting on Christmas Eve. and of the steps taken to bring about that result, n - The Real Estate Company bought property in Broadway, on which It will erect a thirty story building, to be the tallest in New-York. ===== A guardian ad litem was appointed for the settlement of the Walden estate. THE WEATHER.— Forecast for to-day: Fair and colder. The temperature yesterday: High est. 42 degrees; lowest, 33; average. 38. SO SCAPEGOAT WILL DO. These are days of much speculation about the future of Chief Devery. Whether he is to go or not to go is the question on the lips of every politician and patronage monger. The varying fortunes of the battle between President York /knd the Chief are everywhere chronicled at length. Just at present Mr. York seems to have the advantage. Mr. Sexton, as the repre sentative of Tammany, is said to have con cluded that political necessity calls for the abandonment of the Chief. Mr. Hess can al ways be brought around when the proper press ore is applied. So the Board stands three to one, and. with the Mayor, is able to overrule Mr. Abell. whose friendship for Devery is at tributed to plgheadedness rather than corrup tion by all charitably disposed persons. There fore It Is predicted by good Judges that before long TVv,->ry will have to go. No doubt he ought to jro. His management of the police force has been characterized by the most open corruption, the most blatant dis regard of decency and the most impudent de fiance of public sentiment. Under him vice has flourished more openly than for many years before. When confronted with demands for the enforcement of the Jaw his favorite trick ba? been to use the law as an instrument for the annoyance of respectable citizens and the obstruction of legitimate business. instead of turning his attention to intentional and vicious lawlessness. Thus, when called on to close up the vile music halls, which the law gave him ample power to do. he maliciously sought by a strained interpretation of that law to perse cute the proprietors of respectable hotels and restaurants who served dinners at which music was played, for the pole purpose of making law enforcement unpopular. More recently he sourrhr to protect vice by charges against re epecLible prorerty owners, who were expected to exert Influence to suppress the anti-vice movement. He has alpo soucht to precipitate disorder at election*. He is totally unfit for his post and onjrht to be removed. But likewise the men who are now his special enemies, or have become ready to make him a scapegoat, art* finally unworthy of trust. Satisfaction over the possibility of jrettinj rid of Devery •bonld not d'vert nttentlon from the corrupt system of which he is merely a part. . What claim hi>* Pre«! tion; Wall Street Intermitted its cheerful prac- i tice of breaking the record; the chief of the ! Omaha kidnappers declined to put himself in ; touch with the police; the art and science of hazing at the United States Military Academy j was further explored, but no novel variations were disclosed; China continued to speculate on the weakness of the Powers, and there was no authentic sign in any quarter that the world was coming to an end. But nobody was justified in drawing from these superficial and negative indications the conclusion that yesterday was even in a remote sense a dies non. Consider for a moment some of the things which did happen, and which, being recorded by a vigilant press, though per haps in some instances too obscurely, made an immediate and irresistible appeal to instructed and imaginative minds. In Chicago, for ex ample, a corner in beans was decisively estab lished. It is, we suppose, necessary to admit that there are individuals, and even large ele ments of the population, to whom this an nouncement will appear of little Importance and convoy no encouragement But that is because they don't know beans. They may be aware of the existence of a so-called article of food bear ing that name which some persons are capable of swallowing, but they have never made the acquaintance of the real thing, and consequently the significance of the news concerning the con dition of the bean market escapes them. What is the natural effect of a corner? Obviously to raise the price, and thereby diminish the consump tion of the commodity affected. Hence we may reasonably hope that persons of uncultivated taste will abandon the practice of eating beans, and that their use will be confined to those who intrust their preparation for the table only to great artists. In that case, it is true, results similar to those which followed the discovery of roast pig would doubtless be produced, and the rapid growth of an importunate demand would raise the price to unheard of figures. But that is a trifling consideration. There Is no conceiv able price at which beans of a superlative qual ity could be deemed an extravagance. Though we are far from conceding that the foregoing observations are exclusively or even primarily addressed to the lower nature of man let us turn to a subject which more immediately engages his intellectual and moral faculties. The American Mathematical Society was in session yesterday in this metropolis, and from its de liberations we gather the most delightful augu rica for the coming century. There was a time when mathematical soirees -were dull and NEW-YORK DAILY TRIBUNE. SATURDAY, DECEMBER ,_29. _IMO. 1 scarcely Intelligible except to the elect. ¦M thus a great science, whose pursuit ought to enlist and cmranco the multitude, was too generally neglected. Even ar seats of learning it seldom inspired au ardent devotion. The Hon. Thomas Hedge, of lowa, recalling bis col lege days at a recent Yale dinner, referred to tin' late Professor Looiuis as the instructor '"in •whose classroom we usetl to assemble three •times a week to corroborate the lovely truths I "Of conic sections." The remark was playful | !in form, but very bitter in substance. Now, j | however, all is changed. Toe mathematicians I present at yesterday's convocation completely recovered from that state of pride and exelu- Bivenesa which formerly marked them as a class by themselves, listened with delight to disserta tions on such popular and almost frolicsome themes as "The Complete Form System of In "variants of the Group of 120 Quadratic Cre "monn Transformations of the Plane" and "The "Collimations of Space Which Transform a Non "Degenerate Quadric Surface Into Itself." The pressure upon our columns forbids a fur ther consideration of the occurrences, not all of them stupendous or spectacular, which gave yesterday a respectable and, when properly esti mated, a distinguished place in the annals of time. SEATS INSTEAD OF STRAPS. We cannot altogether agree with a corre spondent, whose letter we printed the other clay, on th? subject of straps, braces or other supports for standing passengers in streetcars. It is quite true that passengers crowd about the doorway instead of distributing themselves along the aisle, because of the difficulty of keep ing their footing where there is nothing to lean against. It is true, too. that the straps in pres ent use seem to have been devised with mali cious ingenuity to be as awkward and incon venient and inadequate as possible. But the cure for the evil is not. as our correspondent suggests, to be found in any improved, enlarged and extended system of straps or other supports. No; the cure is to be found in seats, not straps. Give every passenger a seat, and a scat sepa rated by arms or rails from its neighbors. Then, when every scat is occupied, forbid any more passengers to enter the car, and make it a mis demeanor for them to do so. punishable by fine. That is the admirable principle established in England, where it has been judicially declared that a passenger paying a fare is entitled to a seat, and, occupying the seat, he is entitled to the enjoyment of It and of light and air; and that any person who enters the vehicle and stands in front of a seated passenger is infring ing upon tie latter'a rights, and is therefore a trespasser and a misdemeanant. That is sound sense and sound law there, and it should be sound law, as it certainly is sound sense, here. Oh, but it would be physically impossible, say some, to run enough cars to give every passen ger a seat. Credat Judreus Apella. To our mind that objection is completely answered by the fact that the transportation companies de cline, refuse or otherwise fail to provide suffi cient cars to give each passenger a seat at times when it Is most obviously possible and easy to do so. When surface cars are run eight or ten minutes apart and crowded to the dashboards we say it affronts intelligence to talk of the impossibility of providing seats for aIL Wheu elevated trains of two cars are run ten minutes apart, packed and jammed, It is worse than folly to 6ay the company cannot give a seat for fiich fare. The fact is. the companies do not try to provide seats for all, or as many seats as possible^, .What they do try to do Is to crowd all their patrons Into as few cars as possible, and to make as many stand as possible. When they reform their ways and honestly try to give seats to all it will be time to discuss the physical limitations in tbe case. WHAT ARE THE SCHOOLS FORT It an old fashioned and still common Im pression ,_'j that schools exist for the benefit of children..- Their sole excuse for being is popu larly supposed to be the training up of strong and worthy men and women, who will In turn be the fathers and mothers of a future im proved generation. This view, however, Is ap parently out of date. To judge from comments of an official nature concerning school matters, the welfare of the children undergoing the edu cational process is apparently only an incident to the running of the educational machine. Dr. W. Gill Wylie thinks that our schoolgirls are overworked, and that at an age when a great part of their strength is needed for healthy physical development they are subjected to a ruinous strain through intense application to studies in competition with boys. Dr. Wylie says that "the American horse receives on the j "average better treatment than the young I "women of America from the time of early girl i "hood until the age of development has passed." ' These views were brought to the attention of a ! member of the Board of Education, who admit- I ted that too much was probably attempted in ! the schools, but confessed the idea that the girls ¦ suffered more than the boys to be new to him. I In answer to the question, "Would it be deslr i "able and feasible to have separate courses for "boys and girls?" he is reported by "The New 1 York Evening Post" to have said: No; decidedly not. The curriculum, in my opinion, must remain as it Is at present, the same for both boys and girls. To create differ ! ent courses would introduce grave complica j tions in the matter of promotion for teachers. ; The teacher who had instructed girls in a mini mized course would have no experience qualify ing her to teach boys in a more elaborate course, and, consequently, she could not be promoted and receive the larger salary attached to boys' . classes. No; the idea of different courses is im j practicable; it would work injustice to teachers i and breed discontent among them. | This exposes plainly enough the 'nonsense of making a curriculum to meet the needs of the pupils. The curriculum is not made for the pupils, but for the teachers. If a teacher was set to teach what was best for a child it might interfere with promotion, and it is to be under stood of all men that persons do not enter the noble profession of teaching with any idea of doing the greatest good to the young genera tion, but merely for the sake of getting a com fortable and progressively increasing salary. The prime requisite of a curriculum is that it shall not work injustice to teachers and breed discontent among them. After they are satis fied incidental regard for the material provided for them to earn their salaries upon may be permitted. We do not know whether or not Dr. Wylie's views are correct, or if a new course of study would be better for girls than the one ; provided, but evidently that makes no differ i ence. The learned member of the Board of | Education gave no attention to that phase of the question. Probably the children could not com bine and raid the Legislature or overawe the ; Board of Education with their demands There \ fore it was of no use to consider what change ; In the curriculum would promote their interest The vision of an organized teachers' machine : was before his eyes, and its requirements con j cerning salary and promotion were the chief ; worry of the burdened school legislator ; iJ hi i f , by D ° means an Elated instance of the official attitude toward schools, or for that matter other public departments. The machine . :; v c ; ish ' ( ?IS gUarded for !ts own • sake. If it does its work, well and good, If ; not so much the worse for the work. Public i f?neHor h Tf Gd ostenslbl to perform some :SS «i.t fV" *» eye " of many Mltlcian * lipertainli t ,>f POllß> re * ardlcss of the duties 1 ' pmalD l°S to them. It I 3I 3 the old Btory of the business driving the man Instead of the man taring the business. The school system, pri marily intended to serve the children, is over grown until the children are in danger of be ing runde merely to serve the system. We can't have different courses because they "WM«M work injustice to the teachers": i'ray. most learned member of the Board of Educa tion, what do we have schools for? -— AX EXD-OF-THE-CEXTURT ALMANAC. I "Good wine," runs the old saying, "needs no bush." But perhaps the opening of a new ami still better store of it may deserve a brief an nouncement. For h longer time than the ma jority of men of to-day can remember, The Trib une Almanac and Political Register has been the standard publication of the kind in the United States. It has been pre-eminently the authority of the Nation on all the subjects of •which it has treated. The legislator, the poli tician, the editor, the statistician, the man of affairs, have all felt the need of having it con stantly at elbow for frequent reference con cerning election returns, National legislation, the organization of the Government, National finance and many other like topics. In recent years many other departments of the most prac tical "contemporaneous human interest' 1 have been added to it not only doubling or quadru pling, but octupling its size and increasing its value a thousandfold. We shall be absolved from the blame of mere self-praise if we quote the enthusiastic testimony of thousands of readers that each year's issue has been better than the preceding, until The Almanac haa be come an indispensable handbook, or annual com pendium, of National, and indeed universal, in formation. The present edition, which is published to day, is emphatically an end-of-the-century num ber. It appears on the most imposing occasion which this generation has seen or shall see. The nineteenth century ends, the twentieth cen tury begins. And The Tribune Almanac Is the golden link of information which binds them together! It is a handbook of the two years, the last of the old century and the first of the new. Indeed, it deals with the whole past century, giving in an introductory essay, special ly written for it by competent authority, a succinct but comprehensive view of the world's progress in the hundred years, and elsewhere throughout Its pages the progress of the century is adequately noted. The record of the last year is especially complete and accurate. All the political and legislative information for which, for more than half a century, the public has been accustomed to look to The Almanac appears In amplest form. The organization of the Federal and all the State governments, the diplomatic lists, the organization of Army and Navy, the rulers of all the nations of the world, and similar matters, are presented with the ac customed accuracy and more than usual fulness. The review of open air and other sports is the most complete ever prepared. It is the work of a staff of experts, and for fulness and ac curacy is all that the most exacting sportsman critic could desire. Many pages are given to concise but graphic history of the salient events of the year in all parts of the world, such as achievements In science, the Paris Exposition, the Philippine rebellion, the South African wax, the Boxer troubles in China, the Galveston storm and flood and other matters literally "too numerous to mention." These historical sketches, too, are not perfunctory hackwork, but have been authoritatively prepared by experts. For the new year there are many features, apart, of course, from the incalculable reference value the records of the past will have for it. The calendar and astronomical and other tables are of the high excellence which has made this work a standard authority for two generations. Such topics of the near future as the Pan-Amer ican Exposition, the South Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition, etc., are dealt with comprehensively. It Is, in fact, difficult to im agine a bit of practical information of current affairs for the lasY year or for the opening year that is not to be found on one of these 420 crowded but beautifully legible pages. To those who know— as who does not know?— what The Tribune Almanac and Political Register has been for so many years, there can be no more efficient and convincing commendation of the present number than to say that it is not only worthy of its predecessors, but is a decided im provement upon the best of them. This "first number of the twentieth century" is the con summate fruit in almanac and statistical hand book making of the nineteenth century, an end of the century production, in the highest and best sense of being fully up to date and superior to all that has gone before. Copies of The Tribune Almanac and Political Register may be ordered through the American News Company, in Chambers-st., or through any newsdealer. Price 25 cents. It may turn out that the only great and memorable military reputation to rise out of the South African war on either side will be that of De Wet, the crown and flower of Free State chivalry and a Roland for any Oliver which the invading Empire over seas can send against him. A London correspondent has cabled to America the astounding discovery that the ghost of Mary Queen of Scots haunts the Tower, and adds that this unfortunate Queen "was impris oned by Queen Elizabeth in the Constable's "Tower, and was led from it to execution in the "tower quadrangle." AU the historians have agreed in saying that Mary was put to death in Fotheringray Castle, in Northamptonshire, many a mile from the English capital, and that she was never in the Tower. Can it be possible that every one of them was in error? It is to be hoped that the great twentieth cen tury revival movement that has been projected will be more wisely managed than that which was held in Brooklyn last winter. It set out to convert about half a million heathen in that borough, but the first notice of its existence which the aforesaid heathen received was a bit ter attack of some preachers on a respectable Christian denomination. Human nature being what it is, it would seem wiser for each sect to work by itself. For an attempt to unite which ends in a rupture only makes the heathen more than ever set in their beliefs, or, to speak more accurately, unbeliefs. Scotland Yard has been informed by the Bos ton police that the Cudahy kidnappers are prob ably on their way to Liverpool on the Warren liner Michigan, which sailed for that port a week ago. As an essay of conjecture, it haa a leg or two of probability to stand on which the guesses of the Omaha police up to date have not presented. A Baltimore bank has gone down because it lent too much money to the promoter of a com bination of "United Milk Producens." It is plain to everybody that the difference between the prices which farmers get and householders pay for milk is far too wide. But the plans to secure for the farmer a fairer proportion of the amounts which the consumers are in the habit of paying in our great cities have, unfort unately, collapsed In most cases. The middle men get too much and the farmers get too little. Have the streetcar conductors throughout the Empire State yet learned that the Court of Ap peals has declared it their duty not to give the bij£iißl for starting until the embarkins Das sengers are sottled 'n their seats? Suppose thit a copy of that decision were served upon every motorman. every driver and every ticket taker between Babylon and Buffalo! What a startling revolution in streetcar methods would promptly be seen! Governor Roosevelt will be shooting moun tain lions in the West next month. The Tam many General Committee has taken occa sion to denounce what it calls "the infamous "conspiracy through which Asa Bird Gardiner. "the elected District Attorney of the county, "was robbed of his office by Governor Roosevelt." No matter how many mountain lions he may miss, it is evident that when the Governor went tiger hunting he was a r.ead shot. PERSOS LL Dr. David J. Hill. Assistant Secretary of State. will speak on "Commercial Expansion" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Boston. this evening. The late Bishop Charles R. Hale, of Cairo, Ill was one of the most 'earned men in the Episcopal Church. When he was an undergraduate In the University of Pennsylvania he untted with Henry Morton, now president of the Stevens Institute of Technology, and some others in translating and publishing the Inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone. "In later years," says "The Hartford Courant," "he published many fac-similes of short docu ments, one especially valuable set being edited for the Historical Club of the American Church, and also prepared services based on the Mozarabic for use in Mexico, which were lithographed for distrib ution to friends. He took a great Interest in the Russo-Greek Church, and was secretary of rom mittejs on ecclesiastical relations appointed by the General Convention with special reference to the Church in the East, in the interests of which he visited Syria and Russia, and entered Into per sonal friendship with some of the most prominent ecclesiastics in that part of the world, and thus he was enabled to prepare reports of unusual interest on the general subject and its details." Thomas C. Mendenhall, president of the Worcester (Macs.) Polytechnic Institute for seven years, has tendered his resignation, to take effect on July 1. 1901, and it has been accepted by the trustees In correspondence Just made public Poor health Is given as the cause of his decision. Dr. Men denhali before coming to Worcester was super intendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey at Washington. Rudyard Kipling explains that his second trip to South Africa is made simply for rest. "I hope." he says, "to return with my wife and two daughters early in May. I propose travelling extensively in all phases of the closing scenes of the war, but as a spectator only. I have no intention of writing a book on what I may see. I am going out simply for a good loafing spell." J. K. Brown, the Commissioner of Public Lands in Hawaii, arrived In San Francisco the other day. and Is now on the way to Washington to consult with the departments regarding the public land questions of his Island. MR. FRANCIS COMMISSIONED AS ENVOY. Washington, Dec. 28 (3pecial).— Charles S. Fran cis, proprietor of "The Troy Times," to-day re ceived from Secretary Hay his commission as Minister to Greece. Rumania and Servla. Mr. Francis received his Instructions from the officials of the Department, and will sail for Athens on January 12. He will be accompanied by his family, with the exception of his eldest son. who will re main to complete his course at Cornell. WILHELMINA TO MARRY ON FEBRUARY 7. The Holland Society of New- York received a cable dispatch from The Hague yesterday saying that Queen Wilhelmlna's marriage has been set for February 7. THE TALK OF THE DAY. A London paper says that there is a well attended school for waiters In Vienna. The pupils are first instructed in the general principles of the art of serving at table, and when they have mastered the Introductory course they are allowed to prac tise on two men and two women in evening dress, who dine at one table. The "professor" watches the operation, and sharply calls the waiter to ac count if he makes a mistake. "Yes. that Billikins who used to be regarded by most of t»he people around here as being a little oft* has struck It rich. They say he's made over SIOO.OJO during the last year." "Holy smoke! What did he do=— write an histori cal novel or get out a new goose book for chil dren?"—(Chicago Times-Herald. Three months ago a party of Mormon students be^nn a three years* trip into South America to search for traces of the last survivors of the Ne phites, believed by the Mormons to hay« been the first people of this country. Benjamin Gluff, presi dent of the Brigham Young Academy, in Provo, Utah, who is in charge of the expedition, in a letter to a friend, says that many prehistoric ruins have been examined by the party and evidences un earthed which tend to uphold the Mormon tradi tions. When Knighthood Is in Business.— The youth spread his cloak upon the highway, the queen passed, dry shod. "Oh. thank you, awfully!" murmured the queen, and that was all. But the youth did not despair: for he was a brave youth. Instead, he went to work and per fected a process for pickling pigs' feet by ma chinery. "I dub thee knight!" the queen hereupon hastened to exclaim, with every mark of distinguished con sideration. Soyons dv slecle! That i 3, let us avoid doing those things which butter no parsnips.— (Detroit Journal. "In September," says Congressman Mondell. of Wyoming, "I was up in the mountain regions of our State, and rode for several miles in a cutter to address certain of my mining constituents. It was 11,000 feet above sea level. When I returned to normal altitudes again it was to see the grass growing and vegetation nourishing." In Boston I encountered a parrot one day. "Polly wants a cracker!" I observed, thinking nothing. "Your language is extremely anomalous!" replied the bird, severely. "Polly Is colonial, while cracker, in the sense of biscuit, is distinctly post-bellum. Moreover. I am not conscious of wanting a cracker. I wouldn't mind a plate of pork-and, however!" The fowl'j scholarly dignity was what impressed me particularly.— (Detroit Journal. The Messrs. Thomson, proprietors of the "Dundee (Scotland) Daily Courier" and "Dundee Weekly News," have just added to their pressroom equip ment two more large rotary printing presses made by the Goss Printing Press Company. These presses are one four decker, being a repeat order, and one three decker, both straight line, and give the Messrs. Thomson in their two printing offices a total capacity of over one hundred and eighty thousand eight page papers an hour. Everybody knows that an invitation to a wedding is a gentle intimation that presents, however small will be gratefully received by the bride. But it has been left to a distinguished native of India to make open confession of this pleasing hypocrisy. Writing to the people in his station, asking them to his daughter's wedding, this man used the fol lowing formula: Mr. and Mrs. request the presents of Colonel and the officers of the Regiment at the wedding of their daughter." The story is true.— (London Globe. At Sheyboygan. W r is., the other day, a Maltese cat took a long ride inside the rim of a flywheel. The animal Jumped into the wheel at the Plymouth Refrigerating Company's plant, and remained there two and one-half hours. As the wheel is about thirty-eight feet in circumference, and makes eighty-seven revolutions a minute, the cat travelled a distance of about ninety-three miles. When the engines were stopped pussy was alive and well except for a little lameness. "Don't smoke?" exclaimed the friend. •No." was the reply. "I always quit just before Christmas. I do It to oblige my wife." "But why do you select this particular season?" "It obliges her to select something besides cigars for my Christmas present."— (Washington Star. G. A. R. POST TO IXSTALL OFFICERS. Alexander Hamilton Post, Grand Army of the Republic, has arranged for the Installation of Its officers-elect on the evening of January 3, at head quarters, Lexington-ave. and One-hundred-and twenty-flfth-st. General John Palmer. Past Com mander-ln-Chlef and ex-Secretary of State of New- York, will be the Installing oflic»-r. DR. PEARSOXS ADDS TO HIS GIFTS. Chicago. Dec 28.— Dr. D. K. Pearson*, of Chicago, who several months ago announced his purpose of giving his fortune, estimated at several millions. to small colleges and other deserving Institutions, the gifts to be made during hia lifetime, to-day In creased his donations by I 70.00&. To Grand Prairie College, of Onarga. 111., was given 130.000. Lake Forest University received $25,000. A check for 06,000 was sent to a school the name of which is unannounced. The gift* were contingent on the raising of 1245.000 by the three colleges, which al ready has been don* * fllE CUBAN CONSTITUTION. GOMEZ AS PREs PAID HIM NOW BY T STATES. AND WHY. Havana. Dec. 27 (Special).— A constitution for th« new republic of Cuba will b* adopted by the Con stitutional Convention within the next foar weeks. This Is the general opinion ara»«a« delegates to the. convention and la generally understood ta official circles. The five sections of the convention have beea meeting together and have been discussing tl projects carefully. While the meetings have beea held privately. In the interest of expediting toe work of the convention, the delegates have no hesitancy In stating what Is taking place. All of them say that the convention is agreed upon all of the prin cipal features of the final project which is b«in* prepared by the Central Committee, and that there is no doubt that, so far as a constitution for Cuba is concerned, they will complete their work within the next few days. General Rivera, who Is chair man of the Central Committee, said to-day: We have been considering carefully all of a*. material principles of goveVnmentT and we ar- ' making rapid progresn in the preparation of th« project which is to be submitted to the convent on and discussed in public session. We shall have i constitution to present to the Congress of i£ United States within the next few week" At any rate we shail not permit Con*r s» to adjourn this session until we have a constitution to submit? The centre of interest here at present ta the character of the constitution this body will pre pare and in what light It will be viewed by the Congress of the Urited 3tates. There Is one thlnj certain: When the Instrument reaches the United States and la carefully studied there will be wme severe criticism. There is one feature of the in strument which has already been decided upon which will be contested in Washington to the bit ter end. and those who will contest It most earnest ly wfll be the Cubans themselves. When the convention first received projects from the delegates fcr consideration, there were three presented. The one presented by General Ruis Rivera, in naming the qualifications for President of the proposed republic, had this provision: "Any male citizen of Cuba, over forty years of age. and who was born in Cuba, will be eligible to the Pres idency of the republic." General Marua. In his project. Incorporated the provision which has been accepted. It Is that any male citizen over forty years of age who was a citizen of Cuba at the signing of the constitution will be eligible to the Presidency. This provision has been made to include Oeneral Gomez among those who will be eligible to the Presidency. It means that General Maximo Gomes will be the first President of the Cuban republic if the constitution Is adopted with this provision and if it is sanctioned by tbe Congress of the- United States. Those who are familiar with General Gomez and his followers, as well as the general conditions of the island in a political sense, know what this will mean. The election of General Gomez would ab solutely prevent the formation of a stable govern ment. His followers are the few who ware with him during the war, and others who are aeeklnsr to promote their personal political Interests by affiliating with the old chief. The rabble, who were the most ardent supporters of General Wey ler and who shouted for him upon every public occasion when "Weyler was !n command here, are also with General Gomez. The conservative men and those who have business Interests in Cuba are opposed to turning the island over to the element which would make trouble to-day if it had an opportunity of doing so. Should the Congress of the United States show a disposition to accept this feature of the constitu tion there will be i protest from Cuba which will rrake Itself heard. The conservative element know General Gomez too well to allow him to be placed in charge of the island. They knew him in the field and they know him now. They are aware that the United States has been paying him out of the island treasury regular sums, and that the money paid him has been sufficient to defray the expenses of a life of luxury here and to enable him to clear the clouded titles of some property which he has in San Domingo and which was visited by him some time ago. They know that he received $3,000 some time In July, and that his request a few weeks afterward for $3,300 was refused or referred to a member of the Cabinet for consideration. The object of the payment of this money la well known. The people are aware that it haa been paid for the purpose of locking the lips of the old chief. They will contend that if the United States Government has deemed It necessary to do this it cannot con sistently accept a feature of the constitutlcn which would pave the way for his election to the Presi dency. They will contend that if It is necessary for the United States authorities at Washington to recommend that General Gomez be paid a sum of money amounting in all so far to over 5L3.000 for the sole purpose of keeping him from making trouble, the Government at Washington cannot consistently accept a constitution containing a pro vision providing for the election of General Gomes to the Presidency. FORAKER REPLIES TO HARRISOS. THE SENATOR TELLS OP THE GENEROU3 SPIRIT DISPLAYED TOWARD PORTO RICAN3. Cincinnati. Dec. Senator J. B. Foraker. in a speech before the Manufacturers' Club, of this city, last night, replied to the recent speech of ex-Presi dent Harrison at Ann Arbor in part as follows: All the questions arising upon the Porto Rican legislation are soon to be passed upon by the Supreme Court. For that reason I do not care to discuss them at this time, but it is in order to say that the view taken by Congress, as reflected by that legislation, was creditable to the generosity, the patriotism and the industrial spirit of the American people. We found Porto Rico as poor as poverty could make her. She had no money, no credit, no system of taxation of any kind. She wanted a civil government and a revenue to tup port it. We gave her a far more liberal civil gov ernment than was ever given to any territory prior to the Civil War, so far as participation In it by her people is concerned, and we dealt by her more generously in providing support for that govern ment than we nave ever yet dealt with any terri tory. In requiring her to pay tariff duties on imports from foreign countries -ye did only what we did with Louisiana. Florida, California and all our other Territories, but in allowing her to put these duties, when collected, Into, her own treasury tor the support of her local government we did wlia ' was never done before for anybody else, for la all other cases we have not only required the payment of these same duties, but we have also required them, when they were collected, to be paid Into the National Treasury at Washington for the com mon benefit of the whole country, and. as to duties on commerce between Porto Rl-o. and the United States, we did not levy 15 per cent, but we remitted S3 per cent of the existing rates on a number oj articles and the whole duty on all the rest, ana provided that the 15 per cent should be remitted on and after Marco 1. 1905. or sooner If the Legi3lature| of Porto Rico shall so provide, and that meanwhile all collections of this 15 per cent, both there and in the United States, shall be oaid over to Porto Rico for her own support We made this pro vision because It was the easiest and least bur densome way possible to raise Indispensable revenue for the Government, and not because It was la any sense of any benefit to either our Government or our people. The Porto Rlcan Legislature I.* now In session, but neither that body nor any member of It, nor anybody else, has taken any step to repeal or alter the tax system so Imposed by Congress. On the contrary, all concerned alike testify to the highest satisfaction with what Congress has done, and the request will be almost unanimously made that the provisions enacted may be continued. If not Indef initely, at least until some satisfactory system of proper taxation may be substituted. In addition. it should be stated that Congress, also In the same generous spirit, exempted Porto Rico from all Internal revenue taxation— another favor never before extended to any part of our people anywhere. It is true that the legislation for Porto Rico was a "departure." but it Is not true that It was a departure from correct principles. SUIT %TO% TO STOP "THE ROVXDERS." PARISIAN OWNERS OF "LES TKTXKtmr ALLEGE THAT ROYALTIES HAVE NOT BEEN P.\H>- A. H. Hummel, as counsel for Henri Hettgel aai Paul Chevalier, of Parts, owners of the play "Le» .* Fetards." which was adapted for the American stage by Harry B. Smith and Ludwig Englander and produced under the title of "The Rounders" by George W. Lederer. at the Casino, applied to Justice Blanchard In the Supreme Court yester day for an injunction pendente lite. restraining Samuel E. Rorke. Thomas Q. Seabrooke and 3. S^fVker Williamson from continuing to produce 'The Rounders" on the road, on the ground that they have refused to pay the royalties due to Mis* Elisabeth Marbury. who is agent for the French owners of the play In the United States and Can ada. Justice Blanchard reserved his decision, but di rected the defendants to furnish a bond to £.000 to Indemnify the plaintiffs against any loss In royal tle* pending his rullns In the casa.