About Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920 | View Entire Issue (July 14, 1902)
I Talks IVith Farmers I Conducted By C. H. Jordan ■ ♦ Official Organ of Southern ♦ ♦ Cotton Growers’ Association ♦ ’ ’ Th* Semi-Weekly Journal to the oftk- < > ' ‘ rial organ ot the S uthem Cottea , ■ ' ’ Growern Protective Association. the , , ' > aai» official paper of that organUa- , , ' ' Uon. and hereafter all official com- , , < • tnuaications of the aseociat ion's otfi- < , < > eers. and all matter* pertaining to it* , , ■ > affairs will appear tn thee* column*. , , i > Th* Journal also Invite* members of < i the asaoctatlon and cotton growers and < , farmer* generally to u»e it* column* ( , for the exprr*#tm of >uch views and , , aucreructu as may be of Interest and , , value to the agricultural Interests of ’ , , th* south. ' ’ Th* Journal will devote each week ' • two column*, as requested by th* a*- ' ' naeistjon. to a •'Cotton Department.” < • ' ts which will appear the official ecm- < ‘ ' ’ tmtnicatlons of the association and ' > ' ' *och statistical and other information < > ' ’ ae bear* tpoc the work of th* asm- « > < * Motion and all matter* of interest to , > eouthern cotton growers. , , ♦HIIRIIIIIIIHMHHHfI ♦♦♦♦♦♦'♦♦l I I 9 9 9 ♦ I'>">♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ Subscribers are requested to ad- ♦ ♦ dress all inquiries for Information ♦ ♦ on subjects relating to the farm. ♦ ♦ field, garden and poultry to the ♦ ♦ Agricultural Editor. All inquiries + ♦ Will receive prompt and careful at- ♦ ♦ tention. No inquiries answered by ♦ ♦ mail. Please address Harvte Jordan. ♦ ♦ Agricultural Editor. Monticello. Ga. •> ♦ ♦ »»♦♦! I ♦♦! ♦♦»■»♦♦' l 111 I I ♦♦♦♦♦ THE CONDITION OF CROPS. At thia date. July 10th. the prospects are anything but bright for a successful har vest of the south’s two principal field crops— com and cotton. Over a large area of the belt the corn crop is already a failure, and fields that looked promising ten days ago are now rapidly wilting under the torrid rays of the sun and a withering, blasting, dry wind. I have noticed a number of fields of corn which show no desposition now to silk, notwithstanding the tassle has al ready fully developed. The corn tops through middle and southern Georgia are dying rapidly, and from such stalks noth ing can be expected but forage. Even If the shoots appear, the grain on the ear will be stunted and undeveloped. While showers and thunderstorms have been scattering tn this state and others, no general rains have fallen over the belt in many week*. Showers give but tempora ry relief, particularly when they are fol lowed by hot.blistering winds, which force rapid and incessant evaporation. • What we need badly at once are general rains, followed by' several days of cloudy weather. At thia time, however, the weather bureau reports hold out no hope for a change tn the existing condition of continuous dry weather. High barome ters are reported from all sections of the country east of the Rockies, and some days, perhaps another week or two. must elapse before relief is given, maybe longer. It is now too late to plant com expecting a crogj.except on very rich upland or fer tile bottoms. Even then conditions from now on will have to be extremely favora ble to mature good ears. To predict at this time a general failure of the south's com crop Is not a wild prophecy. The com crop of Texas has already been harvested and shredded up Into forage, the long drought there having made the development of the ears a failure. Last year there was but little com produced in the south, owing tn some areas to drought, and in others to excessive rains and freshets. Thousands of farmers were therefore necessitated to buy both corn and meat at enormously high figures, which greatly increases the cost of cotton production this year, and from the present outlook, it appears that the same thing will have to be endured again. Surely, the pathway of the farmer is rugged these days. The Cotton Crop. Naturally the state of the weather dur ing the past six weeks has had a deteri orating and retarding effect upon the growth and development of the great money staple crop of the south. Con tinuous east winds and cool mornings some weeks ago propagated millions of lice in many sections which seriously In jured the plant before hot sunshine and other enemies of this plant Insect had interfered to check their spread and re duce their injury. Not only have lice, hot sunshine and blistering winds done great damage, but it is now reported that the army worm and Mexican boll weevil are present in many fields. A recent Associated Press dispatch from a Mississippi correspondent gives the unwelcome tidings that the boll weevil has appeared in ootton fields just east of the Mississippi. It had been hoped that this most injurious of all insects to the cotton plant would not only be con fined to western Texas, but that it would in a few years be exterminated. v Their appearance east of the Mississippi may well excite alarm among the eotton producers in the old states, because if nothing is done to check their advance the eotton industry will receive the most serious check it has ever had to encoun ter. They were doubtless imported through the purchase of planting seed from the infected regions of the Braso* country and I called particular attention to this danger two years ago in discus sing the life and habits of this peculiar insect. The black root rot is also spread ing and may be noticed tn south Georgia to a greater or lesser extent tn all fields this year planted in cotton. The June crop this year will amount to but little except in favored sections, where rainfall has been abundant since the germination of the plant. Under ex isting condition* squares and small bolls fanning and developing in July will either fall off or become dwarfed and puny. Just what we may expect from August is of course an unknown quantity at this time. Suffice it to say tha't there cannot, except almost by a miracle, be a record breaking crop of cotton harvested the coming season. If present conditions con tinue much longer, notwithstanding the M.0W.000 acres planted, - the crop is not i likely to turn out as many bales a* were harvested during the season of ISOL Curtailing Production. The Associated Press dispatches from the large spinning centers of this coun try and Europe already indicate a deter mlnation ot manufacturers to curtail pro duction of cotton goods by running their mills on shorter time. There are two rea sons advanced for this change. The first and most weighty is that there is not now enough cotton in the market and in the bauds of manufacturers to keep the Spindles going on full time until Septem ber, and a cotton famine can only be avoided by cutting down the daily output of the mills- i The other reason, which puts the mills on the defensive, is that a large part of the staple is now in the hands of specu lators who bought their holding* at low prices from the producers last winter and are now demanding high prices, recognis ing as they do the true value of the staple and the scarcity of the commodity. If the mills therefore can. by agreement, enter into a system of curtailment of manufac ture and run on short time for the next W days until the n»w crop comes in. they feel that they can as usual buy cotton BEST PEACH CIOER N Gallon* f’«* Gaanrta Pearbes. Ko fraigbt; “ du * I. J. mis, Oirut, It from the fanners at their own figures and break the demand of speculators who are now wanting higher prices. The speculators are not to be blamed for the position they have taken, neither can the mills be eensured for their action, as the whole matter is a purely business propo sition, and the side which can hold out the longest will win. The people who arc to be censured, however, for allowing themselves to be used so unmercifully by both the speculators and spinners, are the men who produce the product. The men who are today toiling laboriously under the fierce rays of an unrelenting heat to make the staple which, when packed into merchantable condition, is rushed off to market and dunjped into the willing hands of the buyers at their, own price. There is no business in such a system; it amounts almost to a madness for which there can be no Reasonable excuse given by those who are able to either hold their cotton at home from a glutted and un righteous market, or who can make ar rangements through warehouses and banks to hold their staple until such time as the market reaches a fair and just value. The whole scheme of marketing the cotton crop by farmers is based large ly upon custom and habit which tor years has been in fores, or a surrendering of their hard practical and sensible views to the siren tongues of those who want to secure immediate possession of the crop for selfish purposes of their own. Nothing more and ndthtng less, for sure ly no man can be so blind to his own in terests or to facts, a* not to know that when the market is overburdened with any commodity and the buyer has the all powerful and unrestricted right to dic tate the price at which such commodity shall be sold, that the seller must suffer the penalty of the position in which he finds himself placed. The marketing of cotton is no exception to tbq rule. The same thing is true of every other commod ity. whether it be the raw or manufac tured articlte. in every market in the world. The seller will never secure his rights until he has some voice in the price at which his possessions shall be sold. Right of Possession. The right of production and possession of the finest and most valuable staple and money crop tn the world, give the producers the highest right to demand at the hand* of the spinners a price based upon the fair and legitimate value of their cotton. The duty which every south ern farmer owe* to his family and to his beloved country should actuate him by the strongest incentives to stand guard over his cotton in the thoroughfares of every local market and with steadfast and un rc enting determination, say to every buyer, that a price commensurate with the value or his staple must be offered before a bill of sale can be Issued. If southern cotton producers would only band themselves together in a brother hood of strength and ce-operate along the line* of business methods the coming crop eould easily be made to command a max imum value of 160 for bale. There can be but little or no profit to producers at a less price and if by reason of enforced sales the price is forced down to last figures, with heavy time accounts to meet for high priced corp, meat and guano out of a short crop the gloom of the coming winter will fall like a mantle of darkness over the home* of thousands of farmer* before the coming of another year. » HARVIE JORDAN. J. E. C.. Lawrenceville, Ga.: I planted my bottoms in corn about the first of May and the corn • succored the worst I ever saw. Please tell me the cause of it. It looks more like sorghum. Answer-The cause of corn putting out extra shoots from the parent plant is due to excessive growth, development and fer tility of soil. If conditions continue fa vorable nearly all the shoots or succors will make a small ear in the top without much detriments to the parent stalk. But if dfy weather should appear the field will be Injured by allowing them to remain, the safest plan generally is to wring the succors off and feed them up as green for age to stock. Some varieties of corn, particularly the small grain prolific varieties, succor more in good land than the old-fashioned large cob kinds. THE CYCLONE TERROR. Westerners Fear Them More Than the People of the South Do Volcanoes. Chicago Inter Ocean. Recent disturbances by volcanic eruption in the island of Martinique and Guatemala bring out in full measure the sympathy of the residents of the cyclone district of the southwest. The cyclone is by far the worst form of disaster that visits this country coming at unexpected times and dealing death and destruction in wide spread manner. When the summer days bring waves of heat across the stretches of hot sod. then the residents of the prairie west begin to cast their eyes to the windward. They are watching the formation of the clouds, and he who could not distinguish a cy clone bank from arty other is indeed a ten derfoot. Then the cry of warning Is car ried across the plains, and the members of every family make for their cyclone cel lars. These cellars differ in various com munities. The popular cyclone cellar on the plains of western Kansas, where cy clones a few years ago were almost a daily occurrence, are ordinary sod houses, built low and strong. In the Russian communities of Kansas these cyclone houses serve as the family residence the year round. They are about seven feet high, and built exception ally strong. The roofs are slanting, and the houses are set to the wind, that is, the ends are faced toward the east and west. In Oklahonm every farmhouse Is backed up by a cave! a hole dug into the ground, and covered by an earthen roof. Some farmers havk gone so far in protecting themselves against cyclones that they have a small cannon loaded with salt and buckshot, which is fired into the whirling clouds as they approach. This has been known to turn the course of a storm. It is a common event to dismiss school on the plain* of Oklahoma when a bank of clouds begins to arise In the southwest. These wind and rain storms are becoming more uncommon every day, and it is be lieved that the planting of trees and the settlement of the barren sod has had much to do with it. Before Oklahoma was thor oughly well settled dosens of cyclones were reported every day In the hot months. The writer was in Newkirk one day in the early period of that town's existence, and saw seven cyclones form in the afternoon. All of them followed the course of the Arkansas river, and “struck" In the Osage Indian reservation, far to the westward. Social Changes. London Tatler. I can well remember the time when a man. if perchance he met a lady while he was smoking in some rather unfrequented street, always flung away his cigar and rather tried to look as if he had not been doing it. Tet so far have we traveled that not long ago. at a hospitable house, not a hundred miles from Berkley Square, the hostess and her daughter were the only smokers in a large luncheon party, and prefaced their cigarettes by the courteous condition, “If you gentlemen don't mind.” Love is never found; it come*—Graystone. THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, MONDAY, JULY 14, 1902. YO UNG MEN IN POLITICS, ‘ PAST AND PRESENT BY F. H. RICHARDSON. HAT is the basis of the very general impression that’young men are more prominent and potential in politics now than w they formerly were? We hear much about young men cpmlng to the front in affairs of state and we see many’ of them attain political distinction at a remarkably early age. But is precocity of this character pecul iar to our generation, or our recent his tory? Far from it! Instead of having acquired Increased political influence and larger po litical leadership in recent years, young men are relatively less eminent in that field than tney were a good many years ago, at least so far as the two great Eng lish speaking nations arg concerned. There is now In this country no man only thirty-two years old who is so trust ed and forceful, so eminent a political leader as Alexander Hamilton was -at that age, nor one in the whole British em pire under forty who has been even dis cussed as a possible prime minister, and yet Pitt attained the office when he was twenty-four. Hamilton and Pitt were re markable, but not excepttional, illustra tions of the rise of young men in what we regard as an olden time to splendid heights of fame in politics. You oan find many more examples of early distinction in politics then than the present generation in either the United States and Great Britain has supplied, or is likely to furnish. There are scores of young men in congress, that is to say, men between thirty and forty-five, but it is probable that the average age of the members of the first American congress was lower than the average age of the members.of the Forty-seventh. The influence of young men was felt more in both American and British poli tics tn the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth than it is felt at present, though one might infer from the talk of the progressiveness of latter day youth that it is rapidly crowding maturer men out of political leadership and con trol. What would we think now of a young ster of nineteen entering parliament? Charles James Fox did it nearly a hun dred and fifty years ago. He modestly re mained silent until he became of age, but had hardly attained his majority before he was attacking and worsting some of the venerable past masters of debate tn the house of commons; was recognised as one of the most powerful supporters of Lord North’s administration and had been appointed a lord of the admiralty. Fox was the most precocious of the Englishmen who have become famous statesmen while the down was still on their cheeks and we shall look in vain for a man who became an acknowledged par liamentary leader in any country at so early an age. Pitt, his great rival, was a candidate for parliament a few months after he reached twenty-one, but was defeated. Within a few months thereafter he won a seat and rose so rapidly that he was premier at twenty-four. Before he was nineteen his illustrious father, Lord Chatham, had trained him superbly for politics and in spired in him an ambition to excel in "the noblest of sciences.” On his nineteenth birthday Pitt supported his noble father on his arm as he entered the house of lords on that memorable day when he made his immortal defense of the Ameri can colonies. Chatham was nearly sev enty and physically very feeble. He spoke with great power, then, as he always did, and became so carried away with his theme that he even surpassed himself. After his great peroration he fell fainting and was taken from the scene of his many historic triumphs to die. The Pitt, who became Lord Chatham, first entered the army, but the death of his elder brother caused him to turn, his attention to politic* and at twenty-seven he entered parllartient, but not until after he had incurred the undying ehmtty of Sir Robert Walpole by fierce arraignments of his administration. Pitt had hardly taken his seat before Horace Walpole took up the quarrel of his father and endeavored to bring the parliamentary novice into ridicule by making a cruel attack upon him in which Pitt’s youth was alluded to in crushing sarcasm. Pitt needed neither defence nor sympa thy. His reply to Walpole, the son of his persecutor, is historic ans for withering invective and satire has rartely been equal ed. Multitudes of school boys have rung the changes on that superb speech be ginning, “The atrocious crime of being a young man, I shall neither attempt to pal liate nor deny.” The elder Pitt had to fight the Walpoles, father and son, and his triumph over both was complete. Sir Robert, finding himself unable either to beat him down or win him over, resort ed to the meanness of procuring Pitt’s dismissal from the army. Contemptible as was that assertion of personal spite, It was the best thing that ever happened for Pitt, as it gave him full opportunity to devote himself entirely to his parliamentary du ties and to the determination to be aveng ed upon Walpole, x.e succeeded in defeat ing measure after measure, one of which that powerful minister set his heart and finally overwhelmed him and his ad ministration beyond hope of recovery. A greater man than eitherffLord Chat ham or his brilliant son, the greatest man in intellectual power in the whole range of British politics, Edmund Burke, entered parliament when he was 35, but he was already the foremost controversial writer and critic in the kingdom. Before he be came a member of parliament some one asked a distinguished man who knew both Burke and Gibbon, the great historian, which of the two he considered the strong er intellect. His reply was: "Sir, you might cut Gibbon out of a corner of Burke's mind and Burke would not khow that he had lost anything.” There are few personalities in British annals so fascinating as George Canning, the son of a London linen draper, who practically ruled England during one of the stormiest periods of her history. Be fore he became a premier of almost ab solute power he made prime ministers and cabinets do his bidding, like the born ruler of men that he was. He was Great Britain’s greatest war minister and, judged by his success in whatever he attempted he must be con sidered the most triumphant British statesman of the nineteenth century. Canning prevented the subjugation of Greece by Turkey, saved Portugal from being crushed by Spain, forced Great Brit ain to recognise the newly established South American republics before the Unit ed States did so, stopped the Holy Alli ance on its way to restore those repubics to Spain, paved the way for both Catholic emancipation and the repeal of the corn Igws. As an orator he had no peer in England then and has had none since. Perhaps no speech ever delivered in parliament had such an electric effect as Canning’s glo rious address in whicn he gave an ac count of how he had broken the power of Spain in South America. When in the full sweep of that wonderful oration he ex claimed : "I have called a new world into exist ence to redress the balance of the old!” an indescribable scene ensued. The en thusiasm was so intense that itxwas sever al minutes before Canning could proceed. He was a very handsome man and fasci nating in a rare degree to both men and women. Nature lavished her most envied gifts upon him. Hazlitt referred to him when he spoke of the “lovelocks of the constitution.” Canning entered Parliament at twenty three and at twenty-five was the most popular and most powerful man in Eng land. Disraeli and Gladstone were the two most famous British statesmen of our time and each was in Parliament before he was twenty-five, Disraeli at twenty four and his great rival at twenty-three. Gladstone was only twenty-nine when Macaulay in a review of his work on “Church and State,” referred to him as “a young man of irreproachable charac ter, the rising hope of the stern and un bending Tories.” > Disraeli was just past twenty-four when he made that miserable failure in attempt ing to speak in the House of Commons and, turning on the crowd of jeering mem bers, exclaimed, “The time will come when you shall hear me!" Pamerston was only twenty-three when he began his long and wonderful parlia mentary career. Macaulay, already famous in literature, became a member of the House of Com mons on whom all eyes were fixed before he was twenty-three. He was one of the most brilliant speakers of bls day and a prodigy of industry. While he was one of the busiest members of Parliament he was also doing the most laborious and most lasting literary work of his life. Bulwer Lytton had barely passed twen ty-two when he entered Parliament. Like Macaulay, he was one of the brightest literary lights of his generation, as well as an orator of great force. It is said that both Macaulay and Lyt ton spoke quite as well before they were twenty-five as they ever did afterwards and each was ranked among the foremost of British orators until his death. Many other instances could be given in which British statesmen of bygone times have become famous at an age when the great majority of men have not finished sowing their wild oats and have never given a serious thought to the real con cerns of life, but the history of our own country is also rich in similar illustra tions. though it does not afford so many of them. What an upstart, what a hopeless case of youthful big-head we would consider any man of twenty-one who should even announce himself a candidate for gov ernor of Georgia! But there was a young man who was elected governor of Georgia when he was but little past twenty-one and had Uvea in the state only six years. This was James Jackson, whose career was the most romantic in the history of our state. He came to Georgia from Eng land at the age of fifteen and several years before he reached his twenty-first birthday was famous as a soldier of rare genius and great intrepidity. Jackson declined the governorship on the ground of his youth and inexperience. In later life he gave a still grander exhi bition of unselfishness when he resigned a seat in the United States senate to be come a candidate for the Georgia legisla ture. His purpose in doing so was to drive from the state the conspirators who had engineered the infamous Yazoo frauds, to restore to Georgia the vast tracts of layds of which they had robbed her and to purge her official records of every stain they had placed there. He accomplished his high purpose and that qne work of James Jackson was worth a life-time of effort, but how many men would now give up a senatorial toga that they might undertake a like labor? Patrick Henry was leading the colonists on the path that led to American inde pendence before he was twenty-nine. When a little past thirty he made the speech that did more than any other ap peal to fire their hearts to the desperate determination, of “liberty or death.” and less than a year later he delivered an other speech which calm and profoundly critical Thomas Jefferson said was the grandest effort he ever heard. When Washington came to organize his first presidential cabinet he considered Alexander Hamilton the best-equipped man in the United States for the most difficult office In that council which had such meager resources at its command and so many dangers and difficulties to deal with. Hamilton was then but thirty- BOSSES OF THE SENATORS. Washington Correspondence St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Barring only Mrs. Roosevelt and the wo men of the cabinet, the wives of United States senators are the most conspicu ous leaders of official fashion in Washing ton. Those of them who choose to be such are personages of high Importance, and their favor and recognition are eagerly sought. In many instances their husbands are very rich men, and wealth, with the opportunities for entertaining which It gives, adds substantially to their promin ence. Although the days of lobbying, recog nized as such, are over at the national capital, the dinner Invitation and the drawing room influence are still potent as of yore. No legitimate successor of Sam Ward gives' gorgeous entertainments for the purpose of modifying legislation, but the fate of many a bill before congress is determined by petticoat persuasion. It is by no means Intended to imply that sena tors’ wives are actively engaged in the business of wirepulling; but, through so cial and other phannels, they have large control. Recently a regulation was laid down by Mrs. John Hay to the effect that the wives of senators would In future, be ex pected to mate the first call upon the wives of ambassadors arriving In Wash ington though hitherto this has not been required. Wives of ministers plenipo tentiary must call first, as heretofore. No requirement was made In regard to the wives of representatives In congress, simply because they are not supposed to be In the samb set with the wives of high diplomatic personages. Nothing could better illustrate the so cial distinction which exists in Wash ington between the senate and the house. There are a few representatives who are persons of social prominence,but the great majority are utterly unknown to the fash ionable life of the capital. With senators, however, It is different, and their wives, if they choose, are personages. Their ac quaintance Is eagerly desired, and people flock to their weekly receptions. One of the most fashionable women in Washington is the wife of the senior sen ator from Michigan, Mrs. James McMillan, who has always taken a conspicuous part In social gayetles. Since the senator first took his seat in the upper house in 1889, the McMillan home on Vermont ave nue has been famous for its charming hospitality. Mrs. McMillan enjoys the en viable reputation of being one of Washing ton’s most popular hostesses, and an invi tation to one of her little dinners Is a thing greatly to be desired. Mrs. Charles W. Fairbanks, wife of the Indiana senator, has attained special dis tinction as the president of the Society of the Daughters of the Revolution. She is one of the most popular women in offi cial circles, and her palatial home on the corner of Massachusetts avenue and Eigh teenth street is one of the most pleasant houses in Washington to yislt. The Fair bankses hail from Indianapolis. Mrs. Stephen Benton Elkins, a daugh ter of ex-Senator Davis, of West Virginia, Is the wife of one of the most popular men In the upper house. She is one of the most fashionable women in Washington, where she .has lived for many years, and enter tains magnificently, being noted for her hospitality both at her home on K street and at Elkins, in West Virginia. Her hus band has been a senator since 1894, having previously occupied the position of secre tary of war under President Harrison, while before that he was k member of the lower house for two terms. Mrs. Joseph Benson Foraker is a nota- Thomas Jefferson at twenty-six was conspicuous in the Virginia house of bur gesses; at thirty sat in the continental congress and at thirty-three wrote the immortal Declaration. James Madison entered congress at twenty-eight, and at thirty-six had won the title of "Father of the Constituion.” James Monroe, who held more great of fices than any other American, and dis tinguished himself in every one of them, began his high official career at thirty three. DeWitt Clinton was ene of the fore most leaders of the dominant political party of the time when only twenty-sev en, and United States senator at thirty three, and before he yas forty had led the movement for the construction of the Erie canal so powerfully that the success of that great movement was attributed to him more than to all its other promot ers combined. « Henry Clay was a United States senator before he was thirty-one. In fact, he was so young that some of his enemies cir culated the libel that he “fudged" a little in stating his age. Daniel Webster was a member of con gress at thirty-one. though did not reach the senate until he was forty five. But in the meantime how many superb achievements were his! John C. Calhoun, the other figure in the “great triumvirate” was elected to con gress at the age of twenty-eight, was sec retary of war at thirty-five and vice pres ident at forty-two. He was fifty before he entered the senate. Jefferson Davis had made a famous rec ord hn the Black Hawk and Mexican wars and was a leader in the United States senate by the time he had reached the nge of thirty-nine. Howell Cobb was speaker of the federal house of representatives at thirty-four, governor of Georgia at thirty-six and sec retary of the treasury of the United States at forty-one. One of the most memorable contests for the Georgia governorship was that be tween Benjamin H. Hill and Joseph E. Brown in 18*6. Hill was thirty-three and Brown thirty-five. Robert Y. Hayne was only 32 when he encountered Daniel Webster, who was about ten years older, in the most famous of American senatorial debates. This list of very young American states men could be lengthened largely, but we should find very few names to put in it, the establishment of whose fame does not date back of the '6o’s. Why is it that young men, both in the United States and England, do not acquire lofty leadership, hold it so long or use it so effectively as many men of their age did in bygone generations? There is one very patent reason. The allurements of politics are not now as captivating as they once were. Other professions have gained immensely in im portance and win a large proportion of gifted youths. There are the railroads, the insurance business, civil engineering, architecture, great business enterprises of many kinds to offer magnificent rewards to men of brains and ambition. Another reason for the failure of young men to shine with the splendor of former youthful prodigies in politics is that they do not have that thorough training and equipment that was once given to the boy who was designed by himself or oth ers for a political career. Most young men who now go into politics do so without any intention of making that (science their life-work. A large proportion of them merely dabble in it and regard it as a temporary entertainment or a passing adventure. It is an inspiring spectacle to see a young man Illustrious in any line of effort that requires high qualities, unfaltering devo tion to purposes and ideals. We have in many walks of life illustra tions of youthful triumphs that challenge our admiration, but politics now gives us fewer of them than were once found in that great field. bly handsome and distinguished looking woman. The wife of the senior senator from Ohio, she enjoys an important and influential position in Washington and her big yellow house on the corner of Six teenth and P street is a center of social attraction. Her daughters are very pop ular in society here. / . The wife of Senator Julius C. Burrows, of Michigan is another notable Washing ton hostess. Though her husband was on ly selected to the senate In 1896, he had previously Served for a number of years in the house of representatives, and so she is looked upon as quite an "old Wash ingtonian.” as the phrase is, in this town of kaleidoscopic changes. The Burrows es comes from Kalamazoo, and they oc cupy a very handsome house at 1404 Mass achusetts avenue. Mrs. Joseph C. S. Blackburn Is the bride of the senate, having been married to the Kentucky senator only a few month* ago. She was a very attractive young widow at the time of her marriage and had been for several years a resident of Washing ton. Oddly enough, her first husband also was named Blackburn, though, so far as she knows, he was not related in any way to her present husband. The Washington home of the Blackbums is at 3012 Hillyer place. The wife of the junior senator from Idaho, Mrs. Fred T. Dubois, is a charm ing young woman with a hobby. She is an enthusiast in kindergarten work hav ing taken up the study before her mar riage. Mrs. Dubota has apartments at the Loudoun, and amid her manifold social duties she has found time to give a series of elaborate entertainments for kinder garten teachers. Another popular senator’s wife is Mrs. George Turner, who comes from Spo kane, Washington state. She has been in Washington since 1897, when her husband tok his seat in the upper house, and has made many warm friends and admirers. They occupy apartments at the Portland. Mrs. Thomas M. Patterson Is the latest addition to the senatorial set. She is the wife of the junior senator from Colorado and she and her hus band have apartments at the Shoreham. Mrs. Patterson is much inter ested in charitable affairs, and a special hobby of hers is the beautfylng of school rooms as a means of education. For many years shS has been well known In Denver as an earnest helper in practical philan thropic work. These are only a few of the more con spicuous women in the senatorial set—a social circle which may be regarded as a set within a set in Washington society, dominating by its influence a wide social sphere and comprising a large number of charming and intellectual women. Willing to Oblige. "Yes, I like you very much, George,” said the fair girl with the fuffy hair, "but I couldn’t really think of marry ing you.” “Why not, darling?” queried George. "Because we could never be happy to gether,” she replied. "You know I always want my own way In everything.” “Oh, that will be all right,” replied the crafty George. "After we are married you can keep right on wanting it, as far as I am concerned.” B« she right or wrong, a woman will not per mit a man to question her motives. Possibly she never had a motive; that all her actions being the result of impulse, cannot b« analyzed, or peradventure, being a woman is of Itself a good and sufficient reason for whatever she may do or say.—Gray ato na SUGGESTIONS FROM I OUR CORRESPONDENTS I WANTS ROAD BUILT FROM ATLANTA TO SAVANNAH To the Editor of The Journal: I noticed some time ago where a charter had ’ been applied for for the purpose of constructing a railroad from Atlanta to Savannah. I would like to see this busi ness pushed through, because I know in my own knowledge it would be as good paying road as there is in the state, and along its line through the counties it would pass through there is sufficient evi dence to warrant my saying that several good-sized towns would go up and every station, I believe, would be a hustling place. It would have a territory to draw from through this section of country, be cause it is from 10 to 15 miles to any town of any consequence from this place. The next thing ,lt would be an air line road from Atlanta direct to the cokst. This, you know, would make freight rates cheaper and also connect all the western states with trade and trafic of nearly all the foreign countries. So push a good thing along when you know it is a good thing. CHAS. P. EZELL. Huron, Putnam Co., Ga. ANOTHER OF BRECKINRIDGE’S MEN RESENTS ATTACK To the Editor of The Journal: A friend living in Georgia has written me that recently an attack was made in an article which appeared in your columns on the fighting qualities Os Breckinridge's division, and the statement made that the division ran at the battle of Cold Harbor. I desire ,to answer this libel against the well-earned fame of a di vision of gallant veterans. Being one who was, from the fortunes of battle, a. prom inent figure in the memorable struggle of the 3d of June. 1864, I will be prepared to give the facts. I desire the name of the author of the article referred to, so that I may address him personally through the columns ‘of the Journal, and being one of those whom he has defamed, I think I have a right to employ this method of redress. I am very truly yours, GEORGE M. EDGAR. Lt. Col. 26th Va. Battalion. Echols Bri gade and Commander of Echols’ Bri gade at close of war. P. B.—l am known by General John B. Gordon and Rev. Dr. Theron Rice, Atlan ta. G. M. E. SAYS BRECKINRIDGE’S BRIGADE HAS BEEN SLANDERED To the Editor of The Journal: Some time last spring a Mr. Shiver, from Alabama. In writing about the bat tle of Cold Harbor. June 3, 1864. made the statement that Breckenridge’s division not being used to larger weapons than squirrel weapons, could not stand the racket of big guns,” etc., and ran away out of the battle. I corrected him in the columns of both The Journal and Rich mond Dispatch. A few weeks later he re peated, in substance, the charge and ig nored my refutation. Whereupon, I wrote Col. George M. Edgar, who com manded the 26th Virginia battalion, the troops that occupied the only part of Breckenridge’s division that was overrun on that memorable morning, informing him of Mr. Shiver's statements I have just received a letter from him stating that he has written you about the matter. Mr. Shiver’s statement is extremely in accurate, not to say worse, and does great injustice to the living and the dead. I can't imagine why he repeated the story after its falsity was -shown- Colonel Edgar is a high-toned Christian gentleman and will no doubt furnish a most readable article for The Journal, setting the matter straight. Yours truly, C. W. HUMPHREYS. Jackson, Ga. / A PLEA FOR THE TEACHERS OF GEORGIA As we fortunate ones are plannning for the summer, looking at maps, selecting resorts that suit our tastes and withal having a charming if busy time, I fancy very few of us have thought of our friends, the teachers. Do they not make their plans, as a matter of course? But these same plans must vanish like frailest air castles. Few, if any, can afford the luxury and almost necessity of change. Our brightest state official perhaps doesn’t think of them as people—they are merely employees. To be sure they have labored but they are not in want by any means. (I can almost hear those words). Yes, very true, but have they not a right, a just right to their pay, even though they be only empjloyees. The most beggarly day laborer Is paid when his task is finished. For five months these tedchers have toiled daily, and tc the real teacher the work is no play. Yet now in order that the state may not have a trifling interest to pay, they can afford to wait. Ah! I am a true Georgian to my heart's core but I care not to see our fair land a land of such evident injustice. Can some wish person estimate the amount of funds we’ve spent toward the workfi?) in our treasure aero** the sea—the Philippine islands? See If that sum wouldn't at least cover our honest debt*. And what benefit will Georgia derive therefrom? If the money in our treasury were paid where it is le gally due, I think these Filipinos would be quite as well off. Let me draw a pic ture for you. At a small, rough school house in a pine grove about two miles from a south Georgia village, there was a young lady teaching. All the spring days she had been laboring with the children from the farms. Now this was no sine cure. These Utile folks must needs be taught some things that the school laws do not require. They had spent some time in learning that one’s teacher could be a friend, could be loved as well a* feared. Though she has been successful there is a feeling of something more, some higher work to be done. She sighs, perhaps, as there dances before her mind’s eye a vision of two hundred dollars in crisp greenbacks. So little to our state, but so much to her. It would give her the wish ed-for normal course, and broaden the faculties that constant usage has nar rowed. But between her and this cherish ed oasis, stretches a vast chasm of dis counts, and so the dream is only a dream. M. 8. MALONE. THE depot can be built ON THE PRESENT SITE To the Editor of The Journal: , There is one way to do it. There never has been but one, and it is this: The state’s land is wide enough for one depot with eight tracks. It is long enough for two depots. One east, the other west j of Pryor street. Build from Loyd street to Broad street, letting Pryor street pass through the structure at grade level. Thus making two, depots, one looking east with eight tracks, one west with eight, and both abutting’Pryor street, but no tracks crossing Pryor street inside the depot nor crossing within the depot nor coming ’with in 30 or 40 feet of it. thus leaving a lobby on each side of Pryor street 30 or 40 feet deep; extending across the entire width at the building. From this lobby passeng ers can reach their trains in all cases from the rear end without having to cross any trpeks and with as great convenience as in the great central depot of St. Louis. j All trains back in and head out. No smoking engines Inside the structure, but j all stopping outside. Pryor street covered by the second and third floors of the de pot. Present grade unchanged and erpss ed by three tracks on south slue as at present, but by nothing else. Loyd street raised a little for the rail- road tracks and tunneled for street sub way. Thus no train will have to be cut in'two after it has been made up at the yard, because it will in no case block a street crossing. Second floor of structure for waiting rooms, dining room and office* on Whitehall viaduct level; third floor ex tending over Whitehall viaduct, used for baggage and express transfers, to be reached by, eleva tor from the track level, thus completely relieving the passengers from the annoyance and danger of the express and baggage trucks. Incorporate a terminal company to build on above lines, and lease the land to that company for a reasonable rental; Yours most respectfully, JOHN D. HILLYER. AMERICANPAPER AND INK. Papyrus Might be Planted in the South ern Bayous and Everglades. Springfield Republican. Papyrus, supposed by many to be an extinct plant, nevertheless doe* exist tn some of the lake margins of lower Egypt, and occasionally Is found elsewhere, as for example. In the famous fountain of Aretrusa, In Sicily. Wheth er this be the real papyrus antfquorum, from which the paper of Egypt and Greece was made, or the papyrus corymboaus, abundant in India and used for mats, is not so sure. But why stfbuld not the papyrus be added to our paper stock resources ? It could probably be domesticated in Florida swamps and Louisiana bayous. Moreover, it might be planted in the vast marshes of the Amazon system. Some thing must be done to Insure the constant supply of paper; the forest* of spruoe and poplar are not going to last forever under the drain of the pulp mills, and attention should be turned to the rank march grasses and sedges, among which there must be many which are capable of use and so of cultivation. It may prove a mistake to drain and bury all our marshes, even in the north, and the apparently Irreclaimable gulf tnlets. swamps and ever glades might well be experimented with by cultivating the papyrus. The papyri that are found are brittle, after some thousands of years, but it is possible that the resources of chemistry may better that tendency. At *ll events, why is it not worth trying? There is also a fortune waiting for the man who can make a good ink. A good many skilled chemists have devoted their Ilves to the prob lem. which seems almost as impossible of solu tion as the philosopher's stone or the squaring of the circle. The trouble is that the demands of modern life are many and incompatible. It is easy to make an ink that will flow easily or an ink Uat has good color or an Ink that is indelible, but the difficulty comes in getting all these qualities at once. The most usual compromise is found in the various “commer cial writing fluids,” which are somewhat more pronounced than pure water, out not enough so to entitle them to be called ink. “Commer cial writing fluid” is the right term. It is still possible to get a good black ink if one knows where to look for It, an ink solid and emphatic and without that detestable glossy shin* which moat genuine black inks have. Music copyist* and others who must have a strong and positive ink have their own secret sources of supply, obscure stores whete a few bottle* of the real thing are to be had, black a* a raven • feather and warranted not to *hlne at any angle, and never to fade. But such inks do not fit In with modern conveniences. They do not consort with the fountain pen, and it is difficult to keep them from spoiling when ex posed to the air. What is wanted is an ink of this sort with the modern virtues added, and / after all the problem ought not to be so much harder to solve than wireless telegraphy, say, or X-ray photography. Mormonlstlo Drama. A Mormon play, with the characters taken from the Book of Mormon, is short ly to be produced in Salt Lake City. Arestes U. Bean, a son of Georg* Bean, at one time Indian Interpreter for Brig ham Young, Is the author of the play, and describes it as follows: “The play is built around an Incident in which the prophet Alma chastises his wicked son Corianton for his infatuation for the scarlet woman Zoan-ze-I*abel, who is the heroine tof the drama. She was a Lamanite, while he was a Nephite, and the characters are nearly all Aztecs. “Alma’s second son, Shibelon, is also a character in the play, but hl* oldest *on, Heleman, is not mentioned at all. “The play dates back to a period sev enty-five years before Christ, and the scene is laid in South America, on the Magdalena river, in Colombia. “The characters of the cast are taken from the Book of Mormon, but the play is in no sense a propaganda of the Mor mon church. It bears about the same relation to the Book of Mormon that ‘Ben-Hur’ or ’Quo Vadls’ does to the Bi ble. “The scene of the first act Is In the hall of justice in the Aztec temple. The sec ond act takes you to Leantum’s garden, where Corianton first meets Zoan-ze-Isa bel and falls a victim to fier charm* and wiles. Zoan-ze-Isabel’s palace is the scene of the third act, which is the strong act of the drama. In this act the woman turns traitor to her people for love of Corianton. The fourth act has a portico setting which overlooks the city of Zora helma.” The Motives of Misers. The Spectator. Is there no charm or glamor in gold It self which attracts and In a sense over powers the miser, though it does not often induce him to steal? There may be in some cases. Doctors say that kleptomania, though so often pleaded as a lying defense, really exists, especially among children, 'and that it is in some way mysteriously limited and defined, the full strength ot the passion being excitable only by certain objects, usually shining. The pursuit of gold for 5.000 years may have bred in the mind a hereditary’ tendency toward it* ac quisition. as a concrete and visible article, which is, we may remark, as often mani fested by the rich as by the poor. Asiatic* often hoard coin and jewels to their own hurt, knowing that their possession in volves extreme danger, and we could our selves relate two authentic stories of great accumulations of gold coin made by Eng lishmen who seemed* to derive pleasure from its actual sight and touch. These are, however, we fancy, rather illustra tions of the collector mania, so often de scribed and analyzed in the case of books and china, than instances of true miserli ness, which is based, we are convinced, rather on fear and an abnormal kind of mean pride than on the passion for hoard ing. That i* often divorced from avarice. It was not for their value that George IV. kept every coat he had ever worn, or that Mr. Blank bought wardrobe after ward robe in which to preserve every morsel’of clothing that had ever been in hl* posses sion. Ex-ring champion Jam** J. Corbett was the center of attraction at a recent base ball game at Bayside, L. 1., in which h* took part, giving help bo effective to th* Bayside team as to enable them to down the Nationals of Brooklyn. i'SGOLDEN AGE W t pat PURE OLD U hfi LINCOLN CO. iWHISKEY -ddUMkFIVE S' BOTTLES O A 4 C Prepaid, Q The most perfect Whiskey il ever distilled. Better than other follows sell for $5. We are distillers, which Il m makes a big difference. All fl shipments in plain boxes; lAt [Z/AYYAYaI money back if you want it. ■ 5 bottles, 53.45, express paid 10 bottles, 6.55. express paid 12 bottles, 7.90. express paid 15 bottles, 9 70, express paid A sample half pint by ex press prepaid for 50 cents in postage stamp*. AMERICAN SUPPLY CO., Distillers, •*S Mai* SL, Tma. 5
