r |
" 111 1 *
The Aldrich maximum freight rate
bill, which caused a deadlock in the
senate was next day amended and
recommended for passage by a vote
which was close, but apparently de
cisive. The vote in committee in fa
vor of the bill rahiged from 15 to 18,
while the vote against it stood at 11.
When the report of the committee
was made to the senate a motion not
to concur in that part of the commit
tee report reiating to the bill was lost
by a vote of 10 to 20, giving the bill
to all appearances enough supporters
to insure its passage by the senate.
The debate on the measure lasted over
an hour and, while it was heated at
times, the personalities that marked
the discussion the previous day were
omitted. Considerable time was spent
on the legal side of the question,
those who were opposing the bill as
serting it would hamper rather than
help the railway commission. The
hostile minority took the ground that
the question of -freight rates should
be left entirely to the commission.
The friends of the bill contended it
would give speedy relief from exorbi
tant freight charges and would give
the commission a basis from which
to work. Tii 3 original measure pro
vided for a cut of 20 per cent in all
present schedules, giving the commis
sion power to raise or lower these
rates as proof presented to it by the
roads or by shippers might justify. In
order to secure a good working ma
jority for the bill, those who were
backing it consented to amendments
making the reduction in rates 15 per
cent instead of 20 and making the bill
apply only to live stock, po
tatoes. grain and, grain pro
ducts, fruit, coal, lumber and build
ing material in carload lots. The
change in the amount of the cut was
made on motion of Wilcox of Thayer
after a motion to cut it to 10 per cent,
made by McKesson, had been voted
down. The first vote in committee was
on a motion of Epperson of Clay to
Indefinitely postpone the bill. This
v.as lost. 11 to 15. When Aldrich s
motion to recommend it for passage
was put. 18 voted for it, and the mo
tion was declared carried without
the negative being taken.
The joint committee primary bill is
ready to be reported back to the sen
ate from the judiciary committee. It
now stands at the head of the Hie and
will be taken up early this week. The
bill, by the amendments, has been
changed practically to the form it was
In when it left the joint committee,
nearly all of the house amendments
having been stricken out. The open
primary feature was changed to the
strictly party primary, but the new
provision is not quite as strict as it
was originally. Instead of making
oath he supported a majority of can
didates of the party at the previous
election, the voter must certify he af
filiates with the party and intends to
support the candidates of the party at
the next election.
Over the protest of its author, the
Adams stock yards regulation bill was
recommended for passage by the
house committee of the whole,
amended by the committee so that it
will hold water. As originally drawn
the bill attempted to run the whole
live stock business of South Omaha
and was discovered to be unconstitu
tional by trying to cover too many
subjects. The committee amendments
struck out that portion of the bill at
tempting to reduc the charges of the
commission men and simply retained
those sections which regulate the
stock yards. One of the most impor
tant is the reduction of the charges
for feed. The yards are also declared
to be public yards.
The house passed seventeen bills
on the 21st, one of them the senate
measure for eight junior normal
schools. The salary appropriation bill
was passed, as was the Armstrong bill
appropriating money raised under the
tone-mill levy for the state university,
and Alderson’s bill appropriating $98,
000 for Norfolk asylum improvements.
A conference committee was named
en the railway commission bill, trie
house refusing to concur in the sen
ate amendments. In committee of the
whole thq house recommended to pass
Adams' stock yards bill after amend
ing it.
As passed by the senate the railway
commission bill is practically as in
troduced by the joint railway com
mittee and drafted hi Senator Aldrich
of Butler county. It includes under
the jurisdiction of the railway com
mission railway, common carriers, tel
egraph and telephone companies, car
lines, all street car lines and other
common carriers which the legisla
ture may later designate.
The child labor bill, unamended
and untinkered, has been recommend
ed for passage by the senate commit
tee of the whole. Senator Wilsey at
tempted to amend by allowing the
children to work in the beet fields.
His amendment was voted down. Sen
ator Buck attempted to secure an
amendment allowing ten hours work
a day and sixty hours a week. This
was defeated. Senators Sackett, Pat
rick and King argued for the bill. The
measure was recommended for pas
sage, the opposition displaying eleven
negative votes.
Governor Sheldon has signed the
following bills; H. R. No. 21, allowing
roadways built under the inheritance
•tax law to be from nine to sixteen
feet wide; S. F. No. 148, providing for
the cancellation of the licenses of for
eign insurance companies that take
ithelr cases into federal court; H. R.
"No. 61, prohibiting the pooling of
"bridge companies; H. R. No. 83, allow
ting village board to regulate pool
lialls; H. R. No. 94, authorizing coun
ty boards to establish and maintain
detention homes.
The senate terminal r.ax bill passed
the house on the 22d on third reading
by a vote of 56 to 40 with four mem
bers, two fusionists and two repub
licans absent. The railroads fought to
the last ditch. Clarke made the mo-'
tion to put the bill on third reading
immediately after the house convened,
explaining that several members,
were present to vote for the bih who
were ill and who wanted to go home.
Hamer of Buffalo moved that It be
recommitted for the specific amend
ment to distribute for city assessment
purposes all railroad property located
off the right-of-way of railroads, where
the property is located in a town or
city. This motion was lost. Clark
moved the previous question. The
vote to this carried tl.e vote to put
the bill on third reading, and th* n
final vote was in favor of the bill, it
requiring four roll calls before the
finish.
Lobbyists must report to the secre
tary of state before going to work on
the legislature, and at the conclusion
of the session must file a detailed ac
count of their expenditures or else be
subject to a penalty ol $1,000 fine or
imprisonment in the ]»enitentiary or
county jail for one year, if the anti
lobby bill is passed by the present
legislature. Pursuant :o the demand
of Governor Sheldon, the senate ju
diciary committee reported the anti
lobby bill to the general file with
amendments. As amended the bill
practically is a copy of the New York
law. It prohibits lobbying except by
appearance before regular legislative
committees or by the submission or
printed briefs or oral arguments. The
employment of professional lobbyists
is forbidden.
The state weightnasier bill had an
inning in the house and came out of
the committee of the whole a much
stronger and more drastic measure
than that which was reported by the
standing committee on railroads. The
bill was one introduced by Thiessen of
Jefferson county and as it was amend
ed by the committee provides for the
state weight of carload lots of lumber
and coal. Some amendments were
adopted and the bill then recommend
ed for passage.
By the terms of an amendment,
which was offered to the bill for the
appropriation of money for the gen
eral current expenses of the state gov
ernment, state officers who do any
traveling will have to pay all their
own expenses, save 1 lie actual rail
road fare which they pay out. The
appropriation for office equipment for
the governor was raised from $1,500
to $3,o00, and he was alone given
$;>,000 for the purchase of furniture
for the executive mansion. The ap
propriation for traveling expenses for
the state board of bank examiners was
raised from $0,000 to $8,000. The food
commission was given an additional
appropriation of $1,000, raising its to
tal to $4,000.
In behalf of the fruit growers of Ne
maha county and surrounding terri
tory. Representative Armstrong has
introduced a resolution calling upon
the state railway commission to make
an immediate investigation into fruit
rates and to correct them as soon as
possible. Mr. Armstrong calls atten
tion to the fact that the fall fruit sea
son will be upon the country in a lit
tle while and advises that haste is
necessary. The resolution was adopt
ed.
The pure food bill as passed is with
the amendment desired by the re
tailers and druggists and practically
conforms tfa the national pure food
law. Section 8, the drug section, re
quires publication of formulas where
poisons or alcohol are contained in
the compounds in dangerous quanti
ties. Section 9 as amended exempts
the retailers from liability where
they have a guarantee from the manu
facturer or wholesaler.
It is likely that the legislature will
be able to adjourn by Saturday of this
week. There seems to be a general
sentiment that all the work can be
finished by that time, but to do a'.l
that is required to be done may take
longer than this and Speaker Nettle
ton is not going to stand for any
thought of adjournment until every
important measure is out of the
v, oods.
The report of the conference com
mittee on the railway commission bill
was adopted in both the house and
the senate and the bill is now ready
to be enrolled and sent to the gover
nor for his signature. While the gov
ernor has not made any public ex
pression of opinion about the bill, it
is believed that the measure is satis
factory to him as it now stands.
Express rate schedules now in force
will be cut 25 per cent, if a bill recom
mended for passage becomes a law.
The bill is by Sibley of Lincoln coun
ty. It provides for a reduction of all
express rates to 75 per cent of present
schedules and gives the railway com
mission power to equalize unjust
charges.
Sleeping car rates came in for a full
discussion in the senate, and the re
sult was that S. F. No. 409, by
Thomas of Douglas, reducing rates,
was recommended for passage. As
the bill was originally drawn it pro
vided for a charge ol' $1.50 for a
lower berth, $1 for an upper berth
and $2.50 for a section. Patrick had
it amended to provide for a charge
of $1.50 for a lower berth, $1.25 for an
upper berth and $2.75 for a section
and he had it changed to apply speci
fically to standard sleepers as distin
guished from tourist sleepers.
The senate committee on public
lands and buildings has filed a report
recommending that machinery be put
in at the penitentiary to supply elec
tric light for the capitol building, the
home for the friendless, the ortho
pedic hospital and the governor's man
sion. It recommends a fireproof build
ing for the state library. The com
mittee finds that the Norfolk asylum
is inadequate to care for patients, and
recommends a building similar to that
at Hastings, also a cottage for men
which would relieves the crowded con
dition and provide room for the future.
ENTIRE CITY NOW SUFFERING
FROM “THAW-MAD.”
Persons Who Attend Trial Especially
Afflicted—Even Judge and Law
yers Show Effects of
the Disorder.
New York.—''Thaw-mad” is the new
disease which is puzzling doctors in
New York. Its insidious effects are
not confined closely to the habitues of
the courtroom, but it is a regular pass
ling salutation on the streets.
Imagine a sane individual stopping
a friend on the street and saying:
"Psyeopathic Pete, how are your
genteel scratches this evening?". And
then imagine his once equally serious
companion saying:
"Brain storm. Bill: my scratches are
all of a paranoiac or pazzuzzling Qual
ity. You show signs of a fulminatory
quality."
All of which goes to prove that there
Iras sprung up among those who have
attended the trial day after day or
have read the minute details of the
proceedings, a sort of mild madness—
a madness incapable of exact defining,
but very real.
The strain upon those most interest
ed in the trial is greater than can be
expressed. Though all are as eager
and alert as before, wanting to catch
each circumstance as it transpires,
they begin to evidence the-truth of the
old sa_w: “A man can stand only so
much.”
On the lawyers themselves the strain
has been great. Justice Fitzgerald,
who was calmness and tolerance itself
through the early stages of the case,
has grown sharp in his speech to the
lawyers. The persistent Mr. Delntas
seems to wax weary of his tax, and
Jerome, so alert and incisive when he
began his labors, grows tired, but
keeps doggeuly at his work.
During lulls in the courtroom all
sorts of weird Mother Goose rhymes
are written and passed about to be
laughed over by those who wish to
while away the time.
Such a fine old child memory of the
nursery as "Baa-baa, black sheep,” has
been paraphrased within the week to
read:
Delphin Delmas, have you any
wool? Yas mum, yas mum, three bags
|(ull! ”
Not that there is the slightest rea
son in the rhyme, but just because the
strain of the pathetic, the tragic, the
drab has been so great that the con
trast becomes silly. One writer of rep
utation has shown his oddity by the
constant accumulation of fresh lead
pencils. One day he sharpened 42
and filled his pockets till they bulged.
Apparently' even then he was pos
sessed of a fear that they might not
Jast him through the morning session.
Requests to make a noise like a
•‘systematic delusion." or to give an
imitation of a "paranoiac at play,”
have been made, and the responses
have apparently pleased and satis
fled.
The "idiots’ quadrille” and the “im
beciles’ promenade” were among the
suggestions that have been made as a
method of relaxation, but no dancing
master has appeared as yet to take
the matter in hand. Still the trial is
not ended.
The weary, dreary hours drag on,
and one thing seems now certain—
though the Thaw case has been the
most sensational in the history of mod
ern murder trials—it will hold the rec
ord before it closes as the most brain
dulling cause celebre of modern days.
GETS GIFT OF HOLY LAND.
Prominent Jew of Texas Receives
Deed to Burial Plot in Palestine.
Terrell, Tex.—Jacob Label of this
city is in receipt of a burial lot at
Saffed, Palestine. This is four yards
Vf land, as they measure land In Pal
estine by the yard.
Mr. Label, who performs for his
people in this city the duties of rabbi,
is agent for a charitable institution
in the holy land, an institution some
thing like an orphan’s home in this
country, and the deed to the plot of
land was sent to him by the manage
ment of the institution as a token
of their appreciation of his services.
Mr. Label has been in this country
for 26 years. He looks forward with
much pleasure to spending his declin
ing years in the holy land, and hopes
to be buried in the lot, which has been
presented to him by his friends.
Holland’s Religious Queen.
The queen of Holland has initiated
a daily religious service at the pal
ace in The Hague, which is open to
every member of her household, from
the grand chamberlain to the butler.
The queen takes her seat at a small
table in the dining-room and begins
by reading a psalm, which is after
ward sung by all present. She then
reads a chapter from the scriptures
and the ceremony closes with the
singing of a hymn.
Cuspidors on Sidewalks.
Williamsport, Pa.—Church people or
this city have started a movement to
insist on the enforcement of the city
ordinance prohibiting spitting on the
sidewalks ia the city. They claim
that the mayor and chief of police are
not doing their duty with regard to
this law. A fund has been started,
with which cuspidors will be pur
chased and placed on the sidewalks,
and all people who find it necessary to
expectorate will be asked to use these
receptacles.
Sausage 85 Feet Long.
Pennsburg, Pa.—All sausage rec
ords, not only in this region, but prob
ably in the entire state, have been
broken by Charles K. Gougler, of
Niantic, who has made a sausage that
measures 85 feet t\go inches and
weighs 42 pounds. The hog from
which this was made weighed 520
pounds when dressed.
Single Blessedness Club.
Milwaukee.—Wisconsin university
girls have formed a “single blessed
ness society,” with branches at Chica
go and Northwestern universities.
>
Unsuccessful Rebel Leader.
t ——— ... . i i —————— ■ ii i —
J
From ftereogr&fih, copyright, by Underwood A Underwood, N. Y«
Gen. Antonio Paredes was the leader of the latest revolution in Venezuela.
His movement to overthrow the rule of Castro was organized in New York. 1
Shortly after his return and invasion he was captured by government trocps
anti, with seventeen of his followers, was executed.
MISSIONS IN CHINA.
GROWTH OF GOSPEL WORK DUR
ING A HUNDRED YEARS.
Centenary of the Establishment of the
First Station in the Celestial
Kingdom to Be Celebrated
in April.
It is just 100 years ago that the first
missionary began work in China, and
Caat event is to be celebrated in April
by a missionary conference. Robert
Morrison was the first man to feel the
call and to gain access to the seques
tered kingdom. For six years he la
bored alone, when in 1813 Milne, who
died nine years later, joined him. The
place left vacant was- taken by Med
hurst, and together these two men
labored for years without any visible
results, but full of faith that. God was
with them and that eventually’ the
Gospel would win its triumphs. And
this confidence was not misplaced as
may be easily appreciated by a con
sideratioin of the growth of missions
in China since 1842, when the country
was first really opened to missionary
work.
A perusal of the statistics of these
missionary efforts is both interesting
and instructive, and illustrative of how
t«ie little mustard seed of beginnings
has grown steadily through the years
until it has become a great spreading
tree of missionary activity. Some
tables condensed front the Church
Missionary Intelligencer tell the story.
Showing the total population and the
number of communicant Protestant Chris
tians in each province. January, 1904. The
three provinces Kweichow, Kansu and
Yunan have, only 250 communicants to 30,
750,000 population.
The figures include the wives of the
missionaries.
TABLE 1.
THE RATE OF INCREASE OF THE
MISSIONARY STAFF.
Mission- Net Yearly
aries. Increase.
In 1807. 1
In 1822. 2 ..!
In 184t. 20 i
In 1860. 160 S
In 1876. 473 20
In 1890.1.296 57
In 1898.2,458 145
In 1900.2.785 163
In -l;05.3,270 97
A marked increase in the yearly rate
is to be noted since the first great
missionary conference fdr China in
1877. Again, the beginning of a fur
ther yearly increase coincides with an
other great conference held in 1890.
The drop in 1900 is easily explained
by the boxer uprising. "Taking the j
above figures as they stand, and be- j
ginning from 1860, we notice that the
missionary force has been doubling I
every ten years."
The first convert, Tsai Ako. was bap- j
tized in 1814. Increase was slow from j
I then to 1853, when it began “follow
ing the general rule of doubling every
seven years, with the exception of an
abnormal jump between 1865 and 1876.
when the numbers increased from
2,000 to 13,000.’’ This will appear from
the next table:
TABLE 2.
THE RATE OF GROWTH OF THE NA
TIVE CHURCH.
Cnmrnun- Net Yearly
nicants. Increase.
Tn 1814. 1
In 1S42. 6
In 1853. 350 .",1
In 1X60. 960 87
In 1865 . 2,000 208
In 1876. 13,000 1.000
In 18S6 . 28,000 1.500
In 1SS9... 37,000 3,000
In 1893 . 55,000 4.500
III 1898. SO.0(81 5,000
In 1900.113.000 16,2*.)
In 1904.*..131.000 4.'.***)
Ill 1905.150.000 (est.) 19,000
“An apparent check may be noticed
between 1900 and 14*04. but this is to
Diagram of the Provinces of China.
be accounted for by the sad fact that
in 1900 about 16.000 suffered death at
the hands of the boxers, and mission
ary work moreover was almost at a
standstill in North China for two
years.
“If the same rate of increase, doub
ling every seven years, is maintained,
we may expect that there will be over
200.000 communicants by 1907, and all
the information to hand points that
way.
The most “heart-cheering’’ of all the
tables is the following, which shows
that the native church is Increasing at
a much faster rate than the increase
of the missionary force:
TABLE 3.
THE PROPORTION OF FOREIGN* MIS
SIONARIES TO CHINESE COMMI'NI
CANTS.
Mission- Com mu
aries. nieants. Ratio. •
1S42 20 6 31-3 to t
1S60 . 1«0 900 I to
1876 . 473 13.000 1 to 2X
1S90 .1.296 40.000 1 to 31
1900 . 2,785 113.000 l tuO
1905 .3.270 150.000 1 to 43
CHINATOWN DOOMED.
NEW YORK'S ULCER OF ORIENTAL
VICE TO BECOME PARK.
The One and One-Half Acres Will Be
Transformed Into a Playground
and Retreat for the
Bowery.
The end of New York city’s China
town is at hand. The board of esti
mate on parks has authorized the lay
ing out of a park on the site, and al
ready the denizens of the strange bit
of the orient between the Bowery and
Pell, Doyers and Mott streets, have
started to scatter. In a few years,
The Entrance to Chinatown.
nothing but a memory will remain of
this show place cf the metropolis,
with its booming temple gongs and
drums, stifling incense, its theater
with interminable plays, the shops,
restaurants, fireworks and colored lan
terns, and of the real Chinatown,
where horrifying vice flourishes in
defiance of the police.
Those who should know best de
clare that New York's Chinatown will
not be fully known until the wreckers
raze the old tenements and open their
cellars to the sunlight. They proph
esy that conditions will be found to
exist similar to those uncovered in
San Francisco after the earthquake
and fire. In the western city it was
known that by the use of secret doors
and passages, of wells and tunnels,
It was possible for the Chinamen to
hide themselves and their victims or
lead the authorities on long and fu
tile man-hunts from floor to floor and
building to building. The extent and
elaborate scale of these passages and
tunnels were not fully realized until
the ruins of San Francisco's China
town disclosed all of its secrets after
the earthquake.
The Chinatown of New York ranks
next to that of San Francisco in size
and importance. The police of this
city have already penetrated to some
of the wells and secret passages and
chambers. The authorities are forced
to admit that vice still flourishes in
these hidden resorts in spite of all
they can do. It is a logical step to
the belief that New York’s Chinatown,
resembling that of San Francisco in'
so many ways as it does, holds more
secrets unknown to the white man.
New York’s Chinatown, which will
thus be wiped out, comprises about
1% acres. The assessed valuation of
the’Property is $583,200. The agita
tion for a park in this section has been
met by the question of cost, and a
rehearsal of the arguments regarding
Mulberry park, which is so close at
hand, and the experiences in wiping
out that pest-spot in the slums. When
the condemnation proceedings for ac
quiring Mulberry park were started in
1891, nearly ten years had been spent
in agitation and preliminaries. The
park covers 2.75 acres, nearly twice
as much as will the Chinatown park,
and the cost of the land, exclusive of
improvements, was $1,522,055.60. The
park was opened six years later.
Where will the new Chinatown be?
j Several sites haye been suggested.
; and have aroused more or less opposi
! tion from the white men of the neigh
■ borhood. One of them was at Ked
Hook Point, Brooklyn, the property
being the factory site of the Worth
ington Manufacturing company,
which is covered with old buildings.
The Chinamen looked at the property,
but their appearance raised a storm
of opposition from the neighbors, and
it was suspected that there was a trick
among the real estate dealers.
The other site is the district near
the Brooklyn end of the Williamsburg
bridge. It is said that the firm of Soy
Kee Brothers, who are wealthy Chi
nese merchants, has purchased two
whole blocks of real estate in that vi
cinity, and will rent the houses to the
Chinamen who are fast leaving China
town.
Fear to Admit Identity.
“It’s really alarming how hard it is
getting to be nowadays to get a person
said a business man the other day.
to admit his identity to a stranger."
“Now, I have a perfectly legitimate
line which draws me to a middle elass
of people and those who are on the
edge of so-called society. I go to their
places of business. Some of them I
know by sight. I go up to them and
ask if Mr. So-and-So is in. knowing at
the time he is the man I am looking
for. Half the time the man will reply:
‘No, he's out just now, but I will take
the message.’
“When he finds out my business he
generally laughingly admits his idem
tity and says he thought I was a rep
resentative of So-and-So. I suppose
this is the result of the modern way
of living on the installment plan, with
collectors at our heels.”
A Life-Saver.
“In case you find the north pole
what good will have been accom
plished?”
“What good will have been accom
plished?” replied the explorer. “If I
find the pole I will have done more in
the way of saving human lives than
any other man on earth. Nobody else
will then have any reason for running
risks in trying to find the thing."—
Judge. '
Where the Shoe Pinches.
First Magnate—This problem of tak
ing care of the poor is a hard one.
Second Magnate—Most difficult. It’s
easy enough to get money from them,
but it ruins them to give it back—»
Life.
Progress.
Blacksmiths forge ahead.
Money lenders advance daily.
Real estate men gain ground.
Gamblers get the upper hand.
Tailors press forward.—Judge.
*
TUTOR OF MAHARANI.
PENNSYLVANIA GIRL ACCEPTS
UNIQUE POSITION IN INDIA.
Miss McLean, of Lav/renceville, Well
Fitted to Occupy Post—Has Ob
tained Degrees from Califor
nia and Yale Universities.
Lawrenceville, Pa.—It is safe to say
that every woman of artistic taste and
a love for the beauties of the arts of
an ancient civilization will bfe pleased
at and perhaps envious of the distinc
tion which has come to Miss Mary E.
McLean, who has been appointed tutor
and companion to the wife of the Ma
harajah Gaikwar, of Baroda, India.
Miss McLean is the daughter of the
late George McLean, of Lawrence
ville, and is a charming young wom
an deeply interested in the study of
the occult, and the mysterious phan
tasmagoria of the Indian rites, as
practiced thousands of years ago.
When the Maharajah and the Ma
harani—which means the “little
princess”—were in this country a
year ago they decided to engage an
American college woman who would
be fitted to relieve her highness of
the fatigue of social duties when oc
casion required, and to aid her in
such duties. It was somewhat of a
task to select one capable of perform
ing such a work of delicate diplomacy
which meant a thorough knowledge of
social customs and a wide familiarity
with 'the history of India. The Ma
harajah consulted a friend in New
York and after an exhaustive inquiry
Miss McLean was decided upon as
possessing all the necessary qualifica
tions, with her lovely personality as a
kind of bonus.
There are a few young women in
America possessing a better educa
tional equipment for the novel posi
tion she is to occupy. She went from
here to Oakland, Cal., where she was
graduated from the girls' high school
She next entered the University of
California, front which she was gradu
ated with the degree of bachelor of
philosophy. This was supplemented
by two years' study and travel in
Europe.
I Returning to America. Miss McLean
entered Yale university, from which
she obtained the coveted degree of
doctor of philosophy. Since that time
she has been engaged in literary work
in New York city until she received
! her present appointment, and has re
cently entered on her duties.
Miss McLean, who is now in India,
has written to her friends here that
the Maliarani is a very beautiful and
intelligent woman. The Maharajah
i himself is a graduate of Oxford and
! possessed of vast wealth. To the
great disappointment of Miss McLean
everything about the palace, even to
the rugs and furnishings, is imported
from England. She has had the great
est difficulty in making the people
who are fitting up her bungalow' un
derstand that she wants everything
Indian, not English.
Her highness is a Brahmin of the
highest caste, dresses in native cos
tume, and wears its accompanying
veil of 15 or 20 yards-length.
THE CONSTITUTION IS FREAKY.
UKianoma Offers Some Strange New
Ideas.
Kansas City.—Among the freak
propositions offered in the Oklahoma
constitution are the following: Levy
ing a tax of one per cent on the gross
receipts of railroads; to eliminate the
name of Almighty God from the con
stitution, substituting in the preamble,
"The supreme ruler of the universe;”
taxing peddlers and taxing theaters
and circuses; to locate the capital of
the state on a barren prairie at the
exact geographical center of the state;
to prohibit the system of “you scratch
my back and I’ll scratch yours”
through the trading of votes on pro
posed bills in legislatures; poll tax
qualifications for voters; providing for
the election of United States sena
tors by direct vote of the people and
compelling the legislature to ratify
such election or expel members vot
ing against it; compelling insurance
companies to invest at least 75 per
cent of surplus reserve fund within
the state; prohibiting the leaving of a
large estate to one child; compelling
corporation officials and employes to
*--—
lesmy ami men ueuyiug mem mw
right of immunity from evidence tend
ing to incriminate themselves; pro
viding that all persons of good moral
character may be admitted to practice
law in any of the courts of Oklahoma
without examination and to allow per
sons not lawyers to serve .as county
judge, and a provision forever prohib
iting all foreign building and loan as
sociations from doing business in Ok
lahoma.
A proposition to prevent the piping
of gas out of Oklahoma by denying
pipe lines the right of ,eminent domain
and forbidding them, from crossing
public highways or alleys without con
sent of the state is now under con
sideration by the convention. Also a
proposition to make it a misdemeanor
for any person other than employes of
the road, physicians and nurses in
case of emergency, to ride on a pass
upon any railroad in the state.
And now Count Boni threatens to
commit suicide. It is not necessary
to be cruel in disposition to face that
chance calmly.
i
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Oil Refining Makes Gains.
Petroleum Plants Show Growth in
Number and Capital.
Washington.—In 1905 there were
104 petroleum refineries in this coun
try. Their total capital was $136,280,
541; they employed 16,770 wage earn
ers; paid in wages $9,989,367; used
materials costing $139,387,213, and
manufactured products to the value
of $175,005,320. As compared with
the totals for the industry at the cen
sus of 1900, these figures represent in
creases as follows: In number of re
fineries, 38.7 per cent; in capital, 43
per cent; in number of wage earners,
37.5 per cent; in amount of wages
paid, 48.7 per cent; in cost of mate
rials, 35.5 per cent, and in value of
products, 41.2 per cent.
The number of products which may
be derived cotamercially from petrol
eum is so great as to make it imprac
ticable to obtain returns for each of
them separately. The principal prod
ucts, together with the value of each,
were as follows: Burning oils, includ
ing the different grades of both illum
inating and fuel oils. $100,571,825;
residuum, $3,138,361; paraffin oils, $6,
210,279; paraffin wax. $10,007,274; re
duced oils, $16,794,789; naphtha and
gasoline, $21,314,837; neutral oils, $1,~
942,153, and “all other products,”
which includes coke, carbon points
and black naphtha, $15,025,802.
In 1904 the volume of refined prod
ucts exported was 18,218,795 barrels,
or 36.6 per cent of the total produc
tion for that year, and the total value
at the ports of shipment was $74,273,
525. Although the quantity was great-.
er in 1901 and in 1902, this value is
the largest ever rejrorted for exports
of refined petroleum. It exceeds the
value reported for 1899 by 25.8 per
cent, that reported for 1889 by 57.6
per cent and that reported for 1880
by 134.1 per cent. Of the total value
of exports illuminating oils formed
more than 70 per cent.
Sirius is a sun 2,700 times bigger
than ours.
