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The Commoner.
ACCORDING- to the Sun, however, General
Scott holds the palm for being the "worst
deieated." Tho Sun says: "A worse beaten can
didate for tne presidency than Horace Greeley,
everything considered, was General Scott, the nom
inee of tho whig party in 18&2. His military
achievements, it was thought, would assure him
a largo popular vote, but lie actually received only
42 electoral votes out of a total of 2GG, and most
of these came to him by slender majorities. The
four .states ho carried were Kentucky and Ten
nessee, Massachusetts and Vermont. Ho had 1,800
plurality in Tennessee and 500 in Vermont. -The
candidate for tho presidency who had what would
now be-called a clean sweep, or almost a clean
sweep, was James Monroe, in the election of 1820.
There were 232 electoral votes in that year, and
Jame3 Monroe received 231 of th$m. This was be
foro the choice of presidential electors by popular
yoto,' which was begun four years later."
MODERN curio-hunters stop at nothing in or
der to secure coveted articles. Speakingsof
the prices paid in endeavoring to secure these ar
ticles, a writer in the Pittsburg Ditpalch says: "A
hundred years ago the manuscript of Milton's
'Paradise Lost was worth about ?100, Today it
is priceless and .Ir. Morgan, the present owner,
isYsafd.to have paid a quarter of a million for
it- -There are pieces of tapestry in the posssession
of rich'New Yorkers for which they have paid $100
a square inch. Millet's 'The Angelus' is said to
be worth-$150,Co0 and there are hundreds of pieces
of' canvas scattered over Europe and America
worth quite as much. Y ion a Stradivarius violin
is sold at public auction in London for so great
a sum as $3,500 the fact is deemed worthy to be
cabled to the ends of oie earth. A railroad is sold
for a billion or a corner lot in Manhattan for the
revenues of a principality- and nothing is said.
These baubles, though of great price, are common
enough. But a Strad'!. In all the world there are
scarcely a dozen of the precious, old fiddles and all
the cunning of modern ..rvention can not rtdd to
their number." ' "...
TO LITTLE concern is being manifested by the
British government on account of the unin
terrupted ex- us of Irish and Cornish peasants
to "America." "Writing, from Plymouth, England,
United States Consul Stephens says: "The, British
.press has called special attention during the last
month to the continued, and what tney term
alarming, mght of the Irish and CornishJLo Amer
ica. Over 22,000 have gone from . Ireland- ale -ie
during the present year, and the exodus, which
has received an impetus from the cheap fares,
goes on without interruption. There is, it is as
serted,, no greater menace to Ireland's future tnen
this appa 'ng drain of immigration. It is drawing
out of the -country the best of its, peasant class for
America, and leaving the undesirables behind.
Never fiefbro have the Irish people manifested such
a determination to leave their country. At present
they are leaving at the rate of 2,000 per week, and
no argumen advanced to keep them in their is
land has the slightest effect. T?.e"same conditions,
thought in a modified form, apply to Cornwall.
The mining industry at home Is dead. In tho
. British colonies conditions are not at all favorable,
':. hence the " ekiy exodus, to A i'rica. Those, al- .
ready In the United . States seno home money 'as
rapidly n possible to assist their relatives and
companions in Cornwall to follow.'.'.
a BACTERIA-CRUSHING macinne is the latest
J thl:.;j for preserving milk. Describing the
process . which this machine cces its work, a
writer in the Newark, N. J., News, says: "This
machine is capable of putting forth a hydrostatic,
pressure of 450,000 pounds to the square inch. Milk
has been squeezed under it till the bacteria howled
for mercy. Seriously, milk has received at the
hands of this, machine a pressure of ninety tons.
The effect of a pressure so enormous was to make
the milk ,keep longer it kept for five, six and
seven days. This showed that some of its bacteria,
the fermenting bacteria, at least, had been killed.
But, though the milk" remained sweet, it began to
emit finally a strange new odor, and ,it had a
'strange new taste. This showed that other bac
teria in it had not been harmed. Professor Wiley's
poison s'quad's tests have proved that preserva
tion's in milk aro harmful. A pressure of seventy
tons preserves milk for three or four days, and
there Is no strange odor or strange taste. TVfaybe,
before long, chemicals as a preservative of milk
will be succeeded by pressure."
. . VOLUME 4, NUMBER 45
rT-Hffi tfiuiRRP. flifv Journal -etIvps Ahn following "" TTomo' nn tho nlonn ti.x . .
I . " .. .". . . . " . . - T . w '", " iub pavilion n 4i. ,.
thq exposition. .Kentuckians 7.Soa
e heard that tmnuini. ni ,... , . u"iune
X statistics on" the population of Spaing. "Ac
cording to the census of 1900, the .population of
Spain was 11,891,574, of which 9,087;821 were males
and 9,803,753 females. The number unable to
read and write, including children, is given at
11,000,000. Thai the number of illiterates is being
slowly reduced is evidenced by the. facts that in
I860 only 19.97 per cent of the population could
read and write; in 1877 the .proportion had in
creased to 24.48 per cent, 'ten years later to 28.49
per cent, and in 1903 tp 33.45 per cent. The popu
lations of the largest cities are given as follows:
Madrid, 539,825; Barcelona, 533,000; Valencia, 2i3,
550; Seville, 148,316,'A . - :.". "".'-
' r LACK 'FRIDAYS'' have ( played important
XJ "parts in the histories v of some nations.
The Kansas City Journal s"ays: "The American
Black Friday was September 24, 1869, when Jay
Gould and James. -Flake, Jr., 'attempted to create
a corner In the gold market. The whole country '
was in a" ferment for several days, but the day
was saved by the -'report that Secretary Boutwell
had thrown $4,000,000 on the market. The Eng-'
lish Black Fridays" "are two one the Friday on
which the news reached London that the -young
pretender, Charles Edward, had arrived at. Derby;
the second, May 11, 1868, when the failure of
Overend, Gurney & Co., Londonf the;iday before
was followed by widespread financial ruin."
".
CHAUNCEY -M-DEPEW recently stated that,
there, were 100,000 millionaires in the United-.
States. His. statement' seems to meet controversy
from a great many sources, however, for the Fi-'
nancial Red,Book, a. most carefully compiled pub
lication, gives ,rfthe names of practically all tho
persons In the United States who are supposed to
be worth more than $300,000. And there are only
15,000; names, on the list. ' No claim is made that
the name of every person ' worth that amount' or
more is given, "but the proportion of those left
out is extremely small, for a most exhaustive in
vestigation has been ina'de.- .-. -':&t&&f?. ,
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O
NE of the most peculiar strikes everbrought
to public attention recently occurred in New
1 one. city. Tne cause of the. strike and the re
markable incident that caused the strikers q lose
la told by the New York dprrespendent of .he
Chicago Tribune. The strike pecurred among the
tenants of a new department house.' A dozen
families who had moved in on the promise that
certain improvements, wblch had not been, made
for want of time, would be made at once, ..ad
waited as long as they could. When Agent Craven
called for the rents on the first of the month they
all refused to pay him a penny. "0," the agent
promised, "it will all be -done before the month
is out." The tenants were obdurate, however, t0
all appeals, and finally the agent began disposses
sion proceedings against them all. They renewed
their agreement to4 stand together and move out in
a body. This they would have done if the stork
had not dropped in on the family of one of ..them,
that pf Clark Flanagan of the board of finance.
The call of the. bird made it decidedly, inconveni
ent for Flanagan to- move his family, so .. he paid
his rent. The line Is broken and "-ether tenants
are giving in one after tire other, but they say they
will renew the strike next month unless 'the prom
ised improvements- are made. , s
THE employes at. the, Kentucky. building on the
Louisiana Purchase exposition grdunds feel
tuat they have a right to make complaints. Steph
en Collins Fosters famous, song,. 'MyC'OldVKen
: tucky Home," is a favorite i. theu world over, and
especially in the Blue Grass state. "' There is a
piano in the Kentucky., building Everybody
almostknows Foster's sorigr The result was a
combination that has resulted ir grief to the em
ployes at thq building. The St. Lduis correspond
ent of the Chicago Inter-Ocean tells the story in
this way: "Upon the yery conservative estimate
of three times every hour it is stated1 that 'Mv
Old Kentucky Home' has Jjeen: played on the
piano at the Kentucky building at the World's
fair nearly 8,000 times; "since the opening of tho
exposition. Nearly every visitor who knows how
to play the "piano rattles oft that familiar tune
until now U-ose connected With the building have
almost become unsentimental enough to wish that
Stephen Collins Foster, had never written that
song. The estimate Is thatfab'out forty different
musicians trr their hand; ; at My Old Kentucky
xiome on tne piano in the pavilion n ti, ,t
grass state daily, or 7,280 times since tho aJl"
of thq exposition. . Kentuckians nf .?uWn8
have heard that nnnnini. ni .i , . Ul
w ai-v mm wv.A mM. aa. i r'rxen i i
its different variations. Sometimes it h, L
- Played, with feeling, other times mechaln f"
Those at the building were delighted? ! A
the interest shown in .the. Kentucky air, and whil
as yet no objection has been raised, tn y ar
now so joyful when they hear the first strain
coming from the piano as they used to be a
teresting feature of the Kentucky buildinK I nil
furniture of the room, including the table whG
Foster wrote 'Uy Old Kentucky Home.' As sou
venirs of tho, building, copies of the song have
,-heen given and orVthah 20,000 copies have thuq
been distributed." . U3
"' - ..
IRA D, SANKEY, the world-renowned singing
evangelist, s confined to his home in Brooklyn,
waiting patiently and serenely for the final sum'
mons. Several years ago, he was compelled by
failing healtn and approaching blindness to retire
from active work. The death of is famous col
league, Mr. Moody, was a blow from which ho
- never recovered." Moody and Sankey traveled
around the, world, the former preaching and tho
latter singing. Through their ministry hundred of
thousands of men and wqmen were lead into bet
ter livs. Mr. S'ankey?s songs are sung in every
land and in every known tongue. Perhaps nis
best known song is "The Ninety and Nine." Ho
is now enly b4 years Qf age a comparatively
young man to have accomplished so much good
for his fellow man. Never before in any land did
such a. combination as -ioody and Sankey exist.
Its. potentialities were tremendous. The Brooklyn
singer wasn't the leading man, but he was essen
tial to the triumph that the men attained together.
THE Canadian Harness and Carriage Journal
. gives the interesting information that many
varieties oi leather are made from fish. An ex
tremely Jlne .quality of green leather manufactured
in Turkey is manufactured from -he skin of an
ugly fish called the angel fish. This is a kind of
shark a shark wlth thick, wing-like fins that
have earned for himYt.- name of angel, though
he doesn?t look a bit like an angel, but rather tho
opposite. rihe sword grips of the officers of the
German army are made from shark leather too.
They are beautiful in pattern, being marked with
dark, diamond-shaped, figures. This skin comes
from a North sea shark known as the diamond
shark. The sturgeon, despite his lumpy armor,
furnishes a valuable and attractive leather. When
tho bony plates are taken off their pattern remains
on the skin just as the pattern of alligator scales
remains on alligator leather. The Pacific coast
-sturgeon and the sturgeon of the great lakes pro
duces a toUn leather belting for machinery, and
the lacea often outwear the belting. The strange
garfish, an AmericanTfregn water fish with long
tcothed jaws like those of the crocodile, has a skin
that can J)e polished smooth until it has a finish
like ivory. It makes'-beautiful jewel caskets and
picture frames. In5 Gloucester, tho "king town'
of fish, the humble cod Has been utilized with suc
cess for making leather for shoes and gloves, in
Egypt men walk. On sandals made from the skins
of Red sea fish. . In Russia certain peasant cos
tumes are beautifully trimmed -with the skins of
a fine.food fish, the turbot. Bookbinders in Europe
are binding books with eelskin. The eelskin serves
another and less pleasant purpose. L is braided
into whips- Along the big 'salmon river in SI
berla the native often wear brilliant leather gar
ments dyed red and yellow. They are made from
salmon skins. In Alaska beautiful waterproof bags
are made from all sorts, of fish skins. The queerest
use Is that to which the Intestines of the sea lions
are put. They are' slit and stitched together to
form hooded coats, which are superior to India
rubber as waterproof garments. "Walrus intestines
are made into sails for boats by the Eskimos 01
northwestern Amorlca; Even the frog does not
escape, Several factories in France and a tew in
America, .uake card cases and other small leather
articles from his-skin.
"CSfe'
is a
v nnvArnmvfiiPf. TnhtiRmi of Minnesota
country newspaper editor,' He was elected as a
democrat In a state that gave a republican P ura
ity of 100,000. The country newspaper man snou u
bo sought out hereafter and given a chance w
show his sprinting ability."
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