Opinions of Great Papers on Important Subjects
Triumph of Forestry.
to United States Consul Tourgee
if Bordeaux , the growth of the "pin maritime , '
r marine pine , in the Laudes and adjoining de
urtmtMits of France , "undoubtedly marks the
nest remarkable achievement ever wroug'ln
jy human agency in the modification of natura
conditions of soil and climate for the benefit
of mankind. "
A century ago the region between the Gironde anc
the Pyrenees was in most of its extent "not only one of
the most barren in the world , but apparently altogether
hopeless of reclamation. " Sand dunes were advancing from
the sea at rates varying up to 200 feet a year , swallowing
tip fields , meadows , vineyards , houses , churches , villages ,
and leaving nothing but a gray desert. The old forests had
been destroyed , and now nature was taking Its revenge.
There seemed no hope for the heart of 'France , when it
occurred to Bremontier , a native of the threatened region ,
that the devastation might be arrested by planting the
" 'pin maritime. "
The idea was submitted to Napoleon , who saw its value
and ordered Its execution. The result , says Consul Tourgee ,
has been the greatest of his victories. "To-day the dark
squadrons of the pin maritime are posted on thousands of
sandy slopes , faithful guardians in the shelter of which
the vineyards and wheat fields rest secure. " They give not
only protection , but profit. "Lumber , firewood , turpentine
and all the by-products of resinous distillation are now pro
duced in such abundance here as not only to prevent the
need of importation , but to make southwest France a con
siderable and profitable exporter , " even to the United
States.
Meanwhile , by permitting the reckless destruction of
our own much richer long-leafed pines , which formerly pro
tected our coasts and which asked only to be let alone , we
are bringing upon ourselves the same desolation that threat
ened France a century ago. Milwaukee Free Press.
Our Bed College Spelling.
UCH is said in the papers about college En
glish. The people within and without college
walls declare that students write badly. But
there is a thing more fundamental than their
poor English style ; it is the matter of their
spelling. Many college men , as proved by their
essays , cannot spell. They frequently make
the mistake of transforming writing into writting , and of
dining into dinning an echo probably of the noise of a
college dining room.
But poor spoiling is not confined to college students.
College professors are not free from the blame. A letter
3ies before the writer in which the distinguished head of a
most important department in an American college de
clares that a certain candidate , whom he has recommended ,
Is "competant. " A Xew England college professor has
recently said that 1:1 making applications for a place in
English several candidates wrote of the salery. Of course ,
also , a man may lack culture and spell correctly. Spelling
Js more or less a matter of an-arbitrary bit of knowledge.
But whatever may be the psj'chological relations of the
art , the s-hools should teach boys and girls to spell. By in
correct spelling the higher ranges of learning are rendered
jess impressive. Leslie's Weekly.
Vv'hcn Divorce Is Not an Evil.
; itLi-S.VLE ) : and reckless denunciation of di
vorce , so often heard from the clergy , is not in
nrT' " with reason or with public policy ,
"ivoivr is not always an evil. Often it is a
The woman with a brute for a husband
would be in sore straits , indeed , if there were
no escape through the law from a union worse than death.
The vife who found herself hopelessly bound to a drunken
sot might well despair if she could find no relief in divorce
laws.
laws.In
In most States of the Union divorce is not so easy to
procure as the ministers would intimate. Most State laws
provide that there 'must be good and sufficient reasons be
fore a husband and wife can be legally separated. Every
IN A TIBET NURSERY.
jBock-a-by-feabyism in the Forests of
This Lit tic-Known Country.
Our first meeting with the Sifans
presented many ludicrous features ,
snys a writer in Collier's Weekly. We
were plunging through the gloom of
the forest when our ears were assailed
with a concourse of yells which echoed
through the supernatural silence with
ghostljr weirdness. In this forbidding
wilderness we had not looked for signs
of human habitation , so hastily ar
ranging ourselves in position we pre
pared ourselves for what seemed an
Inevitable hostile attack. Long and
anxiously we awaited the onslaught
of our supposed hidden assailants ,
when again the pace-disturblng sound
echoed almost it seemed , over our very
lieads. Glancing upward , the mystery
was soon explained , for in the lower
branches of the tree we could descry
numerous small bundles , each too large
for any eyry and too small for a wind
fall.
Both my Kiangsi and Gharlkauese
-escort , with their superstitious natures
roused by these ghostlike sounds , vis
ibly paled beneath their dusky skins ,
41 nd gazed furtively round in order to
seek means of escape from this en
chanted spot. Even I was not a little
puzzled and awed until , peering more
closely , I became aware of the fact
that the disturbing elements which
had caused so much concern arose
from the fact that we had unwittingly
stumbled upon an aboriginal nursery ,
and that the weird and ghostlike
sounds emanat"d from several hungry
and lusty-lun.cu'd infants. Then the
solemn stillness was broken by our
.hearty laughter , the Kiangsi and
Gharlkauese. as if to make amends tor
-their credulous fears , making the
-woods ring'With their forced guffaws.
The Siftf T.betins , as we subse
quently lea mod , place their children
in skin cradles and nang these from
the trees in 4.he forests near to their
villages , for two reasons the first
from a belief that they will be in-
lawyer of experience knows that almost Invariably when
couples are divorced there are the very best of reasons
whj' they should be. The inside history of unhappy mar
riages , as told in the private otfices of attorneys , is some
thing appalling. Even the ministers , who deal in theories
often instead of actualities , would stand aghast at the
revelation.
The indissoluble marriage of mismated men and women
would be an unnecessary hardship which the people , whose
influence makes the laws , would not stand. Nor is it to
be presumed that an indissoluble marriage law would make
any difference in the matter of hasty marriages. The
couple who embark on matrimony do not look forward to
or take into consideration the matter of escape , should the
tie become burdensome. The thought of divorce , like re
morse , comes later. Chicago Journal.
The Wonders of the Wireless.
HE time is coming when the ardent newsgath-
erer will go to a hilltop , rig up a small jointed
pole , point it heavenward , and read the hap
penings of the world on a dial ; when the cur
ious man will thrust his wireless instrument
into the azure and pick therefrom the doings
of the nations. But just at present Russia is
objecting , and raising questions as to the legality of such
measures on the part of the Japanese and British par
ticularly the British , who have a fondness for getting au
thentic news no matter to whom it belongs. Russia says
the correspondent who purloins any wireless messages shall
be treated as a spy. We pass up the question of just
how she Is to enforce her demands , seeing her navy is
mostly In winter quarters for the war.
Everybody has an opinion about the woman who takes
down the receiver on a "party line" and studies up on her
neighbors. But here is another problem : Is it gentlemanly ,
according to international law , to speak over the heads of
the censors , and , as the Injured New York Times puts it ,
"cast dispatches on the uncovenanted air ? "
Our own government does not feel called upon to settle
this little question. The Department of State prefers to
wait till some American citizen is involved before it decides
on the justice of the Russian claims. But this simply
means that public opinion will step in and determine wheth
er it .is a breach of neutrality for a man who has some
thing to tell to say it through the atmosphere instead of
by copper wire through a strictly guarded office. At present
the London Times , whose correspondent is the person in
evidence , prefers to speak of the three-mile limit and neu
tral waters. It contends , with British mildness , that If the
British flag flies on the correspondent's ship , there can be
no question that it is all right. In the cabinets of the
governments there is pondering and palavering , and the
result may be a joint note .agreeing to the Russian con
tentions. San Francisco Argonaut.
Politeness and Crime.
language and vocabulary , with our grow-
I ing slackness , are changing. We are carrying
things ( otherwise insupportable ) with a laugh ,
and coining phrases for the purpose. As has
been said , we are still sensitive to such coarse
/words / as "thief" and "steal , " but it is vain
to deny , among ourselves that certain unchal
lenged doings of to-day forcibly suggest those terms. So
we save our face with an indulgent gayety not devoid of
humor. We give a twist and a turn to the rapidly changing
English language , and the ugly words disappear in the
process. When a conductor steals a fare we jocularly
remark that he Is "knocking down on the company ; " wlisi
we steal a ride from the same company and conductor we
laughingly refer to our success in "beating the game ; " when
we bribe we merely "influence" or "square things ; " when
we are bribed we collect "assessments" or "rebates" or
"commissions" or "retainers , " and so on until we reach a
grave definition of "honest graft , " which would be more
liumorons if so many people did not feel that the term sup
plied thorn with a long-felt want. Now , these expressions
and others like them may bear a strong resemblance to
thieves' slang , but they merely reflect the language of a
people unconsciously retreating to a lower moral level.
Everybody's Magazine.
PROOF OF THE NECESSJTY FOR IRONCLADS.
' . 'vZ- > * < / - > . % W jBfe. .
r ; \ - is ?
Helplessness of the Wooden Ships "Agamemnon" and "Sanspareil" Under the
Shell-Fire of the Sebastopol Forts , 1854.
structed by the deities ; the second ,
that their full existence may not be
endangered by the abominable filth
and squalor of the settled regions. Sev
eral times in the day they are visited
by their mothers , who provide them
with food and remain with them dur
ing the night , and in this forest home
*
the child remains until it is2 or 3
years old and has grown strong and
healthy enough to stand the rigors of
hardship and disease.
Mormon Missionaries.
According to the Mormon authori
ties , upward of two thousand mission
aries are constantly in the field , most
of them young men , and all under the
supervision of experienced leaders and
directed from headquarters established
at central points. Hardly a week
passes that the newspapers do not con
tain some item concerning this inva
sion : Mormon elders stoned in Ohio ,
a rich convert in New York , a new
irrigated valley opened and settled in
Wyoming , a strong new church organ
ized In Illinois. Utah is , of course ,
under Mormon political control , but It
is not so generally known that the
Mormons also control , or at least hold
the balance of power , in Idaho , in Nevada -
vada , and possibly in Wyoming and'
Colorado , with a strong following in
Arizona , Washington and other States ,
thus electing , or at least influencing ,
not a few United States Senators and
representatives. Nor has the growth
of the church been confined wholly to
the United States. The Mormons are
migrating in considerable numbers to
the newly opened Alberta country in
Canada , and they have taken up for
irrigation considerable tracts of land
in Mexico. Century.
An Americanism.
A good way to find out how small
the world is is to do something crooked
and try to hide. To get an idea of the
earth's immensity try to spread the
news of a good deed all over it Bal
timore American.
Biggs My , but you have large ears !
Diggs Yes. All I lack is your brains
to be a perfect donkey ! Chicago
News.
* < * ! CSBR $ : s s fffys s f > S'-
U J&
The Cost of Livinpr.
There is no escape for the Republi
cans from the stand pat position on
the tariff taken by them. They are
compelled by events to contend that
prosperity is widespread. But Secre
tary Shaw in opening the Republican
campaign in Delaware under the aus
pices of the Wilmington Roosevelt
Workingmen's 'Club , endeavored to
make "labor" see" that their welfare
depended upon the success of the Re
publicans , whose policy had produced
high prices and as he claimed corre
spondingly high wages and steady em
ployment. Secretary Shaw is an adept
at telling half-truths and then build
ing thereon an argument to prove his
contention. He said to the Wilming
ton workingman , "Universal and con
stant employment at reasonable wages ,
even in the face of high priced living
expenses , is preferable to employment
to only a portion of our people , though
at the suaie wages and at much re
duced living expenses. "
Are the workingraen of Wilmington
blessed with "Universal and constant
employment" as Secretary Shaw would
have them believe ? The reports of the
condition of the ship-building industry ,
car shops , woolen mills and some other
industries which are carried on at Wil
mington , do not by any means sup
port the Shaw theory that employ
ment is "universal and constant , " but
tions. But if he is not satisfied. Ff he
feels that the wages he is receiving do
not allow him and his family to live
in comfort because the cost of living
has advanced more than wages Have
increased , then logically it is against
his interest to stand pat and a change
is necessary. As the Republicans de
clare against any change , the voter
must turn to the party whose declara
tions and traditional policy is to re
duce the tariff , that trusts cannot tind
shelter under it. Such a change in the
liscal policy of the United States is
advocated by the Democrats. Not a
radical change that would upset busi
ness and injure honest manufacturers ,
but the tariff so revised that the trusts
that sell cheaper abroad than at home
would be prevented from doing so any
longer. What is the "Iowa idea" of
a large faction of Republicans of Sec
retary Shaw's own State , but he and
his partisans were able through the
enormous power of patronage to defeat
the revisionists and are now intent on
cooking the statistics to prove their
contention. Tlie workingruen of the
East must , therefore , like the farmer
of the West , decide between the two.
Republican Leaders Exposed.
The Republican voter in Wisconsin
must be getting a bad opinion of the
leaders of both factions into which his
party is split , if he believes the evi
dence produced by both sides to prove
The Trusts : ' * / ' / / miss you here , Philander ; but I need
you there. "
New York News.
rather that a great many men are idle
and a number working on short time.
That this is the condition of tlie manu
facturing and railroad centers nearly
everywhere is unfortunately tnie and
no one should know it better than Sec
retary Shaw , who has all the govern
ment sources of information at Ins
command.
But instead of telling the whole
truth and nothing but the truth about
the conditions that prevail for the
American workinguiau under the high
priced trust era that Republican poli
cies have produced. Secretary Shaw
promises to furnish "well authenticat
ed data , from the highest possible
authority in the United States , show
ing that the average wages have in
creased in larger proportion than the
average articles of ordinary household
consumption. "
Government statistics are notorious
ly unreliable when manufactured to
suit partisan purposes and although
the expert statisticians of the depart
ment of Commerce and Labor may
prove that all of us are living in lux
ury , every one can judge of his own
condition better than partisan figures
can prove it to him.
There will doubtless be a great num
ber of Roosevelt Workingmen's Clubs
organized by the Republican politi
cians all over the country , but it will
keep Secretary Shaw and other Re
publican spell-binders busy explaining
how , under present high trust prices ,
those of us with restricted incomes can
make expenses come within what is
received. The true test of prosperity
is a comfortable- living and the amount
remaining after all the bills are paid
for necessities , that can be expended
for luxuries , or that can be saved for
the proverbial rainy day. Each fam
ily can decide if they are satisfied with
their present condition more certainly
than expert's figures or the special
pleading of Secretary Shaw can de
termine for them.
If the voter concludes that he is
prosperous and is willing to continue
to pay high prices and his own share
of the enormous profits that the high
tariff allows the trusts to plunder him
of , he should vote the Republican
ticket and thus support the standpat
policy of ne change in present condi-
their opponents are utterly unreliable.
This proof of the total political de
pravity of Postmaster General Payne ,
Chairman Babcock , Senators Spooncr
and Quarles is no news to those who
have been long upon the watch tower
and observed the trend of these lead
ers towards the corporations and com
bines. The common people are to them
but sheep for the shearing and geese
for the plucking. That the Republican
voter of Wisconsin and other States
for that matter have so long shut
their eyes and voted the straight ticket
has been a wonder to political observ
ers. How many of these voters will
"take to the woods" or cut the ticket ,
now their eyes are fully opened , re
mains to be seen , but there should bo
enough to bury the trust party in Wis
consin and elsewhere , beyond hope of
resuscitation and a new deal be la-
augurated.
Political Machines.
The strenuous young governor of
Illinois , who has been defeated for re1-
nomination , has already commenced
to punish those of his appointees who
did not support him to the last ditch.
He has demanded the resignation of 2Q
prominent Republican officials and
hundreds more are to be decapitated.
"Death to all traitors" is the motto of
Governor Yates and it is said that Mr.
Deneen , the nominee for governor ,
agrees with him , and will if success
ful exclude from participation in the
patronage distribution all the partisans
of Senator Culloin and Hopkins and
the other members of the Congressional
delegation that opposed the winning
side. This strenuous exhibition of lack
of brotherly love between the Illinois
Republicans shows the mercenary ma
chine that rules them , which was aid
ed and strengthened by President
Roosevelt when he appointed "Doc"
Jameson naval officer. Such is Re
publican politics everywhere , a ma
chine overthrown , another takes its
place , all based on patronage and
plunder.
Western raisers of cattle are com
plaining bitterly that they are getting
less money a pound than they received
a few years ago. Eastern buyers are
wailing because their steaks and chops
are still extravagant In cost
Some idea of the many and diverse
interests which the Supreme Court
must consider may be formed from
the business done on the last "opinion
day" In May , before its adjournment
until October , when it announced its
decision in an exceptionally large
number of important disputes. Three
cases were decided , involving ques
tions relating to the administration of
criminal law in the Philippines. The
constitutionality of the "oleo" law was
next upheld. A dealer argued that
oleomargarine which received its color
from butter used as an ingredient
should not be subject to the tax , and
also that the rates under the present
law were prohibitive and confiscatory.
The court replied that the amount of
the tax was a purely political func
tion with which it could not deal. A
concern against which a "fraud order"
had been issued by the Postofiice De
partment had sought redress by bring
ing suit against the postmaster at Chicago
cage in a case which finally reached
the Supreme Court. The department ,
it was decided , was justified in its ac
tion. A man in a suburb of Kansas
City had been released by the United
States District Court from payment
for certain street improvements which
were declared unnecessary. The Su
preme Court overruled this , deciding
that the city authorities must be the
sole judges of the necessity. Then
there were cases involving homestead
ers' titles in Iowa , licenses in Alaska ,
street railroad fares in Cleveland ,
State claims against a steam railroad
in Indiana , and an electric-lighting
franchise in Kentucky.
In its century of history the White
House has seldom been the scene of a
more interesting reception than that
which was given in honor of the visit
ing Filipinos , who have been making
a tour of the United States. The
President and Mrs. Roosevelt enter
tained them at luncheon , after which
the prominent people of the national
government were invited in to meet
them. With few exceptions , none of
these visitors , and they are the lead
ing men of the archipelago , had ever
been in the United States before. Some
of them had never before left the
archipelago , for the Philippine Island
ers are not great travelers. Most of
the places to which they would natur
ally go are a long way off , and so
those who are not prepared for a for
midable journey stay at home. Ameri
cans going to the Philippine Islands
have been profoundly interested in the
strange contrasts which the Asiatic
tropics present. These visiting Filipi
nos were equally interested in condi
tions here. They found the American
summer about like their climate all the
year round. Our -warm and substan
tial buildings told to their observing
eyes of the frosts of winter and of the
absence of earthquakes. The ranroad
system of the United States amazed
them. The multitude of our cilirs was
almost conftisinir.
It has been announced by the Agri
culture Department that its search for
an enemy to destroy the cotton-boll
weevil has been rewarded by the dis
covery in Guatemala of an ant which
preys upon the insect. In Alta Vera
Paz cotton appeared to thrive in a
country infested with the weevils. In
vestigation showed that this was due
to the ant , which gets its food from
the nectaries of the cotton. This ant
is equipped with powerful mandibles ,
and when it finds a weevil beetle on a
plant at once seizes and kills it. It is
an inveterate hunter after the pests ,
and several ants usually take their
stand for this purpose on each stain ,
so that a single colony protects a large
field. It does not sting persons , as do
many Guatemalan ants , and so far as
known is harmless. An attempt will
be made by the department to estab
lish permanent colonies in Texas ,
where the weevil pest is worst , and
for this purpose many thousands of
the ants have been brought to this
L-ountry.
For the first eleven months of the
i-urrent fiscal year , ending May 31 ,
there was an excess of government
jxpenditures over receipts of $ .32.203-
i09. This deficit is accounted for by
the payments made on account of the
Panama Canal and the loan to the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition Com
pany , amounting in nil to $54.GOO.OOO.
; Vfter allowance is made for these
terns , however , there is still evidence
) f a marked change in the condition
> f the Treasury , for in the correspond-
ug months of 3903 there was a sur
plus of receipts over expenditures
iinounting to $38.948.010. Receipts
joth from customs and internal reve-
lue have been smaller this year than
ast. and there has been an increase"
> f expenditures on the navy and for
) ensions.
* *
What has been called the "ginseng
; raze" has been so prevalent among
'armers in many districts of the Unit-
ld States that the Department of Agri-
ulture has considered it expedient to
iound a note of warning. Previous to
902 China imported from this coun-
ry only one hundred and seventy-two
housand pounds of ginseng in four
'ears a quantity which could be
aised on a single farm of seventy-
ive acres. "Let ginseng alone. It la
L delusion and a snare. "