The Commoner.
V
6
VOLUME E. NUMDER
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GOPICS M
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NEW YORK'S anti-tipping law took effect Sep
tember 1. Senator Martin Saxe is the au
thor of this law. A Now York correspondent for
the Chicago Record-Herald says: "It has been
estimated that la. New York $50,000,000 is given
in tips annually. Probably half this sum is given
in sums of from 10 cents up to the waiters in the
cafes. The other half is used in bribery pure and
simple, meaning bribery to influence trade, not
to induce a man to do the work he is supposed
tt get a salary for doing."
SENATOR SAXE, referring to his .bill, says:
"Do not think I am aiming at the servant
girl who accepts a present of a bottle of perfume
or a cake of soap from a grocer. My bill aims
at higher game, such as railway officials who as
sist in the robbery of their employers and the
stockholders. The imprisonment of a few offi
cials of this character will teach others a val
uable lesson." It is further explained that the
measure was really designee to reach those
cases where the supply houses have found it
necessary to fee purchasing agents of railroads
or other corporations in order to sell their goods.
THE real meaning of New York's anti-tipping
law is explained In brief by the New York
correspondent for the Chicago Record-Herald in
this way. Here is what you can do and what
you can't do since the anti-tipping law went into
effect:
You can tip anyone for good service.
You can't tip anyone as a bribe.
You can tip a waiter for bringing your din
ner hot and without delay.
You can't tip him to serve you a $1 dinner
for 50 cents.
You can tip a coachman for driving you fast.
You can't tip him for paying you $1,000' of
his employer's money for a 'horse worth $250.
You are at perfect liberty to tip the butler
in the home of your friend for being attentive
to you.
You can't tip the butler for buying goods
from you for his master's table.
You can tip a hotel maid for fresh sheets and
pillow cases.
You can't tip her for giving you soap to
carry away in your grip.
You can give a railroad purchasing agent a
Christmas gift or any other gift if you choose.
You can't tip him for ignoring other Didders
and buying goods from you at the expense of the
stockholders.
In other words, a tip must he truly a tip, a
gratuity, and not a bribe or a commission.
THE Ellis Island authorities ar.e struggling
with a weighty problem. The Providence
Rhode Island Telegram says: "August Albert,
who went abroad a short time ago, has just been
pronounced ineligible for re-admission to the coun
try because he is too old to come in as an alien
and can not come in as a citizen, because, al
though he took out first papers In Michigan,
where he resided for thirty-two years, and voted,
he did not, through an oversight, secure his final
naturalization certificate. The decision of the
Ellis Island wiseacres to exclude Mr. Albert
raises the interesting question whether a man can
be a citizen of one of the United States and not
bo a United States citizen."
T-HE monthly report of the government re
ceipts and disbursements -for the month of
August shows a large increase in customs re
ceipts. The increase over August, 1904, being
$3,763,608. There is, however, a deficit for the
month amounting to $4,660,061. The receipts from
Internal revenue sources also show an increase
for the month of $779,791. The total receipts
for the month are $47,490,432, and the expendi
tures $52,150,493, which leaves a deficit for the
month of $4,660,061. Last month the deficit was
$13,855,663 and for August, 1904, the deficit was
$0,343,212. The receipts from the several sources
of revenue are given as follows: Customs, $26,
181,281; internal revenue, $19,556,476; miscella
neous, ,$1;752,673. The civil and miscellaneous
'expenditures were a little over $1,000,000 in ex
cess of those for August, 1904, and those on ac
count of the war department were nearly $2,
000,000 less than for August last year. The navy
shows a slight increase.
AN INTERESTING plan for the solution of
the problem of prison labor was suggested
recently by Rev. George B. Wight, New Jersey's
state commissioner of charities and correction.
Mr. Wight said: "I wish that when a man o
family is in prison the work that he does in an
institution might go for the support of his fam
ily." Commenting upon this statement, Public
Opinion says: "The suggestion, which, if not ab
solutely new, is new to the majority of those
who will read of it, is receiving much favorable
comment. Truly, the plan would do away with
many difficulties. It would bring the value of
prison work up to the market value; thus the
labor unions would no longer have reason to dread
'cheap prison competition.' It would give the
convict a sense of moral responsibility. It would
relie.'o the state of the care of convicts' families.
To try to work this plan out will be well worth
while."
IN CONNECTION with the peace negotiations
at Portsmouth newspaper readers have read
much concerning the Hankow railroad. The Lit
erary Digest tells the story of the railroad in
this way: "China, in 1898, granted a concession
to the American-China Development compahy to
construct an 800 mile trunk line railway from
Hankow to Canton. The concession, which in
volves coal mining rights and industrial fran
chises, was to run for forty-five years, at the
end of which period the property was to go to
the Chinese government. The proposed railway
is the southern extension of the -Belgian line from
Peking to Hankow and forms part of a great
transportation route running directly through the
heart and commercial center of China. However,
the company built only about thirty of the 800
miles, but surveyed 100 miles more. Only thirty
miles had been built because of the unflagging
opposition of the Chinese inhabitants."
AMONG THE stockholders of the company is
King Leopold of Belgium who, according to
cable dispatches a few weeks ago when Mr. Mor
gan was abroad, urged the latter not to accept
the offer of the Chinese government. The Lit
erary Digest says: "Mr. Morgan had recently
visited the president at Oyster Bay for a con
ference on the Hankow question, but no news
as to the course that would be pursued was given
out; but at a meeting of the stockholders of the
American-China Development company on August
29 it was decided, with the consent and advice
of President Roosevelt, to accept China's offer.
It Is said that China is to pay $6,750,000 for the
concession. Edwin H. Conger, former minister
to China, opposed the sale, on the ground that
the surrender of the concession would be a se
rious blow to our interests in China, and that
American prestige would suffer. But in a state
ment from Oyster Bay it was said that it was
the wisest plan which could be devised touch
ing our national interests in the east, and that
Mr. Morgan had adopted the only course 'which
ho could take with due regard to the interests
of the stockholders he represented.' Another
reason for the sale is, in the words of General
Charles A. Whittier, 'that the Chinese government
has decided to force all American and European
interests out of China, and that under these con
ditions further development of the concession
would be difficult and unprofitable, if not im
possible.' "
A TALKING postal card is a novelty described
by M. H. R. d'Allemagne, In a recent num
- her of La Nature, Paris. M. d'Allemagne says:
"We present today the phonograph of the twen
tieth century, an entirely new invention, and one
that, is destined to revolutionize the industry. The
phonopostal is an apparatus that registers and
reproduces the human voice by means of a sheet
of cardboard, which is in the form of a postal
card. The idea of substituting a sheet of paper
which may be sent as a letter, for the wax cyl
inder of ordinary phonographs originated with
. Jules Verne, but the scheme as worked out today
camo from the artist, M. Armbruster, and was
made possible by the experiments of MM , v,
rotte, Bucherious and Tochow. "Tin- advantages
of the phonopostal," continues M. d'Allemarae
"are many. While one is touring, this apparatus
occupying' the space of two or throe boxes of
writing paper, may be put in the automobile or
valise, and one is in a position to register on the
.prepared cards the impressions of the journey
Again, the explorer in ay receive news from home
not only the routine news of the ordinary letter'
but he may hear also the voices of bis corres
pondents. This experience may bo renewed in
definitely, as the card will reproduce ihe sounds
any number of times. The card may be used
to register the songs of different countries, and
on the back of the card the customary photo
graphic views may be printed. The postal, in
fact, is prepared on the address side, and the
mark traced by the point of the diaphragm is so
hard that the postoffice stamp does, not affect it
in the least. The address is written on the pre-pared-side
without the slightest injury to the regis
tered sentence."
PUBLIC OPINION, from whose columns the
above translation relating to the talking
card was taken, describing the process in its own
words, says: "The voice is thrown Into a littlo
funnel which is placed in contact with the regis
tering needle. The latter is a sapphire point
which passes over a layer of a preparation known
as srnorine, which has been previously spread
over the paper. The chief merit of the inven
tion is in having found a substance that could
be easily spread over a sheet or paper, which
possesses all of the advantages of wax. One o'
the particular advantages of the sonorine is that
it can stand the hard usage of the post. The
sounds are inscribed by means or a spiral which
commences at the edge of the card and proceeds
toward the center, finally stopping outside of a
ciicle about the size of a quarter. The number -of
words that may be sent on each card is be
tween soventy-fiv,e and eighty. The construction
of the apparatus is very ingenious. First, it
was necessary to mal i a machine that could
be sold at a very low price. Then, the machines
had to be regulated in such a way that the repro
duction might be made with one which came from
the factory months and years after the registra
tion on the card was first made. This result was
obtained by careful regulation of the speed or
each machine. And last, the constructors had
lb invent a very sensitive diaphragm, not only
for registering, but also for reproduction.
THE Subway Tavern, which was dedicated bv
Bishop Potter twelve months ago with
prayer and hymns will hereafter be conducted as
an ordinary grog shop. Those who criticised tno
Bishop for his part in this effort, as some caiieu
it, to "mix whiskey and religion" freely express
their gratification at the failure of the enterprise
Referring to this affair the Literary Digebt .sa s.
"There seem to be many causes which contnou
ted to the defeat of Bishop Potter's scheme to es
tablish a decent' and law-abiding saloon m ue
slums of New York. 'It was impossible to to.iow
God and chase the devil,' said the propnetoi m
venting his indignation at the regulations "ii
forbid him to cater to the low elements ot so
cietv, or to sell drinks to any one after no n.ui
'liquored up' to the point of becoming &'m"
and profitable.' Furthermore the proprietor ioi mi
that the man who wants a drink, while in u
act of quenching his thirst hates to bo 'rumVi
by a delegation of W. C. T. U. women, or a p i
of sociological students or- curious strangers wnu
are taking in the sights in a 'Seeing New w
automobile. Too much publicity, therefore, in -peu
to 'crimp the Tavern's trade. When the novelty oi
it had worn off. it became a deserted hole m m,
ground. Bishop Potter, however, Is not down a
He still believes that his 'idea is a good one. .
is reported as saying that 'the, success or Ju"
of q single institution which attempted to cuy
out the idea does not detract from its merit
THE BRITISH government recently Pb,ihl" jj
a report compiled from memoranda i-
nisned uy us diplomatic anu consumi i.
tives,
uses
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