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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1906)
PMKHKi HOUSHjEAT HORRORS Effort to Suppress Publication of Report of Labor Commissioners. SINCLAIR URGES PRESIDENT TO STAND EIRN He Is Asked to Publish the Neill Report That Awful Conditions Existing in Chicago Packing Houses May Be Bared to Public. (Special to the Chicago Record-Her ald.) NEW YORK—Reports which have reached this city from Washington alleging that President Roosevelt has been prevailed upon by the beef packers to suppress the official publi cation of the report of the commis sioners of labor, Charles P. Neill and James B. Reynolds, regarding the conditions they found in the Chicago packing houses, have caused Upton Sinclair, whose initiative in the inves tigation of the packers’ affairs was the means of inducing the President to send his commissioners to Chicago, to write to Mr. Roosevelt urging him to give the public official knowledge of conditions in the Chicago stockyards. "While the facts contained in the report were practically covered in The Record-Herald in Chicago this morning," said Mr. Sinclair, “its offi cial publication at the instance of the President will have the effect of clos ing every avenue of escape for the packers from the passage of legisla tion which would force them to change their methods. Urges Full Publicity. "I have written the President beg ging him to not allow any consider ations to stand in the way of publish ing the findings of his commission ers. When the people of the United States are fully acquainted with the conditions in the packing houses pub lic opinion will take care of any rem edial legislation which may be need ed. “When it is understood that the situation in the stockyards and in every large packing house is just what it was in the insurance business a year or two ago, there will be no trouble to bring about reform. “Things that would horrify the pub lic if known are done there as a mat ter of regular routine and under on established system. The standards that prevail there were best express ed by Adolph Smith, who has made a lifelong study of slaughter houses, and besides being employed by the German and Belgian governments as an expert in such matters, has trav eled all over the world for the London Lancet Dr. Smith said the Chicago stockyards were worthy of mediaeval barbarism and were a disgrace to American civilization. He said the methods of the packers are just as they would have been if there was no such thing as modern bacteriological science. Meat, he said, was treated as if it were not a perishable article, but like dry goods, on the theory that ‘once good, always good.’ Inspectors Lack Power. "One of the greatest evils of the present inspection system is that in spectors have no aothority to enter those parts of the packing houses where the by-products are prepared —I mean where the canning, pickling, sausage making and preserving are done. I saw one of the trust’s em ployes doctoring spoiled hams on a big table. The stench that arose from them was overpowering. “The man was working a pump with one foot. Attached to the pump was a tube, on the end of which was a big hollow needle. He would jab the needle into a ham and then pump it full of a chemical to take away the dreadful odor. A few days- ago-I sent to the president several1 adver tisements and circulars in which deal ers in packers’ supplies laud the vir tues of their ‘wares. One firm guar antees that its patent preservative wlil take away the odor from spoiled meat, no matter how advanced its stage of moldiness or putriflcation. Dyes for the Sausage. “Dyes and coloring matter which give to sausages the ‘smoke’ color of commerce and bring back tainted meat to its natural hue are openly advertised. There is stuff called ‘bull meat powder’ and ‘zero preserva tive,’ together mith many other pat ented preparations, accompanied by elaborate directions for their use. Most of these are to be ground up with sausage meat and tinned ham burger steak. “Every supply house advertises li quids to be rubbed over the surface of meat to take away bad odors. Borax, formaldehyde, salycilic acid and all the other things found in the undertaker’s outfit are exploited in Aniline Dye Inventor. The fiftieth anniversary of the in vention of the aniline dye is to be cel ebrated by the world of science by the Dr. Perkin, in the National Portrait Gallery, and a bust in the rooms of the Chemical Sdtiety at Burlington House, London. - Asbestos and Aluminum. The lightest and strongest sub stances known, so far as we are in formed. are asbestos and aluminum, each for its purpose. “ --- Influence of Music. It was Roger Bacon who wrote: “In strumental music and 6ong brings power and vigor, stirs up nature and helps her in all her motions," and the man who takes a daily dose of music will not only live longer, but better, more satisfactorily to himself and those about him, than one who does not.—Exchange • With the waning of the honeymoon many a brave man begins to regret the faiiare of his fainthearted rival. _ these advertisements. Dealers in ‘smoke colors’ explain in their circu lars that the use of these varnishes— and that is what they are called in the circulars—give to sausages the true color of the smoked product and save the loss in weight that is sus tained when they are put in the smokehouse. “I have a friend who has perfected a process for deodorizing ham that has spoiled around the bone during the smoke process. He is employed by the trust, and his method is to re move the bone from these spoiled hams, which are known to the trade ! as ‘No. 3 grade,’ and thrust in a white hot iron. This sweetens the meat and the hams go out of the place labeled ‘No. 1 grade ham.’ “Skinned Hams’’ Ancient. “Skinned hams, which are suppos ed to be a special product, are only the hams of old hogs with skin so thick and tough that nobody will buy them. The skin is removed and ground up with spices and potatoes and called head cheese. One of the trade circulars which I sent to Mr. Roosevelt contains this receipt for headcheese; ‘Twenty pounds potato flour, eighty pounds hog rind, one pound borax; spices to flavor.’ “Here is an affidavit taken before Alfred H. Jennings, a notary, who can furnish the name of the man who ; made it. It states that the affiant I was employed for eight months as a car line salesman. The man left be cause he could not stand the sights he witnessed in the packing houses. ‘I had first to learn the products,’ he says, ‘and had to study all the pro cesses of manufacture. Previous to this employment I had been a butcher and was an expert judge of meat. My attention was at once called to the quality of the cattle killed in the es tablishment and canned there. Many of these cattle were so emaciated as to be just able to drag themselves along. I have seen sausages hung in vats to be dyed red. As a result of what I saw in Paekingtown I have never since eaten canned meat or sau sages. except that which I knew was not made in large packing establish ments.’ “President Roosevelt has a copy of this affidavit Human Flesh in Lard. “Chicago newspapers were surpris ed when I told of men falling into lard tanks and being rendered Into lard. I personally have seen tanks with openings six feet across the top almost on a level with the floor and the room full of steam. When the | President’s commissioners first came | to Chicago they were told stories of | men falling into these tanks, but they i refused to believe them until they had fuller evidence. “A woman in my employ told me her husband had been told by a saloon ; keeper that a man in the employ of the firm fell into a vat of boiling lard. He made no sound after he disap peared in the vat, and the man who worked beside him gave the alarm to I the foreman. The foreman immedi 1 ately ordered every other workman j out of the vatroom and locked the ■ doors, after which he and the man fished what was left of the body out i cf the vat The saloon keeper gave the name of the man who had helped | to take the body from the boiling ' lard. He also said the widow of the ■ dead than-deceived $2,500 from the , packing company to keep the story from the President's commissioners, j “When my friend went to the ad dress given to get the story for the ccmmissioners under the pretnse that he was the representative of an in ; surance company, he was set upon by the ignorant Poles in the house and i called a spy. Ho did not get the ad ! dress of the widow, who had been ; sent t-i Nebraska to get her out of the way of the government investigators.” FULL FACTS MAY BE DEMANDED _ Report on Conditions in Packing Houses Likely to Reach Public. (Special to the Chicago Record-Her ald.) WASHINGTON — Public interest has been so thoroughly aroused by the smothered scandal that has ln i fluenced the passage of the drastic i meat inspection and sanitary regula Important Duty of Truth. The simple truth is that no young woman, and equally no young man, can be better or more wisely en gaged than in trying t-> find a suit able partner for life, and in fitting herself or himself to be worthy of that partner when found.—Helen Old field. Gesture language still exists in parts of Australasia. Some tribes possess so excellent a code that it is almost as efficient as a spoken language. Black for Gun Sights. A black composition for gun sights is made by mixing one drachm of fine lampblack, half a fluid ounce of methylated alcohol, and half a fluid ounce of spirit varnish. Trade in Human Hair. The human hair forms a profitable crop. Five tons are annually impart ed by the merchants of London. The Parisian harvest is upward of '200,000 pounds, equal in value to (1400,000 a year. tlwn bill in the Senate and which will accomplish the same result in the House that the publication of the complete Neill-Revnolds report on conditions at the Chicago stock yards may be demanded. Senators and rep resentatives of anti-trust proclivities desire that if startling facts have been unearthed regarding the manu facture of products constituting a great part of the food consumed by the American people the country is entitled to the full information. In connection with this prospective demand for all information in Presi dent Roosevelt’s possession, a rumor reached Washington from New York tonight to the effect that Upton Sin clair, whose book—“The Jungle”— inspired the President to send his con fidential agents to Chicago, has writ ten a letter to the President urging him not to withhold the Neill and Reynolds report under any circum stances. As to the matter of a demand being made from Congress, it was stated that the investigations had not yet been completed. As to whether tbB results of the investigations would be given publicity even if the Beveridge measure becomes a law and the pack ers agree to carry out the sanitary regulations prescribed by the govern ment it was stated that that point had not been determined. It has been the expectation of the interests vitally concerned that the report of Commissioners Neill and Reynolds would be withheld if oppo sition was not made to the drastic in spection regulations proposed, al though it is not on record that the President made any direct promise as to that Whether any promise was made or not, the fact remains that some of the members of Congress declare that nothing should operate to suppress facts concerning a mat ter of such momentous importance, and hence a demand, possibly in the foim of a resolution, may be forth coming. If it does come a decidedly inter esting situation will be developed, a? it is doubtful whether the President feels that the i nvestigation made under his personal direction is some thing to be disclosed for the mere asking. On the other hand, he may hold that publicity of the report rests solely upon his own discretion. Speaker Cannon and Representa tive Madden of Chicago spent two hours today with Commissioner of Labor Neill, the latter detailing af fairs pertaining to inspection of meat products as carried on at present, and also relating some of the things he found in his investigation which form the basis for the sensations of the last week. Many of the things which Mr. Neill referred to have already been spoken of in articles giving the gist of the reports so far as they have been prepared, while others, less startling really than some that have been published, are still of a charac ter that forbids them from being printed in a newspaper. One point particularly noticed by Commissioner Neill in his tour of in spection was that men cutting meat from the bone for canning wore gun nysack aprons which had not been washed for weeks or months, and that they were in the habit of wiping their hands on these aprons—covered, as the commissioner declares, with germs and grime that were the accu mulation of months. Speaker Cannon is understood to have declared himself in favor of giv ing the Secretary of Agriculture au thority to provide for a rigid inspec tion of packing houses and all meat products, but he has not yet studied the provisions of the Beveridge meas ure. The agricultural appropriation bill, carrying the Beveridge inspection measure as a rider, probably will get back to the House tomorrow and will go at once to the committee on agri culture owing to the fact that certain amendments carrying new appropria tions were adopted in the Senate. Thin will give the opportunity for consid eration of the inspection measure that has been contended for in some quar ters. Representatives of the packers and live stock men are expected in Wash ington in some force tomorrow. As previously announced, the only open objection advanced to the inspection bill has been with reference to the provision putting the cost of inspec tion directly upon the packers. It is quite probable the agitation of even this question will be dropped in order to prevent, if possible, any further stirring up of sensations that already are bad enough. Want Report Made Public. WASHINGTON — Representative Suiter of New York on Tuesday intro duced a resolution calling upon the president “if not incompatible with the public interest,” to send to the house at his earliest convenience the reports, of Charles P. Neill and James B. Rey nolds “in connection with their inves tigation of the ‘Meat trust,' the stock yards and the meat packing houses of Chicago and of other places, and all data, exhibits and all correspondence relating to the same.” Vegetarianism is all the vogue among those who take thought what they shall eat and what they shall drink. Bridge and boiled cabbage came in together, and who shall say which has the firmer hold upon per sons of fashion?—New York Times. The raft spider gets the name from its habit of building a raft of dry leaves and other light materials, fast ened together firmly by threads of «ilk, in order to pursue its prey in the water. Womanly pride is often construed as meaning that she would be asham ed to have people know her husband cannot afford to buy her whatever she wants. London’6 Charities Weil Supported. It is estimated that the 724 charit able institutions in and around Lon don last year received $3&,t)W,M0 from the benevolent public. Jerome K. Jerome has the middle name of Klapka. I WHY CHAMPAGNE IS HIGH. Trouble Involved in the Making Makes the Wine Worth Its Price. From eggnogg the talk drifted to champagne. “It’s worth the money,” said the bartender, “considering the trouble it takes to make it. "First there’s the blending of the grape juice. Three parts of black to one of white grape juice are blended with tremendous care. Expert, high priced tasters do this work. "Then the liquid is put in casks and refined—a long and difficult process. “Next it is bottled and placed in a warm room to ferment. While fer menting it must be watched daily. At a certain stage in the fermentation, no sooner and no later, it goes to a deep, cool vat underground, and there it lies 18 months in a temperature that never varies one degree. “Now the bottles are placed in racks HARVARD’S OLD CLOTHES. Cist Off Garments of Students Dis tributed Through Charitable System. i Every spring there occurs at Harvard college a curious convention of the old clothes, as it might be called, at which tthe castoff garments of hundreds of college undergraduates meet and mingle for the last time before starting out on an odd and practical philanthropy. The affair is conducted by an under graduate organization known as the Student Volunteer association. Every thing in the way of clothing is in- j eluded; underwear, suits, even an occasional dress coat, stockings with all the variegated splendor that clings to undergraduate ankles, plain and fancy waistcoats and hats literally too numerous to mention. During the week of the collection, says Modern Women, the old Harvard Yard is full of moving bundles all SUCCESSOR TO LYMAN J. CAGE. The United States Trust company, of New York city, elected Edward W. Sheldon as its president in place of Lyman J. Gage, resigned. Mr. Sheldon is a well-known lawyer and has been for many years the counsel for the corporation. He is also counsel for the Wisconsin Central Railway company, the Southern Express company, the Atlantic Coast Railroad company and other corporations. He was born in Plainfield, N. J., in 1858. and turned five times a day for three weeks to bring up the sediment. "When the sediment has all mounted to the neck of the bottles, they are opened and the sediment is allow to shoot out. "Even now the champagne is not done. It is ‘raw’ at this stage. To it a liqueur of brandy and sugar must be added—four per cent, of liquer for the driest brands. 15 or 20 per cent, for the sweet ones. "Altogether, a bottle of champagne goes through 200 different operations and consumes in its perfecting 2% years of time. And still it is often kept two or three years longer in the vaults maturing.” Uproarious Apparel. Senator Blackburn has a fondness for wearing clothes that can be heard for some distance. The other day he came into a committee room wearing a new suit which had apparently been made out of a handy flour sack by a fashionable tailor and also a red tie whose glories dimmed the setting sun. Senator Bacon gave a violent start. "What is the matter?" asked Senator Bailey. “Oh.” said Bacon, in a re lieved tone, ‘'it's all right. I thought I heard Tillman’s voice, but it's only Blackburn's clothes.” Small Sheep. Sheep from Iceland are on exhibi tion in England. They stand 14 inches. tending toward Phillips Brooks House, where the various religious societies of the college have their headquarters. Here the bundles are opened, the va rious articles sorted, arranged and finally distributed to local and dis tant charitable centers. Boots and shoes, for example, are what might be called the Tuskegee specialty at Harvard. Several boxes of them go annually to Booker Washington's institute where the shoe shops are immediately useful in mending them up and starting them on a new career of utility. The Sal vation Army in Boston gets practically all the derby hats. A Sure Thing. Ticket Seller—There are no lower berths left. Fat Man—Give me an upper. “You’ll never be able to get into the upper.” “I won’t have to. When the man who has the lower looks at me he'll be more than willing to change.— Life. Slowest Train. We are told that the slowest train in the world runs over a system 13% miles long, in Spain. The Castilian flyer makes the trip in two hours, at taining a speed of almost seven miles an hour.—From "In the Trail of ihe Traveler.” in Four-Track News. CAUSE OF ACCIDENT ON KEARSARCE. Diagram ^ orthe Forward fiirret of the rU.S.Battle Ship Kearearge A B—Center line. C—Left thirteen-inch gun. D—Right thirteen-inch gun. E—Breech block of left thirteen-inch, swung open, as gun was being unloaded. H—Lieut. Hudgins. G—Lieut. Graeme. F—Man on loader’s plat form unloading. K—Man passing shell tongs over to left, so as to draw shell when last powder bag was drawn. L— Rammer (electric) in rear of gun. M—Electric ammunition hoist controller. P—Bags of powder that F had taken out of gun and laid on turret floor in rear of hihged gate on which he stood. R—Turret hatch. S—Jaws of copper switch for switching current on or off rammer motor. This switch was short circuited bv a metal bar being accidentally struck on its jaws. The man at K passing over the shell tongs may have struck it or F may have leaned or pushed such a metal hook against, it. Arc was paused, molten metal and sparks fell from S to P, S being about five feet above P. and conflagration ensued. In a recent issue of the Saturday Evening Post Mr. J. Ogden Armour makes the assertion that the govern ment inspection of the beef trust i ’aughter-houses is an impregnable ■all protecting the public from im pure meat, and that not an atom of diseased meat finds its way into the products of the Armours. Mr. Up ton Sinclair, author of “The Jungle" ( a terrific statement of packing house conditions), studied the meat industry for -two years, including much time spent in the Chicago stockyards as a workman; he is the best equipped outside authority on stockyard condi tions. In Everybody’s Magazine for May Mr. Sinclair makes a startling and convincing answer to Mr. Ar mour's assertion. Commencing with the statement that J. Ogden Armour is the absolute and not the nominal head of the great packing house in dustry which bears his name Mr. Sin clair says: “I know that in the state ments quoted, Mr. Armour willfully and deliberately- states what he abso lutely and positively knows to be falsehoods.” That he might be properly equipped to describe conditions in “Packing town”’ Mr. Sinclair worked for a period as a laborer in the plant of Ar mour & Co., and he tells of sights of filth and horror such as he hopes never to see again, but the strongest coincidence of the truth of the claim that meat unfit for human food is put on the market comes from a man for years superintendent at Armour & Co.’s Chicago plant, Thomas F. Dolan, of Boston. Mr. Sinclair in his article says: “At the time of the embalmed-beef scandal at the conclusion of the Span ish war, when the whole country’ -was convulsed with fury over the revela tions made by soldiers and officers (including Gen. Miles and President Roosevelt) concerning the quality of meat which Armour & Co. had fur nished to the troops, and concerning the death-rate which it had caused, the enormity of the ‘condemned-meat industry’ became suddenly clear to one man who had formerly super vised it. Mr. Thomas F. Dolan, then residing in Boston, had. up to a short time previous, been a superintendent at Armour & Co.’s, and one of Mr. Philip D. Armour's most capable and trusted men. When he read of the death-rate in the army, he made an affidavit concerning the things which were done in the establishment of Ar mour & Co., and this affidavit he took to the New York Journal, which pub lished it on March 4, 1899. Here are some extracts from it: “There were many ways of getting around the inspectors—so many, in fact, that not more than two or three cattle out of 1,000 were condemned. I know exactly what I am writing of in this connection, as my particular Instructions from Mr. W. E. Pierce, superintendent of the beef houses for Armour & Co., were very explicit and definite. “Whenever a beef got past the yard inspectors with a case of lumpy jaw and came into the slaughterhouse or the ‘killng-bed,’ I was authorized by ; Mr. Pierce to take his head off, thus j removing the evidences of lumpy jaw, and after casting the smitten portion into the tank where refuse goes, to send the rest of the carcass on its way to market. “I have seen as much as 40 pounds ' of flesh afflicted with gangrene cut from the carcass of a beef, in order that the rest of the animal might be utilized in trade. “One of the most important regula tions of the bureau of animal indus try is that no cows in calf are to be placed on the market. Out of a slaughter of 2,000 cows, or a day’s killing, perhaps one-half are with calves. My instructions from Mr. Pierce were to dispose of the calves by hiding them until night, or until the inspectors left off duty. The lit tle carcasses were then brought from all over the packing house and skinned by boys, who received two cents for removing each pelt. The pelts were sold for 50 cents each to the kid-glove manufacturers. This occurs every night at Mr. Armour's concern at Chi cago, or after each killing of cows. “I now propose to state here exact ly what I myself have witnessed in Philip D. Armour’s packing-house with cattle that have been condemned by the government inspectors. “A workman, one Nicholas Newson during my time, informs the inspec tor that the tanks are prepared for the reception of the condemned cattle and that his presence is required to see the beef cast into the steam-tank. Mr. Inspector proceeds at once to the place indicated, and the condemned cattle, having l>een brought up to the tank room on trucks, are forthwith cast into the hissing steam-boilers and dis appear. “But the condemned steer does not stay in the tank any longer than the time required for his remain# to drop through the boiler down to the floor below, where he is caught on a truck and hauled back again to the cutting room. The bottom of the tank was open, and the steer passed through the aperture. "I have witnessed the fard? many times. I have seen the beef dropped into the vat in which a steam-pipe was exhausting with a great noise so that the thud of the beef striking the truck below could not be heard, and in a short time I have witnessed Nicholas bringing it back to be pre pared for the market. “I have even marked beef with my knife so as to distinguish it, and watched it return to the point where it started. . . . “Of all the evils of the stockyards, the canning department is perhaps the worst. It is there that the cattle from all parts of the United States are prepared for canning. No matter how scrawny or debilitated canners are, they must go the route of their brothers and arrive ultimately at the great boiling vats, where they are steamed until they are reasonably ten der. Bundles of gristle and bone melt into pulpy masses and are stirred up for the canning department. “I have seen catttle come into Ar mour’s stockyards so weak and ex hausted that they expired in the cor rals, where they lay for an hour or two, dead, until they were afterward hauled in. skinned, and put on the market for beef or into the canning department for cans. “In other words, the Armour estab lishment was selling carrion. “There are hundreds of other men in the employ of Mr. Armour who could verify every line I have writ ten. They have known of these things ever since packing has been an industry. But I do not ask them to come to the front in this matter. I stand on my oath, word for word, sen tence for 'sentence, and statement for statement. “I write this story of my own free will and volition, and no one is re sponsible for it but myself. It is the product of ten years of experience. It is the truth, the w'hole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. “THOMAS F. DOLAN. “Sworn to and subscribed before me this first day of Match, 1899. “ORVILLE F. PURDY, “Notary Public, Kings County, N. Y. “Certificate filed in New York coun ty.” The significance of this statement, as Mr. Sinclair notes, is heightened by the fact that, published as it was in a newspaper of prominence, whose proprietor is a man of immense wealth and could be reacbed by the courts, Mr. Armour made no move to insti tute suit for libel, practically admit ting that the statement was true. Mr. Sinclair makes the assertion, apd gives abundant proof, that the worry incidental to the “embalmed beef” scandal during the war with. Spain caused the death of Philip D. Armour, and that millions of dollars were spent by the packing interests in the effort to keep concealed the truth about the matter. The awful mortality from disease among the sol diers during that few weeks' campaign was distinctly attributable to the meat rations supplied to the army. There seems small reason to doubt that meat as little fit for human food is still being placed on the market. How much disease and death has been the outcome may be imagined. Summing up the entire facts of the situation, Mr. Sinclair concludes: “Writing in a magazine of large circulation and influence, and having the floor all to himself. Mr. Armour spoke serenely and boastfully of the quality of his meat products, and challenged the world to impeach his integrity, but when he was brought into court charged with crime by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, he spoke in a different tone, and to a different purport; he said ‘guilty.’ He pleaded this to a criminal indict ment for selling 'preserved' minced ham in Greenburg, and paid the fine of $50 and costs. He pleaded guilty again‘in Shenandoah, Pa., on June .16, 1905, to the criminal charge of selling adulterated ‘blockweirst;’ and again he paid the fine of $50 and costs. Why should Mr. Armour be let off with fines which are of less conse quence to him than the price of a postage stamp to you or me, instead of going to jail like other convicted criminals who do not happen to be millionaires?” A Stone Barometer. In northern Finland, so a native paper informs us, is a large stone which serves the inhabitants as an infallible barometer. At the approach of rain, this stone turns black or blackish gray, while in fine weather it is of a light color and covered with white spots. Probably it is a fossil mixed with clay, and containing rock salt, niter, or ammonia, which accord ing to a greater or less degree of dampness in the atmosphere, attracts it or otherwise.—Sunday Magazine. Girl Defeats Father. In Colusa county, California, recent ly Miss Florence Berker ran against her father, P. F. Berker, the incum bent for the office of school trustee, and beat him after a. hot campaign. She did it because she had heard her father intended to oust a female teach er who was a friend of hers. Two Points of View. Optimist—Every cloud has a silver lining. Pessimist—Every silver lining has a cloud.—N. T. Sun. The Many Virtues of Salt. Salt puts out a fire In the chimney. Salt in the oven under baking tins will prevent scorching on the bottom. Salt and vinegar will remove stains from discolored teacups. Salt £nd j soda are excellent for bee stings 1 and spider bites. Salt thrown on soot , which has fallen on the carpet will prevent stains. Salt put on ink when freshly spilled on a carpet will remove the spot. Salt thro—n on a coal fire which is low will revive it. Salt used in sweeping carpets keeps out moths. Pianos. The first piano-forte was invented by a German named Backers, about 1767. There is still in existence the name-board of a piano inscribed: Americus Backers. Inventor, Jernyn street, London, 1776.—Sunday Maga zine. Ceylon’s Pearl Fisheries. During the season of 1905, which lasted 48 days, there were 300 boats employed in the pearl fishing industry of Ceylon, from which the government derived $767,000.
