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About The North Platte semi-weekly tribune. (North Platte, Neb.) 1895-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1910)
Getting out ihe GoTemment a PLC NEWSOCIALIST CONGRESSMAN - . -vti-k a.m. i.iiv. juris not tlio 1ul UK United BtnteB government gives out, from tlmo to tlrao information on nil aorta of matters pertaining to tho wolfnro of tlio pooplo, but It Is rnfo to say that nono of Undo Sam's news is no oagorly nw<ct its is Uint contained In tho periodical reports on tho condition of tho cotton' crop which nro Issued at Intorvuls of a month during tho growing nnd har vesting senson. No ono nocd be told of tho Importance of thn entton prnn. y tO the DCODlo Who rnlBn thin Hlnntn nn.1 folk who convert It Into a manufactured form to onrb nnd every ono of us who wear cloth- on -JU.UCJ UMJ "Mil II -rr iiii.i I. ,11. II.M.MWfl forts aro thoso of tho representatives of the cot ton brokors and others trading on the stock mar kets. AlmoBt every succcsslvo cotton roport Is sued by the government makes tho prlco of cot ton go up or down according as It presages a good or a poor crop (or a crop that Is dlfferont In any way from populnr anticipation) nnd tho broker who can get a "tip" as to tho contents of tho report oven a few mlnutoB ahond of his fel lows may bo enabled to mnko thousands of dol lars. An lmmcnso army of pooplo scattered through all tho cotton-growing states co-oporato with tho government In .compl.lng Us cotton reports and almost all of them give their sorvlces freo in 1 t. : 'WMnrtRavs'.'Tr 1 1 ' I 111 AlMilllllllllllllllllllllilllllllillHiilMEiilililHV in " Victor L. Bcrger of Milwaukee tho first So cialist ever elected to Congress, Is tho fathor o2 tho Socialist party In Wisconsin. It was In hiss back ynrd that tho first Socialist meeting In tho Btato was held. America's first Socialist con gressman was born of well-to-do, middle-class German parents In Austria In 1860. Thoy gavo him a good collcgo education. Ho early devel oped radical Ideas nnd sympathies. "All my relatives believed I would bo arrested and exe cuted," Bald Bergor, "and tho worst part of It was that they believed that I would deserve to bo hnngcdl" Tho family emigrated to the United States. Young Eerger became a cowpunchor; ho did odd Jobc llko mending wnshbollcrs. Ho learned tho , , meiai ponsners trade, earning as Httlo as ?3 a week-, and never moro than ?12. Often ho did not havo bread to feed his body or fuel to warm It. Ho was appointed teacher of German In tho Milwaukee high school, and Held thO Position for novnrnl nun nnf It .. .... ,iu . mn...i waurholt (Oorman) nnd tho Social-Democratic Herald (English) that Bcrger did Mb life work. Ho built up n powerful political organization whlcli gradually crent un until, in Anrii mm if , Personally In Milwaukee, oven Rmong hlB polltlcnl enemies. Election ...v, uiu uiuni8 wero coming m, no walked Into tho ofKco of tho newspaper that had fouiiht him mnttt hiHnriw nmi nnM it.. . , (, v -. J . I Hi II .1 II - Yi , 1IVJ UUUU II. stanar "Here. Victor." nnawfrii th mni. mi. i rook thorn over nnd hand thorn back to mo." no married Miss Meta Schllchtlng, a pupil In his Gcrmnn clnss at tho Higll SChOOl, Thoy havo thron nhllilrnn Tlint- a In Bcrger a lovo affair. When ho fell In lovo with Miss Schllchtlag he did uv once, xnsioaa, no carerully converted her to Socialism beforo hO nSICCd her to bo his Wlfo. Affnr niiffnrlmr frnm Mo sition to his views, Bcrger hnd vowed ho would never marry a woman who did not agree with him. LEADING SUFFRAGE CHAMPION l"g. rsow it lmppons that It Is only tho national government that has tho iiQcossary facilities for KoopltiB tab upon tho progross and dovolopmont nn n l' COln Cr0,' CUOn 18 no many states nnd over so wide an nroa that no slnglp t,rm or Individual ban tho facilities for In form ng hlmBolf of tho yield, In all sections of tho "cotton belt." And yet accurate ndvanco Information as to tho atato of tho maturing crop Is of the utmost Importance to tons of thousands of American t-ltlKtuis and othor tons or thousand)! of pooplo ovor boos for, bo It known, tho wholo world de pondu largely Upon America for Its cotton. Tho hUBlncBs, commorclul and financial world likes to lava a peep ahead with roforonco lo nny agrlcul tural(,crop In qrdor to make plana accordingly, but In tho cuso of cotton such foresight Is capo clully vital. For, you understand, tho condition of a crop as rolloctod In tho country-wldo govern ineut reports tolls 'dvorybody whether there la to ho a good yield or a poor yield of cotton nnd this in turn Indicates to tho grower whothor ho will get u high prlcq or n ,low prlco for his fluffy whlto product, , Ami as tho forecast hints to tho jnnnufacturcr whether ho will got his cotton .chuap or net, bo It slgninc-a to him what ho muBt .chargo for t.io completed goods as It comes from mills. And bo nil dawn tho lino to tho "ultlmnto consumor" tho cotton crop reports enrry In their hidden meaning a message of low prices or high prices. Ax tho Bummor and autumn season nilvfinrM in. tcroBt grows moro nnd moro Intenso In each sue iECSJVED ceedtng crop roport until it rcuchos a climax In tho case of tho Novomber nnd Decembor roportB. Iho dopnrtmont of ngrl( Jturo uses ovory possi ble precaution to provoijl any hint of tho con tontB of n roport becoming public until noon on the uppolntod day when tho lmlletln Is given simultaneously to ovory person who In waiting for It at tho headquarters of tho crop reporting bureau in Washington. Thon ensues a mail raco to telephones and tolegrnph wires nnd a feverish flght to bo first to communicate tho news to New York and other cotton trading contors and to tho great rltlos of Europe Tho regular nowspapor correspondents vlo with ono another In their of fortB to bo first to got tho cotton foroenst "on uio wiro," but oven moro Btronuous than tholr of- CiE?dS sir THJT US. CPOP KAS-VWfG &r?jrs1l ordor to help tho omclahj at Washington compllo a thoroughly accurato sj-b-toms of reports which, It Is recognized, is to tho in terest of all concerned. To bo Buro most of these correspondents who con tribute their mlto to Undo Sam'a mine of Informa tion on tho growing cot ton crop do not havo to dovoto much of tholr tlmo to tho task. They morely Bond n fow lines to Wash ington onco each month, each person giving IiIb frank opinion as to tho condition and prospects of tho crop on his parti cular plantation or in his Immcdlnto neighborhood. Most of theso reports nro sent by mall but under certain circumstances the HOLD-UP OF FICTION AND HOLD-UP OF FACT l I'liero'B nothing dlffors moro from roal west mi life than tho tales of real woBtorn llfo, as told by writers who claim to havo takon part and, in deed,' played tho star rolo in most of tho udvon lures thoy bo carefully describe, with an adver tised view to correct dotalls," snld an old fron tiersman of tho seventies. "And of all tho tnles of. western llfo thoro'H nono Unit differs bo widely from tlio real thing na the talo of tho stage-coach hold-up. "The breathless reader noes vividly tho out lawn lying in wait along tho edgo of tho 'moBn 'bluff' is tCo common a word to ubc whllo tho coach tolls up from tho 'arroyo'- so la !guloh' tho loader, well masked In hla 'poncho' Ukowlso Is 'clpak'cnrefully Burvoylng tho doomed vehicle. Then comes tho attack, tho killing of tho driver, tho wild pursuit, tho slaying of tho leader of tlio band by tho bravo young mining engineer, who liaB thrown himself in front of tho bonutltul tnllllounlro's daughter JuBt In tlmo to savo hor llfo and get a bullet In his arm that elio nurscB through to marriage, tho repulse of tho outlaws, etc., all plentifully garnished with mongrel Moxl cuu terms that nro never hoard except on. tho melodrama stngo or noon outoldo tho talq nforo- HHld. "Now in real llfo there is seldom any Bhootlng in a AUge-coach robbery. Ono thing Is certain, tho driver Hover gots shot Tho driver Is novor Bvon shot at, for ho vory sensibly puts up his hands, knowing how suicidal would bo any at tempt at roolatAncp against armed outlaws, and ho sitting up there as pretty a targot aa ono ovor saw In n shooting gnllory. Furthgrmorq, tho last man thoy want to shoot Is o driver, for that would moan a runaway toam-r-of all . things what tho robbers don't want; thoy'vo got enough to koop thorn husy, as Jt la. Perhaps I" cannot illua trnto bettor what occurB at a' real stngo robbery .than by giving you my experience when I Was driving stngo through southern Idaho in tho oarly olghties. "I was driving from Shoshono to Bolso City, nbout dusk ono evening was going down tho ennon road thnt lends from Cnmns prairlo to tho headwaters of tho rnyotto not a sottlpr for mlloB around. Thoro was only ono Passenger aboard, a young woman from Now England. "Now, whllo tho country sho had como from nnd that sho was going to wero clvlllsiod all right, tho strip In southern Idaho wo wero thon trav ollng ovor was pretty wild, But I didn't Bay u word to her nbout It for tcn of frightening tho little thing. "8hq, was. sitting up on tho box with mo and ndmlrlng tho sunset tints in tho western sky when, aa wo swtng nround! a bbnd' ln tho canon, a man standing lu tho mldtllo ot tho. road about fifty feet ahead, with a Winchester riflo lying in tho hollow of his arm, flung up his hand to mo. Ho was tho first human bolng wo had Boon slnco wo loft Shoshono at daybrenk" that morning though that wasn't tho reason I throw ray loadors back on tholr haunches, flung oao brako and enmo to a sudden stop. ' telegraph. Is UBed and lu each atato Undo Sam has n salaried Btato agent who dovotcB his whole tlmo to traveling over his stato and "Blzlng up" tho situation, sending in his conclusion by telegraph but taking tho precaution to wrlto his messages In a secret codo or cipher so that no person, not oven tho telegraph operators who han dlo thorn, could catch their moaning and thereby gain a hint na to what might be expected in a forthcoming crop roport. It is at tho crop reporting hcndqunrtorH at Washington that this schomo of keeping watch on tho maturing cotton crop Involves a task that taxes human endurance. To convoy an Idea of Us magnitude it Is only necossary to explain that during tho cotton growing season tho statisticians aro In correspondence with moro than sixty thous and public nnd prlvnto ginnorios and upward of flftcon thqusand bankora, merchants and others who aro irt a position to form opinions on tho cot ton yield. Tho advices from all theso volunteer "Intelligence offlcors" nro looked up as received ,at Washington' nnd kopt closely guarded until tho day appoliifpclfor preparing tho monthly roport. Then tho bbty of oxpertB known as tho Crop no porting Boajd.ia locked in a room and, taking nil thp accummulntod Information, goes ovor tt nnd prepares a 'general Bummnry that embodies tholr flndlngstho nvorago as It woro, of all tho re ports received from every quartor. Conditions may vary greatly in different pnrts of tho country but tho gonornl roport will glvo tho pcoplo of tho na tion a bird's oyo vlow of tho wholo situation In a broad eenso, It is this roport which at tho ap pointed hour is mado public and Insldo of a fow minutes is Hashed to all parts of tho country nnd to foreign parts. "'Throw out tho mail sack.' ordorod the man with tho rlllo. "I reached down and flung tho sack Into tho road. "'Bolter throw out tho Wolls-Fargo box, too, I guess,' ho added. "I kicked ovor tho treasure box as ordered. " 'That's nil, Bald tho man, curtly, 'Drlvo on.' "I touohod up tho toam and wo wont bowling merrily dowrt tho canyon. Thero was not a word epokon for n full ton minutes. Then tho young woman, turning to mo, said, gullolosaly: ' 'That lookod llko a mighty lonesome place to havo a postofncol"' I- lis;.-' ' Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, president of tho Chicago Political Equality' league, wbb born and educated In Maquoketa, Iowa. Discerning early that certain qualities of volco and mtod espe cially fitted hor for platform speaking, ho Bpo clallzed in that lino of study. That bUd might not bo spoiled by instruction, hor Work was al ways carefully superintended by a highly cul tured and wise mother, who believed that tho highest art is to be natural. Her fathev. a law yor, drilled her on conciseness of oxprootlon and often said, "when you talk say something." Instead, of entering tho profession for which sho had been prepared sho married Georgo W. Trout, and a fow yearo later they moved t? Chicago. Sho was at ono tlmo president of tho member of the West End Women's dub Ul she m ed to 0 lS3 5o5 sho was president of tho Women's Auxiliary of tho Oak Parte club and i2 also a member of tho Nineteenth Century club of Onk Park Shu hiw lLn' a member of tho Chicago Woman's club for ten y"ars and is a member of tho Chicago-Chapter of tho Daughters of tho American rtcVolution i to fs Mrs Trout has devoted herself almost exclusively o lior family. Sho has brought Up four boys, threo eons and a rcnhowi ho last' two having graduated from high scho61. Mrs. Troul says Suinan Life, is a de lghtful and convincing spcakor, witty and sparki ng in "x.S Blon. scholarly and well-informed on tho topics sho discusses. Bho' ircner- cM ? h?Lrv spflcakcr' ha1vlne tho pros and cons of womaS'htatua' In civic history at her finger ends, certainly at her tongue's end ks sho dashes off hrgument and anecdote swiftly, Interspersed wig, wit and humor Mrs. Trout is a woman with more of a social bearing than a mllltijt ( ?) '1 S . "I'. fTV 11 PIP NOTABLE AVIATION FEAT To Eugeno Ely. tho nvlntnr iir,n0.. honor of making tho first successful flight from tho deck of a naval vessel to land in an ncro plaue. Tho feat was accomplished from tin deck of tho scout cruiser Birmingham, which was anchored In Hampton Roads, off Old Point Com-fort.- When Ely climbed into hla machluo ho faced a biting wind, driving cold rain nnG occa sional flurrios of hail. Tho bluo-Jackoto who woro holding tho machine on tho launching platform were ordered to let go, aud tho fclplano glided gracefully downward, until tho wheels and propeller touched tho water nbout 1J0 foot ahead of tho Birmingham. Every spectator breathed hard for a moment when It locked as though tho machino would not hn nii -i from tho water, but Ely sont it upward tjy skill , , , ... ful uandI'uG of tho planes. When tho eiachlno Bklmmcd tho water, it splashed tho spray into tho aviator's eyes.aus "g him to completely lose his bearings. When again he could seo ho epplcd l o land of Wllloughby Spit directly ahead and descended thoro wittout d inl culty. Ho covered flvo miles in a little moro than five minutes. Tho t, -Piano which Ely used in his flight is the same in which Glortn Cutlss flew from Albany to Now York. It was fitted with two pontoons under tho main plnnes bo as to mako It float in caao of accident. Ely nlso woro t life nro. fccrver. Ho won a prize of ?500 by his flight. k, .n. 0f,,th !!,auncheBt suPPortors of Mr. Ely and his greatest admirer In his wlfo. Mrs. Ely accompanies tho daring young aviator wherovor ho coos and Is an eyewitness of nil his flights. Sho understands avinton thoroughly and looks after tho machines used by hor husband with as much car and Eoilcltudo ns tho aviator- Mrs. Ely is a fiery champion of hor huijjand TENER ONCE A PIAMONP STAR John K. Tenor, who has bnnn ornor of Pennaylvanla on tho Republican ticket was ono of tho best known ball plqers on tho diamond a score or moro years ago. Toner was n pitcher on tho old Chicago team which was led by that great baseball general, Adrian C AHSv0I!l 1Hi.y'eat on th0 trfP ftronn o world with tho Chicago club, tho most notable Journey over undertaken by n team of ball playors They played boforo tho crowned heads of Europe and tho umpire's call nwoko tho ochoos In tho shado of tho ancient pyramids of Egypt. Tenor was a clerk for a steel concern la Pittsburg in tho early part of tbo 8Q's when An. sons critical oyo discerned in him tho mnkimra of a great pitcher. Old Father Anso snw Toner M. . . , . " o- . i-u,oi.lu0l twin lu a gnmo and dedilnrf that ho was good enough for a trial on tho Chicago team, tho greatest tho land nt that time. Anson took Toner to Chicago and tho latter hn.J a fixture, in tho box for tho Colts for some time. Later Tenor Joined th Pittsburg aggregation and pitched in tho Smoky City until his arm i wen? back on him and ho had to glvo up tho game, 1 After hla retirement from tho diamond Toner went Into tho banking business nt Cbarlerol, Pa., and also becamo interested in real estate nnf othor ventures. Today ho is rated as a millionaire. Ho entered tho nnimJ ? i field na a Republican and after bolng elected to Bovornl minor offlccB lni chosen m a congressman from tho 24th PcnuBylvanla district. This von - was nominated by tho Republicans of Pennsylvania for governor ana in ? tlirco-cornered fight ho won out by a greatly reduced Republican majority Toner is atill a keen lover of baseball and Bpends a great part of his oll l,L time attending dlauiQu.d. cgntqsta whllq th? aeason U on. '8ura.