Loop City Northwestern J. W. BURLEIGH, Publisher. LOUP CITY. - - NEBRASKA. Are All Criminals Insane? If the murderer may escape legal punishment for his crime because the emotional explosion which brought about the homicide is adjudged to be a temporary insanity, where is the line between an irresponsible condi tion and mere hate? asks Collier’s Weekly. How many emotional Ital ians, poorly nourished, badly bred, in heritors of none knows what taint, are yearly convicted of varying degrees of homicide, and swiftly punished, who, had they the money to employ able experts and counsel, might prove that the state of mind in which they jabbed stilettos into the other men, was com parable to a neurotic cyclone, in which their poor physical members whirled in a state of complete moral anesthesia? In a hundred years will our whole crude legal machinery for drawing hard lines about responsibili ty seem as barbarous as the ancient tests for witchcraft? Plainly, in the relation of punishment to crime, we are as yet children groping in the dark. It may be noted in this connec tion that a bill has been introduced in a state legislature to provide that mur derers who have no money and wish to enter the plea of insanity may em ploy a suitable medical expert at the expense of the state. What Makes Spring Early or Late. Until recently it was taken for granted that the heat given out by the sun was always the same in amount, not differing one day from another, or one year from another. But it has been finally ascertained, through a long series of experiments, that the amount of beat given out by the sun is constantly varying, and that at dimes it is not less than one-sheth greater than at other times, a differ ence amply sufficient to account for exceptionaly cool summers or warm winters on the earth. Indeed, says Rene Bache, in the Reader Magazine, there can no longer be any doubt that we owe our weather, to a great ex tent, to the solar luminary; and our government is at present engaged in a painstaking study of the subject in the observatory on Mount Whitney, Cal., the expectation being that, when it has come to be more fully under stood, science will be able, by obser vation of the sun s activity, to make forecasts of raeterological conditions for at least six months in advance. In the simultaneous discharge of eight of the ten 12-inch guns of the Dreadnought, a shock was given the vessel of 400,000 tons, more than double that of any broadside ever be fore fired. The vessel of 18,500 tons skidded sideways several yards, list ing many degrees. The guns are 53 feet long, and each shell of 850 pounds is discharged by 265 pounds of cordite, with a muzzle velocity of 2,000 miles an hour. It is calculated that if the eight guns could be com bined in one and fired at the height of the atmosphere, the shell would travel around the earth forever as a miniature satellite. Many of the unwedded ones in Fort Dodge, la., seem to take in deadly earnest the municipal ordinance im posing fines on those who remain single, although it is extremely •doubtful if the constitutionality oi such a regulation would be upheld by the courts. At any rate, men and women are getting married by whole sale. In two days a local magistrate married no less than 33 couples whose avowed object was to escape the fines to which they would have been subjected under the terms of the ordinance. Many towns or France have a beautiful custom of crowning with a wreath of roses the young woman who has distinguished herself during the past year for her kindness to her family, her virtue, and her assiduity in her work. The contest for the honor is bound to be keen in St' Cloud, a suburb of Paris, this year, for a generous citizen has willed a sum sufficient to provide an income of $120, to be given each year to the winner of the rose wreath. James Ford Rhodes, whose history of the civil war has added so much to the authentic annals of the United States, was until a few years ago an extensive iron and steel manufacture er of Cleveland. For sheer love ol historical research and literary work Mr. Rhodes, who passes much of his time in Washington, abandoned an eminently successful business career to devote himself wholly to the prep aration of his history. Two Frenchmen, a senator and an editor, have fought a duel with iswords, in which both were wounded. This sort of thing will be apt to bring into disfavor a form of amusement which hitherto has been regarded as harmless. A child was killed in Lisbon by a royal automobile. These are some of the pleasures denied to the Inhab itants of a republic, although some of our captains of industry do their best to make the want felt but slightly. Soon after the coronation of King Edward there was published a photo graph which showed him at a modern office desk with a telephone stand at his elbow. Still more striking is a picture recently printed of Cardinal Merry del Val, papal secretary of state, seated at a desk before an American typewriter. A South Bend (Ind.) girl played de tective and caught a man who tried to flirt with her. And many and many a girl has caught one—and without playing detective, either. HOW TO ADVERTISE EFFECTIVE METHODS THAT WILL BRING RESULTS. SHOULD TELL THE PRICES Generalities Are Meaningless to the Public—Why the Mail-Order Man Wins—Try the Plan. If you. Mr. Merchant, would compete with the mail-order houses there are three main essentials to success—the goods—the prices—advertising. The last of these is quite as essen tial as either of the others. In the great majority of cases the local merchant has the goods, and he makes the prices, hut in very many cases he either fails to do the adver tising, or what he does do is not effec tive in the same way that the mail order man's advertising is effective. The writing of effective advertising is not. an art. it is not a business that requires years of study to learn. A few hours of study and comparison will give you every essential detail that you will need. It is comparatively safe to say that 75 per cent, of the advertising carried by local merchants in the local papers is worded in generalities only. Such advertisements as the following are found in every paper: GO TO BLANK’S FOR Hardware, Stoves and Tinware BEST GOODS LOWEST PRICES The mail-order man's advertising is different. It is specific, and while the glowing descriptions given are often misleading—a thing which Blank's ad vertising should never be—they at tract the attention of the reader and possible purchaser because they tell about some one thing that he may pos sibly want. The mail-order man makes a run on a few things which he is willing to tail the goods lie has to sell, and quotes the price he asks for it will attract the favorable attention of the public far more often than the one who deals only in generalities. It is this kind of advertising that pays. It is this kind of advertising that is at tracting the dollars from the smaller cities and towns and farms to the mail order houses of the city. It is this kind of advertising that drew $200, 000,000 into the coffers of the Chicago mail-order houses alone last year, and it is this kind of advertising on the part of the local merchants that the mail-order houses fear more than any other one thing. But, Mr. Merchant, whether your line be hardware, dry goods, groceries, clothing or other commodities, it is well to go further than your newspa per advertising, though this is the foundation of success. Go to the local printer and have him make you little catalogues of your own. They do not need to be large affairs, but small folders of four, eight or 16 pages. Put into these folders the descriptions and prices of the goods you are carrying, or leaders in the line. Be sure that the prices quoted are right, then put one of these into the hands of every customer; keep them circulating throughout the community, and make a practice of getting out a new one every few weeks. You, Mr. Merchant, can make adver tising pay larger returns than the mail-order man secures; you can make it the mainstay of your business, and you can make it the means of killing the mail-order competition in your community. And when you do this do not begrudge the publisher the reasonable price he asks you for ade quate space in his columns. He will give you better valqe than any other commodity you can buy. WRIGHT A. PATTERSON'. NO THORNS IN HER PATH. Josephine Daskam Writes in Tribute of the Golden Rule. "I believe myself to be notably for tunate in my relations with my do raestic employes. During a period of eight years, in which I have employed household labor in four widely differ ent places, I have never once been ad iisw v By the aid of the editor the home merchant can ride the mail-order magnate out of the home community on the rail of publicity. The moral is advertise; advertise systematically and persistently. Tell the public what you have to offer, and tell it so they will understand. sell at a close margiji of profit in or- | der to attract trade In his general line on which heavy prodts are made. Blank should advertise hardware in much the same manner the mail-order man advertises hardware, and he has this advantage—he can invite the peo ple of the community to visit his store and see the goods for themselves so they will know just what they are buy ing. If, instead of expressing meaning less generalities in a two-inch space, Blank had used a little more space and properly displayed an advertise ment something like the following he would have been sure to have at tracted attention to his store, and in all probability would have been sur prised at the drawing power of his ad vertising: WASHDAY BARGAIN SALE AT BLANK’S EVERYTHING NEEDED FOR WASHDAY AT BARGAIN PRICES During Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week $3' 7Q for- a 5 year guaranteed best quality Clothes Wringer, the King of Wring ers. Solid rubber rolls, steel spring and patent guide board. $I«4.S *or. a.*°°^. American clothes wringer. 10 inch rolls, hardwood frame. ^ AC *or genuine "No Sag ’ Curtain Stretchers. J Center brace and will not sag. 98c for extra heavy copier rim and bottom wash boilers. I^C -or 5 dozen of the first quality Clothes Pins wflr* for 50 foot white Cotton Braided Clothes Line. 89c for hardwood folding Clothes Bar of ex ceptional size for the money. f°r full sized very best quality Wash Boards.* for nii Tubs. for medium sized galvanized iron Wash 75^ ~ * f°r \2-qt. heavy galvanized iron water or scrub pail. ier for best quality liber Water Pail cf ex ceptional merit. ' 70C r°r an excellent qual ty of ironing boards • that will not warp. Ciir f°r an extra large heavy willow Clothes basket. The prices given here are of course mere fiction, but the prices Blank should quote in his advertisement should show the pualic that he is giving bargains: they should be prices that would compare favorably with the prices of the mail-order catalogues, and he should impress it upon the public that he not only shows them what they are buying before they pay for it, but that the purchaser has no freight \to pay, and does not have to wait iui interminable time for the goods he buys, as when ordering of ,the mall order house* It Is specific advertising that draws. The advertiser who describes in de dressed with intentional disrespect by any person in my employ," says Jose phine Daskam Hacon in the American Magazine. “I have never been left a day with out my regular staff of employes, which has varied from one to five (that is to say, that I have never been left suddenly or without suffi cient notice to supply the vacancy). "I have never had a satisfactory worker leave me except for what I considered a good reason (in the ma jority of cases an advantageous mar riage). "I have never lost an unsatisfactory one except by my own dismissal. I have never to my knowledge, or even suspicion, suffered the loss of a pen ny's worth by theft, and my record for breakage is such that it produces utter incredulity. "In three cases out of four I rtave had services willingly and frequently offered me along lines where it was not expected or requested. I have had extra money offered by me to off set extra work occasioned by sickness refused on the ground that at such times all the household expected to share the trouble. "And as a climax I am able to state that once, at least, on my offering a raise in wages to express my appreci ation of competent and devoted serv ice I was met with the astounding sug gestion that as my expenses were heavy at the time and likely to in crease I had better not consider it. ” Worshiped as Deities. Snakes, the objects of terror to mcst Europeans in eastern lands, are worshiped in most parts of India. In sorne districts there are from 15,000 to 20,000 shrines dedicated exclusive ly to the worship of snakes. These shrines, which are Invariably in honor of one of the minor divinities of the country, possess, in some instances, valuable properties for their mainten ance and for the cost of the numerous ceremonies which their keepers have to rerfcrm. In these shrines the Hin dus set up fantastic idols of serpents. The devotees of this strange religion make periodical offerings of dough and milk and cooked rice to the ser pents living in the shrine, in order to receive their favor. Only One Novelty Left. Sirs. Flora Annie Steel, the author, wi! asked recently by an American friend for some information about her self. Mrs. Steele replied: “I have been married, I have borne children, I have two grandsons, I have, there for}, lived through the life alloted to woman, and the only novelty before me is death.” Encourage Saving. The wise father and mother will never discourage the fancies of their children for accumulating things. It is a natural instinct, inborn in the most of people, and given a little thought and care by the older heads may be turned to good account. If the child begins to collect “pretty" pebbles or shells at the seashore don't throw them out—but iet them form the basis of a little geological col lection, and with proper guidance the j youngster will soon be looking upon “sticks and stones” with an interested and educated eye. THOUGHT HIM A LUNATIC. Man’s Queer Jumble of Words War ranted the Inference. Prof. William Lyon Phelps of Yale recently told this story at New Ha ven's chamber of commerce banquet: A hard drinker was told by his doctor | that he could be cured if every time j he felt that he must have a drink he would immediately take something to eat instead. The man followed the advice and was cured, but the habit of asking for food had become so fixed with him that once he was nearly locked up as i a lunatic. He was stopping at a hotel ! and. hearing a great commotion in the room next to his. he peeped over the transom to see what the mhtter was. ' He saw. and rushed madly down to J the office and shouted to the clerk: 'The man in 153 has shot himself! Ham and egg sandwich, please!”— Lippincott's. SPLENDID APRIL TONIC. Easily Prepared at Home and Harm less to Use. This is known as “Blood-Cleaning Time,” especially among the older folks, who always take something dur ing this month to clean the blood of impurities and build it up. The following is the recipe as given by a well-known authority, and any jne can prepare it at home: Fluid Extract Dandelion one-half