Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, August 15, 1913, Image 4

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4 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. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE Twelve months Six months .. »•••••••••• Three months - 150 The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday and Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes for early delivery. It contains news from all over the world, brought by special leased wires into our office. It has a staff of distinguished contributors, with strong: departments of special value to the home and the farm. Agents warted ct every postoffice. Liberal com- mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R- BRAD LEY. Circulation Manager. m The only traveling representatives we have ax* J. A. Bryan, R. F. Bolton, C. C. Coyle. L. H. Kim brough and C. T. Yates. We will be responsible only for money paid to the 'above named traveling repre sentatives. , NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. The label used for addressing your paper shows the time your subscription expires. By renewing at least two weeks before the date on this label, you Insure regular service. In ordering paper changed, be sure to mention your old, as well as your new address. If on a route please give the route number. We cannot enter subscriptions to begin with back numbers. Remittances should be sent by postal order or registered mall. Address all orders and notloes for this de partment to THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL. 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.