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-t_ THE JOURNAL LUCIAN SWIFT, I J. S. McLAIN, . MANAGE!!. .;; ," EDITOB. THE JOURNAL la publUhed •very evening, except Sunday,'.'at 4T-48 Fourth Street South, Journal Building, Minneapolis, Minn. , C. J. Billion, Manager Eastern Adver tising. NEW YORK OFFICE— 87. 88 Tribune building. CHICAGO OFFICE—3OB Stock • Exchange building. . SUBSCRIPTION TKR3IS Payable Jo The Journal Printing; Co. . Delivered by s Mail. - One copy, one month $0.35 One copy, three months.*. .V..-.'.'.".' '. .... 1-00 One copy, six m0nth5.......■.;...../..'2.00 One copy, one year ..'."..... "....'. ........4.00' Saturday Eve. edition, 20. to 26 pages. 1.50 Delivered by Carrier. ' One copy, one week ......'....... 8 cents One copy, one month i............ 35 cents Single copy ......:.....'...... 2 cents < CHANGES OF ADDRESS Subscribers ordering addresses of their papers changed must always give their former as well as present address.. ■ , COSTIMKD All papers are continued until an ex plicit order, is received for discontinuance, and until all arrearages are paid. COMPLAINTS Subscribers will pleane notify the office in every cane that their paper i» not delivered promptly or the collections* not properly made. The Journal is on sale at the news stands of the following hotels:* Pittsburg, —Dv Quesne. Salt Lake City, Utah—The Knutsford. Omaha, Neb.— Paxton Hotel. . ! Los Angeles, Cal.—Hotel Van Nuys. ■ San Francisco, Cal.—Palace Hotel. ' Denver, Col.—Brown's Palace Hotel. • St. Louis, - Mo.—Planters' Hotel, Southern I Hotel. • • ■ ;;". Kansas City,- Mo.—Coates House. Boston, Mass. — Young's Hotel, United States, Touraine. ' •> Cleveland, Hollenden House, Weddell House. Cincinnati, —Grand Hotel. Detroit, Mich.—Russell House, Cadillac. Washington, D. C—Arlington, Hotel, Raleigh. Chicago. Auditorium Annex, Great Northern. New York City—lmperial, Holland, Murray Hill, Waldorf. Spokane, Wash. —Spokane Hotel. Tacoma, Wash.—Tacoma Hotel. Seattle, Wash.— Butler Hotel. Portland, Oregon— Portland Hotel, Perkins Hotel. Journal Almanac for 1901. The Journal Almanac for 1901 is on the press and will be ready for distribution in a few days, j This is the only almanac which adds to the general information of the best annual publication of this kind supplementary pages con taining all kinds of information \ about the northwest. The Journal i Almanac gives statistics about Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Dakotas, election returns in de tail, bank clearings, census re turns, party platforms of the state and nation, the members of the legislature and the officers of that body, and all information of a miscellaneous character The Jour nal Almanac has given heretofore, and much which has not hitherto been incorporated in that book. The Course of Business Bank clearings this week are more than 60 per cent larger than a year ago. The January settlements have been made and millions of money have been distributed to stockholders all over the country. This distribution has added a considerable vol ume to the clearance of banks, and in part the large increase noted is due to this shifting of funds. But after this is said, the fact remains that business is good on the whole. Distribution in some lines of merchandise is slow, but in other lines it is active; the average is quite satisfactory. Unseasonable weather has more to do with the unfavorable quality of distribution, say in woolens, than any direct business reason. The winter has been mild all over the country and many people have been able to accommodate their needs without making new purchases of winter underwear and other forms of winter clothing. We are now close to spring and the season will go out with considerable stocks of woolens left in the hands of retailers or in the storerooms of the manufacturers. Some uneven places like these must be expected 1 in every sea son. But on the whole the country is wonderfully blessed. When we look across to some of the European countries if we axe at .all dis criminating in the making of comparisons it -will not be difficult to discover that there are In an important 6ense no com parisons to make. The trade reports for Germany suggest this. The year book of the German Marine union, just issued, takes a jubilant view of German trade based on results that will appear to be quite trivial to an American business man who has observed the wonderful expanse of trade in his own country. The Germans are greatly pleased over their prosperity as shown by an increase in the consump tion of coal from 4,470 pounds in 1896 to 5,185 pounds in 1898; and of iron from 271 pounds per capita in 1896 to 300 pounds in 1898. This is pleasing evidence of a more prosperous condition, to be sure, and if Germany feels elated over this advance, well and good, but it is not enough to warrant a feeling of confidence in the United States. The figures of per capita consumption for this country are not at hand. But it is known that prosperity in the United States is of a sort that is not necessarily measured by the consumption of coal and iron. It is well known that Germany has been prosperous; her people have been employed of late more than for years and the feeling of prosperity has run so far there that the country has been in danger from the bursting of a boom tendency, and the danger is not out of the way as was suggested the other day by the fail ure of two banks in Berlin. The United States is realizing her wonderful pros perity with the complete absence of any thing of a boom nature. We never have consumed so much per capita, either of food or living conveniences, the railroads never earned as much money and with it all money has never been as easy. We have not only supplied our needs with the largest amount of iron ever made in a given period, but we have sent abroad tons of manufactured iron in competition with other countries. After all this industrial activity of two years in tits country there is not the slightest indication of a boom here; we are simply doing business on legitimate basis without any accompaniment that might mean danger. We had more failures in the United States last year than in the year previous. But this was a natural result, not an in dication of weakness. The country had made so much money that It was seeking investment and in the hurry many new corporations were exploited with a result that a proportion were unsound and fail ure resulted. These failures did not af fect sentiment in the least and the coun try has not observed that failures were more frequent last year than in 1899. The existing conditions are such that they seem to promise a prosperous year. A "Dangerous Precedent" The amended Hay-Pauncefote treaty was yesterday under consideration by the British cabinet, but the proceedings, of course, have not been divulged. The Lon don Telegraph, which usually articulates preponderating British sentiment, said yesterday: British ministers do not wish to hinder the construction of the canal, and they recognize the natural desire ol the United States to ba custodian of the canal; they cannot, how ever, assent to the establishment of the dan gerous precedent cf the abrogation of a treaty by the stroke of the pon. It is possible that even some of the most pronounced haters of John Bull will rec ognize the entire reasonableness of this position. The extremists would be furious if the British government were to sudden ly cancel the treaty of Washington with out negotiating with our government for its abrogation. There would be an imme diate outcry, denouncing such action as an "outrage" and a gross violation of in ! ternational comity. It is equally an out | rage to cancel the Clayton-Bulwer treaty j without negotiating with Great Britain | for its abrogation. But Senator Morgan : Las for the third time this session sought '■ to get the senate to pass the resolution i voiding the treaty of 1850. The senate, however, has concluded to slow up a little ! upon that proposition, and it will only be ! decent recognition of the comity due from one nation to another to wait for the ac tion of the British cabinet upon the amended Hay-Pauncefote treaty. It is very probable that if the senate prefers to transact this business "decently and in order" there will be no great diffi culty in ridding the country of the incu bus of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. It is possible, however, that if the British cab inet gives a favorable answer it will not come soon enough to take up the Hep burn canal bill. It is true that the extremists who tell us that arbitrary action as to the treaty of 1850 is justified because Great Britain has violated that treaty by occupying the j Mosquito coast and the Bay Islands off the Honduras coast. If these gentlemen will study history a little they will find that Great Britain, at the instance of our gov ernment, relinquished the protectorate she had established over the Mosquito coast in 1848, and it was found that the Bay ! Islands were conceded to be territory of Honduras through the treaty with Hon duras negotiated by Great Britain. In 1860 President Buchanan congratulated congress upon the fact that all British pretensions to territory included in the inhibitions of the treaty of 1850 had been removed. Declare that treaty abrogated without" the consent of Great Britain and the latter can resume her Mosquito coast protectorate and sovereignty over the Bay Islands if she choses. Surely it will be eminently proper to annul the treaty of 1850 in the orderly and civilized way. A Pessimistic Statesman Our two living ex-presidents are in clined to take a rather gloomy view of the I condition and tendencies of the American nation. Ex-President Harrison fears that the constitution is perishing under re morseless assaults of its duly recognized guardians, while ex-President Cleveland declared in a banquet speech in New York that the nation has started on a voyage without counting the cost and "without chart or compass," and that the "tried and sure foundations of our liberty and na tional happiness have been discredited." He sees a "strain upon our institutions and the demoralization of the people," the evasion of our constitutional limitations and the "perversion of our natural mis sion." He says, "our country will never be the same again" but he still believes that the "republic will in some sort be saved." Ho regards the nation, however, as in "reckless tumult and in the con fused rage of national greed and bloodi ness." Let us see if such language is justified. It is perfectly true that our country will never be the same again. It is well that it will not be. The wholesome change be gan when the republican party rose in its vigorous youth and struck down and de stroyed the institution of human slavery and introduced new and quickening, uplift ing, progressive policies and caused the whole nation to realize its own potential ity and right to exist and grow. The country was transformed and realized the enormous wealth which within its bor ders awaited development, and proceeded to develop industrially, commercially and financially until, from being a puny in fant sucking a European milk bottle and swaddled in European garments, it became dominant, industrially and financially, a creditor instead of a debtor nation. All Europe is anxious because of the rise of this new industrial and financial force, which has obtruded upon her markets to such an extent that, as a writer in the Hamburg Fremdenb'latt says, he writes with an American typewriter, placed upon an American table, while all the chairs and desks about him are of American make, because such articles cannot be made as well or as cheaply in Germany. No, this country can never be the same that it was forty years ago. It has been on one mighty sprint of intelligent prog ress. It has revolutionized business and industry by manifold inventions. It has led the world in everything that is help ful to the human race. It has not im paired the constitution a particle. The republican party, the most progressive party the country has ever had, is really the most conservative party which has ever been in power. It has, in new emer gencies, not contemplated by the makers of the constitution, utilized the legitimate national power which made the constitu tion, to meet new questions and settle them. It can refer Mr. Cleveland to the father of his own party who did the same thing in 1803. It preserved the union and put down the slaveholders' rebellion by what the democracy called "unconstitu tional" means, but which was only the exercise of the lawful national power which made the constitution. Ttoe republic, says Mr. Cleveland, "will THE MINNEAPOLIS JOURNAL 1. in some sort be saved." Yes; fatß own party tried to destroy it forty years ago. I The republican party prevented the base purpose and has so strengthened the re public and so brought the people together by its magnificent financial, economic, in dustrial and educational policies that the two ex-presidents may as well talk about the imminent peril to a first-class bat tle ship from an assault by an eight-foot naphtha launch, as to predict the repub lic's doom. Their dark forecasts are a libel upon a nation thoroughly loyal to the national welfare and to our institu tions. The expansion of to-day is no more a "strain upon our institutions" than was the Jeftersonian expansion of 1803. There were people who talked just like Mr. Cleveland about that little spread and they discovered that there was not . only no strain but a positive strengthening. Perils there are from within, but peril after peril has been met and annihilated. ; The Old Guard may in the future be ex pected to stand on duty as in the past. The ex-sresidents need not lie awake nights brooding over bogeys. The Caucus Possibly by the time this reaches the reader the republican caucus will have elected the United States senator for the short term. The caucus last night was satisfactory in one respect. It showed every republican present, or accounted for. Out of 140 members 138 sat in the caucus, the two absentees being excused for satisfactory reasons, illness of the member in one case, and serious illness of his wife in the other; but both were allowed to vote on the senatorship by proxy. The vote, too, was by roll call, and the members went on record as to their preferences. This was eminently the proper thing to do, and a choice made in that way is much more likely to meet with the approval of the republicans of the state than if the caucus had covered up the process of selection under a se cret ballot. The proposition to vote by roll call met with no opposition, it being conceded, apparently, that it would be impolitic for any candidate to oppose that eminently proper and satisfactory method. While not all the forces or influences that were at work showed themselves on the surface, there was encouragement to ex pect a nomination in caucus. That the caucus was able to take four teen ballots with so little change between the first and the last was a surprise, and while it showed that the influences at work were not all visible to the naked eye, it also demonstrated the staying qualities of some of the candidates whose hold upon their support had been ques tioned Sage's View of the College Man A quotation was recently made in the miscellany columns of The Journal from an article by Russell Sage on "The Gospel of Saving." The thoughts expressed in the quotation were worthy ones, but there were other thoughts in the body of the article which ought not to be al lowed to go unchallenged. And one of these is his flings at higher education. To be sure, he approaches the subject cautiously and with some degree of plausibility, but he 16 radically wrong in the matter, and whatever influence he may wield in such an article, or in this particular part of the article, must be harmful. '"A college course," he says, "means four years spent iv acquiring general education, "which may or may not be useful hereafter. * • * A young man's guardians want to be careful for him lest he put in four or five years in building up a mental structure that will prove useless. Too many young men are to-day crowding into colleges. Many of these would be better off, and the world would be better off, if they should go to work instead. The college graduate will probably find himself handicapped when, at 21 or 22, he goes into business in competi tion with men of his own age who have been at work since 18 or 17." The spirit of all this is wrong. The writer is looking at the whole subject from the wrong point of view, but, when his national reputation as a close-fisted man is taken into consideration, a very natural point of view. The fact is, men like Russell Sage are very apt to be ossi fied in everything but that part of their systems devoted to money-getting and money-hoarding. The young man who takes his university course may not at the end of his course be as far advanced in the art of money-making as the young man of the same age who has been at work during the same period, but, grant ing that the two young men are of equal ability, the one who has had the benefit of the college training can handle himself to so much better advantage that even in the trick of making money, he will soon pass his less fully equipped comrade. But the mere making and saving of money is not all of life, Russell Sage to the contrary notwithstanding. In point of fact, the very best we have in modern life, the progress in science, in medicine, in art. in literature, in philanthropy, has been brought about by the men who have sought the betterment of the world rather than the amassing of colossal fortunes. Still more than this, the very fortunes which such" men have been able to pile up have very largely been made possible through the discoveries and inventions and study of men who never worshipped before the oalf of gold. Thrift, industry, close attention to one's duties whatever they are, —all this is needful whether a young man enters a college or not, but all this is wholly com patible with a college education. There never has been so great a demand before for trained college men. They are needed In business, in the professions, in our ever-widening diplomatic and consular field, —there is no danger that we shall have an over-production of college stu dents. Some of them, no doubt, will be poor sticks, —it is even said that some 95 per cent of the business ventures of the country, or. to make a closer appli cation, 95 per cent of the business men, make failures at some time in their careers, —but the overwhelming majority of the young men and women who are graduated from our institutions of higher learning are not only an ornament but a practical aid to the state. Set over against the educational pes simism of a Russell Sage the noble words of John S. Pillsbury, spoken last summer at the unveiling of the Pillsbury memorial statute, bearjng in mind that Governor Pillsbury is not himself a college-bred man: "In the great future of this country we believe that the sons and daughters of this institution, by their industry, their scholar ship and their character, will become a great and vital force in building up the state, eve; increasing and widening in influence anc power as the years roll by. There is no fan tor that can do more for the state and th( nation than the university, with its wide open doors ever welcoming all to enter." Pre-eminently a man of thrift himself Governor Pillsbury yet recognizes that to which rich Russell Sage is largely blind, the practical value of educated men and women, not all of whom will become multimillionaires, but all of whom are fitted to put their shouMers to the wheel and give the world a lift. The Salt ', '.. . Not long ago a 'Chicago Epidemic .•,-"■• "professor," Dr. Loeb, Dptaemtc Btarted a theory a^ in jection of Bait was a cure all that would drag sick people back from the ] tomb " and restore the erring. Since the matter has: obtained publicity, .many people have taken it iup so enthusiastically that some of the physicians-express alarm. A great many "people, if " they pound i their thumbs, want the doctors to sal*, them down. A Dr. Prescott of Chicago now expresses the fear* that if the public is not put on its guard the whole city will be suffering from scurvy inside of six : months. In fact, one case of , scurvy has already come under his notice—that of a . lady. who took to sal*, so enthusiastically that * her ; limbs became very tender to the touch, and ! finally the hem morrhagic stage of ■ scurvy made its appear ance under the skin and in the connective tissues of the body, having vtry much the appearance of black and blue spots follow ing ,an injury. She -is now under treatment for this disease. The freshness of a great many good people is freely conceded but their malady can hard ly be cured by the opposite treatment. In fact a - homeopathic treatment of like for like would be more to the,point. For fresh ness try fresh water, fresh " air and fresh thought.' They never hurt " anybody and the results are marvellous. And the treatment is not expensive either. Students of Divinity students at the "Divinihl" Chicago ■ university have uiuimzy - form6d - an anti-matrimonial association. It seems.-, if. one may i judge from experience, that the divinity student is an especially shining mark in the matrimonial field. Some lady who de cides to marry, comes along,and" bowls over a divinity student without half trying. This Interferes with study and in other ways curtails the , student's usefulness. :To ■ avoid .what seems to be obvious error, the associa tion has been formed. Among its rules is the | provision that the first undergraduate to get married must provide a dinner for the other members of the association find pay a fine of j $10. At graduation those who have . followed closely the rules they, have , sworn to will divide among themselves the fund supplied by those who were .unable to withstand ! Cupid's darts. i After graduation, of course, marriage is considered the obvious and proper thing. • ,:.;., -'-. A student of ''divinity," if we may trust the poets, is clearly an authority on the ladies. And a man whose business it is to have to do with angels—well, you know the results. Kansas papers note martins building their nests. This denotes an early spring in the southwest. The sign in the northwest is the farmer in South Dakota who begins plowing. It is only s>ix or eight weeks away. The steel men are trying to buy out Mr. Carnegie. The trouble is that the Scotchman knows exactly what his business is worth and freely adds a few millions to the selling price "for luck." One wise Wisconsin legislator thinks that ■when another state can produce a football team that can beat the cardinal, it Is time to curb the brutal game. It is—in Wisconsin. A new rule has been promulgated for heavy men who "shift their ballast" on icy sidewalks. It is this, "When in the air, deny the existence of matter." A morning paper speaks of a fraction as having an "enumerator"' and a denominator. It also refers to fractions as "fractious." They often are. With Generals Breakneckski and Sneez headoff operating in Manchuria it is ap parent that Russia has the grippe on China. The Mediterranean moth man has worked off his story and the chinch bug and grass hopper genius is beginning to stir uneasily. Senator Chandler is still quite low but is well enough to joke. He explains it thus: "I was run over by a railroad train." The "Dickens revival" in literature was probably started by Mr. .Howells, who tried to put that author on the shelf. The stricken northwestern farmer . con tinues to send in 30G«ars of wheat a day. There are several senatorial candidates who are preparing for banishment to Guam. If you miss the safety pins shake the baby and see if he rattles. OUR UNWRITTEN CONSTITUTION It is clear to every one who looks straight upon the facts, every veil of th?ory with drawn, and the naked body of affairs un covered to meet the direct question of the eye, that civil war discovered the founda tions of our government to be" in fact un written; set deep in a sentiment which con stitutions can neither originate nor limit, says Woodrow Wilson in the January At lantic. The law of the <:onßtitution reigned until war came. Then the stage was cleared, and the forces of a mighty sentiment, hither to unorganized, deployed upon it. A thing had happened for which the constitution had made no provision. In the constitution were written the rules by which the associated Btates should live in concert and union, with no word added touching days of discord or disruption; nothing said of the use of force to keep or to break the authority ordained in its quiet sentences, written, it would seem, for lawyerb, not for soidiers. When the war came, therefore, and questions were broached to which it gave no answer, the ultimate foundation of the structure was laid bare; physical force, sustained by the stern loves and rooted predilections of masses of men, the strong ingrained prejudices which are the fibre of every system of government. What gave its war its passion, its hot energy as of a tragedy f/om end to end, was- that in it sentiment met sentiment, conviction con viction. It was th» sentiment, not of all, but of the efficient majority, the conviction of the major part, that won. A minority, eager and absolute in another conviction, devoted to the utmost pitch of self-sarrifice to an opposite and incompatible ideal, was crushed and overwhelmed. It was that which gave an epic breadth and majesty to the awful clash between bodiea of men in all things else of one strain and breeding; it was that which brought the bitterness of death upon the side which lost, and the dangerous intoxica tion of an absolute triumph upon the side which won. But it unmistakably uncovered the foundations of force upon which the union rested. One Thing: in Atmtin's Favor. Washington Star. An Englsh publication is inclined to ques tion Edgar Allan Poe's right to be consid ered a great poet, because it is recorded that he got drunk. That is one thing to be said in favor of Alfred Austin. So far as th« world knows he keeps perfectly sober all the time. Whatever may be said of his rhymes, no one should fail to honor Mr. Austin for his exemplary habits. Too Many Jokers at Large, Chicago News. With a Michigan man dead from being hanged in a ;oke r.ii'l an Indiana woman dying from sitting iown at a chair that was pulled away, we do not need a didn't-know it-was-loaded case to remind us that some folks are getting just too funny for anything but the penitentiary. The Outlook Still UnpromlnlnK. New York Mai! and Express. Ex-Governor Pingroe of Michigan declares that he is by no means done with politics, but that henceforth he will spend his time and money for the democratic party. It is evident that the democracy's troubles are iot ended yet. Crosby and the "Increment." New York Sun.» John S. Crosby, the land nationalizer, has landed a fat job in the city controller's office. \s "financial expert" his pay will be large. iow much of it w!!l be what he is accus omed to call "unearned increment"? The Place for J. Ham. Washington Post. We shall not be ihe least bit surprised to am that J. Ham Lewis has been engaged . -ts the sporting editor of the Commoner. New York Daily Letter. BUREAU OF THE JOURNAL, No. 21 Park Row. The Army Officer Idea. Jan. 19.—Bishop Potter's suggestion that a retired army officer in good standing would be an ideal selection for the new head of the police force 1b receiving some consid eration. Ex-army officers have before this served in the police commission, for instance General Fltzjohn Porter, who served years ago, and General Andrews, who was ap pointed by Mayor Strong. But an army of ficer as one of the four commissioners is a far different thing than an army officer as a single head of the department. Two of the best police commissioners we ever had were Thomas C. Acton and Theodore Roosevelt, both civilians, who had had no military ex perience at the. time of their service in the police board. Tunnel Prom Stuten to Brooklyn. Erastus Wyman's old scheme of a tunnel from Staten Island to Brooklyn, with a rail road connecting the Brooklyn surface rail roads with the trunk lines in New Jersey, has survived the vicissitudes of many years. | The franchise was long ago obtained, and j I the company having the rights held a meet j Ing last week and raised the capital to $10, --i 000,000. The president, Stephen M. Hoye, claims to have capita! enough to insure the ■ construction of the road from the Kill Yon Kull bridge to Stapleton, and that condemna tion proceedings for the right of way will be started at once. "Care-All*" Price*. It is announced that the manufacturing wholesale and retail druggists of this city have entered into an agreement that prices of proprietary medicines shall not be "cut." The agreement goes into effect the latter part of the month. Sample of Jersey Justice. Banishment was the. unusual sentence im posed upon a Syrian by "a New Jersey judge to-day. The Syrian had been arrested for .assault. The judge offered to release him if he would leave the country. The Syrian | agreed, and in charge of an officer he was | brought to Hoboken and placed aboard an outbound steamship. The judge's action is generally applauded and deportation may be come a feature of local police cases where the prisoner is a foreigner. Embroidery for Idle Men. ' Mrs. Lillie Devereaux . Blake advocates the . embroidery cure for the tobacco habit. The mothers of the New York City Club are per plexed over this -problem, and are meeting in the effort :to ; devise some system of re form. Their hostility is especially strong toward cigarettes. Mrs. Blake, who is a well-known champion of woman's rights, ad vanced this : novel ■ argument to-day: "No greater wrong has been ! done.' to man than not teaching him. to sew. He has nothing to do in the evening. That's why he smokes so much. Now, if he had only been taught em broidery, think lof the difference!" Jealousy Among Actresses. Speaking of feminine organizations, there is war in the Professional Women's League all because of a loving cup which was pre- i sented to Miss Amelia Bingham at the Bijou theater. Miss Bingham made her debut as a "theatrical manager and the league's execu tive committee promptly purchased the cup as a token of admiration ; for her "nerve.". Thereupon some members of the league pro tested at yesterday's meeting that the ex penditure was unwarranted in the first place and exorbitant in the ! second. During the period of • stress many members threatened to resign and those who did not dissolved in tears. .It was the most animated session held since "the rainy day skirt question was debated. The league is composed of well known professional women, including many actresses, and the | dove lof peace does not perch constantly over its club rooms in Broadway. Miss Bingham received her lov ing cup, however, and the committee chosen to present it delivered a very neat little speech before the first night audience at the Bijou. A Billion Dollar Scheme. The eleven principal companies engaged in various forms of steel manufacture have outstanding a total of $739,468,100 of common and preferred stock. The Carnegie company has in addition $160,000,000 of bonds, so that the total capitalization of these eleven com panies is $929,468,100, or very close to a bil lion of dollars. If it be true, as reported, that there Is a scheme for uniting these companies in some such way as is going on among railroads, an idea may be obtained of the colossal dimensions of modern financier ing. • Think of underwriting a billion dollar scheme. THE MASSING OF POPULATION IS RUINOUS The crowded condition of the more populous sections of large cities we have been ac customed to view with a measure of horror. The density of population in London, Paris, Berlin and other cities of the old world, is described in many voluminous treatises re specting the problems they present. But it is becoming apparent that we are in danger of like conditions In our American centers. I have just seen a chart showing that in New York there is an average of nearly nine teen persons to a dwelling. In Hoboken, the average is between twelve and thirteen; in Fall River, from eleven to twelve; in Jersey City, Chicago and Boston, between eight and nine. This chart represents the census ten years"ago, and, when one takes into consid eration the number of dwellings in which only two or three persons live, the average is much larger and more serious. The prob lem has become almost universal, for, at the same time (thanks to modern improvement and rapid transit), more fortunate families are gravitating to the suburbs. The others, of course, less fortunate, have to remain in the crowded and ever crowding sections. Manhattan's present average of dwellers to a dwelling is estimated to be twenty-three per sons, which is simply ruinous from the stand point of good health or of sound morals.— Ballington Booth, in January Success. THE BOER'S PRAYER IN BATTLE A Metrical Translation Into English. Father, I call to Thee! Roaring enshrouds me the smoke of the battle, Round me wild spatks and the cannon's weird rattle, Leader of battles, I call to Thee; Father, oh, guide Thou me! Father, oh. guide Thou me! Guide me to death, or guide me to glory: God, I acknowledge Thy Son's holy story; God, as Thou choosest so guide Thou me, God, I acknowledge Thee! God, I acknowledge Thee! As in the autumn leaves' musical rustle, So in the battle's wild roaring and bustle. Source of all gra~e, I acknowledge Thee. Father, oh, bless Thou me! • Father, oh, ble3s Thou me! < Lord, my young life :n Thy hands wilt Thou As Thou hast given so canst Thou retake it, Living or dying, oh, bless Thou me. Father, al! praise to Thee! Father, all praise to Thee! Not for the goods of this earth are we fight ing, Wrongs to thy holiest gifts are we righting. Falling or conquering, praise to Thee. Father, oh, take T-iou me! Father, oh, take Thou me! Lord, when the thunder of death shall sur round me, When the red blood from my veins shall confound me. Then, Lord, my God, then, oh, take Thou me! Father, I call to Thee! —John H. Van Bolhuys. The Abandoned Kitty. Groton (S. D.) Independent. Real solid happiness can scarcely be hoped for at all times and under all conditions on this old earth of ours. There is almost al ways something to kick about. The editor of the Red&eld Press puts forth, a vigorous protest against the turning loose of home less cats on his premises. Pot vs. Kettle. Watertown (S. D.) Public Opinion. It is perhaps a question whether the Steere reply to Governor Lee's message is not a case of the pot calling the kettle black. SATURDAY EVENING, JANTTAKT 19, 1901. The Blazing Forests of Lahore Some years ago an Englishman out on a tiger hunting expedition stopped at a small native village in southern India to secure guides to a forest Jungle which promised an abundance of game. The na tives served him faithfully for several days, but when they learned that his ob ject was to pass through what was known as the forest of Lahore they one and all refused to go, on the ground that no man could pass it and live, as the trees and everything was afire; the sahib, in a word, would be consumed. No amount of argument could change the opinion of the men, so the hunter decided to go in with his own men despite the repeated warn ing of the natives that no one had ever entered the blazing forests of Lahore and returned to tell the story. As might be imagined, this but gave zest to the adventure, determining the Englishman to investigate-the mysterious forest. The natives located it in a gen eral way as being about fifty miles to the north, and a few mornings later the party came to its borders and entered the dense jungle, beating about for tigers, but find ing no evidence of the fire phenomena, nor could anything of the kind be seen from the tops of the highest trees. The expedition came to camp that night in a grassy enclosure, surrounded on all sides by trees. During the night the English man was aroused by a commotion among the men, and presently a native rushed into the tent and prostrated himself, crying that they were about to be con sumed —the forest was afire. I #< lUaziiiu Forest. The hunters rose and went out and were confronted with an amazing spectacle. Here, indeed, was the blazing forest of La hore. On the trees, here, there and every where, were splashes or patches of light, some seemed to hang from the branches; others appeared upon the trunks, the larg est spots being several feet across, while innumerable smaller ones apparently cov ered the branches in some places, which moving in the night \Cind produced a spec tacle at once remarkable and awe-inspir ing. The grassy glade, to all intents and purposes, was surrounded by lights, and the natives, panic stricken, gathered in the center and utterly refused to move. The Englishman soon solved the mystery. A shot fired at some of the large spots of light brought it to the ground in a fiery mass which when taken up was seen to be a large fungus literally blazing with in tense, clear silvery light without any scin tillation. When rubbed or crushed, the light emitted blue tints. The fungus resembles an irregular toadstool without the stem, and grew directly upon branch or limb; the conditions being favorable it had spread over the forest in this particular spot in every direction; and as each one was luminous, or phosphorescent the forest appeared to be not afire but illuminated on a most comprehensive scale presenting an appearance which well might alarm the excitable and superstitious natives who shunned it as an evil and dangerous thing without attempting to investigate it. This remarkable light may be observed in various portions of India, especially In the Oraghum jungle, where a peculiar root stock, which the Brahmins call Jyotismati, is often seen ablaze with phosphorescence. An English army officer reported that in the country about Almora the grass be came brilliantly luminous, especially after a rain; and a similar phenomenon has been observed in the Himalaya mountains, while not on so extended a scale the lights in the palm forests of Gyaz, Brazil, have long attracted wide-spread attention. The agaric, which produces the light, is not large, but emits a greenish lignt of great intensity. It grows in bunches of the de caying fronds of a dwarf palm, and in one locality every tree has its light, presenting a most beautiful and mysterious picture. It is called Plor de Coco by the natives. Liminous Fnngrns in Borneo. In the jungles of Borneo a similar plant has made several localities famous. In one place the lights begin to appear as soon as darkness sets in, dotting the trees and branches thickly with seeming torches of a light green hue. So thickly are they crowded upon the tropical var dure that in certain localities the observer can almost imagine that electric lights have been strung on wire from tree to tree and branch to branch, meking a maze of lights. One of the Bornean jungles is par ticularly noted for its lights, which have been the subject of some interesting ex periments. When an observer reported that he had stood in the middle of a road at midnight and read by the light emanat ing from these plants the statement was received with incredulity; but repeated experiments demonstrated the truth of the story and numbers of persons visited the spot to read by the light of a plant. Perhaps the most remarkable plant lamps have been found in the Swan River, Australia. They were first reported by the natives who, wishing to prevent the whites from fishing in the waters, told them that the river was protected by the spirits of their dead, and pointed to the ghostly lights as evidence. In the day time they were not noticeable, but as night came on singular lights of all sizes FABLES FOR THE FAIR The Woman Who Helped Her Hus band. There was once a Woman whose Husband Depended on the State of the Market for his Daily Toast. One Day he Appeared before Her with a Sad Countenance. "All is Over, my Dear," said he. "Wheat Is 'Way Down, an* I doubt if after To-mor row we shall have More than Ten Thou sand a Year to Live On. I am Sorry that I Married you to Drag you Down to This; but I must Tell you Sooner or Later. I am a Ruined Man." "Nay, do not Lose Heart," said his Wife. "Can you not Speculate Further?" "I cannot," he replied, "for I have Lost my Nerve. My Friends Urge me to Throw what I have Into Copper, but I Dare Not. Five Thousand a Year would Hardly buy Croquettes for Two. I would Better Keep what I have Saved from the Smash." "At any rate," said she, "come Out and Have some Lunch. Let us Go to Sherry's and get a Nice Little Bird; then you will Feel Better." "Bird!'.' exclaimed her Husband. "Unhap py Woman, if you see anything better than Broiled Chicken and Beef a la Mode for the Rest of Your Life, you will Do Well. In my present Frame of Mind I would Suggest a Night Lunch cart." "Let us have One Good Meal, at least," urged his wife, "before we Die to the World. I have Twenty Dollars in my Purse. I will Buy our Lunch with that. After that the Night. Lunch." "Very Well, for the Last Time," replied her Husband. They then went to an Expensive Restau rant and Ate a more than Satisfactory Luncheon. At the end of it her Husband said: "I think better of that Copper than I Did." Then he went Back to Wall Street and Made Sixty Thousand Dollars in Thirty eight Minutes. This teaches us that Digestion is the Bet ter Part of Valor. The Woman Who Could Not Help Herself. January Century. There was once a Woman who had Never Learned how to Swim, although she Went in Bathing every day in the Summer. She had a Friend who had Acquired this Art with Some Trouble, and was very Proud of her Proficiency in it. "It is Absurd," said this Friend, "to Live near the Water and not Swim. It makes you very Attractive to Good Swimmers if you can Go Out with them, and they do Not Feel that you are a Drag on their Pleasures. What would you Do in Case you Fell off the Pier? Now, Watch me!" With these words she Dived off into the Water and Swam about By Herself. "It is a good thing to have a Woman Swim so Well," said one of the Men near by; "Now, If any of the Children fail Into the Water, she can Rescue them." Just then the Woman who Could Not help Herself uttered a Scream and Fell into the Sea. Instantly Five Men leaped in to Res cue Her, and Spent the Rest of the Day Re- By Charles Frederick Holder.—No. 8. [ would be seen springing into view her« I and there. Nearly all were attached to the roots or stump of trees, none being ob served in the higher branches. The plants were from two to three inches across, and emitted a clear pale greenish light. In some places clusters of them would ba seen, In which event the light was very vivid, giving a chandelier effect. A resi dent of the country, wishing to impress some guests, sent his men to the locality to collect large quantities of the plants with which he decorated his house. A number were placed upon a center table, while suspended from the ceiling at va rious points, were masses of them. When ! darkness came the ordinary lamps were not lighted, and the vegetables ones be gan to gleam and blaze? to the wonder and astonishment of the beholders. What had been an ugly bunch of fungus now be came an incandescent mass blazing with a white light so brilliant that papers and books could be read by it. On some of the plantations of this region large pieces of this aganic, a foot in diameter, have been swung from the celling and used as a light. Such a lamp would last four days, decreasing gradually in intensity. South American Vegetable Lamp. If the dwellers in this region of vege table lamps had the South American, plant Euphorbia phosphorea, by heating the latter they could render its juice bril liantly luminous and use the broken stem as a luminous pen, the exudation —a milk ish white substance —leaving a fiery mark whenever touched. When Rumphius, the Dutch naturalist, visited the island of Amboine, he heard strange rumors of na tives in the interior who performed a re- I markable dance, stringing live coals about their necks and around their bodies, and bearing the lights upon their heads. Be lieving this to be an exaggeration, he visited the people, and finally induced them to go through the performance. At a given signal twenty or thirty men filed out of a house constructed of grass and fiber, each being wound with vivid light 3 which had the appearance of being live coals. The body of the chief was covered with a veritable fiery armor, giving the man a truly ghostly appearance. The dancers moved with a strange shuffling gait, swaying their bodies from side to side to keep the lights moving, which added to the singular display, while oc casionally they would pass their hands over them, which seemed to increase the intensity of the light. The botanist soon found that the apparent live coals was merely a mushroom —Fungus igneus— which ha 3 the faculty of omitting phos phorescent light to a marked degree. A number which had been thrown into a trunk blazed out when the Hd was lifted, creating the impression among the ob servers that the chest was on fire. These mushrooms showed a decided increase in the power of the light. Similar exhibi tions have been witnessed in this country. A mushroom is found in Maine which, gives a brilliant and steady light, and which has been used as a lamp by passing it along the page of a book, when the let ters could easily be distinguished. One of the most interesting exhibitions of vegetable phosphorescence was seen a number of years ago in Bohemia in the coal mines. In some way the report gained credence that one of the coal pits was haunted. One night something hap pened to the lights when the men found to their surprise that while the lights were out there was still an illumination of some kind and they were amazed to see beams of light stretching across the cave, which illuminated the gloomy cavern so that they could see each other's faces and read by the light; yet there was no apparent cause. Investigation showed that it came from a fungus very common in caves. In the mines of Dresden, as well as in those of England, it is often seen. A I.iiilncd Waterspout. A waterspout is an appalling sight at best, the column hundreds of feet in height, rushing along, an incarnate engine of destruction. In the Bay of Bengal such a waterspout was seen at night against a dark cloud, standing out a fiery pillar. It was due to the vast quantities of minute plants-diatoms in the water, a portion of which was brilliantly luminous. With, them were many phosphorescent animala of a jelly like structure, and when the two were hurled aloft and excited to emit their most brilliant corruscation the result waa a fiery waterspout wending its way over the ocean, leaving a train of golden .light which marked it as one of the most re markable exhibitions of phosphorescencs Among the phosphorescent plants tha common fox-fire is best known and often productive of a brilliant exhibition of luminosity. When struck the decayed wood, which seems to be the seat of the light, flies in every direction, giving tha impression that someone has scattered liv ing coals broadcast over the ground. As to the cause of the light very little Is known. Many attempts have been made and innumerable theories have been ad vanced, yet the actual cause of this -won derful phenomenon is more or less a mys tery. suscltating her and Inquiring How she Was, leaving the Swimmer to Dive by Herself. This teaches us that Nothing Succeds lika Distress. AND THE BELL, RA\Q Qrafton (N. D.) Record. Mr. Andrew, who has sold paper to the print shops of North Dakota for fifteen years or more, told a story the o^her day on him self: A little before Christmas he went to Minneapolis to spend the holidays. H« makes his home with a son when in Minneapolis, and one evening during his stay the family went away to some entertainment, and ha was left alone in the house, with the excep tion of the hired girl. Mr. Andrews put on, his slippers, stuck his feet up on the coal stove and began to read the evening paper, when the doorbell rang out clear; he pulled down his vest and went to the door, and with, a car-load-of-building-paper smile on his face was making arrangements* to bow the visitor in. There was no one there, and he put up his smile of welcome and returned to his paper, when the bell went again; he lost no time, in preparation, but got to the door hot footed; no one there, not even a jack rabbit. Mr. Andrew was mad, and said so in word 3 of several syllables, but he cooled off and found his place In the paper, when the bell let go of another yell. This time he grabbed the stove poker and shot out of the house; no one was in sight, and he ran around tha building twice, trying to get sight of the dis turber. During the exercises he lost one of his slippers and knocked some paint off of tha house Returning to the house, he called up stairs to the girl and asked her what the empty ringing doorbell meant. The girl threw her voice down stairs, and when Air. Andrew picked it up he found out that his son had put in a telephone that day and he had failed to notice it. It was one of those family group 'phones which take in five or six houses, and the ringing is almost a con tinuous performance. In Ma I in.\ California! Los Angeles Times. The chilly nights we have been experiencing make the plumbers sigh and think of the "good old days" down east with frozea pipes., rushing water and a fat recompense. Trifle Late in the Day. * Sioux City Journal. Congressman Levy informs us that Bryan told him some time ago that he would, if elected president, arrange to pay government obligations in silver. Congressman Levy's news is likely to be included in the Dutch have-taken-Holland class. Ah! There's the Rub. Pittsburg Dispatch. The report that the Chinese plenipotenti aries have been again instructed to sign the preliminary agreement permits a hope that in the fullness of time the proceedings will reach a stage where the agreement will stay signed. Perhaps Kept as Relics. Syracuse Post-Standard. A bad fire is reported to have taken plac« In a New York city horse-car barn. This is the twentieth century, and New York is the chief city in the greatest nation on. earth, but her horse cars remain.