Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, October 12, 1909, Page 8, Image 8

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    8
The Semi-Weekly Journal.
Entered at tt« Atlca a ro«tntf!re «» M«H Mat.
tar «C the Secocd Clara.
JAMES R. GRAY,
Editor and General Manager.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICK.
Twelre wnth*
I «W amtire
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Ageste wanted at every poatofflee. Überai
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♦ WEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta. Ga. ♦
Tuesday, October 12, 1909.
Rockefeller is r<;«rted to be "rubber
log” at the rubber trust.
Thirteen--ent cotton will manage some
how to survive the hoodoo.
The freight on lemons l as been increas
ed. Too many handled, probably.
« ; "Big gain in sale of fertiliser tags."
’ Another prospertir sign heard from.
Young man. don’t waste your time on
• Latin and Greek. Learn aviation.
I Dispatches say the president is taking
on weight. What! No simple diet yet?
, I America has won the balloon cup.
There are few left for her to win now.
If prasiAent Taft comes to north Geor
gia. he'U get the mountain air and dew.
Foor old Spain is still having her trou
‘ bles with the Moors. Only her bull fights
remain.
The Indianapolis News libel suit Is set
for next Monday. "What suit is that?"
I you ark.
Mr. Taft Is roughing It In the Sierras.
1 By roughing it is meant living on a sim
ple diet.
W. CL T. U. is to wage war on "real”
beer. National issue is thus localised.
What ts beer?
Comer and Jones are at It again in Ala
bama. Still, the state needs some kind of
excitement now.
Senator Aldrich seems to be a prophet
Without honor among the Democrats of
hi* own state.
Complaint is made that there are not
enough West Point officers to go round.
■ Call on the militia.
Headline suggests that a pole-cat hasn’t
nine lives. No need. The one it has is
sufficiently protected.
Ths county fair is stilt interesting even
without the Wright brothers and the Cler
mont and Half Moon.
1901 Is a year of record-breaking, of the
Kth of genius, and marks the decided
terment of the world.
Automobiles are being used for every
thing. Who knows but in time they'll
deliver the week’s wash?
A Chicago court has ruled that a man
has the right to eject his moth er-In-law.
probably so; but has he the might?
It is reported that Bryan’s daughter is
a candidate for congress Here's hoping
she won't have to run as often as her
father.
“Fifty miles of stage riding for Presi
dent Taft." Seems hard on the president,
but consider the coach, with the preai
dent's Increased weight.
The whole staff of Georgia colonels is
coming to Atlanta. We mean the colo
nels who a-e officially so. not the 100.0 QC
K * or so who are not.
Woman in divorce suit alleges her hue
bans tried to throw a red-hot stove on her
' and burned her bonnet. Laxter would cer
tainly constitute cruel treatment.
How the country does miss the Roose
velt verdict on certain sttuationa now
* teteresting it. How be would use his
I stick on Ballinger and the other reaction
aries upon whom President Taft smiles so
pleasantly.
The press of the country is beginning to
criticise the president The general crit
icism is that Mr Taft Is honest, but too
easily led by powerful men. too willing
to concede a point on the gentleman’s
belief that the other party to the agree
ment will make a gentleman's concession
tn turn. The gentlemanly obligation,
however is generally one-sided, and ths
gentleman ends by being Imposed on.
PEARY’S PAINFUL SILENCE.
What on earth has become of
those proofs which Commander
Peary was eoing to present to
an impatient world, proving be
yond all peradventure that his
rival had never been to the north
pole, and that he. the doughty
commander, was the only white
Tnan who Lad ever been there?
While the irreverent paragraph
ffs are declaring that from all
the evidence even Peary has not
shown himself to be “so blamed
white,” and while Dr. Cook, with
becoming modesty and self-re
straint. is touring the country,
telling the people in a graphic
and convincing manner of his ex
periences in seeking the pole, the
Peary person still mopes ana
fumes on the coast of Maine, con
stantly threatening, but never
performing.
THE CONDITION OF THE TREASURY.
In another column, we print the report of Alonzo Richardson
& Co., the certified public accountants, who were employed
by Governor Brown to investigate and report the condition of the
state treasury.
From a superficial examination of this report, it appears that
the accountant has discharged his duty faithfully and honestly
and that the figures gjvcn are accurate in so tar as such figures
can be known at this time, and that other figures, given as esti
mates. are based upon the personal opinion of the accountant and
only given as such. It is easy to believe that these estimates of
the accountan. are entirely conservative, and that he has not over
stepped the mark of safety in forecasting the probable receipts
for the current year.
Without stopping at this time to analyze the report or criti
cise the conclusions therein reached, we wish to call attention, in
passing, to one or two pertinent facts disclosed.
The appropriation to the common school fund for 1909 is
$250,000 more than for 1908. and for the purchase of the Western
and Atlantic railroad terminals at Chattanooga. $69,000. This
latter item ha.> not been expended and probably will not be unless
the next session of the legislature gives definite direction to it.
These two items more than make up the excess of $212,067.22
shown for 1909 over 1908.
The report shows that on January 1. 1908, the balance due
on the school fund was $932,603.20, that on January 1, 1909, the
balance due on the school fund was $726,266.28. In other words,
that within the year the state had paid some $200,000 more on its
obligation to the school teachers than for the year previous.
It is quite apparent from the report that on account of the
increased appropriations of the legislature for common schools,
and counting the $69,000 appropriated for the purchase of the
Western and Atlantic railroad terminals at Chattanooga as an
appropriation, although it has not been used, there will be an in
creased deficit on the first of January, 1910, over that which
existed on the first of January, 1908, but this is hardly surprising
in view of the increased appropriation the legislature has given
to the eomnioi schools.
What the amount of this deficit will be it is impossible at
this time to tell. The accountant himself, as previously stated,
estimates the revenues for the year, but necessarily such estimates
must be pretty largely guess work, since there are no exact
figures on which they can be based.
It will be noted that this report utterly explodes the state
ment given out some weeks ago that on the first of January, 1910,,
there would a deficit of something like $2,000,000.
It may be that the estimates given by the accountant are
approximately correct, and if so, there will be a deficit shown in
the condition of the treasury on the first of January. 1910, but
certainly then is nothing in the situation to warrant the extrava
gant assertions that have been made that the state treasury is
virtually in a condition of bankruptcy.
Accompanying the report is a statement issued by Governor
Brown in which he renews his recommendation that an amend
ment to the constitution be adopted so as to permit the issuance
of $600,000 of bonds to be used for the payment of school
teachers.
We cannot discover either the wisdom or the necessity for
such an unprecedented measure for paying the ordinary school
appropriations of the state. Such a thing has never been done
before, and we certainly trust the state will never find it neces
sary to resort to such a radical expedient to pay its obligations.
It may be necessary in the future to cut down the appro
priations of the state, but we cannot imagine that it will ever
become necessary to issue bonds to pay current debts.
TENNESSEE'S PROHIBITION LAW.
The decision of the chancellor in the equitable proceedings
brought in Tennessee to determine the right to ship liquors into
other states, by which that right was upheld, has revived a num
ber of mail-order houses in that state, and at the same time it has
piqued public curiosity to know how it comes about that the sale
of liquor has been resumed in Tennessee.
In the first plaee, Tennessee’s prohibition law is different
from the state-wide prohibition laws in Georgia, Alabama and
some other states. In Tennessee the provision of the law is that
liquor cannot be sold within four miles of any school house, and
it is in this sense alone that it is a general law. • It was the exten
sion, all over the state of local laws to the same
effect. It is of course difficult to find any place in Tennessee, four
miles in every direction from a school house, where anyone would
wish to sell hquor. There was such an “oasis” on top of a re
mote mountain up to a few weeks ago, and this solitary resort did
a land-office business until it was destroyed by fire.
What is more to the point, the Tennessee law does not
prohibit the storing of liquors, as the Georgia law does, and
hence the action brought by those who had whisky stored to de
termine whether they had a right to sell and ship this whisky
outside of the state.
The omnibus provisions of the interstate commerce clause of
course lies at the root of the decision. One view of the law, in
favor of the liquor dealers, was that if it was not unlawful to
store liquors in Tennessee, it was not unlawful to ship it out of
the state because any act making such a shipment illegal would
be in itself unconstitutional, as interfering with interstate com
merce.
Closely connected with this view was the other that th? sale
was not consummated until the goods had been delivered to the
purchaser in another state.
Those who oppose this construction maintain that the sale is
consummated when the goods are delivered to the agent of the
common jarripp for transportation out of the state, and they take
the position that this consummation of the sale within the state
is illegal when made, as it generally is made, within four miles
of a school h'>use.
The niceties of the law involved may well be confusing, but
the point which the general public will most readily understand,
but which is most frequently overlooked, is that the Tennessee
law is primarily a school law—prohibiting the sale of liquor, or
other intoxicants, within four miles of any school house.
HEARST TO TEST HIS STRENGTH AGAIN.
When William Randolph Hearst announced to crowds of his
waiting constituents on Friday morning that he would accept an
independent nomination for mayor of New York, provided his asso
ciates on the tickets were Republican fusion nominees, he fired the
first gun in what bids fair to be one of the most spectacular may
oralty races ever run in Gotham.
Interest in the outcome is not confined to New York, for the
ballot which decides whether or not Hearst shall be put in control
of the political destiny of the metropolis will be bound to shed
such a glare of light on the candidate’s strength or weakness that
his independent party will either be eliminated once for all from
the political game or will becomce at last a real power in national
affairs.
By announcing his candidacy for the mayoralty, Hearst de
cided that the time had come for/a “show down,” and the result
of that exposure of the exact manner in which his friends and en
emies will line up is bound to be watched with the keenest atten
tion throughout the entire country.
Indications, it is true, point to an overwhelming victory for
Justice William J. Gaynor, the Democratic nominee, and this feel
ing eliminates to some extent the local excitement attendant upon
contests upon which the issue may hang upon the turning of a
straw, but the race is just as interesting to the American citizen
outside New York as if it were the closest ever run, for it will en
able them to “size up” William Randolph Hearst at his true value
and estimate his exact strength. If he is bluffing, his bluff will be
publicly called, for there is no escaping the “show down” once
the game has begun. If. on the other hand, he has a following
strons enough to put. him in command of the political situation in
New York, the people want to know it; the general public is
“from Missouri” nearly all tlie time, and on this occasion the
public is awaiting the outcome with complacent interest, for it is
going to be “shown.”
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1909.
Hon. Thomas G. Lawson
T)efends Sanitarium
EATONTON, Ga., Oct. 5. 1909.
Editor of Atlanta Journal;
In a recent editorial on the subject of
pellagra, the statement that "it is now
reported ouicially that ten cases have
been recognized in Atlanta and 225 cases
at the state sanitarium’’ is ambigious and
misleading; many people Infer from the
statement that there are now that many
cases of the dread disease in the sanita
rium, whereas, in truth, there are only
23. I suppose that you meant to state that
from the time the disease first appeared
in the sanitarium, under a different
name, more than 25 years ago; there have
been as many as 225 cases. That state
ment is probably true, as very many cases
have been brought there and the deaths
resulting from it this year amount to 41.
Ptease allow me to make a further
statement in regard to the sanitarium.
Since certain editors seem to have re
covered fro tn the hysteria caused by my
mention of the state sanitarium It is
hoped that the time has come when the
truth may have audience. And In ordex
that the truth may be known, I state the
following proposition. I do so, however,
with some misgivings; not as to theif
truthfulness, nor as to my ability to
maintain them by viiid proof, but as to
the readiness of those people whose minds
have been poisoned and distempered by
falsehoods to believe them.
First—Notwithstanding much sensational
stuff has been printed about the preva
lence of tuberculosis at the sanitarium
it can be easily shown that the percent
age of deaths from that disease in the
institution is lower than it is In a ma
jority of such instlutions throughout the
United States, and in many of which
their equipment for handling the disease
is far superior to our own. Compare fox
instance, the government hospital for the
Insane at Washington, D. C. The per
centage of deaths from tuberculosis in
that Institution for the year ending June
10, 1908, was 15.4. Compare, also, the
asylums for the insane in the sate ot
New York. In her institutions the per
centage of deaths from tuberculosis in
1908 was 16.66.
You will perceive that I take for the
comparison the wealthiest government In
the world and the wealthiest state In the
American union. They make ample pro
vision for the care and treatment of the
Insane, while Georgia does not. Now,
mark you: The percentage of deaths from
tuberculosis tn the Georgia sanitarium
for the year 1908 was in its white popu
lation, 13.6. The death rate among the ne
groes should be compared only with the
death rate in southern institutions, m
there are but few negroes In the asylum'-
of the north and west. And so, if I had
space. I might extend this comparison to
all the institutions for the Insane
throughout the United States with the
result that Georgia sanitarium would he
found, in this respect, in or near the front
rank.
Second. The majority of the attendants
in the Georgia sanitarium eoual to
those you will find anywhere in diligence,
humanity, gentleness and fidelity to duty
and ’n their general character for Integ
rity and trustworthiness they do not fall
below the standard of character of tho«e
who assail them so bltteriy. They are
svnerior to manv of their traducers. Mis
takes are sometimes unavoidably made in
selecting new attendants because their fit
ness for the pAritinn 's unknown until
they see tried. Tbe Institution cannot go
In*o the community and make choice of
Its attendant" and enrere them to serve.
Third. Cons'derinr the means at its dis
posal the Georgia sanitarium Is as wel’
managed as anv Institution of Its kind
tn the United States This refers, of
course, to the local officers and not to the
trustees.
To anv man whe‘ rveSers truth to false
hood and aensstlAnaVsm these proposi
tions can be easljv demonstrated.
Verv trvlv,vours.
THO 9. G! LAWSON. Trustee
What A SoeWM’s View
Editas Atlant* ,Tonrn«l: The self-»nnolnte<i
X»w VnrV ndtnaters es the Old Pemorr-tlr nsr
nrodnaed »n elaborate renort concrrn'nc
which the Atncr’eMi nreoe here given hut h
penclre of mention—Mee«nae of its Inronee
qnence. Of*»n have oth<- r enrotors of tbe old
proved Its re*reh”*t"*<on.
The pirtv h«« nh«tr»otlona enonrb. the def*
clencv Is In the concrete. Tt hne know’odge and
crudeness abundant, but no art In performance.
For the Hat h»lf eentnry It h«a ah own Incapaci
ty for governmental man-vement. when occa
aionally nlacod fn power. The Republican party
h«a no tr-r'daMon «a tn any of the Tleinocrattc
plena or latdera. To cnntfn'irily whin the na
tions! democratic party Is merest amusement.
INADEQUACY OF EOARDS OF ARBITRATION
The award of the board of arbitrators in the tax dispute be
tween the Western Union Telegraph company and the state of
Georgia, whereby the assessment made by Comptroller General
Wright of $950,000 was reduced to $500,000, forcibly illustrates
the utter inadequacy of the present method of arriving at an
adjudication of differences between the state and corporations
doing business in its confines and under its laws. At best the
system of appointing arbitrators and an umpire as a last court
of resort is but a makeshift.
In the present instance the subject matter under dispute was
the value of the franchise enjoyed by the Western Union Tele
graph company in the state of Georgia. There is no one problem
of municipal or state government over which more discussion has
been waged than that of franchise values. Originally given away
for the very asking, students of political economy have come to
realize that the franchise is a valuable asset, to be disposed of
sparingly and to be safeguarded in every possible way. The
methods of arriving at the value of a franchise have been various
and always will be in the very nature of things. In the case of
the Western Union, Comptroller General Wright’s method of
fixing a valuation is set forth in the dissenting report of C. Mur
phey Candler arbitrator for the state, as follows:
“The total mileage of the company in 1909 in the United
States is 1,367.859. The total mileage in Georgia is 32,368, equal
to .023662 per cent of the total. The net income for 1908 in the
United States was $5,397,058. This net capitalized at 6 per cent
is $89,950,966. Georgia’s proportion of this .023662 per cent is
$2,128,509.
“Taking this as the ascertained value of the entire property of
the company in Georgia and deducting its sworn valuation and re
turn of its tangible property in the state, $816,895, leaves
$1,311,614, as the value of its franchises exercised in Georgia.
This valuation is arrived at by capitalizing actual net earnings.
“Taking the company’s capitalization, the outstanding capital
stock is $99,817,100, at date of assessment, quoted at 77—mar
ket value $ 76,859,167
Outstanding bonds, par value 38,645,000
market value stock, plus bonds at par ....$115,504,167
“Georgia’s proportion of entire mileage is .023662 per cent.
Taking this per cent of the above ascertained value of the entire
property of the company, including franchises, the value of the
property in Georgia is $2,733,059. The tangible property of the
company in Georgia is returned under oath at $816,895, which de
ducted from the above leaves $1,916,164 as the value of its fran
chises exercised in Georgia.
“The comptroller general testifies that it was upon these
figures, and according to these bases he made his assessment of
$950,000.”
This plan of arriving at the proportion of the state’s values
of whole properties has been sustained by the supreme court of
the United States as fair and equitable. And yet, despite the
fact that the burden of showing this assessment to be incorrect
was on the Western Union and the evidence introduced was hazy
and circimstantial, the terms of the award practically cut the
assessment in half. What the state of Georgia needs is a board
of assessors, with well-defined duties and stipulated salaries, who
shall, among other tilings, pass on just such disputes as the fore
i going. . 1
ARE TODAY’S JOKES BETTER THAN THE OLD? IT DEPENDS,
WRITES LEW DOCKSTADER, KING OF MINSTRELS
BL LEW DOCKSTADER.
King of American Minstrels.
Are the new minstrel jokes better than
the old?
It's a question.
Lots of jokes are good when they’re
new. They’d get a laugh today as w’eH
as thej- did 50 years ago if you hadn’t
happened to have heard them.
I would say emphatically that a good
joke even if it’s as old as the hills if
SAY BUN&STARTER • WHEN AM A NEW □’OAK AGUE 3OA K?
A r ‘A i
you haven't heard it is better than a
poor new one. *
“Why does a hen cross the road?”
It isn’t true that Noah kicked a slat
out of his cradle the first time he heard
that one, but it is pietty old. Still if
it was new to you, you'd laugh at tt.
It's funny how a joke can go down
the line for years, be handed around back
and forth on the stage, told by traveling
men, printed in the comic papers and the
Woonsocket Weekly, and yet you never
happen to heart It. Then you hear it and
think it’s new.
Here’s a bunch of them that used to be
“screams’ In the late 40s:
End man: Dey wah a runaway down
town dis mawnin’. A hoss run breakneck
down de street, a little dawg sittin’ on
his tail.
Middleman: What! A little dog sat
the horse’s tail?
Endman: No, suh, de dawg sit on his
own tail.
Endman: Me an’ my gal went out Tid
in’ last Sunday in a one-seat buggy. She
weighs fo’ hunderd poun’s an’ she filled
up he w’hole seat. I had ter ride in de
whip-socket.
Endman: Ah ast my gal if she wanted
some peaches an' she et 27.
Middleman: Ate 27! She must have liked
them.
Endman: She said she liked ’em fust
rate, but dat de seeds scratched 'er
throat.
Middleman: Your uncle’s death must
have grieved you a great deal. Tambo.
Endman: Yes. sur, it grieved de whole
fam’ly. Fadder cried and brudder cried,
hut I wuss’n any ob ’em. His clothes
wouldn’t fit me.
Middleman: Can you ♦ 11 me. sir, what
Suppose we permit th* old party to vanleb and
trv other methods. The New York Sun. the
great friend of Mr. Tilden end frequently aid
ing t» 1 party since, on September 14 editortally
deetga itee It u» tbne “Immutable Democracy.
•bowk t that way back to the time of W. R.
Morris m. the great Illinois Democratic tariff
champ on. the party baa thwarted the tariff re
former* by It* congressional votes and division*.
We all know what it recently did In that mat
ter. Hercules, notwithstanding bls strength, re
fused to waste bls strength by striking st the
shadow of Medusa. So also President Taft, lu
his Chicago Itinerant speech, omitted to dtseua*
Detaix-ratlc sayings or doing—that was too easy
—but be extendedly assailed tbe Socialists, who,
to um his own words, were “growing stronger
end stronger.”
Thereby hangs a tale of wisdom. The Social
ists denounce and mention wrongs and besides
propose logical, scientific and patriotic remedies,
and hence rhe alarm of onr worthy president.
Men of the south, yon have too long been In
hopeless defeat. Study socialism, adopt it, and
ten years socialism end the Socialist party will
annihilate tbe Republican party.
Respectfully. WILLIAM O. WILLIAMS.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Gay Deceiver.
The hammock, hitched beneath the bluff.
Soon tenches to be humble:
One moment yon are safe enough,
The next you take a tumble.
♦
ffS, '' • ? * 7 '- •■”v' *j
LEW DOCKSTADER.
is the greatest race in the world?
Endman: No. suh. Ah can’t. What is
de greates race in de wold?
Middleman: The human race, you igno
ramus.
Middleman: What smells the most in a
drug store?
Endman, after a moment’s serious
thought: It’s yo’ nose.
• <i i a—
Endman: Yo’ dowg’s got fleas.
Middleman: Sir. you are insulting
That dog sleeps with me.
Endman: Mebby dat’s where he got
’em.
Humorous stories were early a feature
of minstrelsy, probably from the first
performance. Here Is one that I have
traced back to 185 T
“Two Irishmen were guests at a sum
mer hotel. The mosquitoes bit them so
hard they summoneu the landlord, who
told them to put out their light They
did so. and a moment later a lightning
bug flew to the window. ‘lt’s no use.'
said one of the Irishmen. “They’re com
ing now with lanterns.’ ”
Sometimes after a joke has been dead
about 50 years a minstrel man will pick
tt up and spring it as new. Well, it will
be new to most everyone by then, and he
gets a laugh with It. Which seems to
prove that some of these “old boys,” as
they call them on the stage, weren’t so
bad, after all.
It’s a question what is the oldest min
strel joke. Nbbody knows. Frank Du
mont of my company has made a long
study of this, interviewing al! the old
timers he meets, but he hasn’t struck the
oldest yet. But minstrel shows date back
to 1843, so it’s no wonder.
OIL CURES INDIGESTION;
OLIVE OR COTTON SEED
Mr. L. T. Wllkinz, a well-known citi
zen of College Park, has a cure for indi
gestion that he wants to give to suffer
ing humanity through the columns of The
Journal. It Is as follows:
Take three teaspoonsful of olive oil
during each meal. It elive oil is too ex
pensive. refined cotton seed oil will do
just as well. Drink no water for an hour
before or meals.
Mr. Wilkins declares that ten years
ago he was a physical wreck, caused
by dyspepsia. It developed into acute in
digestion, and he was given up to die by
I several good doctors.
“But I am well and healthy and hearty
row, and can eat anything I like,” he
exclaims with enthusiasm. “How did I
28 YEARS AGO ATLANTIANS
SAW FIRST ELECTRIC LIGHTS
Thursday evening marked the 28th anni
versary of the occasion when Atlanta
witnessed its first electric light and many
citizens of the city will recall with In
terest the exhibition.
The first electric lights ever operated in
Atlanta were brought here by Sells Broth
ers’ eircus and although they were em
ployed to light up the show grounds and
tents they were considered such an in
teresting innovation at the time that the
circus gave as much bill poster space to
an advertisement of them as it did to
the bareback ridars. .
The novelty attracted thousands. Many
church-going folks who only attend “to
see the animals" were afforded a double
excuse to take in the performance. They
had an opportunity to personally examine
the greatest scientific invention of the
age. and from all accounts they applied a
scrutinizing examination, for several re-
They'll Put the Lid on Taft
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MEXICAN SOMBRERO TO BE PRESENTED TO PRESIDENT TAFT.
EL PASO, Tex.—lt has remained for
Texas to put the lid on President Taft.
The lid is a $250 Mexican sombrero, heav
ily trimmed with raid and silver strands
from Mexican mines.
It "will be presented to him by the Ohio
society of this city Octooer 16, when Taft
is here. The crown of the sombrero is
24 Inches high and the brim 2 1-2 feet in
* Here’s one of the old favorites which
the old-times speak of affectionately:
“Why is a chicken on a fence like *
penny. Because its head's on one side
and tail’s on the other.”
Another joke of rare old age that has
made countless thousands laugh is:
“What makes more noise than a pig un
der a gate? Two pigs.”
Yon II be surprised to know that the
joke auouT the ben crossing the street
isn't very old—only about 25 years.
The puni and conundrum were might?
popular with eur grandfathers. They
screamed over both. Unless a pun to
day is an exceptionally clever one, with
some definite bearing on the conversa
tion, carrying with its some point, an au
dience may groan. |
A few conundrums go a long way
some of them have gone from the Mexi
can war down to the Spanish war.
In the first minstrel shows the musi
cians. vocalists and everybody else on
I the stage in the first part joined in the
i jokemaking. It was as common forth«
cornet player or drummer to engage in
conversation with the middleman as for
; the en ’man. One of their jokes was:
■ “W?»y am I like a young widow?”
For fear the audience might ndt under
stand, the middleman would repeat: “Why
are you like a young widow? I am
obliged to confess I do not know. Kind
ly tell us why you are like a young
: widow.”
The answer to that was: “Because I
do not s»ay long tn black.”
The civil war brought out a lot of new
jokes that were popular in those days.
Sam Sharpley used to tear holes in a
big handkerchief while delivering his
monolog; then, poking his face through
the largest hole, he would say: “The
innocent cause «f the war.” It does not
sound funny now. but audiences used to
shri< k and scream.
Another famous civil war joke was one
of George Christy’s. He advised Lincoln
tsf w uy hickory nuts. “We kin crack ’em
open an’ keep de kernels an’ Throw de
shells in de enemy's camp.” he said.
Solomon said there was nothing new un
der the sun, but there are many new
jokes sprung every year, the wise man’s
statement to the contrary.
He was a grouch. So would any man
, be who had as many wives as he had.
learn the cure? Well, nobody recommend
ed it to me. so I reckon you might say
It was to begin with an experiment. But
the selection of olive oil was prompted
by Its known efficacy as an aid to dl- ■
geatlon, so it was not altogether a chance
shot.'* - t
Abstinence from water for an boor be
fore and after meals is of the utmost im
portance, says Mr. Wilkins. "If the stom
ach is burdened with a quantity of water
while the process of digestion is going *
on,” says he. "fermentation sets in, and
the whole process is deranged.”
Though well past middle age. Mr. Wil
kins is healthy, hale and hearty, a fine
example of what the simple. Inexpensive
remedy has done for a dyspeptic wreck.
r /
celved severe shocks because of too closo
friendship with the apparatua
Park Commisloner W. C. Puckett, who
recalls the occasion and who is Friday
relating an account of it to all his friends,
has a vivid recollection of the event He
was quite active in politics in those days
and the circus with its superstition-in
spiring electric lights came to town on
the same day that the vote was being
cast in the famous Colquitt-Norwood gu
bernatorial election. This was on October
7. 1881.
The circus pitched its tents on a vacant
lot just opposite the capltol on the north
ern side of East Hunter street and it is
said that a caravan of people journeyed
here from several adjoining counties,
some arriving days in advance of the effi*
CUB.
This exhibition occurred several yean
before Atlanta began using elecrticlty tor
illumination purposes.
I diameter. Its weight is in. keeping with
the tout ensemble of the whole outfit
when the president dons it, for it tips the
beam ..t 12 pounds. Taft, when he gets
' the hat will be clothed literally from
I head to foot by Texans. At the Repub
-11 lican convention last year the Texas del-
| eg at ion gave him a huge pair of trousers
>. constructed by Texas tailors of wool from
11 Texas-grown sheep.