SNOW PLOW IN THE ROCKIES
The problem of keeping open the trails across the mountains for winter
travelers is one of the most perplexing with which railroads have to contend.
Monster plows are used and pushed by powerful locomotives; they often lit
erally burrow paths through the huge drifts that block traffic. The accom
panying photograph shows a snow plow and locomotives ready to fight the
snow. ,
Many Aliens Leaving
FEAR OF HARD WINTER DRIVES
FOREIGNERS HOME.
Immigration Official Says Men Out of
Work Can Live More Cheaply in
Europe Than in the United
States.
Washington.—Analysis of the causes
of the recent marked exodus of aliens
from the I'nited States is contained in
an interview given by T. V. Powderlv,
chief of the division of immigration.
Mr. Powderlv, who was formerly a
prominent labor leader, is the official
who is trying to divert immigration to
those parts of the I'nited States where
it will do most good, and on this ac
count he has given careful study to
the economic tendencies of the for
eigners who come to the United States
at the rate of 1,000,000 annually.
“Several causes combine to bring
about the eastward march of the
aliens now leaving us," he said.
“Every year great numbers of aliens
return to their homes for the winter.
The railroads, principally in the north,
east and west, lay off men engaged in
outdoor work and following this oth
ers are thrown out of employment.
"These men find it desirable to re
turn to their old homes for the win
ter; they have the opportunity to visit
their friends and relatives and can
I live much cheaper there during the
winter than here, for food and lodging
arc cheaper and the climate is not so
severe.
“In other years the exodus began
the latter part of October and con
tinued up to Christmas, but this year
the rush was accentuated by the finan
cial flurry. And right here I pause to
remark that those who imagine that
our aliens do not read are somewhat
in error, for those who cannot read
have others to read to them, and they
keep a sharp eye on the trend of
events in this country, so that when
the papers announced under scare
head-lines that things were going
wrong, these men, not trained to
analyze the statements, took alarm,
and quite a number more went away
than would have gone in other years.
“Another cause is to be found in
the fact that every four years preced
ing the presidential election there is a
tendency eastward on the part of the
aliens. They hear so much said about
the uncertainty of the presidential
year that they prefer to take no
chances and go home for that year.
“There is still another cause for the
returif of Italians to their native land.
The railroads of Italy are owned by
the government. Up to this year they
were managed by private corporations
to whom they were leased by the gov
ernment. It was found that they were
not paying. The rolling stock was not
kept in order and the maintenance of
the schedules was not deemed im
portant. A consequence of all this was
that traffic fell off, no one traveled un
less he had to and the railroad service
became demoralized.
“Now the government has taken the
railroads out of the hands of these
corporations and is engaged in the
work of reconstructing the entire rail
road system of the country. It is es
timated that about $100,000,000 will be
expended in the kingdom in bringing
the railways up to a proper standard of
efficiency, and Italy is calling her sons
who have learned how to make good
railroads in this country back to their
old homes.
“So you see that no alarm need be
felt because of the ebb in the tide.
There is more work to do in this
country than ever before. There is a
necessity for more men and women to
do it, and the first months of next
year will see a return of aliens, who
will be able to find remunerative em
ployment in this country.”
BIRDS SHOW EMOTION
A SCIENTIST SAYS SPARROWS’
FACES MIRROR THEIR FEELING.
Clinton G. Abbott Proves Assertion by
Photographs—Mother Cat Bird
Expresses Her Fear of
Stuffed Owl.
Philadelphia.—I'm no nature faker,
but I am convinced that such emotions
as anticipation, supplication, satisfac
tion, surprise and attention not only
live in the breasts of the feathered
tribe bnt that the outward expression
of these emotions is mirrored in the
tiny faces of the birds,”
This declaration by Clinton G. Ab
bott, a well-known scientist of New
York, caused a stir among members of
the twenty-fifth annual congress of
American ornithologists at the Acad
emy of Natural Sciences the other
day.
With this declaration as the keynote
of one of the most notable addresses
ever delivered on the subject. Dr. Ab
bott flashed upon the scene a photo
graph showing fwo small sparrows
with the mother bird upon the limb of
a tree.
“While. I was at Long island I ar
ranged. early one morning, my cam
era so that it would face a limb of a
tree in which I knew the sparrows
shown in this picture made their
home," said Dr. Abbott. “I attached
a long string to the' press bulb, and
then, with this in hand, hid myself in
some distant shrubbery. The two
younger birds appeared and shortly
after the mother, pluming her wings
as if for flight. A moment afterward
she flew’ into the woods and 1 got a
photograph of the little ones awaiting
her return. Their bills were open, as
you see them in the picture, and there
is no one who will not agree with me
that anticipation is clearly evident
rn the posture and in their bills and
tiny faces.”
•There was an outburst of applause
after the audience had taken in the
details of the picture.
“Later.” Dr. Abbott continued, “I
got a picture of the birds after the
feeding. The mother had returned
with food for one in her bill. On the
face of the unfed one was an expres
sion of disappointment."
This picture was flashed on the
screen.
“There," he continued, “you can see
the little one still crying for food.
The mother left again and returned
with food for the other. In another
picture I have the two satisfied
youngsters on the limb and the mother
as satisfied on the nest.”
This picture was shown, and in the
pause there was another enthusiastic
demonstration from the audience.
“All the >mot(ons I specified,” said
Dr. AbbotCV^fe shown on the faces
of the biflis. 1 placed a stuffed owl
in a tree near the nest of a catbird,
and then waited until morning to see
the expression on the bird's face at
the sight of the stranger. In the morn
ing the catbird came out, looked
quizzically at the owl, completely sur
prised at the presence of a possible
enemy. He then made all kinds of
noise with his wings and mouth to
scare the1, owl away. After each ef
fort at scaring there was a look of at
tention on the face of the catbird.
BARON STERNBURG
Recent photograph of the German ambassador to the United States in
full court costume. Baron Sternburg and President Roosevelt are on most
intimate terms, both being excellent horsemen, and may often be seen to
gether on their favorite steeds in the outskirts of Washington. The baron is
a veteran of the Franco-German war; he also served as secretary of the Ger
man embassy at Washington in 1398. His wife is a former Kentucky belle.
And that look is photographed before
you.
“Next day," Dr. Abbott continued, “I
took the owl away, then I discovered
that the catbird had two young ones
in a nest. They were permitted to
come out on the limb of the tree, and
I got in another picture the look of
self-satisfaction upon that catbird's
face.”
Sneezes and Hears Again.
Ithaca. X. Y.—William Shepard, of
Horseheads, who is visiting in this
city, and who has been deaf some ten
years, had his hearing restored while
attending service in Zion A. M. E.
church. The cure was not the result
of any miraculous manifestation, but
was produced by a vigorous sneeze.
BIG INCREASE IN CRIME
New York Insurance Companies Con
template Raising Rates.
“New York.—More burglaries, lar
cenies and thefts of all kinds have
been committed in this city in the last
60 days than at any similar period in
its history.
A canvass of the managers of the
burglary insurance business revealed
an interesting condition of affairs.
Several of these openly declared that
so frequent had robberies in this city
become that it was a case of either
abandoning business altogether or
of a large increase in rates.
Few persons realize the magnitude
of the annual loss to New Yorkers by
burglary and theft. To illustrate how
serious this loss is the burglary in
surance interests call attention to the
fact that while the loss for 8,424 fires
in this city in a single year has
reached the total of $9,816,000, there
were in the same period 35,289 rob
beries, with $15,875,000 as the total
value of the property stolen. The
property recovered In these cases, or
“salvage,” as the insurance men call
it, was a negligible quantity, ranging
in some companies from less than one
per cent, to not more than five in the
most fortunate.
Makes Weather to Order.
Akron, O.—Pointing to spring flow
ers blooming in a field behind his
laboratory as proof that he can pro
duce any variety of weather he de
sires. John C. Bedient, an electrical
genius of this city, is about to apply
for a patent and to form a company to
manufacture an apparatus, the model
of which he is concealing in his work
shop.
He says electricity is the basis of
his machine and that it will produce
warm weather, with Imitation sun
shine, rain, and the growth of flowers,
plants, and grains, and snow or ice,
if applied near still or running water.
He stands guard each night, relieved
by his wife and son, to prevent filch
ing of bis possession.
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY -
As a result of the recent financial crisis, the name of George B. Cortel
you, secretary of the treasury, has become quite prominent before the public;
his handling of the situation has brought him nothing but praise from all
quarters. Cortelyou first came before the public notice as stenographer to
President McKinley in 1895; since then his rise has been rapid. He was the
first secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor, recently estab
lished, and before assuming his present office he held the post of Postmaster
General.
A Wonderful Spring
HEALING POWERS CLAIMED FOR
CALIFORNIA WATER.
Pool Is Located in Indian Reservation
in Mountain Valley and Has
Long Been Known to Mis
sion Tribe of Red Men.
Los Angeles, Cal.—Down in the Cali
fornia desert, 150 miles from Los
Angeles and around the spur of a
mountain, is a little valley owned by a
canny Scotchman, Dr. Murray. The
doctor has brought the water from the
mountains near by and has created an
‘ oasis in the desert.” He has about
ten acres in oranges and alfalfa, and
nothing could be more pleasant to the
eye, after ranging over a sandy waste,
than this charming valley.
An Indian reservation adjoins the
doctor's ranch, and from them he
leases for $100 per annum a rare
spring. The pool formed by this
spring is about as large as a good
sized room and is covered by a rude
shack. The uniform temperature of
the water is 100 degrees, and it is
said to have many healing properties.
When a person first enters this poo!
his feet strike a soft, sandy bottom,
and he is apparently in water about
18 inches deep. All at once a ripple
goes over the surface, much as if a
stone had been thrown in. and near
him he notices the sand has opened,
disclosing a hole as large as the cir
cumference of the body, but how deep
one is afraid to think.
But the doctor calls there is no dan
ger and he takes his life in his hands
and plunges in. Down he goes up to
his neck, and, fearing a quicksand, he
calls out to the doctor, but he, smiling
imperturbably, bids him keep quiet
and wait results.
Presently he feels a soft impact up
on the soles of his feet, and slowly but
irresistibly he feels himself being
forced to the surface. Within the space
of three minutes he is again standing
in 18 inches of water, and the hole
has disappeared, only to appear a few
feet further on. He hasten^ to it,
plunges in. and again he sinks to his
neck as before. Only one hole is
formed at a time, and between the
closing of one and the appearing of
another there is an interval of about
five minutes.
In this wonderful bath one does not
require any brush or soap, but when
he comes out his skin is smooth and
spotless, here and there appearing
upon his body minute scales of silica.
After dashing a bucket of cold water
over himself he feels wonderfully in
vigorated and refreshed. People come
hundreds of miles to bathe in this
healing water, and if the doctor could
only move this spring to Los Angeles
he could make his fortune in a few
years.'The Indians (the Mission tribe)
attach great value to the water and
use the overflow of the pool for bath
ing and drinking purposes.
HAULS MASTER TO SCHOOL.
F'aithful Dog Is Devoted to Crippled
Boy.
Marion. O.—Remarkable devotion is
shown his young master by a large St.
Bernard dog, which, after having
watched at the sick bed of 14-vear-old
Emmet Shoats for months, now hauls
him to and from the district school
house, half a mile away. Young
Shoats is a cripple and unable to
walk. Any morning about eight o'clock
the big dog can be seen wending his
way down the pike drawing his little
master behind in a small wagon. The
.faithful dog “hangs" around the school
house until evening and is always
there at the dismissal of school.
The dog and the boy have been
playmates since childhood. Until two
years ago they romped together
through the woods and pastures. One
day in their play young Shoats hurt
his leg. Since then he has been prac
tically an invalid. During the time
that the boy was in a local hospital
the dog seemed broken-hearted and
would scarcely eat. He fell away tin
til he w'as, figuratively speaking, noth
ing but skin and bones. Now he is
full of health and vigor. The old St.
Bernard cannot be bought at any
price. .
BUG IN EAR FOR MONTHS.
Caused Boy’s Headaches and Came
Near Taking Life.
Atlantic City, N. J.—Surgical ex
fierts who opened the ear of nine-year
cld Somers Braddoek, of Bakersville,
to discover the cause of headaches,
which had been worrying the child for
months, found a dead beetle in the in
ter ear. Removal of the bug was fol
lowed by immediate departure of the
Iiain, and the lad's hearing will not
even be affected by the insect's long
residence in his ear tube.
The lad was sitting on the porch
of his home one night last summer
when he screamed out that a bug had
crawled In his ear. His parents made
an examination, but failed to discover
the bug, and no more was thought of
the incident until the child began to
suffer from pains in his head.
Surgeons who performed the opera
tion declare, that, had the bug gone a
fraction of an inch farther into the
child's ear, it would have killed him.
ONE ON THE PRESIDENT.
W. F. Cody Tells a Story of Roose
velt's Quest of Bear Dogs.
Denver, Col.—“Buffalo Bill’’ Cody,
while a guest here, told this joke on
President Roosevelt:
When the president was in Colorado
hunting, the expedition was hard up
for hear dogs. Or. the third or fourth
day out Chief Guide Goff said: “Mr.
President, I know a man who has good
bear dogs. I will see if I can get
them.”
“All right.” said the president, “do
it.” But the man turned down the
guide.
“I will go over and see him myself,”
said the president, and he did.
“Nothing doing.” said the owner of
the dogs.
“Do you know who I am?” demand
ed the president. "I am the president
of the United States.”
“Well,” replied the dog owner, “I
don't care a - if you are, and
wouldn’t-care a-if you were;
Booker T Washington, you couldn't
have my dogs."
And the president, concluding that
the dog owner knew his own business
best, went back to camp and told the
story with much glee.
COULD BARK LIKE A DOG.
Poet Rostand, Dupe for a Time, Be
comes Shrewd Detective.
Paris,—M. Edmond Rostand, the
poet and dramatist, took a villa near
Bayonne-recently and was kept awake
every night by a dog which bayed the
moon and roused all the other dogs
within earshot. A man named Fail
letout, Said he could stop the barking,
and actually succeeded in doing so.
A week later, however, the barking
started again, and M. Rostand recog
nized the dismal tones of the leader
of the chorus. He summoned Fail
-lietout and questioned him as to his
alleged power over the animals. Fail
letout was flattered, and discoursed at
large. . ■<
“And can you bark like a dog?"
asked M. Rostand, in innocent adnira
tion. Failletout demonstrated. “Ah.
I recognize that bark,” said M. Ros
tand, “don’t let me hear it again at
night.” Failletout departed crestfal
len, and no dog has barked beneath M.
Rostrand's windows sincec.
MANY KILLED IN MINES.
Over Two Thousand Men Gave Up
■ * ■ Their Lives in 19C6.
Philadelphia.—The total number of
men killed while mining coal in the
United States during 1906, according
to statistics gathered by the geolog
ical survey, was 2,081. The number
of workmen receiving injuries in this
industry more or less serious, but not
fatal, was 4,798 during the same
period.
The death rate per thousand of
workmen was 3.4 or, in other words,
of every 1,000 coal miners over three
were killed and more than six seri
ously injured in accidents at the coai
mines. This is a heavy toll when it is
considered that England's death rate
per 1,000 coal miners during last year
was only one. Every 190,353 tons of
coal mined in this country last year
cost one life.
The principal causes of death were
falls of roof and coal, and explosions.
The deaths due to the former num
bered 1,008; gas and dust explosions,
228; powder explosions, 80; miscel
laneous, 732.
The number of men killed in Penn
sylvania mines during 1906 was: An
thracite, 557; bituminous, 447; total,
1,034, or more than half of the num
ber killed in the 20 states and terri
tories in which coal was mined. Gut
Pennsylvania produced more coal than
all the other states and the territories
combined.
During the same period the number
of persons injured in accidents in
Pennsylvania mines was: Anthracite.
1.212; bituminous, 1.160: total, 2,372.
Of those killed in Pennsylvania mines,
583 left widows and 1,294 children
were made fatherless. Pennsylvania's
death rate per 1,000 miners was. An
thracite, 3.43; bituminous, 3.14.
The state which made the lowest
record in the death rate per 1,000 for
1906 was Maryland, with 1.09. Colo
rado had the highest death rate, 7.74
per 1,000; West Virginia, second, with
5.65.
DROPS AFTER LONG FLIGHT.
Carrier Pigeon from South Carolina
Falls Exhausted in New York.
New York.—A bedraggled carrier
pigeon beat its way wearily across the
upper bay in the driving rainstorm at
noon the other day, hovering over the
Battery sea wall a moment, and then
dropped to the coping of the Aquarium,
where it fluttered to the ground. A
passerby picked up the bird, which
made no attempt to escape, and car
ried it inside the building.
Attached to the brass ring encir
cling the pigeon’s leg was a strip of
thin wax paper, bearing the following
inscription:
"Introducing ‘Beauty,’ a record
breaker. Left Charleston, S. C„ De
cember 9, bound for Cooper square.
If I am in trouble give me a square
meal and pass me along.”
Beauty got a square meal—for
which he seemed very grateful—anil
after a rest and a thorough drying out.
he w as taken outside again and tossed
into the air. After circling a few
times to take his bearings, the pigeon
headed north on the last lap of its
700-mile journey, and was quickly lost
to view.
CHANGES IN LATIN QUARTER.
Old Structures Being Removed to En
large the Lycee Saint Louis.
Paris.—Rapid progress is being
made in the enlargement of space oc
cupied by the Lycee Saint Louis, one
of the largest schools for boys in
France.
As a preliminary to the enlargement
old water tanks which some years ago
caused epidemics of typhoid and had
to be abandoned are being torn down.
These tanks faced the Rue Racine,
which is one side of a large triangle
which the Lycee eventually will oc
cupy, the other two sides being the
Boulevard St. Michel, or. which is the
present building and the Rue Mon
sieur le Prince.
The plan is to pull down all the
buildings on this triangle in order that
the whole space may be devoted to
the institution’s interesting changes.
A feature of this change is the nec
essary demolition of an old wall back
of Rue Monsieur Ie Prince. This wall
is on the site of the most southerly
fortification of the wall of Paris in
the time of Phillipe Auguste, who
reigned from 1180 to 1225, and is built
of the same stones.
Although the modernizing of this
part of the historic Latin quarter is
said to be definitely decided upon,
plans have not reached a point where
the occupants of the buildings receive
a notice.
TO ABOLISH THE LOCKSTEP.
Reform Is Established at Blackwell’s
Island Penitentiary.
New York.—Blackwell's Island peni
tentiary, where minor offenders of
New York city’s laws serve their sen
tences, will know the striped suit and
the lockstep no more.
John V. Coggey, commissioner of
correction, announced the other day
that he has decided to put an end to
stripes and lockstep in the peniten
tiary, as he believed that they did
much to kill any smoldering spark of
decency that may remain in the pris
oner when he is brought to the city
prison. Commissioner Coggey said:
"I find that most of the progressive
penal institutions throughout the coun
try have abolished the stripes and the
lockstep. I agree thoroughly with the
argument in favor of this action, that
it saves the prisoner from humiliation
which he never can forget.