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The Commoner.
DECEMBER 11, 1003.
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ON NOVEMBER 29 THE PRESIDENT MADE
-public what is called "a brief of the report
of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Bristow,"
on the postal investigation. Accompanying the
brief was a memorandum by the president. The
portion of General Bristow's report made public
relates largely to the disclosures with which
newspaper readers are already familiar. It shows
that In the postofflce department corruption ran
riot. Mr. Bristow's report reflects seriously upon
Perry S. Heath, although he says the evidence
against Heath was submitted to the district at
torney who decided that it was not sufficient to
warrant his indictment. In his memorandum,
the president did not spare Tyner, Machen, Beav
ers or their associates, but commented very se
verely upon their conduct. With respect to Mr.
Heath, the president, however, simply said that
his case was sot forth in Mr. Bristow's report. The
crimes committed in the postofflce department
under the republican administration, according to
General Bristow's report, include bribery, black
mail and carrying on the government payrolls in
some instances of fictitious persons and in other
instances of men who performed no seryice what
ever. iff iff
FIFTY YEARS AGO ISAAC PITMAN, THE IN
fventor of plionetic shorthand, predicted that
uunglish was destined to bo the universal language.
A writer in the New York World says that at that
time Mr. Pitman was laughed at and adds: "En
glish is now spoken by about 125,000,000 people. A
century ago it wa3 spoken by 20,000,000- people
only. During that period no other leading Europ
ean language has made the slightest advance.
German has held its own, It is spoken now by
80,000,000, but this is no higher percentage of the
total number of people of European stocks than it
liad a century ago. Abraham Lincoln foresaw
200,000,000 English-speaking people in the United
States alono, and later prophets have described it
as the, homo of ,100,000,000 when the twenty-first
century dawns. As the learning of English is com
pulsory in India, 300,000,000 more people are be
ing annexed to the English-speaking world. The
leading languages of continental Europe at the
beginning of the last century French, German
and Spanish while declining or stationary in Eu
rope itself, are making gains on other continents.
There are only 18,000,000,. Spaniards in Spain, but
25,000,000 Americans talk Spanish. Some 20,
000,000 people speak German outside of Germany,
and twice as many people talk Portuguese in Bra
zil as there are in Portugal itself, while French is
the language of 14,000,000 people" outside of
France." .
f HILE IT IS NOT IMMEDIATELY ALARM
V ing, It is at least interesting to read in
Harper's Weekly the prediction that in 2,500 years
hence the discharge of Niagara will have become
intermittent -passing "the low stages of the lake
and that finally Niagara Tiver on the right edge
of the basin will have its water turned back and
southwards and no water will flow over the Nia
gara escarpment of that day. Harper's Weekly says
that "through this agency alone Niagara falls will
cease to exist long before the escarpment has been
worn away to the river level at Goat island, but
as it is even now lessening the volume of water
poured over the falls the erosive power of the
stream is diminishing, and we must therefore
increase the .period necessary for the retreat of
the Canadian falls to the south end of Goat isl
and and the stealing of the waters of the Ameri
can falls. AssumingJ;be continuity of the forces
named, we might outline tbe probable future life
and the death of the falls thus: With progres
sive loss in water volume the Canadian falls will
reach the south end of Goat island in from 1,000
.to 1,500 years; the death of the American falls.
The flow of the waters will now have become in
termittent, and at first only at periods of, mean
and liigh water in Lake Erie, eventually at high
water alone, will there be any discharge over the
escarpment. This will continue for a period of
from 1,500' to 2,000 years. The entire flow to the
north will cease and the river will run back into
Lake .Erie, leaving the escarpment dry at a point
not very far south of. Goat islands and with a
I
height of about 100 feet. This will be 3,500 years
hence the death of Niagara falls."
IT iff
T IS ANNOUNCED FROM ATLANTIC CITY
that when the association of nlano manut'ac-
lurers holds its annual convention at that place
next summer, an interesting feature of the pro
gram will bo a great bonfire. A correspondent for
the Chicago Record-Herald explains: "Many old,
wornout, discordant square pianos are to be piled
high on the beach, spread with petroleum and set
afire. It is expected that the fire will be so big
that it will causo even Philadelphia to sit up and
take notice. Many persons buy the old square
pianos for their children to use while learning
music. This has hurt the piano business, especial
ly in the salo of new pianos. The old square
pianos can be bought cheaply, and answer every
purpose for the beginner. At a meeting of the
executive committeo each of the 200 or 300 mem
bers of the association was requested to send one
or two or ten old pianos to Atlantic City next sum
mer. The greater number of square pianos a
member can secure and send to Atlantic City the
better his standing will be with tho association.
The pianos are to be placed on the beach and a
player put at every instrument. At a given signal
all will start "Hiawatha," and if this is not enough
to make the fish leave the water "Mr. Dooley"
and "In the Good Old Summer Time" will follow.
Then the bonfire will be lighted."
iff iff
THE TRICKERY
AND SCANDAL
rvUT OF
J that were disclosed to the public in the In
vestigation of the American Asphalt bubble, tho
Now York World obtains a story of one man who
was conspicuous for his honesty and business In
tegrity. That man was Dr. Ludwig S. Filbert, one
of the pioneers in the asphalt business and who
accumulated a large fortune In it before the boom
days. Dr. Filbert's interesting story is related
by the New York World in this way: "Dr. Filbert
was a. descendant of one of the fine old Quaker
families of Philadelphia, and as his fortune In
creased he found pleasure" In turning a large In
crement of his income toward philanthropy. In
this way he came to know many people who were
in the lowly walks of life. He was wont to help
them, not only matOrlally, but hundreds of widows
and orphan children profited by his good advice.
Scores of them invested their savings in enter
prises that were indorsed by their benefactor.
Asphalt had made a large fortune for Dr. Filbert,
and -so, when the American company came to bo
organized, he advised all of Ills humble friends to
''get in on the ground floor' and invest their sav
ings in the stock before it had time to reach tho
figures to which he confidently expected It to go.
In this way hundreds of poor people were led to
invest all of their savings in what was to prove
one of the greatest financial fizzles of the cen
tury." if iff
WHEN THE COLLAPSE CAME, DR. F1L
bert, according to the World's historian,
realized that his loss of a million and a half dol
lars, great as it looked to him in his declining
years, was not nearly as serious as was the loss
of the entire savings of the hundreds of poor peo
ple who were wont td look upon him as their
benefactor. He knew that many of them had
been left penniless and felt that he was respon
sible for it. He called the members of his tamily
together in council and laid the facts before them.
He said that he felt that he was' personally re
sponsible for these losses of the poor, and that
in consequence it was his duty to reimburse them
all. "I am getting old," Dr. Filbert told his fam
ily "and cannot live many years. I want to be
prepared to meet my God without the cries of
hungry women and children in my, ears. It will
cost me half a million dollars to repay all these
poor people for the losses they have sustained in
this miserable stock failure. My own losses are
a million and a half, and this money will, of
course, come out of your pockets, since you will
be deprived of it after my death. But I think I
can face death better with an honest name, and
that is my reason for asking you to uphold mc in
the disbursement of money that was intended for
vou ' The family of the aged philanthropist sanc
tioned his honest purpose, and he set about at
once to repay thb porsons who had bought Asphalt
stock on his advice. He drove to tho several
banks where ho kopt his accounts, and notified
them that he would want to draw $100,000 from
oach of thorn on tho following day. Tho next
morning ho drew tho half million in currency,
placed It in a bag and drove from ono house to
nnother whero lived those who had lout thoir sav
ings In tho bubble. Within ono day ho paid out
every dollar of the monoy and at night told his
friends that his conscience wan clear ouco more.
sr vr
OFFICIALS OF THE NAVAL OBSERVATORY
are arranging to send New Yoar's greetings
from Washington to all tho countries of tho civ
ilized world by the employment of a Berlen of
signals to all points to mark tho exact second of
tho beginning of tho now year. Tho Washington
correspondent for tho Chicago Chronicle, rclorriug
to this scheme, says: "A similar plan was em
ployed successfully last year in the cauo of the
United States, and It Ib intended to extend tho
service this year to cover tho continents of North
and South America, tho distant insular possessions
of tho United States and all points of tho world
having the necessary cable and telegraphic con
nections, in case the co-operation of foreign gov
ernments can bo secured, of which there is scarce
ly a doubt. Last year the receipt of tho midnight
signal was accurately timed at tho Lick observa
tory in California, and It was found that It took
only six one-hundredths of a second In transmis
sion from Washington."
EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO CANALS
these days seems to bo of Interest to tho
American citizen. Tho attention being given to
the Panama canal project has prompted tho Wash
ington correspondent for the Chicago Record-Herald
to present some interesting facts with respect
to the world's ship canals. This correspondent
says that there are nlno of these canals now In
operation, as follows: 1. The Suez canal, begun
in 1859 and completed in 18G9. 2. The Cronstndt
and St. Petersburg canal, begun in 1877 and com
pleted in 1890. 3. The Corinth canal, begun in
1884 and completed in 1893. 4. Tho Manchester
ship canal, completed in 1894. 5. The Kaiser WII
helm canal, connecting the Baltic and North seas,
completed in 1895. C. The Elbe and Travc canal,
connecting the North Sea and Baltic, opened in
1900. 7. The Welland canal, connecting Lako Erie
with Lake Ontario. 8 and 9. Tho two canals,
United States and Canadian, respectively, connect
ing Lake Superior with Lake Huron.
WHILE THB SUEZ CANAL IS USUALLY
considered the most Important example of
the ship canals, the Record-Herald's correspon
dent points out that the number of vessels pass
ing through tho Suez canal annually docs not
equal those passing through the canals connecting
Lake Superior with tbe chain of great lakes in
the south. It Is explained, however, that in
length the Suez canai exceeds any of the other
great ship canals, its total length being nearly
ninety miles, of which about two-thirds is through
shallow lakes. In 1895 the canal was bo enlarged
as to give a depth of 31 feet, a width at the bot
tom of 108 feet and at the surface of 420 feet
The original cost was $95,000,000 and for tho canal
in its present form slightly in excess of $100,
000,000. Jf ft
THE CANAL CONNECTING THE BAY OF
Cronstadt with St. Petersburg is described
as one of great stragctlc and commercial import
ance to Russia. The canal and sailing course are
about sixteen miles long. The width ranges from
220 to 350 feet. Tho total co3t is estimated at
about $10,000,000. The Corinth canal connects the
Gulf of Corinth with the Gulf of Aegina. The
canal reduces the distance from Adriatic ports
about 175 miles and from Mediterranean ports
about 100 miles. Its length is about four miles
and its cost $5,000,000.
REFERRING TO THE CANALS, THE
Record-Herald writer says the Manchester
ship canal which connects Manchester, England,
with the Mersey river at Liverpool and the At
lantic ocean, was opened for traffic January 1,
I!
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