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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 1902)
Watfv w-t" K.iP7I5 vjm The Commoner. 7 F. V?v i Jr. fcfr s XI Nov. 28, 1903 there is some little local business between Lulca and the farming towns along the line, thirty or forty miles north. The countryman along is pretty and green, and it is hard to realise in the sum mer time that the same parallel in which Malm berget is located, continues east and west, leaves Iceland and the Klondike to the southward and cuts across the White sea 195 miles north of Archangel. THE FALLING OF THE CAMPANILE AT Venice recently and the gradual dissolution of the Sphinx in Egypt has caused much attention to be paid to other notable structures that have withstood the test of time. A writer in the Chi cago Inter-Ocean gives an, interesting description of certain' famed buildings that have been found to be in some danger of going to ruin. Recently it was pointed out that St Paul's at London must be repaired at once, and in commenting on this the Inter-Ocean writer says: "The general uneasiness over St. Paul's cathedral was for a time quieted by Canon Nowbold. He declared that it was positive ly wicked to suggest even the immediate probabil ity of danger befalling the artistic church whlcli Sir Christopher Wren, the skillful architect, began in 1675. But the opinions of the experts cannot be gainsaid. St. Paul's cathedral is .in a decidedly dangerous condition. It took thirty-five years lo build this old landmark. The cost of it being paid by a tax on coal. Sir Christopher himself was .contented with a salary of U.000 a year. He was the only architect employed. It is no fault of his that the cathedral is now in daiiger. He could not foresee what would happen. A century after this church was built, a sewer was run through near enough to draw the moisture from the soil, on which the sacred edifice stands. When he built the church, with the moisture there, the ground was hard enough to support so heavy tir weight as St. Paul's for all time. Unless the cathedral be put on sn entirely new foundation, which would co',t not less than $200,000, it will share Ihe same fate as the Campanile. And this without a moment delav. In the western nortico of St. Paul's the cracks are large enough to allow any one standing on its roof to see the people moving inside the church below. And every day the great building is spreading wider and wider apart The portico is directly over the great entrance to the cathedral through which hundreds of tourists every day pass. , THIS SAME AUTHORITY CALLS ATTENTION to the condition of the famous Belfry of Bruges, which has been an attraction to tourlst3 from all over the world. In this belfry hangs celebrated chime'of bells, and added to this feature is the fact of the historical associations that cling about this famous tower, which has stood for 500 years; but unless some means be taken shortly to preserve It, its doom Is sealed. Among other build ings mentioned as- in c1 nger of collapse are one of the original churches built by Constantine in 896, called St. John's, and located in Rome; Cleopatra's needle in Central Park, New York city; the bell tower of San Stefano; and the Parthenon of Ath ens. The last named building, as is well known, has been in existence since the early days of Grecian history and though it has been restored once, still the ravages of time Tire clearly shown in its structure. The Archaeological society of Ath ens has now taken the subject of its preservation in hand, however, and it is announced that the weaker portions of this grand old building will be 'strengthened and made safe against chances of further destruction. AN INTERESTING STORY RELATING TO THE traits of the Indian is given by a writer in the Rocky Mountain News. C. E. Ward of Denver who has devoted ten years to the study of the red " man, is authority for the claim that the secret of trading with the Indian is for the white trader to appear indifferent and he gives several instances designed to prove this point Mr. Ward evidently intends to correct the beliefs of many white peo ple as to the character of the Indian as is showj in the-delineation of the red man's character which he. presents as follows: "The Indian is one of the roost fr.ithful followers in the world if he has con fidence1 in you. If he takes a liking to you, there is nothing fou can ask he will not do. If he dis likes you, the less you have to do with that Ind ian the better. The Indian is a very much abused fellow, and he has never been treated as he deserved- to be by the white man. His vices are largely the fault of his white neighbors, and one of the greatest dangers that threatens tho Indian race is the traveling shows. Tho government re ports declare that the Indians who went to Eu rope with. Wild West aggregations were a lasting menace to their peoplowhen they returned home. They had contracted all tho vices and nono of tho virtues of the white man. Tho naturo of tho Ind ian cannot bo learned from books. It must bo studied by actual contact So far as I have ob served, all tho Indians aro Catholics. They graft their own ideas on to that of tho Roman Catholic religion, and it is indeed a peculiar mixture. You can't eradicate tho Indian naturo by any education, and it is a mistako to send Indians away to school. They should be educated at home among their own people, and their progress ought to bo gradual, otherwise tho whole raco will soon disappear. Our government has been in toogreat a nurry. Let tho Indian develop along lines cbngonial to his nature, and something may come out of all tho ox pense and time devoted to tho solution of tho Ind ian problem. My idea is that tho Indian is all right, but Ms ways aro not our ways. Lot us give him a chaiico and give him time to work out his salvation. A Carlisle Indian gets tne swellod head, and one such Indian may spoil an entire vil lage. He is over-educated, but in tho end ho Is worse off than at to beginning." AN IMPORTANT SUBJECT OF IN VESTIG Ac tion by tho proper authorities at Washington is in regard to tho survival of the Indians. Ono authority insists that 90 per cent of the Indians die of tuberculosis, and tho question has boon raised as to whether this disease has been introduced by tho contact with tho whites, for it is well known that it has gained greater Inroads of later year3 than at any other time in the history of tho Ind ians. Without doubt, this question is an important cno and to those interested in the survival of the red men must be of much interest S & ONE OF THE INTERESTING RELICS RELAT Ing to the war of 1812 was recently delivered to the National Museum at Washington by Thomas A. Byrne of Bladensburg. Tnis relic was in tho form of a cannon ball and a roll of parchment con taining the record of ono man's effort to aid the country against which ho was compelled to do bat-, tie. An interesting story is connected not only with tho origin of this relic, ninety years ago, but as well with its recent discovery. According to the interesting report made by the Washington correspondent of the Chicago Tribune a force of men was recently enged in cutting a road near Bladensburg. John Key, ono of the laborers, was working at the bottom of a steep fifty-foot slant when the pick of a laborer at tho ton of tho ele vation dislodged from the earth, whore it hail lain for nearly a century, a great cannon ball. The ball rolled down tho "hill and struck Key with considerable force, breaking his leg near the ankle. After Key had been cared for and put on a train for Washington, the foreman of tho gang rolled the. cannon ball to a nearby creek and removed some of the earth and rust. Ho noticed that the ball was hollow, and, not knowing that explosive shells were not in use during the war of 1812, cur iosity impelled him to dig in tho interior of the relic with a knife to see, as he explained later, how the powder in the shell had withstood tho ravages of ninety years. After the foreman had cut away the dirt from the two-inch hole in tho big piece of iron, his knife brought out a roll of parchment, yellowed and discolored with ago, but which whpn unrolled proved to be an interest ing communication. A considerable portion of the writing is illegible, but enough could be read to make a generally connected whole. IT DEVELOPED THAT IT WAS A RELIC OF an old rusty cannon ball fired from a British field piece in the attack on Bladensburg by the British force under General Ross and Lieutenant Wainwright during the war of 1812. Enclosed in this ball was a parchment addressed to "The com manding officer of the American force defending Washington," and containing a detailed account of the plans of Admiral Cockburn, the commander-in-chief of the British naval force in the Potomac, and of which the land expeditions was part, for hiy march on Washington and the destruction of the national capital. The communication was signed ''Timson Howard, mate of tho American mer chantman 'General Stone' and a victim of British press gang." The Tribune correspondent says: "Tho communication signed by Howard who, from the character and phraseology of the document, was a man of some education, explains that he had been impressed into tho British service shortly before the beginning of the war and had since been compellod to serve against his country. While acting as orderly to Admiral Cockburn he had learned that tho British commander in chief in tended to sack and burn Washington and lay wasto the' surrounding country. A portion of tho writing-says: "With the aid of God Almighty let all patriots rally to Washington and ma rauders who aro coming raplno and murder defeated in former years regain through, naval supremacy press gang outrages lost before.' A postscript to tho note explains that Howard wroto pearly 100 of tho warnings, and, knowing that tho Americans mado a practice of using over again tho cannon balls firod at them, by tho British, had slipped tho papers into shells carried by tho land forco which marched on Bla densburg, In the forlorn hope that at least ono of tho notes might bo discovered." EXPERIMENTS HAVE RECENTLY BEEN carried on with some now submarine boats In Peconio bay, as stated in a dispatch from Greon pdrt, N. Y., to tho St Louis- Post-Dispatch. It seems that a t' was to bo mado as to tho abil ity of tho subinarlno boat to dlschargo a torpedo at tho end of tho two-mile submerged run, straightaway, durht which not more than three observations of not t$ exceed ono minute each wero permissible. Having mot every requirement in re gard to speed and, in fact, having exceeded tho requirements from a quarter of a knot submerged, to a knot awash, tho contractors voluntarily of fored, instead of making jtho comparatively easy two-mile run, followed by the dlschargo of the tor pedo, to make a run submerged, make a return to tho starting point, tho firing of tho torpedo to tako place there. The trial board recognized this as being a much moro difficult test than that orig inally contemplated, and accepted tho proposi tion. To tho surprise of thoso who witnessed tho trial, in making tho turn at tho lower end of tho course Captain Cable made it under water. Ex cept for tho fact that tho Aadcr rose for observa tion and that It carried a hollow mast to which, the periscope was attached, which left a slight rip ple in her wake, it would havo been impossible for an observer, no matter how vigilant, stationed on the deck of a battleship -at anchor whero tho target was, to pick up the submarine boat making the attack. The boat proved able to rise, tako an observation and divo in scarcely moro than half a minute. & Jt THAT EXTRAVAGANCE IN THE USE OF public funds Is not confined to a republican form of government Is shown by a story coming ' from Russia and told by tho St. Petersburg cor respondent of tho Chicago Tribune. This stor7 concerns the movements of Finance Minlstor De Witto's policy In regard to the modern and costly new city of Dalny. This correspondent says: "The Dalny Vostok of Port Arthur not only throws doubt upon the necessity for fountains and parks in a city which so far has no Inhabitants but pro nounces the choice of tho slto for the new city as most unfortunate. Dalny has no natural harbor, lying on the open sea whero the water Is shallow: The artificial harbor had to be connected with tho sea by a canal, two miles long, which it is danger ous to approach in even moderately windy weather on account of rocks and sand on both sides. Up to February $6,500,000 had been spent at Dalny, of which only one-half was for tho harbor. Work on tho harbor had 'to be stopped half way because tho appropriation had been exceeded, large sums hav ing been expended for the beautlflcation of tho slto. The splendid looking brick and stone houses, however, aro declared exceedingly inconvenient and cold, tho architects having, as usual with Russian architects, subordinated the interior ar rangements for comfort and convenience wholly to supposed exterior beauty. A HOTEL IS IN COURSE OF ERECTION IN New York city that is designed for tho ex clusive use of women who are engaged in the task of supporting themselves. The building, which is to ho formally opened somo time next month, In twelve stories in height and modern throughout The Now York American and Journal is authority for tho claim mado that there are at least thirty ihousand wage-earning women in New York ar tists, teachers, stenographers and tho like able to pay for such accommodations as this hotel will furnish, but only five hundred will b fortunato enough to bo guests until other similar enterpris ing plans aro put Jntoeflect The project was be gun some years ago on tho same line as D. O, Mills had planned for the men. Women of wealth and social, position subscribed ?1,000 each, and when $300,000 was in tho treasury tho Woman's Hotel company was incorporated. Mme. Molka Kellogg, the opera singer, daughter of Charles D. Kellogg, secretary of tho hotel company, was one of the most ardent workers for tho cause. Mrs. Jameg Speyer, Mrs. Levi Morton, Mrs. J. Pierpont Mor gan and many others subscribed liberally for -the project ' lb , j :?, ,1