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About Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1909)
, . . . : " TI.s ( { [ utom'o ! bile ! lIDiYirzg CIDut the l orseT n. . . , : ' / - . . 11 . - \ \ . * - , . . , - : - r - - _ r . . - ' . J < ' - = - < 7 11 i ( / . ' - - - . -1 ' , 4 , Ar'fd' - ti - , i U 1 , i . - _ - , . - . li _ _ RESENT statistics show that the horse as a part of the en- tourage of the wealthy is rapidly disappearing. Referring P particularly to its own city , the St. Louis Globe-Democrat says , that as a reliable means of transportation in commercial lines he is holding his own for the moment. But the application of analysis to the statistics at hand shows that with the growth of the city in population the horse is not keeping pace with municipal increase. At present , it is true , the demand for good ani mals is active , and they are readily salable , but tracing them down it is found that they go to the field in which the automobile has not yet proved its entire practicability-that of hauling and delivery. Why this is so both automobile men and livery men agree. The initial cost , the expense of upkeep , and , most of all , the high rate of depreciation , aided by the woeful lack of experienced and economical drivers , are responsible. The ed- ucation of drivers , the standardization of machines , the improvement if t the general reliability of the heavier class of mechanically driven vehicles will bring about a different state of affairs , and when that time comes the present figures indicate that the horse will be more F rapidly driven from the field , retaining his hold only on the sentimental lovers of the animal and in the localities where natural conditions do not make for the practical use of the automobile. The automobile manufacturer and dealer naturally are optimistic from their side of the question , because of the extensive and rapidly increasing sales of machines in St. Louis. From the beginning St. Louis has been slow f to take ] to the horseless vehicle , remaining loyal to the famed Missouri : prod- uct , whether it be blooded horse or powerful mule. Going hack the half decade , chosen for comparative statistics , the records show but 779 machines licensed in the entire city. The growth of the machine in use since then ihas been steady , though slow. The following year the increase was a scant 200 ; the next year less than 200 more were added to the total. Then began a more rapid increase , for the following year the total jumped more than 400 , to an aggregate of 1,529. For 1908 the licensed vehicles numbered 1,920 , another increase of about . .400 , while for the first half of 1909 the increase was in excess of 400. These increases are taken from the growth in the number of licenses , and do not , of courDs , include the new machines repre sented by the disposal of old machines , that new ones may be purchased. if tELEGRAPH POLES ARE DAMAGED BY WOODPECKERS ; , Considerable damage is being done I JO ; telephone , telegraph and electric Alight { poies by members ; of the wood- becker family. These birds originally built their homes in dead or dying trunks or limbs of trees , but for some reason best known to themselves have come to the conclusion that the peeled polo offers better conditions for a ( liome . They have become so ravenous of late that their depredations are at- - h-pjtjng considerable attention among tltose : who are compelled to use quan- tities of wooden poles. Their activ- , itie spread over a wide portion of the J Uriilcd States notably in the south , southwest and central west. Cedar poles seem to be the ones most fre- juei.tly attacked. The birds bore into 3hem at any height from the ground , ? .nd the holes which they make are F 3ften two or three inches in diameter and four or five inches deep. Such an amount of wood drilled from a stick of timber which is carrying a load of wires naturally weakens the strength of the line. It would , of course , not be a diffi cult matter to exterminate these birds. However , this is not desirable , as they tre among the most beneficial forms of bird life native 'to this country , be- cause they destroy large numbers of Inserts which seriously damage forest .nd food crops. It seems , therefore , } hat methods should be undertaken 3o compel the birds to revert to their ! ormer habit of boring rather than to Exterminate them. -1 PITCHFORK : PENETRATED LUNGS. I John Warrick , of Hartford , N. J. , may die from a pitchfork wound. Just before starting to come down from the . . _ ! I' . I lux _ 5. rl hl clw- / Y ' - . . , r - - . . .i - - I : - 5 . t .r tL L - l / : 1kS . . . . r cx 0 / p. hayloft , a farm hand threw his pitch- : ' lork to the floor below , not knowing . ' ' his employer was underneath. The ' < -sharp tines df the fork struck Warrick . , on the breast and penetrated his lung. s . , , . " . . " , .S . , i . s / 1 . - - . N. I ' - - lit i : ' ly ' \\k + i ! . T'sr. e ! l I 1 ay , a / flJi / a l " . tl , y , 1 111 - --r- Reliable estimates of automobile authoritisa place : this at about 50 per cent of the total sales represented in the new licenses , calculations are that the sales represent an aggregate of nearly $1,500,000 which has gone into the horseless vehicle to the exclusion of "old Dobbin. " This makes it easy to see that the increase of 15 per cent in population , as compared with the increase of 1 % per cent in horseflesh , is interwoven with the immense total investment in automobiles. It is not strictly true that all of this money would have gone to horses had not the automobile been on the market , for , in the automobile as in more than one other luxury of the twentieth cen- tury , there has been frequent evidence of the "fool and his money. " The auto livery feature of the development of the automobile is not yet an element of fixed calculation , for the expensiveness of auto hire keeps aloof all but the wealthy and the spendthrift element , though efforts are making for an economical adjustment : of this feature of the business. The cost of an automobile for a few hours' use , which means also the services of a competent chauffeur , is still such as to withdraw this method of pleas- ure taking from the very sharp competition with the liveryman , whose horses require no newly-developed expert to urge them over the city streets and country roads. , The liveryman of to-day , reduced though his numbers may be , as shown by statistics , is satisfied with his volume of business and confident that in his time at least he wilf suffer but little : from the inroads of the automobile. There will always be a satisfaction in holding the lines over a good horse which no amount of rapid traveling in a whizzing machine will satisfy. There is the feeling of companionship which a good horse gives , and which will be forever lacking in an automobile. CHICAGO BOAED OF TRAD E BUILDING TO BE : RAZED. . P t \ j/G r r r i 1 1 .v + y i I f z * . , 1- I/ r f , ! p i Hy r . 6 f Jr ah I . , ' I r 0 0 v _ _ s 11. . 1 - I ER = r I - I tv UC J tR ' 4 'rr'i' ' - I G - m i ) ! ' I I an 4i .4 ' ' I r 'rl 1116 I 1 I I , . PRESENT CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE BUILDING' A new eighteen-story Board of Trade building , costing at least $3,000- 000 , will replace the present home of the Chicago board at La Salle street and Jackson boulevard within a few months , if nothing goes awry with the wishes and plans of the members of that body. At a meeting of the Board of Trade the members voted almost unanimously in favor of a resolution cre- ating a committee of five to take up the building propositions. This means that plans for the new building will be pushed forward with vigor. It is said that the members of the board stand four to one in favor of razing the old structure and building a new one. . The present building does not pay. The ground upon which the building stands is valued at about $2,500- 000. The old Board of Trade building was erected in 1884 and there is still outstanding against the building a bond issue of $1,200,000. If a new build- ing is erected many of the large banks will have branch offices in it and five big railroads have already asked for space. The building will be at least eighteen' stories in height and will cost in the neighborhood of $3,000,000. ATCHISON GLOBE SIGHTS. How women pick a wedding to pieces ! It doesn't take much to make a fool of anyone. We could never see much point to eating pears. Being busy has kept many a man out of mischief. An old lawyer , like an old doctor , makes few guarantees. When a man does tell the truth , he decorates it a good deal. The best missionary work a girl can do is to help her mother. Never say to an employe , in his em- ployer's presence , "You need a vaca tion , . , . , ' . "This , " we often hear : people say. "is a very critical time. " The under dog doesn't care much for sympathy ; he wants assistance. A man will fall in love with any clever woman who will treat him as though he were abused. v An Atchison man has greatly dis tinguished himself ; he did up a sweet lieutenant in a love affair. When a woman gets too fat to be Decomiiig , she tells of how bloated she is as a result of poor health. A woman with freckles is said to be as sensitive as a man with a bald head. Unless you slap some men on the back , they think you are cool toward . them. I , : - . ; , - . . - ' . FIFTY MILES OF STRING- SAVED BY THIS WOMAN Mrs. Amos B. Cleaver , of Reading , Pa. , has been eighteen years getting together an object lesson that can't be beaten and which is like nothing else ever seen or heard of. She did it , too , for the sake of teaching chil- dren to save. Eighteen years ago Mrs. Cleaver took a tiny empty medi- cine bottle and began to wind around it all the odd little strings that she came across , until now , if she were to unwind her ball of string and stretch it out it would run over fifty miles of ground. Year in and year out , day after day , and week after week , Mrs. Cleaver has kept accumulating string and winding it on to her ball. The idea pleased the children in the neighbor- hood , who are anxious to see the ball grow , and who bring or send every bit of string they ttyink will be worth winding on to the rest. Indeed , strings have been sent to Mrs. Cleaver from the States of California , Missouri , Ohio , Illinois and Massachusetts. Coming through the mails , and hand- ed to her in other ways , the ball now weighs twenty-six pounds and has a circumference of forty-nine inches. Mrs. Cleaver wills that at her death the ball shall be sent to the Home for Friendless Children , at Reading , where it is to be used as an object' les son in saving. RATTLER IN A MAIL BAG. When John C. Greenwood , a South Norwalk , Conn. , postman , put his hand in his mail bag the other morn ing , he drew it out again in a hurry and dropped the bag , for , coiled up in the bottom , was a rattlesnake , alive , . , I I . ' a. J , \ ? .r,2 , ' ' ' : " and in good working order. Green- wood killed the reptile as it sprang from the mail bag. It was found to have ten rattles. PROVERBS AND PHRASES. Early waster-long knave.-Dutch. Two captains sink the ship.-Turk- ish. Every man has his besetting sin.- Cicero . . - ' . , - , 1 MOONSHINERS ARE ACTIVE. "Dry ntv" In South Revives ' Bnsl- nc : M - Blp : RinlcM ; : " , but Blj Money. Ability to convert $16 worth of raw material into $120 worth of liquor is making a powerful appeal to the moonshiner in the South and a great revival is being witnessed in this law- less industry. According to Knox Booth , one of the most widely known internal revenue officers in the South- ern States , the illicit manufacture of liquors in Alabama has Increased fully 50 per cent since the prohibition law went into effect , and a like condition is said to obtain in Georgia , Tennes- see and other states where the legiti- mate sale . of intoxicants is prohibited by law. Under the old conditions , with sa loons running on all sides and many grocery stores in the rural sections handling liquors , there was compara tively little profit in the manufacture of "moonshine" whisky. At that time the stuff was sold as low as $1 and $1.50 per gallon. This price was not sufficient to encourage the industry in the face of vigorous work on the part of Uncle Sam's revenue scouts , and the moonshiners became few and far between. Now , however , the rewards of suc cessfully evading the law are much greater and the old-timers are taking ' bigger risks than they did under for- mer conditions. Mr. Booth quotes . one man as saying that six bushels of meal and 200 pounds of sugar gave him thirty gallons of whisky , which he could readily sell at $4 per gallon. A small still can turn out thirty gal Ions per day easily , affording the en- terprising 'shiner a profit -of ,100 , for the day's work-and the day's risk. The bait held out to the moon- shiner is more tempting than at any time since the war and it looks as if the internal revenue agents will have to do the work of almost a generation . CHINA AND JAPAN ARE WILLIi TO NEGOTIATE Disputed Points Over Railway te Be Settled on Lines of Recent Agreement. , MANY LINES ARE BUILDING : . Era of Development Opens in Botlj Northern and Southern Parts of the Empire. . The Chinese government , in a for- mal communication to Japan , has agreed to negotiate at Mukden the various points in the Antuug-Mukden Railroad controversy not yet settled. The position taken by Japan in this matter is accepted in principle by China. Baron Ijuin , the Japanese Minister to China , is of the opinion that the trouble is at an end , so far as the legation is concerned. Further particulars of China's awak- ening to the importance of railway building , as shown in the memorial to the Throne presented by the Ministry of Posts and Communications , made public in Washington , are given in re- ports from United States consular of ficers just received by the State De- partment. "The real , practical development in China to-day is in the building and extension of the railways , " reports James C. 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" vb. , \ 4"t . . " , " . . . - . . . . " . - * - , . / . , , r/ . . . . . , , - ' " ! J , I , . MAP SHOWING ROUTE OF PROPOSED RAILWAYS IN CHINA. II over again. In the old days when I the moonshiner flourished all over the I South , it was a desperate conflict that waged between the revenue agents and I the moonshiners , and many an un- ; marked grave bears witness to the terrors of the struggle. But the reve nue agents , backed by a powerful gov- ernment , finally won. In those days , when the mist and mystery of the mountains filled the timid with terror , the moonshiner fought for a principle as well as for the profit found in the perilous busi- ness. He cherished the conviction that when he raised grain and fruits upon his little farm he had an inher- ent right to convert them into any product he saw fit and he looked upon the revenue officer as one who sought not only to rob him of a liveli- hood but to take from him a right , a liberty , that was as dear to him as life itself. It was this spirit that made every path leading to an illicit still one fraught with deadly peril to any stranger ; it was this spirit that led to many a deadly battle in the moun- tains of Kentucky , Tennessee , Ala- bama and Georgia , as well as in other states where the moonshiner made his home. The moonshiner gradually learned that there was "somewhere in the distance" a government that had to be supported ami that the tax upon whisky had behind it something more than a desire to intrude upon the lib - erties of mankind. He also learned that this government maintained an alarming number of penitentiaries and had an inexhaustible supply of men who were apparently ready and willing to kill or be killed in the ef fort to fill these institutions with moonshiners. Then too , saloons be- came more and more numerous , and ; there wasn't the profit in the business that characterized it in the good old days. So the moonshiner in a large measure passed on to other and less perilous callings. The moonshiner of to-day does not cherish any delusions about individ- ual liberty. He is not In the busi- ness to vindicate a principle. He simply sees in thething a chance to I turn a goodly sum at the risk of tem- porarily losing his liberty , and he is willing to assume this risk for the money there is in it. As a rule he does not go armed to kill , as did his forefathers , and he relies upon his heels rather than upon the accuracy of his fire when the revenue men put w in their appearance. , - - - lines are contemplated throughout the Empire , connecting the interior with , the ports or with other lines. " Work ] on the Imperial Tientsin-Pu- kow Railway ( southern section ) is progressing favorably , about 10,000 coolies being employed. On this con- struction five American engineers ire employed. Two American engineers : are employed. Two American locomo tives and quantities of railway sup- plies have been ordered from the Uni- ted States. A thriving passenger busi- ness is done by the Nankin City RaIl- way , which is of standard gauge , con- necting the Shanghai-Nankin Railway and the port of Hsai Kuan. This road is to be extended to Wuhn , a distance of sixty miles. This extension will tap the second greatest rice district of China. The Shankhai-Nankin Rail- way - is a first-class line. Regarding railway extensions pro- posed or in progress in Northern Chi- na , Consul General Williams , of TienP sin , declares that the Board of Com- munications has announced that Chi- nese merchants have subscribed the capital needed for the extension of the Kai-Feng-Lo-Cang Railway , 134 miles further westward from Honan Fu , to Tung Kuan , which is situated in the great bend of the Yellow River , near the mouth of the Wei. The extension will be completed in three years , at an estimated cost of $6,500,000. Con- sul General Williams emphasizes the importance of having American manu- facturers represented in China t > j ; American agents. LITTLE ABOUT IT7EB.YTHINQ. : - - The German army numbers 5,000,001 men. ' men.A A watch is composed of ninety-eight pieces. The first bicycle with pedals was made about 1840. Sicily lost sixty thousand inhabi- tants by earthquake in 1693. The average weight of the heart ii _ from nine to eleven ounces. There is one public house in Londoa for each 730 inhabitants. The spectroscope has revealed thl presence of water on Mars. It is a misdemeanor to tamper wltl electric light wires in Colorado. The Chinese have astronomical reo ords which go back to 2356 B. C. Venice has 6,000 persons employed in the manufacture of glass beads. The Chinese pupil reciting his les . son turns his back to the teacher . - . " - . .