THE 1VAGEW0RKER
By W. M. MAUPIN
UNCOLH,
NEBRASKA
, BodI grows desperate as . his meal
ticket vanishes.
Do you know what an 'ld-determln-ant-biophole
hypothesis" Is? Neither
do we.
Now Is the time for the patient Fil
ipinos to turn the other cheek to the
augar trust.
It was poor management to pull off
a total eclipse where hardly anybody
could see it.
With what is left of the million dol
lars, doubtless the earl of Yarmouth
will be able to get on for awhile with
out a wife.
Nearly three billion people were
carried by the railroads in 1907, Borne
of them were delivered undamaged at.
their destinations.
A Denver girl has become the bride
of a Pueblo chief who cannot speak
English. Perhaps she will have a title
among the Indians.
Thirteen women's clubB have voted
not to trim their hats with the plum
age of birds. That is a lucky num
ber for the feathered songsters.
The Japanese have all they can do
to look after their lives at home in
a time of profound peace. They are
getting automobiles by the cargo.
Argentine farmers, x just now are
busy hauling a big wheat crop to mar
ket. - Automobile drummers should
pack their grips for South America.
A French inventor now claims to
be able to send photographs by wire
less telegraphy. What would a sud
den wind storm do to Gov. Hughes'
whiskers?
About the nearest thing we remem
ber to living music heretofore has
been the crying of a baby at 2 a. ra.
as the patient father walked the
chilly floor.
Really, Count ltoni is a' man of
spirit. He will make faces at the
prince or do something equally dread
ful if the latter dares to marry bis
former wife.
A moving-picture machine exploded
In Canton and 300 Chinese lost their
lives in the resulting panic. Civiliza
tion is dangerous unless one knows
how to hande it.
If Prince Helie de Sagan proves an
costly a piece of bric-a-brac as did his.
cousin, the count, it will keep the
Western Union and the Wabash hump
ing to run the show.
The Chinese imperial telegraphs had
net earnings during 190G of $645,537
on a working capital of f 1,232,000. Evi
dently the Standard Oil Company isn't
the only thing on earth, after all.
Sixteen soldiers in Spain were ar
rested as plotters against Alfonso be
cause they visited a newspaper office,
They will get off scot free, of course,
If they declare they called to whip
the editor.
Ocean-going ships soon will be fit
ted with all the comforts of home.
About the only thing that will be
missed Is the village feud and maybe
steamship proprietors will be drag
'ging that in next.
A Newark man was lined $20 for
laughing at a policeman. In most
cities the majesty of the law consid
ers itself sufficiently vindicated when
it has beaten the mirthful one over
the head with a club.
There is in lierlin an artist who is
going to marry a widow with $3,000,
000. This is excellent.- Now let some
delightful heiress add to the gayety
by bestowing her hand and fortune
upon some struggling poet. .
A California architect predicts that
we shall soon have 100-story buildings.
If his prediction is verified it will be
necessary for our fellow citizen to
build some pretty tall stacks if they
expect to keep us choking with smoke.
Science has harnessed the potato
bug, as it were, and is making it do
Blunts in the interests of humanity.
That is grand, sweet revenge for all
' the miserable hours it has brought
to boys who had to "bug 'taters"
when the fishing In the branch was
fine.
Defects of speech such us stammer
ing are so prevalent in Germany that
tho government is said to have insti
tuted a campaign against them by es
tablishing a special department in the
medical college of the University of
Ueilin, both for the cure of such im
pediments and for educating doctors
how to treat them. Perhaps the sug
gestion is unkind, says the Baltimore
American, but would not the trouble
be more readily disposed of by going
to the root of the matter and adopting
a new language one easier to get the
tongue around?
Bee-stings, mustard-packs, and other
uncommon remedies for rheumatism
will have to take second place, in the
matter of oddity, to a cure discovered
in Australia. A whale, stranded on
the beach at a health resort, had been
cut open, and a freakish invalid
plunged into the mass of blubber, re
mained there two hours, and found
himself free from rheumatism when
he crawled out. The incident seems
to be vouched for, and although the
prescription Is more novel than entic
ing, probably many sufferers would
like to catch a whale and try it.
A MICROMETER.
Instrument for Delicate Measurements
Which You Can Make.
It often becomes necessary for the
experimenter or practical worker to
find the thickness of material so thin,
or inconvenient to measure, that the
thickness . cannot be found by means
of foot rule' or other common measur
ing device. : A simple, fairly accurate
and easily made apparatus of the mi
crometer form may be constructed as
follows, explains Dr. Thomas R. Baker
in Scientific American.
Get a common iron or brass bolt
about one-quarter of an inch in di
ameter and 21,ls inches long, with as
fine a thread as possible,- and the
thread cut to within a short distance
of the head of the bolt. A bolt with
a cut in the head for a screw driver
should be used. Clamp together two
blocks of wood with square corners
about one inch wide, three-quarters
of an inch thick and 2 inches long,
with their narrower faces in contact
(the width of the clamped blocks be
ing two inches), and bore a quarter-
A Home-Made Micrometer.
inch hole through the center of the
blocks in the two-inch direction. Now
remove the clamp and let the nut of
the bolt into one of the blocks so that
its hole will be continuous with the
bole in the wood, then glue the blocks
together with the nut between them.
Cut out a piece from the block combi
nation, leaving, it shaped somewhat
like a bench, and glue the bottoms of
the legs to a piece of thin board about
2V& inches square for a support. Solder
one end of a stiff wire about two
inches long to the head of the bolt at
right angles to the shaft and fix a disk
of heavy pasteboard with a radius
equal to the length of the wire, and
with Its circumference graduated into
equal spaces, to serve iu measuring
revolutions and parts of revolutions
of the end of the wire, to the top of
the bench; put the bolt in the hole,
screwing it through the nut, and the
construction is complete.
The base is improved for the meas
uring work by gluing to a central sec
tion of it, covering the place where the
end of the bolt meets it, a smalt piece
of stiff metal: and it is convenient to
neve the, graduated disk capable of ro
tating, so that its zero line may be
made to coincide with the wire.
Kind the number of threads of the
screw to the inch by placing the bolt
on a measuring rule and counting the
threads in an inch or half an inch of
its length. The bolt in making one
revolution will descend a distance
equal to the distance between the
threads.
To use the apparatus, put the object
whoso thickness is to be measured
on the base under the bolt, and screw
(he bolt down until its end just
touches the object, then remove the
object and screw the bolt down until
its end just touches the base, careful
iy noting while doing so the distance
that the end of the wire moves over
the scale. The part of a rotation of
the bolt, or the number of rotations
with any additional parts of a rotation
added. divided by the number of
threads to the inch, will be the thick
ness of the object. Quite accurate
measurements may be made with this
instrument, and in the absence of the
expensive micrometer it serves a very
useful purpose. I have used it in the
beginning classes in electricity for
measuring the .diameter of wire, for
finding the numbers of wires from ref
erence tables and for making various
other measurements.
HOME-MADE DRAFT SPRING.
How One Can Be Made from Old Ma
, chinery Spri.-g.
A draft spring for j-s on the evener
or tongue of agricultural implements,
to relieve the jerk on the horses'
shoulders, may be made from any old
Fig. 2
The Draft Spring.
corn-plow or machinery spring. Two
loops are formed as shown in Fig. 1
from s-inch round iron. .Insert one
loop from each end of the spring as in
Fig. 2. The clevis or pulling trace may
be fastened in either end.
Smallest Electric Motor.
A German mechanic has built the
smallest motor In the world. It Is
used as a scarf pin and is run by a
battery In bis pocket He keeps it In
I constant operation.
j TO MAKE CONCRETE STEPS.
Directions for Putting in a Permanent
Improvement.
Concrete may be used in the con
struction of steps, particularly in damp
places, and in the open or where the
ground is terraced, concrete steps and
walks can be made exceedingly attrac
tive. Where the ground is firm it may
be cut away in the form of steps, with
each step cut two or three inches low
er than its finished level.
When the nature of the ground will
not admit of its being cut away in the
form of steps, the risers are molded
Reinforced Concrete Steps.
between two vertical forms. The front
one may be a smooth board, but the
other should be a thin piece of sheet
metal, which is more easily removed
after the earth has been tamped in be
hind it, says the Concrete Review. A
simple method of reinforcing concrete
steps is to place a half-inch steel rod
iu each corner, and thread these with
quarter-inch rods bent to the shape of
the steps, as shown in tho sketch,
placing them about two feet apart.
For this class of work a rich Portland
cement concrete is recommended,
with the use of stone or gravel under
one-half inch in size. Steps may be
given one-half inch wearing surface
of cement mortar mixed in the propor
tion of one part cement to two parts
sand. This system is well adapted for
stairways in houses.
SCOOP THAT WEIGHS.
Does Away with the Necessity of Em
ploying Counter Scales.
Every grocer can scoop up sugar oi
coffee, etc., from the storage bin and
very closely gauge the correct quan
tity. Yet he would not be willing to
give it to the customer as the . full
weight to be purchased without first
testing it on the scales. A Texas
man has hit upon the idea of having
the scoop indicate the weight of the
contents, eliminating the necessity of
transferring it to scales. His weigh
ing scoop is shown in the accompany
Scoop Which Indicates Weight.
"tug illustration. The pan for gathering
up the article to be weighed is pivoted
to the handle and operates a pointer,
which indicates the weight of the con
tents on a scale. If a pound of sugar
is wanted the grocer dips enough out
of the bin to swing the pointer to the
pound mark. The sugar is then trans
ferred directly to a bag, doing away
with the necessity of weighing on
scales. j
TESTING A BRIDGE.
Severe Strain Placed Upon the New
Rodah Bridge at Cairo. ,
The Kodah bridge at Cairo is prac
tically finished as far as the structur
al work itself is concerned. This
bridge is now undergoing the official
tests, but it will not be publicly opened
to traffic until the terminals of jthe
structure are finally completed,' to
gether with the approaches at one end.
This is a work that will probably take
some time to accomplish. The tests
are of a severe character, dead
weights of sand and steel rails being
piled up on each pier in succession,
exerting a pressure of 1,000 tons. Sub
sequently live weights of steam rollers
and tramcars loaded with sand and
water carts filled with water are to be
run on the bridge, with a total pres
sure of 460 tons on the main girders.
The tests so ' far have been, so j we
gather, satisfactory in their results.
No fault or strain has been revealed
in the material.
How Ancients Did.
By rubbing metals with salt, before
applying mercury, the ancients 'ob
tained a reaction similar to that for
which copper sulphate is used. "The
chlorine released from the salt formed
a silver chloride easily attacked 1 by
the mercury, so as to form an amal
gam. First Rubber from Zululand.
A first shipment of Tongaland and
Zululand rubber has been dispatched
to London from Durban. A large tract
of rubber country Is being worked un
der a concession granted by the Natal
government, and regular shipments
are expected.
PERILOUS WORK OF
The difficulties and dangers of build
ing a transcontinental railroad such
as those crossing Canada are not ap
preciated by the layman, unfamiliar
with the obstacles encountered. In
many places the roadbed has to be
blasted out of the face of a sheer cliff,
possibly . overhanging a mountain
stream hundreds of feet below. In or
der to mark the way it is necessary
for the surveyors to. bang logs from
the top of the cliff, to enable them to
MEANS VAST OUTLAY
COST OF ELECTRIFICATION OF
ALL RAILROADS.
Estimates Made Show That a Billion
and a Half Dollars Would Be
Needed to Make the Change
Desired..
The advisability of wholesale elec
trification of all the railroads in the
country has been formally considered
in abstract before the electrical en
gineering associations, and the ques
tion has been found so great that the
meetings were marked, more by con
tention and argument than by definite
results. Figures presented show the
estimated expenditure involved should
every mile of railroad in the United
States be reconstructed for operation
by electricity and the rolling equip
ment changed to correspond. .The to
tal cost of such a change is given at
about $1,500,000,000. Electrical pow
erhouses to give a total of 2,100,000
kilowatts or 2,800,000 horsepower
would be required. Fifteen hundred
millions of dollars .is a sum so vast
that it means nothing to the average
person, and yet it represents an invest
ment so stupendous that only an ex
tremely small portion of it can be con
sidered to have any relation to the Im
mediate future.
The economy of such a change has
been estimated, in prospect, as con
siderable. Present operating costs for
the movement of every car and en
gine in the country total $1,400,000,000
In one. year. By electrification this
would be reduced by about $250,000,
000, representing that much actual and
net saving. This last sum is indeed
enormous, but it only emphasizes the
magnitude of the project of universal
electrification; for the most radical
advocates of the new power have not
yet dared to claim that the saving,
large as it seems, would warrant the
change in its entirety.
Under certain special conditions,
however, the new power will stand su
preme, and it is by the extension and
more general application under these
peculiar circumstances that electricity
will one day, in due time, come into its
own on the railroads. Clyde Fenni
more Burns, in The World To-Day.
Stopped Train to Help Girl.
The gallantry of an engineer and
members of a crew of a passenger
train on the Milwaukee railroad re
sulted in the rescue of a blushing
schoolma'am from a curious predica
ment, according to a dispatch from
Scotland, S. D. The incident occurred
at Kaylor, a hew town about midway
between Scotland and Tripp.
The young woman was hurrying to
catch the early train, and in order to
reach the station platform had to crawl
through a barb wire fence. Her skirts
became entangled, and the more she
struggled the tighter grew the clasp
of the fence uyon her.
The engineer saw her predicament
and promptly applied the brake, so
some one could go to her rescue. The
rescuers were the conductor and the
members of his crew, and after some
little time they succeeded in separat
ing the clothing of the young woman
from the sharp barbs on the wire.
Naturally the young woman did not
volunteer to give her name, and the
engineer and others who had gone to
her rescue were too gallant to ask It.
Automatic Umbrella Delivery.
The railroad stations of Berlin are
shortly to be provided with automatic
machines which, on the insertion of
50 cents, will deliver an umbrella. A
ticket will also drop out, and, on pre
senting it within two days to an office
of the automatic society, 50 cents will
be paid back in return for tne um
brella.
RAILROAD PIONEERS A
obtain a foothold. Moving cautiously,
along this perilous path, where the
slightest slip would send them to
death, they work their way, examining
the geological formation and making
notes of the cutting that will be re
quired. The ax men go first, then fol
low the transit men, to ascertain the
distance and angles, the levelers, rod.
men and topographers, each with
their work to perform before the ac
tual construction of the road begins.
CAR BROKE FROM TRAIN.
Solution of Mystery That for a Time
. . Puzzled Railroad Men.
One night a long freight train broke
in two as it was coming arour-. a
sharp curve on the Erie road between
Buffalo and Corning, N. Y. The en
gineer put on all speed and ran away
from the hind section in order to give
the conductor and brakeman on the
rear end a chance to stop their sec
tion. This they succeeded in doing
a quarter of a mile or so, and then the
engineer backed the forward section,
coupled on to the rear section and pro
ceeded to Corning, the end of the di
vision. The conductor who was to take the
train over the next division discovered
in looking over his train that he had a
way bill for a car which was not
among those delivered to him. The
other conductor was certain that hV
had the car. when he started for Corn
ing, and showed its' number checked
off in his report. . ,
No solution of the mystery came for
a long time. Then some boys came
across the missing car at the bottom
of a ravine below the curve on which
the freight train had broken in two.
It is supposed that when the rear
section of the broken train started to
round the curve this car had jumped
the rails, broken the coupling holding
it to the car behindhand cleared 20
or 30 feet down the hank before strik
ing the ground, which at this point
was covered with underbrush, and
that this undergrowth, after the car
had rolled past, had righted itself and
given no indication of having been dis
turbed. BRITISH ROADS IN BAD SHAPE.
Ovcr-Capitalired, They Have Hard
Work to Earn Dividends.
. According to P. W. Wilson, M. P.,
British railroads are capitalized at
$6,430,000,000. This is less than half
the American total, but four times as
much per mile. The railroads, ex
pensively built, with renewals being
added to capital at the rate of $75,000,
000 a year, with receipts increasing
only two per cent, a year and the divi
dend rate steadily falling, are loaded
with $300,000 a mile of capital.
Practically all the stock of English
railroads is held not for control, as
here; but for investment, and the own
ers demand dividends. But capital in
creasing faster than business has
gradually forced dividends lower.
IJondividend' stocks are fewer than
with us, but the great mass of securi
ties pay between two and four per
cent., and the general average' for a
generation has been:
Period. Dividend. Period. , Dividend.
1871-1875 4.S 1S91-1S95 3. SO
1S76-1SS0 4.2!) 1896-1901) 3.64
1SS1-1885 4.k!i' 1301-1905 V- ..3.3S
1SS6-1S90 4.07 .
The owners of British railroads, by
years of "after us the deluge" in
sistence upon dividends at the cost
of watering capital, have got into as
bad a condition as American frenzied
finance reaches in its most pyrotech
nic flights. The service is unpro
gressive, improvement is delayed and
the demands of laboring men go un
heard. It is at base a disquieting sit
uation. , . . . .
Dog Understands Signals.
The New York, Susquehanna &
Western railroad has a cur dog that
understands ' the block signal system
as well as most engineers.. His name
is Boscoe. This quaint mongrel ridesi
in the cab of a , locomotive and
watches the semaphores. If an arm
is up, meaning that the block ahead
is not clear, Boscoe growls ominously,!
and the engineer , takes warning. If
the arm' is down, indicating a clear
track ahead, Boscoe barks joyously.
, , s ; Barry Dumplings., ,-. ,'
The winter dessert of apple dump
lings may be replaced by some mads
with . raspberries or other . berries.
Serve with hard sauce Into Which t
beaten as much of the crushed fruit
a it will "take without separating.
New Use for Fly Paper. '
I have discovered r new use for
sticky fly paper. I found that Jf
mouse puts his one foot on the paper'
he would put hlB other foot on, too,'
and it wiU hold him fast.-Chicago,
tribune.
Diaboio In the Past.
More diaboio discoveries.: In ' the
National Library at Paris are two
prints, one entitled "The Game of Dia
boio at the Beginning of the Last Cen
tury;" the other entitled "The Devil
for Four (the old diaboio)." Two
couples are playing diaboio excitedly
in a room; the furniture is upset and
the mirrors broken. Another design is
entitled: "The Good -Devil,, Mow He
Goes!" A young woman throws a big,
simple fellow in the air, and from bis
pocket fall pieces of gold. In the same
picture is another woman, with her
diaboio cord round the neck of a man!,
with the inscription below: "See how
we lead them!" Diaboio raised a
furor in France in 1812. It was then,
according to the Figaro correspondent,
imported from England, and an Eng
lish caricature of a later date repre
sents a great Wellington sending to
St. Helena's a very little Napoleon rul
ing on a diaboio. Long before' the
revolution of 1789 some missionaries
in Peking sent an exact reproduction
of diaboio to a French minister at
state who collected Chinese curiosi
ties. .The Chinese are always found to
have forgotten everything we are be
ginning to learn! Dundoo Advertiser
How to Keep Warm In Winter.
The clothiers intend to keep women
warm if one may judge from the many:
new "protectors" on the underwear
counters. 1
Separate knit sleeves at the knit
underwear departments are among
them. Then, too, there are Shetland
vests with or without sleeves that give
a maximum of warmth with a mini
mum of bulk, and union suits ot tho
same gauzy wool. Bloomers of satin,
mohair, or sateen, some lined with al
batross, are in the same category, be
ing snug extras . for wet or bitter
weather. : These bloomers for wet
weather for the woman who Is out at
all times and' seasons are Ideal, since
they take the place of a skirt aad s
damp hem about the feet.
No Mere Dark Brown Sugar. j
. "You have no Idea," said the wife
who is also an, excellent i,cooay"howj
difficult it is to make molasses oookieB
and gingerbread' and brown bread so
it will have the same flavor that It
had in the days now past. And why?
Because -itt fs .wellnlght Impossible t6
find the good old-fashioned dark-brown
sugar. That's the secret of it. , There
was a time when one could get differ
ent grades of brown sugar, that which
was least "refined" being very dark
and' vastly sweeter than ' the light
brown or "C" sugar, as it used to be
called. But those days have passed,
and I suppose that never again will
my cooking taste quite so good.
"Of course the younger . people,
those who have never known the ex
quisite flavor of molasses candy and
molasses cake made with - the dark
sugar, cannot realize the difference.
Happy mortals they',' As for myself, I
am constantly looking for the sugar of
my childhood, and there is not a week
but I have my hopes raised by some
storekeeper telling me he has it; but
he is mistakenr-it is the light brown
sugar he has, and not that whjch I
seek." " ' ' ' :. '"
TEXAS FARMS.
For Sale or Exchange for Eastern
Nebraska or Western Iowa- Farms,
3566 acres Brazos Valley land in
Baylor' county, Northern Texas, sub
divided into 160 acre tracts. Strong,
rich soil. Suitable for winter wheat,
oats, , corn cotton and alfalfa. All
kinds of vegetables and fruity Suf
ficient timber for fencing and fire
tvood. Abundant rainfall. Healthful
climate. Near good county seat town
of 3,000 people. For further infor
mation call on or write, F. A. Field,
Room 686, New Brandeis Bldg., Oma
ha, Neb. .
Lincoln Directory
BEATRICE
Creamery Company
Guarantees highest mar
ket prices for ydur cream.
Call at our receiv
ing station
HERBERT E. GOOCH
BROKER AND DEALER
Grain, Provisions, Stocks, an Cotton.
Iain Office, 305 Fraternity Bids
Lincoln, Nebraska.
Bell Phone 513 Auto Phone Kj
iMtgext House in State
exrt GLEANERS AND DYERS
And P raisers of Ladle'. Gen Heme' and
Children's Clothing. Write for Price LiL
J. C. WOOD & CO.
1322 N ST., LINCOLN, NEB.
A, G. DAVIS & CO. S7ll PAPER
Our IMS Sample Books are sow ready for
shipment to any dealer or paper hscgwr.
O St., LlACOLAi, HBB. .
