Pitiful Appeals
Sent from China
Incredible Scenes of Hardship
-Disease Adds Its Horror to
that of Hunger- Many Months
of Suffering and Death Ahead
-America Appealed to for Aid.
The Kingdom of China—The Shaded Portion of the Map Indicates the Ter
ritory Stricke n by Famine.
Frightful famine has its clutches on two lands. Owing to the drought
and the failure of the crops in South Central Russia, 30.C00.0C0 Russians, in
27 provinces have seen their means of subsistence swept away. Men, women
and children, huddled in their miserable villages on the steppes of the Volga
and the Caspian sea, are face to face with starvation. It is feared that ten
per cent, may die before new crops can be gathered.
The flooding of 40.000 square miles of lowlands in northeastern China has
rendered 15,000,000 homeless. It is believed that fully 4,000,000 of these
may perish.
So pitiful are these calamities that the voices of the starving peasants
have been heard around the world. America has been among the first and
most generous in appreciating the dire need and in giving of her prosperity.
But all that has been given as yet has scarcely touched the fringe of the
famine-stricken districts.
New York.—The climax of the great
Chinese famine is at hand. In the
seaboard provinces 4,000.000 men,
women and children are starving—
more than the population of Manhat
tan. Brooklyn, the Bronx. Queens, and
Richmond. According to the latest
reports, the situation is much more
serious than that described in these
columns a few weeks ago by a cor
respondent in Shanghai. Since early
in the winter the 4,000.000 refugees
have been homeless and destitute. Ac
cording to the viceroy of Kiangsu, it
is ten times worse than any famine
known in China in the last 40 years.
In point of mortality, it is the worst
calamity that has befallen mankind
since the beginning of the new cen
tury.
The end is not yet. As the Chinese
winter reaches its height, more and
more people must succumb to hunger
and exposure. It is not a question of
surviving, but of how many thousands
must die. That the famine will .last
for months to como is a certainty.
With all the generosity of other civil
ized nations, the relief is inadequate.
40,000 Square Miles Flooded.
The messages received from China
last December told of ihe beginnings
of the famine. For 40 days and nights
it rained constantly. The great canal,
extending 700 mlies from Tien
Tsin to Hang Chan, close to the sea
' coast in the provinces of Chekiang,
Kiangsu, and Shan Tnng, burst its
banks ond 40,000 square miles of low
plains were flooded. Fifteen millions
of people in five provinces were more
or less affected. Of these. 8,000,000
lost their property, including their
buildings and food supplies. Four mil
lions were left absolutely destitute.
To these beginnings, nearly three
months of unspeakable misery have
since been added. The intermediate
• stages were, in some respects, pecu
liar to China. The d wellings and farm
buildings had mud walls and roofs of
thatch. The walls melted like paper
>as the water leaked through them.
The peasants were forced to abandon
them and wade through water up to
their armpits to reach dry land.
Stores of Grain Lost.
These Chinese farmers were a fru
gal people living on millet, rice, pea
nuts, sweet potatoes, maize, and
wheat. At the beginning of the win
ter their store of grain was swept
away. The horses, cattle, and even
t the dogs (hat survived were sold.
! Hunger reduced thousands to a diet
j of gruel made of beans, when they
j could be found, and sweet potato
j leaves.
Then came reports of pitiful epi
j aodes peculiarly oriental in their na
j tttre. So intense did the suffering be
i come that many sought death. Par
I cuts killed their children by throwing
them into the water, then took their
; own lives. Aged people are being
! drowned, or poisoned with opium, to
1 prevent their slow death by hunger.
The viceroy in one or the flooded
provinces tells of a family consisting
of a father, mother, and two children,
all of whom perished in a single day.
. The mother left the house in search
j of food. In her absence the father
| drowned the children. When the
mother returned, she asked where the
i iittle ones were. Her husband re
plied that he could not bear to see
them starve to death, and as there
was no chance of feeding them, he
had thrown them into the water. The
distracted woman followed her chil
j dren. The father, in utter despair,
: took his own life.
Sell Their Children.
In some parts of the provinces of
Honan. Kiangsu, and Anhui parents
are selling their offspring, the girls
for three dollars and the boys for
two dollars -.Mexican, which means
about one-half those amounts in Amer
ican money. A correspondent de
clares that in the Sinchow and I’ai
chow districts the starving people
; have been reduced to eating human
! flesh, and that it it; being sold secretly
among the famine sufferers.
Early in the new year, the famine
situation changed. The starving peas
ants flocked to the nearest cities in
their quest for food. They are living
in great camps, where the pitiful con
ditions are intensified a hundredfold.
There are now fully 800,000 refugees
at nine cities—Tsingkiangpu. Husian,
Yanchow. Yaowan, Hsuchou, Suchi
en. Ihsien. Chlnkiang. and Nanking.
One of the largest gatherings is at
Tsingkiangpu. on the edge of the fam
ine district. Here there are five camps
QUEER FOODS GLADLY
MADE USE OF BY
SHIPWRECKED
.
Shipwrecked persons have been
kept alive on the most repugnant and
unwholesome of foods. Probably the
hardest fare that six strong men and
a boy of 15 ever kept alive on was the
daily menu of the Windover's sur
vivors, who were cast up on the Irish
coast near Kilsegg not long ago. They
, lived 16 days on stewed rope yam.
When they took the ship's small
boat they had water enough for a
month, but only a small amount of
provisions. These lasted only four
days. After having nothing at all
to eat for the following two days they
tried boiling lengths of tarred hemp
rope into pulp and swallowing it.
Ife, They had a keg of paraffin wax,
which they boiled to add to the nour
ishment. The sickness they experi
enced as • result of the diet, says
\\ hat-to-Eat, was only temporary and
they landed in comparatively good
health.
Capt. Maboly of the foundered
steamer Gwalior and his second offi
cer created a record less than two
years ago by living for 17 days on
boot leather and a pint of water a day
each.
Of course no teeth can tear cow
hide boots; they have to be cut up
and shredded with a knife and the
shreds chewed and swallowed. Boil
ing, even when possible, it is said,
does no good, but takes from vhe
nourishment of the boots.
A diet of boots and shoes is one of
the commonest of last resource foods,
and though it is hard for a well-*'ed
person to imagine that anyone could
masticate and digest the leather, a
pair of long sea boots will keep a man
alive for a fortnight if be has a little
water.
Two men who went to a small
island off the Irish coast not long t.go
kept themselves going for ten days
, on > diet c» probably worse than this.
I \
each with at least 10,000 refugees, or
three times as many at one point aa
there were Cuban reconcentrados in
1898. The flour and bean shops of the
city have been closed. There are no
foodstuffs available. All are depend-!
ent on charity.
in a large camp at Antung the desti
tute peasants are also facing death.
The Chinese officials acknowledge!
their helplessness, and say that the
only feasible course is to let one halt
the people die and endeavor to obtain
seed and scanty food for those who re-,
main.
In Suchien, JO per cent of the peo
ple have been living on gruel for
weeks. All the cattle have been sold
and the donkeys, sheep, hogs, and
even the dogs have been eaten.
Pitiful Scenes in Refugees’ Camps.
In these camps the starring people
find shelter in flimsy huts' of matted
grass and strip the bark from trees,
devouring them ravenously to allay
the pangs of their hunger. In the bet
ter camps the people are fortunate
if they receive a scanty tea cup of
rice a day.
This is usually supplied at the
kitchens established by the relief com
mittees. Some of the most pitiful
scenes in the camps are enacted aa
the crowds of refugees, emaciated, dis
eased. and in rags, besiege the kitch
ens for the dole of food which means
their lives.
J. L. Rogers, American consul of
the district, who is acting as the spe
cial Red Cross representative among
the famine sufferers, visited refugee
camps at Chinkiang and Nanking re
cently. He was told that these were
infinitely better than the other camps
along the canal, yet he found the
wretchedness, misery, and appalling
horror of the sight almost indescrib
able.
There is no attempt at. sanitation,
be says. The mat huts are crowded
together, and each contains many
men. women, and children, who are
clothed in rags and are disheveled
beyond description. To make matters
worse, smallpox and other diseases
have appeared among them.
Widespread Measures for Relief.
The famine will continue for five
more months, or until the crop of
spring wheat is harvested. Each suf
ferer needs little yet in the aggregate
the requirements for their relief are
formidable. It is said that ten cents
a day will save a family, and $100 will
relieve a small community. Assum
ing that the total number of destitute
is 4,000,000, the relief fund must be
$20,000 a day for five months, or at
least $3,000,000. The relief thus far
has been trifling in comparison with
the need.
In all parts of America purse
strings have been loosened by men,
women and even little children to
save their kind from the pangs of
hunger and death. The contributions
range from five cents to $1,000 or
more. Nearly every State is repre
sented.
Fund for Sufferers.
A fund, started by contributions of
$100 each from President Roosevelt
and Secretary Root, is being raised
by the Christian Herald of this city.
From this fund $35,000 has been sen!
to China through the state depart
ment at Washington. The newapapei
has promised to raise $50,000 a month
additional for February, March, April
and Mav.
The Red Cross Society has raised
about $60,000. Of this $45,000 has
been sent to China. Several weeks
ago 300 tons of foodstuffs were ship
ped from America to the famine dis
tricts. The California Red Cross so
ciety was also instrumental in send
ing 2,500 bushels of seed wheat from
San Francisco two weeks ago on the
Siberia, free transportation having
been offered by the Pacific Mail
Steamship company. Five thousand
bushels of seed wheat have been
given to the Red Cross at Portland,
Ore., and it is being gathered at Seat
tle for shipment:.
There are two relief committees iff
China. One :s composed of Chinese,
Europeans and Americans, at Shang
hai. The other comprises missionar
ies exclusively. They are sending
food into the districts where the
greatest suffering prevails, but have
b?-en unable to do more than relieve
thfc starving peasants that are near
at hand, owing to the lack of funds.
As early as possible in the famine
the American Missionary society load
ed 3,509 bags of millet and rice on
boats and sent them up to the great
canal to the starving peasants. An
other consignment of 20,000 bags fol
lowed soon after. Thus far fully 16,
500 more bags of grain have been dis
tributed, making 40,000 in all.
The Chinese officials realize that
the crisis is at hand, and have taken
extraordinary measures to aid their
starving fellows. Taxes in the affect
ed provinces have been abated. Many
officials have had their salaries reduc
ed, the saving being devoted to re
lief. The mints are running overtime
to coin cash. The acute sufferers In
some of the districts are receiving
three cash (a sixth of a cent) a day
for a month. It is also proposed to re
open old canals and rebuild old roads,
and thus afford the starving an oppor:
tunity to earn a living.
They landed in a boat which was
smashed by a wave on their trying to
relaunch her, and they were kept on
the bare rocky island without food.
Fortunately there was a spring on
the island, but nothing in the way of
sea gulls, which they could catch, and
nothing with which to make a Are
as a distress signal. There were not
even any shell Ash, as there was no
beach, and the pair had to subsist tor
ten days on cold, raw seaweed washed
up by the tide.
The best known and most useful of
starvation diets for wrecked castaway
people, however, is that of barnacles.
Three Englishmen and a crew of Las
cars who had been forced to abandon
the failing vessel North Star a few
months ago kept themselves going for
more than a week on barnacles, i
The worst of this diet is that the
barnacles give one internal cramps
and cause an insufferable thirst, but
they do nourish the frame. You have
to reach under the vessel’s side and
pull ehem oii, taking care not to leave
the fcjpst half sf them sticking to the
plai V
HHMF VC TUC flT'Y country is the feeder of the city.
• IVItIEi ¥ J« 1 IlL vl 1 I This is only partially true. That doc
_ trine has been preached till the text
is threadbare. It would be much
THAT IS WHAT THE HOME-TRADE wiser for man to get a new text and
PROBLEM AMOUNTS TO. talk and work the country up, then
_ allow the city, including its mail or
der Octopus, to work its own prob
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? lems awhile. This, instead of being
_ | selfishness, would be the finest order
j of common sense. A more marked
If You Are Sending Your Dollars to , feeling of brotherhood interest is
»he Mail-Order Houses You Are saidi.v needed in the country on this
Battling Against the particular point.
Home Town. The rural population complain oi
- lack of facilities and conveniences; in
(Copyrighted, by Alfred C. Clark.) order to obviate this, let $200,000,000
A far seeing, provident business j this coming year be disbursed among
man will not pursue a policy which country merchants, among the hum
is subversive of his best interests, bier storekeepers, then observe what
He will not destroy his own house, will follow. The improvements would
neither will he jeopardize his busi- j be marked. Social conditions would
ness. He will observe the golden ; be greatly ameliorated. A new order
rule, not only in theory, but in prac- j would maintain in the home and over
tice, and its practical observation was ; the broad acres of the farm and best
never more needed than at the pres- of all. the social spirit of brotherhood
ent time. Men dream about the I would be felt as never before.
"Golden Age” and yet, ofttimes pur- [ Listen to these thoughtful words
sue a policy which renders the dawn 1 from Gov. Folk, of Missouri: “We
of that age an impossibility. j are proud of our splendid cities, and
Within the horizon of every coun- \ we want to increase in wealth and
try resident there exists an evil which population, and we also want our
is yearly assuming greater propor- i country towns to grow. We wish the
tions. We refer to the mail order , city merchants to build up, but also
business which last year amounted : desire the country merchants to pros
in money sent to Chicago alone to per. i do NOT BELIEVE in the mail
$200,000,000. Two hundred million order citizen. If a place is good
dollars diverted from its legitimate : enough for a man to live in and to
channel. Two hundred million dol- make his money in, it is good enough
lars sent out to enrich those who for a man to SPEND HIS MONEY
were not needy, while those at home j >n- Patronize your own town papers,
sorely in need of support were passed I build them up, and they will build
by coldly; the local trade was im- i your town up in increased trade and
poverished just to that extent. This | greater opportunities."
golden trade reviving stream should ; These are the words of wisdom and
have remained within its own chan- j foresight from a prudent, patriotic
nei, thus enriching its own soil, and | man. As it is to-day, these words are
causing desert piffcs to bloom and : expressive c.f the opposite of what
blossom. ^ should be in many a country district.
Many unemployed would have been The mail order citizen may think he
engaged at living wages, households is gaining; the truth is he is sawing
I
The batteries of the catalogue houses are carrying destruction to the
smaller cities and towns. Are you helping in this work of hurling destruc
tion at the local schools, churches and industries? Are you assisting in the
distribution of mail-order literature and sending ammunition in the way cf
home dollars with which they will continue the campaign?
would have been cheered and hearts
warmed; but no, it went to swell the
dividends of surfeited, boastful city
concerns.
The live and let live doctrines was
overlooked; its old-fashioned whole
someness was utterly disregarded.
The country merchant would have
been engaged in his daily struggle,
instead of battling at long odds
against ostracism, adversity, big bills
and meager receipts.
Think of $200,000,000, ye who cause
the catalogue houses to flourish as the
cedars of Lebanon, and the green bay
tree; remember that their prosperity
is at the expense of your brother, the
local merchant, and local progress.
Then ask this pertinent question; Can
we afford to play the game longer;
can we longer stultify local interests?
This great evil affects every farm
er, teacher and work hand, every
home, every school, every church in
every country community. It also
touches the interests of the physician,
preacher and pedagogue. It really
robs the country merchant before his
eyes, in a heartless way. He sees the
freight yard crowded with consign
ments to individuals from great cata
logue houses, and sadly does he look
at his country store with its stock
accumulating, for want of trade, and
thus decreasing in value every day.
Sadly too does he look at the refuge
of bankruptcy hourly being hastened
because his townsmen prefer the cata
logue house with its ubiquitous cir
culars. Those train loads of goods
were bought with money that should
have found its way into the honest
hand of your local merchant, who has
the good of your locality at heart, and
who is expected to contribute liberally
and continuously to very moral and
benevolent institution in your midst.
Then likewise remember this, that of
all the millions thus sent to swell the
coffers of houses in great cities, not
one cent will ever return to bless your
community; to clothe the naked, to
feed the hungry or to educate the
ignorant!
This is certainly a misguided, ill
advised policy; if self preservation is
the first law of nature, the fact just
statetl should cause lovers of this
country to think. Continue this policy
and what follows? The value of real
estate decreases, local improvements
cease, material progress stops, the
whole country suffers.
The money of a community repre
sents in a business sense just so much
possibility, and every honest occupa
tion is injured in proportion as that
is withheld or sent elsewhere.
In a certain rural community, this
official order and warning was issued:
“Unless bad roads are fixed there
will be no rural delivery at all.” It is
impossible to put roads in repair with
out money. This lack of means can
not be traced to poor crops, for the
harvest just gathered in has been
superabundant. Men cannot support
and build up business concerns in dis
tant cities without sacrificing the
local good. Is it fair to establish the
city by depriving the country of its
just support?
Many hold forth the idea that the j
off the limb upon which he sits. Dis
aster only can follow. The mail or
der citizen makes his money locally
and scatters it abroad in a field where
it is not needed; this is unfair to both
the town and to its merchants. This
shortsighted citizen complains of the
size and character of his town paper,
at the same time he pursues a policy
which tends to destroy both. Then,
publishers ought to be careful how
they exploit and give publicity to the
mail order houses; even if they are
paid well for the space, it reacts dis
astrously on the town's best pros
pects.
Let men stand by the local mer
chant, let them protect his interests,
for they thus further their own. The
town that made the man should be
made by the man. This is fair to all.
Let men ponder well this truth, that
we are all interdependent; that the
vein of brotherhood underlies the en
tire social and commercial fabric.
That together we stand or fall; that
tjie good of the country demands loy
alty and practical cooperation.
ARTHUR M. FROWDEN.
Father’s Fond Hopes Dashed.
“Times are changed,” said Mark
Twain, speaking of Washington. “I
doubt if nowadays a man of Washing
ton’s unswerving integrity would be
able to get on.
“A rich lawyer after dinner the other
night went into his den for a smoke.
He took down from his piperack a
superb meerschaum, a Christmas pres
ent from his wife, but, alas, as he
started to fill the pipe it came apart
in his hands. The bowl had been
broken in two and then carelessly
stuck together.
“With loud growls of rage the law
yer rushed from his den and demand
ed to know who had broken his new
meerschaum. His only son, a boy of
11, spoke up bravely.
“ Father,’ he said, ‘I can not tell a
lie. I did it.’
“The lawyer praised the lad's Wash
ingtonian veracity, but that night on
his pillow he' groaned and went on
terribly about the incident.
“ ’Heaven neip me,’ he said, ‘it had
been my life’s dearest wish to rear up
my son to my own profession, but
now—alas—alas—’ ”
Fortunate Men of Prominence.
Admirers of great, rich or famous
people often bestow their wealth upon
the objects of their regard. The Ger
man emperor heads the list of lucky
ones so favored. His receipts in
money and real estate during the last
ten years would, it is said, make a
millionaire envious. Following prece
dent. a Hamburg merchant prince left
more than $1,000,000 to the emperor’s
chancellor, whom Kaiser William im
mediately created “Prince” Buelow.
William Jennings Bryan recently
came by wealth in the same way. In
England Lord Allerton has received
$100,000 from an admirer of his public
career and Dr. Jameson inherits a sum
one-fifth larger under the will of Mr.
Beit. Queen Victoria was very for
tunate in her admirers, of whom ihe
wealthiest was Nield, who bequeathed
to her the sum of $1,250,000.
I B
SHORT SESSION SETS NEW
APPROPRIATION MARK
OT ASHINGTON.—More money was
™ appropriated during the short
ses*ion of the fifty-ninth congress,
which recently passed into history,
than during any previous session. The
amount approximates about $1,000,
000,000. Two big battleships were au
thorized for the navy. The artillery
corps of the army was reorganized
and enlarged. A general service pen
sion was granted to veterans of the
Mexican and civil wars, and like pro
visions were made for army nurses.
For river and harbor improvements
the appropriation aggregated $83,000,
000.
Increased salaries were given cab
inet ministers, the vice president, sen
ators, the speaker of the house of rep
resentatives and its members, ambas
sadors, ministers, and consuls, post
office clerks and letter carriers.
The public made more inquiries for
information from the document rooms
of congress regarding the ship sub
sidy bill, the currency measure, and
the bill regelating the hours of serv
k SERIES of misfortunes involving
dismissals, resignations and
deaths in the great executive depart
ments in Washington often develops
what is known as the “hoodoo desk."
A desk comes under suspicion after a
dismissal or two from the service or
after several transfers or resigna
tions, and if there should occur sever
al deaths among the occupants of the
desk in the course of a year or two
it is designated as the hoodooed desk
and no one iu that room cares to do
clerical work at it. In a room filled
with clerks, the hoodoo desk is easi
ly recognized, for it is most generally
occupied with the surplus I>ooks and
general litter of the daily routine
work.
Tlie desk may remain unoccupied
sometimes for months, until some new
clerk comes into the room and is as
signed to it, provided there is no
other vacant desk in the room. Bu
reau officials generally avoid assign
ing a new clerk to the hoodoo desk,
if it can be done. In fact the desk
is apt to remain without an occupant
ART STRICTLY BARRED IN
GOVERNMENT PRINTSHOP
IF there are those in the government
printing office who are vain, or
those who have been leaning toward
the artistic, they must confine their
admiration of what their mirrors por
tray to the sacred confines of their
homes—or the corner bar. Also no
more will they be permitted to cover
up patches of somberness on the walls
of the government printing office with
decorative pictures or calendars.
Even the pictures of President
Roosevelt are not exempt from the
attacks of the art censor, although a
likeness of the executive stayed lone
somely on the walls of the bindery for
three days while the censor consid
ered the propriety of including it with
in the category of “pictures” or “dec
orations.”
Maj. Sylvester recently asked a i«
lice regulation permitting him to pro
hibit the display of all pictures on the
billboards in the district. Close in
vestigation developed the fact that it
was not because of any aversion to
art on the part of the head of the po
lice department, but because he
wished to rid himself of the onerous
responsibility of saying what should
and what should not go on the bill
boards.
Under the present regulations he is
the court of last appeal for those who
/
50-00^-1 '
MRS. MARSHALL FIELD of Chica
go and George W. Vanderbilt of
New York are the two latest of the
multimillionaires of the country who
plan to add private residences to the
architecture of Washington, thereby
assisting to make the city the capi
tal of society as well as the political
capital of the nation.
A real estate dealer has sold to a
local lawyer two half squares of
ground fronting on New Hampshire
avenue, Seventeenth and S streets in
the northwest section, where the pa
latial homes of multimillionaires are
springing up like mushrooms. The
lawyer is said to be the agent for
Mrs. Field and Mr. Vanderbilt.
The property consists of 17 lots,
with an aggregate area of nearly 50,
000 square feet, and the consideration
is understood to have been morAhan
$115,000.
Mrs. Field has been in Washington
a great part of the present season,
and it has been known she was desir
ous of obtaining property upon which
to build a home here. Several brok
ers have offered her various pieces of
property, and the announcement that
she had about decided on the New
*'000.000.000
(^PP^OPRiAt'
ice of railroad employes than any oth
er pending legislation. Ship subsidy
died hard in the last hours. The other
two measures became laws as the ses
sion closed.
The immigration bill, one of the
measures brought over from the long
session, was completed under the spur
of President Roosevelt that he might
meet the California-Japanese situation
by giving the administration control
of coolie importation through pass
ports. The bill further restricts the
admission of aliens to the country.
A bill was passed for the establish
ment of an agricultural bank in the
Philippine islands. The free alco
hol law of last session was modified
that farmers may distill the waste
products of the farm to be denatured
; and used in the arts and sciences.
The right of appeal in criminal
i eases was granted the government,
| a measure intended to strengthen the
! anti-trust legislation by affording a
i means whereby the supreme court
| may pass on the constitutionality and
i construction of such laws.
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYES
SHUN “HOODOO DESKS”
until radical changes in the person
nel of the office cause its reputation
to be forgotten.
Perhaps the most conspicuous case
of a hoodoo desk in any one of the
Washington executive departments
I was that in which a succession of
misfortunes came to private secretar
ies of one of tlie assistant secretaries.
Several deaths and other misfortunes
made the place dreaded.
But there are other hoodoos in
Washington. Some years ago a door
keeper's post in the war department
building came under the ban and was
' a source of considerable annoyance
! to officials.
At this particular door the first mis
fortune was death, the second dis
I missal; the third holder of the post
, lost his wife by death and finally fell
! and broke a limb, and the fourth ap
| pointee in succession lost a child and
j then resigned. This resignation kept
; the place vacant for a lime, as no one
i could he induced to take it. The place
| had to he filled by calling on the civil
l service commission for some one from
the outside.
object and those who do not to the
pictures that get on display. Maj
Sylvester found it so hard to steer
j clear of trouble between the multi
; plicitv of opinions that he would lose
the whole responsibility.
What motive may have actuated the
move in the government printing of
fice is unknown, but the fact remains
that recently the order was promul
gated, and a man went through the de
partment removing pictures, mirrors
and all other attempts at decorations
from the walls.
In the course of his work came a
large picture of the president, and the
men in the room, who had watched
his iconoclastic progress with dis
pleasure, waited eagerly to see what
he would do. The man paused, and
some one asked if he intended to re
move the picture. He replied that he
didn't think he would at that particu
lar time, and passed on, gathering up
a truck load of other articles.
The picture of the president rested
in solitary glory for three days, while
in some place about the building there
were held councils of war to decide if
it should come down.
The ayes won the conference, and
the destroyer of amateur attempts at
decorative art came and took it down,
carrying it away to oblivion.
NEW PALACES OF RICH
IN FASHIONABLE CIRCLE
Hampshire avenue site occasioned lit
tle surprise in this city. Both she
and Mr. Vanderbilt are reported to
have consulted architects on their
prospective residences.
It is expected Mrs. Field will build
a mansion that will rival, if not
eclipse, the Leiter, Walsh, Townsend,
Lars Anderson and other fine homes
that have been erected in recent
years, the Leiter house on Dupont
circle being the first of the big resi
dential show places to go up.
Mr. Vanderbilt-is spending his first
winter in Washington, but is residing
in a rented house. It has been known
for some time that he intended build
ing a fine residence in this city.
Perry Belmont of New York is
building his half-million-dollar resi
dence just a square to the south of
the ground sold the agent for Mrs.
Field and Mr. Vanderbilt. Mr. Bel
mont paid nearly $100,000 for the site.
Other handsome residences in this
section are those of Representatives
Dalzell and John Moore and the Hul
dekoper and McKim houses.
The wear and tear of rust is faster
than the wear and tear of work.—S.
Smiles.
