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About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1897)
-m: ' mm. mil ii m, tm i If A BANKS ARE SQUEEZED. THEY SUFFER FROM THE LOW ERINQ OF VALUES. Baaka Maat Share the Loaea Which the Currency Policy They feapparted Ilaa Brought to the Bnlnrn of the Coaatrj-Onlj the I'aurer Proflta, Effect of the Gold Standard. The recent sealing of tin- capital mock of the Prewtou National Bank of thin city, n-jy tbe Detroit Bvening NVws, from f l.uoo.Odll down t'j $7yo,OUJ, fur nishes a valuable olJevt lesson lu the effect of the gold fftauibird upon proier ty values. A few 7t!K ago. when tbe bank was organized and capitalised at fl.OUO.WW, thai Jgnre honestly repre touted It valu. Its shares sold at jar. or very ni'arl; liar, and that was the Ixtit evidei.ee of it value. It did a large businct fnd its affair were managed wl'h ,s much discretion and ability a othe kinks. lis losses were tin greater thui Inevitably fall to the lot of ordinarily well managed banks. There Is a wide-spread Impression among H c.Ttaln class of people that banking i the one das of enterprise which enjoys Immunity from the ordi nary "in'-crtaiiitics of business, and that, given fair management and hon esty on the part of the dint-tors, there niiwt he a continuous profit lu it con duct, whether times are good or bad. Tie? truth, however. is that the lmnkn are a sensitive. If not more no, to the depressing Influences of hard times as amy commercial or Industrial enter prises wbatsis'Ver. Tbey are the larg est holders of property of all kinds in tjie country, although they are nom inally not lis owners. Their own cap ital is but a small percentage of the inoey which they loan. The great bills' of their loans Is the money of their depositors. As security for this they receive bonds, stocks and mortgages, cohering Industrial iilants and lands, ani lu this way more actual property lei It) their hands than can be found at times unincumbered' lu the hands of its nominal owners. When from any cause these proper ties depreclif.e lu value, the banker's first duty to his depositors, which Is his Hint duty lu law and morals. Is to see tint the depreciation does not endanger the safety of the funds of which he Is the trustee, lint depreciation during the last fw years, due to the rapid ap preciation of the medium In which val ue are measured, was too enormous and too quick for the most prudent of bankers. It swept along the whole line, fl'id securities thai were supposed to cover twice and three times the money loaned upon them were found to be un salable at the face of the money ad vanced. Few have any adequate con ception of the embarrassment which this enormous scaling down of the value of their securities has brought to tlx: managers of the bunks. In many cases the depreciation has been so great that securities for (he legitimate purMises .if banking have become actually wort h less l hat is to nay. they were not sal able at all. The numerous bank failure which fallowed the election of .Mr. McKlnley throughout the West were merely symptoms of a general condition which may not yet have reached Its worst stages. We have not waited until this late ly to warn the bankers of this coun try that they must ultimately share tbe losses which the currency policy they supported had brought to the In dustry anil commerce of the country. Again and again throughout the late campaign the Kvenlng News predicted that the gold standard would ultimate ly reach the banks in Its ruinous Influ ence. Their Interests, properly under- stood, are precisely tbe same as those of the farmer, the mechanic, the manu facturer and the merchant. All have Buffered alike, or will yet suffer, if they have been so fortunate as to es cape thus far. How different would It have been had tbe" country never left the double standard, or, having left It, had re turned to it year ago. The greatly Increased production of the precious metals with which the world had been bl eased would have kept the supply of basic money approximately up to the demands of the increasing necessities of mankind, and the prices of property and product thus unstained would have furnished a continuous incentive in profit to the exertion of human In dustry. Values would have been kept up, the debtor would have found a mar ket for his holdings and have been able to pay his debts, ami the bunks to-day would have bad a solid founda tion lu their securities for both their de positors and their capital. It Is true, the purchasing power of money would not have been so great as It is, and the absolutely secured cred itor would not get so much property for his claim as he now can, but Is not this Just what alls the banks as well as everybody elsenamely, that the claim of the creditor eats up too much of the property of the debtor nnd while ruining the latter nets a loss also to the former? The private usurious lender of money, who actually contem plates at the time of making the loan the diwlrable possibility of seizing (be collateral at a reduced price and makes all his arrangement to render the transaction prolltable, may find Interest In this process, but the average bank cannot do so. It Is not organized to hold properties of all sorts or to man age them when seized. '.'a highest Interest, therefore, lies, as do the Interests of Its depositors and Us debtors, In tbe Integrity If not the enhancement of the pronertlns It takes as collateral. In ft word, the banker It ft debtor Yen mors than be Is a cred itor. If the bankers of this country were ealy UxeUbjest nasi far sighted tMsMtk to Wtdewtaad into simple faot they weald net bare been almost naan- imously shrieking for t lie gold standard last fall, but would have Iwa lu jje forefront of the line In the battle fur the double standard. A r-tlver I'roblem. 11 appears that when Congress de monetised silver there was nobody ou baud to remind it that the L'uiu-d Stat owed a certain indebtedness, payalde expressly in tiilver coin, and that fact only came out Incidentally in the Senate in a recent debate. The government ltought laud of tbe Potta watomie Indians ami has been pay ing them for list years past an annuity which, it is stipulated, should be hand ed over to them in American silver dol lars. The Indian appropriat on bill pr vldes for this payment for the coming flscalt year ajid was questioned ilisiu that ground. On the one baud. It was asked wheth er It was propT for our great and pow erful government to impose upon "Lo, tbe poor Indian" dollars which, accord ing to some Senators, are not worth 50 cents apiece whether it was not an advantage taken of their weakness and a frauil perpetrated niton their Ignor ance. On the other side. It was said, by Hon. Mr. Piatt, Hepultlican Sena tor from the Nutmeg State, that "the silver dollars of thU country" are just as good as gold, an important admis sion, which, if made before the first Twwlay of last November, would have prolwibly cost Senator Piatt his Sena torial position and branded him forever as an anarchist. And then another Senator Inquired of Mr. Piatt why other public credit ors than Indians for Instance, the na tional banks holding Government securities-were uot also paid in silver Instead of gold. To which Mr. Piatt, having made one damaging admission, declined to miike further reply, and thu incident closed. Silver may be good enough for In dians, but national bankers want gold. A Had Showing. The tables presented by the director of the mint how that the per capita circulation in the 1'nlted States has Increased in twenty-four years from $'.'l.:;ti to f'JI.a'S; the circulation of the Pulled Kingdom from S'.Mhi to ''l.so; the circulation of Germany from $i:i.5!i to $ l'.t.'JS; the circulation of Belgium from 1 1.11 loS-Mil; the circulation of the Netherlands from f Hi.."nS to S'JI.OH, and the circulation of Italy from $i.SS to !fiUi. It would be an easy matter to show that the per capita circulation lu the t'nited Suites (trior to the collapse of 1S73 was more than twice the amount given by the director of the mint for is?:). Hut we take the figures as they stand. We take the figures represent ing a year In which the boarding of money and the destruction of values was almost as ruinous as these ele ments have been during the past four years. It will be wen that the gain in the per capita, circulation of the 1 nited Stales as compared with the year in which business was at its low est ebb has been only $-'.U7 a gain of only $2.07 lu a country where the possibilities of enterprise and Industry have but begun to present themselves! It Is a curious and significant fact that, so far as the Increase lu circula tion Is concerned that most potent fac tor In business and enterprise the I'nlted Stales has lagged Itehlnd all the Kiiropean countries. Even In the Netherlands the gain has been three tlmK as much as in the United States. In Belgium the Increase has been near ly seven times greater than in the Pulled States: In the United Kingdom It has been five times as much. Trnata Kent Kaay. The French have a saying that If you scratch a Bussian you uncover a Tartar. It Is a singular fact that you cannot scratch a goldbug or a mug wump but you find underneath the skin a monopolist, an upholder of trusts or a participator lu stolen franchises. The members of a sound money convention such as sut in this city the other day always have the two objects In view to prollt by legislation ami by otliclal favor and to defeat the Democratic party. The money contributors to the He publlcan organization, of whose liber ality old Thurlow Weed used to boast andtheHantiasof to-day have had prac tical proof, are to bo found connected ami identified with sugar trusts, cof fee trusts, rubber trusts, coal trusts Hnd all the long array of trusts which overshadow this community. It Is folly to think the Republican party directors will allow them to be damnified In their money making. New Vurk News. tlnjunt TiiJiution. No person has a natural right, to In jure any other person, ami no just gov ernment ought to enable or permit any person to Injure another. All should stand equal before the law. That Is the great principle that underlies gov ernment. Yet it Is not rare to find that a man who pays $5 In taxe ought to pay $10, while the man who pays $10 lu taxes very often should pay only $3. Unjust taxation means robbery by law means more dangerous than any highwayman would list! and the man who aids In passing a law making such an unfair condition of things possible lacks the courage of the highwayman. You take from those who are assess ed too much and give to those who are assessed too little. William J. Bryan. The ftllvcr Hepnbticana. The Sliver Republicans antagonize no other body of bimetallism. They sim ply form themselves Into a column which Is to co-operate with the other great political forces bent upon the same object namely, the Democratic party and the People'a party. Cincin nati Enquirer. ' Fee Ike Peestla M CoaaMee. Tbe people of these United Itatea may well ask themselves what they bare amlned or elecUo a Reptibllcaa. Tfeey tad It ainesjnaeO tht a cabinet has been formed In which erery lnte j est that fattens on tbe Government Is ' represented and that scarcely a single member of It is not Indebted to lieputt liean party legislation for a very large part or the whole of a great private fortune. tUtuation Is Orave, It Is a singular fact that tbe election of Mr. McKlnley ba not even restored ' confidence among tbe multimillionaires ' and monev owners of New York City. I We aay tbe fact Is singular because this class placed all their Influence at the disposal of the Ilcpublieaus and did everything lu their power to promote Mr. McKinley's election. They suc ceeded In their efforts. They have had the fulfillment of what seemed their heart's desire, and still they view the situation with the gravest doubt and suspicion. I'onoliat I'c.ln ter-i. Every trust Is a menace to good gov ernment. Public opinion is the greatest foe to progress. Paternalism Is a thousand times bet ter than favoritism. Government banks will regulate the volume and give us a stable curren cy. It is not over-production, but a false system of distribution that causes pov erty. Keep it before the people that the Republicans promised to deliver pros perity. Tbe government part of our Govern ment is socialism when It la uot fa voritism. The mission of the People's party Is hardly begun. The work of education must go on. No amount of wealth can ever stand before a revolution. It Is weakness In stead of strength. Resolutions of symtathy for the poor is worse than soup, atxl soup is a mighty light diet. The spirit of liberty and indeitend euce can be crushed and smothered, but it can u killed. If fusion c had any respectability some of the place hunters have smirch ed it with disgrace. The real question Is whether the Gov ernment or the banks shall Issue the paper money of the country. The "cross of gold" Is yet standing, while the "crown of thorns" Is being pressed down on labor's brow. The Republicans are kept busy ex plaining why prosperity doesn't come, and when It may be looked for. Changing men will do no good un less we also change the system. The Republican party will bring no better times. Tbe first half of the nineteenth cen tury will mark the demonetization of all metallic currency except for sub sidiary coins. When one trust begins to compete with another It gets out an Injunction and puts a stop to It Isn't this a dandy Government? AH the gold produced In the world lu one year would not pay the interest on the world's debts three months. Then, how arc we expected to pay the principal ? We can't get fair railroad rates until th" water Is squeezed out of tbe sdtck. Te b.'.it way to do this is for the (lov er, tin en: to acquire ownership and op erats them. The gold reserve seems to be reserv ing nil right, but It rttcsn't bring pros perity, and now the question occurs, What connection has the gold reserve with prosperity? If the Government can't keep gold to redeem Its paper, how do the banks expect to do so? The Government Is much ulronger than the banks and Its credit better than that of all the banks combined. After all. the problem In the last stages of Its analysis Is, whether man hood or money shall rule In this coun try. All other Issues center around . this one. It is thu same old question of human rights. Ills Grip Labels. The coming tnan, of course, cuts no Ice with the new woman; but then he Is up to all sorts of doviisti to be sti-ii-t-ly "In it." A ruddy coiirpk'Xloued, e!f-con-lous young man lugged a leather bag Into a down-town (!th avenue ele vated tnaln to-day, and, placing It In front of him, where It might lie easily seen by other isisHcngera in the car, he scIiIihI down behln i Iris jmpor to owail. the effect. The bag wa completely covered wlr.h foreign, Uiltels of hole's and express companies, and If the young man had accoiniulsl It to every place indicated by the laltel he must have bis-n a glolie trotter of no ordinary experience. lmdoti, Pari, Cairo, iitid even Jnimnese cities were aepresentcd by label. The other jnis neiigers turned MiiMr atten-tion to thiH Wrhcr ltag at one'. Two elderly wom en acrotts the aisle from the young man dcclphere-d the labels on by one, and then nudged each other, after eauh ef fort and repented the name of the Vlace Indicated. The ruddy young mnu g-laneed out from boh 1ml his iiewiaicr frequently to notb-e what Impression bo was creating. Hie self-satisfied look lasted until a young woman In one of tbe cross scata said to hor companion, In a high, pitched voice: "Yys, I had my trunk done over wltth foreign hibtU liefore going to the coun try, by Joim, down on Oth avenue. He put on aotne lovely btltole Paris and lyondon and all. He dmrged 25 cents a Label. They got me Into a mess of trou ble, though. I tried to talk about tbeoe places and t didnt know anything about them. I sensped them all off before I bad been there a week." The passengers began to smile, and at (be nest tattoo tM raddgr man and his baf toft the train. New York cor respondence IMMOjajf pteavtaa, fifty years of age. What Iowa Haa Achieved in the Way of Agriculture. Iowa came into tbe Union as the twenty-ninth State ou Dec. 'JH, 1M0, with a population of HX1MHH. Eight years lief ore tlds event the ti t steamer bad crossed the ocean; one year before the electric telegraph had Isirne its first message between Paltimore and Wash ington; railways bad Ufa in o-ration In Amerii-a but eighteen years; gold had not lieen diwovered In California; the iuveiilorof tbe steam railway died ten years after Iowa bail joined the xis terhissl of States; jtostage oil a letter ls'tween New York and Boston was JW'i cents; envelopes had not lteen in vented; postage stamps had lteen in use one year; there were no omnibuses nor Htreet railways; Abraham Lincoln hid just lteen elected to Congress; Douglas had JtiKt entered the Senate; tbe Mexi can war wtis in progress; there were less than ."sumo white men lte! ween the western border of Iowa and the Pa cilic Ocean; there were yet living thou sands of brave men who fought under Washington for American indepen dence; Webster bad not made bis 7th of March speech ami was yet a leader In American politics: the great anti slavery paper which published "Un-le Tom's Cabin" bail just Ist-n establish ed in Washington; In all America tle'ie were but "J,S(io iiewpHK.-rs, being only throe times as many as we have in Iowa at (lie present time; the fastest book printing press would turn out 1, 000 copies of an eight-page form per hour; I.ndy Suffolk, time J:;!0. was 1 lie fastest trotter In the world; the great republic of twenty-eight State was in transition between experiment and hope. While Iowa Is a great Slate in ter ritory, there are larger ones. We are not proud of our ize, but our quality. Our urea Is .Vi.OOti square miles, or n.'.lI'JN.MHi acres. In IKC, we planted 8,r. M i. t acres of coin. The Iowa plow Isiy goes forth in tbe morning to work in a nrn field larger than the Stales of Maryland and I tela wan1; the annual money value of bis labors is .fiMi.l.'lHi.imo, or much more than the product of the silver mines of America. We planted in a recent year nearly -l.oi'fi.'MNi acres of oats, yielding In money value SlTi.ikki.ikio. In coin and oats Iowa Is the first Slate. In the same year we produced hay to the value of .SIi.iiou.ooo. being the second Stale in the Union ns to hay. our rank a.s to potatoes is fifth. In wheat we are fourteenth. In hogs, of course, for ycais we have been first. In cat tie sis olld. Our grain products for 1H!I.1 yielded In cash i?l';s.'';;."i.-li;', a sum large enough to pay every mortgage on every Iowa farm, with !i i.( ii m i.oiio to span'. Our cattle in N'..- were worth -$."t.'!..S20.1!)7; i our hogs. $..1!m;.!MKJ; sheep. IJiJO.-Viri; chickens. $1,1:1,1104: turkeys. $71.'!,72S; hows, !f)l.ri;4..-.lii. Add to these the miscellaneous products, nucli ns honey, sorghum, flax, buckwheat, etc., and we I have the total value of Iowa agrienl- I tunil products for one year reaching the enormous amount of $ 100,000,000. The gross product of Iowa agriculture in I les than seven years would pay the j United States debt ns it was at the , close of the civil war. I Our people produced butter to the value of $ir.,7L'7,2l In IX! )4 and cheese to the value of .flOM.K)!). There were produced in Iowa In l.H!4 , over OHiO.ooo of dozen of eggs and there were marketed over 30,000,000 of dozens, wielding over $4,000,000 in cash. Di'S Moines Capital. His Itest Advioe. It Is told of an Indiana judge that shortly after his admins-ion to the liar many years ago he was loitering ultout a county court house when a presiding judge suddenly summoned him to up pear lu court, and appointed him coun sel for a prisoner alstut to be tried for stealing a horse. "But, your honor," lie demurred, "this Is a charge which may result in sending ttie prisoner to the penitentiary if the case gin against him, and I do not like to undertake the p'sponsibilily of his defense." "Nonsense," exclaimed the court, "tin case Is not at, nil "complicated, and I am sure vou will handle It in a manner which will conserve all your client's in teresls." 1 "I have had no chance, your honor, to neiiunliit myself with the facts lu this case, and if the trial muni proceed at once I must beg to decline to repre sent the defendant, insisted the young attorney. "Your duty lu the premises is. clear, continued the court. "I will allow you unlllcieiit time to consult, with your client and map out your line of defense. You may retire with the prisoner Into my private nlom for consultation. Thir ty minutes will give yon ample time. Go Into flint room: have the prisoner state his cae fully to you; Imagine yourself in his place, and advise him to do Just what you yourself would do under such circumstances." "And If I do this will the court hold me blameless for whatever tuny re sult?" asked the attorney. I "Certainly, sir," replied the Judge, I The lawyer and bis client retired for conn-.ltatlon. At the end of thirty mill lib the former came out of the private room and said: "Your honor, we are 1 now ready to proceed." I "Where Is your client?" Inquired the court. I "I do not know, may the court please," replied the counsel. A bailiff ran Into the consultation room. A window twelve feet from The ground was open, and there were two hcclmarka In the soft earth outside. Blown Away In a Boa Oar. "Awful experience 7 Yes," eald the tramp as he eat at a Holland street kitchen table on Thursday morning and cut Into theejeond piece of costard pie. "I Vae aleetMo soundly In ft box car out la low one nlf ht laaf summer, and the wind was blowing like tbundr across the plains. Suddenly that car got looe the brakes broke or suthin' ami It liegan to crawl along out of the siding and onto tbe main track. It was nuts for me. I thought the wind wouldn't blow me far and so I kept on. I stood in the distr and saw the houses and fence go by faster and faster, till , all of a sudden I realized tluit 1 was 1 going too fast to get off. and no way , of stopping it. Half An hour after we the car and I dashed through a little , station and I had just time to see the 1 telegraph operator run out and look ! after us and then run back to telegraph j down the line to clpar the track. We were going more than a mile a minute and my hair was standing on end. For ty miles down the liue we went through another station, and on a siding I caught sight of a man with a rope on the cowcatcher. That engine chased us twenty miles down the track. The mn with the roue threw it around the brake wheel on top of our car and grad- ually stopped it, while all the time the wind was blowing a gale. We had jtiKt got headed back toward the depot when an express train showed up where we should have met it kerchunk that's good pie," and he took another piece. Uewiston Journal. The Yon Bnlow letters will shortly be published in London. The title of tbe new novel written b.v Conn 11 Doyle for serial publication in the London Qui-en is "Uncle Bernac: A Memory of the Empire." The Bodley Head issues "In the Dor ian Mood." by Victor Plan-, a book of verse which does not Justify its tithj and hardly its publication. It amuses little and Instructs not at nil, Lotii.se Imogen Guiney ha.s in press a volume of short essays of a whimsical and desultory character to winch she gives I lie gypsy name, "Pa Iritis." A patrin. Miss Guiney says, is a gypsy trail made uby easting handful of leaves ou the road to show which Way they have taken. Tlie Bookman expresses u desire to have Henry T. Finek write a paper on "The Probable Knowledge of tjuater nions Among the Pre-Cont'ueian t'hi nose," the motive being to sis? "whether he would be able to get beyond the first page without bringing lu the beloved name of Herr Anton Scull." In "Eehoiw from the Mountain," ('. E. D. Phelps touches now the lyric chord of Greece, now the modern lyre of society verse. Both are wholesome and tlie latter especially welcome. Mr. Phelps is not or the number of those versitiers who have apparently been trying to convince the public tluit tlie sense of fun is dead in the world. Prof. William M. Sloiine is now In Kurope arranging for tlie simnlta ncoius publication in French and German of his "Life of Napoleon lb inn parte." The Bookman, commenting 011 his change from Princeton to Columbia, says: "It is no secret that on the death of Dr. McCosh Prof. Slonne would have suc ceeded him in the presidency of Prince ton had not the traditions of that insti tution required the incumbent of the office to be a clergyman of the Presby terian faith." A Very Keiiiarknble Idea. Slie was angry, uot to say disgusted. "That's the third time this month," she said, "that I have read a story about a woman going through her hus band's pockets for change." "Well, my dear," re returned, aitolo getically, "you mustn't blame me. I didn't write them." "Of course you didn't." si xclaimed. "You know better. It's preposterous, outrageous, that such libels should be allowed to circulate In the guise of hu mor. It would be just as truthful to talk alHiut a man going through his wife's pockets. Why don't they ever do that?" He shttok his head. "I can't say positively," he .said. "but. it Is just possible that some humorist once tried to fhnl one, and knows how it is.' One may joke about the improba ble, you know, when he feels that he ought to draw the line at tlie Impossi. hie." Chicago Post. Personated the tucen. There in an old lady lying in the Pennsylvania hospital at Philadelphia with a broken leg who once Hat, as the figure of a life-size painting of Queen Victoria. She Is Miss Blanche Sully, and her father was Thomas Sully, in his time a famous painter of portraits. In 1S;;7 he went to Kng'.and with a com mission from the St. George Koclet? to paint the portrait of young Queen Victoria, lie took his daughter with him, mid as she was very nearly of the same stature as the Queen she sat for the figure in her fa tiler's picture of Vic toria, thus saving the latter the annoy ance of long sittings. ' During the sit tings Miss Sully became quite intimate with her Majesty, and brought buck with her Jo this country many delight fill memoirs of her royal friend. ChlrnitrBpTCal. e(.rry What do you think of this Idea that a man's real character Is re vealed In his handwriting? Wallace 1 don't believe It. Of course a man's character Is not revealed by his handwriting. I have heard love letter read in court the authors of which J knew were not the asses that the. letters made them out to be. Cin cinnati Enquirer. Whj They Are In Boclet . The Bitting Lady (frankly) I go Into society to find a husband. Why do yon? The Standing Lady To get away from a snsband.Ttibae. QUESTION IN MATHEMATICS. How One Yoaog Man Puzzled a Lot of Mia Companion. Sii of them, three young ladles and 1 three young men, were Hitting in a I semi-circle liefore the fireplace trying to- keeji warm and trying u flai some thing interesting to talk altouL They had discussed the last dance and the next one till there was nothing left In those KiihjcHK to talk alsnit. They had even discussed the weather, and the conversation had begun to lag a trifle when one of the young men came for ward with this suggestion: "Let's nee how good some of us are at mathematics." "Oh, we're nil good," shouted the oth ers lu chorus. ".lust try us and see If we aren't." "All right," said the first young man. "Let's see bow many of you can an swer this proposition: Suppose a rail road train left New York every day at for San Francisco and another train left San Frmirtsco every day for j New York, the trains traveling over the I name road, of course, and the trip each 1 way taking seven days: how many ::ains would the train from New York I meet on the way?" i "Oil, there's some catch ultout. it," I said one of the young ladies, "I'm not I going to bite at anything like that." I "No. there's no catch about it at all," j replied the young man. ''It's a tit might I mathematical problem. All you have to 1 do is to think It over." I "Why. of course there's no catch nlMiiit it," spoke up another of the voung men. "The train from New York would meet seven east-lMiund trains on the way." "No. that isn't right," said the young man who had furnished the problem. "It is. too," declared the other. "Of course it's right. If the train that leaves New York lakes seven days to make the Journey, and a train leaves San Francisco every day at the same hour, of course the New York train will meet seven east-bound trains." j "No. old man. I tell you your answer j Is not right." declared the propounder of the proposition. "Oh. I've got it," said one of the young ladies. "As the trains are coming toward one another all the while, the New York train would meet only half as many as it would if the other trains stood still. Therefore, don't you see, the New York train would meet, just three and a half trains from San Fran cisco." All the others wanted to laugh at this answer, but they did not dare because none of them wtis ready with a better. "That Isn't It, either," said the pro pounder of the question, biting his lips to keep from laughing. "You haven't figured it out yet." "I've guessed, I guess." suddenly de clared one of the young ladies who had not spoken liefore. "There is a train that gets into the New York depot just as tlie one leaves there, and yon don't count that, of course. So there are six trains. Isn't that right?" "No: even that isn't right," declared the young man. 'Well, how many are there?" de mauded the others, in chorus. , "Do you all give it up?" "Yes. we all give it: up." "Well, tlie New York train going to San Francisco would meet fourteen trains coining east." "Fourteen!" slum ted the others. "Yiw, fourteen." "How do you make it fourteen?" "Easily enough," explained the young man. "Counting the train that comes Into the station just as our train leaves, there are seven trains on the road when our train starts. Seven more will start before It reaches San Francisco, and seven and seven are fourteen. Hasy enough, when you know how, isn't it?" I He Didn't, Mind. i Andrew Lang, in the Illustrated l.oii j don News, gives an anecdote of Dean j Stanley's amiable simplicity. Tbe Dean was invited out to dinner, and was very late. When he arrived his collar was unfastened, and the ends vibrated like little white wings about the head of a cherub. I People could not but look at him with curiosity during dinner, and at length, I with due precautions, his hostess ven i lured to ask him if lie knew that bin collar had broken adrift. "Oil, yi"S," said tlie Dean. "Do you mind?" "Not at all," said the lady. "Then I don't mind, either," an swered tlie Dean. "The bill ton dropped off while I was dressing," and he con tinued his conversation. "It was not," says Mr. Lang, "ab sence of mind, but unrivaled presence of mind that Stanley displayed on this occasion. Any other human being than he would have been at the jHtiu: of changing his shirt." Quick It el urns. Angry Caller (at newspaper office) Say, I want that little nd. I gave you two days iigo"Wiuited, an electric battery iu good working order" taken out. Advertising Clerk -What Is the mat ter? Didn't we put It In the right col- Angry Caller Column bo dashed! The ad. overdid the bitslness. My bouse was struck by lightning hist night. W hut a Question. His New Manima-iu-Iiaw 1 trust, my de.ii 1- son. that you never Indulge in the pernicious habit of going out between the acts for 11 drink of iutoxr cantg? The Bridegroom Why, my dear mamma, you didn't think 1 had It brought iu, did you ? Cleveland Tlaln Dealer. The public takes care of many people who are not In the poor house. Tbe old settler remembers well b there was little to remember. ; L':r -9 x 1 1. r.-r i 'A LU. sr. - r.- a '1l K-t - ft?- l4 & i5 kC,3a., . 1 l i ,r c- 11