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The Commoner.
VOLUME 5, NFMDER 35 1
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A TIMELY warning is given the railroad man
agers by that conservative old publication
The Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia) in this
ferm: "Our ingenious and able railway men are
making an interesting campaign of education
against public interference with them in the
management of those public highways called rail
ways. The arguments they advance are fully
as convincing as the arguments against permit
ting the building of railways used to be back in
the forties and fifties of the last century. But,
for some reason or other, men nowadays refuse
to be greatly terrified, much less convinced, by
demonstrations of awful consequences of doing
things which they feel the time has come for them
to do. The people have decided to resume super
vision real supervision of their highways. And
they will do it. Lying and faking politicians
may baffle them for a few years. Dividend-seeking
railway magnates may get a little further ex
tension of their present lease to work the rail
way business each year as if next year was to
see the end of the world. But in a short time
the people will have their way; and the less
they are exasperated by corrupt hindrance the
better it will be for those who own stocks and
bonds."
JAMES HAMILTON LEWIS, now corporation
counsel for Chicago, acted as toastmaster at
a banquet given to President Roosevelt on
Jefferson day. In presenting the president on
that occasion Colonel Lewis said that Mr. Roose
velt "returned from the Spanish-American war
with a brilliant reputation, and I with a orilliant
uniform. We both became candidates for vice
president. He, the president, won, and I, as
my habit, got beat. The president, however, met
me later, and in the presence of mutual friends,
consoled me for my defeat, saying: 'Never mind;
Lewis; that T won and that you lost only indi
cate,cL.thnt"the people knew your fitness for vice
president. They knew us both. They knew that
I could represent the president part and you could
represent the vice.' "
ACCORDING to the Washington Post, Mr.
Roosevelt, at a meeting of the Japanese
and Russian peace commissioners, said something
on the subject of American humor as disting
uished from Oriental wit. He proceeded to illus
trate American humor by repeating that portion
of Colonel Lewis' speech as quoted above. The
Post says: "As the president repeated that con
versation the Japanese commissioner inquired:
'Why did the people laugh when he said he came
back with a brilliant uniform?- Did they think
it funny that Colonel Lewis should keep away
from the firing lino, just to keep from soiling his
uniform?' And then the Russian at once added
his appreciation of what was being said by ob
serving, 'And is it true that that gentleman who
was toastmaster, as he said, was put upon a presi
dential ticket to represent the vice? We hear in
our country that you must nominate men on your
tickets to represent certain foreign elmonts, in
order to get their votes, but 'we did not know
that in naming your presidential ticket there
must be one named to represent the vice to get
vote.' At this point the president despaired of
conveying to his distinguished guests a definition
of American humor, particularly of the subtle
kind perpetrated, by James Hamilton Lewis, cor
poration counsel for Chicago."
AN ARTICLE printed in The Nation and credit
ing the seedless apple to Luther Burbank
was reproduced in a recent issue or The Common
?F' ,The .Sowing letter from Mr. Burbank explains
itself: I beg to inform you that the seedless
apple mentioned in the enclosed slip is not one
of Mr. Burbank's productions, though a number
of the papers are trying to make out that such
is the case. The truth of the matter is that Mr
Burbank has known of the seedless apple for
fifty years, but has had nothing whatever to do
with .the late booming of it."
ANEW WAY In which animals may benefit
the human race is suggested, according to
the Chicago Chronicle, by a letter recently re
ceived by the secretary of a rural English sociotv
The letter follows: "Sir-I partickly wish the
satiety to be calleu to consider the case what
follows, as I think it mite be maid Tranxtionablo
in the next Reports. My wif had a Tomb Cat
that dyd. Being a torture shell and a grate
favrit, we had Him berried in the Guardian and
for the sake of the enrichment of the mould I
had the carks deposited under the roots of a
Gotsberry Bush (The Prute being up till then of
a smooth, kind). But the next Sesons Frute,
after the Cat was berried, the Gosberries was all
hairy, and more remarkable the Catpillers of the
same Bush was Al of the same Hairy Descrip
tion." LAWRENCE Y. SHERMAN of Chicago in a
recent interview said that the contest for
the senatorship between Shelby M. Cullom, pres
ent senator, and Richard Yates, former governor,
would be "a fight between an antique and a dub."
A Chicago dispatch says that friends of Messrs.
Cullom and Yates have been Investigating the
meaning of the words "antique" and "dub." This
dispatch explains: "Scott Cowan, grain inspec
tor, and A. L. French and James Neville, railroad
and warehouse commissioners, got a dictionary
and found 'antique' to mean 'old, ancient, of gen
uine antiquity.' This, they thought, did well
enough for Cullom, but they could not place the
exact meaning of 'dtfb.' 'I am afraid it means
"chump," said Cowan. The best he could find
was a verb'Dub: To invest with any dignity
or new character.' From this he created a noun
'Dub: A man invested with dignity.' From this
they have figured out that the contest between
Cullom and Yates would be a contest between a
'person of genuine antiquity,' and 'a man invest
ed with dignity.'"
THE widow of an American literary man
whose name, we are told, was known to
English speaking people everywhere, writing to
the editor of the New York "World says: 'To
help on the insurance agitation wnich The "World
is waging I wish to give to the public my ex
perience with the Mutual Insurance company of
New York. In 1883 my husband took out a policy
in this company for $15,000, paying a yearly
premium of $500. There was a rebate each year
of from $50 to $75, which could be allowed or not
according to the disposition of the owner of the
policy. If the full $500 was paid the rebate with
accrued interest -was supposed to be added to
the amount of the policy when it fell due. Some
years advantage was taken of this, when it was
more than ordinarily difficult to meet this prem
ium, but for more than half the time the full
amount was paid and the-policy was carried for
twenty-two years. Thus more than $10,000 was x
paid on it. I remember distinctly the glowing
terms put before him by the agent who induced
my husband to take out this policy; that is if
it were carried for twenty years it would 'be
S?20'f tt ry least-very probably
$25,000. At my husband's death, after satisfying
the numerous requirements of the company as to
proofs of death and my right under this policy, '
I am tendered a receipt to sign 'in full of all
claims' under policy No. of $15,012 85' thit
the 'mutual benefit' so highly extolled of the com
pany's investment of $10,000 paid them in prem
iums during twenty-two years amounts to the
magnificent sum of $25.70-supposing they pre
tend to make an equal division. I suppose this
may be but one of many cases in which hfs life
insurance was all the husband ana father left
for the support of his family after he had eft
them-who was led to invest his small yearly
surplus in life insurance rather than in some
other form of investment because of its smf.
posed highly beneficent and sure character."
TVTEW JERSEY'S primary election law has taken
JN effect and on September 12, primary elec
tions for all parties in that state were conrS
ed with the formality of regular eTecdons p "
forring to this law the Philadelphia Pubi ledger"
says: "The New Jersey primaries wil be mln
aged much as the general elections are with X
hnnl110' ballotboxe gistry lite oCg
books. Two members of each political imrtv
will conduct the election, have charge of 'the
ballot boxes and have the right to challenge vot
ers offering to vote their respective t ckets ov
registered voters and those who have the St
to vote at general or local elections have the
right to vote at the primary. The object of hi
primary is to elect delegates to party convention,
to nominate candidates to be voted ClnmSw
than one ward or township, and to elect ml !
candidates directly, and without convention S
they shall be voted for in but one war 1 0P' tot
ship. The official primary ballot contains
names of candidates for the position of (Era te
whose candidacy has been previously endorsed
by ten or more voters, as appears o record n
the office of the municipal or township clerk
Ecl? J?1? on entering the room receives tho
official ballot he desires to vote, returns to h
booth, prepares his ballot and deposits it in
ballot box of his party. The formality of the pro
ceeding dignifies it and the penalties attaching
to the Infraction of the law by the election offi-
oZ8 nVther,S lnSUre' S0 far as IeSl Provisions
can, a fair election, and will diminish the num
ber of contests for delegates' seats in the nomi
nating conventions, which are so much in evi
dence when delegates are elected by loose meth
ods. The regulations of New Jersey primaries
are not more complicated than those governing
general elections, and can be readily understood
by intelligent voters."
THE final report of the World's Fair National
Commission was filed September 4. The
receipts on account of admissions amounted to
more than $6,000,000 and the total receipts
amounted to more than $10,000,000. The dis
bursements exceeded $9,000,000, leaving a cash
balance somewhat in excess of $800,000. Experts
appointed to investigate the records, report that
many vouchers are missing and that in some de
partments, discrepancies exist, although the loss
through shortage will be small.
FOR the movement of the crops of 1905, 1,500,
000 freight cars will be necessary. The Chi
cago correspondent for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat
says: "Measuring the prosperity of tho
American farmer this year in units of freight
cars, railroad statisticians have figured out that
the grain traffic for this crop year will aggregato
1,500,000 car loads. If all this grain could bo
marketed simultaneously and hauled in a single
solid train of freight cars, the train would be
11,931 miles long, exclusive of the locomotives
that would be necessary to move it. Dividing
this huge train into smaller ones of forty cars
each, there would be required 37,500 locomotives,
or 355 miles of draft machinery. Adding this 355
miles to the 11,931 miles of cars, there is a total
of 12,286 miles. To hold the cars and engines
it would require nearly every foot of four tracks
extending from New York to San Francisco. Tho
necessary single track would measure half tho
circumference of the globe."
IMPRESSIVE as these figures are, this corres
pondent says that they do not begin to tell
the vastness of the wealth which the American
farmer has taken from his soil in corn, oats,
wheat, barley and rye in the year 1905. This cor
respondent says: "Railroad men's estimates are
confined to the grain which will be moved to mar
ket centers on the steam roads. Probably not
over one-third of the grain produced will ever
see a freight car. ' The other two-thirds will bo
hauled to local mills in wagons, or will be con
sumed by live stock on the farms. To hold tho
entire corn crop alone would call for a train
and engines 21,000 miles in length, the equiva
lent of six golden zones reaching from Hell Gate
to the Golden Gate. In this story of agricultural
treasure Jies the reason for the unparalleled pre
parations of the western railroads for traffic this
season. If the farmer were not already well sup
plied with ready money and were forced to rush
his grain to market, as he has done in past years,
it is reasonable to suppose the railroads would
be utterly swamped with grain traffic."
ACCORDING to the same authority railroad
statisticians estimate the wheat and oats
crop of liinnesota and the Dakotas at 326,u0u.0uu
bushels, of which 190,000,000 bushels will be mar
keted on steam roads. They place the total yield
of corn at 2,566,000,000 bushels, and expect iliat
756,000,000 bushels will be hauled on freight trains
greater or. less distances. Granting that those
figures are correct, there will be 173,000 car loan
of wheat and. oats from the three states men-