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APRIL 30, 190
The Commoner.
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hope only to dash it. Only the truth will servo
to restore good times. The lie makes many a
man who'd make a place to give someone, hard
en his heart to the job-hunter, believing him
undeserving of tlfe work he looks for. The lie
works evil in every possible direction, In my
opinion, the rottenest thing journalism has ever
been guilty of is this mocking of the poor la
borer and the distressed small business man
with the bluff and fake of restored prosperity.
It can not but harden the feelings of thoso who
believe it, against those who complain of dull
business or go about seeking work. It can not
but have lured many a man into sending good
money after bad, into banking too heavily upon
a rosy future that continues to be deferred. If
the papers would tell the actual facts, the sit
uation would be better; no one would be fooled.
What a hideous trick it is, for instance, to pro
claim in big type that the banks are full of
money! If the banks are full of money, it
means people are not borrowing it to push busi
ness, because there is no business to push, no
prospect of profit on such borrowings, no chance
that if money were borrowed it would soon be
repaid. The prosperity isn't here, and-it won't
be here; not until the sacred tariff is out of
r.eal danger. The people must be made to suffer
so that the tariff beneficiaries may say, 'See
how even the rumor of tariff changes depresses
business,,' and then, with gorgeous Inconsistency,
'Gentlemen, we must not interfere with pros
perity.' Times are bad and no denying it. The
prosperity lier makes them worse. For one man
less job, I can show anyone who cares to look,
a. thousand jobless men in St. Louis. And
things are worse in Chicago and New York.
And everywhere rents stay up and groceries
and meats are going up steadily and starving
men and women are committing suicide and the
press a-whoring with plutocracy sings: 'O, let
us be Joyful; prosperity's come to stay!' "
A PECULIAR defense made by a negro
charged with crime 13 told in an Associated
Press dispatch from St. Louis as follows: " 'To
what source do you attribute your mental con
'dltion?' 'Super-education. I'm a negro and
have no business with a college education.' This
question and answer propounded and replied to
by. Louis O. Graves, a graduate of Yale, was the
climax1 of what Judge Taylor of the coutt of
criminal correction today declared was the most
unique defense he had ever encountered. Graves
was charged with forging a check. He acted as
his own attorney, called himself to the stand
and conducted his own examination. After testi
fying that he had served terras in the peniten
tiaries at Jefferson City, Mo., and Chester, 111.,
and that he had been an inmate of live insane
asylums, he asked himself: 'Did you ever trjr
to commit suicide?' 'Five times,' was the re
sponse to himself. 'I jumped from the third tier
of cells and cracked my skull. I took poison in
Central police station. I tried to hang myself
in the penitentiary and twice I tried to kill my
self when T felt a desire to commit crime com
ing over me Graves said that he had no recol
lection of the forgery with which he is now
icharged and was remanded to jail to await pos
sible action by the grand jury."
A WASHINGTON" le. ter to the New ' York
Tribune, referring to 'Mr. Taft's secretary,
Bays: "When Mr. ..Taft's special reached Min
nesota on its great campaign trip last fall the
Railroad men received orders to stop at Sauk
Center. 'What on earth are we stopping here
for?' the candidate's traveling companions
asked each other. Why, this is where 'Fred'
Carpenter was born and brought up,' replied
one' of the party,, wtyo knew almost everything
concerning the itinerary. 'I want Carpenter out
here,' announced Mr. Taft, as they came to a
stop beside the little station and a group of
possibly a hundred persons gathered around the
end, of the train. 'I want the people he used
to know to see him now.' In spite of his pro
testations, a dark .complexloned, slightly built
young, man was dragged out on the back plat
form of the car, and Mr. Taft put his arm
around him. In a. fatherly sort of way as he
exclaimed; 'You, all cf you, remember 'Fred'
Carpenter.' 'You bet we do!' cried half a dozen
robust voices in the crowd. At this point the
,dark complexloned, slightly built young man
attempted to slip from Mr. Taft's grasp and
dodge back into the car. The big candidate
was too quick for him, however, for he took
r stronger hold on his shoulder and continued:
sWell, I want to say to all of his old neighbors
and friends that Carpenter is the best secretary
that a' man ever had. Igot him by accident
when I was out in Manila. I needed a secretary,
and a man named 'Dan' Williams told me that
if I got Carpenter I would have the best secre
tary in the United States or the Philippines, or
between the two. Williams was right. I havo
had him almost ten years, and ho has not grown
any older except in service. He is even better
today than he was then, for he understands
better how to control me and keep me straight.'
The crowd gave a rousing cheer. Mr. Car
penter slipped from Mr. Taft's grasp, the loco
motive whistled and the train rolled away on
its vote-getting tour. 'Hurrah for Sauk Centor!'
cried everybody on the train except Mr. Car
penter and from that day to this the obscure
little town in the northwest has occupied a
warm spot in the heart- of all the newspaper
men."
A REMINDER of the late Robert G. Ingorsoll
is given by a Boston dispatch carried by
the Associated Press as follows: "The lengthy
litigation against relatives of the lato Andrew J.
Davis, the wealthy Montana' mine owner, by Mrs.
Eva A. Ingersoll of Dobbs Ferry, N. Y widow
of the lato Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, ended
today when Judge William L. Putnam, in the
United States circuit court, handed down a final
decree awarding, Mrs. Ingersoll $138,810, with
interest and costs. Following the death of Mr.
Davis, certain of his relatives engaged Colonel
Ingersoll as counsel in an effort to break Mr.
Davis' will, making a contract by which they
were to pay him $100,000. After Col. Ingersoll
died his widow, as administratrix of his estate,
endeavored to collect this amount from the Davis
relatives, who contested the case, claiming that
the full services called for by the contract had
not been performed. Mrs. Ingersoll then brought
suit in the United States circuit court to re
cover $100,000 from Henry A. Root of Lowell,
Joseph A. Coram of Boston and others, who had
made the contract with her husband. The court
decided In her favor and the case was appealed
to the United States circuit court of appeals,
which reversed the verdict of the court. Mrs.
Ingersoll then took the case to the United States
supreme court which reversed the decision of
the court of appeals and. affirmed the. verdict tof
the circuit court. As a result of this decision,
Judge Putnam issued the final decree in the. case
today, practically reaffirming the original ver
dict of the circuit court."
NOW THEY propose to make a trust in tho
brains of Luther Burbank. A San. Fran
cisco dispatch printed in the Omaha World
Herald says: "The men who have made a trust
of Mr. Burbank's genius in floriculture are all
well known California millionaires. They pro
pose to sell his miraculous products just as tho
beef trust puts out the meat it controls. And
there Is no limit to the" corporation's rights, save
In the case of two or three small contracts for
hybrid specimens which Mr, Burbank has: al
ready under way of fulfillment. The millions of
acres of desert lands in Arizona and New Mexico,
now worthless for any human purpose, will be
brought under cultivation of the spineless cactus
and an effort made thereby to revolutionize not
only the cattle business of America, but per
haps the sugar industry of the world. For in
stance it is now known for the first time that
Mr. Burbank has discovered more in the thorn
less cactus than a nutritious food for cattle. He
has developed a cactus rich in saccharine pro
ducts, capable of yielding not only sugar, but
alcohol. The 'sugar cactus,' it is hinted, is
capable xf a development that will give the sugar
cane and the sugar beet a hard race for com
mercial supremacy. Another now creation by
the Santa Rosa wizard is a potato, golden in
color as the sweet potato, and yet possessing all
the delicious, mealiness of the Irish potato. So
closely haa Mr. Burbank kept the news of this
discovery that .even the people of Santa Rosa
know nothing about it. How much has been
paid Mr. Burbank for his past and future cre
ations is not known, but It is known now for
the first time in his life he has realized some
thing like adequate compensation for his work.
Among the more wonderful vegetal and floral
creations of Burbank, which this new corpora
tion will control and sell are these: Spineless
Cactus A plant that grows on the desert with
out water, attaining a bulk of 600 pounds in
three years; every ounce making excellent nutri
tious food for man and beast; designed to revo
lutionize the cattle industry of the United States.
The Plumcot A union of the plum and the
apricot, with the flavor of a Bartlett pear; abso
lutely a new species In pomology. Tho Pineapple-Quince
A now fruit with all tho hardiness
of tho quince and tho delicious flavor of tho pine
apple. Tho Pomato A plant bearing potatoes
at tho roots and an edible vegetable hardly dis
tinguished from the tomato on tho vines. A Now
Walnut The most rapidly growing tree In tho
temperate zone, tho wood worth $700 per 1,000
feet, the nut with shell as thin as paper and
the meat white as milk. A New Chestnut Tho
tree bearing nuts in from eight to eighteen
months after the seed is planted, tho nuts burr
less. Seedless apples, pltless prunes and pitlcss
cherries, with all the deliciousness of flavor with
out the seeds or stones. Peach-Almond A treo
bearing nuts similar to almonds, with tho de
licious flavor of tho moat of tho peach stone.
The Shasta Daisy A development of tho com
mon field daisy; an exquisite flower rivaling tho
Japanese chrysanthemum, with petals five inches
long. Flowers A crimson poppy that blooms
the year round, fully ten Inches In diameter;
cana lilies twelve inches in diametor and also
less than two Inches In diametor; a verbena with
tho frngranco of the trailing arbutus; a gladio
lus taught to bloom around tho stem instead
of on one side. Fruit Trees So hardy that
they will stand freezing in bud and blossom."
IN A NEW YORK court a little girl adminis
tered a robuko to a lawyer. Tho story fol
lows: "Sadie Lovino, a bright little girl of thir
ten years, startled Justice Footo and a jury in
tho supreme court yestorday by lecturing n. law
yer who sought to prove she had testified falsely
in behalf of her father, Frank Lovino. Ho Is
suing tho New York City Railway company for
$25,000, alleging that by reason of an accident
ho has lost tho power of Bpeech. The little girl
testified about an attack her father suffered four
weeks after ho was injured. Then Frederick
Moses, counsel for tho company, took her In
hand. Moses tried to cet her tangled up in her
testimony. When he had finished, Sadie was
told she could leave tho stand. 'Before I go,
your honor,' she said, standing up and looking at
Justice Foot, 'I want to tell this lawyer some
thing. He acted as If everything I said was. a
lie. He sneered at me all through my testimony.
If your honor will permit me, I will take an oath
again before the Almighty that every word I
said before tho court is true. I would not toll
a. lie for my father or any one else.' 'It Is not
necessary for you to take an oath, my child,'
Justice Footo replied: 'you took the oath when
you took the stand.' 'Yes, your honor, but Mr.
Moses sneered at me and acted as if I was tolling
fibs. I want to tell Mr. Moses right now that
he may have seen little girls who would tell
fibs in court, but I want him to understand that
I am not that kind.' 'He may havo doubted
your testimony, my little girl,' tho justice re
plied, 'but I did not, and I do not think these
men in the jury thought you were fibbing. You
are excused.' "
MOTHER'S DAY will be generally observed
on 'the second' Sunday in May. Referring
to this day the California Voice says: "About
three years ago an appreciative daughter de
sired to commemorate the anniversary of her
mother's death. It was not only tho thought
of laying some flowers on mother's grave, but
It occurred to her that it would be a beautiful
tribute to all mothers, the living as well as tho
dead, if their children, on a given day, would
unite in the simple wearing of a white flower
and thus make Mother's, Day universal. The
papers everywhere caught up the idea and in
two years it swept over not only all of North
America, but "was heartily welcomed in other
lands. The purpose of Mother's Day, as con
ceived by Miss Anna Jarvis, of Philadelphia, U.
S. A., with whom it originated, is a day in which
all lands as one nation may unite in honor of
mother. The second Sunday in May of each
year is proposed as tho day when mother is
to be especially remembered and universal
motherhood exalted in the esteem of every man,
woman and child. The plan is to make It not
Only a sentimental observance, but as far as
possible to clothe it with the sanctity and
dynamic power that comes from concerted action.
The wearing of a white carnation, or other white
flower, the beautiful emblem of truth and purity,
will be filial evidence that the weaTer loves to
honor his mother living, or her memory if dead."
An expert player like William Howard Taft
should experience no difficulty in detecting the
fact that congress is foozling Its put on this
revision downward of the tariff.
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