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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
* ATLANTA, GA., 5 K03TH FOESYTH ST.
Entevfed at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter ol
the Second Class.
JAMES B. GRAY,
* h President and Editor.
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Atlanta, Ga.
—‘ ——
A Long Step in the Right Direction.
By its enactment of the AndersoH-Millffi' tax
equalization bill, th Legislature has taken long step
toward placing the State’s fiscal affairs on a just and
businesslike basis. If this measure has its defects,
time will discover them and experience will point
the way to needful changes but the important fact
is that a constructive beginning has been made and
a great barrier in the path of Georgia’s development
removed. Upon the adoption of some adequate plan
of tax reform, hung scores of vital issues—the pay
ment of school teachers, the support of public insti
tutions, the carrying out of urgent enterprises in be
half of agricultural, educational and social welfare;
indeed, upon this one far-reaching question hung the
good name and the integrity of the state. -
The point had teen reached where public needs
in Georgia so fa • exceeded public revenues that the
State was unable to discharge its plainest duties to
the people. The gap between appropriations and in
come was growing continually wider. One of two
things had to be done; appropriations had to be cut
to the extent of paralyzing the State’s normal activ
ities or the income had to be increased. The fair
est and simplest means to this latter end lay in the
establishment of a businesslike system under which
all citizens and all counties would pay their rightful
share of taxes, a system which will inevitably tend
to lighten the average burden of taxation and at the
same time assure the State adequate funds.
The House and the Senate are to be congratula
ted on having agreed upon a measure that will bring
this important end to pass. They have thus opened
the way to the orderly solution of many problems
that lie at the'very heart of our common interests
and that would have grown more complex and des
perately dangerous had they been neglected. We
have reason to hope that as the result of equality
of taxation among individuals and among counties,
the school teachers will hereafter be promptly paid,
that puhlic institutions will not be stinted of the bare-
necessities of their subsistence, that plans for the
development of our natural resources will not be de
layed or abandoned, that measures looking to social
betterment will not be pigeoned-holed for the lack
of a few thousand dollars and that Georgia will move
forward and upward at a pace that truly represents
her natural wealth and her people’s ideals.
Every member of the House and the Senate who
worked for the enactment of a bill that would re
lieve the State of its financial embarrassment is en
titled to the public’s gratitude; and it is but just in
this connection to note particularly >the faithful serv
ice of Mr. Anderson, president of the Senate, and of
the decisive service of Mr. Burwell, speaker of the
House, whose vote for tax equalization tvhen a tie
arose made possible the measure’s passage.
The self-made man should never forget to make
himself agreeable.
Progress in Mexico.
Unofficial though they be, the friendly relation
ships that have been established between the provis
ional Mexican government and the President’s spe
cial envoy, John Lind, are distinctly encouraging.
They serve at least to cool those feverish imagina
tions which foreshadowed all manner of new difficul
ties, if not perils, for Mr. Lind’s visit to the trou
blous republic. More than that, they afford a basis
for frank and quiet counselling that may lead to
positive good.
Within forty-eight hours after his arrival in
Mexico, Mi*. Lind was informally received by Senor
Gamboa, minister of foreign affairs in the Huerta
cabinet. The difference between a call and a confer
ence is not especially important, if the former opens
the way for such diplomatic agreement as is desired.
Indeed, -the very fact that Mr. Lind’s reception was
rersonal rather than official may strengthen his op
portunities for. dealing freely with the business of
bis delicate mission He has been- enabled to assure
the Huerta government that the- intentions of the
United State's are altogether urselflish and peaceful,
tacs paving the way for a r.npre thorough under
standing. At the same time, by not becoming offi
cially concerned with the Huerta regime, he does
not arouse the antagonism of the revolutionary ele
ment.
Whatever representations or suggestions Mr. Lind
has to make in Mexico he can submit to Charge
O’Lhaugnnessy who will "transmit them in accord
ance with diplomatic proprieties* to the minister of
foreign relations.” It has become evident, indeed,
that the position of the President’s envoy is a pecu
liar one and that because of this very circumstance
Is advantageous. Washington, It is announced, Is
more hopeful for a peaceful settlement of the Mex
ican problem than it has been since the recent crisis
was threatened. In any event, the prudent-self-re-
strained policy of the administration is being thor
oughly justified.
Once in a while a bachelor has as many troubles
as a married man.
Prospects of the Currency Bill.
. There are distinctly favorable omens for the
banking and currency bill as it goes to the Demo
cratic caucus of the House. President Wilson is
said to feel more confident than ever that the meas
ure will pass at this session of Congress, his hope
being predicated not alone on the friendlier attitude
of bankers the country over but also on the steady
reconciliation of divergent views among the majority
both in the Senate and House. To these cheering
evidences, must be added that of the less tangible
but equally telling force of public opinion. The
average business judgment is unmistakably in favor
of prompt action on banking and currency problems;
and the President, with his genius for focusing the
light and heat -if public opion on vital issues, is
making it a definite influence.
T.ie coolness or opposition which financiers show
ed to the bill in its original form has greatly mod
erated* inde.ed, so far as the rank and file of hank
ers are concerned, it has apparently changed to
hearty approbation, so that downright hostility to
the measure in its preent shape seems limited to
special interests in one or two great financial cen
ters. From the most conservative quarters, we now
hear words of praise and even earnest appeals that
the bill be passed; as one observer remarks, “It has
even won some tolerant words from the New York
Sun; it has practically disarmed the early and
violent opposition of the New York Times; it is
pronounced by as good a financial authority as the
New York Evening Post to be superior to the Aldrich
bill; and it brings from the New York Commercial
a demand for its immediate passage by Congress in
the interest of settled business conditions." And all
this has come about without the sacrifice of any es
sential priciple in the bill as first put forward.
The measure as finally reported from the House
committee, preserves the important feature of gov
ernment control, though it gives the banks a liberal
advisory influence in the conduct of the new system
proposed. This latter provision is eminently practi
cal and eminently fair. It strengthens the original
hill and the fact t at it has the administration’s ap
proval is assurance enough that it will not in the
least impair the public service of the revised system.
Eleven of the fourteen members of the House com
mittee on banking and currency approve the bill in
i 4 -, present form. The three dissentients are holding
out for additional changes which within themselves
are perhaps commendable but which Involve matters
of detail rather than principle and which are very
unseasonably proposed. The most that can be ex
pected now Is the ussage of a bill that will remedy
the general defects of the existing system. An ideal
measure cannot be hoped for. But if a fairly satis
factory law is enacted and put into effect, it will be
easy to improve it from time to time through such
amendments as experience may show to be advisable.
This Is evidently the view shared by the majority
of the House Democrats, and so it is considered a
certainty that the bill will mee. the approval of the
caucus and will pass. In that event, its chances in
the Senate will be greatly strengthened. Administra
tion leaders predict, indeed, that at the decisive
hoi'.' the Democrat of the Senate will b found as
effectively loyal to banking ana currency reform as
they have been to tariff reform.
The Misfortunes of Gov. Sulzer.
It is more in sorrow than in anger that most men
regard the dark scandal which has beclouded Wil
liam sulzer, the impeached governor of New York.
Despite the gravity of the misdeeds with which he
is charged and the formidable evidence of his guilt,
there is nevertheless a strong current of public pity,
if not sympathy, tinged with a hope that even yet
his errors may prove to have sprung from circum
stances of which he was unaware or from a weakness
of judgment rather than a criminal intent.
The confession .of Governor Sulzer’s wife that in
a time of financial embarrassment for their house
hold, she indorsed checks, intended for campaign
filnds, with • her husband’s name hut without his
knowledge and used them for purchasing stocks,
may or may not have any effect upon the impeach
ment trial; hut it carries the ring of truth and may
at least palliate, though not purge away, the wrongs
of which the governor is accused. The more serious
of the charges are that he diverted campaign contri
butions to his private account, using them for Wall
Street speculations and that in his sworn statement
of receipts and expenses he failed to report certain
donations to the campaign fund. It remains to .be
seen, of course, whether Mrs. Sulzer’s admissions
will explain' these discrepancies. Her statement at
least opens a way for interesting possibilities.
That the governor’s public career is at end can
scarcely be doubted and, if the facts alleged are
proved, his punishment will be well deserved. But
there is one circumstance which should not be over
looked and it is this: until William Sulzer struck
independently forth to be the governor of New York
in deed as well as in name, until he defied the polit
ical machine, both Democratic and Republican, he
was unmolested. The hand behind 1-is impeachment
is that of Boss Murphy and Tammany Hall.
Had he consented to do Murphy’s bidding, to ap
point Murphy’s nominees to high offices and turn
the government of the State ov^i to the ring, he
would never have faced the charges that have been
brought against him, whether they be true or false.
He opposed the“machine” and, so, the "machine” de
termine^ to crush him at all hazards and by any
method. Whether lie be guilty or not, the situation
is one that spells th? shame of Tammany as well as
the shame of Sulzer.
1 Postal Implicity.
Postmaster General Burleson has wisely conclud
ed that it is neither necessary nor advisable to re
quire the use of a special stamp on parcel post mat
ter. When the present supply of'such stamps is
exhausted no more will he printed; in the meantime,
in order to hasten their retirement, they are being
sold for letter postage, while ordinary stamps are al
lowed on parcel post mail.
This will relieve the system of a detail that was
often confusing and inconvenient to the public. The
parcel post should be as simple in its rules as prac
tical conditions will permit. Indeed, the efficiency
and service of an institution so far-reaching and so
close to the daily affairs of all the people as is the
postoffice demand that all Its regulations be as free
as possible from red tape. The discontinuance of the
special stamp is, as the New York World points out,
in line with the policy of Great Britain, "where one
set of stamps does duty for all purposes—for letters,
parcels, registry, special delivery, as well as for pay
ment of revenue charges.”
Extravagance ir to take one’s wife for a joy ride
in a hired automobile instead of patronizing the
street-car company.
THE PATERSON STRIKE
BY DS. i* RANK CRANE.
(Copyright, 1913, by Frank- Crane.)
On February 25, 1913, began the strike of the silk
workers in Paterson, N. J., which continued for
months. At the end of the twenty-first week it was
estimated that the strikers had
lost $5,250,000 in wages; the
manufacturers had lost their
spring and summer orders,
amounting to millions; many
small tradespeople had gone to
the wall because they could ex
tend credit no longer, anu business
generally had suffered to an ex
tent impossible to estimate.
Stand off a little from the im
mediate passions of the situa
tion, look at it rationally, and
absurd it all seems! Here are
thousands of people directly or
•indirectly interested in the man-
facture of silk goods; their in
terests are identical; their success is interlocking; the
prosperity of each depends upon the prosperity of all.
It would seem that for bread-and-butter’s sake they
would have sense enough to use reason, forbearance
and sefl-restraint, so as to organize in such manner as
would bring profit to all.
Instead of that they give free rein to greed, stub
born pride, violence and hate. The whole bunch of
them, employers and employed, would rather kick and
bray like wild asses in a pasture and lose twenty mil
lion dollars than to come together like intelligent be
ings and arrange a plan that would give some degree
of satisfaction all around.
What is the cause of this? What are those strange
elements that make such fools of mortals and enter as
partitions of iron between men and men?
The causes are far-reaching and complex. The
troubled condition of things is du© to the imperfect
state of human society. We do not yet know how to
live together on this earth. The fruit of civilization
is still green and sour. The only healing will be to
outgrow our present state. But some causes may be
pointed out:
First. We do not yet begin to realize democracy,
which implies the organization and co-operation of
the whole people.
Second. We are still in the ghost-clutch of the
class idea. We can only organize as classes. We can
only love our own class. We still hate the classes not
our own. We cannot understand organization for hu
manity, for the welfare of every man.
Third. We are still heathen in our economics, as
we are in our statecraft. For we call race-hatred,
pride, greed, fox-cunning, and wolf-robbery—we call
these motives PRACTICAL, while we sneer at love,
mutuality, ultimate justice, and helpfulness as vision
ary and IMPRACTICAL.
Fourth. We do not as yet perceive the full, normal
function of government. We ocneeive its business to be
merely to PUNISH CRIME; that it is to stand off and
not interfere until society, business, or the individual
breaks down. As a matter of fact, the go\ernment of
the future will not punish at all; it will prevent, heal,
cure. Slowly we are learning that business is gov
ernment; that the only government is the organiza
tion of the industrial activities of the entire body of
the people, to make profits with equity to all, and to
distribute profits, giving to every man his just due.
At present when a governor or mayor attempts to
adjust a strike the employers tell him to mind his own
business, and the employed curse him for attempting
even to maintain law and order.
Some day we shall realize that the system of pri
vate ownership of plant and capital on the one hand
and class solidarity of labor on the other, fighting and
hating like wildcats, while the “government of the
people, by the people, and for the people" is compelled
to keep hands off, is a mad and wasteful system wor
thy only of half-barbarous minds.
Through what wild heats of insane selfishness,
what oceans of money-waste, what depths of bitter
ness and agony democracy must pass to reach the
point where it can believe that plain, simple justice
is best for all! That charity, benevolence and feudal
kindness are but humbug substitutes for justice!'
Sulzer at least has a loyal wife.
The good harvest this year will lead to a fresh
crop of back-to-the-farm enthusiasts.
Alabama’s Senatorial Problem.
Alabama’s Governor has chosen the shortest,
though at the same time the most debatable means,
to fill the embarrassing vacancy caued by the recent
death of United States Senator Johnston. Assuming
that the executive authority is sufficient to the needs
of this situation without any special act on
the Legislature’s part, he has appointed Congressman
Clayton to serve out the unexpired term.
If this method will stand the test which it un
doubtedly must meet, well and good; for, it is the
simplest and speediest way out of the Alabama pre
dicament and, from the Democratic point of view, it
affords the promptest relief to the party’s jeopardized
majority in the Senate. Had the Legislature been
called into extra session, it would probably have con
ferred upon the Governor just the authority which
he has independently exercised; it would have em
powered him to make an appointment for the unex
pired term.
But there are Senatorial students of the Constitu
tion who seriously doubt the validity of such an ap
pointment as the Governor has made. They contend
that since the seventeenth amendment, providing for
the popular election of United States senators became
operative, the Governor may not take such action
unless he is specifically directed to do so by the Leg
islature. The amendment provides in this connec
tion that,
When vacancies happen in the representation
of any State in the Senate, the executive author
ity of such State shall issue writs of election to fill
such vacancies. Provided that the Legislature of
any State may empower the Executive thereof to
make temporary appointments until the people
fill the vacancies by election as the Legislature
may direct.
The weight of Washington opinion seems to he
that the safest course the Governor could have fol
lowed in these circumstances would have been to call
a special session of the Legislature. Indeed, Senator
Kern, Democratic leader In the Senate, telegraphed
Governor O’Neal, just before the latter’s appointment
was announced, urging him to call the Legislature
together to dispose of this problem in manner that
would be unquestionably constitutional; and Senator
Overman, acting chairman of the Senate judiciary
committee, goes so far as to express the opinion
that Mr. Clayton “will not be seated.*
Governor O’Neal, however, supports his action
with argument which is at least interesting and
plausible, his contention being, in the main, that the
seventeenth amendment was not intended to affect
the term of any Senator chosen before the amendment
was adopted. The outcome of this situation will be
awaited with keen anxiety, particularly on the part
of the Democrats of the Senate, whose majority is so
slender that they cannot afford to lose a single vote.
We promise that if the government will end us
some of that $50,000,000 we won’t speculate.
Do had fish that bite on Sunday deserve to get the
hook?
ouAitry
Aiip TiMELTf
OME T0PIC5
Conpoctep w.ms.xzHjnxTO*
GYPSY SMITH, EVANGELIST.
The people of Carters-ville and vicinity have been
privileged to listen to a number of Sermons delivered
by this noted English evangelist during the past week.
For a number of days the heat was so great that a
good many of us felt obliged to “stay out of the sun,"
but there were large crowds who went to hear his
discourses, both night and day. He told his congrega
tion more than once of his humble birth in a Gypsy
tent, and of his total lack of book education until he
was approaching manhood. Nevertheless he was ac
quired by some means a very excellent delivery with,
fine use of grammar and all the essentials for attrac
tive oratory.
He can hold his audience, no matter how large, to
the end, and he knows when to quit, which is one of
the prime requisites in a successful public speaker.
He gave us one morning the story of an evangelistic
campaign in South Africa, and on another morning of
another crusade in the gay city of Paris. Those I
heard and two other sermons besides.
He will certainly entertain you when you listen to
him. He went to South Africa a short time after th©
Boer war was over, when defeat had made those fol
lowers of Oom Paul Kruger very bitter against the
OUR DAILY BREAD
II. IN MANY LANDS.
Bv Frederic I Haskin
__* —
Bread is a staple article of food in almost every
land. Even the s&vage knows Lliat he cannot subsist
on meat alone and some form of bread must be pro
vided to satisfy his hunger. The
farther he is removed from civ
ilization the cruder will be the
method by which this daily
bread is provided to him. His
bread is perhaps his only man
ufactured article of food and in
this manufacture some crude-
process of milling as well as of
mixing and baking takes 'place.
+ • •
In Lapland the fur-clad na
tives grind their scanty oats
with the inner bark of the pine
tree. The meal thus* obtained is
mixed with water and molded
into flat cakes and baked over a
fire. In Kamchatka sometimes oats are not obtain
able, so the women pound up pine or birch bark either
separately or together, and make this bark powder*
into their native bread food. The Icelander is a little
better off. The “Iceland moss” which" he is able to
scrape off the rocks makes a fine flour and the bread
and puddings made from it are palatable to most
northern travelers. A traveler in Siberia pronounces;
the native bread of that country “the hardest hard
tack in the world." It Is made without yeast or salt
and is molded into small white rings. It Is first
steamed and then baked lightly. It is not only hardi
and tough as well, but it seems to possess a high de
gree of nutritive value.
. . - i
English people, and the memories of the cruel inva
sion which had devastated a fair and prosperous coun
try and left it black with ruin, had mad© every man,
woman and child very sore among those Boers.
I knew how they felt, because I had also seen a
fair and prosperous country blackend with a vandal’s
torch and devastated by military raids. There was
never a day when I read the story of the Boer war in
the newspapers that I did not appreciate to the full
the feelings of those suffering women who were over
run by a powerful and ruthless invader. Gypsy Smith
said they positively refused for a whole to hear him.
They wanted neither sermons nor the presence of any
Englishman. They had had enough. But he told them
as often as he could and everywhere he could that he
knew that the invasion of the Boer country was all
wrong. The spirit and purpose of that war was cruel
and unjust, and that he bad said so time and again in
England while it was in progress, and because of these
things he had been sent to Johannesburg and Cape
town and Other, localities to tell the people that such
wars were a disgrace to th© name and spirit of Chris
tianity, and he came to preach the Christ to them.
After an anxious time of entreaty and prayer to God
to help him approach them in the right way, he suc
ceeded in getting a place to preach and a fjew listen
ers. Then afterwards in a sermon or two he told the
Story of Christ to the Boers in large crowds.
I could understand it all very well, for there was a
time when a messenger came to our own house during
the fall after the surrender, and who begun to talk to
me about the sin of slavery and the wrath of the Al
mighty against the sinners who fought against the
armies that wer© delivering the slaves, and. he did not
get an invitation to come indoors.
I told him to carry tha*. message to another section
and that “his room was better than his company.”
If Gypsy Smith had carried such a spirit and such
a speech to Oom Paui „ country he would have been
obliged to buy an early shipping ticket out of South
Africa, or I am much mistaken in the righteous indig
nation of the Boer nation.
I understand very well that it was an Almighty
Hand that had rebuked slavery in the south. I never
could convince myself that slavery was a divine insti
tution before the war, and I had sense enough to un
derstand that there were evils in slavery times that
would (time enough being given) plague the slave
owners and their descendants to disaster.
But I did not want to hear that Methodist preacher
who had gone over to the enemy for a convenient sal
ary to preach to me.
Some other time I will tell you what Gypsy Smith
told us about his revival in gay Paris.
This Siberian bread is used for several other pur
poses beside food. Th© engineers who constructed the 1
Siberian railroad were first to note its adaptability.
The natives drop the rings into hot tallow and this
tallow bread was used for soup or eaten with tea for
months. The engineers discovered that these tallow
soaked bread rings could be used for boiling coffee
or for impromptu candles. Six or eight holes would
be bored into a bread ring by using a nail. Wax
tapers were laced in these nail holes. The combination
would burn about an hour emitting heat and light
enough to make a small tent comfortable and at the
same time boil water for tea or coffee. There would
be a strong odor of toasting bread which was vastly
preferable to the smoke of a small fir© inside of a
tent. The Siberian merchants also use the ringed
bread as a counting apparatus for calculating small
sums. The strings are suspended above the counter,
ten bread rings strung on each. The top line repre
sents rubles and the two lower ones kopeks.
• • •
In the Molucca Islands the starchy pith of the sago
palm furnishes a white floury meal from which the
natives make a sort of bread. They make It into flat,
oblong loaves, which are baked in curious little ovens
divided Into small cells, each large enough to hold
but a single loaf of bread. In some parts of South
America and of Africa bread is made by the natives
from manico tubers, which are a deadly poison if not
properly prepared. To make manico Dread the roots
are cut and soaked In water for several days to wash
out the poison. The fibers are then picked out and
dried and ground Into flour. This flour is mixed with
milk If obtainable. If not, water is used to form a
stiff dough, which Is molded into little round loaves
and baked either In hot ashes or dried in the sun.
...
r
An American baker traveling In Central America
experimented considerably wth plantain. He sliced
and dried the green plantains and ground them Into
a fine, mealy flour. He found It excellent for pastry
as It produced a flaky crust, so ho delighted the
members of his party by a plantain pie, the crust
of which was made from the green plantain flour and
the filling from ripe plantain which, when cooked,
greatly resembled pumpkin. The making of plantain
flour for export is one of the possible Industries of
tropical America in the near future. It has been,
tested by a number of chemists In the United States
who certify to Its digestibility. It is believed that
plantain bread would be a valuable food for c&rtain
classes of Invalids, as it contains some properties not.
found in wheat.
"SAYING AT THE SPIGOT AND WASTING AT
THE BUNG.”
This old proverb came to my mind when I discov
ered by reports from the legislature that no check was
to be placed upon extravagance, and that the governor
would be forced to go somewhere, ostensibly to New
York, to borrow a half million dollars to pay school
teachers.
This money is to be borrowed for back pay, and yet
there was no curtailment In expenses for this year’s
pay.
I suppose everybody knows, as I know, that our
rural schools are very poorly attended, and when cot
ton picking time comes on it Is only the babies who
go, for all who can earn &* ; quarter by cotton picking
will b© in the fleld.lt is a fact beyond dispute that it
takes hard work, caucussing, lcrg-rolllng, entreating
ard shrewd management to keep the schools "going"
when these money-getting periods arrive.
But the teachers have taken the Job and they want
to hold It so as to get the pay, and the superintendents
and managers are ditto, so these schools dray along,
and then'the governor must borrow! -
Then the legislature puts a fine tooth comb on tax
legislation, and the property of the living must be taxed,
Incomes taxed, dead men’s property taxed, and a vast
sum drawn into the state's treasury to pay big sala
ries to state officials and the teachers who want to
make some money, and the school bosses who are zeal
ous for numbers and their own pay.
"Saving at the spigot and wasting at the bung.”
You see the point, don’t you?
Not a parent or guardian in Georgia can be forced
to keep a child in school attendance. There was a
school in my neighborhood a few years ago that actu
ally froze the teacher out. When a certain Monday
morning came there wasn't a scholar to teach. Of all
the heavy burdens that the state of Georgia has ever
borne the greatest is this raising of floods of money
to pay teachers when any parent can keep his child at
home if he is so Inclined. What a farce this thing has
got to be.
IN THE MIDST OP IiXPE DEATH COMES.
A ponderous Louisville and Nashville train with
fourteen cars filled with coal was rolling along on the
W. & A. railroad in the very early mornnig hours of
Wednesday last when it suddenly plunged into a ravine
and was engulfed—lost from sight. A torrential rain
had been falling all over our part of the country that
evening and the floods had piled up and little Noon
day creek, between Kennesaw and -Marietta rose near
ly fifty feet high behind a crumbling cement culvert,
and the train hands did not see the awful gap, and
everything went over and down to destruction.
For nearly a week travel has been halted, and six
dead men have been dug out of the mud and from un
der all those wrecked cars of coal and engine.
Mr. Farris was in charge of the train as engineer,
the same engineer who was in charge of an L. & N.
train when Miss DuBose was killed last Christmas, and
her death and his death happened but a few miles apart
and a few short months apart.
To one who reflects upon such a double tragedy
as this it would seem that a fatality attended this In
cident and when we feel most secure we are perhaps
In greatest danger of sudden death.
The lesson that this tragedy teaches Is the urgent
necessity for halting all trains until the track can be
inspected either night or day, and until such inspection
can be accomplished no train, either freight or passen
ger, should be allowed to pass over creeks or ravines
day or night after a heavy rainfall until the track has
been inspected carefully.
It is haste and hurry that .makes these risks so
heavy, as it is haste and hurry that make so many
deaths with automobiles. It would have been a sav
ing of time and money, not to speak of life. If every
train on the railroad had halted for one night after
such a storm as fell on this section at that time.
The Carlbs of Central America make a cavassa
bread which has been much exploited by visitors to
that country. The cavassa is a tuber of good size
and the flour Is obtained by a peculiar method. The
tough skin Is removed and the tuber is grated on a
long grater made by pounding small pieces of sharp
flinty stone Into a slab of mahogany. The grater is
lond enough to reach from a wooden tub on the floor
to a woman’s waist. The women rub the roots the
whole length of the grater, keeping time In their mo
tions to some of the weird songs and chants. The
grated root Is put In a strainer six or eight feet long
tapering from six Inches at the top to two and a half
at the bottom. This strainer is woven of palm fiber
so that when It Is fastened at the top and a heavy
weight hung at the bottom the Juice is squeezed out of
the mass, which then resembles grated coooanut in
appearance. This paste is baked by spreading it
about a quarter of an inch thick upon a long griddle.
The action of the heat makes the particles of ca
vassa adhere, so that Just as soon as It begins,- to
turn it is done. These thin cakes, which are about
twenty-four inches in length, are then packed up in
bundles of twelve or fifteen, wrapped In the leaves of
a species of canna plant, and sent to the native mar
kets. There is little flavor to cavassa bread. Most
people think it much like chips, but it will keep indef
initely if dry and is nutritious and wholesome and,
therefore, a valuable food to the natives of that coun
try.
In Egypt, whenever coffee is ordered, sheets of
bread are served with it. These sheets of thin bread
are peculiar to Egypt and after the traveler has grown
accustomed to them he is apt to be fond of them. In
color and appearance they resemble chamois skin and
they are made of flour and the pulp of sultana raisins
pressed together and dried in the sun. They are
sweet and full of nutriment. Like the Siberian bread
rings, the bread sheets of Egypt have uses other than
for mere food. They are used as awnings and screens
and to hold papers. These uses are only possible In
dry weather, however, as when wet these bread sheets
crumble up and are as sodden as wet paper.
The Bedouin bread Is a peculiar article differing
from that of any other nation in the world.
It Is made of samh, a small plant which grows over
the desert plateau east of Maan. The samh, whlph Is
said to grow plentifully when there have been gener
ous rainfalls, is a small plant with short thick stems,
resembling the lentil. The plants grow close together
and the Bedouins pull them up by hand and flail them
with a stick, thus removing the small seed pods. These
pods are taken to the wells and holes about the size
•of a bath tub are made in the sandy clay and filled
with water. The pods are thrown into these holes in
small quantities and the Women stir them with sticks
and tramp them with their bare feet. This action in
the water opens the pods, the seeds fall to the bottom
and the hulls float. This process requires only about
ten minutes. When a sufficient quantity has been
thus treated the water Is dipped out and the seeds are
spread out to dry. After this they are sifted through
fine sieves to remove as much of the sand and grit
as possible, and then ground into flour in small stone
hand mills. The flour Is made into dough with some
times a little molasses added to Improve its flavor. It
is baked either upon a thin sheet iron circular pan by
having a small fire built under It, or In one of the
queer, dome-shaped clay ovens known only In the des
ert Those have an opening on top and are heated
by small fires kept burning outt, 1e of them. The
floor Is covered with pebbles upun whlcr. the dough
Is laid to be baked. Bedouin tread is black and gritty,
for much sand remains as a result of the method of
separating the Seeds from the pods.