Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1903)
PIi'HI',ipmhij; "T'WJIPM'I J" ""' " 7 AUGUST 14, 1903. . Jhe paucity Is easily accounted for by the censor ship. In Germany the actual number of profes sional writers is estimated at 12,000, of whom 400 are poets. Is is claimed for Franco that she 5rovides tho international literature, inasmuch as balf the copies of French novels printed are ex ported, jvhllo. two-thirds of her historic and scien tific works also cross the frontier, tho latter for tho most part supplying countries, which are un able to provide themselves, with from 20,000 to 30,000 volumes of history, criticism, and science, .which is necessary for complete national de velopment. Poland, Servla, Bulgaria, and Rou raania, among others, are quoted as examples of countries where works costing from 15,000 to 20,000 francs are beyond the means of nationali ties which number only a few millions of pop ulation. TTHB MAHARAJAH OF BENARES' HISTORIC suit of white ivory furniture has stirred up considerable trouble for Viceroy Curzon. This furniture recently came into Curzon's possession and the London correspondent for the Chicago Inter-Ocean says that tho question concerning it .was raised in the house of commons. Inis Lon don correspondent adds: "The official explana tion offered in the house of commons was that on seeing this suit of furniture lying in a very di lapidated condition, and hearing that the Mahara jah took no interest in it, Lord Curzon offered to buy it Thereupon the Maharajah sent it to him as a present, and Lord Curzon in return gave tho Maharajah a sporting gun worth $410, the fur niture being valued at about ?500. Mrs. Smeaton, wife of Lord Curzon's finance commissioner, says tho Maharajah's minister told her that Lord Cur zon signified a desire to possess the suit, which expression, to a native gentleman, was equivalent to a command, to hand it over. This the Mahar ajah accordingly did, receiving in exchange a rifle hat cost $150, she says. The suit now is prac tically priceless, and cost originally $5,000. Mrs. 'Smeaton adds that the Maharajah was most re luctant to part with it. It may be added that it Is well known that most Indian viceroys and their Avives have been accustomed to levy tribute of valuables on native princes, as any jewel or ar .licle they admire Is always sent to them. In Cur zon's case it is unfortunate that this transaction lias been exposed." THE RECENT LABOR TROUBLES IN CON nection with the government printing oCce developed the fact that unlike the heacts ot other "bureaus, the government printer is responsible only to congress. The Washington correspondent lor the Chicago Record-Herald says that the pres ident nor any cabinet officer has any direct au thority over the public printer and that the near est approach in the direction of placing him under tho supervision of a cabinet officer is the law which requires him to furnish a bond to the sec retary of interior. It is pointed out that tho sec retary cannot say whom the public printer shall employ, how many hours a day his employes shall jtvork, what he shall pay or how be shall manage them. In congress alone rests this authority and In the committees on printing in the senate and iiouse abide the real power to direct the policy of the office. It Is reported that President Roose velt will, in the light H?f these facts, recommend enactment of a law that will place the printing office directly under the supervision of the secre jtary of commerce and labor, but it is pointed out that Senator Piatt of New York is chairman of Tthe senate committee on printing and that he is mot likely to surrender without a struggle the opportunity placed in his hands by this chair manship to exercise much influence in the man agement of an institution that employs many hun dreds of men and women who, in a greater or less degree, represent votes in the districts from Which they are appointed. IT ?. A STRANGE STORY FROM NELKHART, IND., comes to the Chicago Record-Herald. It is said that Valentine Marx, a farmer living near Elkhart, and a veteran of the civil war, who car ries in his left lung a bullet received at Stone river, lost his voice suddenly four years aco, only being able to speak In a low whisper and with the greatest difficulty. Two weeks ago he dreamed lie -was bled at the wrist and when the hemorrh age was stopped he could speak as well an ever. Convinced that it was worth trying, ho had Dr. tfohn Greene of Mishawaka bleed him Wednesday and all the details of his dream were fulfilled. "Subsequently Mr. Marx visited friends in Elk hart and it is said that he talked In a normal -manner, having almost perfect control of his voice. The Commoner, THE GENERAL IMPRESSION HAS BEEN that the lynching habit has been growing in tuis country, xho Churchman, however, says Uiat the general trend of lynching statistics Is down ward. According to these statistics, thero wero ?onn lynchInSs in tho United States from 1884 to 1900. Of these 1,678 were of negroes. More than a fifth of these lynchings wero in northern states. Ihe Churchman says: "It i3 notable, however, that the proportion of whites is decreasing, ow ing to the dinlmution of lynchings for horse and cattle stealing in the west. Contrary, also, to popular opinion, hardly a fifth of tho cases wero for assault, and even if we include the categories, attempted assault, alleged assault and assault ag gravated by murder, we shall still find less than a fourth, G19, attributable to this cause. It may be worth noting also that forty-two states aro represented in the statistics of lynching." DURING THE YEAR 1897 THE NUMBER of lynchings was almost exactly that of the average for the sixteen-year period, to-wit: 1GG. The Churchman says that in 1898 it fell to 127, in 1899 to 107. Thero was a slight increase in 1900 and in 1902, but in 1902, for the first time since acurate record egan, there were less than 100 lynchings, and the first six months of 1903 show only 45, which suggests that this year ma'y bo even freer from this social crime than 1902. Wo must record with regret, however, that nearly a third of tho six months' total have occurred in June. Tabulated by states, tho figures show Georgia In the lead, with Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas and Tennessee following. In no other states has the number of lynchings for the past twenty years reached 100. But, though lynch ings are decreasing in number, the area in which they occur grows. They aro met with in states where a generation ago they would have been thought impossible. This reveals an evil no long er sectional, but of national concern. .One touch of moral heroism illuminates the Wilmington In cident The father of the victim, when he learned that there was talk of lynching the confessed criminal, published an open letter begging all good citizens to await the orderly process of law. He is a minister and, suffering under a provoca tion hardly thinkable, showed himself worthy of the Master he had undertaken to set before others as an exemplar. FOR SEVERAL YEARS THOMAS A. EDISON has experimented with the X-rays. He dis covered that these rays besiues penetrating the object at which they were directed also affected the object itself and believing that the rays have some peculiar property of their own, Mr. Edison determined to discover what that property was. Rocently Mr. Edison, assisted by Charles Dally, was engaged in trying the effect of the rays on various objects. The light exerted its power on both Mr. Edison and Mr. Dally and as a result, Edison's eyes were severely if not seriously in jured while one of Daily's arms was so badly in jured as to require amputation. Newspaper dis patches do not give the exact date on wnich the trouble occurred, but It is explained: "It was in the midst of these experiments, and at a tlnm when success seemed to be within his grasp, that the sight began to fail. 'I guess the rays are beginning to exert their influences on me,' he told Dally, 'so I guess you had better go on with the experiments alone for awnile.' This the as sistant did and iur. Edison soon recovered his sight One day the assistant toid him he felt a burning sensation in his arm. A doctor exam ined the member and found that the rays had so paralyzed one arm it would have to come off. The arm continued to grow worse and finally was amputated. Mr. Edison was ordered to stop experimenting with tho X-rays at once. The phy sicians found that the focus of both eyes was af fected and things seemed much further away to Mr. Edison than they really were. After resting for a time the sight was restored nearer to its normal condition, but the Inventor has not been entirely cured." FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING THE extreme vitality of seeds, the United States department of agriculture Is making extensive ex periments. Describing these experiments, a writer in Harper's Weekly says: "Over 100 species of plants have been packed In a soil consisting of dry clay inclosed in pots, and buried at varying depths underground 8 sets at a depth of C Inches, 12 at a depth of 20 and a third set at a depth of 31-2 feet At the end of one, two, three, five, seven, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, forty and fifty years, a set from each depth will be exhumed and tested. The results of the ex periment are likely to be of extraordinary value I?10101?1,181' both commercially nnd ocfen nS&n IncIdental,r. " y bo recalled that JJSli lc C?B0? aro on rccord wh,ch provo that win 2 ?MdB J"" tho power of sprouting after lIabIoSffln ?Ur Cd fof lonc por,od8 f U -S vl? having shown that twelve out of twenty-ono species havo tho power of germinat ing after twenty years." b A REPORT RECENTLY MADE BY THE LON don school board reveals a deplorable con dition among tho children of that city. Tho Lon don correspondent for tho New York World says that a royal commission will be appointed In tho hope of obtaining a remedy. According to this school board report 2 per cent of the pupils are de clared to bo so deficient as to be untcachablo; 10 nor cQnt havo so defective eyesight that they aro thrown back In their work; another 10 per cont's hearing is seriously defective, and 1 per cent havo defects in their ears, which lead to a fatal result. Classes have been opened in sixty-one centers for feeble-minded children, while tho percentages of actual imbeciles has grown so that tho asylum accommodations at present avallablo aro entirely insufficient Early marriages, underfeeding, drunken parents, bad air and neglect aro men tioned as causes of this terrible state of affairs. TEXAS CLAIMS THE BELATED TRAIN REC ord. It is not likely that any other state will undertake to wrest this laurel from the Lone Star State when It is known that this particular Texas train is said to havo -been 1,040 days late. The Beaumont, Tex., correspondent for the Phil 's adelphla North American tells tho strango story in this way: "On Sunday morning, July 2G, tho only traln'running on the Gulf and Interstate rail road pulled into tho passenger station at Beau mont just 1,040 days late. Starting from Gal veston on the morning of September 8, 1900, It has been stalled halfway between the two cities since that date. Special festivities marked the arrival of the belated No. 1. Of the passengers who started with tho train many met death. In tho wind, rain and weather tho train has stood where it was stalled so long ago, only to bo finally rescued and brought out as a relic ot other days. The same locomotive pulled tho same weather-beaten and dilapidated coaches through to the destination that should havo been reached four hours after the start was ma.de. When the train had to stop on account of tho storm some of the passengers left the coaches to seek safety In tho houses close at 'hand. Others remained and were joined by inhabitants from roundabout. Not a person who remained on tho cars was injured. Those who left met death in the water that rose up over the land. But tho track both ahead and behind the train was washed away. Not a vestige of the rails remained except beneath the wheels of tho train." THE GREAT DEVELOPMENT OF WIRELESS telegraphy has Induced the United States government to appeal for recruits to become op erators of wireless telegraphy machiues abroad the United States warships. The first call for re cruits in this line came to the middle west re- cently, and speaking of this Innovation, a writer in the Des Moines Register and Leader says: 'The government Is not asking for young men who aro familiar with all the principles of wire less telegraphy. They do not necessarily navo to know anything about it They are examined, however, as to their knowledge concerning the use of electrical instruments, batteries, etc., and their abilities to make wire connections and minor repairs. The navy department realizes that at the present time wireless telegraphy Is not to bo pushed into actual service on the battleships, but it Is preparing to have bright, Intelligent, and ac tive young men ready for such service when tho proper moment comes. Those who are now en tering that department will be retained on land to study electricity and all of the principles of tele graphy that they may be fit for the coming posi tions. The navy Is after promising young men who wish to develop their minds along tbJs di rection." AN ANNOUNCEMENT RECENTLY MADE BY the state department is to the effect that an archists cannot be naturalized in this country. Tho department directs attention to the provi sions of the act of March 3 regulating immigra tion of aliens. This act became effective July 3. The law Is interpreted to the effect that to render a court judgment of naturalization valid the court record must show that tho person naturalized Is not hostile to organized government and Is not connected with any anarchistic body. "0 r ' U n ft 3 I i II ,1"