M
3
Conservative *
mencemout exercises of fcho Stevens in
stitute of technology at Hobokeu , when
out of 40 graduates only a dozen were
present'to receive their diplomas. This
unprecedented condition of things was
explained by President Morton on the
ground that the demand for graduates
to fill business positions this year had
been the most urgent in the history of
the institute , and that most of the
absentees had been induced to leave the
institute a week or more before com
mencement , in order that they might
begin their professional duties at once.
President Morton further stated that the
whole of the 40 graduates could have se
cured positions at once if they had so
desired. There is no gainsaying the sig
nificance of such facts as these , and as
like conditions will produce like results ,
it is probable that before many years
have elapsed , these young graduates will
have risen to positions which are both
responsible and remunerative. National
Live Stock Reporter.
"PARKING OUT" HIGHWAYS.
I have read with interest the views
yon have expressed concerning the
proper and best widths for our high
ways , and your proposition to reduce
them from feet to
sixty-six thirty-three
feet , and sell the marginal tract to the
adjacent owners , and thereby create a
fund for the constructing and maintain
ing of a road bed , etc. , etc.
I feel a sense of delicacy in presuming
to take issue with so able an exponent ,
and especially when your position is re
inforced by the approval of such dis
tinguished writers as Wells , of the
Crete Vidette , et al. But to my mind
the fathers did a very wise act when
they established a sixty-six foot high
way.
These roads have never , to my
knowledge , proved to be too wide in a
bad , snowy , drifting winter ; neither
have they in a hot summer day. That
nearly all the road supervisors locate the
V gutter lines too far apart , no one will
deny , and one of the things we most
need is a law requiring that gutter lines
shall be laid not to exceed twelve feet
from the center of the road , and this
done , we have a road between gutters of
twenty-four feet , which is all we re
quire. This done , we have twenty-one
feet on either side from gutter topres
outline. Then require the adjoining
owner to mow and keep clear of weeds
the rod wide adjacent ; and give him
the use and benefit of this strip , con
ditioned that he complies with the law
He would very soon discover that it was
for his interest to make this strip
smooth and set it to grass which he
could out for hay along his lines , and i
would inspire all to vie with each other
as to who should have the most attract
ive appearance. Would you not prefe
this "parking out" system to the vaoat
ing of this rod wide strip , which could
be done , if you prefer ( and I think you
would ) by planting this strip lying on
he south and east side of the highway
o trees , and offer a premium to the one
who excelled in beautifying this strip to
best advantage at the end of five years.
To vacate as you propose and require
he adjoining land-owner to purchase
same would , or might prove a hardship
o say nothing about the expense and in
convenience he would be put to by mov-
nghis fence or replanting his hedge
ines , all of which would needs be done
n order to preserve a uniformity of ap-
> earance.
It's a better plan to let these old land
marks and hedge lines stand as estab-
ished , and advocate the "parking out"
system in connection with your law es
tablishing gutter lines twenty-four feet
apart and thirty-three feet road-way.
This done and our roads and drives will
; ako on a more attractive appearance
and in a way resemble the streets in the
residence parts of our most beautiful
cities , where the "parking out" system
ias been introduced and which has
Droved so popular and attractive to
joth the resident and transient visitors.
Very truly yours ,
E. MolNTYKE.
Seward , Neb. , August 4,1901.
CONAN DOYLE ON SKELETONS.
"I heard Dr. Conan Doyle tell a good
story during a trip I made to London
last winter. He said that at a dinner
party he had attended , the guests began
discussing the daily discoveries made to
the detriment of people occupying high
stations in life and enjoying the con
fidence of the business world. Dr.
Doyle said that it had always been his
opinion that there was a skeleton in the
closet of every man who had reached
the age of 40. This led to a lot of dis
cussion , some of the guests resenting
the idea that there was no one who had
not in the past something that were bet
ter concealed.
"As a result of the controversy , Dr.
Doyle said , it was suggested that his
views as to family skeletons be put to
the test. The diners selected a man of
their acquaintance whom all knew only
as .an upright Christian gentleman
whose word was accepted as quickly as
his bond , and who stood with the
highest in every respect. We wrote a
telegram , saying : All is discovered
flee at once , ' to this pillar of society , '
said Dr. Doyle , "and sent it. Ho dis
appeared the next day and has never
been heard from since. "
POLITICAL NOTES.
"As regards the manifestations of ma
chine government that are visible to the
public , the republican machine of Phil
adelphia is as defiant of honesty am
justice as the democratic machine o
New York , " the Pittsburgh Dispatch
Rep. ) says : "It may even be a little
more so , owing to the knowledge that it
ias the advantage of having the legis-
ature behind it. "
"Those who are trying to lead the
democratic party back to rational views
on public questions ought not to lead it
hrough the mud , " advises the India
napolis News , ( Ind. ) . "Qormon is a
man without convictions and wholly de
void of political morality. It is much
be regretted that he is again in coii-
rol of the democratic party in Mary-
and. For his prominence will discredit
he organization and weaken the ten
dency toward sound and clean politics. "
The Indianapolis Sentinel ( Dem.tells )
. Bryan that it is his friend and ad
mirer , and has always believed in him.
3ut it "warns him in all kindness that
the rank and file of the democratic
party the boys in the trenches the
men who go to the primaries arc
tired of the fatuous bourbonism which
would link the party to the corpse of an
ssue which , however vital at one time ,
ias been killed by the logic of events
and buried under a thrice-repeated ava
lanche of popular disapproval. "
Orders have gone out from the repub
lican machine headquarters in Phila
delphia that if any division leader who
holds an office under the city adminis
tration does not return a majority for
the republican candidates , he will lose
his place after election. Ward leaders
have imparted the orders to the work
ers , with the injunction that no excuse
will be accepted , with the result , as re
ported by the Ledger , that place-holders
have become panic-stricken in an en
deavor to throw the responsibility on
each other for the conditions that exist
in their divisions.
"If Alabama , South Carolina , Louisi
ana , and other states of the 'black belt' ,
which really have a negro problem with
which to deal do not desire to force
congress to act under the fourteenth
amendment , they will promptly show
in a practical way that they do not
nnrmf.nrm.TinR so iiifixonsable an abuse of
the patience of the republican party , "
warns the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "If
partisan advantage is to be taken of the
leniency of the republican majority , and
if Union veterans are to be discrimi
nated against , there is likely to be a
sudden end to the arrangement which
makes the vote of every southern demo
crat from four to six times more effect
ive in the electoral college and in con
gress than is the vote of a northern re
publican. "
"If the business men of the West ac
cept Tillman as a fair type of South
Carolinian , which they are , by reason of
his political eminence , entitled to do ,
they are scarcely likely to undertake
cultivation of trade with this section or
to invest their capital in southern enterprises -
prises , holding the fear of lawlessness
and savagery which Tillman incul
cates , " complains the Charlotte ( N. 0. )
Observer ( Dem. ) . "A curious sort of
ambassador , indeed , is this wild man
who has gone into the West to speak for
South Carolina. "