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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA.,
SEPTEMBER
1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 WORTH PORSTTE ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mall Matter ot
the Second Class.
JAMES It. GXAT,
President and Editor.
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Atlanta, Ga.
A Good Roads Example
From North Carolina.
The North Carolina Good Roads Association is
mustering all its influence for the establishment of a
State highway commission. So important does it
consider this enterprise that it will hold a special
meeting tomorrow at Raleigh, when the Legislature
convenes in extra session, and directly urge upon
that body the need of State aid and supervision for
roadway work in the various counties. The South
ern Good Roads magazine, published at Lexington,
well says in commending this effort that many thou
sands of dollars are wasted in North Carolina each
year “because of the lack of a central road building
organization, equipped to give engineering assistance
to the counties and to direct the expenditure of road
funds.”
That is equally true of Georgia and, indeed, of
every State that has provided no competent system
through which indivic.ual endeavors in highway im
provement may be co-ordinated for common progress
and efficiency. Each county realizes that road build
ing and road mair.tenace must he conducted as a
public, not as a private enterprise and that if the
roads are to be adequate and durable all parts of the
county must co-operate under a single well-considersd
plan. Otherwise no county system of roads worthy
the namff would be possible. For the same reason, it
is essential that the counties themselves work to
gether for the development of a State system of
roads; and to this end some form of state aid and
supervision is indispensable.
The example of North Carolina’s good roads cru
saders should best • Georgia to due action. In this
State the separate counties are earnestly trying to
improve their highways but as conditions now are
they must act without a common understanding and
many of them must act without the advice and help
of competent engineers. Much energy and money
are thus wasted; and the State gets no nearer that
ill important end—a well connected system of roads.
The suggestion by Judge Patterson, of the State
Prison Commission, that the Commission employ four
skilled engineers whose services would he at the dis
posal of the county authorities wil'. go far, If adopted,
to meet the needs of the situation in Georgia. It
will enable the counties to build better roads at less
lost and it will also furnish a basis for efficient
3tatewide co-operation.
The Rise of the Peanut.
Once regarded as a symbol of insignificance, the
peanut is now earning a respectable place in the
country’s commerce and agriculture. Millions of dol
lars are invested in plants for the manufacture of its
oil and other food products, which are an important
item of merchandise, and hundreds of acres, partic
ularly in the South, are given over to its cultivation.
\ Texas correspondent of the Manufacturers’ Record
writes that more and more fanners in that State are
Being convinced ot the value of the peaniU crop and
ire using it not only to fatten their stock and enrich
heir soil but also as a source of direct income.
The Texas crop sold last year n.t an average price
ot eighty-five cents a bushel and this year, owing to a
shortage throughout America, it will bring consider
ably more. The average acre yield of peanuts in
ltexas is said to be from forty to fifty bushels and,
under favorable conditions, even seventy-five bushels.
With these figures as a basis, the correspondent
draws an interesting comparison between the certain
profits of the peanut and the rather capricious prices
of cotton.
“It takes about five hundred pounds of seed
cotton," says he, “to make a third of a bale, or,
say, one hundred and sixty-six pounds of lint.
There is a cost of five dollars for picking alone,
and even at fifteen cents a pound for cotton on the
market, there is but fifteen dollars an acre to re
coup the farmer for rent of land, interest on his
investment, cost of seed and labor. At present
prices, the peanut crop is worth fifteen to twenty
dollars with a modest yield per acre. Planting and
gathering his crop will cost only a few dollars an
acre instead of ten or more for cotton."
It is pointed out furthermore that in a dry sea
son when, cotton cannot be made, peanuts will thrive.
‘Practical experience in this connection has brought
conviction to many farmers, and they now devote a
part of their land to peanuts and fatten stock instead
af relying exclusively on cotton.” This is in line
with that wholesome movement, now observable in
progressive Southern States, to make the farm pro
duce as many different things as conditions will
allow. A peanut crop is a great aid to the raising of
livestock. It restores the plant sustenance of the
coil and it can be cultivated without hindrance to
ether harvests. The Texas movement is paralleled in
■ eorgia, where many farmers this year have planted
peanuts with markedly profitable results.
The coolness reminds us that the orange harvest
is near.
President Wilson will be known to history as a
man of few joy rides about the country.
Will Steak Cost a Dollar a Pound?
The president oi the American'Meat Packers’ As-'
sociation dolefully predicts that within the next ten
years beefsteak will cost a dollar a pound. Perhaps
the thought was fathered by a wish, though it is
hard to see how the average consumer’s purse could
bear prices very much higher than those already pre
vailing. Certain facts would seem to indicate, how
ever, that the coming decade will appreciably change
t o conditions and tendencies that have marked the
past and that prices will resume a more normal
level. /
The greatest factor for cheaper beef must be, of
course, the production of more cattle. So long as
population steadily increases while the feed supply
remains almost at a standstill, the cost of living will
be burdensome. This has been true of nearly all
necessaries and especially true of beef. But there is
evidently an awakening to the importance of cattle
raising. The larger ranches of the west are said to
be disappearing hut in the South the live-stock in
dustry is gaining a firm hold. In Texas and Louis
iana, cattle ranges are developing on rather extend
sive plans; in Georgia, agricultural education is
somewhat slowly but none the less surely arousing
the individual farmer to his opportunities in this re
gard; and in most other States of this section, the
same sort of influence is at work. In time such de
velopment will be bound to tell upon conditions the
country over.
The new tariff law, by opening United States
markets to foreigr beef, should have an ultimate
effect on prices. England produces a negligible part
of the beef its people consume, but steak sells .in
London anywhere from twenty-five to a hundred per
cent cheaper than in many American cities. The
difference is due largely to the circumstance that
England levies no import tax on food products. A
similar policy should yield similar results in this
country. Though w,e may not expect a great and
immediate decline in the price of meat and othar
necessaries, we may at least believe with good rea
son that within th' next few years considerable re
lief will be forthcoming. Certain, it is that those
artificial causes which have heretofore contributed
t_i the exorbitant cost of living will be removed.
Plans for Developing Alaska.
”'he idea that true conservation means far more
than mere preservation applies just now with pecu
liar force to the natural wealth of Alaska. It is well
fo the national government to save the mines and
forests of this territory from absorbtion and control
by a few special interests; but that is not enough. It
is equally important that these resources be developed
for the welfare of the common interests. The policy
of locking them up like a miser’s hoard so that they
b mefit no one is as undesirable in its way as that
of leaving them to the abuse of monopoly. The great
dv.ty and problem of the Government is to provide a
method and means whereby Alaskan treasure may be
wisely used for the upbuilding of that particular re
gion and for the good of the common country.
Secretary Lane cf the Department of the Interior
believes that one safe means to that end will be tne
building of a railroad to connect the country’s inland
with its ports and with the highways of commerce in
the States. This road, he thinks, should be built and
controlled, though not necessarily operated, by the
federal government. Its operation may be left to pri
vate enterprise but the ultimate policies of such a
road should be securely within public jurisdiction.
“Under this plan,” says Mr. Lane, “Alaskr, will develop
most safely and speedily and the resources of the
country will be .most speedily available to the people
as a whole.”
“There is but one way to make any country
a real part of the world and that is by the con
struction of railroads into it. This has been the
heart of England’s policy in Africa, of Russia’s
policy in western Asia and it is the prompting
hope of the new movement in China. Whoever
owns the railroads of a country determines very
largely the future of that country, the character
of its population, the kind of industries they will
engage in and ultimately the nature of the civili
zation they will enjoy.”
A bill embodying this policy has been introduced
i the Senate and will be urged for passage at the
beginning of the regular session of Congress in De
cember. It is said to have the approval of the Presi
dent and of conservation leaders in all parties. It is
especially welcomed by the people of Alaska who
insist, and justly so, that they should be given a
chance to utilize and enjoy the abundant but now bur
ied resources of the country in which they are doing
the work of pioneers.
Perfecting the Tariff Bill.
Through the pressure of wholesome public opin
ion, two unwise amendments to the tariff bill have
been, eliminated. One of these sought to weaken the
restrictions which the House had thrown around the
importation of wild-bird plumage; it was dropped
in the Senate caucus. The other proposed a duty of
twenty-five per cent on art objects; it has been lib
erally modified by the tariff conference committee.
There remains a third amendment, that which levies
a burdensome, if not prohibitive, tax on all cotton
sold for future delivery, which is more pernicious
than either of the others and which, it is to be hoped,
the House and Senate conference will discard.
The proposal to tax art importation was little
short of barbarous. It was roundly denounced by
everyone who Is interested in- the cause of aesthetic
education. The committee has placed etchings and
engravings on the free list and has reduced to fif
teen per cent the duty on pastels, pen-and-ink draw
ings and paintings in oils. Paintings a hundred years
old are to be admitted duty free. “The advocates of
free art,” says the New York Evening Post, “were
successful on every important point and the thanks
of all art lovers the country over should go to Chair
man Underwood for his brave and enlightened stand
upon this matter.”
These concessions were won largely as the result
of intelligent public protest. There is reason to hope
that the same influence will impel the committee to
strike out or revise properly the dangerous cotton
tax. That is the one objectionable feature to the
tariff bill as it now stands; it has no logical place in
that splendid measure; it would hurt the entire
country and especially the South; by all means let
it be dropped.
It is easy for a girl to have a good time if she has
a healthy imagination.
HOW WE GO AWAY
BY DR. FRANK CRANE.
(Copyright, 1913, by Frank Crane.)
Somewhere, a long: time ago, I read a poem in the
German about Going Away. It began: "I should like
to go away as the Twilight goes.” (Ich moechte
hingeh’n wie das Abendroth.) Max Mueller quotes It
in his Reminiscences.
Some time each of us who reads this must Go
Away.
I wonder the day of the year,
I wonder the hour of the day.
Some day we shall shake hands and say cheerful
good-by, and never again look upon each other’s face.
Some night we shall fall asleep, and there shall be
no waking.
Some moment, it is all written in the Book of Des
tiny, the precise date, we shall step out of this strange
experience we call life, step out. Go Away, and of us
no more forever.
Since to Go Away is decreed for us all we should
like to make our exit in dignity and order. Our Pass
ing snould have the naturalness of our Coming; should
indeed be as joyous an event as Birth, and as full of
sweet celebration.
I should like to Go Away as the Evening Red, soft
ly fading, through lesser riches of beauty, into the
night universal. x
I should like to Go Away as the Morning #iar,
swallowed up in the slow flood of white in the sky.
I should like to Go Away as the perfume of flow
ers, wafted from the vase in the window, dying in
sweetness throughout the house.
I should like to Go Away as the Sound of the Harp,
struck by the Great Harper, moving and perishing in
beauty among listening souls; thus to cease in melody.
I should to Go Away as the Dew upon the grass,
when the sun rises am’. with his glance draws up its
life.
If I must Go Away, and if from the Place of my
Going must come back only the bitterest of wind-
words, “Nevermore,” murmuring among the souls of
them left behind who love me, as the summer wind
moans among the pines, why cannot my Going be
with that gentle comeliness that fits the close of so
beautiful a thing as Life? *
But I shall not Go Away as the Evening Red, nor
as the paling Morning Star, nor as the wafting of the
Perfume of Flowers, nor as the dying viDrations of
tne Harp, bor as the Morning Dew languorously giving
up the ghost under the warm wooing of the sun.
Hearts when they go must break.
Lives, however full of laughter, must Go Away in
tears.
Tragedy stands sullen 1 at the end of the human
comedy.
The candle of Love is quenched at last in bitter
ness.
Why?
Eve asked the question as she held the head of
the dead Abel in her lap and lifted her red eyes to an
unanswering heaven. The last woman of the race will
cry opt against the cliffs of fate the same question—
Why? And for answer there shall come back the echo
—Why?
Jhe poem referred to by Dr. Crane is by Herwegh.
It fvx'ows:
STROPHEN AUS DER FREMDE.
Ich moechte hingeh’n wie das Abendroth,
Und wie der Tag mit seinen letzten Gluthen—
O’ leichter, sanfter ungefuehlter Tod!
Mich in den Schoosz des Ewigen verbluten.
Ich moechte hingeh’n wie der heitre Stern,
In vollstem Glanz in ungeschwaechtem Blinken;
So stille und so schmerzlos moechte gern
Ich in des Himmels blaue Tiefen sinken.
Ich moechte hingeh’n wie der Blume Duft,
Der freudig sich dem schoenen Kelch entringet
Und auf dem Fittig bluethenschwangrer Luft
Als Weihrauch auf des Herrn Altar sich schwinget.
Ich moechte hingeh’n wie der Thau im Thai,
Wenn durstig ihm dep Morgens Feuer winken;
O wollte Gott, wie ihn' der Sonnenstrahl,
Auch meine lebens muede Seele trinken!
Ich moechte hingeh’n wie der bange Ton,
Der aus den Saiten einer Harfe dringet;
Und, kaum dem irdischen Metall entfloh’n,
Ein Wohllaut, in des Schoepfers Brust verklinget.
Du wirst nicht hingeh’n wie das Abendroth,
Du wirst nicht stille, wie der Stern, versinken,
Du stirbst nicht einer Blume leichten Tod,
Kein Morgenstrahl wird deine Seele trinken.
Wohl wirst du hingeh’m, hingeh’n ohn Spur,
Doch wird das Elend deine Kraft erst schwaechen;
Sanft stirbt es einzig sich in der Natur,
Das arme Menschenherz muss stueckweis brechen.
Our Remarkable
Commerce With Mexico
Despite tumult and war, Mexico continues to do
business with the United States at a steadily increas
ing figure. The federal bureau of foreign commerce
announces that during the last fiscal year the trade
between the two countries exceeded all records. Im
ports were some twenty million dollars greater than
in 1911 and both imports and exports showed a mark
ed advance over 1912.
These figures are contrary to what might have
been expected and emphatically so to the assertions
of those excited individuals who cry that American
interests in Mexico are being ruined. For several
years past that country has been almost completely
demoralized so far as government is concerned. Con
ditions were bad enough under the brief presidency
of Madero, though they were beginning to mend.
With the usurpation of Huerta, all semblance of just
and orderly control disappeared. Excepting the
country immediately within the sphere of the capital,
the dictator has won no allegiance. In northern and
southern Mexico, revolution has gone forward un-
c'.ecked. ,
In these circumstances it might be supposed that
all industry and trade would come to a standstill.
Yet, It must be remembered that a mere fragment of
the Mexican people are actually engaged in the fac
tional war. They all suffer from its effects but the
majority of them continue to follow their ordinary
pursuits as best they can. They buy and sell, and as
far as conditions will permit, they farm and manu
facture. It is to this great citizen class that the
increases in our Mexican commerce are due. They
look to the United States for their market and their
supplies. It is in their interest' that the United
States is seeking to restore constitutional government
in Mexico by friendly counsel and peaceful means.
“Rebels dynamite a train; 80 killed.” Still, Mr.
Huerta insists Mexico is peaceful.
Why They Never Married
"Why did you never marry, Tom?” inquired the
young benedict of the old bachelor.
“Well, you see," replied the single one, “when I
was quite young I resolved that X wouldn’t marry
until I found an ideal woman. I was difficult to
please, but after many years I found her.”
“Lucky beggar! And then—”
"She was looking for the ideal man,” replied the
bachelor sadly.
T0P1C3
r CoHoocra wjroii&vrHjrixTO*
NURSES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.
According to promise, I will further comment on
the recommendations of the Georgia state board of
health which are of first importance to mothers who
feel obliged by necessity or of choice to hire nurses
for their young children.
Four rules are laid down by the Georgia board of
health, by which a girl or woman must be judged be
fore she should be employed to take care of a baby.
They are as follows:
The nurse must be healthy.
The nurse must be neat and clean about her
own person.
The nurse must be of good moral character.
The nurse must have Intelligence.
Don’t employ anybody to take care of your baby
unless that person comes up to these four require
ments, says the state board.
Consider to begin with the importance of the first
qualification—health. Suppose a nurse girl, who may
seem to be in good health, comes from a home in
which there is tuberculosis or some other contagious
disease? Suppose the nurse has been exposed to
smallpox or is tainted with some dangerous conta
gious disease? A very great many negroes are. Sup
pose that through your thoughtlessness you have em
ployed as a nurse a woman suffering from any of
these diseases? Think what- a terrible risk your baby
is running. Assure yourself, first of all, that the
nurse you employ is healthy.
The second rule relates to cleanly person and ap
parel, and it is remarked that a tiny baby, perfectly
helpless, is peculiarly susceptible to whatever injury
that may result from close contact with the person of
the dirty or diseased nurse. *
If the nurse is so dirty that you notice it your
self, though only coming in close contact with her oc
casionally, thing how terrible it must be to your poor
baby whom she handles daily, and who on account of
its helplessness and inability to protest, is really the
victim of your carelessness. If your nurse has an
odor about her, says the state board, tell her how to
get rid of it, and if she does not do it, then get rid of
her.
The third rule as to moral character is as needful
as all the four put together.
The third thing to consider is the nurse’s moraj
character. This is important not only because an hon
est, respectable girl is always the most faithful, trust
worthy and reliable, but also because by the time the
baby has become two or three years of age its little
mind is like a highly sensitized photographic plates
powerfully influenced by everything it sees and hears.
A nurse of vile language a.nd loose moral habits may,
without even meaning to do so, teach a child evil ex
pressions and immodest actions which it will take
years of later training to counteract.
The fourth consideration is the nurse’s intelli
gence. This does not mean that the girl who has had
the most schooling necessarily makes, the best nurse,
but It does mean that a good nurse must have practi
cal common sense. If it is important to haye an
intelligent gardener to bring your plants and flowers
to perfection, how much more important it is to have
an intelligent nurse to rear your baby.
I have abbreviated as much as possible the full and
exhaustive report made by the state board of health.
As I see the situation, I would prefer to nurse the
baby (if I was th© mother) and hire out other work.
* « •
A GOOD LETTER.
Dear Mrs. Felton:
Greetings to you, my old friend. I’ve just been
reading what you had to say on the Mexican situation.
It looks like, with all of our president’s wise and
peaceful policy, trouble with that revolution cursed
country is inevltlfcle. I was ten years old when Gen
eral Scott Invaded that country and compelled them to
terms agreeable to Uncle Sam. I wa^ an humble ac
tor in our Civil war, and we have been engaged in
war with Spain since then. What a train of evil fol
lows the wake of war! Sickness, suffering and death
in hospitals; on the battlefield, increase in the public
debt and pillage, and graft in government contracts
everywhere.
I hope a war with any country can be avoided. I
noticed a reference in one of your late letters to your
long service with The Journal.
I offer my congratulations and hope it will be
spared many more years to interest and instruct your
many friends throughout the south.
I’ll enter by seventy-sixth year the 13th of next
October. I begin to* feel the weight of years as I
approach the sunset of life, but my general • health is
good. The seasons in this section (Baldwin county.
Ga.) has been very dry. Have been about eight weeks
without rain and still dry. Corn about 60 per cent
of a crop, and cotton about 60. It has been too dry
for good hay or peas. Sugar-cane short, so with
ground peas and field peas. Sweet potatoes, if we
could get late rains, would be a fair yield. While on
the list of agricultural products, I must mention one
never referred to in crop reports or farm essays. That’s
the much ridiculed and almost obsolete gourd. In my
early days they were an essential article in many
country homes. There was the soap gourd, the salt
gourd in the house and at the spring. Besides they
were used to carry water to the hands in the field.
Sometimes they were used to hold eggs and a recep
tacle for garden seed. I have been raising a few of
late years for the sake of old association and their
novelty, for they are In reality a thing of the past.
I have a vine planted near a ditch in the branch bot
toms that, notwithstanding the long drouth here, has
six matured gourds on it, four of which will hold a
bushel each. They ar e the round, flat variety with
shells one-half inch thick. They will soon be mature.
I have one. raised some years back that holds three
pecks of grain. After they are dry I scrape the out
side and varnish a mahogany or some other color, and
they look nice. I know a lady who keeps her darned
hose in one I gave her. Would you like one? If so,
let me know. I have another variety, very long with
handles to them. Perhaps one of those would suit
you best. I hear from my sons occasionally out in
Montana. Been very dry out there, and crops very
short. Had a killing frost there the night of Septem
ber 8.
Think of that, Georgians, and be glad that you live
in a land of long seasons, though we have short crops.
T. J. H.
Would be delighted to have a gourd and some seed
also. MRS. FELTON.
• » ■
GALLIVANTING AFTER DARN.
I heard one of the most distinguished men in Geor
gia lamenting the many divorces and the murders
which fill the columns of the daily papers growing out
of domestic unhappiness, and also the white slave
crimes that all newspaper readers are familiar with,
and he asked this question: “Why is it that parents
are so lax in home discipline as to allow their girls
to go about so frequently with young men after dark?
“Don’t they know that girls are exposed to many
evil influences which would not prevail If their beaux
were required to visit them in their homes, and if
these girls were not allowed to gallivant so constant
ly after dark? Don’t they know that there would be
fewer betrayals and much less sorrow for them
selves?” asked he.
Some one remarked that girls of the present time
were not kept busy at home and their idle habits had
a good deal to do with their restless ways, and their
time was occupied in fixing up new style toggery and
they felt obliged to go abroad in the evenings, be
cause the young man were busy in the daytime, and
had only the evenings to gallant the young women and
girls about, to visit soft drink resorts and take long
walks or indulge in joy rides.
I only drop a hint to mothers who are in the habit
of allowing their young daughters to stroll with young
men or take joy rides or drink soft concoctions (may
be some of them doped) and I ask them to consider
what is being said about this buMnesw.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
I.—THE CRUSADE AGAINST FRAUD.
BY FREDERIC J. BABKIN.
The committee appointed to draw up regulations
for the enforcement of the new federal net weight law
will begin to hold hearings In New York on June 8.
when manufacturers, dealers
and others Interested in the pro
visions of these regulations will
be examined. The law was
signed on March 3, the last day
of the Taft administration, and
is to go into effect eighteen
months after that date. It re
quires that the quantity of the
contents of all food packages
shall be plainly marked on the
outside in terms of weight
measure or numerical count It
Includes the provision that rea
sonable allowance shall be made
for tolerance and exemption.
• • »
Upon the proper interpreta
tion of this last provision rests
the real value of the law. The
act that "a reasonable variation
from the stated weight Is per
missible provided this variation is as often above as
below the weight or volume stated. This variation
shall be determined by the inspector from the changes
in the humidity of the atmosphere, from the exposure
Of the package to evaporation or to absorption ot
moisture and reasonable variations which attend the
filling and wdghlng of packages.” The committee
authorized to make the regulations governed by this
provision include representatives of the secretary of
commerce, th e secretary of agriculture and the secre-
tary of the treasury.
• • -•
The secretary of commerce, through the bureau of
standards, has the authority to determine the Justice
of the weights and measures used. The representative
of the department of agriculture must fix the meas-
U i re ° f variati ° n in the weights and measures of food
stuffs according to laboratory tests conducted by ex-
perts upon th samples furnished for that purpose by
the manufacturers of the various products. The treas-
ury Is represented because of the duties imposed upon
imported food stuffs which come under the jurisdic
tion of the law and also because, until the establish
ment of the bureau of standards under the department
of commerce, the matters regarding weights and meas
ures were all under the direction of the treasury de
partment.
' * * I -
The new law is designed primarily to protect the
public from loss by Insufficient weights and measures,
but it is not intended that anjl injustice shall be done
to dealers and manufacturers. Such circumstances
as a cheese shipped from Wisconsin to Colorado losing
several pounds In weight from the^ change In temper
ature and atmospheric conditions will form the basis
of some of the claims presented by manufacturers at
the hearings beginning in New York this month. Con
sideration will also be given to a reasonable variance
in the weights of packages and wrappings.
• • •
Previous to the hearings in New York hearings
were conducted In Washington on the problem of the
capacity of bottles and jars manufactured by the glass
blowers for the handling of liquor products. The dis
crepancies In these articles were a surprise to the
members of the committee as they demonstrated that
few of the bottles had a capaoity for the content they
were supposed to carry. The thickness of the glass,
the presence of air bubbles, the quantity of glass
taken up by the blower and Its heat, all enter Into the
problem of manufacturing bottles which will be uni
form in their capacity. The bottles tested were from
the hand blowers. The manufacturers of machine
blown bottles clalgi a greater uniformity for their
products, but the test has not yet been r..ade to prove
this assumption, although it will be Included In the,
work of the weights and measures committee.
• • <*
There is no subject more closely in touch with the
daily life of every man, woman anC child In the coun
try than that regarding weights and measures. This
nation has »-een almost criminally lax in this direction.
While the people have had protection from menaces
of every other kind, they have as yet had no protec
tion from short weights and measures and their annual
losses from this neglect are Incredible. The Investi
gations made regarding the high cost of living point
clearly to the losses from this cause and a crusade
for protection from such loss Is sweeping over every
community In whlclv the matter has been brought Into
public notice. ,
• • •
The population of the United States is nearly 95,-
000,000. At least two-thirds of this number can be
fairly considered as buyers of some commodity. If
each of these were to suffer from even the daily loss
of a mill, the tenth part of a cent, the amount would
approximates $26,000,000 in a yea \ Yet the investiga
tions conducted by experts in all parts of the country
indicate that the average loss is many times a mill
each day and has been steadily upon the increase for
the last twenty years.
• • •
Those who have given attention to the improvement
of city governments now recognize the importance of
the department of weights and measures and definite
plans for the establishment of such a department can
readily be secured. This department should have ab
solute supervision and control over all thi different
measuring devices in use in that city. For a city with
a population of 100,000 this deparament should include
a chief with four assistants, one each of the latter be
ing responsible for the measuring of (1) gas meters
(2) water weters, (3) electric meters, and (4) of
weights, scales and measures. This last assistant, who
may be known as the city scaler, should be required
to have an inspection made every three months of all
the scales and measures used in the trade and should
be furnieh.l with seals for marking those which are
of the required standards, and authority for compelling
the destruction uf those which fall short.
• • *
The discrepancy in the measures between the differ
ent states is one of the matters causing trouble alike
to dealers and individual purchasers throughout the*
country. The United States standard bushel contains
2.150.42 cubic inches, but this is not required by all
of the state laws. The difference between liquid and
dry measure is not generally recognized and it is the
basis of millions of dollars of loss to the American
consumer each year. The quart, dry measure, should
contain 67.20 cubic inches, being one thirty-second
part of a bushel. Yet the average dealer sells most
articles supposedly for dry measure by the liquid
quart which contains only 57.75 cubic inches, a differ- ,
ence of nearly 15 per cent. It is estimated that upon
beans alone the public loses over $1,000,000 each year
by the substitution of liquid measure for dry and as
yet, in mosj: states, the dealers doing this ar© quite
safe from any legal penalty. •
Every Trade Has Distinctive Dress
At Coutts’ bank the clerical assistants must all
wear frock coats and no one in the employment of
the bank is allowed to go about with his trousers
turned up. At Hoare’s bank, it is the custom of all
those employed to wear white ties. This idea has been
followed for nearly 250 years. Members of the legal
profession observe the etiquette of their calling by
abstaining from the wearing of light or fancy colored
clothes and always wear silk hats. The beadles of
some Presbyterian churches in England wear dress
suits instead of tho Anglican cassock. Some brewers’
workmen and draymen wear scarlet knitted wool
nightcaps. In fact, nearly every trade and profession
has its own conventions and unwritten laws concern
ing the dress of its members.—London Globe.
And now come the cheerful tidings that there is
prosperity among the Eskimos.
Now that the Chautauqua season is over, maybe
Mr, Bryan’s critics can also rest.