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The Semi-Weekly Journal,
Catered at tfce Attaxta Poatefflc* u M*U Mai
tar a< tka Sieved Ctaaa.
JAMES R.~ORAY,
Editor and General Manager.
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♦ WEEKLY JOURNAL, Atlanta. Ga. ♦
| ” 4tie Turks have developed into a set of
regular night riders.
Prof. Burbank, we believe, is experi
menting with the spring hats. y
These blind tigers are having their eyes
opened to real 11.000 fines
President Taft will visit the people as
much after as before his election.
The Rock Island lines are going to re
duce their rates. This doesn't look like
hard times.
Fifty-three physicians are to graduate.
Hold to your pocketbooks and run for
your lives.
Secretary Wilson’s wheat reports don't
seem to be any more credited than his
cotton reports
Between the governor and the prison
commission, the convict is continually
saying: “Pardon me."
When the Georgia legislature meets
r again, it can say that it has been a long
time between drinks
As long as the fertiliser men cut the
price on guano, they won't be in bad
I odor with the farmer.
A newspaper asks If farming pays.
Well, wheat farming would appear to be
fairly profitable at present.
For every cure they discover, the doc
| tors find a new disease, which is natural
considering doctors must 1 re.
We would like to hear Roosevelt's
opinion of Tillman, spoken as frankly
as the senator's of the ex-president.
Mr. Patten sees nothing wrong in mak
ing bread higher. This main reason for
doing It is that he needs the money.
If they get bagging and ties on the
tree list, the south can forgive the tar
iff framers some of their mistakes.
Peter Hains, the last of the gentleman
ly killers, is on trial for his life. Dis
patcher say he looks haggard. Must be
frightened by fate of Coopers.
President Barrfih has been in Washing
ton getting a line on those politicians
who make sincere promises and those who
don't. That is a task harder even than
revising the tariff, for dll political prom
ises sound so much alike.
BE *
The old question of what is whisky is
about to be revived by the fight on the
label. Well, whisky is the sort of thing
that makes five cents look like a five-dol
lar bill at night, and makes a man look
like thirty cents the next morning at
breakfast. As to the brand, it is all alike
after the first drink.
i .
BARGAINS IN BQOZE
AS LID SHUTS DOWN
GARY Ind —The spectacle of hundreds
of thirsty residents standing in a line a
block long to get a final drink at a pop
ular bar was one of the unique incidents
In connection with the closing of the 15
remaining saloons here. At first the cus
tomers were nerved as they crowded to
the bar, but after a short time it was
found necessary to use the same tactics
employed during a rush for theatre tick
ets. At some of the saloons bargain
sales were conducted, liquor being sold at
cost to old customers. What were termed
’•wakes" were held in all of the saloons,
the “lid'' being off so far as the obser
vance of the usual closing hours was
concerned.
"The whole state seems to favor the
biennial sessions of the Georgia legisla
ture. and it is a good move."—Thomas-
■ ville Times.
“Biennial sessions of the Georgia leg
islature are growing in favor every
day.*'—Columbus Ledger.
For our part, let's have just one. and
be done with it.
Their consul general says that more
Japs are leaving this country than are
coming to it. Twould be pleasant news
to the Pacific coast if it didn't contain
the Information that they're still com-
Dr Lyman Abbott says women
shouldn't be the slaves of the Paris
dressmakers. No. and honesty is the best
policy, and there are other things we
should nt do and do.
Out of Employment
Lady: And what do you do when you
I work, my man?
Hobo. Fm a window dresser fer a
small mail order house.
k Mickey, Jr.: Wasn't it Patrick Henry
who said. "Let us have peace?**
Mickey, Sr.: Nobody b' th* name of Pat
w rick iver said anything like that.—Judge.
wue«u>n of the Day.
Atehison Glebe.
Is the word nlgbtgown" a fit word to use
U> polite society?
WISDOM JUSTIFIED <BY RESULTS.
Governor Hoke Smith has notified the treasury of the state that
the money collected the first quarter of this year from the convict hire
can be distributed to the counties of the state at that time not taking
convicts.
He finds that ample funds have been raised from the rax on substi
tutes for liquor, commonly called near-beer, to meet all the necessary
expenses of the penitentiary department without using any of the money
coming from the hire of the convicts.
We cannot refrain from congratulating the governor upon this
condition of the treasury. At the regular session of the legislature last
summer the house passed .a bill which would have perpetuated the lease
of the convicts. The governor made no secret of the fact that ne would
veto the bill if it passed the senate.
It was in the closing hours of the legislature, and Governor Smith
sent two messages to the senate, declaring his willingness to call an
extra session for the purpose of handling the convict question, and
urging the senators to pass unfinished business which was before them,
leaving the convict bill for an extra session.
When the governor sent these messages to the legislature he was
attacked on all sides by ring politicians, lessees of the convicts, and the
old crowd which has fought him so continuously.
The cost of the extra session was prated about and financial trouble
in consequence was threatened.
Governor Smith never backed an inch. He Insisted upon the extra
session, and what has been the result?
The extra session of the legislature has given the state a splendid
juvenile court bill. It has given the state the parole bill. It has broken
up the lease, and placed the convicts upon the public roads, where the
people of Georgia will get the benefit of their work, and where especially
the rural sections of the state will derive the incalculable good to come
from first-class roads.
But this is not all. The extra session passed a bill placing a tax of v
two hundred dollars upon near-beer dealers.
The enemies of the governor were delighted to see this bill attacked
in the courts, and for some time kept publishing that it would raise uo
revenue.
Governor Smith employed counsel to help the attorney general.
The tax was sustained. He employed men to represent the state In
different counties to press the collection of the tax.
Now he has the pleasure of knowing that nearly two hundred
thousand dollars is in the treasury, made as a consequence of one bill
passed at the extra session, and that all the good work of the extra
session has been accomplished for the people of the state, not at a loss,
but with an increase of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of
revenue in the treasury.
The newspapers which attacked the governor for calling the extra
session of the legislature are now silent.
GOSSIPING WITH THE MARTIANS.
It was Artemus Ward who said he could understand how the
astronomers could measure the distance from star to star, but he’d* be
hanged if he could see how they ever found out their names.
Professor William Henry Pickering, the celebrated astronomer of
Harvard university, appears to be up against very much the same
proposition. He sees no difficulty whatever in being able to flash
signals to Mars, next July, when that fiery planet will be five millions of
miles nearer to the earth than ever before, but how he is going to make
them understand the signal code is a more perplexing proposition.
Professor Pickering seriously proposes an effort to get into com
munication with the Martians next July. He says that with an outlay
of about ten millions of dollars a series of mirrors, presenting a single
reflecting surface, could be turned towards Mars. They would occupy a
quarter of a mile of surface and would cast the most penetrating
reflections ever devised by the wit of man.
By a series of flashes, he thinks, we could indicate to our Martian
neighbors not only that the earth is inhabited, but that we were desirous
of engaging in a little neighborhood gossip.
By means of the Rosetta stone, in which the same facts were set
forth in three languages, the messages written to posterity by the
Egyptians have been fully translated, and after that nothing seems
impossible, but where will we find a Rosetta stone to translate the
Martian Morse code into dots and dashes which the humble dwellers
here on this earthly ball can understand?
Granting, however, that it will be possible to devise some common
medium of communication, what an awful deal of gossip will have been
stored up for these two cosmic neighbors, leaning over the back fence
of the universe for the first time! There will be several thousand years
of news to transmit from one to the other on broad, general lines, before
we begin asking after the children and the status of the servant problem.
It's dollars to doughnuts that the first question of real Importance
to be discussed will be the subject of those canals. From where we sit
it seems that the surface of the rosy planet is literally seamed with
waterways. A good many million Martian dollars must have been spent
in digging them, and what we would like to know is whether the sea
level or the lock system has been found most effective. It would be a
genuine treat—it would be of vast importance to get the views of such
experienced canal diggers, and it might put an end forever to the
vexatious discussion which has been going on in this country ever since
the Panama canal was recommended on one line and carried into
(partial) execution on another.
Os course we would like to know what the Martians think of Georg*
DuMaurier’s novel, "The Martian,” a special translation of which might
have to be cabled up by searchlight for the Sunday papers.
We would like to know what disposition is made of ex-presidents
up there, in the event that so enlightened a people have reached
representative government, as no doubt they have.
But it would be tedious to enumerate the things we would like to
discuss with our long-lost neighbors if we could once find someone with
the ten million dollars and the Martian alphabet—both of which will
probably be found about the same time.
Only a little more than two months remain before the month of
July is here, and for a great part of that time the people are going to be
thinking of the Atlanta music festival; but in the meantime Professor
Pickering has the good wishes of the American people in his project for
interplanetary communication.
EDUCATE THE MOUNTAIN CHILDREN
On Tuesday of next week a meeting will be held at the chamber of
commerce for the purpose of perfecting the organization of the Mountain
Educational association, which the pioneers of the movement have
already launched with a membership of about one hundred.
The purpose of this association is to work for the mountain children
of the state, and it is earnestly hoped that within a short time five
thousand members will be obtained, pledged to contribute an annual
assessment of fifty cents.
Men, women and children will be enrolled in this association, and
indeed it is a band of devoted women who are behind the movement.
It is an accepted fact that the mountaineers of Georgia, Tennessee
and the Carolinas are the purest strain of the sturdy colonists who
sought freedom on this side the ocean. Retreating inland to the moun
tains they have remained there for these hundreds of years, without
admixture from the outside world. They are hardy, thrifty and highly
intelligent by nature. When brought under the influences of education,
they develop into the best and most progressive of our citizens.
But in their ignorance and isolation they present a situation which
is nothing short of pathetic. Their scattered settlements are but rarely
blessed with school facilities of any kind, and the tide of civilization
passes them by.
The Berry school has given a convincing illustration of what may
be done when these children of the mountains are given educational
advantages.
To foster and further this work of educating the mountain children
is the task which the present organization has set itself. It hopes to
support its projected work solely from the ranks of its own members,
and for that reason it is hoped that the membership will be large enough
to make this work effective.
It is a work which is entitled to cordial support.
IRELAND FOR THE IRISH
A patriotic and enthusiastic Irishman in Washington, who bears
the significant name of Kilkenny, has started a movement by which he
hopes to induce fifty thousand Irishmen to return to their native land
and restore its fallen fortunes industrially and agriculturally.
He has taken up the cry of "Ireland for the Irish,” and calls upon
patriotic Irishmen to meet him in Ireland next year. It goes without
saying that he hopes to Induce those to join him who have managed to
acquire a competency in this country without losing any of their love
for the old sod, for the impoverished population of Ireland is large
enough already. \
The British government has already Introduced a bill under which
it is proposed to lend nearly a billion dollars to the Irish for the purpose
of purchasing small farms from the great proprietors. Mr. Birrell, the
present chief secretary to the lord lieutenant of Ireland, nas not been
conspicuously successful in his efforts to carry through his measures for
the benefit of Ireland, and it is by no means certain that he will succeed
with the present measure.
But even if he should succeed, there would still be room for such a
movement as that proposed by the enterprising and patriotic Irishman
in Washington city who wants fifty thousand of his fellow countryman
to go back home with him and build up the old country.
We have no doubt that the movement will grow, but at the same
time from a selfish point of view it is hoped that so large a number of
sterling Irish-Americans will not be taken out of this country. It is no
mere sentimentality to say that they are among the most substantial
and valuable of our citizens. Since the alien and sedition movement
drove them into the Democratic party they have consistently remained
there, and an Irish Republican is one of the rare combinations to be
found in this country.
So from a purely sentimental point of view the movement will have
the good wishes of the American people, but from a selfish point of
view it is hoped that it will fail. ; \ • ■ .
N PRICK
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, APRIL 28, ITWw
NATIONAL CAPITAL NEWS AND GOSSIP
By Ralph Smith
WASHINGTON. D. C„ April 20.-Anent
the consideration of the tariff bill and
the clamor for protection by certain in
terests of the south, notably the lumber
barons, there has been considerable talk
in ’Washington of breaking the "solid
south.’* It has been asserted more than
once that the evolution is under way, and
that in four more years the south will
be divided. There may be something in
this asertlon, but—
" The south loves jewels and golden store.
But the south loves honor and virtue
more.”
The foregoing couplet was pronounced
in the house of representatives by J.
Thomas Heflin, of the Fifth Alabama
district, in discussing the tariff bill, par
ticularly the claims that the “solid
south” would be broken. Mr. Heflin hit
the nail on the head.
The Alabamian dwelt upon the democ
racy of the south in his tariff speech,
and It may be stated that no other ad
dress during the consideration of the
Payne bill in the house received more
generous aplause. Senator Bailey, of
Texas, referring to the Heflin speech,
suys that every Democratic newspaper in
the south should, in his judgment, publish
Mr. Heflin's conclusion. Mr. Bailey is a
good Judge, the Congressional Record is
handy, and here is the conclusion:
What Heflin Baid
"They tell us, Mr. Chairman, that we
must quit the Democratic party and break
the solid south if we would have favor
with the Republican president and occupy
seats at the pie counter of the Republi
can party. I would remind you, sir, of the
long suffering, the afflictions, and the
persecutions that we have endured at
the hands of the Republican party and
how the Democratic party has delivered
us out of them all. It was your party
that tried to destroy the civilisation of
the white man in the south; your party
that broke Grant’s agreement with Lee
violated the sacred terms of the sur
render at Appomattox (applause on the
Democratic side); its cruel agents who
plndered our people and filled dungeons
with the bravest and best men in the
land because they dared to defend their
property against the thieves and their
homes from the lust and carnality of the
brutes in our midst. (Applause on the
Democratic side.) It was your party that
destroyed local self-government In the
south and generously offered our people
choice between military rule and negro
domination.
"It was your party that gave us re
construction, mantled in a saturnalia of
crime that shocked and astounded the civ
ilised world. (Applause on the Demo
cratic side).
"Shall we so soon forget the Repub
lican party and its criminal record in the
south? God of our fathers forbid that we
shall ever forget it.
"What of the Republican party's rec
ord in mdre recent years? It was your
party that declared that northern states
shall have the right to regulate the fran
chise and change their constitutions at
will, but that this right will be 'denied to
the southern states. (Applause on the
Democratic side). It was your party that
tried to pass the force bill, and had you
succeeded federal soldiers with their bay
onets would be about all the polling
places in the south on election day to
prevent a free expression of our peo
ple’s will—to carry elections by force;
and it is your party now that has declar
ed in its platform its determination to
cut down our representation in congress
and in the electoral college.
Invitation Declined
“Your invitation for us to leave the
Democratic party is an invitation for us
to turn out backs upon the south's best
friend and become an ally of the south’s
worst enemy. (Appliuse on the Demo
cratic side). Your invitation tor us to
abandon Democracy now is an invitation
to desert the party of equal rights—the
party of the constitution. It is an invi
tation to leave the party that drove the
scallawags and carpetbaggers from the
south and gave back home rule and self
government to every southern s’ate. It
i» an invitation, sir, to destroy the party
upon whose shoulders rest the final per
petuity of constitutional government. It
is an invitation to desert the party in
whose hands rest the preservation of the
purity of our Anglo-Saxon civilisation. It
is an invitation to forget the sacred
teachings of our Democratic fathers and
prove ourselves unworthy to be their sons.
(Applause on the Democratic side).
"No, Mr. Chairman, we are Democrats
—trained in the school of Democracy,
taught to believe in the constitution, and
to regard the welfare of the people as
the chief concern of the republic—the
highest end and Zm of constitutional
government, and. enobled by these be
liefs, we had rather ne doorkeepers m
the house of our Democratic fathers than
td dwell in the tents of Republican spoils
and wickedness forever." (Applause on
the Democratic side).
Working For the Farmer
Georgia and Alabama are furnishing a
team of wheel horses in the effort to
have cotton bagging and ties placed on
the free list, thereby placing the farmer
of the south on an equality with ths
farmer of the west, who has his binding
twine on the free list. The<eam consists
of Judge Charles L. Bartlett, Os the Sixth
Georgia, and Judge Henry D. Clayton, of
the Third Alabama.
Had the Democratic program on the
rules fight been successful, the section of
the tariff bill relating to ties and bag
ging could have been amended and a rec
ord vote forced, but when the twenty
three Democrats joined with the Cannon
machine in adopting the Fltsgerald
amendment the possibility of placing ties
and bagging on the free list in the house
went glimmering.
It will be remembered that when the
tariff bill was being considered in the
house both Congressmen Bartlett and
Clayton made a strong effort to amend
the bill so as to admit cotton bagging
and ties free of duty, but their effort was
defeated because of the peculiar rule un
der which the bill was being considered.
They will endeavor to have the senate
amend the bill In this particular. Con
gressman Bartlett called on Senator Aid
rich, the chairman of the senate finance
committee, at his committee room last
Saturday and presented to him some
strong reasons why cotton bagging and
ties should be placed on the free list. He
also filed for the consideration of the
finance committee a written argument in
support of the proposition of free bagging
and ties, or allowing exporters of cotton
the benefit of the drawback law. The sen
ator promised Judge Bartlett that the
matter would be given careful considera
tion, and Senator Bailey, one of the Dem
ocratic members of the finance committee,
will also endeavor to have the committee
to consider and adopt the proposition.
Judge Bartlett also asked the committee
to consider the proposition of extending
the drawback provisions of the tariff law
to cotton bagging and ties. If this is
done, then the exporters of cotton baled
in imported bagging and ties will be per
mitted to receive from the treasury the
amount of duty paid on such imported
bagging and ties.
Round Bales Enjoy Drawback
In his investigation of the matter in the
treasury department. Judge Bartlett dis
covered that the exporters of cotton
packed in round bales were being allow
ed the drawback on the imported bag
ging used by them on such exported round
bale cotton, but it appears that the draw
back provision has never been extended
to the exporters of cotton packed in
i square bales, although, in both instances,
imported bagging and ties are used.
Drawback simply means that persons
who export articles manufactured from
material that has been imported and on
which duties have been paid are entitled
in some instances to receive from the
treasury 99 per cent of the duties paid on
such imported material, and in some
cases all the uties are refunded.
The amendment suggested by Judge
Bartlett provides that the drawback pro
viaion of the law shall be extended to
the exporters of cotton baled in Imported
bagging and ties, so that the duty paid
on such imported bagging and ties may
be paid back to the exporters of the
same. This would virtually mean that
about sixty-five per cent of the bagging
and ties used in this country would pay
no duty, since about that proportion of
the crop is exported, and the duty paid
for the imported bagging and ties would
be paid back on the exported cotton.
WASHINGTON, D. C„ April 21.-Sena
tor W. O. Bradley, of Kentucky, denies
the statements credited to him in a speech
he made before a negro audience in
Washington last week. He says he didn't
criticise President Taft's southern pol
icy, nor did he speak ill of former Pres
ident Roosevelt's treatment of the negro
soldiers who shot up the town of Browns
ville. He admits that he touched upon
these subjects in the course of his re
marks. but contends that his utterances
were misconstrued.
Senator Bradley's denial has been gen
erally accepted. Possibly his utterances
were misconstrued "by the persons who
heard them, and in view of his public
disclaimer there is nothing more to be
said concerning the particular incidenti
The Bradley Incident, however, offers
opportunity for comment on a custom
quite common in Washington and else
where with certain public men—the mis
quoted statesmen. There are two classes
of these—the fellow who says something
sensational or unusual for the sake ot
temporary notoriety and the fellow who
makes a brash statement for the sake of
pleasing a certain class, or locality, de
pending upon an explanation or flat denial
to set him right if needs be. Os the two
classes, the second is by far the worst
customer. He is usually a trained and
tricky politician and is dangerous be
cause of his success in fooling the people.
The fellow of the first class doesn't
hurt. Everybody soon gets on to him.
Ho is not taken seriously. They regard
his denial or explanation of a statement
as only another move to break into the
limelight—get notoriety.
The "late” president, as Colonel Roose
velt is generally refered to in Washing
ton, was a cross between the two classes.
He said things—and occasionally he did
things—to please the people. If th» oc
casion later arose he did not hesitate
to contradict the original statement, and
elect the person crediting it to him to the
Ananias club; also, he loved the lime
light. He sought notoriety, but usually
with a purpose, as instance his attack up
on Tillman. He uncorked that just at
the time the house of representatives
was censuring him, and the Tillman ex
posure had the desired effect of turning
attention from congress’ attack on the
president to the president's attack on
Tillman.
But although clearly in the wrong, Mr.
Roosevelt never denied or attempted to
correct himself regarding the Tillman
matter. Maybe he would have done so,
except that his charges were over his
name.
A Pertinent Question
Democratic senators, who are pledged
to support an income tax, are asking
themselves whether, when they vote for
such a law, they are not violating the
oaths they took to support the consti
tution.
The supreme court of the United States
has declared an income tax to be uncon
stitutional, contrary to the organic law
of the nation. This decision is, in ef
fect, a part of the laws of the land.
An Income tax being unconstitutional,
isn’t it a violation of an oath which
binds a man to support the constitution?
Senator Bailey, in offering his amend
ment, declared that he took issue with
the supreme court’s decision, and had
made no effort in his amendment to con
form to the court's objections to an in
come tax. In a word, his amendment de
fies what the highest court of the land
declares to be the constitution.
These comments are thrown out, not as
original, but as representing some of the
gossip that is now heard in Washington
anent the income tax proposition.
But There’ll Be No Income Tax
The flurry of excitement of last week
growing out of the Imagined strength of
the income tax move has, however, sub
sided to some extent. It is not believed
possible today to pass such a law through
the senate at this time. Senator Aldrich’s
statement last Monday is partly responsi
ble for this. He proved to his own and
to the satisfaction of many other Repub
licans that the present tariff bill will raise
revenue sufficient to run the government.
The conference at the residence of Sen
ator Cummins last Sunday did not develop
the strength that was expected, and today
it is stated that only ten Republicans
stand ready to vote for an Income tax
at this session. Sixteen Republican votes,
combined with the solid Democratic
strength, would be required to pass such
a law. •
Is the Court Packed?
Speaking of the Income tax recalls a
statement credited to Colonel Roosevelt,
and said to have been made by him dur
ing his administration. Ho believed in
an income tax and would have written
one on the statute books had it been left
entirely with him.
"President Roosevelt was discussing the
income tax at the white house in my
presence one day,” said a senator, repeat
ing the incident. "Some one suggested
that such a tax might again be held un
constitutional.
" ‘Never fear about that, I have a su
preme court now that will sustain such
a tax,’ the president declared with em
phasis, striking his desk.”
Fertilizer Materials Free
The Cotton Seed Crushers’ association
is said to be behind the effort to have
potash salts and sulphate of ammonia
placed on the dutiable list in the tariff
bill, with a tax of 20 per cent on their im
portation. These products are used ex
tensively in the manufacture of commer
cial fertiliser, and a* 20 per cent duty
would hit the farmers of the south world
without end.
But the farmers may rest easy for the
present. Neither product has been placed
on the dutiable list, and Commissioner T.
G. Hudson, of the Georgia department of
agriculture, left Washington early 1n
the week confident that they would re
main on the free list. He sounded senti
ment pretty generally, and was made to
believe that the senate would not disturb
either product.
The seed crushers contend that free pot
ash and free ammonia means a reduction
in the price of cotton seed, which can be
used in the manufacture of commercial
fertilizer in place of the chemical pro
ducts. They say that the price of cotton
seed will decline from 127 to 116.50 per ton
if ammonia and potash are placed on the
free list.
A 20 per cent duty on potash would
mean an ’ncrease in the cost of this pro
duct of $8 per ton. and the farmers of
Georgia alone would annually pay $400,000
more for their fertilizer. The 20 per cent
duty on ammonia would increase the
cost by another $192,000, though all of this
would not be borne by the Georgia farm
ers. •
WEEDS—USEFUL and OTHERWISE
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
There are said to be more than 110,000
different speies of flower-bearing plants
in the world, besides several thousand
that are not flower-bearing. Less than
five thousand of these have been used
by man. In the United States three hun
dred kinds are about all that enter into
the important concerns of the people. It
is said that the world uses less than onj
per cent of the inhabitants of the plant
kingdom. North America is rich in plant
species, possessing not only thousands of
kind that are Indigenous to the soil,
but other thousands that have been borne
here on the wings of commerce.
Yet with her superabundance of kinds ,
of plant life the United States has only |
about two hundred kinds that are written i
down in the catalogue of weeds; and
many of these are highly useful under
proper circumstances. For instance.
Bermuda grass, Johnson grass, crab
grass, and sweet clover get into the weed
class oftener than not. yet they are all
ueful as forage, and sweet clover makes
excellent bee pasture. There are many
weeds which have valuable medicinal
qualities, and others that make fine pot
herbs for the poorer classes in the rural
communities. Even poke-weed and pur
slaine are in favor in many localities as
substitutes for asparagus and cress.
e e-
- department of agriculture has is
sued a bulletin which is a guide for the
boy who wants to earn some pin money.
It is entitled "Weeds Used in Medicine,’’
and tells how to prepare the weeds for
market, giving approximately the prices
that can be expected. The prices paid
are not large, but the city or country
boy who has to pull the weeds anyway ■
can make (ome money while doing it.
■ • •
Burdock has a large tap root about a
foot long. This and the seeds are use
ful. The root brings from three to eight
cents a pound, according to the care used
in curing, and the seeds bring from five
to ten cents. About 50,000 pounds of bur- ■
dock root are imported every year, the
best coming from Belgium. With millions
of pounds of it going to waste every year,
and with good farmers willing to pay a
bounty for all that is dug on their plan
tations. digging burdock root and curing ,
it might be a tiptop sugestion for the 1
boy who wants to earn some money.
• • •
Dandelion is a great tonic in diseases |
of the liver and in dyspepsia. The root is
the part used in medicine, yet with dan
delion root selling at from four to six!
cents per pound, every lawn and every
field is permitted to remain covered with
it, and the American druggist has to im- i
port more than a hundred thousand J
pounds of the root to supply a demand ,
that the American small boy might sup- j
ply. In the country dandelion greens are
a prime favorite, not less for their fla
vor than for the excellent effect they
have on the human system.
• • •
One hundred and twenty-five thousand
Tension Funds and Iniquities
Editor Journal—The writer has always been
against pensions for Confederate veterans and
that is his position today, and he has his
reasons "for the faith that is in him."
(1) The Confederate soldier served a gov
ernment that ceased to exist when he laid
down his arms in 1665. He was a Confederate
soldier. For the Confederate states—"the
storm cradled nation that fell" —he fought.
His oath of enlistment bound him to serve
th'at government, and at its bidding he fought
till its armies were overwhelmed and its re- |
sources exhausted. The nation that he served
went down tft defeat and everything that he
had placed upon the altar of its success was
lost. He wears a Cross of Honor, given to
him by the United Daughters of the Confed
eracy, a glorious band of women organized
to perpetuate the memory of his heroic deeds.
From their hands he proudly accepts this
token of their appreciation, and to me it is
an all-sufficient reward for my services to
the Confederate states.
(2) The records of the Confederate states
were in large part destroyed, and there Is no
way to prevent frauds in pension applications.
Judging from the little that has come under
my personal observation I have no doubt thnt
there are hundreds of unworthy men drawing
pensions in Georgia today and I think the
judges of our courts should at every term
charge grand juries to look into this matter
and purge the pension lists. This should ap
ply especially to the list of so-called “indi
gent" veterans
(3) The pensioning of men who were per
manently disabled often works Injustice. A
veteran who by reason of having lost an arm
secures election to an office that supports
him, has no right, it seems to me, to ask
that his name be entered on the pension rcll.
(4) IT each state is expected to pension its
own soldiers and. and this seems to be the
case, should men who never served in a
Georgia regiment be paid a pension by the
state of Geirgla? Is not this being done?
(5) Georgia has generously provided a home
for indigent veterans who have no relatives
to take care of them. Is not this enough?
(6) Is not the offering of a pension under
present conditions a temptation to false
swearing? The records of a certain court tn
Georgia, which the writer can name, show
the following: In a suit for damages, the
claimant sWore that for many years previous
to his accident he had been doing all kinds
carpenter work—weatherboarding, over
head ceiling and shingling, and his average
wages were one dollar and forty cents a day.
Six months before he swore to these facts
in open court this man sent in an applica
tion for a pension, in which he stated that
because of wounds in three places in battle >
he had done no work for many years, not
even garden work, as it was thought hemor
rhage of the lungs might result from stooping
over. The judge threw the case our of court,
leaving the jury and spjectators to form their
own oplrjon as to which of the statements
was the truth. An old friend of mine once
remarked in my hearing that his observation
was tnat "most men will steal land and lie
about their tax returns.” I'm sure he might
have added, “and some will swear fttlsely to
get on a pension roll."
The Confederate soldier fought for princi
ple. Let Wm net besmirch his record by a
greedy »c*mble for a few dollars from the
state treasury as a reward for a service that
money could never have secured.
B. M. ZBTTLER.
GILLESVILLE PEOPLE
FLEECED Bl IMPOSTER
Editor Journal: I note special dispatch to
your paper from Fairmont. Ga., of ah alleg
ed imposter. Such a party visited this
place in February, this year, and under
same circumstances as at Fairmont, Ga..
fleeced people here of funds. He was a man
about fifty years of age. rather low and
stout In his make-up. He claimed to be
from Alabama.
I write this so you may publish him and
save innocent people from being Imposed on 1
by him. He should be apprehended and put
on the public roads for a period of five yearn.
J. M. GORRISON.
Gillsville, Ga.
SEEKS WHEREABOUTS
OF HER UNCLE
Editor Journal: Will you please ask thmugli
your paper if any one knows the whereabouts
of tny uucle, Titus Hiram McSwain? The last,
beard of him he left Tennessee for Texas, it j
be is living he is an old man. If be la dead. I *
would like to know where hed led. He Is my
mother's bro’.her.
Anyone who knows anything of him please
address Mrs. J. W. Gurley, 32 Jefferson St.,
Newnan. Ga.
Filling Bill
During a recent meeting of hotel men in this
City, when there was discussed certain propos
ed means of protecting hotels against "beats,”
a western bonlface told of the sad case of
one proprietor in St. Louis who had been
"done.”
Many months afterward, learning the where
abouts of the gentleman who had decampea '
without the formality of paying, the owner ,
sent his the following note:
"Dear Sir—l would esteem it a favor if you ,
would at once send me amount of your bill." ,
imagine the disgust of the hotel man when,
in a few days, he received an answer in
these terms:
"Dear Sir—Certainly. The amount of my bill
is $17.50.”— Harper's Weekly.
Evincing Great Promise
“I think your little girl will make her
mark in music.”
“Do you really!"
“Yes. She just borrowed my pencil to
mark the 'A' key on the piano." ■
pounds of rumex—the scientific name of
dock root—are imported into this coun
try every year, while millions of pounds
of the home produce waste for want of
gathering. Dock root is a favorite rem
edy tor purifying the blood and for va
rious skin diseases. The price of the
dried roots is from two to eight cents.
Couch, or dog-graas, is another common
weed that is in demand for medicinal
purposes. The United States imports
nearly the whole supply, which amounts
to a quarter-million pounds. Its fluid ex
tract is widely used in kidney and blad
der disorders. The price is from three
to seven cents.
• e •
Even the unseemly pokeweed has a
commercial value. Both the roots and the
dried berries are salable, the dried roots
selling at from two to five cents a pound,
and the berries at about five cant*. xuaF
are used in skin and blood
Fox-glove is a fugitive from the flower
garden, and in many places has lost its
caste as a flower by allowing itself to
associate with weeds. The medical ns.n>e
is digitalis, and it is widely used at st
lections of the heart. The annual im
portations of digitalis amount to some
60,000 pounds. The American product
has been but little used, although it has
been assayed and found to be fully equal
to the European article.
• * •
The despised mullein is always ready to
contribute its share to the relief ot the
ills that beset mankind. It is used in
coughs %nd catarrh, to quiet nervous ir
ritation, relieve pain and check inflamma
tion. It is said that the dried leaves make
an ideal smoke for nasal catarrh. Most of
the verbascum, or mullein flowers, which
the druggists sell comes from Germany.
The price is variable—ranging from 25
to 75 cents a pound.
• • •
Lobelia, tansy, and catnip all have their
medicinal values. Lobelia seeds are worth
from fifteen to twenty cents a pound, and
the dried tops from three to eight cents.
When the physician prescribes tanacetum
the average patient thinks of some rare
drug. Yet it is nothing more than tan
sy, of which some 30.000 pounds are an
nually imported. The price of the dried
tops is from three to six cents a pound.
Catnip tastes better when called ca
taria, and probably has a better effect on
the patient. The price paid for its dried
leaves and flowering tops is from two to
eight cents a pound. Boneset is a f«.vor
ite drug when called Eupatorium. Wear
ing such a high-sounding name it for
gets that it ever was a weed, and the
older doctors will promptly declare that
it is about as near an all-round remedy
as medical science knows. From two to
eight cents a pound is the figure there
is in the business of gathering and dry
ing boneset flowers and leaves. Dried
hoarhound leaves are worth from thi-ee to
eight cents a pound, yet America imports
about 150,000 pounds a year to supply the
demand.
• • •
The yarrow looks like a valuable drug
when wearing its alias of achillea. It is
a stimulant tonic and is often used.
Blossoming on nearly every farm, it yet
requires importations to supply the de
mand. The blessed thistle is worth as
high as ten cents a pound. It is cultiva
ted In Germany.
• • •
Jamestown weed is a sort of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As stranonium tt
Is one of the most valuable plants in the
pharmacopoeia. It is then an honor
to the potato family, of which it Is a
member. About 150,000 pounds of Its
leaves and 10,000 pounds of its seeds are
annually imported, under this rams.
When called “jimson weed” it is about
the most ill-smelling, and pesky of ail
the herbs of the field. From two to sev
en cents a pound is paid for the dried
leaves and seeds.
• • •
In addition to these there are many
other common weeds which have a com
mercial value, among them the worm
teed, mustard, poison hemlock, fleabane,
the gum plant and the grindelia. TherO
are many weeds which are highly poi
sonous, and hundreds of lives are lost
annually as a result of eating them. Even
the ill-smelling rattleweed is poisonous.
Many weeds are prolific beyond expres
sion. For instance, it is estimated that a
large stalk of purslalne will have as many
as a million seeds. Some have been
found that go a quarter million abovs
that. If every seed of purslalne should
grow into a plant it would be but a
few years until the entire surface of the
earth would be covered with purslalne.
a • •
City weeds are usually thoroughly cos
mopolitan, and are globe-trotters. The
great majority of them began their ca
reer in Asia. From there they were car
ried by the routes of travel into Europe,
and from Europe they were transferred
to America. It is said there are many
more varieties of European and Asiatic
weeds near the American seaboards than
in the inland sections.
• • •
The remarkable law of adaptation shows
up with cameo-like clearness among the
weeds. Accustomed to fighting their own
battles, to overcoming the hardest sort of
obstacles, they have become self-reliant,
and can thrive under almost any kind of
environment. On the other hand, some of
the staple crops have been coddled and
cosseted so long that they have learned
to lean almost entirely on the support ot
man. It is said that beans, tobacco, lentils,
corn, and wheat have reached that stage
where they would become extinct if man
ceased to cultivate them.
A weed has been called a plant out of
place. Sometimes it is quite without hon
or in Its own country, yet of the royal
purple in alien lands. New England likes
the little pink-tipped English daisy and
cultivates it with tender hand. Old Eng
land detests it as a troublesome lawn
weed. The American farmer boy who
never brought blisters to his hands fight
ing mullein was the son of a careless
farmer, while in Irish greenhouses that
weed is carefully cultivated as “the Amer
ican flannel plant.” West of the Missisi
sippi there are places where yarrow Js
highly prized under the alias of “lace
flower." Yet every eastern farmer is put
to to get rid of it.
• • •
Some plants that are highly prized in
one generation are worse than rubbish
in another. Rib grass was brought to
New England as forage, as was also the
ox-eye daisy. Garlic got its start in
America by being cultivated in the gar
dens of the early setttlers at German
town. Pennsylvania. Chicory was
brought to Massachusetts by Governor
Bowdoin. for greens. Ketlma, caraway,
and morning glories are all runaways
from the garden. On the other hand some
highly prized plants of today were re
jected by our grandfathers. The tomato
was known as the "love apple." and not
until 1829 was it regularly sold in Phila
delphia, though it appeared in the New
Orleans markets in 1812.
■ • •
In the early days, when earth was used
as steamship ballast many weed stowa
ways entered America. One hundred and
three different kinds of weeds have been
found to have come in a single cargo
from Argentina.
• • •
It Is expected that the day will come
when weeds will be prized here as they
are In Germany. Only recently a Louisi
ana enterprise has undertaken to get oil
from cockleburrs, and it Is the prophaev
of some that the cockleburr will become s
regular farm crop.—(Copyright, 1909, by
Frederic J. Haskin.)