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MKINLEYS BLUNDERS
That President McKinley was ill ad
vised enough to take up the gauntlet
thrown down by Senator Teller and to
commit himself unreservedly to advo
cate the policy and plead the cause of
the goldbug Shylocks was deplored by
the wiser and more moderate element
of his own party He cut himself loose
thereby from the entire Republican
party of the Southern and
Western States lie made his
denomination for the Presidency de
pend upon the adoption by the Republi
can National convention of 1J00 of a
purely gold standard platform a plat
form demanding a continued and in
creasing reduction of the total amount
of the currency and a recall of every
dollar of the paper money issued by the
government directly lie had had the
choice between Wolcott and Gage and
their conflicting policies and had
chosen Gages
Already he is threatened with retri
bution Already Speaker Reed has
warned him back The Gage plan
and the Indianapolis Mugwump plan
have frightened certain Republican
party leaders they have called on Me
Kinley to pause It is announced in the
Republican daily having the largest cir
culation in this city that there will be
no further attempt to carry out the
goldbug program in the present Con
gress This is a great victory for the
Teller resolution a surrender of
Speaker Reed to Teller
And this is not all The silver Repub
lican Senators from the Pacific States
whose attitude on the currency ques
tion is identical with that of the Demo
crats in Congress are for taking their
revenge on McKinley They have re
volted at the Hawaiian annexation
project They look upon it as mere
New England missionary -work and
resent the coming to Washington of
President Dole and the unanimous
support which the Republican goldbug
Senators from the six Eastern States
are giving to the proposed treaty now
pending The treaty is now in danger
of defeat by the men -whom McKinley
antagonized 13 his speech at the New
York dinner
Thus -while the Democratic party
closes up its ranks and speaks with a
voice practically unanimous the Re
publican ascendency won in 189G by
fraud and double dealing is threatened
with division and defeat in the Con
gressional elections of the present year
The situation has a parallel to that of
1798 when the Democracy of the old
Thirteen States roused itself under the
leadership of Jefferson and Burr to
overthrow the Federalist administra
tion of President lohu Adams New
York News
That Golden Feast
It has been said that when President
McKinley attended a fifteen thousand
dollar dinner given in a ten million dol
lar hotel he turned his back on the
starving cotton spinners of New En
gland This is true in a limited sense
It would be too much to ask of the
President of this great nation made
tip of rich and poor that lie should re
fuse tiie courtesies of the rich It is
npt so much his presence at the dinner
tli at should cause criticism as what ho
said there But aside from the fact
that the President was quite within
the bounds of propriety in attending
the dinner there can be no doubt that
Shis presence there will lose him many
votes should he succeed in being re
nominated for President in 1900
Commentingon this matter the Pitte
burg Post says Brother McKinley
should beware of these feasts of Bel
shazzar They had much to do with
the undoing of Tames G Blaine The
banquet magnificent in its oriental dis
play and Babylonian luxury was al
most within earshot of some of the
125000 New England cotton operatives
who are striking against taking 70
cents off their average wage of G a
week
A a candidate for re election the
Waldorf Astoria dinner incident and
the gold bound menu card ivill be quo
ted against McKinley but more than
that Ills attempt to carry water on
both shoulders his endeavor to pose
as a gold monometallist and an inter
national bimetallist will be remein
ibered As the guest of millionaires
McKinley was in the company of those
who contributed largely to his election
By his presence he has given color to
the charge that he represents the
trusts and the combines and not the
people but if he is to be a candidate
for re election the votes of the people
will be needed to place him in the seat
of his ainbition
On Account of Competition
Attention has been so centered on the
troubles of the cotton mills of New En
gland that other troubles in a different
line of business have probably escaped
the attention of Dingley and his tariff
defenders However while Southern
competition is alleged to have caused
the trouble in the cotton manufactur
ing districts of the East the same ex
cuse can hardly be urged for the reduc
tion of wages by the Wheeling Iron and
Steel Company of from 10 to 20 per
cent As a consequence of this cut the
workmen threw down their tools and
are doubtless waiting to hear what
Dingley has to say in connection with
this wage reduction
It is unfortunate that the advance
agent of prosperity failed to bill his
show to appear in Wheeling Perhaps
however the failure of the beneficent
iariH to pretest tlie iron and steel in- j
dustry in the South is due to Northern
competition Certainly such an excuse
would have as much basis as that urg
ed for the cotton mill troubles in the
East and it is assuredly a very poor
rule that wont work both ways
Bimetallic Clubs
William J Bryan brought a message
of good cheer to the people of this coun
try in his address at the Jackson day
banquet
With a clear recital of the victories
won by Democracy in the year just
past the great champion of the rights
of the masses coupled a prophecy of
success in the future Jiving the rea
sons for the faith rhat is in him ne
presages that the twentieth century
will open with the money of the consti
tution restored and that the people will
be able t6 sing a new song of a nation
restored
But the eloquent advocate of bimet
allism does not neglect to indicate
some of the practical means through
which success is to be achieved Among
them he points out the necessity of en
larging and perfecting the scope of the
clubs of a nature similar to those whose
members he addressed as an adjunct
to the work of the party organization
This suggestion should fall upon
willing ears and should be carried out
by industrious hands The work of
forming clubs should be pushed with
the greatest activity and the remain
ing days of winter should be filled with
labor in this direction The campaigns
of 1S98 will soon lie in progress and
much depends on their results
There should be a Democratic club in
every precinct By such organizations
the individual can be reached funds
can be secured and the integrity of the
ballot box protected By all means let
the matter be taken in hand and the
formation of Democratic clubs inaugu
rated at once Chicago Dispatch
No Chance of Rejection
Mr McKinley s personal and polit
ical admirers boast that of fully 3000
names sent by him to the Senate in the
last ten months not one has been re
jected Why should they have
been rejected They were practically
furnished to the President by the Re
publican Senators and when they came
back from the White House those Sena
tors acted on them under an under
standing that no Senator would make
objections so long as his own men were
approved New York Times
Dear Victors- for Hanna
There seems to be an eager deter
mination on the part of Senator TJan
nas friends to prevent any disclosure of
the facts regarding the way in which
a majority vote was secured for that
able dispenser of campaign funds Peo
ple of course ask why Hanna is afraid
of the truth if he is not guilty They
are beginning to think he is afraid of
the truth because he is guilty In fact
Hannas election is developing into a
first class scandal Boston Tost
McKinley a Bulwark for the Trusts
The Dingley law is adopted There
is no help for it now The protected
manufacturers are either taking in
their extortions from the pockets of
the people or holding their mills idle
to force reductions of wages of their
employes The sugar trust and the
rest of the trusts are dividing their
share of the swag The system will
of course be maintained while Mr
McKinley remains in the White House
Indianapolis Sentinel
Thttrston and McKinley at Odds
While Mr Thurston is telling us that
every dollar is as good as the best
dollar ever coined Mr McKinley is
telling us that the bonds will be paid
in the dollars that are the best at the
time of payment It seems that the
Senator and the President are drifting
apart Omaha World Herald
Brief Exchange Comment
In the House of Representatives Mr
Dingley and Speaker Reed make a ma
jority Philadelphia Ledger
The Ohio Legislature is to engage in
a wholesale investigation of trusts
The trusts understanding the charac
ter of the Ohio Legislature will not be
slow in proceeding to the captains of
fice Washington Tost
AYhile Mayor Harrison of Chicago
was representing Illinois in courtesies
to the president of the Hawaiian re
public Governor Tanner was acting as
judge at a coon cake walk in Hot
Springs Quincy Herald
The Republican party has proved to
be united upon no important measure
of public policy under this administra
tion except that of the tariff and its
tariff policy has brought it failure and
discomfiture Boston Herald
It has just occurred to the Eastern
mine owners that they can afford to
advance the wages of miners 10 cents
per ton without loss The plan is to ad
vance the price of the product 23 cents
per ton and claim a great victory for
protection Cedar Rapids Gazette
The free trade editors of Iowa are
blaming the Dingley bill for crippling
our foreign trade while those of some
of the other States are claiming that it
is bringing bankruptcy to our domestic
industries without producing any rev
enue Peoria Journal
Again we are assured that the Ding
ley tariff has nothing to do with the
strikes in the New England cottou
mills Senator Hoar says it has not
and he knows But it is curious how
often the Republicans feel called upon
to volunteer this information New
York Evening Post
KEYLESS LETTER BOX
Impossible for Thieves or Collectors
to Get t Its Content
Ten keyless and thief proof street
letter boxes will soon be placed in Wash
ington for practical test The box is
the invention of Count di Brazzi Italys
commissioner to the Worlds Fair who
recently perfected the automatic letter
registry box now in use at the general
postoflice in New York City The new
letter box is somewhat larger than the
largest now in use and resembles it in
general appearance except on the face
and at the bottom where there are
Uanges or hooks on which to adjust the
letter collectors bag while the contents
of the box are transferred automati
cally
It will be impossible for any one
either collectors or thieves to abstract
letters The collector does not see the
letters he collects They are not seen
nor handled by any one from the time
they are dropped into the box until they
reacli the clerk who stamps them in the
postoflice
The boxes are equipped with combi
nation locks operated by a small flat
knob but this lock cannot be opened
unless the letter carriers bag locked
by the same kind of a lock is adjusted
1 LETTER DO j
KEYTESS BOX
to the hooks or
flanges at the bot
tom of the box
The bag is locked
when the collec
tor receives it at
the postoflice and
h e in a k e s his
round of the box
es on his tour in
ft 11
EMPTYING IIOX
regular order He cannot skip one
box for if he does the combination be
tween the bag and the next box is not
complete and he would have to return
to the box he had missed
When the bag is adjusted the collec
tor turns the knob of the lock both box
and bag are opened simultaneously and
the letters drop unseen into the bag
Then before the bag can be removed
the knob must again be turned locking
both bag and box and the collector pro
ceeds to the next box
At the postoflice he turns the bag over
to the proper clerks who adjust the
bag to a device similar to that on the
box a knob is turned and the combina
tion lock is opened permitting the con
tents of the bag to fall into a hopper
whence the letters are carried to the
stamping clerk An ingenious arrange
ment makes it impossible to filch let
ters from the street box by a wire or
any similar means
BRITISH WILD MUTTON
Curious Undersized Sheep that Roam
on the Islet of Soa
On the islet of Soa one of the St
Kilda group there is a flock of abso
lutely wild sheep quite distinct from
any breed on the mainland and are
supposed to be the descendants of a
332-
BrITISII WILD SIIEEP
small flock left on Soa centuries ago by
the sailors of some passing vessels call
ing for water They are curious little
brown creatures undersized and act
ive as any goat They are wild as cha
mois and it is quite difficult to get a
shot at them
A Curious Bequest
The conditions attached to bequests
of money are often curious An inter
esting illustration of this is afforded
by an annual custom which takes
place in one of the cemeteries of
Some years ago a gen
tleman left a sum of money for the re
lief of the rates on condition that cer
tain members of the corporation should
every year place a wreath of flowers
on his tomb So annually as the an
niversary of his death comes round
the mayor and other members of the
corporation attend and hang a wreath
on the granite obelisk which marks his
resting place Thus his memory is
kept green among his fellow citizens
Golden Penny
Other Insects in Ants Nests
It is certain that ants intentionally
sanction the residence of certain in
sects in their nests This is the case
for instance with the curious blind
beetle claviger which is absolutely
dependent- npon ants as Muller first
pointed out It even seems to have
lost the power of feeding itself at any
tate it is habitually fed by the ants
who supply sit with nourishment as
they do one another
Thousand Eggs at a Time
A single female frog will produce a
thousand eggs at a time Progs sub
sist on insects and are themselves de
voured by a variety of other animals
MRS DELINA ROBERTS WHO SAVED TWBNTY TWO SOLDIERS
has awarded a medal of honor to Mrs Delina Roberts of St
CONGRESS is credited with acts of bravery on one occasion during the civil
war which won for her the admiration of thousands of soldiers In 18G2
she was a girl of 17 She had a brother in one of the Iowa regiments and a
was engineer on the Government boat Des Moines One day she went
aboard the boat as it was about to start from Fori Donelson for a point on the
Missouri river being one of several boats which were to transport several regi
ments of troops There were some sick soldiers aboard and the girl was permitted
to accompany the soldiers acting as nurse for the sick The journey occupied
three weekt and in that time she won the affection of all the men by her kind
and unwearying service
The acts which made her a heroine occurred the night the voyage ended It
was a beautiful moonlight night The boats had tied up and the soldiers had gone
ashire to pitch their tents in a cornfield that bordered the river Mrs Roberts
at that time her name was Delina Reader sat on the deck talking to the captain
Suddenly there was a succession of flashes and gun reports and bullets came
flying over the boat On shore there was commotion the soldiers had been at
tacked by a band of guerillas For over an hour the battle raged Almost as
soon as it started Miss Reader had made her way ashore and began caring for
the wounded She picked up a wounded soldier carried him aboard the boat
amid a storm of flying lead and returned for more In all she carried 22 men
aboard the boat before the firing ceased Had they been left ashore with their
wounds undressed they would have died A few days later she received from the
colonel of an Indiana regiment which had been in the fight a beautiful milk white
horse as a testimonial of esteem Subsequently the girl was a nurse in various
hospitals and on several battlefields
MARK HANNAS HOME
Hon the Ohio Senator Passed His Boy
hood Days
Just opposite the court house in Lis
bon Ohio stands on old brick build
ing now occupied as a harness shop
and shoe store and it was in one of
these rooms on the second floor of the
building that Mark Hanna was born
The father Dr Leonard Hanna
conducted a store in the building at the
time and lived on the second floor
says an old resident but soon after
ward his business so increased that he
moved his family into a large one-and-a-half
story house and devoted the
place in the store to business purposes
About this time Mark began going to
school
One day in the old log schoolhouse
the master gave us a difficult problem
in mental arithmetic It went the
rounds of the class without being an
swered until it came to Mark The
lE3im IP fc
MABK HANXAS BIRTHPLACE
teacher repeated the problem and Mark
listened with his usual close attention
When the master finished he said
Well I can do that on paper but
it is too hard to solve mentally
But the scheme didnt work and
Mark was checked down with the rest
of us However he was unwilling to
let the matter drop and at recess sev
eral of us boys got together and Mark
took the same problem that the school
master had given us and changed the
figures We then filed up to the teach
er and told him we had a little prob
lem In mental arithmetic that we wish
ed he would solve and Mark read his
revised problem The teacher looked
wise adjusted his glasses and asked
to see the paper on which the example
was written
But that isnt mental arithmetic
protested Mark
So he read it again and the master
WHERE HAXXA SPEXT HIS BOYHOOD
figured long and hard but could not
get the answer and sharply ordered us
all out of the school room
I remember very distinctly an old
boat owned by Col Harper a veteran
of the war of 1812 It was operated
by a hand power paddle wheel My
but we boys used to have fun with
that ancient boat We were about the
age when young girls had a strong at 1
traction for us and Mark and the
other boys spent all their spare change
in renting it and taking their girls out
to ride One time we appointed Mark
captain I handled the rudder and the
other boys took turns at the wheel
Mark shouted his orders in great shape
and I would flop the rudder as he di
rected A contention sprang up among
us on account of the captaincy which
some of the boys coveted Mark gave
up his post and took a turn at the pro
pelling crank Our new captain unfor
tunately ran the boat aground which
resulted in a spirited rebellion of the
crew
Dragon Fly Dines on Mosquito
There are two natural enemies of the
mosquito the dragon fly and the spi
der The latter as we know wages
constant warfare upon all insect life
and where mosquitoes are plentiful
they form the chief diet of their hairy
foe The dragon fly is a destroyer of
mosquitoes in at least two stages of
life The larva dragon fly feeds upon
the larva mosquito and when fully de
veloped the former dines constantly
upon the matured mosquito The
dragon flyasa solution of the mosquito
pest question is not wholly satisfac
tory for while there is no serious dif
ficulty to be encountered in the cultiva
tion of dragon flies in large numbers
yet it is manifestly impossible to keep
them in the dark woods where mos
quitoes abound the hunting ground of
the darning needle being among the
flowers and dry gardens where the sun
shine prevails For this very import
ant reason the scheme of hunting one
kind of insect with another must be
abandoned as impracticable
The Largest Coin in the World
The largest gold coin in existence in
the lool of Anam a ponderous gold
disc nearly a pound in weight on
which its value 44 is written in In
dian ink
Next in size and value to this cum
brous but desirable coin comes the Jap
anese Jobang which is worth approx
imately 11 and the benda of Ash
anti representing a value of nearly 10
makes a good third bracketed with the
50 dollar gold pieces of California
The heaviest silver coins in the world
currencies are an Anamese ingot
worth about 3 and weighing consid
erably over a pound the Chinese tael
and the Austrian double dollar
Paris Cabs
A citizen Jnst returned from Paris
describes a very ingenious device that
has been adopted there for use in cabs
It is a register that indicates the exact
distance automatically the cab travels
on af trip and at the end displays the
amount of the legal fare for that dis
tance for the information of the
liife Measured by Hours
The mushrooms life is measured by
hours but it flourishes long enough for
an insect to hang its egg on the edge
of the umbrella and for the egg to
become an insect ready to colonize the
next silver button that pushes up
Let any man wander around with a
girl on bright moonlight nights and
the last quarter will find him engaged
The day breaks but doesnt fall while
the night falls but doesnt break
b
1 -v - I
The lattle Schoolmaam
Speak of queen and empress
Or of other ladies royal
Not one of thorn has half the power
Or subjects half so loyal
As she the little schoolmaam
Who trips along the way
To take the chair she makes a throne
At 0 oclock each day
Her rule is ever gentle
Her tones are low and sweet
She is very trim and tidy
From her head unto her feet
And it matters very little
1
If her eyes bo brown or blue
They simply read your inmost heart
Wheneer she looks at you
The children bring her presents
Red upples flowers yalore
For all the merry boys and girls
This queen of theirs adore
The darling little schoolmaam
Who reins without a peer
In a hundred thousand class rooms
This gayly flyhij
Exchange
year
Blunders in Examinations
School examinations and composition
writing produce funny results the
world over An Austrian teacher has
recently published jn Vienna a book
called Humor in the School which is
made up of instances of blunders col
lected in the Austrian schools The
mind of the Austrian public school pu
pil judging from the instances contain
ed in this book is of a peculiarly limpid
and artless character In an examina
tion in history a pupil was asked How
many coalition wars can you name
Four he answered
Name them
The first the second the third and
the fourth
A young who was required to
write a description of a ship ended with
tiie sentence From all these particu
lars Ave arrive at the conclusion that
the ship may justly be called the camel
of the sea
A student of natural history treating
of the hibernation of animals said that
the marmot sleeps so soundly in the
winter that he does not even awaken if
he is struck dead
The author of an essay on the uses
of animals asserted that the horse is
serviceable to man by his swiftness
How many brave soldiers owe their
lives to the swiftness with which their
horses have carried them away from
battlefields
A boy who was asked in an examina
tion What is a cynic answered A
philosopher who lives a dog life None
of these answers are more remarkable
probably than that made by a school
boy in France What are marsupials
asked the teacher
Animals which have pouches in
their stomachs said the boy
Correct And what do they have
pouches for
To crawl into and conceal them
selves when pursued
Puzzle Find the Dunce
Bccchers Method of Reading
n
Henry Ward Beecher was methodical
in his reading for Improvement He
said I read for three things first
to know what the world has done in
the last twenty four hours and is about
to do to day second for the knowledge
which I especially want to use in my
work and for what will bring
my mind into a proper mood Among
the authors which I frequently real
are De Toqueville Matthew Arnold
Mme Guyon and Thomas a Kempis
I gather my knowledge of current
thought from books and periodicals and
from conversation with men from
which I get much that cannot be learn
ed in any other way I am a very slow
reader I should urge reading history
My study of Milton has given me a con
ception of power and vigor which I
othewise would not have had I got
fluency out of Burke very largely and
I obtained a sense of adjectives out of
Barrow beside the sense of exhaus
tiveness
Scheme AVaa a Failure
At the beginning of the school year
corporal punishment was abolished inr
the Eighth Ward of Allegheny Pa
When the pupils became unruly they
were to be sent home At a meeting of
the board held Dec 4 the verdict was
unanimous that the scheme was a fail
ure The moment the pupils knew that
the teacher had lost power to apply cor
poral punishment control to a certain
extent was lost Principals and teach
ers advocated a return to the old meth
ods The board arrived at the saraer
decision
Edncational Intelligence
The railroads of Florida granted a
special rate of one cent a mile to th
State Teachers Association at De
Land
Indiana University has chapel exer
cises but once a week on vhieh occa
sion some prominent minister dis
courses on a suitable theme
Harvard University has shown a gain
of 153 students this year there being
over 3000 in all of which 2200 are in
1 the academical department and 550 in
each or the law ana medical schools
5ffiv