Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

4 THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1913. THE SEMI-WEEEY JOURNAL ATLAKTA, GA., 6 WORTH FORSYTH ST. Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mall Matter ot the Second Class. JAMES B. GRAY, ' President and Editor. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE Twelve months 75* Six » months 10c Three months 2Go 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/Jtafl of distingruis ied contributors, with strong department* of special value to the home and the farm. Agents warted tit every postoffice. Liberal 6om- mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R. BRXd- LEY. Circulation Manager. The only traveling representatives we have are 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 ymlr paper shows the tim^ 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 mail. Address all orders and notices for this de partment to THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, Atlanta, 6a. The Vital Need of The United States Army. "The vital need of the army of the United States is to have the people of the United States know more about it and care more about it.” Thus does Secretary of War Garrison, in a recent number of’Harper's Weekly, sum up an issue in which •thoughtful citizens are now particularly interested. His point is well taken. Public ignorance or indiffer ence is responsible for most public ills. The impell ing and guiding power behind L ongress rises directly from the rank and file of the people; indeed, popular interest and support are essential to every sphere of government, if a nation’s life is to he wholesome, effi cient and secure. Congressmen cannot be expected to recognize the needs of the army unless their con stituents recognize those needs; and. so, it is impor tant above all else, as Secretary Garrison declares, that the average American citizen should know more about the army and care more about it. His counsel in this regard is all the more trust worthy for the reason that he is pre-eminently a man of peace, with no tingt of the alarmist and no sym pathy for the professional warseeker. “Militarism,” says he, “with all its great financial and other bur dens, is the last thing that I should advocate or that anyone connected with the war establishment advo cates.” Yet, he is none the less mindful of the wis dom, the absolute necessity of maintaining an army sufficient to uphold our national policies and protect o_r national interests in any contingency that might arise; for, as he well says, “It takes two parties to keep the peace and, at best, any nation can control only one party, namely, itself.” The Secretary of War does not advocate a large standing army but he urges earnestly and soberly the maintenance of an efficient army and the development of a reserve force which could be drawn upon in the hour of need. Only thus, he emphasises, can our present small army "effectively act as a school of military instructior for the nation and as a nucleus for the expansion that will be necessary in time of war.” The fact is cur one practical assurance against the cost and the burdens of a great army are the proper support and perfection of the present army, together with an adequate reserve force and an ade quate navy. The country must either be intelligently prepared for emergencies that may arise or pay the staggering hills which lack of timely preparation al ways entails. The remoteness of the United States from the tu multuous Old World, where clashing interests and ambitions are a continual menace to peace, have proved distinctly a blessing. We have no neighbor whose power or policy requires us to maintain a big army in tranquil times. But, as Secretary Garrison remarks, the expanse of sea that separates us from othei great nations are no longer the safeguard they once were. “The oceans furnish fine highways for the transportation of troops and supplies, and im provements in shipping have made it easily possi ble to utilize these highways over long distances, - The distances, it> is true, are still a protection; but it would be foolish to close our eyes to the fact that at various points of the public domain of the United states we are still vulnerable to at tack. The great benefit accruing to us by reason of our distance from other nations is that it frees us from the necessity of maintaining an army upon war footing. We are free to count upon the time necessary to pass from a peace to a war footing. But this time is of little or no avail, if previous preparation for such passage has not been provided.” AiBeriqans are peace loving people; they have no territorial greed to sate, no dollar diplomacy to ply, no. entangling alliances to support; but they have certain national ideals that must be upheld and na tional interests that must be conserved. If their nation would be permanently peaceful, it must be powerful, for, weakness in an open invitation to attack. Let the United States he so strong that it will not have to fight, and it will then not only be free from the menace of war but also mightily effective in its influence for peace. This is a matter, as Secretary Garrison declares, that comes home to the business and bosom of all thinking citizens. The army should not he regarded simply as a machine maintained against remote or Imaginary dangers, hut as a hranch of all the people’s vital interests. Its value are in no wise limited to contingencies that may arise either in the near or the faraway future; on the contrary it is of imme diate and continuous use. It was the army that solved the great problems in the building of the Panama canal and carried forward the vast engineering and civil and sanitary tasks involved. It is the army that comes to the people’s aid in disasters of fire or flood or earthquake. Its service in the field of sanitation and medical progress is almost immeasurable. In deed, the army is a great constructive as well as de fensive force in our national life. Its claims should receive generous consideration both at the hands of Congress and the public. It is a part of the country’s common interests of which the people “should know more and care more.” The Administration’s Triumph In the Banking and Currency Bill. The administration’s banking and currency hill has weathered its roughest gales and will now move auspiciously forward to enactment. For weeks past ihere have been ill-advised though well-intentioned efforts on the part of a few House Democrats to burden this measure with amendments which, how ever commendable within themselves they might be, are not essential to the larger principles at stake but would merely confuse the issue and delay, if not defeat, a sorely needed reform. These untimely proposals were rejected by the banking and currency committee but thej were none the less vigorously re vived in the sessions of the Democratic caucus where, for a while, they threatened to split the par ty’s well-ordered ranks. But on last Friday there came a decisive test from which the administration forces emerged stronger than ev<p and which, it would seem, virtually assures the passage of the hanking and currency hill before the present session of Congress adjourns. By a vote of one hundred and thirty-two to sixty, the caucus decided that an amendment proposing to place in the ctfrrency bill a ban upon interlock ing directorates should not be included in this meas ure but should be referred to the judiciary committee as a basis for future legislation in regard to trusts. The question did not concern the rightness or wisdom of prohibiting interlocking directorates, which are generally conceded to be a blight upon normal and wholesome ousiness com petition; it *mcerned the advisability of encumber ing currency and banking reform with an issue apart from the main purpose in view. It was a test of Democracy's clear-headedness and workmanship, a test of whether the majority in the House would continue to do the right thing at the right time, all hands working together, or would fall into jarring groups like the vain builders of Babel. The President has stood nrmly by the House leaders in insisting that the hanking and currency; bill should be kept free from irrelevant issues; and the House leaders have stood stanchly by the Presi dent in insisting that none of the vital principles of the bill be compromised. Mr. Bryan in his admirable and effective letter to Chairman Glass stated the case convincingly when lie said: “In attempting to secure remedial legislation care must be taken not to overload a good meas ure with amendments, however good these amend ments may be ivithin themselves. A boat may be sunk, if you attempt to make it carry too much, however valuable the merchandise. The Presi dent and Secretary McAdoo, in conjunction with the chairmen of the currency committees of the House and Senate, have formulated a tentative measure. It was prepared after extensive inves tigation and comparison of views. It embodies certain provisions of great importance and is, I believe, fundamentally sound. These main pro visions are, to my mind, of such transcendent im portance that I am relatively but little concerned with the details c; the bill. I do not mean to say that the details are unimportant but whatever mistakes may be made in details can be corrected easily and soon. A wrong step in the matter of principle would be more difficult to retract. I take it for granted that no one who really is in favor of the bill will permit a difference of opin ion on a matter of detail to jeopardize the bill.” That is the pith of the entire banking and cur rency issue. The administration bill was not pre sented as ideal In all particulars hut It embodied three great provisions for adequate reform—public control instead of private control of tt;e country’s monetary system, a currency that will be elastic and responsive to the needs of sound credit instead of rigid and unresponsive as now and, finally, due safeguards against the abnormal concentration of monetary resources at particular points and by par ticular interests. These principles are the important things in the pending bill, and it is their triumph in whi h the country is vitally interested. Whatever differences of opinion there may he in regard to d3- tails, the fact remains that the essential features of this bill satisfy more thoughtful people than any otter measure of the kind ever proposed; and by rallying unitedly to its .enactment the Democratic Congress can render a service which for timeliness and practical value will be almost unparalleled in the nation’s legislative history. Unless all omens fail this is what Congress will do. Last week’s significant vote in the Demo- m.’atic caucus practically puts an end to serious op position in the House. The bill will now be speedily ratified by the caucus and that means its prompt adoption by the House. The Senate Democrats have agreed that the hill shall he taken up Immediately aft er the tariff measure is out of the, way, and that at the latest will be only a few weeks hence. They have agreed furthermore that if need be they will stay in Washington “till the snow flies” to carry out the work before them. They have the determination, the loyalty and th votes to put through the bank ing and currency bill. The enactment of a thoroughgoing tariff meas ure alone would le a monumental achievement for the Wilson administration but when to this is added an equally important currency measure, both within the same session of Congress, the record becomes truly marvelous. When Cotton Pickers Are Scarce. When the harvest is ripe and the laborers are few, the virtues of a well-enforced vagrancy law be come particularly manifest. It often happens at this season of the year that farmers are unable to secure cotton pickers through any inducement. However liberal a wage may be offered, the inveterate idlers prefer to lounge about their urban haunts, taking the chance of what W. S. calls “fish of fortune’s buttering” rather than do a week of honest, well-paid work in the fields. Scarcity of labor at such a time becomes a very grave problem; the crop must be guttered or be ruined. Then, it is that the vagrancy law should be taken down and applied with unremitting vigor. Thomasville has recently inaugurated a campaign against loafers with the result that the farmers of that district have hands aplenty. -Svery town and city in the State will do well to follow this example. If it is a lamentable thing to see a man without a job, it is almost equally so to see a job without a man. Vagrancy is an undesirable and a dangerous thing at all times. It is especially so at a season when cot ton pickers are so imperatively needed. We often wonder if soma self-made men do not suffer from remorse. Never judge the value of an article by the price asked for it. Modern Road Building. It is within years comparatively recent that most American communities have realized the need of scientific and businesslike methods in road building. A generation ago highways were maintained by un skilled and indifferent labor recruited from the countryside among njen who worked out their road tax. In the spring of the year when the neighbors had nothing better to do, they would sally, forth in picnic fashion, chop the weeds from the side of the road, heap masses of earth in its middle and then go home content, "'he first heavy rains would make the road more impassable than ever. Little or no attention was given to problems of drainage or to the question of suitable materials. There was no oversight worth the name, no plan, no system. Little wonder that most highways went from bad to worse and that even the people who were earnestly inter ested in road improvement grew discouraged. But today road building has taken its place among the practical arts and sciences. Following the great upsweep of popular interest in this cause which was inspired very largely by the automobile, county offi cials and good roads crusaders began to study efficient methods of highway construction and maintenance. Colleges and universities introduced courses in road building and now no community that is abreast the times will undertake work of this character without the advice of a competent engineer. A writer in the Milwaukee Sentinel well says in this connection; “The building of roads is vitally a question of proper construction. The building of wagon ■ roads is an engineering problem just as much as the building of a railroad. It involves all 'the elements of the latter. A good road must be prop erly located, it must be well constructed, it must be maintained. The first element of a good road is a good foundation, then proper construction; then the road must have sufficient crown to carry off the water to the side ditches. The sur face again should be made as impervious as the materials at hand will permit in order that it may shed the water. The surface has been called the roof of the road. It must be properly drained .by ditches at the sides. These are prob lems which require the services of supervision or advice of expert engineers. A railroad would not permit a crowd of local farmers to lay its grade or build its line. The building of a road involves the same engineering problems. Hap pily, however, the era of inefficiency is past and the era of efficiency of good roads has arrived.” The result of these changed conditions will mean hot only better built and better kept roads, with their inestimable value* in economic and social life, but also cheaper reads. In highway investments as in a.l other practical affairs a dollar efficiently spent will yield larger and more lasting results than ten dollars thoughtlessly put out. The older we get the. more it hurts us to be scolded. Many a man’s wishbone is where his backbone ought to be. The President’s Mexican Policy. If Huerta ever really thought, as he said he did, that President Wilson’s Mexican policy was “partisan” and not approved by public sentiment in the United States, he is now convinced of his seri ous misapprehension. The attitude of Congress, re gardless of .party alignment, ana of representative newspapers the country over clearly shows that the American people are of one mind in indorsing the President’s course, not only in his refusal to recog nize the lawless Huerta regime, but also in hiB pa tient, earnest efforts to restore peace and orderly government in the neighboring republic. If the would-be dictator of Mexico expected any sympathy or countenance from Americans who dif fer with the administration on political and domes tic issues, his hopes were vain. The Mexican situa tion has been treated at Washington as entirely non-political and non-partisan. Mr. Wilson has taken all the members of the Senate forei 8 n relations com mittee, Republicans as well as Democrats, into his counsel. His policy has been neither Democratic nor Republican in any narrow sense hut distinctly and wholly American; and he deal- with this gra-e matter from first to last not as a party issue but as a national issue. “The country knows," as the New York Her ald declares, “that the President will not under any pretext plunge us into war, if war can be honorably avoided. It knows, too, that Presi dent Wilson would not willingly pursue any pol icy that would result in a prolongation of the internal strife from which the Mexican people are so grievously suffering. It understands, in a word, that President Wilson’s policy is a pol icy of peace and that all his efforts are being bent toward finding some means to promote the restoration of order and. tranquillity in Mexico.” That this prudent and far-sighted course is about to bring desired results, there is abundant evidence to believe. It has not only arrayed the public senti ment and public judgment of this country squarely behind the administration but it has also won the hearty approval and support of foreign Powers. So thoroughly in accord with the Wilson policy are the leading Governments of the Old World that they are bringing to bear all the.diplomatic pressure at their command to force Huerta into retirement. Thus de prived of all moral sympathy and of every means to replenish his exhausted treasury, this usurper who stole into brief authority through crimes that out raged civilization is now toppling to his fall. He must either accept the proposals of our Government, that he resign in favor of a provisional president who shall administer Mexican -affairs until a consti tutional election can he held, or else be crushed be neath the weight of his own crumbling regime. When Huerta is elim'nated, as he soon will be, the Mexican problem, so far as the United States is concerned, will be practically solved. And it will be solved without forceful intervention, without the war that would have burdened our country with incal culable ills; it wL. be solved peacefully and hon orably, for all of which the prudence and foresight of President Wilson will deserve chief credit. THE WARMAKERS BY DR. FRANK CRANE. (.Copyright, 1013, by Frank Crane.) Conservation of Natural Gas BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be culled the children of God.” Accursed, therefore, are the warmakers, for they shall be called the children of the devil. There is no truth that should be seared with Sinaitic fire upon the minds of Americans so im portant as this: That in our present relations with Mexico or Japan, or in any thinkable fu ture relations, a better way than war may be discovered to bring about justice and harmony. When Demos is the ruler he is no better than kings. The warmakers are with us. Among them are these: The rash, ignorant and adven turous youth. They are filled with the glamor of history, war-soaked and intoxicat ing. They see only the thrill of the game; they do not realize the horror of it. Certain business interests. They would improve the value of their foreign holdings, or make gain by supplying armament or supplies to the army, or in some way feather their own nests with the profits of organized murder and rapine. Certain politicians who see advancement for them selves in arousing the war lust of the populace. The army and navy, tired of idleness and eager for advancement into dead men’s shoes. The people at large, who are easily carried away by a wave of war enthusiasm, who sweep aside the wis dom and counsel of intelligent and humane states men and lunge into any bloody excess where fanatic and mistaken patriotism is opposed only by reason and justice. v\ r ar means graft piling up mountain high. It means universal waste and extravagance. It means millions of jobs for the unfit. It means a thousand hungry hands thrust into the national exchequer. It means the prostitution of “patriotism” from a high devotion to the public service to the wild vio lence of brute pugnacity. Surely a country as civilized as the United States of America can never descend to the snarling methods of the Balkan peninsula. Quips and Quiddities There is a delicious flavor about this story of a ■Virginia lady married to a man who, though uni formly unsuccessful 4n his hunting trips, boastingly spoke of his “killings.” One. day, returning from a trip with the usual ac companiment of an empty bag, it occurred to him that his wife would make fun of him if he returned without even one proof of his oft-boasted skill. So he pur chased a brace of partridges to deceive his trusting spouse. As he threw them on the table in front of her he observed: “Well, my dear, you see I am not so awkward with the gun after all.” “Dick,” replied the wife, turning from the birds with a grimace, after a brief examination, “you were quite right in shooting these birds today; tomorrow it would have been too late.” “I understand, Harry,” remarked the acquaintance, “that your wife has started to practice economy. The missus was saying something about it last night.” “Yes,” replied Harry; “she is practicing economy all right, and if your wife is thinking of taking a turn in the same direction, you had better get busy and head her off before it is too late.” “I don’t understand you, Harry,” said the acquaint ance, with a perplexed expression. “I should regard economy as something to commend.” “Yes,” was the smiling rejoinder, “but not when your wife is buying your shirts at three for a dollar so that she can get herself a twenty-dollar hat.” Uncle Toby was agnast at finding a strange darky with his arm around Mandy’s waist. “Mandy, tell that mggah to take his ahm ’way from round ’round yo’ waist,” he indignantly com manded. “Tell him yo’self,” said Mandy. “He’s a puffect stranger to me.” An English army veteran who had lost an arm in feudal times, was very prejudiced against the Irish in general. One day he exhibited tbe wound to a party of soldiers, which suggested to an Irishman present the question: “Hov. r did you come to lose the arm, may I ask?” “It was this way: There was a drop of Irish blood in that arm, so I cut it off myself.” ‘‘Faith, ’tis a pity it wasn’t your neck,” retorted Paddy. An Irishman who wasn’t much of a hunter went out to hunt, one day, and the first thing he saw to shoot at was a bird sitting saucily on the top of a fence. He blazed away and then walked over to pick up the victim. What he happened to find there was a dead frog, which he raised at arm’s length, looking at it with a uzzled air. Finally he remarked: “Well, but ye was a deuce of a foine looking bird before Oi blew the fithers off o’ ye!” ’ Wise is the man who puts his ears on the job and gives his tongue a vacation. Meeting a negro, a certain southern gentleman asked him how he was getting on. The negro assumed a troubled look, and replied: “Oh! so far as physicality goes, I’m all right. But I sure do have troubles wif niah wife.” “Well, Sam, I’m sorry to hear th°t. What seems to be the matter?” “She thinks money grows on trees, I reckon. All de time she keeps pesterin' me foh pinch o’ change. If it ain’t a dollali, it’s a half or a quarter she wants.” “What on earth does she do with tne money?” “I dunno. Ain’t nevali gie v’er none yet.” Pointed Paragraphs The liar has lots of competition. * * Isn’t it queer how little a bigot is? • • • It’s a long lane that isn’t tainted with gasoline. * * « Nothing prospers like the grafter—for a time. * * » But it is the natural bent of some men to be broke. * * * Trust the budding orator to deliver a flowery speech. * • * Once in a white a man doesn’t forget his old friends after acquiring wealth and fame. * * * I must bother President Wilson’s enemies to see how he meets and overcomes obstacles as they rise. • • r Mr. McAdoo will please send along our currency so as to reach us in time for the first of next month’s bills. • • • . I Dispatches continue to indicate that the tariff bill will be passed; that the currency measure will mfeet a similar experience; that Japan is mollified and that Huerta is about to resign; and yet there are some who complain because Wilson uses good grammer and Bryan drinks grape juice. Natural gas, in the opinion of many people, Is the most perfect fuel, and one that must be relied upon' to supply much of the artificial heat of the future.) Yet the wanton wa&t** of this substance, which nas been going) on unchecked for years, amounts to millions of dollars annually.} The matter has lately claimed the attention of the United! States bureau of mines. An in vestigation into the subject reJ suited in the discovery that nat-! ural gas in enormous quantities is being allowed to escape uns checked into the air whereva**' petroleum is being taken from) *the wells. The greatest waste is in Oklahoma, Louisiana and' California, where the oil ‘indus try has been most recently be-l gun. In Oklahoma at present a million cubic feet oC natural gas is escaping every day. This has a daily value of $20,000. or $7,500,000 in a single year. In fuel value this Waste is equivalent to 1,250,000 tons of the best bituminous coal. The waste in Louisiana! seems even more deplorable because that state has no coal resources 'within its own boundaries. While thd natural gas, which might furnish heat in thousands of homes, is being wasted in the air, the citizens of! Louisiana are paying for coal which has to be trans-* ported for some distance. The waste in California! is unfortunate because the gas of that locality is rich! in gasoline which is now the most desirable of the pe4 troleum products and one . for which the demand isl exceeding the supply. • • • The waste in Louisiana last year was equivalent to a loss of nearly $5,500,000, and in California it demonstrations of the conservation of natural re amounted to $8,000,000. Similar wastes in other* states make a grand total of at least $23,000,000 whiclii was lost to the nation last year in natural gas. The! bureau of mines, in its effort to check this enormous! waste, has already accomplished one of the most nota ble sources ever given to the world. By the application! of methods devised, a checking of at least $13,000,00o! of this waste will be secured during the present year. 1 • • • Natural gas exists wherever petroleum is found.' In their efforts to secure the oil quickly, the operator^ have been boring through the gas veins which lie over tne oil deposits and, without closing the openings thuat made, have permitted th e gas to escape into the air. t The production of oil in Oklahoma during the last few) years has been unparalleled and has brought about ai perfect frenzy of speculation. Each operator has been' obsessed with the idea of taking out oil more rapioiy] than his competitor. Under the old methods of -oil' drilling, additional ^outlay was required to conserve! the gas and this the operators were not willing ta make. . • • * At present there is little local demand for natural gas in the state of Oklahoma. If piped into that towns 'it will bring about five cents a foot; but the! supply is eo largely in excess of the demand that thej expense of piping is not regarded as a good invest-' ment, and until recently no attention has Deen paid to its conversation for the future. The bureau of mines met with much opposition from the oil operators* who declared that no one wanted the gas while thq demand for oil is pressing, and at first there was dlf-*„ ficulty in securing wells in which the bureau couldj demonstrate its improved methods. • • • The bureau recognized the fact that while, event ually, there will be a demand for natural gas all over) the country, the oil operators cannot afford to wait) for it to develop before taking out the oil which ia' already wanted. Therefore, their methods had to in-f elude the means of saving the gas which would not' interfere with the present pumping of the oiL So well' has this been accomplished that the operators whe first opposed it now write to the bureau stating that) the new process has materially aided in increasing the oil production. • • • Several methods of doing this have been demon strated. The most popular consists in pumping intoi the drill a quantity of the soft, slimy mud to be found’ in oil fields. This is mixed with the water which is, kept around the drill and this mud-laden liquid causes’ deposits which close up around the well and prevent] t)ie escape of the gas. Caps and casings are also pro vided for the purpose and their use materially lessens' the difficulties of oil production. Aside from their, first object of conserving the natural gas, the methods advocated by the bureau of mines have reduced the danger of oil drilling at least 60 per cent. They make possible the production of oil from wells which had been abandoned because of great gas pressure. • • • Largely through the influence of the bureau ofi mines, a strong m-vement tending toward the con-| servation of natural gas is developing throughout the, country. This includes preventive measures in the] opening of new wells and remedial measures in clos ing up wells already in operation from which the gasi is escaping. It also provides for greater care in transportation, including well constructed pipes which! prevent leakage. It has been claimed that some of| the “wild” ^vells from which gas is escaping in large quantities cannot be controlled or checked. One ofj the largest of these was in the Caddo oil fields of, Louisiana. It was closed under the direction of thei bureau of mines by drilling another well about 150 feet from the crater of the ‘‘wild’’ well. A passage I was opened up between the new well and the “wild” well and water containing a large amount of muddy silt was pumped in. The sediment soon closed up the, pores in the sand surrounding the “wild” well, thus! shutting off the gas. ... In many of the states laws already have been; passed requiring the closing up or capping of every gas well not in use. In Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana) and' California efficient laws regulating this matter, are in operation. The commission on the conservation! of natural resources is now recommending a law in Louisiana jjroviding that when the owners of natural i gas wells fail to close them, they shall be capped by the state and the owners compelled to bear the ex pense. In England and France gas wells drilled, through a coal mine are required by law to be capped with cement. • • • One of the great sources of loss in natural gas is from fire, which in many Instances could be pre- vented. A gas well is usually set on fire by the less use of machines by unprotected fires under bolters -nd sometimes from the friction of pebbles strliking against each other as they are being expelled with great force. In some oil fields great fires consuming both oil and gas have been started by lightning. The i gas is usually set on fire before the oil. A few years ago the quenching of a burning oil or gas well was regarded as almost Impossible, but now R can be ac complished with proper care and equipment In the Glenn pool in Oklahoma a 20,000,000-foot well caught fire and was put out after several weeks by a battery of steam boilers which suffocated the flames with steam. An enormous burning well near Colic#, Kan., was extinguished by the ingenious device of J. C. Mc Dowell. It consisted of a gigantic hood made of boil er plate. This was raised and dropped into the well by means of cranes and derricks. The first attempt was unsuccessful because the hood was destroyed by a hot sand blast, but the second was fixed firmly In place, thereby shutting out the air and extinguishing the fire. We are fanatical enough in our admiration of the president as it is, but we’ll go the limit, and say, without fear of sut :sful contradiction, that he could umpire the last game for the pennant, umpire it in the home town of one team, and still cause no com plaint from the visitors. .