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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1915)
Men of “Black Cabinfet” Seldom Employ Disguises WASHINGTON.—“Head work and leg work are more important than green goggles and false whiskers” for the modern sleuth, according to William J. Flynn, chief of the United States secret service, better known as Uncle sam s "black cabinet." as a rule aia guises are not used by those in the service. If the matter in hand, for in stance, requires the collection of infor mation frow workmen, a man is chosen who looks the part without a disguise. He simply Wears such clothes as workmen wear and affects the manners and speech of the men with whom he mingles. On the other hand, if the work re quires contact with people in a better' dressed walk of life, an operative o£ inai ciasa is cnosen. A negro is used to approach a negro, an Italian to “rope” a criminal of that nationality, a German for a German, an engraver tc .work on an engraver, and so on. Secret service men are at work all the time. When there is no particu lar case on hand they are getting a line on the habits, haunts and byways of certain people who seem to be living without apparent effort. The shadowed party does not suspect it, and he may never know. The minute it becomea certain that bad money is circulating he and all the others of his kind in the district are watched. All avenues of escape from the district are guarded •nd each suspect Is shadowed until the game narrows down to the real culprit or culprits. The next thing is to secure the evidence to convict. That accomplished, the arrest is made. Speaking of secret service guards for the president, ex-President Taft •aid in a lecture at Columbia university that the assassination of President McKinley would probably have been prevented if the present system had then been in force. “The secret service men are levelheaded, experienced and of good man ners, and they are wise in their methods,” said Mr. Taft. "If a person is de termined to kill a president and is willing to give up his life for it, no such protection will save him, but desperate persons of this kind are very rare. The worst danger is from those who have lost part or all of their reason. “Under the practice now pursued in a public reception, a man with his hand in his pocket would not be permitted to approach within striking or •hooting distance of the president. His holding a revolver under his hand kerchief in his pocket would be detected long before he could get within reach of the object of his perverted purpose. He would find the hand of the secret service man thrust into the pocket to find what his own was doing there." Government “Bug Hatchery” Solves Many Problems A UNIQUE establishment that might be cjlled a government "bug hatchery,” but which is officially known as the eastern field station of the branch of forest insects of the bureau of entomology, is maintained by the agricultural department or the rederal government In the edge of the Virginia village of Falls Church, a few miles from the national capital. It has been the means, since its establishment in 1912, of the solution of many problems that that have been vexing telephone and telegraph companies, mine owners and other large users of timber at tacked by insects, as well as forest ers, manufacturers of forest products, municipal park authorities and indi vidual owners of wood lots. In addi huu iu aumimsirauve ounaings ana laDoratories, tne neia station Has rour outdoor insectaries equipped with apparatus that is roughly the counterpart for insect rearing of the better-known incubators and brooders of the poultry plant. In these have been reared and studied during the life of the station approximately 10,000 specimens of moths, butterflies, sawflies, ants, parasitic wasps, bees, various two-winged flies and beetles, which, by boring or in other ways, are injurious to trees and timber, or which in some cases, strangely enough, are beneficial. In order to have at hand forest material for carrying on the experiments a plantation of 2,800 young forest trees has been established at the station, representing twenty-two species of conifers and eight species of hard woods. Many of the experiments carried on with forest products have related to the effectiveness of various preservatives in preventing attacks on wood by boring insects, and results have been secured that have been immediately deflected In money saving by large users of woods. No less valuable have been the new processes worked out for protecting shade trees and ornamental shrubs from their voracious Insect enemies. i Capital Correspondents Form Cavalry Platoon TO First Lieutenant Homer M. Groninger, Fifth United States cavalry. Fort Myer, Virginia, has been assigned the task of proving to 28 Washington correspondents that the sword is mightier than the pen—when the other re fuses to abide by the decision of the pen. Lieutenant Groninger, blond, blue eyed and very “military,” is tbe "C. O.” of a platoon of volunteer cavalry authorized unofficially by the war de partment and composed almost entire ly of newspaper correspondents of the national capital. They are smooth shaven, and bearded, hollow-chested and Bway-backed, bow-legged and knee-sprung, and when lined up in an attempt at a military formation thev are a sure-fire laugh producer, but they are in dead earnest and taking the “gaff” as does the meanest “rookie." When their thirty weeks’ course of training shall have been completed they expect to be able to handle themselves almost as well as the average highly trained private in the regular army. Representing newspapers in all parts of the country, the “scribes’’ ap plied to Secretary Garrison for a course of training as a cavalry unit. Mr. Garrison liked the proposal. So did General Scott, chief of staff, and Col. Wilbur E. Wilder, commanding Fifth United States cavalry. Having pledged themselves to a course of thirty weeks, involving every Sunday morning and one hour one night a week, the men were turned over to Lieutenant Gron Inger to be transformed into the semblance of a military organization. Groninger is a former instructor at the United States School of Musketry, and believes the prime essential of a soldier in time of war is ability to shoot; and the better trained the subject is in all soldierly qualities, the better able he will be to shoot accurately under trying conditions. At first the training has been confined to manual of arms, marching and other fundamentals along with sighting and aiming drills, etc. Later the men were put through the regular course of gallery and range practice, and then went up for their rifle record, all to be concluded before the work on horses commences. ______ :• ***&K&f Mr. Wilson Ranks High as a Pardoning President - —j- ■» PRESIDENT WILSON was shown in a new light when it developed that official records qf the department of Justice gave him rank with Lincoln and McKinley as a “pardoning president" When the enmnWe , pardons and commutations during his first term in the White House is com piled officials of the department be lieve Wilson will stand at the head of the list in the matter of utilizing the executive power to grant clem ency to federal prisoners. “Taft was a merciful president, but he had a Judicial mind and was inclined *o sit in judgment on pardon applications as if he were on the bench," an official of the department of Justice said in discussing pardon JICBBE IU BE PARMNE8 our OF THIS PLACE 8Y TH'ffitilDENT I OflF OF [TBEjeoaw records, "wuson is not influenced as much by the law as by the heart, and In this way he is much like Lincoln and McKinley. “Roosevelt pardoned fewer criminals and .reversed more recommenda tions of the department of justice than any president in recent years. He believed crime should be punished, and where judges and juries had acted, he was loath to interfere." The official record of the pardons during the Wilson administration will not be available until Attorney General Gregory makes his annual report to congress. This report, however, will only cover the period up to June 30, last, and will not Include the greatly increased number of pardons and com mutations which the president allowed since them. If President Wilson continues his present pace in extending executive clemency, officials declare, he is certain to go to the head of the list, but at any rate it is believed certain that no presidents except i.inmin and McKin ley will rank with him in the number of cases of executive clemency shown. . .. LEAVING THE TRENCH TO CHAR6E THE BERMANS - —. ..... ..in it.. This remarkable snapshot of French tirst-line troops leaving a communication trench to charge the German position was taken south of Arras. The men, as usual, have left their haversacks behind. IS PRISONJE LUXE Internment Camp at Islington Like Exclusive Club. No Prisoner Would Leave the Camp Under Any Inducement Less Than Declaration of Peace—Have All the Luxuries. By HAYDEN TALBOT. Loudon.—If any belligerent country ever conducted an enemy internment camp as this country is running the make-shift prison into which the old Islington workhouse has been trans formed, the world's historians have deprived their readers of a tale at the same time amazing and amusing. Surely that greatest of all British hu morists, W. S. Gilbert, would be able to write a classic satire around Is lington workhouse, were he only alive to do iL Except his, no pen can do justice to the facts. To begin, there are upwards of 700 Germans and Austrians interned at Is lington. The guard—altogether un needed—is comprised of one police sergeant and four P. C.’s, who are in America plain policemen. Not one of the seven hundred-odd prisoners would leave Islington for any consid eration less than a declaration of peace. The waiting list of alien ene mies now interned in less-favored camps exceeds five hundred. Islington workhouse resembles in every material way an exclusive club, rather than an internment camp. To become a “prisoner” in the institution is the dearest wish of every German and Austrian now in Great Britain— excepting, perhaps, only those who are still enjoying their full liberty. The attention of Britishers was di rected to Islington by the announce ment that a brother of Von Bissing, who was governor general of Belgium when Miss Edith Cavell was executed, is among the more recently “elected” members of the internment club. That certain privileges were per mitted such wealthy, highly placed figures as Von Bissing has been an open secret since the outbreak of the war, but the real condition# existing at Islington are still undreamed of by the British public. To begin with, you can escape doing any work—if you are among those fortunate 700 prisoners—by the pay ment of 75 cents a week. You can MOTHER OF MISS CAVELL A “grand old lady” Is Mrs. Cavell. the mother of Edith Cavell, the Brit* Ish nurse whose last- words before her execution were, “I am happy to die for my country." To perpetuate the memory of her daughter, there is now a plan on foot In Great Britain to organize the Cavell Memorial fund. have a private room, furnished Just as you wish (providing you can pay for the furnishings), for $2.50 to $5 per week, depending on the room. But the British government doesn’t stop with taking this money. It spends it an the dependents of those interned. As all the Inmates of the Islington camp are married men, many of them with English wives and al most all of them with wives resident in England, this fund may be said to serve a not-altogether' inconsistent purpose. In any event, the govern ment applies it all to the assistance of the enemy prisoners' dependents. But that is only part of what the government does for these enemy aliens There is a lawyer appointed by the government and paid by the taxpayers, whose sole business is to take care of the prisoners’ legal trou bles. He has been busy ever since the camp was started. One German had been in partner ship with an Englishman. Could that partnership be legally dissolved? The English solicitor promised to do his best to prevent the dissolution. An Austrian butcher-with a shop in Southend—his premises having been wrecked in the riots following the sinking of the Lusitania—wondered if he might collect damages from some body. The English solicitor promptly instituted a suit for damages against the municipality of Southend. Every day this barrister transacts business in the financial district for those of his clients who were engaged in the stock market before they were interned. In one instance it was nec essary for a German prisoner to at tend to a certain very important finan cial transaction in person. The solic itor obtained for him permission to be absent from the internment camp 12 hours, from 9 a. m. to 9 p. m. There are classes studying Spanish at Islington; there are other classes in which electrical engineering is be ing studied. One of the highest-sal .aried tailor's cutters in London is teaching a score of his fellow prison ers how to cut men’s clothing. An other skilled cutter has a class learn ing how to cut women’s garments. These two cutters furnish about the only instances of really tough luck. Said one '■f them to me; “And before the war each one of those pupils would be paying me 15 shillings ($3.75) a week. Now I get nothing." The cuisine at Islington may not be quite up to the standard of the Ritz, but if it isn’t there is email excuse for the failure. In charge of the cul inary department is the erstwhile manager of one of the largest hotels in the West end. SHOOT GAME FROM AIRSHIP Texas Men Say New Kind of Hunt ing Is Greatest of All Sports. Gallop, N. M.—Hunting wild game from the seat of an aeroplane Is the favorite sport of Sam Hampson and J. N. Long, who recently purchased a machine from a man who had served with General Villa in Mexico. They took the machine to a point in the foothills o! the Mimbres range of mountains in New Mexico and made a flight over that rough region. On the initial flight they saw a number of bear, deer and other wild game, and on a second trip, when they carried guns, they succeeded in killing some of the animals. The greatest difficulty which they encountered was that of recovering the game after it had been shot Usu ally the game fell in places that af forded no landing for the aeroplane. DISEASE WIPES OUT RABBITS Tuberculosis Making Terrible Inroads Among Bunnies in Northern Minnesota. Duluth, Minn.—It is asserted that tu berculosis has wiped out the rabbit family in this part of the country. Hunters say they no longer see bunny in the woods and around the city, and the sport of rabbit shooting is gone. Last year it was found that almost every rabbit caught or killed for ex amination was suffering from incipient tuberculosis, and a warning was sent out not to use rabbit food. It Is generally believed among phy sicians and some others that the little animals have been wiped out by the disease. SOCIAL WAR WAGED IN CHINA British and Germans Clash in One of Clubs in Shanghai—Trouble at Other Porta. Peking.—Numerous incidents of a disagreeable social nature are occur ing in tha foreign settlements is the treaty ports cf China. The only for eign place of amusement in Peking, a moving picture show run by an East Indian British subject, was raided re ceptly hr «one legation guard because a British “animated cartoon" was un complimentary to the Emperors Wil liam and Francis Joseph. But the most peculiar incident has occurred in Shanghai, where the Ger man members of a club were requested to remain away from the club house during the war. The The Germans went to the club and took away many cups and other silver trophies, and are now retaining them, threatening to melt them unless their entrance fees and dues paid to the club are returned to them. PHEASANT CAUGHT IN NET Tennis Players Find Bird Dead and Enjoy a Feast Out of Season. New York.—Four New York men who left here about ten days ago for a holiday at golf got back yesterday with a tale of a pheasant eaten out of season. S. L. Snowden, a bond broker; A. A Spriggs, a stock broker; T. M. Logan, a manufacturer, and W. P. De Saus sure, Jr., of the McAlpin, ate the pheasant. According to Mr. De Saus sure, the four golfers hid themselves at Brick Hill Falls, N. J., and played golf so hard that on last Wednesday they were glad to try tennis for a time. At a critical point in the game there was a sudden whirring sound in the brush behind Mr. De Saussure and his partner, and a big bird flashed past them and dashed Itself into the tennis net. All the players rushed to see what it was, and found that It was a hen pheasant. It had broken its neck in the net Knowing the open season had not begun, the four men discussed seri ously whether it was lawful to eat the bird. The upshot was that it made a full breakfast for the four. WAR SCENES IN LONDON A county of London battery not "somewhere in France,” but on Hamp stead heath, where they are training. ARRESTED FOR MANY FALLS City Prosecutes Citizen Who Tumbled Into Coal Holes Several Times Too Often. New York.—Accused of having fall en into coal holes several times too often, James Smith was arrested at the Brighton Beach hotel, where he is employed. Smith had been Indicted by the New York county grand jury for attempted grand larceny on evi dence obtained by James H. McCool, an examiner in the office of the cor poration counsel. Frank V. Burton and J. H. Burton, owners of property, were the com plaining witnesses. Smith had brought an action against the Messrs. Burton for $20,000 dam ages for injuries alleged to have been received on April 12 by falling into an open coal hole in front of the premises. START ANTI-AIN’T SOCIETY Kansas Normal School Students Plan to Abolish “Ain’t” From Vocabulary. Hays, Kan.—Organization of an Anti-Ain’t association has just been completed by students at the Fort Hays Kansas Normal school. The association has for its purpose the teaching of its members, among whom are most of the students in the school, the correct use of simple Eng lish, the abolition of long, unnecessary words, and especially the abolition from their vocabularies of the word "ain’t.” The association was organized by P. Casper Harvey, professor of Eng lish, in one of the classes, and has spread gradually through the school. Misuse of the words "come," “came” and “nice” also is under the ban. Robs While Music Plays. South Bend, Ind.—Enter the musical burglar. While a phonograph in the home of Alexis Mossey was playing “I Want to Go Back to the Farm," an enterprising robber was going through the Mossey residence and making a rich haul. Two diamond rings, several watches and a quantity of money made up his loot Neighbors who heard the nn-Mn. thought the Mossey family was at home, and the burglar was left to his own devices during the absence of the family. ONLY BIRTH COUNTS IN AUSTRIA ONE MUST BE "BORN TO THE PURPLE." Nowhere on Earth Is the Prestige of Caste So Marked as in the Do mains Ruled Over by Francis Joseph. The Austrian nobility usually marry those of their own rank, with the re sult that nearly all the families of the aristocacy are related. Princess Karl, whose mother and father to gether had 15 brothers and nine sis ters, told a correspondent of Cham bers' Journal that at the last court ball there were more than a hundred of her first cousins and that one win ter at Abbazia she had not spoken dui* ing a whole week of balls and parties to anyone who was not connected either directly or remotely with her own or Prince Karl’s family. It was thought that the barriers of caste would be broken down if the Archduke Franz Ferdinand should suc ceed his uncle, the emperor; for if his morganatic wife, Countess Chotek (created duchess of Hohenberg by the emperor), became empress, despite his solemn oath to the contrary, the pres ent rules as to birth could hardly be enforced. If they were so relaxed as to permit a lady not of royal birth to become empress of Austria they would be relaxed for all those who now suf fer exclusion from court for lack of princely blood. Princess Karl, al though she is very broad-minded, could admit no variation of this rule. "In Austria,” she said, “it is what you are born that counts, not what you be come.” When I ventured to point out that this sentiment belonged to the middle ages, says the writer, her reply showed me the unchangeable point of view of the Austrian aristocrats. It is not mere vulgar glorying in pride of birth; it is the acceptance of a fact that to them is as necessary and as natural as the coming of night and aay. 1 was Dorn Durchlaucht (that is, Serene Highness); “I have married a Durchlaucht; my children are Durch lauchts. How can I possibly recognize Countess Chotek as empress? Durch lauchts do not make obeisance to countesses no matter whom they may marry. Countesses cannot be made empresses in Austria." “But they can be made queens in Hungary," I ventured, “and the arch duke would be king of Hungary as well as emperor of Austria.” “It is different in Hungary,” the princess replied quickly. “The wife of the king of Hungary is his queen, even if she were a beggar girl.” “Then if the duchess of Hohenberg had b Jen queen of Hungary you would have made obeisance to her as queen?" "Certainly," was the immediate an swer. "Then why not as empress?” 1 asked. “In Hungary the Countess Chotek would be queen. It is only in Hungary that I would make obeisance to her. In Austria she could never be any thing save the Countess Chotek, be cause she was born Countess Chotek. One does not make obeisance to coun tesses, even if they marry archdukes who become emperors,” she repeated. The murder at Sarajevo made it im possible to put this question to the test, but the Princess Karl gave fhe point of view of the Austrian nobility in a nutshell. Germans Short of Beer. Owing to the malt and barley sup ply to brewers being officially limited to 60 per cent of their normal require ments, and owing to the vast demand for beer for the army in the field, a decided shortage of beer is noted in Germany. In order to alleviate con ditions, the authorities have permit ted brewers having sufficient supplies to use their allotted quantity of raw material of the last quarter of 1915 for earlier consumption. Brewers who have not sufficient supplies may purchase available raw material from other breweries, in or der not to interrupt work. Furthermore, brewers are obliged to pool one-half of their supplies of raw material allotted for the fourth quarter of 1915, which will be dis tributed among brewers by the com bined interests. Bird* of a Feather. John Drew, at a luncheon In Bar Harbor, was condemning war. Man is but little different from the lower animals,” he said. “It isn’t only in fighting and scrapping that man shows his resemblance to the beasts of the field. “I know, for instance, a fool bull that chased a red parasol all over a cornfield one hot afternoon. “And I also know a fool man who chased another red parasol all over New York one hot morning.”—Wash ington Star. No Fool. "When 1 heard Dubwalte criticizing you this morning I told him he was mistaken." “That was kind of you. What did he say about me?" “He said you didn’t have sense enough to come In out of a shower of rain.” The idea! And what did you say to that?" I told him that you not only had sense enough to come in out of a shower of rain, but on cloudy days I had seen you carrying an umbrella.” California’s Fruit Crop. An expert fruit packer estimates that the dried fruit yield of California for 1915 will reach a value of $22,600, 000. He estimates that the state will produce 70.000,000 pounds of dried peaches, 40,000,000 pounds of apricots, 130,000,000 pounds of prunes, and 30, 000,000 pounds of raisins. Off Guard. "How did It happen that your friends got the best of you?” queried the person with the question habit. “They got busy while I was watch ing my enemies,” explained the man who had got the short end of It ———1 “MOVIES” IN THE CHURCHES Called Silent Sarmone and Have Be come ExceedTnjjly Popular In Numerous Sections. Hundreds of churches throughout the country are now equipped with all the machinery used for giving mov ing picture shows. The church movie, which has aptly been called the si lent sermon, is proving a great suc cess In attracting large congregations. A great variety of special films have been prepared suitable for such use, and a clergyman in selecting a subject to his taste finds a surprising variety to choose from. There are films suitable for sermons on all tbe commandments, as well as many of thd most familiar texts in the Bible. Several of the firms making a special ty of snch films issue regular cata logues to assist clergymen in select ing silent sermons. In scores of churches the projecting machines are part of the church furni ture. The rigid laws laid down by the fire departments apply as well to churches as to theaters and the ma chines must be set up in fireproof me tallic rooms. The electric wiring is arranged so that the sermon may be turned on conveniently In the main church auditorium or the lecture or chapter rooms. The screens and the rest of the equipment are of the usual standard type. Many of the film houses which supply churches have small theaters or exhibition rooms where a clergy man may have a trial exhibition of a silent sermon before definitely order ing it The film sermons are rented out at a regular rate, according to their j length and the nature of the produc tion. In producing these silent ser mons a regular church service Is fol lowed, consisting of the singing of hymns, prayers and reading of the lesson. The films are carefully timed to fit into the place assigned them. Some of the catalogues of silent ser mons suggest church services to ac company them, giving the numbers of appropriate hymns and Scriptural les sons. The Polymuriel Garment. Some ladles in New York are at work just now hunting for the philoso pher's stone. They claim to believe that a “polymuriel” garment in femi nine dress can be designed that will suitably clothe every type of figure, every age, for every occasion, every day, from getting up to going to bed, from the period when the girl first comes out of the nursery till she goes to her grave. The philosopher never found the mythical stone that could turn every thing to gold. Clothes problems, like the poor, will be with us always. There are ways and means of eliminating some of the problems, and it is pos sible to reduce all fractions except the “vulgar fractions” of mathematics to their lowest terms. But it is a foolish waste of time and energy to hunt for the impossible. And it is impossible to find one style of dress suitable for everybody. Nobody who is fastidious wishes tc wear one costume from early morning till late at night. There is a positive psychological benefit in the bath and change of toilet that separate the working hours of the day from the hours of relaxation. Not even two (or a collection of) “polymuriels” that could be worn alternately would solve our clothes needs. Suitable clothes for street and travel and business are not suitable for indoor wear.—Belle Armstrong Whitney, in Good Health. War's Effects in Labrador. The far-reaching influences of the present war are illustrated by the ef fect it is having on the Indian and half-breed trappers of Labrador and Hudson bay, says an exchange. The various companies which carry on the traffic in pelts in this northern re gion are curtailing their operations and although steamers of the New foundland sealing fleet will go north In the coming summer, as in previous years, to take supplies for the fur trading posts and to embark the stocks of furs and fish collected dur ing the past twelve months, they will carry much smaller quantities of trad ing goods and provisions than hereto fore. This policy is dictated by the fact that since the war began valuable furs have been a drug in the world's markets, and little prospect of any betterment is foreshadowed until aft er hostilities terminate and old-time conditions of prosperity revive. Pick Unearths Can of Gold. A workman excavating for a new building uncovered with his pickax a tin can filled with gold. The amount is estimated at between $2,000 and $5,000. The money was divided among the men. The coins, of $2.50, $5, $10 and $20 pieces, were dated from 1840 to 1866, leaving the impression that the owner had put them in the hiding place before the Civil war. It is thought he enlisted and intended to get the money after his return.—Mil waukee Dispatch to the New Y°rk Herald. To Be World’s Highest Dam. The United States reclamation serv ice is blocking the Boise river canyon, at Arrowrock, with a dam 350 feet high. This will be the highest dam in the world. It will have a length of 1,075 feet at the top and will contain 630,000 cubic yards of material. During construction the waters ars being diverted through a tunnel run ning around the dam. The tunnel is 487 feet long and measures 26 by 30 feet. It is large enough to pass tha whole of the Boise river. A Veritable Solomon. "Blinks is probably the wisest man In the world.” “Why such an outburst?" "He can tell a woman’s disposition without marrying her."—Philadelphia Enquirer. Little Difference. Blondine I Just read about a man \bo trained h*s dog to use the teK phone. Brunetta-Oh, well, it will be lust one more growler for central to listen to.-Youngstown Telegram.