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The Commoner.
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THE formor prosldont of Venezuela is giving
tho Iininlgralion officials plonty of trouble.
Tho Now York World Bays' Gen. ClprJano
Castro is rnpldly bocomlng as much of a vexa
tious problom to tbls country as be was to
Venezuela. As Boon as bo learned, on being de
tained boro after bis arrival, that bo would be
HUbJoctod to an ofllclal investigation and doubt
less would not bo permitted to land, be, in tbo
languago of an Immigration attache, "beat the
government to It." Ho announced ho would
dopart voluntarily. lie added that ho would
depart by tbo Hamburg-American liner Amorlka,
sailing for Hamburg. As an earnest of bis in
tention, bo phoned to the lino's oflico and en
gaged stateroom No. 152. As he was brought
hero by a French llnor and as ho means to go
on a German liner to Hamburg, the immigration
folk aro in a muddlo. Suppose tbo Hamburg
authorities won't havo him and send him back
by tbo Amorlka? Tho fact that ho had boon
shipped away on a Gorman vessel to a Gorman
, port will havo relieved tho Fi neb lino of all
responsibility for having brought him boro. "If
tho Amorlka brings him back, where Is it all to
ond?" tho officials aro asking. Meantime the
formor dictator occupies bis rooms on Ellis
Island and lots tho other persons fret. A group
of newspaper mon wont over to seo him. Much
rod tapo was unwound, tbon a room was set
atjldo for tho intorvlow. Into it came Castro,
wearing a dark suit of clothes, a skull cap of
black volvot, trimmed with gold, and cloth
slippers, embossed with gold. The officials had
a Btonographor present, with orders to take
down all tbo roporters' questions and Castro's
roplios. Tho gist of the roplios was that Castro
had no intontlon of going back to Venezuela;
that, contrary to report, no Gorman interest was
fostoring a revolution thero; that ho bad no
intontlon of visiting Havana, and that .all of
his fortune had been taken from him by Gen.
Gomoz. Ho added that his wife he didn't say
which is In Tenerlffo. Ho concluded with a
prayer for "tho prosperity of Amorica." His
hoarors could not toll how much sarcasm lay be
hind tho prayer. An immigration official would
not permit tho putting of any questions that
rolatod to tho action of tho government.
,5t & i
THOMAS A. EDISON is indeed a wizard. In
an intorvlow with tho Now York representa
tive of tho Denvor News, Mr. Edison said he
bolioves tho end of tho prosent legitimate stage
Is at hand as a result of his newest invention,
a talking motion picturo machine, called the
Kinotophone, which provod successful in a
demonstration a few days ago. The News intor
vlow follows: Tho inventor explained why he
thinks tho presont $2 show must give way to
tho choapor form of amusement, which, he de
clared, will give almost as much as tho other
for one-twentieth of tho prico. There will bo
no moro barnstormers, olthor, because no one
will bo willing to pay for second-class acting
whon the foremost stars are performing for the
"talkies" and can bo seen and heard for a dime
"Is tho machine porfoctod?" Edison was asked
"Nothing is perfect," replied Edison, "but it
works. It will bo put in operation in Brooklvn
insido of thirty days." "What does your now
invention do?" "It delivers at the exact instant
of occurrence on tho film any sound made at the
moment such action took place. Every word
uttered by tho actors is recorded and delivered
in timo with tho action; tho creaking of a gate
a whistle, the nolso of hoof-beats, oven the click
of cocking a revolver, comes apparently from
tho scone and in unison with tho motion
. "How is it done?" "Tho phonograph, which la
placed behind tho scene, is wired to the picturo
machine, which may be a hundred yards awav
Tho speed of tho talking parts acts as a broke"
on tho mm so that neither can get ahead of
tho othor. There aro special rocords which run
as long as tho film lasts. Other records can bo
made to como into placo successfully and tho
performance may be carried out through a who e
play. Whole operas will bo rendered and the
films can oven bo colored by hand if tho display
of color is needed. Small towns whoso yeady
&xe Vould ,uot pay for threo Performances if
tho Metropolitan Opera company, can seo and
hoar tho greatest stars in tho world for 10
cents and will pay because of the volume of
business. Wo want democracy in our amuse
ments. It is safe to say that only one out of
every fifty persons in tbo United States has any
right to spend tho prico asked for a theater
ticket." "How long did it take to work out the
plan for talking motion pictures?" was asked.
"Thirty-seven years," replied Edison, slowly. It
Is all of that timo since I made a motion picture
show inside a box by dropping the succession
of drawings rapidly and attaching a record to
two other tubes." "And was that successful?"
"Not tho kind of success I wanted. What I
want must affect tho whole people. Actors will
havo to leave the legitimate stage to work for
tho movies in order to get any money. This is
all tho better for them. They can live in one
place all tho year round and barnstorming will
cease automatically when no one wants to pay
several times tho amount of the movies' show
for somo inferior production of a stale play."
"Will there bo a great fortune in it?". "Money?"
asked Edison. "Why, all tho money I make on
an invention goes into furthering my experi
ments. I do not seek money. Besides, thero
will bo any number of others begin along the
line, and I have found that an inventor is al
ways sacrificed for the public good, which is
satisfactory so long as tho great masses are
benefited. Often tho courts do not uphold me,
but somehow, I get the credit whatever that is
good for," he added with a laugh. "Will it
not bo hard on actors?" was suggested. "On
tho contrary," replied Edison, earnestly, "they
aro going to be benefited. They will be able to
lead a normal home life. I can see nothing in
tho future but big studios centralized, perhaps
in New York, employing all the actors all tho
year round and at a better figure than they
now get."
O i6?$ W
THE origin of some of tho present-day politi
cal slang is explained by a writer in the
Knoxville (Tenn.) Sentinel, in this way: Do
you know what "up Salt river" meant, and why
it came to be used for describing the destina
tion of defeated candidates? In Kentucky, Salt
river is a crooked little stream whose upper
waters used to be the haunts of all sorts of
thieves. When anything in the neighborhood
was stolen or lost, people used to say: "I
reckon it's been rowed up Salt river." You've
heard tho phrase "laying pipes." That is said
to havo originated in 1848 when the Croton
water pipes were laid in New York and when
a lot of scandal accompanied their laying. A
political orator once boasted that ho had held
his audiences "spellbound." Ho was sneered
at by an opponent as a "spellbinder," and the
new phrase stuck. By tho way, of course you
know that "stump speaking" dates back from
the days when politicians in this country stood
on the stumps of felled trees in fields to har
rangue their farmer audiences. And so on. to
infinity.
&
A TIMELY hint to American parents is given
by tho MerRougo (La.) Democrat, when it
says: Every member of a community and
especially every parent should take a deep in
terest in tho public school. It is not enough to
pay your school tax without complaining or to
know that the teachers are qualified, nor is it
oven enough to keep your children in school
regularly. If you are really interested in the
subject as you should be, you should visit the
school regularly and persistently. Few neonle
have any idea What an incentive it is to both
teacher and scholar to know that outsiders aro
taking a lively interest in their work. We be
ievo the little folks at school appreciate such
inerest more perhaps, than the larger ones
Still the effect is not lost on any of them aSd
wo hope every parent will take a hint from this
and place the public school on their visiting list!
& &
OW they say that the suspender is a thins
Of thQ DflRt. A PMnn Ai aT. U """?
by the Associated Prepays: OnT aVw mel
wear suspenders nowadays, accordlnc to niS
ol : the Graft Suspender company, a Chlcalo m
whose creditors tiled a petition in bankruptcy
N
in tho United States district court. Twenty
years ago, according to M. A. Graft, its presi
dent, the suspender business was flourishing.
Ono of tho first steps from boyhood to young
manhood was to acquire a pair of fancy 'gal
luses.' A Christmas box was incomplete with
out them. When in doubt about a remembrance
to a man, suspenders always were safe articles
upon which to take a chance. Now all is
changed, said Graft. Two years ago the de
mand began to decrease. Belts replaced sus
penders. Hence tho failure, he said.
5 &
ON the unimpeachable authority of the geolo
gical survey, says a writer in the Cleveland
Leader, it is stated that the only three states
which can boast of mountains reaching an. alti
tude of moro than 14,000 feet above the sea
are California', Colorado and Washington.- Cali
fornia has one peak, Mt. Whitney, which is 14,
501 feet high. Colprado has two, Mt. Massive
and Mt. Elbert, each rising 14,402 feet, and
Washington has one, Mt. Ranier, which is 14,
363 feet above the level of the sea. It does
not follow, by any means, that these are tho
mountains of the United States, not including
Alaska, which have the appearance of the
greatest altitude. A peak may rise thousands
of feet higher above the sea than another moun
tain and yet show much less of its height to the
observer, from whatever point he may make his
comparisons. It depends on what the altitude
of the base of the mountains is and how they
rise from the surrounding country. For example,
the foot of Pike's Peak is as far above the sea
as the summit of Mt. Washington. About half
of the sea-level altitude of many mountains in
Colorado and other Rocky Mountain states is
lost, for scenic purposes, because it consists only
in the elevation of the whole region where they
stand. A volcano, like Teneriffe or Fernando Po,
or tho moro noted Mt. Etna, may be lower than
the highest mountain in Colorado, according to
the books, but it leaps straight up from the
level of the sea and hence is really muchJiigher
in comparison with the surrounding country.
For the same reason there is much less difference
between the peaks of the Rocky Mountains and
those of the east, as in the White mountains and
the Adirondacks, than the official figures stating
their height would imply. Five thousand feet,
all in sight, is equal to 10,000 feet half hidden
by the general altitude of the region.
& & &
JOHN WANAMAKER, the Philadelphia mer
chant, who was at one time postmaster
general, has declared in favor of government
ownership of the telegraph lines. Mr. Wana
maker says: "I want to see the two great
servants of the people, the postofflce and the
telegraph, reunited, and the telephone brought
in to enhance the value of the combination.
Public interest, private needs and the popular
will call for these agencies to protect the great
postal, system of the country. The longer their
employment is delayed, the greater the aggrava
tion and injustice to the people and the costlier
It will be. The electric current belongs to the
people by right, and is bound to become their
servant not of a class, nor of one-sixty-fourth
of the population, as at present."
& S
THE spectacle of rival naval commanders ex
changing witty and sarcastic remarks by
wireless during the progress of a battle such as
was observed the other day during a skirmish
between Turkish and Greek warshins savs a
writer in the Washington (D. C) Post, a
peculiarly up-to-date contribution to the world's
fwwi0?! f talf? ,of the sea ft i8 a theme
&ttt,HKiPwS C.U.Ld bandle; but li should not be
tSJfwnr Sf thGre ls iacldng nowadays ma
terial for a Stevenson. Two weird yarns which
have recently appeared, in the news disnatehes
sound like plots invented by "R. LS." himself
and breathe of that romance of the deep so dear
to the hearts of children and adventurers. Tho
story of Willie Gee, the little Jamaican negro
boy who was picked up by a ship in the Carib
bean from the branches of a palm tree with
which he had blown out to sea by a hurricane
seemed to reach the very apex of adventure, but
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