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About Western news-Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1898-1900 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 1899)
ft t ! < I TOPICS OF THE TIMES. A CHOICE SELECTION OF INTER ESTING ITEMS. Comments and Criticising Based Upon the Happenings of the Day Histori cal and News Notes. Some temptations come to the indus trious , but all temptations come to the idle. Admiral Dewey's great difficulty when he comes home will be to find enough of himself to go round. One way of looking at it , that § 20 , 000,000 given to Spain merely shows America that it pays to lick the other fellow. While the mignonette is the national flower of Spain , there would not be In- appropriateuess now in displacing it for mourning glories. New York has a Chinese base-ball club. Hiting the sphere is better than hitting the pipe , and the exercise may be good for their joints. Talking of our absorbing Cuba , the people of that island selling "fake" war relics to American visitors shows they are disposed to also take us in. A recent decision says a husband may whip his wife under strong provo cation. For that matter a good hus band beats a bad wife every day In the week. Many of the things you do not un- understand may seem clear when you reflect that the people of the United States eat 4,000,000 bottles of pickles every week. Wireless telegraphy having been found practicable for military use , the tide of battle will probably be more than ever turned by sudden Ikishes of magnetic genius. A valued contemporary reports that a boy fell from a third story window , lit on a man's head and wns saved by the high hat. This is what is known as a stove-pipe story. To Mr. Kipling's distrust of the peace manifesto because it comes from Russia Edwin D. Mead makes this happy re ply : "A bear dressed up and acting the part of a man is a pleasanter spectacle than a man acting the part of a bear. " Turkey has paid the last installment of its war indemnity to Russia growing out of the war of 1S77-7S. Uncle Sam should now remind the Sultan of that "little bill" against the Sublime Porte which has waited so long for settle ment. It is now announced that the Prince of Turin , nephew of King Humbert , who visited this country some time ago , is about to marry an American heiress. Why should the poor noblemen have all the luck ? A prince scantily endow ed with this world's goods is as deserv ing of pity and sympathy as any other person of i-auk who has not the where withal. c Brambles continue to beset the path An of the kodak fiend. One of him was n "took. " a little while ago , while trying tlci ( o "take" the fiyiug Filipinos , and bare ly managed to escape with his life , but C without his camera. Another one un D dertook .to snap a dynamite explosion 01 in Pennsylvania the other day and got ir mixed up with the Hying fragments. is Up to date no one has attempted to bi press the button on a thirteen-iiich shell irsi coining toward him. He will probably sibi try it some day aad the shell can un biw doubtedly be depended upon to do the w rest. 01m 01ei ' A member of a Canadian school mis ei appropriated a bottle of ink. The city Inw clerk of the municipality where the w wrong-doing occurred lately received in 5 cents from Chicago in payment for oipi the property thus converted to the pu pi pil's use. Repentance and restoration incl may find a full illustration , even cl though the value represented is only ta a trifle. There is no moral law which ccul declares that sins against honesty do ul not count unless the sum involved is AAPJ over one dollar. TQhe stealing of a PJ penny disturbs the ethical equilibrium reui as surely the that ui as stealing opens uiai prison doors to the reckless thief. aiD i- D A pauper woman in France lias been a ; tried and convicted of having had her sc child baptized fourteen times as a a Catholic and twelve times as a Protest c.i ant for the purpsse of securing 5 francs re tli and a dress each time. This is doing be slightly better than the American cus tom of getting married every day on ccm m an excursion steamer or on the stage thai of a traveling show for the sake of a ai bonus aixl incidentally to draw money- pending crowds. Those who take advantage It vantage of these incitements to mockery ir ery of sacred observances are perhaps ti less culpable than those who offer the tith prizes. 1)1 be This illustrates how frequently good on. men go wrong and how easy it is for li. wise men to be mistaken. The price li.th paid for Alaska was $7,200,000. The li ( area acquired was 309.529,000 acres , so ar that it was about 2 cents an acre. The es Alaska fur companies have already to taken over $33,000,000 worth of seal toP skins , and they have paid into the P treasury over $0,000,000 as royalties , with $1.340,533 still unsettled. The fish at product of Alaska in 1897 was valued dc ; at $2,977,019. During the last fifteen pc years it has exceeded $30,000,000. The en Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries af in a letter to Congress estimated the Sc -value of the Alaska fisheries , excluding CO whales and seals , at $07,890,000 , or nine bj -and one-half times the cost of purchase. The gold output has exceeded $15,000- I [ : 000 already. The Treadwell injne alone ac up to 1897 had paid $6,025,945 as divi- .to its stockholders , .and. claims but to have several millions In sight. In that year alone the output of the mine was $2,439,000 , and in 1897 it was near ly twice as much. When Mr. Seward was asked what he considered the most important event in his career he re plied : "The purchase of Alaska ; but it will take the people a generation to find it out" The great propelling force in human progress is that which initiates and stimulates an ever-increasing diversifi cation of social tastes , and this is the function of art. It refines and expands the old and introduces the new. The taste stimulated by the introduction of the new and more beautiful is the germ of a social force which is destined to develop an economic interest which sets the world in action. The desire for a more attractive form of anything habitually entering into the social life of a people creates a demand for its production , which sets the economic machinery in motion to supply it. At first it Is produced at an enormous cost , only for the very rich , but , by the force of imitation and contact , what the rich have the less rich desire , and its domain widens from the monarch or aristocracy to larger social groups , until It reaches the masses and be comes the market basis for profitable capitalistic production. The little planet discovered last Au gust by Witt of Berlin has at last been duly christened by the name of Bros , the mischievous boy of Venus-Aphro dite. It has also received the number 433 in the list of asteroids ; rather against the will of the discoverer , > wko contends that because Eros comes so much nearer to tiie earth thaa any other planet , it cannot fairly be cotint- ed in the asteroid.il family. It vroe , of course , expected that some of the him- drecls of photographic plates laad * in previous years would show impressions of the planet , but for a long tirno every search failed. At last , howorer , late in December , Mrs. Fleming o * the Har vard College Observatory , gnldcd by the calculations of Doctor Chandler , detected a faint image of it upon one or two plates made at Caiut&ridga ia 1S9G. By the hell ) of th w- Doctor Chandler was able , in turn , to roAke his computation so much more accur ate that traces of the plawut w re im mediately found on a eoojBidera.ble number of other plates mn(5 both at Cambridge and Arequipa , in 1894 as well as 1S90. From theae photograph ic observations , combined with t3 > e ob servations made since the < 5i eoTcry , the orbit of the planet is BOTT deter mined with an exactness Trkich otiier- wise would have demanded years , and there will not be the slightest difficulty n finding it at its next approach in 1901. It is a beautiful instance of the manner in which the methods of the old and new astronomy can be made to aid and supplement each othar , and puts a tall feather in tjie cap $ > f Amer ican astronomy. 1 ( While Americans are harassed and perplexed by the necessity for decision in assuming and defining the nation's future relations to its new depeoden- cies : , there are difficult problems to be worked out in other countries. Each nation has its own burden * . In Fsance si there is a struggle between military and siCf civil authority. A cabal of army offi cers ( has been a law unto itself in the SIw SIki Dreyfus case. Justice and national hon ki or require a revision of a inilitjkry judg ti ment based on tainted evidenco. Min tr isters , legislators and intrlsuaw have tr been playing with the question of bring > ing the army under the control of the supreme law of the State. There has beea a lack of civic courage in ch * &ng with it , and irresolution and delay have j only served to increase public esci.te- ment , Military dictatorship cannot be endured by a. free state. England ateo has a question , of supreme importance which the governing ; classes ace ing to take up. This is the sepao&t&on church and state. It is forced upon public attention by lie conflict of oppos ing schools of thought in the English church. So long as the church is es-1 tablished by law , there must be state courts for enforcing obedience aad reg ulating religious doctrine and practice. Whatever may have been done in the : past , it is evident that a Parliament representing every form of belief unbelief cannot revise a prayer book md a free church be left to govern it th self. In Italy , where Cavoura idea of free church in a free state has been , f carried out , there is also a disturbing religious question. The Qulrinal and the Vatican are rival centers of power between which there is an unending conflict. The state is struggling to hi maintain its independent position , anxl the Vatican is seeking to regain its St ancient privileges. The religious question th tion , in its relations to the future of in Italy , to-day divides the nation inio two th irreconcilable parties. Men give atten tion to their own { iffairs , and conclude that their personal and national per plexities surpass those of their neigh bors. Yet the work of civilization goes ve . We may be sure there is an estab of lished order of moral government in po the world. Here hope rests , in the be tic lief that by it out of the complications jei and apparent confusion of human inter do ests man's highest development is yet tic come. vi. President's : Characteristic Reply. Not long ago President McKinley wes addressing a great audience in Phila- lelphia. At the close of the affair the . ? people were closely crowded about the 1S ; : jntrance , held back by the police until is ; ifter the President should hare left. Some one , mindful of the PreskJant's ca convenience , suggested that he leav ati a rear door. ea "No , I will leave by the ro.nt < } oor. saW never retrace my steeps , " waa the ohar- W icterisUc reply of the Pcesident. ' pa Woman may be. the weaker vessel , man Is often Jtfoke. ' THE NEXT PANIC. It Is not a pleasant task to sound a note l of alarm , but it is necessary in this case. When the end comes it will be a bitter one. The crash will , we are afraid , equal any that has ever preced ed it in this country. The panic of 1893 was of tremendous magnitude , but we question If that was as terrible an event . as that which will be produced by the present trust movement When , that much-to-be-dreaded day comes it will be necessary to look to other agen cies than Congress to initiate restorative , tive measures. We do not , in fact , see how it is going to be possible to pro duce a change for the better until the panic Las run a long course. By the time the crash arrives there will be several billions ( par value ) of "water" judging from present appearances to be squeezed out It will be impossible to save it Of course , as we said last week , all the common stock of trusts so far authorized has not yet been is sued ; but it will be very largely work ed off in the course of the next few years , and will be found eventually in the liauds of "innocent holders ; " that is , in the hands of persons Avlio paid good mouej for it. Now those people have got to stand for a terrible loss , and the number of them will be so great that the suffer ing will be widespread throughout the country. The next panic will work in two ways , at least. It will destroy credit at the start , and well-conducted enterprises will accordingly suffer for a time along with the general run of misguided trusts , and will wipe out hundreds of millions of property in the possession of the owners of trust contribute its money and its influence to elect the Republican candidate. Will tiiat fact satisfy the people that the Republican party is the party responsi ble for trusts ? Why should every trust in the United States be Republican , froin the gold combination down to the manufacturers of matches ? If the American people are not stark mad they will have no difficulty in finding out which party is responsible for the trusts , and if they are really opposed to the trusts they will vote for the oth er side. Unless the majority of the American people vote as the trusts vote , the Republican candidate will stand no show whatever of winning in 1900. A Fatal Disorder. Sherman was forced out of the Cabi net "on accountof ill health. " Vice Pres ident Hobart is to retire from politics "on account of ill health. " J. Addison Porter , McKiuley's private secretary , has gone to Atlantic City , and it is re ported that he will soon be out of a job "on account of ill health. " It is really remarkable how service for Hauna's administration is conducive to ill health except for buzzards like Alger , to whom such carrion as "embalmed beef" is as dainty as "angel fosd. " Meanwhile Uncle Sam is bearing up under many alilictions , and the people must rescue him in 1900 from a pro longed siege of "ill health , " for the Haiina kind of "ill health" appears to be infectious and contagious. Mans field Shield. They "Will Live to Abolish Hnmiaiam. There are plenty of newspapers in the country who are declaring that Bryan and Bryanism are dead , and yet OUR EXPENSIVE AND EXPANSIVE MILITARISM. . I -Chicago Chronicle. iharea property represented by certifi- ates which should never have been is- iued. It may be asked when ail this vil happen. That , of course , no one : nows. The lean period will come In ime. We have in previous articles raced the causes that will wreck the rusts. Competition will eventuaHy rore too much for them. By competi- ion we mean the adverse conditions to vhlch they will be subjected by the rganization of new companies with Bgltimate capitalizations and the lat- st improvements. United States In- restor. A Verdict in 190O. President McKinley , in his zeal to de- end the beef trust , who were reward- d with fat contracts in consideration f paat and future favors , has gone too ar. The soldiers represent all of the itates and all shades of politics. They rent into the service of their country s patriotic Americans , and they real- ze that the nation opened its heart and s purse and ordered that they should ave the best the nation afforded. It rill be difficult for Mr. McKinley and is defenders to explain the disgraceful ouduct of the War Department in a atisfactory manner to the soldiers and heir friends. Mr. McKiuley may , through the aid . tiie beef trust and the other trusts , ecure the Republican nomination in DOOV but the disgraceful conduct of his dminlstration in the matter of caring or our soldiers in the field will cause 1m to lose thousands of votes in every tate in the nation. The final jury on tie beef Inquiry will render their verdict the election of 1000 , and it will be on ae side of the soldiers and not on the ide of the beef trust. National Watch- lan. Tlie Trust The tvrlsting , squirming and maneti- erlng of politicians to avoid the odium trusts and take advantage of the un- opularity of the enormous combiua- .ons recently formed furnish a sub set for serious thought. There is no oubt that all parties in the next na- oual campaign will adopt platforms iolently . against trusts. The Republi- an party will be so vindictive in its mguage against those institutions jat no other party can exceed Us vio- nt abuse. The question to be solved : Will the people ever find out who responsible for trusts ? The gold Landard is the father of all trusts be- iu e gold standard contraction cre- tes falling prices which make It nec- ssary : for business men to combine to we theniselv S from bankruptcy. fho is responsible for the gold stand- rd tl > e party led by McKinley or the arty led by Bryan ? Every trust or- in-lzation ia the United States "will $ i those same papers are devoting a great deal of space to both the man and the ism. This is a singular state of affairs. It is strange that these editors should take so much pains and so much appar ent delight in kicking a corpse. If Bryan and what he stands for are dead , let them rest in peace. There ia nothing gained by contending against them. But the fact is they are not deader or dying. They arc the two most alive z propositions to-day before the country. s They stand for pretty much everything 0 that Ilanna and Haunaisin do not 0t 0s stand for. Cleveland Recorder. t Q Committee's New Head. J. G. Johnson , who has been placed at the head of the Democratic National o Committee during the absence in Europe - rope of Senator Jones , is the Kansas member of the committee , and is a warm friend of William Jennings Bry- silver at the Chicago platform ratio. a Mr. Johnson has been active in politics iu. a long time and is accounted one of q the strong members of the National q Committee. He divides his time chiefly l between his practice of law and the affairs of the Order of Modern WoodJl v\ + / t ( cidi di st 11 1)1 ) fo 01 : 01M the th : of ; 1 ra alEi Ei L > ; dc .1. i , . JUUXSOX. hi SO' ; men , of which he is the head. This leads him to visit Itockford often , for that city is the headquarters of the Woodmen. The temporary head of the lee Democracy was born in Brooklyn , and fr early removed to Peoria , 111. , and frye thence to Peabody , Kan. , where he re * at sides. au Naval Officer * Too Chatty. It has been suggested that among of the United the other improvements th : States Naval Academy which are ncvw an being made and are in caatemplatlon , the establishment of a chair of reti cence would be advisable. Atlanta ex Constitution. ' su : SSu. FACTS ABOUT BARNACLES. Commodore Webster , U. S. N. , "Writes of ° Fonl Bottoms. " The United States cruiser Benning- ton was for some time in the harbor of La Union , in Guatemala , and in six ty-three days there was a great growth of barnacles. These growths , as a matter of fact , comprise several varie ties of shell fish , prominent among which comes the edible oyster. In the case in point , when the Benningtou was placed in the dry dock at Mare Island Navy Yard , it was found that oysters large enough for the table were of frequent occurrence. These growths must be removed while the ship is in dry dock. If re moved while the ship is afloat , by div ers , the protecting paint comes off with the barnacle and leaves the metal of the hull unprotected. The regulations of the Navy Department prohibit this being done except in cases of great emergency. The barnacle grows to a length of three and four inches , conical in shape , and from the partially closed apex of the cone project a pair of strong mandi bles always in motion , in search of food. These fish are not difficult of re moval when in dock , for they soon die out of water. Many of the barnacles are pink in color , some are black , and many are white , being specimens of different families. They not only gather and grow on the ship's bottom , but even on the propeller and rudder.E From experience in the tropics it would seem that the water is full of "spat , ' ' or embryo shell fish , incessantly in search of a resting place. Various paints and mixtures which hare been applied to ships' bottoms with the object of preventing these growths have not been very successful. When a ship has been a short time ID tropical waters the bottom presents the apearunce of having been sprinkled with sand , the marine life is so evenly distributed. But the tropics are not the only part of the world where ships'p bottoms get foul. In the waters of Alaska and even further north , animal and vegetable growths interfere with the speed of our ships to an extent lit tle dreamed of before the advent of steel or iron for ship-building. Beside the animal growths of barna cles , oysters and kindred life , a large and rich vegetable gixnvth causes almost - most aa much trouble. This "grass , " as it is technically called , is swept away in large measure when the ship steams at full speed , which is not the case with the animal life. Ordinarily , a short run in fresh water will kill all of the adhering growths , when the vegetable matter will dropv off , but the shells of dead barnacles reit main to be scraped off in dock. Many of our ships have had their speed real ducecl one-half by these growths. p The remedy for all this expense and P trouble is to sheathe the bottom with I wood , and then copper that sheathing , as with the old-fashioned wooden ship. The expense of clocking and painting m a ship of 10,000 tons is about § 1,500. As alus a safe average the cost of docking our usv ships , which , as has been said , must \v take place twice a year , will not be cl far from $1,000 for each docking , or Bil $2,000 a year. At the present time there pi are seventy-five ships fit for cruising , in and requiring this semi-annual docku * ing. A brief calculation shows that these insignificant little barnacles cost the Treasury Department the tidy sum of not far from loO,00 each year. se Philadelphia Evening Telegraph. ° * 3\ Gladstone at Church. ti A writer in the London Church Ga tim tiG zette tells this stoiT about Mr. Glad m stone : "I happened be in a church pc one Sunday morning when Mr. Glad ar stone came in ; it was a church he at It tended very rarely , so he was quite un nt expected. He had much difficulty In finding a seat , for it was a free and tic open church and apt to crowd up in dreadfully. A curate deacon , whom we CO all loved , Dut whose forte was not is preaching , happened to be in the pul da pit , and aaught sight of the Prime Minister as he hurried in and looked ev around for a chair. It was almost his isafl first sermon , and , nervous before , this afl quite upset him. This Mr. Gladstone tir : quickly perceived , and. picking up his de hat and umbrella , he scurried to the of top of the church , and , finding a seat among the children , sat through the whole of a long sermon with his hand : al his ear , paying the most marked at tention to- every word. This gave the curate I am sorry to say he is since ca : dead inoie courage , but after the be tie service Mr. Gladstone took an opportu nity ! of thanking him. " we za ; Bees in Warfare. foi Two instances are recorded in which foi Ln-es have been used as weapons of de- ise L'onse in war. When the Roman Geu- wi ral Luculius was warring against Mithridates , and sent a force against city of Themiscyra , the besieged hrow down on the invaders myriads evi swarm ? of bees. These at once bean - wl an an attack which resulted in the by > of the siege. The insects were tei : ilso once used with equal success in we England. Chester ha was besieged by Danes and Norwegian , but its Saxon UK lefeuders threw down on them the bee- rec lives of the town and the siege was enWi eon ' raised. Wi offer Consumption Did Xot Claim Him. for Victor Baillot , who fought at Water Ita , and was subsequently discharged bai from the French army at the age of 22 bai years as a consumptive , died recently 0 La Roche-sur-Yon , aged 105 years oil md 10 months. . Chapel on Execution Grounds. mi A Catholic chapel has been built on ich spot where Maximilian , Miramon , to Mejia were executed at Queretaro. prwli rho A poet and a stove form a practical wa sxample of the manufacturer and con the iumer. eel The Issue of Paper Money. Every honest man insists on the Gov ernment carrying out all of its pecuni ary contracts. There is some difference- In opinion as to repaying some of the war loans made by the Government , in- paper or in coin ; but this is not the sil ver question. It is impossible to drive- the idea out of the heads of some people- that paper money is the only common , sense money and that metallic inoney- made of the precious metals , is a relic- u of barbarism. If it is barbaric to be lieve in this kind of metallic money , I have inherited the belief from my bar baric ancestors and hold them respon sible. A post-mortem examination of" my brain may possibly show why thisv belief sticks to me so tenaciously. I , want to see the restoration of silver to its old place , as an agent of valuation , at its existing coinage ratio of sixteen * parts of silver to one of gold. For the convenience of the people we sound : monej bimetallists advocate the issuer and use of abundant paper represeuta-t lives , but always redeemable in coin { by the Government at the option of the ? people ; but we insist that the Goveru-f rnent should always be allowed to exercise - ; cise the commanding option of a debtor ? and decide as to the kind of coin , goldj or silver , they must use for redemption. . I look upon paper representative money1 simply as an evidence of debt. It is- . , indispensable and fi'ls ' an exceedingly ; . , important position in civilized life. The issue of paper money is one off the most commanding and powerful * functions of a civilized government. .It. should be most strenuously held by the- Government alone. The Government : has the taxing power to obtain coiiit when necessary for redemption ; thisi " power will never surrender to any cor- poratiou. Surrendering the issue of | paper money to partially private corporations - porations would , in my estimation , be- one of the most pernicious of economic' blunders. A powerful organization , , backed up by almost unlimited means- and the most influential of the metro politan press , is in existence for the- purpose of depriving the Government of this duty and giving it over to our lenders of money. The dangers that seem < to menace this nation from this- cause are probably now as great as the- dangers that threatened us for other reasons in 1SJO. ( In 1SG5 our people knew : more than they did in 1SUO. They were taught by sad experience. In 1SW ) > it was easier to fight than to think. It. seems to me that the Almighty par alyzed the brains of the American people ple ] in 1SGO for some inscrutable pur pose. < Is there not a terrible mental paralysis evident to-day ? The choice- oi gold alone in 1S73 rather than silver- as the sole mouej- standard is aa im material question. The choice of silver" alone rather than gold would have put V in a similar financial position and- would probably have been just as mis chievous. We must , for stability and1 safety , stand on both metals as debt- paying standards. Civilized society must have money or its representatives u abundance , and the real center ofr battle to-day is the effort to take away the power to issue this representative inonoy from the people or our repre sentatives , the Government , and hand over this powerful agent to a smallr select class of people whose sole func tion < in to loan monej * . To drive tho- Government < out of the banking busi- DCSS , as they falsely describe it , is the- potent force actuating the single stand ard leaders , who advocate gold alone. is the gold standard question in a- nut shell. The average bimetallist has no objec tion whatever to the Government issu ing bonds , if necessary , in order to get oin to liquidate coin obligations ; but to- issue ; bonds to purchase gold to llqui- Jate coin obligations is most emphat- cally condemned. One of the strongest jvldences of a want of statesmanship- the condition of our national fiscaL iffairs and the low prices and hard imes among the people. Neglecting to- leprive the Secretary of the Treasury the privilege of borrowing gold , vhich privilege he has so notoriously ibused , is an evidence of national rnen- paralysis , such as afflicted our na- ion in I860. We have millions of coined md uncoined silver in our vaults which an legally be used , and should have- een used , to liquidate any coin obliga- ion against the United States. Must wait until 1900 to awake to a reali- ation of our situation ? is the question our statesmen to investigate , and' the plain people to decide. Let us- every reasonable effort to reach a- vise conclusion. John A. Grier. A Paying Business. An exchange remarks : "Did you- iver give the national statements- rhich are published semi-occasionally the United States Treasury any at- ention ? " Weil , yes , we have. audE find that the banks of this country tave about five or six times as niucb > uoney loaned oirt on which they are- eceiving interest , as there is in exist- nce < in the country , and this is not all. , find further that the greater part- the real money in them and which , onus the base of their "working ctp- , " belongs to their depositors. This- ank business is a great "graft" for the- ankers. The idea that the trusts and monop- lies are a useful object lesson to- .wake the people and hurry up the ailleanium , may be all very well for" reformers who are not compelled : worry orer the bread and butter irobleim , but what of the poor fellows - lose employment and must face rant ? This is a very serious side of" problem , and one that should re elve prompt attention. Toledo N