Loup City Northwestern J. W. BURLEIGH, Publisher LOUP CITY, - - NEBRASKA Our Big Expert Trade. Analysis of the returns of foreign trade of the United States during the last fiscal year reveals some interest ing features. Among other things it is seen that there was a large increase in exports of manufactured American goods, a most desirable tendency, which has been pronounced for years. Thus sales abroad of ag ricultural implements -were $24,300, 000, against $16,000,000 in 1900; car riages, cars and other vehicles, $22, 000,000, against $9,900,000; chemicals, drugs, dyes and medicines. $20,800,000, against $12,000,000; manufacture of iron and steel, $184,00,000, against $122,000,000; leather and manufac tures of, $40,700,000, against $27,300, 000, and so on. The average total export of manufactures ready for con sumption was, for a five-year term, $329,000,000 for the period ended with 1900 and $4SO,000,000 for that ended with 1907, and in 1908 was $488,500, 000. These figures tell their own story of increase in nearly every line, the only item in which there was little if any gain being the export of cotton goods. As this is the great cotton-producing country of the world, our failure to get a better foothold in the cotton-goods markets is discom fiting. The dispatches alluding to this showing point out that the sales abroad are largely the result of a foreign demand that finds here the most convenient source of supply, and that they do not represent “aggressive commercial activity” on the part of American producers. But, declares the Troy (N. Y.) Times, there is growing appreciation of the desirabil ity of foreign markets, especially to maintain industrial equilibrium at home, and presently, no doubt, there will be an arousing to more aggres siveness. Airship No Joke. Only a little while ago it was the fashion to joke about airships which fly like a turtle and swim like a monkey. In the past few months achievements in aviation and balloon ing have been chronicled in rapid suc cession. Count Zeppelin's motor bal loon for 12 hours carried 14 men among the hills of Switzerland, and for a day or two drew attention away from aeroplanes. The "human inter est” of Count Zeppelin's success lies in the fact that he has given half his life and all his fortune to his ex periments. Henry Farman won the Armengaud prize for staying in the air 15 minutes on an aeroplane. Bleriot remained in the air eight minutes on an aeroplane, and traveled five miles. Almost the same day the June Bug. an aeroplane made at Hammondsport, N. Y., by the Aerial Experiment as sociation, went a mile and described a complete circle. Before the sum mer is done the government will have tested the machines of the Wright brothers, Mr. A. M. Herring, and others. Prof. Langley's experiments, which in apparent results came to nothing, may bear fruit after his death, like the work of many a man at whom the Philistines have scoffed. For his aerodrome, which has been locked up in the Smithsonian institu tion, has become interesting again to the war department since the success of other mechanical birds. Langley’s great difficulty was with engines, but the building of light, powerful motors has made much progress since his ex periments. All the great governments are interested in airships, and invent ors are being supported as never be fore by public and private money and encouragement. The old proverb has it that nothing succeeds like success. In view of what is happening to Count Zeppelin per haps it may become necessary to re model the saying so as to make it read that nothing succeeds like fail ure. The destruction of the count's flying machine proved the very best sort of advertisement, and has re sulted in the offer of great sums of money to enabl3 him to continue his experiments, while hosts of sympa thetic persons have overwhelmed him with gifts of all kinds, including wines, cigars, sweetmeats, groceries, and even neckties and other articles of personal use or adornment. In fact, there is room for some belief tnat the thing is being overdone. The attention lavished on the count has aroused the jealousy of rivals, and some of them are rather pointedly re minding the German public that in the matter of aeronautics there are others. More than 65 per cent, of the 800, 000,000 feet of logs cut annually in Maine at the present time is spruce, and much of the rest is hemlock, cedar and other woods than pine, and yet Maine shows no tendency to call herself the Spruce-tree state. The toadstool is figuring with grue some frequency in the news of the day. The safest rule in gathering supposed mushrooms is: When in doubt, don’t; and even when sure, don’t be too sure. Bishop Potter always prided him self on his clear and distinct utter ance. Once at the opening of a big new church in Philadelphia, he seri ously questioned a reporter’s plea that he had not heard the sermon, but was convinced and considerately gave up his manuscript. It is this way: The enemies of the shah of Persia are his enemies and so are his ’’friends.’ What kind of n. show does that give a man? Hcnv the Unconquer able “Maiden Moonshiner” of Kentucky, Intrenched in the Rocky Hills, Has Faced Single Handed the United States Government Officers, and Is Accused of Wound ing, Perhaps Mor tally, One of the Attaching Parly. M/&?* Sf/ryfovrs #/?&/?//yy)?yyzf /v#fflrri£ I 1 Down behind a natural fortress of Huge bowlders in eastern Kentucky a woman who has not yet seen her thir tieth birthday is calmly, intrepidly and successfully defying the mighty government of the United States. A few days ago, single-handed, she beat back a posse of the best revenue officers Uncle Sam could muster. Her aim is true and her belief in her sov ereign right to make her own brand of whisky from her own corn is su preme and immovable. Mary Fouts. aged 27, is America's only moonshine maid, and she is a moonshiner by birth, inclination and training. Her father was a moon shiner before her, and the several ram ifications of her family hold records for battle with revenue officers that any mountaineer might envy. For 40 years the Beaver Creek dis trict, on the Knott-Flovd-Letcher bor der, has been a moonshine stronghold, the scene of many a pitched battle between moonshiners and government officials. Blood of both sides has stained its narrow ravines and pic turesque mountain paths. If a record of lives sold for the mountain brew had been kept doubtless the greater number of notches would have been cut by Uncle Sam. But when it came to this woman, this tall, stalwart, calm-eyed, sure- aiming young woman on her native heath. Uncle Sam was baffled. Chivalry died hard, even when backed by law and justice, and to send his picked shots against a woman was more than even Uncle Sam wanted to do. In time the clash had to come, yet the woman won against the law and its armed officers. Mary Fouts was born in the rude home where she now distills what is said to be the best brand of whisky obtainable in all Kentucky. Her baby eyes studied the still, and her baby ears learned to catch quick, ominous whispers. Just as the child of the proverbial artist accepts poverty as the price of parental genius, as the child of the king believes that royal ty can do no wrong, so this child of the mountains believed that making whisky without government consent was the inalienable right of hill peo ple. Her parents were ambitious for the little Mary, however, and sent her to school, where she proved exception ally bright, and acquired an amount of “book learning’’ which dazzled her humble relatives. But she never for got her love of the mountain life and never lost her grip on mountain tra ditions. When other girls were writing notes to each other or making paper dolls Mary Fouts was drawing pictures of stills, and finally she presented to her astonished teacher a perfect repro duction of a still, including the “worm” which she had evolved from some odd bits of copper that came her way. During her twelfth year, when home on her vacation, she made a “run" of very fair moonshine whisky in an old coffee boiler in her mother's kitchen. At 16, her education finished, Mary Fouts declared against muslin frocks and cross-road dances. She wanted the free if hazardous life of the moon shiner. A woman moonshiner! Even bold Kentucky gasped. Women there were who had protect ed their “men,” and fought for their •men" and even died with their “men” —hut a woman who wanted to be a leader of men in moonshining, well, that was going some! A few years later, Mary Fouts came into her own. Her father died, and she became the head of his household and the manipulator of his famous still. And what was more, Mary Fouts made a whisky of no mean reputa tion. She raised her own crop of corn and coaxed it as only a farmer who loves his growing things can coax. And then she made it into the right sort of whisky, pure and un adulterated. “I would not adulterate my whisky for any price, nor for the whole world,” said Miss Fouts in a recent interview—and she meant it. No head of a great food factory ever re garded the output of his establishment with greater reverence and pride and affection than does Mary Fouts the product of her illicit still. And down there in Kentucky when a man wants the real thing in whisky he demands Mary Fouts’ whisky, willingly pay ing the higher price asked for her brand. Now, of course, the United States government, with its mighty system of officers and spies, was not ignorant of Mary Fouts and her calm, unwaver ing violation of the laws. But how to reach Mary Fouts without sacrificing national pride by spilling the blood of a woman who sinned only because she thought it no sin, but her right, was a problem even for a great govern ment. If Mary Fouts would kindly sneak out of her stronghold and mur der a man in cold blood, then the law might take its course. But Mary Fouts was distressingly peaceable and in dustrious. She attended strictly to her own business. Mary Fouots did not come to town nor haunt highways. But she certain tainly did know how to guard her property, particularly her still. This had a natural barricade of rocks, and behind this barricade Mary Fouts kept a collection of Winchesters and am munition which meant a fight to a finish—and it is a sorry thing for a posse of men to find themselves fight ing against one intrepid woman who had been guilty of no greater offense than turning the product of her own land into cash according to the meth ods followed by her ancestors for gen erations. And of these ancestors she was as proud as the scions of English nobility of the ancestors who fought under William the Conqueror. But something had to be done. | There were seven counts against Miss Touts. The government felt that pa tience, even with a fair woman, had ceased to he a virtue. The dignity of the law must be maintained, with out bloodshed if possible, with blood shed if necessary. But first diplo macy. A revenue officer sent to Miss Fouts by a trusted friend to the moonshiner this message in writing: •'Meet us at the schoolhouse oil Bea ver Creek Thursday and promise you will never violate the law, never moonshine any more, and we will see to it that you are fully pardoned for all.” “I will never meet you," was her curt reply, and to her mother she said: “There’s no use talking—I will keep this still going in spite of all the gov ernment. It is a duty to you 1 mean to fulfill. Father stilled all his life and stilled good whisky. There is no reason why we shouldn't keep up the family reputation. They will never take me alive,” she is said to have added. For, you see, Mary Fouts, for all her ling by the Chinese, a vice which is indulged m on such a scale and which involves such evil results that the presence of Orientals in general be comes objectionable in the eyes of American citizens. Japanese agitation for the suppression of this vice prom ises to have the result of clearly dif ferentiating them from its practice. The second movement has for its immediate outcome this idea of nup tials by photograph. There are about 100,000 Japanese in the United States, and fully 90 per cent, of them lead single lives. Such a condition was tolerable so long as a settler's object consisted merely in earning as fast as possible enough to return home. But in view of the anti-Oriental spirit now prevailing in the United States, the Japanese residents see that the only practical remedy lies in becoming per ! manent settlers, and in carrying out that program a wife is a prime essen tial. To return to Japan, however, for the purpose of providing himself with a wife means not only that a man would have to incur great expense. contempt of government and the law. is no rude mountain woman of un couth bearing and rougher speech. She is the embodiment of the twentieth century business woman abloom in Kentucky hills. So the quaint old Fouts homestead was put in a state of siege. The Win chesters were cleaned, loaded and made ready. The revenue men were sure to come after that bold defiance. And come they did. headed by Uni ted States Marshal F. 81. Blair, one of , the most determined and successful men in the revenue service. With him was a picked posse—and before him. well barricaded by a natural breast- j work of impenetrable rock, was Mary Fouts, the moonshine maid, with Win chesters and ammunition enough to stand off an army. According to the officers' story they pressed forward, and then Mary Fouts fired. She deliberately, say the reve nue men, opened the fight and made it possible for the revenue men to do their duty. They returned the fire, to a man, but Mary Fouts was safe behind the bowlders. Onward they pressed, and for half an hour the mi mic, one-sided battle raged, then Depu ty Marshal Hiram Day fell sorely wounded, and was carried away on a stretcher by his baffled companions. What will happen to Mary Fouts depends upon the sutcome of Day's wound. If it prove fatal, as the doc tor's predict, Mary Fouts will have to face a charge of murder without the mitigating plea of self-defense, and Uncle Sam's sense of chivalry will not be violated. But at the time of writing, Mary Fouts, the moonshine maid, reign* undisturbed in the Ken tucky hills, calmly “stilling” the corn colored brew that Is the pride and joy of Kentucky connoisseurs. MARRIAGE BY PHOTOGRAPH. Some Defensive Movements Undertak en by Japanese in America. The Asahi Sliimbun has an article w^hich throws an interesting light on the question alluded to in our last is sue, namely, marriages by photo graph between Japanese residing in America and their countrywomen in Japan. It appears that two move ments of a self-defensive nature have recently been organized by Japanese residents in the United States. The first is a crusade against gamb but also that it would be more thau doubtful whether he could re-enter the states subsequently. Therefore, the only feasible alternative is to get a wife over from Japan without going to fetch her. All this appears to have been an tieipated very cleverly by the well known Mr. Shimanuki, a prominent Christian. Some time ago he estab lished in the Koisikawa suburb of Tokyo an institution called the Ryok kokai. which may be freely translated Self-Help society. The inmates of this institution, mostly graduate* from girls' high schools, receive education in all sub jects likely to be of practical utility, such as housekeeping, cooking, sew ing, typewriting, etc. In fact they are expressly equipped to be the wives of Japanese settlers in the United States. It is between this institution and the Japanese settlers that photo graphs have been exchanged, and by this means the settlers are enabled to obtain helpmates whose qualifica tions and record are known and whose appearance is rendered familiar by the photographs. The idea is that if the settlers thus marry and bring up families, their sons wdll become naturalized American citizens, and by degrees the anti-Japanese feeling in the United States will die cut. The conception seems eminently practical and useful, nor can we doubt for a moment that the Japanese authorities in Tokyo will refrain from interfering with the program.—Japanese Weekly Mail. Horses with Mustaches. “I’ve got a rarity, a horse with a mustache,’’ said a cabby. The horse doctor looked the ungain ly animal over. “It is a rarity,” he said, “a mustache so highly developed. Lots of horses have incipient, Chineselike mustaches, but your nag has the mustache of a grenadier—a regular soup strainer, eh? “Mayhew and the other leading au thorities lay it down that a mustache is the surest sign of a low-bred horse. Certainly no one can dispute your an imal's claim to low breeding.”—Phila delphia Bulletin. Troubles Minimized. A clever man turns great troubles into little ones and little ones into none at all.—Chinese. GOLD-BEARING CARPET. Floor Coverings That Grow Valuable with Age. A requisition has come to the treas ury department at Washington from the San Francisco mint asking that a new carpet be placed in the adjusting room, as the one there now has been worn out after ten years' service. In ordinary instances such a requisition would excite no unusual interest on the part of the treasury officials, but in this case great care has to be taken in removing the old carpet, for it has become more valuable with each day’s service, because it is literally lined with gold dust. The old carpel will be burned, and it is expected that between $4,000 and $5,000 will be realized from the ashes. In the adjusting room at San Fran cisco files are used to trim the surplus gold from rough pieces. The gold is first run off into blanks and then stamped, so it frequently happens that a piece is a trifle over weight or un even. The files are then brought into play, and allhough no particle of gold dust large enough to be readily de tected by the eye is allowed to escape, the greatest care cannot always avoid the falling of some small filings to the carpet. In purchasing these carpets great judgment is exercised. Those are sought in which the weave is as close as possible, so that the material will hold the scattered bits of gold. It is not unusual for the authorities to get $5,000 worth of gold from an old car pet. Other thrifty devices are used in order to capture escaped particles of gold. The floor sweepings are treasured with the greatest care and they furnish enough money to pay the salaries of several employes about the building. Much gold goes up (he chim neys and they are often scraped and the resultant soot and dirt scanned for gold. Employes who handle bars of gold are not permitted to dispose of the aprons, overalls or gloves with which they are provided, for when these articles are burned after they have outlived their usefulness they yield a rich harvest. SHE GOT HER BEAR. Prodded Him Oat with Scissors, Then Tomahawked Him. As for that grit of women—meaning Indian women—which has been cele brated in a well-known book, there is a story which is good evidence of their physical courage. A dealer in skins tells of a squaw who was walking along on her snow shoes one day when her small boy saw a bear burled up under the snow in his winter sleep. She could not kill him where she was, so she lashed a pair of scissors to a sapling, prodded him out, and smashed his head in with her tomahawk. “I gave her ten dollars for the skin,” writes the dealer, “so it wasn’t a bad morning’s work. Another ingenious piece of hunting that I remember was accomplished by an Indian who found two moose in a yard—that is, the snow clearing which the animals make when the frosts are breaking up and the snow is too sharp and brittle for their comfort. "He crept up and got the female with his tomahawk. The male was driven to fury and it was unsafe to approach him. The stroke of a hoof would have put the Indian out of busi ness in close order. “Having no gun, he improvised a bow and arrow from the trees, stuck a sharp file into the point of the ar row. made a bowstring with the laces of his moccasins and shot the beast through the heart.”—Fur News. Food as an Heirloom. Conversation in the railway carriage had slowed down a bit. “O, I say,” remarked Bluffer to his brother commercials in an endeavor to reawaken interest, “did you chaps hear that old Goldman, the proprietor of the Slowtown Station restaurant, has just died?” “Has he?” drawled Snaffle, unsym pathetically. "To whom did he leave the sandwiches?”—Cleveland Leader. Learn This To-Day. Most of the things left undone in I this world are left undone because the people that could do ’em don’t know it.—Mary Tappan Wright. I I URING Ak-Sar-Ben time we will pay the fare of every one within a radius of 500 miles from Omaha, who purchases a piano from us. Secure a receipt from your agent for full amount of fare paid—present this after se lecting your piano and the amount of your fare will be deducted from the price of the piano you purchase. Prices Reduced for Ak-Sar-Ben from $100.00 to $150.00 on every one of our 600 high-grade pianos. Use this opportunity to visit Omaha at our expense and to save at least $100.00 on the piano selected from our magnificent stock. Write for further particulars, if you desire. Ask for our Handsome Piano Catalog. ! Pianos Pianos Pianos Do you want one in your home? If you’re contem plating the purchase of a piano now or in I the future, don’t fail to write cr call on HAYDENS The West s Greatest Piano House. We carry the largest and most complete stock of high-grade pianos in the country. Every piano sold by us is guaranteed to give satisfaction or money refunded. You have here to select from the following: Kn3.be, Estey, Wegman, Franklin, Sohmer, Fischer, Schaeffer, Anderson, Price & Temple, Smith & Nixon, Smith & Barnes, Eversole, Starck, Milton, etc. All sold on easy payments if desired. 1 Dodge^ Try HAYDEN’S First READY REASONING. One Guess About Venus of Milo Proved to Be Wrong. They stood before the reproduction of the Venus of Melos. “Her hands must have been beauti ful,” said one. “Very,” assented the other. "I won der what position they were in?” “I have a theory that she was repre sented as busied at her toilet. One hand probably held a small mirror.” “And the other a powder puff, eh? But that theory won't work.” “And why not?” “Had she been at her toilet her mouth would have been full of hair pins."—Louisville Courier-Journal. SOUNDS REASONABLE. Karl—Papa, I suppose the soldier* have to learn to stand on one leg be cause they miglpt have one foot shot □ff in war. An Artist's Generosity. The famous painter Corot and his sister were joint owners of some house propc:ty in the Faubourg Pois sonniere. One day one of the tenants —a tailor—came to Corot and said he could not pay his rent. “What can I do for you?’’ asked Corot. "I cannot intercede for you with my sister, because I am not on good terms with my family.” (As a matter of fact, Corot was regarded as a “failure'’ hy his family.) “How ever,” he added, "here is the money to pay the rent, only don't let anyone know I have given it to you.” The tailor after this used to return periodically when his rent was due and obtain the money from Corot, who re marked on one occasion. "1 appear to be very generous, but I am not, be cause I get half of it hack from my sister as my share of the rent.” Sheer white goods, in fact, any fine wash goods when new, owe much of their attractiveness to the way they are laundered, this being done in a manner to enhance their textile beau ty. Home laundering would be equal ly satisfactory if proper attention was given to starching, the first essential being good Starch, which has sufficient strength to stiffen, without thickening the goods. Try Defiance Starch and you will be pleasantly surprised at the improved appearance of your work. A Revised Version. A poet who has been known to tell the truth recounts this story of his tittle daughter: Her mother overheard her expound ing the origin of the sex to her family 3f dolls. “You see, children,” she said, “Adam was a man all alone and was very lonely, so God put him to sleep, took his brains out and made a nice lady of them.”—Illustrated Bits. Bought Crusoe’s Firelock. Hulda B. White of Philadelphia has purchased the firelock used by Al exander Selkirk, Defoe’s original Rob inson Crusoe on the island of Juan Fernandez, at a sale in Edinburgh. The relic has an* authentic pedigree, and for a long time was in the pos session of Selkirk’s relatives in Fife shire, Scotland. The price paid for the gun was S160. Too Hard to Answer. ‘‘Look here, my friend," said a trav eling man to the hotel clerk, "1 want to ask you something.” “What is it?” “Why is it that you people alwaj p holler ‘front’ whenever you want a. bell boy?” “Why do we holler ‘front?’ Why because—er—simply because it’s— Looky here, young feller, do you want to know more about this business than 1 do?" Starch, like everything else, is be ing constantly improved, the patent Starches put on the market 25 years ago are very different and inferior t. those of the present day. In the lat est discovery—Defiance Starch—all in jurious chemicals are omitted, while the addition of another ingredient, ir. vented by us. gives to the Starch a strength and smoothness never ap proached by other brands. Cheerful, Anyhow. “Hello, sport; I haven't seen you f< : 20 years. How are you getting on? ' “Oh, I'm a multi-millionaire. And you?” “Oh, I'm a multi-failure.” HERE IN OMAHA. IS OUR OWN SHOP We tryind our own in visible bifocal lenses to flake or ugly lines to blur the vision. < • solid piece of glass. Ask to see them. 1m examination. HTJTESON OPTICAL ( Exclusive Opticians, 213 South pith Stre* Omaha, Nebraska. Factory on premises. Wholesale and Retail. Omaha Directory * Gentleman', table, including fine ly ported Table Delicacies. Itthere i* an, little item yon are unable to obtain in your Hometown wr.te us for prices on lame, as we will be enre to hart it Moll orders carefully Ailed iKPORTtwa swp otatins »et PURE FOOD PRODUCTS AND TABLE DELICACIES * mwHO"“{S»a!«»V»T COURTNEY & CO.. Omabo. Nebr. A 8! re W„F?c!orV laf& Pncss Aulabaugh's complete catalogue will show you what you want. G, N. AULABAl'GH Diet. M. 1508 DouoUs St.. OMAHA HIIBBEB 00008 b»- mail at out prices. Send for free cataiocr. MYER8-DILLON DRUG CO.. OMAHA, NEBrt P© TAFT'S OENTAL ROOMS 1517 Douglas St., OMAHA, NE3. Va\i*a!v Reliable Dentistry at Moderate Prices M. Spicsberger & Son Co. Wholesale Killmery The Best In the West. OMAHA, NEB. FARMER’S ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANTS Foi Powet and Light. Sendfoi circular and prices Agents for Alamo Gasoline Engines and Ensne Startsrs ...,2RR GA® engine starter go. 1113 Farnam St., OMAHA, NEB. FURS G establishr.ii imho. F ShlllfPrt “*01-403 South tsth St. _L _ OIIUtVer* OMAHA, NEBRASKA of all kinds, direct from maker to wearer. Save the middle man's prutlt. THE PAXTON KK! Rooms from $1.00 up single. “Scents up doul'v CAFE. PRICES REASONABLE