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About The North Platte semi-weekly tribune. (North Platte, Neb.) 1895-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1920)
TTTR NOTCTTT PTiATTFi STCMT.WFRKTiY TTfTrVfTNTC LUCERNE: THE HOSTESS OF SWITZERLAND Lucerne, scono of Important confer ences among nllletl statesmen, Is precious Jewel among Swiss cities with tho lake of tlic same nntno for Its setting a lake where varied benuty and historic association are hlemled. On thut lake's shores William Tell Is reputed to have exhibited his marks manship to the discomfiture of Gessler, and on Its waters tradition holds he won his revenge by seizing the rudder of tho vessel on which that tyrant held him prisoner and guided It to the rock where he aimed, not at an apple, but at his oppressor's heart. Less picturesque, but more slgnlfl- caut, wns the formulation of the per 'pctunl league. That famous lustm- in en t not only wns the antecedent of tho Swiss confederation, but marked n mile post In humanity's political freedom. Beloved by tourists and crowded .with them In normal years, Lucerne has retnlncd many of Its ancient as pects. Its crumbling wall with Its watch towers give It a medieval stamp; two of Its covered woodoa bridges also sorvo as art galleries, On tho walls of one nro depleted scones of tho city's history and tho other has paintings of the "Danco of Death." Perhaps tho most famed art object of the city Is the Lion of Lucerne, con sldered by one critic "tho most appro prlalo and touching monument In ex- Istence." fn a grotto, hewn from tho natural rock, is a dying lion pierced by a lanco, with his paw protecting 'the flour-de-lys of tht' Bourbons. Thor- wnldsen, Danish sculptor, designed this tribute to tho Swiss guard who died In seeking to protect Louis XVI against tho mob of I'nrls revolution ists that stormed the Tullcrles in 1702. Many quaint houses remain, Includ ing tho wooden structures whoso In flammability gavo rlso to curious flro regulations. Wood for building could not tie In tho .streets more than 24 hours. No smithy could work between vespers and enrly mass. Every citi zen was n potential tire lighter and the citizens' brigade when called to n liru had to nwnlt word from the mayor for dismissal. - Women were required to aid at night by holding lights In tho tioorways. Until two centuries ngo tho city fathers were assigned special duties In flro fighting. NEITHER WARS NOR RENTS DISTURB THIS CURIOUS PEOPLE Tho cone dwellers of Asia Minor, technically known as tho Troglodytes of Cappndocla, are harassed not at ull by tho housing problem, for they Uvo In naturo-mado apartment houses, fashioned by trickling streams and vol canlc violence. Nor Is It likely that thoy are con cerned In tho least about their politi cal fate, for, though thoy Inhabit what U characterized as tho "crndlo of ctvl llzatlon," they nro more primitive In Home particulars than Uio most benighted-tribes of Africa or the South Pacific, I A communication by J. It. Sltllngton Btorrett to tho National Geographic society describes tho Cappadoclaus as follows: "ltesldlng within a stone's throw, metaphorically speaking, of tho won dorful civilization which flourished on tho bankB of the Nile 0,000 years ngo; of tho mighty kingdoms of Assyria and Five-Story Cone Dwelling. Babylonia which aroso In tho valleys of tho Euphrates and tho Tigris, their power and splendor dnzzllng tho world 2,000 years beforo Uio Christian cm; and nt the very threshold of ancient Greece, with its unrivaled culturu and political advancement, the Troglodytes of .Ctppndocla still retain toward their fellow men an attitude of mind akin to that which obtained in tho stone age, whew Uiero was no such thing as hu fHtin society, but overy man was his wa law and tho mortal enemy of his Holchbor. "ihe caves, conca and cliff dwellings Ml Ute Cappadedaa Troglodytes of both nndent and modern times nro to be- found In givntost number In tho shadow of Asln Minor's loftiest peak snow-clad Mt. Argacus (called by the lurkri KrJIas Dagh), an extinct vol cuno whose eruption In tho dim past laid the foundations and supplied the material for theso remarkable lutblta Hons, while the Halys river of the ancients (now known as Klzll Irmak) In succeeding centuries became their tireless architect. "The practice of living In caves, In cliffs or In excavated cavities In tho open plnln Is to bo traced to a Btnte of society which wo of today havo some dllllculty in depleting, to our selves. And yet the central thought of the Troglodytlc habit l the basic principle upon which ancient clvlllza tlon was founded. '"Ihey have sought and found for tlwimseives complete Isolation. They seem to hnvo none of tho Instincts of agricultural mnn and they aro wholly InhoHiltable, "Hie entrances to their dwellings are high up In the almost pcrpendlcu lar wails of tho cliffs, and they are reached solely by means of long poles. which aro light enough to bo drawn up wheti the lord of the den and his family nro safely housed. And when housed they really are safe from in truslcil, for it would require a host to force nn entrance against tho will of tho family "One ancient writer tells us that Anne Troglodytes made a practice of killing nil those who were not In first- rato physical condition, on tho ground that a man who cannot earn his own living has no right to live; and when ono sees these dwellings, one can Im aglnc still another reason for killing olT the nged and tho Infirm because of their Inability to get In or out of the house." THE TEMPLE CITIES OF JAPAN Many feet have been trendlnc their way to me shrines In tho temple cities or Jiipnii in recent months In the temples of Tokyo munv bits ot American pocket money went to a priest for writing a pretty prayer on a sup or paper, which tho "visitor, In true pilgrim fashion, pressed to his forehead and to his breast and then fastened to the temple wall in order that it might be a pcrpotual petition, Thoro nro 80,000 deities to whom de vout Jupaiicse write, so a few Amer icans' pleas scarcely clogged the ce lestial postal service. There woro many native nllirrlms on tho wny to Uio shrines. During the summer months when tho crops havo ueen tnicqn enro of, tho village folk, though they havo tho temples of their own patron deity und tho fox god, feel unit tney must send out n pllcrlm or two to Uio sacred mountains and holy places of Jnpan to worship lu behalf of thoso who cannot go, and so thoy provide n fund for his expenses. Nor docs the emissary travel In state. Life for him loses most of its complexities. Ho Is equipped with a cneap white cotton shirt that can bo easily washed, tlght-llttlng trousers mid a looso white cotton Jacket which he tucks In with a girdle. lie wears an enormous broad, stiff straw hat, and on his back he carries a pleco of matting which serves him as an um brella by day and ns a bed by night. Ho curries his luggngo in two bundles, ono on his buck and tho other In front, usually labeled with tho name of tho shrlno ho Is to visit, and somewhere about his person there la hung a little bell which tinkles ns ho stumps along over the weary road from mountain to mountain. In August tho pilgrim rolln off his mat and tho visitor from foreign lands climbs out of bed nt the crack of dawn to hear the lotus flower bloom, for the buds burst with a pleuslng characteristic sound. If Nlkko is the most beautiful city In Jnpun, Kyoto can bo called tho most Interesting. Hero tho femlnlno visitor finds herself bewildered by tho most oxqulsltely wrought of all tho exquis ite pottery, cloisonne, bronzes, fans and velvets. After sho has boucht moro thnn sho can comfortably get liomo with, sho probably will want to ft eo n bit of tho mikado's palaco which covers over twenty-flvo acres of ground and Is surrounded by n great wall with six gates, or Journey out to see tho largest lake In Japan, L'ako Itlwa, and the 1,200-year-old plno tree which stands near It. HOW SUGAR MADE CUBA A WORLD EL DORADO Sugar, like shoes, wo onco took for granted. But procuring enough for tho preserving season was a problem and sugar "speak easles" are still not uncommon lu lands where tho supply is rationed. Writing to tho National Geographic society, William Joseph Shownlter eays: "With, a sugar production nearly doubled und prices moro than quad rupled since 1012, quo can readily seo why Cuba 1b tho world's El Dorado of 1020, and why sugar la its king. "Tho Imagination Is almost over powered in attempting to comprehend tho vast proportions of the sugur In dustry of tho Island us it exists this year, "The cane produced Is of such tre mendous volume that a procession of bull teams four abreast, reaching around the earth, would bo required to movo it The crop would sufllco to build a solid wall around the entire two thousand miles of the island's coast lino ns high ns an ordinary dwell lug house und thick enough for a fllo of four men to walk abreast on It The sugar extracted from this cane would load n licet of steamers reach ing from Havana to New York, with n ship for every mile of the twelve hundred thnt stretch between the, two ports. The great pyramid of Cheops, beforo whoso awe-Inspiring propor tions millions of people have stood and gazed In open-mouthed amaze ment, remains, after five thousand years, unrivaled ns a monumental pile ; nut uuna's sugar output tins year would make two pyramids, each out basing and overtopping Cheops. "The wealth Jho outgoing sugar crop brings In Is not less remarkable In Its proportions. Four hundred dollars out of a single crop for every human -being who lives on the Wand a sum almost ns great as the per capita wealth produced by all the farms, nil the factories, and nil Uie mines of the United States. "What wonder, then, thnt Cuba to day Is a land of gold and gems, richer than Midas over wns, converting Croesus, by contrast, Into a beggar? "How much net profit tho cane grow er reaps at 1020 prices Is hard to es timate, but that It Is large will appear when the methods of cane growing are suited. To begin with, after the first crop tho planter does not hnvo to bother with weed time for about ten years. The soil Is so deep and so fertile that one planting produces ten hnrvests. Neither does cultivation bother him after the first season, for tho blades stripped from otic crop form a mulch that keeps the weeds from competing with Uio next ono." WHEN THE NEAR EAST IS CIVILIZED "Houghly speaking, Turkey wns di vided Into five grent provinces or dis tricts Anatolia, Armenia, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia and Syria." With this Introduction Wllllnm II. Hall, writing to tho National Geograph ic society, sketches Uie resources of Turkey, which havo an opportunity for development with measures that may lessen tho horrors of misrule. Injustice, deportations, massacres and famines. Ho continues: ' "Tho samo broad plains that once fed and clothed n population of 40, 000,000 h u in a n beings nro waiting to day for Uio plow, tho Becd and tho reaper. The mountains still hold riches of coat and Iron nnd copper. Tho qunrrles still have abundnnco of cholco marbles. Tho rivers are .po tent with power to turn tho wheels of Industry. The natural harbors In vito the fleets of merchantmen nnd tho river valleys .and mountain passes offer natural lines of communication and transportation ns In tho days when great caravans passed along these nntural highways, bringing the merchandise of tho East to the mar kets, of tho West. "Tho whole land has been lying fal- ow for centuries n land that modem exploration reveals as one of the rich est In natural resources and ns unsur passed by Its geographic Ideation for being the trade center of the world. 'Excluslvo of Arabia, which was nover more than nominally under tho Ottoman dominion, tho Turkish etnplro embraced about 540,000 square miles of territory nt "the beginning of the World war. Only about 10.000 square miles of this were In Europe. The Turkish empire wns equivalent to tho combined areas of the British Isles, France and pre-war Germany. It was larger than all of tho nrca east of tho Mississippi nnd north of tho Ohio and otomac rivers. "The boundaries were the Black sea and Caucasus' on the north, Egypt on the south, the- Aegean nnd Mediter ranean seas on the west, and tho Syrian desert and Persia on the east. "Turkey In Europo was almost n negligible nrca, an tho Balkan wars stripped the Turks of nil their Eu ropean possessions except Constanti nople nnd n narrow, territory along the Bosporus nnd Dardanelles some 40 miles In width; so that when the Turk tsh empire has been referred to In re cent years, Asiatic Turkey was- nearly all that Uio term embraced1. BIRDS HAVE YANKEE ACCENT Londoners Complain That Imported Parrots Are Spoiling ther Pronun ciation of Their Fellevxe. The American accent has Invaded oven the parrot house at tho- zoological gardens here, according to n. London correspondent of tho Detroit News. A largo consignment of birds has arrived from Amorlcn. Many havo names that suggest cocktails, nither to scientists may havo donbted the ability of cockatoos to acquire n rec ognlznblo nccent, hut two of theso birds fresh from tho New York zoo speak unmistakable American. Thoy nsk repentedly for "clam oysters on a hnlf shell" and beg their amused visitors for hominy or Cali fornia peanuts. Snmottmcs In nn out hurst of patriotism they rejieat "Cali fornia" until It would appear that It Is tho only wnnl In their vocnbulnry. And now a very small green pnrrot In tho cnge next door Is trying to say "California," too. A disgusted keeper stands outsldo his cnge saying "London, London, London," but tho small green pnrrot does not seem to admire his nccent so much as that of his feathered trans ntlantlc friends. Brlahtl When Bchool opened this fjill, Unf old had a now teacher. Ho reported on her to his mother ns follows: "Her namo Is Miss Albright, nnd sho Is bright, nnd believe me, she Is going to mnkn tho rest of us bright or know tho reason why," Chlcngo celebrated Columbus day by unveiling the historic anchor with which Christopher Columbus anchored his flagship, the Santn Mnrln, oft San Salvador In 1492. This relic was unveiled nt tho colonnade at tho northern terminus of Grant park with Impressive ceremonies. Buildings of ITlirlo Sulll'll tTllP TCnet frnntloi. fnrtmaa .., ....... iii Will soon be razed, as the dilapidated n.n , . . ...j 1H11!. Whnn n Ttrmuli llnnf nrrlvml l. , ...... , . . . J-...., u.,,.1, tuu u.miv.1. nuiiui-r uuunuury wu uujusieu y biigiami nnd tne united Stntes. The Fort wns later occupied by United Stntes troops until 1875, when It was abandoned and the old building sold to private Parties to bo uaod fnr fUvpiiinim "Zodiac" Flying v BBtou. -v The giant United Stoics urmy dirigible "Zodiac," recently purchused In France, making lta first High over Washlhgtom. It flew from Langtey Held, Vn., n dlstanco or 1DD miles in slightly Playing American Parents, passers-by and Greek soldiers stop to wutch tho children play American games taught by tho Young Women's Christlnn associnttoa secre tnrtea In Smyrna. ITEMS OF INTEREST It Is only on rare occasions that a woman attends a funeral In Mexico. Moro than. 75 per cont of "the pic tures jthown in British motion picture theaters aro American productions. Celebrating Columbus Day Famous Fort Sullivan .uunii o luii. ouiuvuii, vus ouiii wooden buildings' have been condemned iwi nun ureunu uii iicu tlm I. rr i n- . .1 miiu, Hum uiiu cuiHurcii Over Washington more than tiwo. hoars. Games in Smyrna Typhus Is raging In tho famine areas of Europo, there being 250.000 cases In Poland alone. v Sheep sheds having accommodations for 70,000 unlmals havo been recently built at Denver, Col. Thoy aro of con crcte and double-decked. in Chicago to Be Razed . ua years ago at uastport, Me., and by the city council and the owners ouuus iroops uniu into in tne war or .1 ... me ion witnout tiring a snot. Tlicy LAW SCHOOL FRESHMEN 1 . T'to&MiZ.'?-, a -Mrs. Newton C. Chatham of wil llnmsport, nai,.wtto Is fortj'olght jrours old, bus enturadl tJio- law scliooli oC Bos ton university ta a. freshinam She has a son wllolba sonlor lbt MhssschUr setts Instltutu off Teclinology, ant) an other son who Is-seen wlUli Mc,. Its, this, photograplli MODEL BECOMES ARTIST Mile. Fernando llarrey, an artist's model of Paris, suddenly deserted her platform a while ago and set up an easel of her own. Since then hIic haH palnted seven pictures, und live of hem were neocpted thlR year by tho Salon d'Autaroue. making the youuif woman famous overnight.
