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About Harrison press-journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1899-1905 | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1903)
"i-1 m r tr-l' 1 7 -V s 1 i 9 f "I 0 i'V I 3 3fi ElDIITdDIMALS fed? OPINIONS OF GREAT PAPERS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS Magnitude of Panama TnE practical phases of the work Panama Canal are Impressive In I operation are fairly under way. 1 laborers will be employed. Under ernment. or the contractors, can draw part of the carta, but It U erpected aad American negroes will be brought In at the outset. If they cannot be secured in sufficient numbers Japanese, or veu Chinese, labor may be used. The ordinary laborer's wages will not be over 50 cents a day. In case negroes are employed, accommodations for their Tided, as It Is established by experience will not go far from home without their The task of maintaining a high grade ucb people In a tropical climate will must be successfully performed If epidemics are to be kept away from the Isthmus. A sinall army of physicians, me chanics, machinists, electricians, engineers, both stationary and locomotive, firemen, masons, foremen, bosses, Inspect ors and bo on will be required, and these positions will go almost exclusively to white men from this country. The feeding of the whole force will require a commissariat qual to that of a large army In the tield, and the bulk of the food supplies will go from the Tolled States to the Isthmus, ns will Indeed a large amount of machinery, ce ment and lumber. For the transportation of all this mate rial to the Isthmus the Government will have a steamship line between New York and Colon, which will be acquired with the other property of the French company, ami the Panama railroad, while, of course, New Orleans will be come a great feeder through Its private steamship com panies. In effect, the United States Government will super intend an enterprise equivalent to maintaining an army In active operations In a foreign country; although the Gov ernment's Irect work would be greatly minimized If it should make a contract with a syndicate or private con struction company to do the Job. Springfield Republican. Why Be Good? THE announcement to the effect that the Inmates of the county Jail are to be provided with facilities for physical culture brings the reader again to that para dox of modern civilization by which a young man of exemplary character gets fewer advantages and opportuni ties than the young man who perseveres In a disregard for law. Take two boys in an urban tenement district as lllus crnCous. One Iniy is good. He attends school rogunrly. Ho U In a room In which there are twice as many boys as there ought to be and In which the courses of Instruction may have practically nothing to do with the Industrial life to which he Is destined. After a few years of perfunctory tudy lie reaches his industrial majoriiy-14-aud he begins to work. He has learned no trade. His "general culture" Is not exactly efflorescent. His chances of becoming any thing better than an unskilled employe are slight. How much Ix-lier would It have been for lilm If he had been bad! First, he would have beeu sent to a school for 'truants. There he would have got much better food than at home and. In general, much better physical conditions. Also, he would have had Instruction much more adapted to his wants, because he would have been given a large amount of inuuual training. After he was released from the school for truants, If he only had sense enough to keep on being bad, he would escape going to work and he would be sentenced to a school for delinquents where his education would be con tinued. More games! More discipline: More manual train ing! All supervised by experts In the sciences of pedagogy and criminology. Having become too old forthe Rchool for delinquents, our boy now proceed to a reformatory. The good boy, w,lom e look leave of some time ago, Is expiating his The Fountain Pen: I It Taught a Lesson. "When yu get to be my age, Hurls, you'll prefer to use your head more 4i in your legs less," said the cashier, dryly, us be (dipped Into his pocket the fountain pen which the young clerk liad Just handed him: "If you had thought at nil. you would have known that 1 couldn't need this pen till to morrow, mill you would have saved yourself tho four blocks " 'i didn't think It nil," Interrupted the iKiy, with a dhow of Irritation, "When I've fald I'll do a thing. I've done with thinking about it. I Just do it." "Then, Davis, you are a great moral Knlux.'' retorted the other, with a laugh. "I'll have to congratulate the 'hlcf that we have secured your ser- VlCiS." The buy felt that be was being ridi culed, and his fresh young face red d. iMd more deeply. He surveyed the older wan with open defiance. ".lust (o show you, sir, thut I haven't brought this pen back to make a show of being goody-goody and getting Into your favwr. I'll get myself thoroughly out of, your favor and earn a discharge by telling you who I I think of your manners!" he burst forth, hotly, ami his blue eyes moistened with anger. "I think, sir, Hint they are" He wavered on the brink of an tin Bceustoinisl expletive. "See here, Onvls, I apologize," said the cashier, In n friendly tone. "I had Ho huHlmnN speaking M I did. Hold on n minute!" The young clerk had laid his hit nd on the door knob. "I iu really lnlireted, Davis, In your views on borrowing and returning," the cashier font limed, In a light lone, pliijlng with sonic papers on his d-k. "I've been philosophising about It my. If n I It II." The boy nni plainly anxious to be gi;iK Along with tho other clerk of tin- (dire, bp bed this sharp-iongued, smiling mil n In dislike. ' ' "Von wnlk buck four blocks to fulfil proiuUe to which bo on was bold Inn . and )'" proved to n Hint you didn't do It to forward your If In our good graces," Hid the enablrr. "i tiiMt certainly 414 not!" retorted Canal. of constructing the magnitude. When from 20.000 to 40,000 the law the kv- this labor from any that West Indian families must be pro that these laborers wives and children. of sanitation among prove difficult, but It my moral principles concern you, sir, until they become a matter of dollars null cents to you. If 1 were In your pi.sillon, with a chance to embezzle funds " The cashier's hands dropped upon the desk, hlid off loosely by the weight of his dragging arms, and fell limply to his side. " my views on borrowing and lend ing would concern the firm," continued the boy. "As It Is, you need not In quire Into my motives " "Oh, come, Davis, don't be so seri ous!" urged the cashier, In n kindly tone. A slight glow had come Into his face. "Tell mo what makes you so particular. It's Just habit, Isn't it? You've been brought up to be nicely scrupulous Y" "It's Just my dislike for making ex cusm, I think," answered Havls, slow ly. "I'd always rather walk four blocks than have to excuse myself to any one for something I've done or haven't done." - "Well, I can understand that, Havls," said the cashier. "That sort of thing is disagreeable, very. Now If you hud borrowed this pen from my desk with out tn.v knowing anything about It, and hud returned It the same way, there wouldn't have been that dNagrcc nble explanation to go through." "I don't see the gain." said the boy, with a look of disgust on his face. "Then you'd have the most disagree able thing of all to do you'd have to make excuses to yourself. There's never any end to that sort of lliliig." With that lie went out of the room. "Hello, Havls!" called the cashier after him, and when the Isiy stuck his head In (it the door, "I meant to thank you." "Vim didn't seem particularly oblig ed, sir," retorted tho boy, with a good natured laugh, for a softened look In the cashier's face had quite njipensed li.iu. "Indeed, I sm obliged to you!" said the oilier, with a sort of fervor. The Ixiy did not remnrk his tone. He bad already dosed tho office Hoor. The cashier transferred several pack Hal's from his Inner pocket to the cash drawer, humming a little tune Youth's Companion, The larger the town, the older the women are before they quit dancing. Tell n of a town In which the women qntt at 40, and we can tell yon bow piety In a prlntl jg establishment In which he Is trying to develop bis faculties by menus of shoving several thousand pamphlets a day through the throat of a stapler. Our bad boy, shrewdly sticking to his reformatory, gets lots of physical exercise, plenty of reading in the library, and a final fitting for bis trade la the elaborately fitted reform atory tool shop. He steps out Into the world at the age f 20 a trained American workman, uninjured by excessive toll as a boy, and prepared to use bis skill in some trade In which skill means large wages, Viciousness brings Its own reward. Chicago Tribune. Strikes and Settlements. A STRIKE has spectacular features. It Is a declara tion of war, and war always catches the public eye. Rut a settlement of a labor trouble, either before or after a strike, Is a humdrum business affair which few outside of those Immediately concerned can understand. The encouraging fact In the situation Is that the com promises by which strikes are averted are, in a larger per centage of the labor troubles than ever before. Roth sides to the labor problem are evidently more amenable to reason than In the past and more reidy to listen to argument. Capital was never so willing to shaiv earnings with labor as now. Labor was never so well paid. Its demands were never listened to so patiently. Its outlook was never so bright. Strikes will continue to occur, but the large per centage of peaceful compromises shows that a Just and equitable basis for the settlement of the labor problem Is being gradually reached. Philadelphia Press. The War on Consumption. CONSUMPTION Is not only a curable and preventable disease; but It is a plague which can be wholly ex tirpated by the universal exercise of simple precau tions. There Is no need of It spreading from one member of a family to the others; and there Is even less need of it being permitted to descend from generation to generation. A consumptive in a house Is not a center of contagion, unless by culpable neglect the rest of the house hold make him so. There Is only one way of communi cating the disease and that Is by permitting the sputum to dry and be carried into the air again; and it la the simplest thing In the world to absolutely prevent this from occurring. The fact that consumptive sanitariums are about the safest places for people with weak lungs to live demon strates this theory. Some statistics were published a few years ago going to prove that certain Swiss towns, in which large consumptive hospitals had been established, Bhowed an actual reduction In the percentage of tuberculosis cases among their people after the opening of these hospitals which collected sufferers from all over Europe. If con sumptives, when looked after In the cleanly manner ad vised by modern science, still spread the disease, these towns should have shown a marked Increase. As It was, the example set by these Institutions really brought about a decrease. Montreal Star. Cheerfulness Brings Happiness. TO be cheerful when the world Is going well with you Is no great virtue. The thing is to be cheerful under disadvantageous circumstances. If one has lost mon ey, If business prospects fall, if enemies appear tri umphant, if there Is sickness of self or those dear to one, then Is It, Indeed, a virtue to be cheerful- When poverty pinches day after day, month after month or through the years as they pass, and one has ever to deny self of every little longed-for luxury, and the puzzle of how to make one dollar do the work of two has to be solved, then the man who can will be cheerful Is a hero. He is a greater hero than the soldier who faces the cannon's mouth. Such cheer fulness Is the kind that we need to cultivate. Milwaukee Journal. STAR OF BETHLEHEM. Another Kffort Made to Kxplain A. tronnmicut I'licnomeuon. A fresh attempt has been made to explain the Impressive astronomical phenomenon which, according to the Scriptures, accompanied the birth of the founder of the Christian religion, says the New York Tribune. Inasmuch as it was of short duration and excep tional brilliancy, It has often been sug gested that It was a temporary star, like that which blazed out suddenly In the constellation of Perseus over two years ago. Indeed, a belief for which there never was any substantial foun dation was once entertained that the Star of Bethlehem may have been Identified Willi the star which Tycho observed In 157J. To accept this latter theory It was necessary to assume that the object In question was In the habit of reappear ing: regularly at Intervals of about .'il l years. A few credulous people actual ly looked for its reappearance In l.swi, although uo reputable' astronomer en couraged the expectation. It did not com:', mid nobody now takes any stock In the Idea of Identity with Tycho's star. The latest suggestion, offered by Iinvics 1'orbes, an Englishman, Is that the Star of Rethlehem was not only a comet, but was the same one which bears Halley's inline. This comet has had u peculiar Interest for astrono mers, iM'cause It Is the first whose re turn was ever predicted. After Its visit to tin.' vicinity of the sun from outer space hi 1fK. Halley found rec ords of the paths followed by similar bodies In' li07 and These con formed so closely to the orbit Just computed that he felt Justified In de claring that the dates represented three sc-piirate appearances of one com et, mid that a fourth might be confi dently expected In IKI.'i. Though Halley did not live to see It, the comet came back exactly on time, and appeared Jn precisely the right place. If nothing happens to It, there fore. If ought to btt observed once more In Hill, or eight years hence. Mr. Forbes tries also to Identify Halley's comet with one mentioned by Josephus as appearing at thu time of tho de struction of Jerusalem, 75 A. I)., and another wblcb he says signalised Pom pey'i dofett of afithridatoa aowly U0 OLD- I FAVORITES f H I' I I I I ! 4- ! 1 I -t- John Barns of Gett jsbnrg-. Have you heard the story that gossips tell Of Burns of Gettysburg? No? Ah, ' well; Brief is the glory that hero earns. Briefer in the story of poor John Burns; He was the fellow who won renown The only man who didn't hack down When the rebels rode through his native tuwii; But held his own in the fight next day. When all his townsfolk ran away. That was in July, sixty-three, The very day tlmt General Iee, Flower of Southern chivalry, Bullied and beaten, backward reeled From a stubborn Meade and a barren tield. I might tell you how, but the day before, John Burns stood at his cottage door, Looking down the village street, Where, in the shade of his peaceful vine. He heard the low of his gathered kine, And felt their breath with incense sweet; Or I might say, when the sunset burned The old farm gable, he thought it turned The milk, that fell in n babbling Hood Into the milk pail, red as blood, Or how he fancied the hum of bees Were bullets buzzing among the trees, But all such fanciful thoughts us these Were strange to a practical man like Burns, Who minded only his own concerns. Troubled no more hy fancies linn Thau one of his culm-eyed, long-tailed kine Quite old fafhioned nnd matter-of-fact, Klow to argue, but quick to act. That was the reason, as some folks say, lie fought so well on that terrible day. And it was terrible. On the right Haged for hours the heady fight, Thundered the battery's double bass Iiittlciilt music for men to face; While on the left where now the graves Undulate like the living waves That all that day unceasing swept Up to the pits the rebels kept Uound-sliot plowed the upland glades, Sown with bullets, reaped with blades; Shattered fences here ami there Tossed tiieir splinters in the air; The very trees were stripped and bare; The burns that once held yellow grain Were heaped with harvest of the slain; The cattle bellowed on the plain, The turkeys screamed with might and main, And brooding barn-fowl left their rest With strange shells bursting in each nest. Just where the tide of battle turns, Erect and lonely stood old John Burns. How do you think the man was dressed? He wore nn ancient long buff vest, Yellow as saffron but his best; And, buttoned over his manly breast, Was a bright-blue coat, with a roiling collar, And large gilt buttons size of a dollar With tails that the country-folk called "swaller." lie wore a broad brimmed, bell-crowned hat, White as the locks on which it sat. Never hud such a sight beeu seen For forty years on the village green, Since old John Burns was a country beau, And went to the "quiltings" long ago. Close at his elbows all that day Veterans of the Peninsula, Sunburnt and bearded, charged away; And striplings, downy of lip and chin Clerks that the Home Guard mustered in Glanced, ns they passed, at the hat he wore, Then at the rille his right hand bore; And hailed him, from out their youthful lore, With scraps of a slangy repertoire: "How are you, White Hat?" "Put her through." "Your head's level," and "Bully for you!" Called him "Daddy"; begged he'd dis , ci(-e The name of the tailor who made his clothes. And what wns the value he set on those; While Burns, unmindful of jeer and scoff, Stood there picking the rebels off With his long brown rille, and hell crown lint, And the swallow tails they were laugh ing nr. 'Twits but for a moment, for that re spect Which clothes all courage their voices checked, And something the wildest could under stand Spake in the old man's strong right hand; And his corded throat, mid the lurking frown Of his eyebrows under his old lieU-erown; Until, us they gazed, there crept an swe Through the ranks in whispers, and some men saw In the antique vestments and long white hair The Past of the Nation in buttle there; And some nf the soldiers sinco declare Thnt the gleam of his old white hat afar. Like the crested plume of the brave Na varre, Thnt day was the orlllaninie of wsr. So raged the battle. Yon know the rect: How the rebels, beaten and backward pressed. Broke at the finnl chnrge and ran. At which John Burns a practical man Shouldered his rille, unbent his brows. And then went back to his bees ami cows. This is the story of old John Burns. This is t lie moral the render learns: In fighting the buttle, the question's whether You'll show a hnt Mint's white, or a fentherl Bret Hnrte. TOBOGGANING INTO A BEAR. PntiKcre of licar lliuitlnii on an Icy Northern lalaml. A member of t lie Wellmnn polar ex pedition of 1KI8-0, Pinil Boervl, Is described hy Mr. Walter ulliunii, in "A Tragedy of the Far North," as a man of superior courage, of unexam pled fortitude ttiul of Inspiring char acter. If there wns a bit of danger ous work to do, he wan sure to he the first to plunge In. lie snug and laughed at his work. If he went down Into a "porridge," half Ice and half alt r"ri ndaspiilld PHt balr, be came up with a Joke about the Ice-cream freezer. One day three men were out bear- hunting on an Island. Two of them had riflek the other had none. The last was iijoervlg. They found a bear, wounded blm, and chased blm to the top of a glacier. There bruin stood at bay. One 'of the hunters went to the left, another to the right. Bjoervig laboriously mounted the lce-pilo to .eca re. the beast -down where the others might get a shot. But one of the hunters became Impatient, and started to climb up also. On the way he lost bis footing, fell, and slid forty or fifty feet Into a pocket of soft snow. At that moment, unfortunately, Bjoervig frightened the bear. Leavlii; the summit of the Ice-heap, the beast slipped and slid straight toward the helpless man, w ho was floundering up to his armpits below. Apparently the man's life was not worth a half-kroner. In a few seconds the bear would be upon him, and would tear him to pieces. The brute was wounded, furi ous, desperate. Bjoervig saw what he had to do. He did not hesitate. He followed the bear. From his perch at the summit he threw himself down the precipitous slope. He rolled, fell, slipped straight down toward the big white bear. He had no weapon but an oaken skee staff, a mere cane; nevertheless he made straight for the bear. Down t lie hillock slope he came, bumping and leaping, and yelling at. the top of his voice. His cries, the commotion which be raised, the vision the bear saw of a man flying dowrj at him, frightened the beast half out of his wits; diverted his attention front the imperiled hunter to the bold pur suer. This wns what Bjoervig was working for. The bear dug his mighty claws Into the ice nnd stopped and looked a Bjoervig, but Bjoervig could not stop. The slope was too steep, his momentum too great. Ho dug his hands Into thfl crust of the snow; be tried to thrust his skee-stuff deep Into the surface, It was in vain. Now he was almosl upon the bear; the beast crouched tq Rpring at him. Another second and it would all be over. Crack! the rifl spoke. The man down below had baj time to recover his equilibrium. An other shot and the buttle was over, Bjoervig and the bear rolled down to- gellier. "You saved my life," said the mnr, with the gun, when Bjoervig had picket' himself up, "No, no," responded Bjoervig, whip. plug the snow out of his hair, you saved mine." Money in Railroading. A New York boulevard car va going north one day recently when, with a sudden jar, the current wai thrown off and the passengers were bumped rudely together. The car came to a standstill. The motormnn, Bays the New York Times, threw open th front door and rnn back to the con ductor on the rear platform. They exchanged a few words, then both ran through the cat to the fronl platform. Kvery passenger sat mute with surprise. Suddenly the car start cd and then backed. Then It stnrteij iiguln, and once more backed. Then It stopped. Off jumped motormnn amj conductor, and ns the astonished pas seiigers looked out of the windows they saw the two men down on theli hands nnd knees trying to crawl un der the car. Presently, with nn exela illation of delight, the motormnn, cov cred with mud and grime, slowlj emerged. Filtering the ear nnd hold ing up for Inspection a ten-dollar bill, be said: "Kxcttso me, passengers, for jarriu you and keeping you waiting, but I came near running over this ten-dollai bill, and I hated to do It and leave It for the motortnan on the car behind me.' Changed His Mind. It Is a wise father who knows Jus which story to tell In regard to his own child. Jackson, like other men has n horror of Infant prodigies as ex. plolted by their proud papas. The New York Times tells of his meeting his friend Wllklns, who greeted him wlthi "Hello, Jackson! What do you think my little girl said this morning? Sbe's the brightest four-yen r-old in town She said-" "Fxcuse me, old man!" exclaimed Jackson. "I'm on my way to keep an engagement. Some oilier time" "She said, 'Pupa, that Mr. Jackson. is the handsomest man I know!' Haw! haw! How's that for precocity, eh?" And Jackson replied, "WIlkliiH, I'm n little early for my engagement. That youngster certainly Is a brlglrt one Come Into this toy store and help me select a few tilings that will please fl girl of her taste, nnd I'll send them to her, If you don't mind." The Aulolut on Horseback. Automoblllst 1 wish til's confouiidef tiling would run out of gasoline. A Mean Man, "He's (lie menncst mnu In (own." "What has he done?" "Why, he permits his wife to aceep' alimony from two of ber former hut bands. Ht. Louis Post-Dispatch. No woman should laog b at i "Joka HOW FORT 8AN CARLOS FCL4W Geratan Gnnien Leaded Bhella wltkl Llmbnrier Cheese. In Fort San Carlos the Venezuelan garrison was pluckily withstanding the steady fire from tbe German warships. Shell after shell had exploded around them, men wounded or dead lay here and there, yet manfully they stuck to their guns and knew no fear, accord ing to s writer In the New Yorlr Times. "Do you worst!" cried Gen. Bello, hoarsely, shaking his powder-stained fist at the flame-belching ships riding beyond the bar. And, though the brave Venezuelan knew It not, tbe worst was already coming his way. From the smoke-clouded gun deck of tbe German flagship "Brave Bill". Pllsener, gunner's mate, bad climbed to the bridge, where the squadron com mander, In vexation, was pacing back and forth. "I beg to report, sir," he began, salut ing and speaking with the peculiar Williamsburg accent, "that I have a scheme to put them Venezuelans outer commission." "Veil, vass iss?" returned the com mander, impatiently. "Why," explained the gunner's mate, with a cruel, devilish light In bis eyes, "we've got sixteen cases of limburger cheese and nine barrels of sauerkraut left in the hold, nnd I would suggest thnt we load some of our shells with the stuff." The German commander recoiled at first from so diabolical and uncivilized a method of warfare, but he was bent on victory, and in the end he yielded to the Idea. Behind the defiantly thundering walls of the fort brave Gen. Bcllo was mak ing an encouraging speech to his men. "Remember the customs receipts," be concluded, in a burst of patriotism, and a cheer went up from the powder coated throats of his men. Just then the first of the limburger ami sauerkraut charged shells from the flagship's main battery exploded over the fort.' As the thick, dense odor settled down around them the patriots, panic-stricken, drew their cutlasses and cutting their way through it fb'd fran tically from the fort to the clear ozone of the hills beyond. FORTUNES FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS More than ?1,500,(X)0 is expended for photographs every year in New York city. Upward of 400 photographers (roup this harvest, ranging from the Bowery tintype man to tbe ultra-fashionable artist with a studio on Fifth avenue. Be it raining or shining, in war or (in the piping times of peace, thous ands seek the skylight galleries every day with the fell Intention of being ;"took." The present era of prosperity !is entirely favorable to the natural ivanity which prompts the average man 'and woman to face tbe camera. Photographers who maintain expen sive establishments and eater to the swell set share largely In the advant ages of the good times, but their clien tele, the wealthy folk, who spend from $1,000 to $2,000 a year regularly for photographs, do not vary much In their orders whether the times be good or bad. It Is the average business man and wage-earner, and more especially their families, who swell the photo graph man's wallet these days, aud thousands of such families spend from $50 to $100 a year. Next to theatrical people, society folk get their pictures taken oftenest. Actors and actresses, so photographers say, are by no means the best of their patrons, and some of the studios de cline their trade altogether, tbe prin cipal reason being that they are bad pay. A member of one prominent firm said It was found Inexpedient to deal with theatrical people and their regu lar patrons; It was like trying to mix oil with water, since tbe requirements of the theatrical photograph In acces sories nnd back-ground differ widely from ordinary phases of the art. Not a few fashionable women, however, like their pictures In the style and similitude of actresses. He (after tho proposal) But suppose your father objects? She Just Inform blm that I have de cided to marry you, that will settle it. -Illustrated Bits. A Mot Time. "I got a cold my per when went homo to night, and you bit I kicked about It." 'Did thnt do any good?" "Will, my wife roado It warm 'or me."-Philadelphia Press. Fver notice a boy when lie Ion; around home In the evening? He sleeps a while In hla cbalr, and then curls up on tbe looni, bat be won't go to bed. When tefcy t.J, t Eft. JSd. 9f I