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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 1900)
Irv the Fowler’s Siva.re'^ By M. ». MAXWELL CHAPTER X.—(Continued.) “Better send the young people to bed. It is now daylight almost.” sug gested the elders, and they carefully •voided looking at each other. That some terrible calamity had happened even Lady Jane, whose first fear had been that the bride had run away, was fully convinced. “But, Leila, you will stay by me?” Quavered the mistress of the house, suddenly transformed into a broken down old woman. “I will, dear aunty,” gravely said Leila. “I shall see little Syb safe in bed, then I shall return to you.” . Leila Desmond, slenderly graceful, soft and caressing, womanly tp the finger-tips, was yet one of those loyal, strong natures we turn to lean upon In the “day of trouble.” Gervia gave her one look of rever ence, then he placed his arm round that mother for wnom he and this “perfect woman, nobly planned” had sacrificed themselves so fatally. Every hour was bringing home to him the terrible blunder he had made ^n his life. Love between man and., 9 woman was God-given, to be prized as saired; but . under the specious pre text of sacrificing himself for the good of his house, he had torn love from his heart, and then sold that empty shell for gold. That it had been a bit ter, sinful bargain he now knew. Perhaps this impending calamity ■which he was helplessly waiting for the new day to discover might be 'heaven’s punishment for what he had done. It was still and quiet in the old house. There was a lull of expectancy until the daylight should come to al low action to be resumed. In Leila’s room it was silent as the grave. Beside the white-draperled bed knelt Leila herself. She was praying, with frightened tears now no one was by to see them—praying earnestly for the hapless girl who had shadowed her life. That something dire had happened Leila instinctively knew; but all she could do was to pray for help from above. “Leila! Sis!”. A hoarse, shrill voice made her spring to her feet. Close at her side stood Syb, shiver ing in her little blue dressing-gown, her face working convulsively. "I can’t keep it from you any long er! I dare not, though I do hate her so!” the deformed girl was saying, her teeth chattering a3 much from terror as from cold, r “Speak, Syb!” * Leila grioped the thin wrist, her breath coming thick and fast. Syb knew, then! “I heard a cry, a smothered scream from the old oak chest, as I walked round the gallery; but I hated her so that I would not speak before! And when I saw you, through the open door between our rooms, praying with sobs, I knew it must be for her. So I must tell, and you’d better be quick!” Syb slipped to the floor in a swoon. But Leila was already gone. With flying feet she was rushing downstairs from the third floor, where her bed room and Syb’s were. “Gervis! Gervis! Come, and come quickly! Bring Barnes!" When she had reached the gallery she shrieked loudly. Her voice, sharp with fear, rang through the old house and made Gervis leap to his feet. “It’s Leila! She has found out some thing! Mother dear, stay here, I pray you!” He pressed Lady Jane back on her Beat. “No one knows what we have got to face!” “Bring Barnes! Oh, be quick!” Le ila’s voice cried again in an agony of haste. Barnes, the white-haired old butler, was stiff and rheumatic. It seemed as though he would never reach the top of the wide, crimson-covered stair case, and yet the old man was doing mils best, though Gervis would fain ' have dragged him up two steps at a time. “Where are you, Leila?” he hoarsely shouted. “Here! here! Quick!” Round the curve of the gallery they found Leila, tearing frantically the holly and moss decorations from what had been a bank of greenery. The blood was trickling down her hands and wrists, as the holly tore them cruelly. But, unconscious of pain, Leila continued to pull, until the old black-oak chest, which had been the foundation of the green bank, was displayed. “Press the spring, Barnes! Nobody in Temple-Dene knows the secret but you. Press, for Gladdy’s dear sake!” panted the girl, madly beside herself. “Whatever-” Barnes was begin ning, and fumbling with his specta cles. * “Men, do as you’re bid!” shouted Gervis, catching the infection of Le ila’s frenzy. And he dragged Barnes forward. Something in his blazing eyes made the old man pull himself together. He stooped forward. With shaking hands, he felt along the carvings; but how slow he was! The watchers caught their breaths and shivered. “ ’Tis in the shamrock, I do mind me. 'Tis b’und to be in the sham rock, the spring,” he was muttering. \ In an Instant Leila was on her knees, and there, among the carved leaves and flowers of oak, was a single dainty snamrock. It was the spring! Pressing It hard as she oould. the carved lid clicked as it opened about an inch. Then Gervls, with strong arms, forced it back on Its hinges, and a muffled cry broke from his lips. CHAPTER XI. Lying huddled in the musty chest was a little figure in gleaming silver brocade, stained here and there with bunches of crushed holly berries. It was Oladdy, stiffened and immov able, but with widely opened, round blue eyes. That she was dead was the first muttered thought of both Gervis and Leila. “No! ’Tain’t death!” quickly said old Barnes, glancing at their white faces. “See ye, Mr. Gervis, there's a row of air-holes down each side o’ the chest. I saw ’em made myself in the old squire's‘time, purpoee-like, in case o’ this very kind o’ thing that’s hap pened now!” But Gervis was not listening. He and others who had rushed'to the gal lery were carefully lifting the small, stiffened form. A mounted groom had already been dispatched for a doctor. "But something must be done at once," said Gervis, as they laid the unconscious girl on an Indian rug on the polished floor of the gallery. 'Somebody was trying to force brandy through the marble white lips. “Not a drop will go down! What are we to do until the doctor comes?” piteously cried Leila, who, kneeling down, had slipped her arm under the little sunny-brown head. “Fetch Mr. Ansdell!” commanded Gervis, with a sudden inspiration. Surely the American could give some help in the pressing emergency, other wise, What was the value of his so called scientific reputation? Mr. Ansdell! Everybody then re membered that, oddly enough, the sci entist had not been once seen during the hours of anxious search. It was curious, to say the least of it. And still more curious did it appear that no Mr. Ansdell hurried to the gallery in answer to the summons. “Never mind, here’s young Doctor Goring himself, which is better,” ejac ulated Lady Jane, who had struggled upstairs more dead than alive from sheer fright, and looked on helplessly. “It’s a trance!” at last pronounced the doctor, a young man, with all the latest medical and scientific theories at his finger-ends. “She has . been hypnotized! Who has done this mis chief?” He stood up and glanced round upon the awe-3truck group sternly. There was no answer, and Doctor Goring went on wrathfully: “Somebody has got to answer for this night’s work! The poor young lady has been brought to death’s door, evidently, by some vile experiment. Now, then, clear out of this every one of you! Excuse my bluntness, Lady Jane, but this is not a moment for po lite speech. I’ve got a life to win back if I can, and I can’t have a crowd round me. Your ladyship can remain, and, yes, I must have Miss Desmond, if I’ve anybody.” One by one the spectators departed from the gallery, and the young med ical enthusiast set to work, with the result that in a quarter of an hour Gladdy feebly opened her lips and spoke. “I want Leila,” was the whisper. And when Bhe saw that it was Leila herself who was supporting her head the bride’s round eyes closed content edly. “She will sleep now. We must carry her to her bed,” said Doctor Goring, well satisfied. “You are wanted, sir, at once,” came an urgent whisper; while Gervis, lift ing his wife In his arms, carried her away. “What! another case?” The doctor wheeled around, and he was silently beckoned to the quarter of the house known as the bachelors’ wing. Lying back in his chair in front of a writing table, and grasping a folded paper, was a dead man. The room was in perfect order. There had been no assault, no murder, no suicide, so far as one could judge at the moment. But that death had entered the half open stare of the black eyes, the dropped jaw, and the marble hue of the long, lean fingers gripping the sheet of paper spoke all too clearly. Little wonder that Paul Ansdell had failed to join in the search for the missing bride, failed to obey the sum mons for his helpful skill. “He has been dead quite a couple of hours,” said Doctor Goring gravely, secretly wondering what would be the outcome of this double tragedy. “You must keep this business from the ladies as long as you can,” he said, turning to Gervis, who had been hast ily sent for. “There must be an in quest, of course; and, meantime, I should take possession of that folded paper. See, I’ve managed not to tear it. You’d best lock it away antil you hand it to the coroner, Mr. Temple ton.” “Why,” gasped Gervis, as he caught sight of the close, upright handwrit ing, “my wife wrote that! What vil lainy is this? See here!” “It was the last will and testament 1 of Gladys Templeton, and. In correct egal form It assigned everything the testator possessed to Paul Ansdell of Montreal, revoking all former wills and odictls. The document was duly ilgned, and the signatures and ad lrcsses of two Americans were append* 3d. Not a flaw was there from beginning to end of the deed. “You hold the key that unlocks the vhole of this night’s mystery,’’ briefly said ihe young doctor. “This unfortu late man must be a reckless adven urer, whose wits have put In his hands a most dangerous weapon. He s. we will discover, a criminal hypno 1st, a so-called scientist, seeking some ool to further his own ends. Yes, res; you’ll see we’ll find out that’s what he is—was, I mean," said the medical man. He was right in his surmise, as the inquest brought out, bit by bit, partly from papers belonging to the dead man, partly from the unwilling evi dence of Gladdy, who had been more or less under hypnotic influence since the night of the fire in the snow-shed. As for the villain’s own death, it was proved tq be from natural causes, and due to long-standing heart disease, that caused a breakdown at the cru cial moment of his career. But the jury's verdict was the popu lar one—“By the visitation of God.” Five years have passed away. So many changes have happened to Temple-Dene and the Templetons that Lady Jane has come to look back upon the days when she wore faded silks and lived a sorely pinched life as the happiest she has known. Today she no longer wears her fa vorite blue, for Francis Templeton has gone to his grave, hlB heart eaten out by the melancholy nothing would dis pel. So lady Jane wears widow’s weeds and has learnt the old lesson ttest "contentment is great gain.” The dainty American bride, so fra gile and highly strung, never managed to weather the repeated shocks to her frail system. Like a broken flower she withered, until decline set in. In Leila’s tender, supporting arms, her weak hands clinging tight round Leila’s soft throat, Gladdy died peace fully. “Take care of my Gervls, Leila. You will do it better than I,” with the won drous intuition of the dying she whis pered at the last. . And now that the years have gone round, Gervis begins to think it la time Leila was taking care of him. Between the two there Is a perfect understanding, and by and by their wedding bells will ring out; for though “sorrow endureth for the night, Joy is bound to come in the morning.” (The End.) - CHILD POLITICS. The “Junior Republic*” Alarm the City of Datntt. Detroit is learning that the “junior republics” established in the various schools of the city, which at first thought was a fine thing, is having evil results. The mayor protests and shows a condition that is hardly bene ficial. The citizens of these junior re publics, for example, ballotted recently on such questions as these: Do you favor city ownership of the street rail way system at the appraised value of $17,500,000? Do you favor the appro priation of $150,000 for the erection of another high school building? Do you favor expansion? (this involving a discussion of the Philippine ques tion.) But more than this the “junior citizens” developed so rapidly as to become lobbyists. 'Children were ask ed to interview aldermen or school in spectors to urge appropriations for schools. In short, the junior republics did not confine themselves to theory, but got into practical politics with a unanimity and dispatch that was something appalling. The Detroit Free Press protests that innocent chil dren that are already struggling against ninety-nine fads in learning to read, write and cipher, ought not to have their heads further muddled by an attempt to master the methods and processes by which the people of the country are governed.—Indianapolis News. Food’s Lowest Dally Coat. By actual experience the Ruskinites, a colony of socialists near Waycroee, Ga., have demonstrated what is prob ably the lowest possible dally cost of food. They live at an actual cost per capita of less than 10 cents a day. Of course this could not have been ac complished except through co-opera tion. Everything they consume Is bought at wholesale in large quantities and is cooked in the community. In the community dining room tables are set for 300 people. Those who do not wish to eat with the crowd are allowed the privilege of purchasing company stores and cooking them at home. I Ancient Deed In Philadelphia* The first deed conveying property to the proprietor of Pennsylvania, Will iam Penn, is written in old Dutch, and is now preserved in the city hall. The property was what Is now known as Lemon hill, including the mansion and the Schuylkill river front, where the old Falrmount waterworks was lo cated. There Penn kept his barge and some rowboats, the barge carrying an admiral’s pennant. It is said there is only one man in Philadelphia who can read this deed. It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you caa hardly put more on a man than he can bear. But worry is rust upon the blade. It Is not movement that de stroys the machinery, but friction*— H. W. Beecher. FARM AND GARDEN’ MATTERS OR INTEREST TO AGRICULTURISTS. Com* Fp-to-Date Hint* About CaUlra tlon of tbo Boll and Yields Thereof— Horticulture, Viticulture and Floricul ture. Mlaiourl Coarse In Horticulture. The Missouri State Agricultural Col lege Is to give this winter a course In horticulture. The term will begin Jan. 1 and will close March 22. This course, running parallel with the short course In agriculture, is Intended to give a thorough acquaintance with all the practical details In connection with the establishment and running of a nur sery, commercial orchard, a vegetable garden or a flower establishment—in short, to make professional horticul turists. The course consists of 216 lectures and practical demonstrations, divided as follows: Nursery Work.—A study of grafting, budding, growing, grading and pack ing of nursery stock. Including eighteen afternoons In the grafting shop under the personal supervision of an experienced and successful nur seryman. The a.m is to give skill In these various operations. Orcharding and Small Fruit Qrow ing.—Treating of soils and locations adapted to the different kinds of fruit; varieties to plant; methods of plant ing, pruning and cultivating orchards; the harvesting, barreling and market ing of the fruit. Dally practice is given in each of these operations, un der the supervision of an experienced orcbardl8t. The nursery and orchard work will bo given in January and February. Market Gardening and Hot-Bed Forcing.—Covering the entire range of vegetable growing both out-doors and under glass. Daily practice will be given in the management of bot-beds, cold frames and green houses devoted to the production of vegetables. Courses will be given also In floricul ture and landscape gardening. Plant Diseases.—Twenty lectures on the nature of the destructive diseases of fruits and the best methods of pre venting such attacks. Ample practice will be given In the mixing, testing and applying of spraying solutions. Entomology.—Sixty lectures and demonstrations will be given on the habits of the numerous insects that bear an imports, t relation to horticul ture, and the best methods of combat ing the injurious ones. Students in the course In horticul ture will have the same training In botany, carpentry, blacksmlthing, drainage, manures and fertilizers, bookkeeping, etc., as will those who take the agricultural course, and will have an additional course In steam heating and steam fitting for green houses. Requirements for Admission.—No entrance examination or special prep aration is required. Any Intelligent person with common school education will be able to pursue either course with great profit. The cost 1b from -$40 to $60 per term. Horticultural Observation*. It Is said that the orange crop of the country is very large, and it is esti mated that it will exceed 8,000,000 boxes, * • * According to Prof. Qeorgeson Alas ka has about 100,000 square miles suit able for cultivation. Much of this land is said to be suitable for the produc tion of fruit, especially sTnall fruit. We may yet see great apple orchards spring up in the section of Alaskan territory bordering on the Pacific ocean. It is entirely likely that much of that section of country is especially adapted to the growing of the hardier varieties of apples. * • • It is reported from New Jersey that the San Jose scale there is under con trol to such an extent that its further spread is problematical. It is asserted however that there is no probability that it will be exterminated. As New Jersey nurseries were largely instru mental ip spreading the pest through out the whole country east of the Rocky mountains the probability is that that state is pretty well supplied with the scale. • » • The recent successful season with peaches in Michigan has stimulated the planting of new orchards, and it is believed that more peach treeB will be set out next year than ever before. The same thing is likely to be done in all of the peach growing states, espe cially in the South. The great freeze of two years ago put back to a consid erable extent the business of peach production, but the reaction has set in and more orchards than ever will be set out. • • * A few years ago the United States department of agriculture introduced ip to California a flg fertilizing insect from Smyrna. Previous to that time the figs produced on fig trees in Cali fornia had proved a disappointment to the growers, being small, seedy and in significant. The advent of the Insect changed matters to such an extent that the figs are now four times as large as before and filled with delicious r pulp. This puts fig-growing in Cali fornia on a firmer basis. Turkestan Alfalfa. The ‘Introduction of Turkestan al falfa into this country seems likely to prove of great benefit to American farmers. Prof. N. E. Hansen was sent to Turkestan by the department of agriculture to secure plants likely to be of use In the United States, and the seed of this clover was obtained with the seed of some other plan to. Tur kestan is a vast country, consisting mostly of steppes rid marshlands. As a large part of the country Is not adapted to field tillage the people fol low cattle raising to a very great ex tent. The climate of the country Is very similar to that of the seml-arld west. The summers are very hot, dry, long and cloudless. The autumns and springs are mild and rainy, and the winters usually open with but little snow. Severe frosts sometimes occur, but they are of short duration. The evaporation is said to be greater than the rainfall. From May to September very little rain falls, often only 1.1 inches, and in many parts of the steppe regions, which are removed from the moun tainous districts, there la absolutely no rain during the entire summer sea son. Dry winds from the north and northeast prevail during the summer, with a temperature of about 130 de grees F. (40 degrees Celsius), which generally dry up the whole Turkestan basin until vegetation cannot exist without irrigation. The extent of wa tered lands in Turkestan is, in com parison with its whole area, by no means great, not more than 2% per cent, which is altogether insufficient for the subsistence of its4 population. This deficiency Is partially redeemed by the growing of wheat, barley and millet, which depend on the winter moisture In the soil and a sufficient fall of rain during the spring. The following extracts from an ar ticle by Prince V. I. Massalskl, of the Russian department of agriculture, show its great value to the arid re gions of Russia than the European va rieties: Lucent clover (Medicago sativa var. Turkestanlca) ia the chief forage In use throughout Central Asia, and to the settled population of Turkestan ia of the highest importance, since dur ing the summer it forms the chief and in winter, prepared in the shape of hay, the only fodder for cattle. It is of all the greater importance be cause, within the regions populated by settled inhabitants, there are no meadows. Soft herbs and other grasses that grow up in the early spring in certain parts of the steppes are Quick ly dried up by the hot rays of the sun and give place to coarse, prickly stub ble or, In any case, to less nutritive grasses that are in general unfitted for sheep, camels, or steppe cattle, and still less fitted for horses or the cattle of those who are settled in the oases and are thus closely confined to the foreland or rivers, in most cases far removed from the steppes. Massalski describes the native meth ods of cultivation and irrigation, and continues: The native lucern would seem to be a cattle fodder that cannot be replaced in countries as dry and hot as Turkestan and the Transcas pian province. Parallel experiments that have been made in the Merv oases, in the Transcaspian province, In growing native and French lucern, under widely different conditions of water supply, have shown that the na tive lucern, particularly where there is a lack of water, is vastly superior to the French in the crop it yields, and that it is able to grow satisfactorily with a minimum supply of water, a supply so small that the European lucern would perish with drought. It possesses a very large root system, and its leaves are covered with thick down. This, in conjunction with a deeply channeled leaf, enables the plant, on the one hand, to imbibe the moisture from the deeper layers of the soil, and, on the other hand, to exhale it in very small Quantity. Cavalry Rohm Scarce. Veterinary Surgeon John Tempeny, Ninth United States Cavalry, says: “There is a great scarcity of the cav alry type of horses because pf the great draft the United States and oth er governments have made in the last two years. In Wyoming, for instance, our government gathered up all of the desirable, high standard horses, and the English army officers came along and picked up 600 others, for. the Eng lishmen are content to put up With a lower grade of animal than the American authorities. There are no more cavalry horses In Nevada, and the market generally is bare and will be for Borne time. Prices are stiff, and our government was paying $100 to $125 for the grade of animal required; but the demand for the Philippines is falling off with the return of quieter times there, and the war in South Africa is over, so there is not much sail now for horses for army pur poses, and generally prices are going down. This electricity business is cur tailing the horse market. Horseless carriages and the trolley are supersed ing the noble steed." examining; Oar Soils. The national government has un dertaken a good work in the soil sur vey. To a great extent Americans have had to conduct their farming operations blindly, as to the kind of soil in which they had to operate. They have been able to name their soils only according to the clay or sand content mostly and had to as sume that a sandy soil in one place well filled with humus was equal to a sandy soil in another place well filled with humus. As a result many an ex tensive operation in farming has proved a failure in one place when it would have proved a success in an other place. The movement to sur vey the soils of the whole country means that the whole system of agri culture is to be placed on a firmer and more scientific basis. In a recent re port the government officials show that this work is done at a cost of only $1.40 per square mile. The bene fits to be derived are incalculable. Mexico is pronounced an ideal sheep | country on account of its good pastur age, Its fine climate and cheap labor. AGRARIANS ArTtR OIR WHEAT, Fropoa* * U« Which la Kz pec tad la , Shat It Oat ol Germany. WASHINGTON, Dec. 19—The agra rian party In Germany, having suc cessfully brought about a law at the last session of the relchstag prohibit ing, In effect, the Importation .of American canned meats, is now using its powerful Influence to increase heavily the import duties on all grains entering the empire, notably on wheat, reports United States Consul Dleder lch, at Ilremen, to the state depart ment. The aim of the agrarians, ac cording to the consul. Is to make Ger many entirely independent of all coun tries for Its bread&tuffs and food sup plies. “It Is difficult to see," says Mr. Dlederlch, “how the proposed national legislation can have any other effect In the long run than to enhance the price of the daily bread so nedeful to every man, woman and child in this country. It is impossible to under stand,’’ he says, “how the proposed duty can Increase the crops of wheat throughout Germany or decrease the appetite of the German people." “At present, however,” says the con sul, "there seems little doubt that the proposed law will be passed by the relchstag. As a large portion of the importation of wheat Is American grown this will seriously affeefc the Interests of the American farmer. A duty of 40 or 50 cents on every bushel of wheat," concludes Consul Dlederlch, "cannot fail to be well nigh' prohibi tive and the consequence will be more limited markets, fiercer competition and lower prices to the producers." CHOATE IS TO RCTliRN HOME. ! Probability that 'Will Not Return to HI* Rout In England. NEW YORK, Dec. 19.—A dispatch to the Journal and Advertiser from London says: Ambassador Choate will, it is said, sail either on Saturday or the week after by the United States, the death of his partner, Charles C. Beaman, having rendered his pres* ence in New York necessary. The news of Mr. Beaman’s death was a great shock to him, as he had no idea that his partner was even fall ing. It is believed here that Ambas sador Choate will not return to Lon don. Ho is not a rich man and his life here as ambassador entails not only the loss of his professional in come, but is likewise a heavy drain on his purse, as his salary is barely sufficient to pay his house rent. This in Itself rendered him disinclined to letain the ambassadorship for another four years, and now that his partner in the firm of Evarts, Choate & Bea man is dead his return to America for good has become moro than aver probable. ■ *■ CLEMENTS HAS A CLOSE CALL. Narrowly Escape* Lotting All of Bli Coat* mand. JOHANNESBURG, Monday, Pec. 17. — Details of the defeat of the British at Nooltdegacht Indicate that General Clements’ entire force had a narrow escape from capture. The Boers’ plana were splendidly laid. If the main! British column had tarried a little longer there would have been a com pleete success for the Boers, who ex posed themselves undauntedly, yelling and waving their arms. Their rushes were only stemmed by artillery. All accounts indicate a heavy Boer held a prayer meeting. Their hymns could bs heard by the retiring British. All accounts indicate a heavy Boe loss. Colonel Legge exhibited splendid bravery. He shot five Boers with his revolver before he fell with three bul ltc in his body.’ Foreign BoiIdni of Philippine*. WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—A state ment prepared by the division of in sular affairs, war department, summa rizing the trade of the Philippines for the ten months ended April 30 last shows that the Imports of merchandise during this period amounted in value to 916,450,255. Gold and silver to the, value of 11,714,951 were alBo Imported, making the total Importations $18,165, 206. Of this amount $1,183,486 repre sented the goods brought In from the United States. Manila hemp formed the principal article of exportation $9,217,803 worth being sent out of the islands during the period named. Of this amount $4,285,107 worth went to Great Britain and $3,096,095 worth to the United States. The total exporta tion of merchandise, gold and silver is set down at $1/,038,314. European countries took $7,284,166 worth of this and exports to the value of $3,284,292 came to the United States.g^ Contract* for War Vessel*. WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—The board of naval construction, considering the 41 ds for the construction of battle ships and cruisers, has settled theeO points: One of the big armored cruisers shall go to Cramps, one to Newport News and one to the Union Iron works in California. One battleship shall go to the Fore River Engine Works at Quincy. Mass. Cabinet Takee It Easy. WASHINGTON. Dec. 19.—At the cabinet meeting today it was announc ed that Captain Asa Rogers of Peters burg, Va., would be appointed collec tor of Internal revenue to succeed the late Colonel James Brady. Nothing of Importance transpired at the meet ing. both Secretaries Hay and Root re porting that tjiey had nothing to com municate. To Increase HI* Salary. WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—At the re quest of the secretary of war, the house committee en insular affairs to day reported a bill increasing the sal ary of the commissioner of education of Porto Rico from $3,000 to $4,000. When Prof. Brumbaugh of the Uni versity of Pennsylvania, accepted the position at the urgent request of thq president and Secretary Root, it was the understanding that his salary should be increased. He received $5, 000 at the University of Pennsylvania.