About Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920 | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1909)
4 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. SUBSCRIPTION PRICK praira aoatba - ’V* fa Tkraa ■aatba ami waratr Jooraal to gabUabad ja ? taaadaj aad Friday, and to mallad by iba abort art raatea ft* aarty daft may. It eaataiaa aewa from all o»ar tba a teaoabt by epactal leaned wftoa late_o«r rffic.. It baa a staff of dta-lnriteted with airoac dapartmeota of spacial ralaa to U>a barna aad tfte ram. Agents wanted at every pcetofflea. Liberal pa«rniaelra allowad. Oetftt free. Tta naly trareUn* r*Prwmtatlm 7 ate J. A. Bryan. A r. Belton. C. C. Coyis M H Gilreath and be responsible only for money paid to the ebo.e Mne4 tnroprMßtattvtß. _ at ■ t tt > t ts » A ♦ NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS* ♦ The label used for addressing ♦ ♦ your paper shows the time your ♦ ♦ subscription expiree. By renewing ♦ ♦ at leant two weeks before the date ♦ ♦ on thin label, you inaure regular ♦ ♦ servlea. ♦ ♦ In ordering paper changed, be ♦ ♦ sure to mention you old. an well an ♦ ♦ your new. address If on a rural ♦ ♦ routs, please give the route num- ♦ ♦ bar. ♦ ♦ We cannot enter subscription* to * ♦ begin with back numbers. Remit- ♦ ♦ tance should bo sent by postal ♦ ♦ order, or registered mail. ♦ ♦ Address all orders and notices ♦ •O for this department to THE SEMI- ♦ ♦ 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.)
