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The Commoner.
-VOLUME 3, NUMBEU 18,
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THE PLAN OP MAKING PAPER FROM
cornBtalks has been experimented upon at
Kankakee, 111., under tho supervision of repre
sentatives of tho national agriculture dopartmont.
Referring to these experiments, a writer in tho
St Paul Pioneor-PresB says that American farm
ers and newspaper mon arc likely to become joint
bonoflclaricB of a great scheme- of co-operation in
making most of tho corn crops. This writer says
that "it is found that high grade paper can bo
profitably manufactured in different varieties from
various parts of tho plant. One kind is made
from tho hard shell of tho stalk, another from tho
pith, and a third from the husk. From the pith is
turned out tho finest grade of oil paper, almost
equal to linen paper, so it Is claimed by experts
at tho department. A machine has been invented
and is now being manufactured which will take
tho cornstalk, with the ear still on it, husk tho
ear, separate the husk from the stalk, and then
remove tho shell from the pith. Sending this
machine into the fields, tho paper manufacturers
will proposo to farmers to buy their corn crops
as thoy stand ill tho fields. If the farmers wish
tho corn after it has been husked, it will bo
passed back to them; otherwise it will be market-
ed by the owner of tho machine, who will con
vert overy remaining part of tho plant into some -form
of manufacture.
A NOVEL DEFENSE IN A DAMAGE SUIT
has been offered in a Missouri court by- the
attorneys for tho Wabash railroad. The Kansas'
City Journal roports that J. M. Sauvinett brought '
suit against tho Wabash company demanding $100
becauso his horse was killed by falling through
one of the trestles of tho Wabash road. W. H.
Sears of Macon, Mo., attorney for the railroad
company, says: "Tho Wabash railioad is no more
liable for tho death of Mr. Sauvinctt's horso than
if it had wandered -into tho yards and butted its
head off against a frjoigkt car. It (the horse) had
ovidontly made up its mind to jump off a bridge
somowhero, and just becauso It happened to suc
ceed on ono of ours is no reason why wo should
have to put up the price of it" Tho Journal says
that the plaintiff has refused to accept this in
teresting version of tho matter and insists that if
tho railroad company had had its trestles properly
protected, tho horso would nover have been in
jured. THE, CHIEF OF THE INSULAR DIVISION
of tho war department recently exhibited to
Washington correspondents the first of the new
silver money to bo used in the Philippines. This
coin is called a "peso." Tho Washington corre
spondent of tho Chicago Inter-Ocean says that the
now coin is simple and chaste in design. On Its
face Is an emblematic fqmalo figure representing a
Filipino working out tho destinies of her home
on an anvil. Behind her is the smoking cono
or a volcano, and around tho-picture are tho
words, "Ono Peso," "Filipinas." On tho reverse
r. of tho coin is a slightly modified representation of
tho United States coat of arms, with thewords
"United States of America."
A REPORT RECENTLY ISSUED BY ALEX
ander McDowell, clerk of tho house of rep
resentatives, shows that during tho recent session
tho longest "day" lasted 144 hours, including, of
course, recesses. During this "day" eighty roll
calls were taken. It fs shown by this same re
port that the number of bills and resolutions In
troduced in tho house during the two sessions of
tho congress was 18,420, on which reports wore
made on 2,810 bills and resolutions. Tho senate
sent to the houso 1,13G senate bills and resolu
tions. Tho house disposed of 2,413 of tho meas
ures originating with it, and of 1,012 of tho sen
ate bills and resolutions making it a total of
3,430 bills and resolutions acted on. It left on
its calendars 405 house and 118 sonato bills and
resolutions. Fifteen of tho members of the houso
died during the congress, seven resigned and
Messrs. Rhea of Kentucky and Butler of Mis
souri wtare unseated, tho latter twice.
AN INTERESTING FAMILY REUNION WAS
recently held In tho tnwn of nnmrnr.i nr
It was the reunion of the Thurston family consist
ing of father and mother, six boys and two girls,
tho eldest being fifty-six and the youngest forty-
two. The interesting fact was brought out that
thus far this family circls has not been broken
by death. Referring to this interesting family, the
Lewiston (Me.) Journal says: "There are also
seventeen grandchildren varying in ago from
twenty-six to six years, and four great-grandchildren,
the youngest of whom, a plump boy -weighing ,
ten and one-half pounds, was born on the day of
tho reunion to the wife of Mr. Carl G. Thurston,
of Virginia. Jt was on Friday, January 29, that
tho reunion occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Trueworthy
Thurston, aged respectively eighty-four and. seventy-nine
years, assembled their good old-fashioned
New England family and partook of a right
royal go6d dinner at the hand of the genial host
and hostess, Mr. and Mrs. S. R. Thurston. Mr.
and Mrs. Trueworthy Thurston were both born in
tho town of Monmouth, her maiden name being
Rachel Fisher Welch. They were married March
4, 1846. They made their home in Peru, Me., un
til tho fall of 1869. Justafter tho famous "pump
kin freshet" they move'd to Rumford, and set
tled on tho farm where they oiow reside. At ono
time this family was widely scattered, the chil
dren all having made homes for tnemselves in
other state, some as far west as Chicago. Grad
ually, however, they came back to their native
town and settled on the west bank of the An
droscoggin river in what has long been known as
tho 'Thurston district'"
AN INTERNATIONAL ANTI-MILITARY CON
gress is to be held in London during the
month of May. The governments of England,
Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Spain,
have already agreed to send representatives. The
purpose of this congress is said "to make justice
for humanity universal peace." The hope of tho
leading spirits of this enterprise is to devise plans
for doing away with all armed forces. The plan
is similar to that entertained by the czar of
Russia when he called his famous disarmament
convention which resulted in the establishment
of Tho Hague arbitration tribunal. Good re
sults may come from such a conference and yet
it is not at all likely that it will be any more
successful in tho way of disarmament than Tho
Hague conference was.
ACCORDING TO A STATEMENT RECENT
ly issued by the board of directors of the
American Locomotive company, the earnings of
the company for the nine months ending March 31
amounted to $23,956,345. This is an increase of
$4,859,607 over the same period of iast year. The
earnings for the past nine months are very nearly
equal to 50 per cent of the outstanding capital
of the company. During the past sixty days or
ders have been received for 600. locomotives and
tho eight plants of this concern employing more
than 16,000 men are said to be busy with rush
orders.
ACCORDING TO A CABLEGRAM FROM
the Rome correspondent of the Chicago
Record-Herald it is the intention of General
Ricciotti Garibaldi, son of tho Italian patriot, to
bring suit against the government for-payment for
property which at one time belonged to the crown
kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and which, it is
claimed, should have been distributed among the
Garibaldian volunteers after tho war of ' 1860
This distribution was refused by the elder Garil
SS nnn ?nn vvertV hX Question amounts to about
$16,000,000. . General Garibaldi contends that his
father only had the right to refuse personally to
distribute this property. He is ready to compro
mise his suit if tho Garibaldian volunteers each
receive 1 franc a day.
T TALI AN SCIENTISTS ARE CONSIDERABLY
1 agitated because of a report made by the
director of a hospital attached to tho Rowan
Medical Academy. Tho Rome correspondent of the
Cincinnati Enquirer says that this report relates
to the remarkable case of the apparent death 'of
a young man, 22, who was brought to the hospi
tal dying, and subsequently died, in tho opinion
of most of the rtaff. Petterutl decided it was a
case of cateleptic trance and treated it according
ly. The patient lay lifeless to all outward indica
tions for 120 days, the doctor daily injectinc
through the nose one litre of milk and three litres
of boullon. On the one hundred and twentieth day
the patient slowly awoke. Three weelts elapsed
before ho was able to use alL his functions nor
mally. , . -i
WHEN COMPLETED, THE -PANAMA CANAL'
will save nearly 10,000 nautical miles in a trip
from Philadelphia to San Francisco. .A writer in
-the Philadelphia Press points out that at present
the distance covered by a steamship route from
Philadelphia to Pernambuco, Brazil, isr 3,696 nau
tical miles; from Pernambuco to Punta Arenas, in
the Straits of Magellan, 3,113, from Punta Arenas
'to Panama, 3,992, and from Panama to San Fran- -cisco,
by way of the Straits of Magellan and stop
ping at Panama, the distance is 15,078 nautical
miles, of which amount 11,801 miles represents tho
distance between Philadelphia and Panama. When
me canal is completed this 11,801 niiles will be
replaced by 1,981 miles, which is the distance
between Philadelphia and Colon, the eastern en
trance of the Panama canal. Steaming via Colon
and the Panama canal, the vessel will have to
cover only 5,258 miles in going from Philadelphia
to San Francisco, as against a present distance
of 15,078 miles,-a cut of two-thirds.
AN INTERESTING POINT HAS BEEN RAISED
before the United States supreme court in
the case of Thomas E. Kepner. In the Philip
pine islands Kepner was tried on the charge of
sequestrating money as an attorney. The lower
court declared him not guilty. The case was ap
pealed to the supreme court of the islands by the
government. The supreme court found Kepner
' guilty. This case was tried under tho old Spanish
laws, but since the United States congress en
acted a law for the civil government of the isl
ands. Kepner now appeals to the United 'States
supreme court on the ground that under the con
stitution of tho United States he could not twice
be put in jeopardy for the same offense. Under
the Spanish law, the government is allowed to ap
peal in cases of failure to convict. That, however,
is not the rule under our constitution. The case
goes before the United States supreme court on
a writ of error and the court will have the op
portunity of making another effort to explain
just how closely the constitution follows tho flag.
AN INMATE OF THE MICHIGAN ASYLUM
for the insane died recently and his death
was attributed to an abscess of the liver. It is
said that this man had the habit of swallowing
metal, lumps of coal, and other indigestible things.
An inspection of tho dead man's stomach revealed
the" following named articles: One 20-penny spiko
4 inches long, 32 10-penny nails, 79 8-penny nails
23 shingle nails, 180 bent nails of various assorted
sizes, 29 pieces of wire, different sizes, 1 iron
washer 11-4 inches in diameter, 4 suspender
clasps, 17 buttons, assorted, 126 small stones, 12
Pleoeoftof tin' varius sizes, 3 screws.-upper halves
q 3 20-Penny spikes, 3 32-calibre cartridge shells,
tb pins. One of the interesting revelations to the
pnyslcians was the fact that many of the larger
nans yere partially eaten by the acids of tho
stomach.
a? &
THOSE WHO CONTEND THAT THERE IS
OCf i ?ot?ng nGW under the Bun wlll be inter"
esteu in the announcement that Marconi's system
or wireless telegraphy has a rival which is many
centuries old. According to a writer 4n the Chi-
Rccjn "Herald, Rev. C. A. Ridebut, a 'mis
sionary of the African Methodist Episcopal church
L f,.? ,' who returned to this country lately
5ti5i ugh after four years labor amonS th0
Inc oWIt0J ?outh Africa in the territory ly
ivftlS? ?.fAN,ata1' thus describes this remarkable
Snit ; ia!? gourd such as those erow11 ia
Sid thXEJ8 f United State3' Is hollowed out
and teU,sWy dried Then lcid's shin, stretched
hJwi n? y a natIve Process which makes it as
acrn rti iaSn mn as Pachment, is stretched
S5XJ5? h,0l,0w o' tfae gourd. It is beaten with
whfch nnn P?841 ad eives forth a sound ;
From flS VeHe?Pd dIstInly at a distance rt,J
moun!LnQ li miles- The Basuto cotry
?n i&2?UB 5n? the villages 1!e alonS tnS mounf
pun sides and in mti iw i w
beinc at. n w i:";7 ' "wjrB U1 eiwur . M
en oiovuuuu." J M t