WELCOMED Officials Meet M. Witte on tiis Home-Coming and is Praised for Work ST. PETERSBURG— M. Witte ar rived here Thursday and was accorded a very hearty reception by a large crowd of officials and others. In a brief speech replying to a welcoming address M. Witte showed clearly that he was deeply touched by the welcome with which he was received. When he left St, Petersburg in July a small delegation of officials accom panied him to the railroad station to bid him farewell. There was no pub lic demonstration whatever. Today there were seven or eight times as many officials despite the very early hour of the train’s arrival and an en thusiastic dfrowd of 500 to 600 people wras present. Among the officials present were Baron Nolde. general sec retary of the congress of ministers; General Durnova, adjutant to the min ister of the interior: M. Wyshne gradsky, formerly finance minister and now director of the International Com mercial bank; M. Kobeko, privy coun cillor and chairman of the press re form commission, and many other prominent officials who had been M. WTitte’s former colleagues or subordi nates. The crowd had collected near w'here M. Witte would descend from the train and when he appeared they broke out into long and loud cheers, to which M. Witte bowed acknow ledgement. The spokesman then ad vanced and read the address of wel come, all the meanwhile standing bareheaded. The address read: "You have accomplished your diffi cult task and the nation Is grateful to you. You have given the credit for your success to Bmperor Nicholas, President Roosevelt, Emperor William and to the press. You have forgotten only yourself. We, however, fully ap preciate your service to your country. The tree you planted at the Washing ton homestead at Mount Vernon will serve as a token of the union between the two nations. You have done much. For ourselves and for those who are absent we will once more shout a hearty hurrah.” "When the cheer had died away M. Witte, who seemed deeply moved by the sincerity of the welcome advanced a few steps and delivered his reply. He said: ‘‘I was so little prepared for this kind of reception that I must ask your pardon for my words. I have per formed my duty well, because I have strictly obeyed his majesty’s instruc-' tions, because circumstances favored me, because the world is weary of this bloody war. because all classes of American society from President Roosevelt down were in sympathy with me and your cause, and because I was true to my country and you and your interests.” REJOICE WIT HROOSEVELT. A Resolution Commending the Great Peacemaker. RICHMOND. Ind.—At the session of the Indiana yearly meeting of Friends the following resolution was adopted: Indiana yearly meeting of Friends, now in session, representing 20,000 members, rejoices with thanksgiving that President Roosevelt has been the instrument in the hands of Provi dence for bringing about peace be tween Russia and Japan, that the sen timent of the nation and of the world so heartily' supports him as a peace maker, and that we desire hie encour agement in the promotion by all means possible for the peace of the world. _*■ > CHEAPER LIVING SOON COMING That is What Secretary of Agriculture Wilson Says. WASHINGTON—Secretary Wilson of the deprtment of agriculture today predicted lower retail prices during the coming winter season for meat, dairy products and poultry and other necessities of life. He says the re lief for the householder will come from the enormous yields of small grain and corn in the great grain ter ritory of Illinois, Minnesota, the Da kotas, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. He said: Heavy crops have resulted in the return of normal agricultural condi tions in the great producing states. The meat products have been losing money for the past three years. Grain costs too much. There was no pro fit in feeding, as strange as this may seem to people who pay such prices as we do for our meat. But the heavy oats crop will all combine to heavy grass crop of this year, in addi tion to the heavy grain crop and the tions. And this means a direct in fluence on horses, bfcef, pork, dairy products gnd poultry. I,,,.. — - - - ,■ Objectionable Post Cards. WASHINGTON—Acvtlng Postmas ter General Hitchcock, in a circular mailed Friday to all postmasters, lias renewed the campaign started recently against objectionable postcards. He has called attention to the rule which bars from the mails every card bear ing a picture or language that is ob scene, indecent or improperly suggest ive. The use of the mails for pictor ial cards has been so extensive that the department says it has extended the comic valentine season over the entire year. Suicide of a Millionaire. NEW YORK—William R. Travers, a millionaire and man of leisure, son of the celebrated wit and Wall street operator, William R. Travers, commit ted suicide Friday by shooting himself through the head, in his apartments. The suicide is inexplicable, Mr. Tra vers being in the prime of life, in fair health and the possessor of a large fortune. Mr. Travers married Miss I>illy Harriman, a sister of Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, jr. The couple separated three years ago. Mrs. Travers going to Paris to live. PACKERS’ PLEA OF ABATEMENT. Judge Humphreys Will Rule on Val idity of Indictments. CHICAGO—Judge Humphrey heard the closing arguments on the plea of abatement filed by the packers against the indictment chrging them with ille gal methods of conducting business. The court declared that while it was possible that he would hand down his decision Friday, it is not certain that he will do so. The grounds on which the abatement of the indictment is sought by the packers are that the grand jury returning the indictment was illegal because it was not publicly drawn as required by law; that the de fendants were deprived of their right to challenge the jurors; that Judge Bethea, sitting in the eastern division of the northern district of Illinois, had no right to receive the return of an indictment returned from the northern district of the same division; that one member of the jury was not legally made a member of that body, and that the government officials had not the right to produce before the grand jury a transcript of evidence previously heard by them, unsworn and unverified, but presented as ab stract of the evidence. ORDERS AN INVESTIGATION. Methods of Western Life Company to Be Looked Into. CHICAGO, 111. — Attorney General William H. Stedman, who represents the people of Illinois, has ordered an investigation into the affairs of the Western Life Indemnity company, and may insist on quo warranto proceed ings to determine whether the com pany has been pursuing wrong busi ness methods. DEATH BY HIS OWN HAND. Army Officer at Fort McPherson Commits Suicide. ATLANTA. Ga.—Capt. G. M. F. God frey, assistant surgeon in the United States army, stationed at Fort Mc Pherson, committed suicide by shoot ing himself through the brain with an army revolver at his residence at the post. Captain Godfrey, was a son of Col. E. S. Godfrey, commander of the Ninth “United States cavalry stationed at Fort Riley, Kas. Captain Godfrey was 35 years of age and a graduate of West Point. The cause of the deed is not known, but is attributed by his brother officers at the post to tempo rary mental abberation. DESPERATE DUEL. Express Messenger Has a Bloddy En counter. BLOOMINGTON, 111.—One of the most desperate encounters that ever happened on a Wabash railroad train took place between John E. Ryan. 3620 Sixty-fourth place. Chicago, a messen ger on train No. 13, due in Decatur at 3:13 in the morning, and Edward C. Greene, 5101 South State street, Chi cago. a former express messenger and j later employed with F. S. Betz & Co., Hammond, Ind. Both men are ser iously injured and cannot live, each having received three bullets in the fight in the car which lasted for miles. Greene says that he got on the ex press car a i HOLD VAST UNCLAIMED WEALTH Sums Held by English Banks Run Into the Millions. How many millions of pounds worth of property lies unclaimed to-day in the form of shares, dividends, depos its of money, plate and jewels in the hands of bankers, companies, solici tors, auctioneers and others? This is the fascinating question raised yesterday by the writers of a letter, who urge the Chancellor of the Exchequer to lay hands upon the spoil and devote it to the increase of na tional revenues. Unclaimed wealth in the hands of the crown and funds in chancery amount to more than £50,000,01*0. Is it possible that the funds in private hands amount to an equally large sum? Some of the examples of hidden wealth given by the waiters of the letter suggest that the amount must at any rate be a large one. It is not. apparently, the custom of companies to search very far for the owners of unclaimed dividends. Occasionally the chairman of a company refers to unclaimed amounts. In the case of a building society the chairman an nounced at the annual meeting that certain unclaimed money had been utilized to form a reserve fund. “In fifty-five years,” explained the secretary of this society yesterday, “we have accumulated £5,000 of un claimed deposits. At any time we are liable to be asked to refund this and should do so with interest."— London Daily Mail. PARIS A WELL LIGHTED CITY. Strange Contrast With Conditions in Most American Cities. Paris offers a strange contrast to London (and to most American cities) in the matter of street lighting. london is woefully somber at night, except at certain points where concert halls and “gin mills” are numerous, where as Paris is brilliantly lighted every where. Nothing so astonishes the American visitor as the long lines of brilliant gas lamps (incandesant burn ers, all of which function perfectly) reaching down each and every street to sparkling perspectives of diamond strings. Do you feel disposed to shrug your shoulders and cry out that it is garish and unrestful? Please don’t. It is a grand success and a joy forever. If you doubt it, come over here and see for yourselves. I have carefully observed the placement of lampposts and find that in some places there is one every tw'enty feet; in less favored localities, one every forty or fifty feet, while the little streets have them at intervals of about 200 feet. In the case of the poor little streets the lighting is. at the worst, admirable not to say magnificent. What does all this cost? It costs too much, from our enlightened (or unlighted) point of view. We are content to grope about in the dark streets. The Par isian abhors darkness (as he should) and is willing to pay for light, even though he may pay pretty dearly for it Length of Wall Paper Rolls. “Most persons have an idea that all pieces of wall paper are necessar ily of one length,” remarked a wall paper man. “Sometimes when I receive orders from a distance I wonder just what the patron is figuring on. He may get enough to paper two rooms and he may get only half enough—some fig ure over economically and some over generously. “Our domestic papers run eight yards to the piece. Those from France and Germany measure nine yards, while the English make their rolls so lengthy that they contain quite twelve yards. Then, of course, there’s the repeat. On some of the new papers with the smallest figures this is next to nothing, and on some others, notably that long tailed bird pattern, if a bit over the figure is required for each length it means a loss- of five feet on every strip-put on the wall.”—Philadelphia Record. That Spooky Feelln'. When ye’re goin’ home at dead o’ sight an’ everything is still. An’ sorter htshcd an’ solemn an’ ye fee! a kinder chill A-creepln’ up yeT back-bone an* a-fillln' ye with fear. Say. don’t ye step right lively when th’ graveyard's near? Th’ trees, they look so ghost-llke as the’r branches ’round they fling. An’ tli' monyments seem waitin' fer somebody or something, An’ th’ air is damp an’ cold-like an' ye hear a mournful cry. I'll bet ye hustle lively whan th* grave yard’s nigh. Te kinder look across to see ff ever’ thing’s all right. An* over there, beyond th’ fence, gleams somepin’ ghostly white; Ye swaller hard—a awful lump—an* gasp fer breath an’ sigh. An’ I guess ye sorter hustle till th’ grave yard’s by. Ye take a back’ard look, right quick, to see what’s coinin’ there. Ye thought ye heard th’ rustle of a dtep behin’ somewhere. An' when ye see it’s nothin* an' ye’re well beyont at last. Ye sigh with glad relief becus th’ grave yard’s passed. —Grace S. Boat wick. Creditable. This story is told by a resident of Maryland, who vouches for its genu ineness: During the last session of Congress two young ladies endeavored to gain access to the Senate gallery. The gouty old doorkeepr told them that every seat was filled and the only chance was to see some Senator they knew and get a card which would ad mit them to the private gallery. ‘But we don’t know a single Sena tor,” answered one of the young la dies. “Then that is to your credit, young ladies. Walk right in. It is not often wr see such ladies around the Capi tol.” Something to Be Gained. “Moses.” he said to the old colored man around the warehouse, “I hear that you have a son in Chicago.” “Yes, sah, my son Peter has done gone to college, sah,” was the proud reply. “Going to make a great main of him, eh?” “I dunno how great Peter will done turn out, sah, but I reckon if he stays in dat college long ’nuff he’ll come home and be able to tell a pullet fram a rooster in de darkest night and not make so many mistakes.”—Chisago News.