OPINIONS OF GREAT PAPERS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS roi Ver and Prace. NE of till curioti feature of the present ia teruat'.oiial situation In regard to armaments U the Indisposition to Increase war implement f nd military force on any other ground than that of alf-defenne. No government In Kurow (would to-day dare ask for increase of taxitiou lor purpose of military cou.iu.nt. No nation want 10 ar.ny; and yet many nations are armed In a de free unknowo licfore in the history of the modern world, because other natiuii ar rined. It la a grut mistake to Imagine that, because tde financial budget of the great power aliow almost annual lucre.- in expenditure for the army and usvy. therefore warlike filling is growing, or Uiat the love of peace ha not gained ground r tjjat t;ie horror of war doea not deepen, year by year. England feeia obliged to keep a navy afloat equal lu power to the nary of any two oilier countries purely aa a matter of S'-If-defeue. She lic-r..-s her anuament bivau.se Russia and Oermauy Increase their, and lie increases it under pro teat Oeniinny add continually to her military resources, although there U not the slightest doubt that the Umperor deslrea peace. In thl country tht only ground on which people would tolera'e the Increased expenditure for the uavy which has been mido In recent years ha been the ground of self defence . The cominerce of the country la ao great, the possibilities of oomplication so many and the armament of the other nation of the first rank ho large, Uiat, o long as these conditions continue, the great ma turity of Americana, who hate war and who profoundly believe that the genius of America la peace, feel also that the country must have adequate protection, and have It read at hand lu rase of an unexpected need. The world la lu arms today under protest, each country keeping up Ita force because every other country keeps up Its force. New York Outlook. World's fair Sol Profitable. XPUSITIO.NH where irreat sums are emended TfT I for architectural and other display are not J immediately profitable. If they are ultimately to be ausceptlble of trustworthy estimation. There la reason to believe that they are an in Jury rather than a benefit lo the cities where they are held. They attract great numbers of workmen nd others while the money la going for construction, etc., and there Is an appearance of prosperity. This appear ance la prolonged while visitors Hie pouring In and spend lug money, but the cost which is borne in the ilrst Instance, mostly by local purchasers of stock, Is never covered by re ceipts, or anywhere near covered. A great share of It is lost beyond recovery. Koine are benefited In various ways, but ou the whole the loss exceeds the gain. The expo sitlon city sustains Injury In consequence of a sudden boom In real estate, followed by a long season of depression and dullness. It sustains still more Injury from the Influx of sn undesirable population, which to a great extent re mains stranded and a public burden, taking the form of an Increase In pauperism and crime. This has come to be so well understood that It will prob ably be more diftlcult hereafter to Induce people to con tribute the money for the preliminary work. It Is not Im probable that In future world's expositions the exhibits will be much less extensive and more choice. T his would great ly reduce the cost, and the results would be more satisfuc tory to those who get a comprehensive view of what Is going on In the world. Less bigness, less of the gorgeous and spectacular, will make world's fairs more profitable and of greater educational value. Chicago Lhrouiele. P Art of Keeping a Secret IF.RSoNS that can keep a secret are few. A secret seems to give most people a colic until Ithey relieve the pressure by breathing the I treasured Information Into other ears. Eveti when the secret reflects shame on the pos Isessor he is sorely tempted to share It with somebody. In that case the Instinct for confession takes the place of the vainglorious motives which, In other cases, loosen the tongues of the custodians of n secret. The or dinary person, having a secret, feels proud of It. He goes about with Uie thought In hi mind that be knows some thing that would amaze people should they be informed of it. Like the b-ubcr of King Midas, of Phrygia. who dis covered that bis master had asses' ears, be must tell the news or burst; but he seldom display the shrewdness of the larber, who whispered the awful Information Into a hole in the ground and then covered up the hole. Stevenson said that a Scot would keep a necret just for the exercise of keeping It, but even S-otia has Its babbler. Human nature is Instinctively communicative. There is scarcely a human being, man or woman, that has not one ontitLuit. The rarely gifted perHons that absorb seciet.s a5 black felt absorbs light, giving out nothing and Into whose unyielding breasts secrets may be deposited In the firm faith that they will go no further, are not to be found on every corner. J hey are almost as scarce as ceriiaurs. There Is only one secure method of keeping a secret, and that Is to keep It. A secret may be defined as Information known only to one person. Telling a secret to one friend though he be pledged w ith awful oaths to let It go no fur ther, is like taking the first drink of whisky; It la the initial step toward danger. So long as the toper refrains from the first drink he will not get drunk, and so long as the treasurer f a secret keeps It locked up closely In his own mind, communicating It to no one at all, the secret Is safe. San Francisco Uulletiu. Is Crime Increasing? "IIKNEVKH a crime of unusual turpitude is A T ommltted, and particularly wheuever a nuui fg ber of such forbidding event occur In quick nJ -succession, we hear much about the "epidemic SrVWIrl ,f crime," ac-ompan!ed by lugubrious comment ZjVlM. ij o the effect that wlckedne Is increasing inaL ii i outrunning the growth of population, that the country Is rapidly degenerating. It has become the tel. tied conviction of minds chronically Indisposed to loo.: upt.n the sunny side of things that the criminal population is In creasing at a more alarming rate than at any time lu tint country's history, yet no proof Is at hand lo support tbi pessimistic view. Penologist are awaiting trustworthy and sufficiently comprehensive statistics on thU interesting subject. Samuel .1.' Barrows, Commissioner for the United States on the International Prison Commission, declared in a paper pub lished In it)3 that for want of any comparative statistics In the United States It is extremely diillctilt to say whethei criminals ure Increasing with reference to the population inasmuch as so much depends upon the activity of the po lice. Mr. Burrows observes that as social relations multiply this standard of propriety mid good conduct and of social protection la constantly raised, and when new laws are rigidly enforced "we may expect an Increase for the time being in the number of offenders until society has adjusted Itself to the new requirements." It may be noted that the system of news gathering has been brought to a high pitch of efficiency In our day. Every crime of Importance occurring almost anywhere in tht 'ountry Is Immediately reported. We hear very much mors about crime thaji our forbears did. The diligence of the reporters and the news agencies creates the Impression that the world is growing worse. The law-abiding millions at tract little attention. Philadelphia Ledger. Travesties on Religion. HK religion which does not anneal to the mind and the soul, and which does not attract be I cause of innate worth, Is of little account, I If nnoa ( V.A KAtt.i It n'l 1 1 I.a at! save the sensational clergyman, who Is com pel led to gather congregations by methods bor dering on the methods of the circus ring. The American Is fond of the spectacular at times, and in mod crate quantities. But he neither believes In megaphouk spectacularism nor In mixing religion and tight rope trapeze performances. He may not be a deeply religious man, but he has a wholesome sense of the proprieties. It Is never a matter of trouble for him to detect the difference be tween the mountebank In the pulpit and the clergytnai; who preaches because he believes and relies on his belief for the holding of his flock together. ConclnnaO Commer clnl-Trllmne. THE FINEST ROAD IN KOREA. JSC, ft Vi'Vv'Wi? Ju. Although Korea Is noted for Its poor roads, most of them being little more than bridle paths, there Is one marked exception. This Is the highway show n In the accompanying picture, which is said to be the finest causeway In the Far East It leads from the Imperial palace In Seoul to the tomb of the murdered Empress of Korea, some fifteen miles distant. The road Is fifty feet wide. It Is traversed twice a year by the Emperor, attended by 4,m or r,(XK) Koran soldiers. The Empress to whose grave these seml-nnnual pil grimages are made was very bitterly opposed tfl the Japanese. It is alleged that she was killed by Jap soldiers at the Instigation of the minister from Tokyo. Vacarlc or Iiiit". The vagarle of English spelling are well Illustrated lu the following ex tract The words sound properly but the spelling does not correspond to the meaning required. It would make good exercise In spelling to rewrite the extract In Its proper form: Know won kneed weight two bee tolled thee weigh too dew sew. A rite suite little buoy, the sun of grate kernel, with a rough around bis neck, due up Ihe rode as quick us a dear. After- a thyme lie stopped at a blew house and wrung the belle. His two hurt hymn nd ho kneitlrsl wrest. He was tw),tlred to raze his fare, pall face. A feint mown rows fro, n his Him. The made who herd the belle was 1 i-a nnlr a Dare, butt W "It'" n outrage, Uu-ougb. It her mite, for fear her guessed wood knot weight. Butt when she saw the little won, tiers stood lu her ayes at the site. "Ewe, poor deerl Why dew ye lye hear? Are yew dyeing?" "Know," he said, "I am feint" She boar hymn In her arms and hurried to a rheum where he mite bee quiet, gave him bred and meet, held a cent bottle tinder his knows, ttntlde his neck scarf, rapped him up warm and gave him a suite drachm. St Nicholas. , Greeks Inorease Fast. The poulntiou of Greece Is Increas ing faster than that of nny other coun try In Europe at present a man said to- down and ran wltii awrM'r Still, it a not tha only ona. USE FEW FILIPINO WORDS. American Gain Little in LunifuuKe from the Katern Jule. A letter making inquiry of Colonel Edwards, chief of the bureau of in sular affairs, war department, as to words grafted Into the English iflu guage on aciMiunt of the American oc cupation of the Philippines was turned over to Captain Taylor, who Is an ex cellent Spanish scholur and is getting up the history of the Philippine from the public documents captured from the Filipinos. He made a reply which Indicated that not so many words conic over from the Philippines, although thousands of United States soldiers have wpent yirs In the Islands. Prob ably the Tajralog language nnd the language of the different tribes do not Impress the Americans who go to the Philippines. Siinicli is the chief language of the Philippines, nnd by the acquisition of Florida, Now Mexico, Texas and Cali fornia the United States acquired about all of the Spanish terms needed In the English language to convey the meaning of various places and objects. The English language, doos not apiMir euUjr acquire many words from sav agery. It would be pretty hard to name any words In the English lan guage that were acquired from the In dians of North America save the names of places. No one knows how many dialects and different languages ore spoken In the Philippine islands. General An drew Burt, who spent several years In the Philippines and served In Impor tant positions, said that oftentimes he occupied one point with troops where one language whs apoken, while three miles away n totally different lan guage wns (qxiken, differing apparently mora than languages of different In dian tribes In this country. The ac quisition of any of tiie.se tribal lan guages oulslde of the Ttigalog wns al most ImiKiBslble and aseless. It Is ap parent tho' wWtevor else the Philip pines contribute they will not enrich or enlarge the American langiingc, When you write a letter nave you a verr rood reaaou for wrlUnvl The citizens of Geneva, Sw itzerland, have iireiwite"! Stanley J. Weyman with an illuminated and inwiibed aa iress and a bust of Culvln in token of their appreciation of his novel of Geneva "The Long Night." "lara Louise Burijliam In Jewel has drawn one of lliohe delightfully nat ural picture of child life which have a charm for ull clause of reader. The heroine is a lovable chiid and is blessed with a belise of humor. A novel by Stanley Weyman is al ways an event of intercut to those who love a good historical novel. His new story is to be published by IOiig niaiis. Green & Co. It is a historical romance of France when Henri (Juatre reigned. The Graftou Press, New York, well known for Intelligent attention to genealogies, biographies and local his tories, has added a gencalogicaal de partment conducted by mi expert nnd experienced genealogist. This Is a timely recognition of an Interest that is growing noticeably In this country. Charles Hemstreet, the authority on did New York, has decided to become the manager of a press clipping bureau In New York. Speaking recently of his decision, he said: "I give up litera ture after a fair and Impartial trial of eighteen years, fully convinced that the prospect of the old age of an author is not alluring." Levett Yeats, who made readers gruteful for his first book, "The Hon or Jiuvelu," has a new story, which is nlso a historical romance, coming out unde, the title of "Orraln." The scene Is laid In the days of Henry II. of France and Its historical Interest centers in the struggle between Cath erine de Medicts and Iiiana de Por tiers. V. E. JL-'rrls has furnished a new tory entitled "Nigel's Vocation." It Is n story of 8 young man who, having Joined the church of Koine and hav ing been admitted to a monastery a a novice, finds himself recalled to the world by the Inheritance of a large es tate. The schemes of many persons to supplant him and complications which arise from bis love affairs form the story. "Christian Science" is the title of a book which Mrs. Mary Piatt I'armele ,s about to publish, perhaps has pub lished by this time. In it she is said to Inquire If It Is either Christian or science, and to "discuss dlapiisKonnte ly" Its claims, benefits, limitations and prrors. This seems queer, since we have been told that Christian Science alms to put mankind In a receptive at titude, so as not to obstruct or evade the acts or will of God toward his creatures. And If this be true bow can there be either limitation or error In the Influence It seeks to aid? Mrs. EtnUy Post's new book, The Flight of a Moth, will be published by Dodd, Mead & Co. The heroine is a young and beautiful American widow, who, after her husband's death, does exactly what she pleases. From her childhood on, until the last day of mourning for her husband, she baa oeen held back from having a good time. When the book opens she goes to Europe with only her maid, and decides to make up for lost time. Her sister warns her that she Is like a moth nnd will burn hev wtngs, but she declares that she would "rather be a burnt moth than a crawling worm." Mrs. Florence Morse KIngsley, the author of The Singular Miss Smith, Is widely known through ber various hlstorlco-religlous novels: Titus: A Comrade of the Cross; Stephen: A Sollder of the Cross; Paul: A Herald of the Cross; The Cross Triumphant The Transfiguration of Miss Philura, and Prisoners of the Sea. She was ed ucated at Wellesley College, and mar ried the Ttev. Mr. KIngsley In 1XS2. Since iHT2 she has been on the staff of ;he Ladles Home Journal. She does ner literary work, she says, "from !) to 12, while the children are nt ehool." Her new story Is described is a decidedly clever skit on various ;ihnscs of social life and women clubs; jnt It Is nlso an attractive and unusual ove slorv. AMERICAN FLAG IN BATTLE. Kccord of the Union Standard from lirnndywlne to Suntluuo. Although the resolution by which the flag became a national standard was not olliclally promulgated by the secretary of Congress until Sept. 3, 1 777, It seems well authenticated that 'he regulation stars and stripes was carried nt the Iwittle of Brandywlne, fought Sept 11, 1777. This shows that Jie contract entered Into by Betsy Ross must have been carried out with great Ntpedltlon, and. that the flags had been distributed among the line regi ments of the revolutionary army early In September. The flag first dis played In battle at Brandywlne Creek hnd thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, and as a union thirteen white stars were displayed on a blue field. The flag which was carried by the men In blue and buff during the bat tics of the revolution remained nn thnngetl until the first day of May, 17!)5, wh'-n, by a previous act of Con ress, two additional stripes were ndd d to the body of the standard nnd wo stars to the union. These nddl 'lons were made to represent the Jtates of Vermont nnd Kentucky, vhlch had just been admitted to the federal union, As no further change vns made In the national flag until 1818, It follows Uiat the regimental col ors carried during the war of 113 were of tht dttdgu. Thus the Amerl can flags surrendered bv General Hull at iMftroit, and thoe captured by the British at Bladensburg and Washing ton niUHt ail have displayed fifteet alternate red and whtie Mripe. at well as the fifteen Mars of the union In lfrlH. by an act of Congress, tht stripes of the national flag were agait reduced to thirteen, and it was de clared that the addition of a star lo the union should thenceforward rep resent each new State. A newspapei of the time, still kept lir the govern nient archives, said. "By this regula tion the thirteen Miipcs will repitseiii the number of States whose valor and resources originally effected the Amer ican Independence, and additions' stais will mark the increase of th States since the present constitution.' From this time on the increase of stars In the constellation which formed the union was steady, and during tin war with Mexico, in lsp), twenty-nine white stars were displayed in the blur field. The flags borne by the regimenfs of the northern army during the foul years of the great civil war had thirty five stars In the union. This was th full number of States then forming tiif national federation, as the United States government had refused to rec ognize the coustitutionnl right of a State to secede from the union. Tin retention of the stars represent ing tht Southern States was regarded as a serious breach of military etiquette by the more punctilious of the Confeder ate leaders, and the capture of one of the Federal standards was alwayi well rewarded by the authorities al Richmond. The regimental Hugs carried by the regular and volunteer regiments dur ing the Spanish war of 1KU8 displayed forty five stars in the blue field of the union, ten new States having been added to the federation since the great civil struggle which so nearly severed the republic. This was also the first foreign war In which the State troopi of the reunited country appeared in the field together, and It was the flrsl occasion on which former Confederat officers of high rank resumed the uni form of the United States service The great garrison flag which wa hoisted over Santiago after the sur render of the city by the Spanish com mandant measured twenty feet It width by thirty-six feet in length, the forty five white stars which formed the union showing distinctly again the bright blue of the field. Philadel phia Record. FORMS OF BEGGING. COLLECTING TRANSFERS FAD. New Hobby that Street Car Conductor) Knn Aero Nowaday. "Transfer, please," said a passcn ger on a Broadway car. "Where to?" asked the conductor. "1 don't care," answered the man "Any old pla-ce. I'm not going to us It anyhow." "CollecUn' 'em?" inquired the con ductor, and the passenger nodded. It wasn't a rush hour and the con ductor had time to talk. "That' th newest freak," he explained to the man on the back platform. "Oollectlni transfers. I suppose about once a week some chap tackles me for a trail a fer to add to his collection. Of course, we won't hear that part of it officially. We've got to give transfers when tbej are asked for, and what's done with them Is none of our business. "A man who travels with me quiti often showed me the other day a col lection of nearly 400 transfers thai he'd gathered. They represented aboul every city in the country of more than 10,000 population. This man said he'd picked them up on his own travels, through friend in various places, and even by writing to the street railway companies direct for theru. "All transfers are patterned on th same general style nowadays. That is, they are marked off Into little sec tions containing the transfer points the hours and minutes for the tim limit, the dates and so on. The eon ductor punches one of each of the sec tlons. "Out In Salt Lake City they stil use a sy stein that used to be follow cd on the Jersey City trolleys, but wai given up several years ago. On the transfers are printed a lot of little pictures of men a.nd women and chil dren. There is a man -with a smooth face, a uittn with a mustache and a man with a full beard; a youug wo man and an old woman; a toy and a giri. The conductor punches the pic ture that most nearly resembles the person to whom the transfer is Issued. The system never became popular For one thing wotneu don't like it. Ii was a pretty old lady who didn't gel huffy If the young woman's face was not punched for her. "In Kansas City they are particu lar whether you ate going to transfer north, east south or west, so there Is printed on the transfers a compass showing these four points, and the direction you are going is punched out." New York Sun. fwo. Once Familiar, Now Largely la liituie-One Vorm 1 ferenniat. "There are fashion in begging, no loubt," said Mr. Kimkiuton, "Just aa 'here ure in all things. I'liey come and "A fashion Uiat prevailed not naiiy years ago started with this form lla: "'Mister, I don't want any money, Krt a cent, but I'm hungry. I want something to eat. Take me to some estaurant and gi' me sometiilng to eat. don't fiive me the money; you pay for it youieif. Only gi' me sjim tiling lo eat.' "The theory of the Inventor of this .'orm of begging was that first it would ippeal by its apparent sincerity; and, Ms-oudly, that the person thus asked Cor a meal wouldn't have time to turn iside from business to take the beggar X) a restaurant, and so if he were iui ressed would give the beggar money; Ahich, of course, was what the beggar A anted. "This form of begging was very pop jlar and successful for a time. It sven came to have quite a literature. "There was, for instance, the story it the hardy and able man who. held ip with this appeal, dragged the beg ?ar to a restaurant and there compell i him to eat standing over him with i club and, though the beggar had tlready eaten four breakfasts, forcing lim to keep on eating until he begged for mercy. v "And there was the story of tha beggar told by himself In u beggar's olnt of how In one short afternoon 'ie had been compelled by seven stingy givers to eat in quick succe'ion ser un meals of doughnuts and sinkers. Thus the stories ran. I had one actual ixperlence of my own: "I'm no Judge of beggars, I frankly confess; I can't always tell by nny means whether a beggar Is worthy or lot. But once, when this form of jogging was common, I met a tall, dim young man who stopped and said x) me: 'Mister, I'm hungry, can't you gi' me something to eat'i" I took a iiance and took the young man to a restaurant. "I couldn't tell whether he was j,.st i beggar who had learned the patter ir whether that request had Just come jp out of him spontaneously, but the Instant I had said 'Come along' I felt sure he was all right; for that instant fie stopped being a beggar and smiled up and walked nlong with nie, not cringing, but as if I was his friend. "And was he really hungry? Well, you should have seen him eat. " 'Son,' says I to him, when he got to the restaurant, 'there's the bill of fare. Feed yourself,' and he did. "I tlilnlt he must have been a young shipwrecked sailor who had been sev enteen days In an open boat without food, or something of that sort; but certainly he was of tubular construc tion Inside, hollow all the way down, for his storage capacity was something stupendous. "Eat? I never saw a man eat so in my life, and I never saw a man enjoy i meal so much. I like to eat myself ind have been hungry at times, but I lou't suppose I ever ate anything that rasted so good to me as that meal did to him. "Lucky it was a cheap restaurant, for I had only about a dollar nnd a naif with me. His check was $1.25, jut I never hrrndged him the money." -W Yo,',c '. v;'- 1 Ull way Train. A i'1 :-"!"it siory, originally told of i Scotch Highlander, Is served up la somewhat novel guise In a New York paper. This time it Is ascribed to a Kentucky mountaineer, and the dialect Is adapted accordingly. But the main Incidents remain the same. The young; man had never seen a railway train. One day he consented to &o to town and see the wonder. He arriyed a little ahead of train time, and, get ting impatient as he waited, he walk ed up the track to meet It. Turning about, the mountaineer ran along the track as for his life. "Toot, toot," sounded the locomo tive, slowing up; but the mountaineer jnly ran faster than ever. He soon reached the station, completely out of breath. ' "Why didn't you cut across?';1 In quired one of the bystanders. ' , "Cut across!" exclaimed the un couth youtlk "If I had . struck', the ploughed ground the thing certainly would have caught niel" Appetite of tho Ksklmos. The Eskimos have enormous appe tites. An arctic explorer relates that he saw a boy eat ten pounds of solid beef food and drink a gallon nnd a half of liquid with much gusto. Thif same explorer observed an adult em teil pounds of meat and two candid nt a meal. Sir P. Phillips tolls how a lad of 17 years ate twenty-foui pounds of beef In twenty-four hours It Is noted that nil of Japan's vic torious generals are upwards of fifty years old. Fifty Isn't old after you pass It No matter how good a mnn Is, if be and nis wife get along well all the credit Is given to her patience. Not Satisfl'-d With 'ho Place. Mrs. Iiacklotz So your servant girl has left you again? Mrs. Subbubs Yes. Mrs. Iiacklotz What was the mat ter? Mrs. Subbubs She didu't like the' way I did the work. Philadelphia Press. Still nt It. "Childhood's hours, are the happiest ' times of one's life,", sighed the disap pointed man. , "Oh, I don't know," chirped bis com- " panlon, "I don't see but that l cia -, watch a lall game Just about as well as I could forty years ago:" Detroit Free Press. ' " ' . Had Cane or Throat Trouble. W rubber You look badly this morn ing, old man. What's the matter? ' .. Klubber Throat trouble. ; ' ; Wrnbber Tohsllitls? V'-" '. Klubber No; my wife talked to. m ; for three hours after I got hpme tjilfci, 5 morning. Philadelphia Records- ' ? Wheu a woman writes a letter ah ' covers everything from' puttlihf'thA.wj ' milk pitcher out In the' morning to tt) cnt out at night, and then ends wtQl , an apology because She doesn't wfgaQ; mors. ' ' ' j