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The Commoner
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MAY 2.9, 19 0 3.',
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Rome cablegram-to tlio Chicago Tribune sayn
that "until the last few years Italy was the only '
.country In Europe showing an excess of males
over females. The fact that females are now lu
excess Is attributed to emigration. The census of
those knowing how to read and write is not en
couraging In 1872- the average was 31.2 per
cent. In 1877 the law for compulsory education
-was put into effect, and yet the census just com
pleted .shows that only 48.5 per cent of the Ital
ians are able to read and write. Newspapers la
ment the difference between the results and the
large sums spent for education and advise b.
stricter application of the law.
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE STEPHEN
son county, Illinois, poor farm, James Eells
by name,, says that after a careful investigation
'lie has concluded that paupers are longer lived
.than other people. In a conversation with a rep
resentative of the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Eolls said
that he has in his charge thirty-four people whoso
ages aggregate 2,387 years. The ages of one party
of seven people footed GOO years, ine average be
ing a fraction over 88 years. Another party num
bered seven, and their ages aggregated 527 years,
the average being 75. There is still another par
ty of from eighteen to twenty persons, whose
ages average between 60 and 70 years, and .the
average of the whole bunch is over 70 yearsi
IT IS ALSO STATED BY THE TRIBUNE
writer1 that Superintendent Keyes of the
Kane county, Illinois, poor farm, has a largo
contingent of old people. Some of them are so
old that it Is impossible to fix their age to .a
certainty. Some of them move about over the
premises, a few being lielpless. There is one col
ored woman who Mr. Keyes says i3 at least 125
years of age. tano Is an inveterate talker and
singer, was born a slave, and corved different
masters in Dixie. She talks continually of plan
tation days, imagines that she is in a cotton field
harvesting this great staple of the south land.
(From her disconnected talks one is able to take
p the threads of some of the most interesting
jepochs of ante-war days. She is tractable and
gives less trouble than many others of lighter
color. ;
-pHAT THE HEART OF THE LUMBER BELT
JL in the United States has moved westward
is '&n. interesting fact presented by a writer in
-the Review of Reviews. This writer says that
at the beginning of the last century, almost the
entire wood supply came from the then un
touched forests 6t the Penobscot river region of
Maine. As the woodsmen cut deep Into the he:.rt
of the wood the industry -was forced to find other
fields from which to draw its supply, and the vir
gin forests of thd south and of the states border
ing on the great lakes were cut itf1j..Although
ithese regions are by no means depRted today,
the Pacific coast is rapidly becoming tho"lioart of
he lumber trade. And what wonder, for in the
three states of California, Oregon and Washing
ton there is at least one-third of the entire sup
ply of standing timber in the United States. In
gures it amounts to more than 600,000,000,000
feet of uncut wood. The forest reserves and na
tional parks set apart by the United States gov
ernment within the limits of these three states
aggregate an area of 32,428 squaro miles, or more
than 22 per cent of the total wooded area of the
states. In the state of Oregon alone, where a
careful examination has been made, the national
-census officials have estimated the standing tim
ber on these reservations at 55,000,000,000 feet, or
one-fourth of the state's total suply.
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WHILE IT IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR SO
called conscience money to be returned to
&he United States government, the Washington
correspondent of the Des Moines Register -and
Leader says that when a man has once secured
a pension, it is the rarest thing in the world to
find him willing to forego it It is thus that
Pension Commissioner Ware regards the follow
ing letter of sufilcient unique interest to give it
to the public At the pension department at
Washington the following letter has been re
ceived: "Philadelphia, Pa., May 3, 1903. To tha
.Commissioner of Pensions. Dear Sir: I would
ask you to please remove my name from the .list
of applicants for a pension by request. I am
"working at my trade now and making a living.
X am Improving right along and do ot wish to
be a burden to the government, and don't think I
will ever bo in need of a pension. Respectfully,
John L. Rlegler."
AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT IS BEING
mado by a Marlon, Ind., merchant, A. F.
Norton by name. The Marion correspondent of
the Chicago Tribuno says that Mr. Norton, who
is conducting a number of grocery stores "as ho
believes Christ would conduct them' has de
cided to establish a department storo in a build
ing that Ibng has beon used by the Presbyterians
as a church. The old church was sold and. tho
congregation Is now erecting a structuro a few
blocks away. Mr. Norton, it is said, will rent
tho old church. Ho will hang a boll in tha
steeple and when the store opens In the morning
will have It proclaimed over tho city. Tho
building will be cleared of all its present fur
nishings and the different departments will be
established on tho first and second floors. Tho
proprietor will hold to his rule that .ho will not
try to get rich, and will pay his employes every
evening. Ho will not employ as many clerks a3
other merchants, as ho dpes not believe In keep
ing an eyo on people to prevent shoplifting. Ho
holds that If a man Is trusted he will not betray
his trust, and for this reason only a few clerkst
will bo necessary. Tho goods will bo placed on
counters and tho customers will have the priv
ilege' of waiting on themselves and then go to
tho cashier and pay for whatever articles thoy
may wish to carry away.
sv so
THE METHODS EMPLOYED BY HELEN
Keller in tho preparation of her book en
titled "Tho Story of My Life," is told by a writer
in the San Francisco Chronlclo in this way: First
of all, Miss Keller puts down her ideas "in
Braille," as tho blind express It; that is to say,
in tho system of "points" raised on paper by
means of a stylus and slate devised to aid tho
blind; these "points" being read afterward by
"passing the sensitive fingers over thom. When all
of this Braille work has been completed Miss Kel
ler goes to her typewriter and uses these notes
as a guide to the rewriting of the story. As soon
as a page of matter is typewritten it is, so to
speak, lost to Miss Kellor, who has to depend
upon her faithful teacher, Miss Sullivan, to re
peat it to her by spelling out each sentence by,
means of the hands. It is a tedious task, espe
cially as some of the pages have to be read again
and again, with changes here and there, before
Miss Keller is satisfied. Th6n when the proofs
.are sent to her, all this slow procees of spelling
word- after word has to be gone through once
more, so that each word that Helen Keller writes
goes through her flngors at least five times. It
will be a satisfaction to everybody to know that
the book promises to bo ono of tho most suc
cessful biographical writings of the year, and
Miss Keller is likely to reap substantial rewards
for the extraordinary ability and patienco which
she has shown in her work,
SOME ONE HAS BEEN SEARCHING IN THE!
writings of old and new authors and he
has been rewarded by the discovery of somo
peculiar mistakes. Tho result of these investi
gations is told in the "Children's Visitor," in this
way: In "ivanhoe" Sir Walter Scott makes a
kpight of Richard I. converse with a contempo
rary of William tho Conqueror, who was Rich
ard's -grandfather. The new moon appears In
the western, sky an? sets from tho moment it be
comes visible; but in "The Children of Gibeon"
Walter Besantcaused a new moon to rise in tho
east at 2 o'clock in tho morning. Trollope makes
one of his characters, Andy Scott, come whistling
up tho street with a plgar In his mouth. Tho
man must have had a wonderful grip in his lips
to smoke while whistling. In "Don Quixote"
Sancho continues to rido on his donkey after
having lamented the animal's death. In. "Tho
Reign of Law," by James Lane Allen, ono of tho
characters refers to a book which was not pub
lished for ten years after the time tho reference
was said to have been mado. Hamlin Garland
wrote in 189G "The Rose of Butcher's Coolly," and
one of the characters in the novel is given three
different names. Jacob RIIs tells in "The Making
of an American" that while a young reporter, la
giving tho particulars of a river's overflow, ho
described a- stone floating on the waste of wa
ters. But that was not more wonderful than
tho case of our old friend, Robinson Crusoe, who,
after taking off his clothes to swim to the wreck,
took the precaution to fill his pockets full of
biscuits. Neither was it more surprising than
the discovery by a Paris reporter, who found in
the Seine "the nude corpse of a man with ten
sous in his waistcoat pocket"
THAT IT REQUIRES CONSIDERABLE MON
ey to maintain a strenuous president Is a
fact presented "by the Washington correspondent
for tho Chicago American. This correspondent
presents a fow items that Mr. Roosevelt has ex
pended for luxuries and travel as follows: Spe
cial trains, service, etc., $250,000; revamping and
changing Whlto house, $475,445; privato tennis
court, $2,000; new oxecutivo office, $65,196; in
crease in Whlto houso running expenses, $25,000;
now fittings and furnlturo for tho Mayflower, pres
ident's yacht, $100,000; keeping craft in commis
sion two months last year, $15,105; repairs last
year, $23,297.33; estimated cost of repairs thia
year, $30,000. Thus It will bo scon that Roose
velt has cost $986,043.33 in extras to the people
Binco ho has been in office.
GENERAL NELSON A. MILES HAS WRIT
ton to tho Army and Navy Journal a letter
in which tho general says that ho went to tho
l'hllipplncfi not as a tourist, but in an official
capacity, and that tho instructions addressed to
him as lieutenant gcnoral commanding tho army,
camo from tho president in which General Mllco
was directed to glvo special attention to "tho in
struction, discipline and supplies of tho army."
Referring to his much discussed official report of
tho Philippines, General Miles says that "no ono
can havo a more sacred regard for tho honor cf
tho army than myself;" and referring to tho
cruelties in the Philippines, General Miles says:
"It Is not idlo to assumo that campaigning in tho
Philippines has conditions that warrant resort
to medieval cruolty and a departure from tho
honorable method of conducting warfare and that
such departure as havo existed should bo over
looked and condoned. It is moat gratifying that
tho serious offenses havo not been committed by
tho soldiers unless they wero under the direct
orders of certain officers who were responsible.
Soldiers havo withheld fire when ordered to shoot
prisoners, protested against acta of cruolty, and
written to relatives at homo urging them to Uko
action to put a stop to thoso crimes. It will
over be ono of tho glories of tho army that such
deeds, committed by whatever authority, aro ab
horrent to tho American soldier. Tho officer
who aro responsible for using tho cruel Macca
bobces do not by any means constitute tho Amer
ican army, and there must be an unmistakable
lino drawn between the great body of honorable
and faithful officers and .brave soldiers whpse rec
ords havo been commendable and those of what
ever station whose acts havo received and should
receive the earnest condemnation of all honor
ablo men."
ANT ENGLISH EXPERT OFFERS THE IN
formation that the supply of coal yet re
maining to bo mined in tho United Kingdom
amounts to 80,684,000,000 tons, which at tho pres
ent rate of mining, would last 370 years and that
therefore Great Britain is likely to be a competi
tor of tho United States in tho world's coal
market for some time. This expert gives tho to
tal output of coal In the v.orld in 1900 as 767.
636,204 tons, of which Great Britain produced
229,000,000 tons, or 30 per cent, and tho United
States 245,000,000 tons, leaving a balance of about
35 per cent for tho rest of the world.
THE FIRST FULL BLOODED INDI ANTO- EN- '
list in tho navy is doing duty on tho Min
neapolis. Referring to this Indian, the New
York Tribune says: "Ho Is known in the Crow
tribe, of which ho is a member, as Great White
bear, and is descended "from the Indian chief of
that name. Whltebear, as he is called at the
navy yard, enlisted as a landsman. He was edu
cated at the Carlisle Indian school, and has a
brother who formerly served In tho United States
cavalry. 'I havo been hero two days, and the
officer has placed me In charge of a squad said
the Indian Jackie, with great pride, when asked
how be liked his experience so far. 'I felt when
I. left Carlisle, that I would liko to do something
for my country, and tho lifo of a sailor appealed
to me. So 1 enlisted. They make a good Ameri
can of you at Carlisle. I believe the discipline
and training of tho navy will be a good thing for
Carlisle graduates, and I hope other Indians will
follow my example Whltebear is twenty-threo
years old, and is a fine specimen of, .physical man
hood." THE LARGEST INDIVIDUAL LIFE INSUR
ance policyholder in tho world, excepting the
King of England, is Rodman Wanamaker, son of
John Wanamaker. Young Wanamaker recently -obtained
a policy In the sum of $1,600,000, the
premium on this policy alone being $30,000 a year.
He already carried policies aggregating $1,000,000
and his policies now amount to $2,000,000.
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