Banks County journal. (Homer, Ga.) 1897-current, November 25, 1897, Image 3

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

HENRY GEORGE’S OWN STORY OF HIS CAREER. Was Once a Sailor, Printer, Tramp, Editor, and Always an Anti-Monopolist This is Henry George’s own story. He dictated it to a New York World reporter a few days before his death, and revised it carefully. “I was born in Philadelphia in 1839,” said Mr. George. ‘‘My father owned a bookstore and was a publish er in a not very large way. After wards he was a clerk in the Custom- House and remained there quito a while. I myself began life in Phila delphia as a boy, working for $2 a week in the office of an importer of crockery. I did writing, carried bundles or turned my hand to any thing elso there was to do. “After that I went into the office of a marine adjuster, but I was very anxious to go to sea. My grandfather was a sea captain of considerable note in the early days of Philadelphia. He followed the sea from the time he was eight years old. He had taken part in the war of 1812, and had been cap tured by the British. I suppose I in herit my love of the sea from him or from hearing my father talk about him. At any rate I went to sea, ship ping as foremast boy on the old ship Hindoo, an East Indiaman of 500 tons burden. I sailed from right here iu Now York, leaving the foot of Thir tieth street, on North Biver, going to Melbourne and then to Calcutta. “When I got back to Philadelphia after this voyage I was about sixteen years old, and I felt like staying at home a while. So I went into the printing office of King & Baird. There I learned something of the trade, but soon afterward I went to sea again, going to Boston .and back in a small coal schooner. “It was on this trip that I got the ggggggg idea of going to California. I saw in the Delaware River a little side-wheel steamer that was being built for the light-house service. She was to be taken to California, and I made np toy mind to go in her. “Asa matter of fact, I did go. Off Hatteras we were struck by a storm, which came near being the last of us. I remember it very vividly—how the squall drove the little cockle-shell now here, now’ there, now with this side touching the surface of the waves and now wilh that, while I and a negro deckhand worked together, throwing over bags of coal to lighten her. The sailing master hung on to-the bridge, shouting to us through the speaking trumpet and barely able to make him self heard as he told us that the work we wore doing w r as for life or death. “We came through safely, but con siderably damaged. Running along, we went into St. Thomas, then to Per nambuco and Rio Janeiro, and after ward to Montevideo. We did not go around the Horn, but through the straits of Magellan. It was amostim pressive sight—the deep clear water around us and the snow-covered moun tains in tho distance. We ran upon a schooner which belonged to English missionaries who were praying and working with the natives. We saw a Fuegans, audthoy BSkyfe... made up my mind to return to San Francisco. “When I got back I ran across Bond again, aud again went to printing. They paid seventy-five cents a thou sand, or S3O a week, but as I was still a minor I got only sl2. George Thurs ton, who is now a captain in the regu lar army, was my foreman. “As soon as I became of age I joined the printers’ union and so became en titled to full wages. After that I did first-rate. I worked as a substitute, doing what printers called ‘subbing’ on daily papers. Then I went to work on a paper which Duncan was then editing. I got to be foreman at S3O a week and he used my name as his pub lisher until he sold the paper. “Then I subbed on the dailies un til four printers started a little daily paper called the Journal. Setting the type was the main thing then, as there was no telegraphic news to pay for, and so I was taken into partnership on the payment of a small sum—between SIOO and S2OO, if I remember correct ly. “I worked trying to found the Jour nal until my clothes were in rags and the toes of my shoes were out. I slept in the office and did the best I could to economize, but finally I ran into debt S3O for my wash bill. What final ly broke us up was the threat of civil war, which created great excitement and made the news which came from the East by pony express au absolute necessity. As we did not have it we were forced out. “It was while in these straits that'l first mat the lady who is now my wife. Her people did not regard mo with favor under the circumstances, and I hardly blame them, but the young lady liked me, and promised to marry me. I bad nothing, but my friends fixed everything for the wedding, and a boarding-house, where I was ac quainted, agreed to credit us for two weeks’ hoard. As soon as we were married my wife anil I went there. Next morning I got up at 6 o’clock and started out to find work on an afternoon paper. I did not get it, but I finally found work on the morn ing papers, aud we paid our hoard. “My next move was to Hacramonto, where I worked on the Sacramento Union and did well. I sent for my wife, aud it was there that my first child, Henry George, Jr., was born. I disagreed with the foreman of the office, and after doing so returned to San Francisco and with two other printers started a job office. I came near starving to death, and at one time I was so close to it that I think I should have done so but for the job of printing a few cards which enabled us to buy a littlo corn meal. In this darkest time of my life my second child was born. I gave up the job office and went back to subbing, man aging to make a living that way until I began writing. 1 ‘The first thing 1 ever wrote for a newspaper was a story sent back to j Philadelphia of how we had buried a j man who died of yellow fever on the i voyage when we were near Monte ■ video. About this time Lincoln was I assassinated, and I wrote au article on for the Alta Californian. They it as an editorial and were ns nil e.i’ue fr \ orders abrogating an agreement it had made with me. It afterward attempt ed to keep my matter off tha wires. I kept up this fight for the San Fran cisco Herald, both from New York and Philadelphia, until finally the paper got into bad financial straits and I re turned to California. “It was during my stay in the East that I wrote for the New York Tri bune an article headed ‘The Chinese on tho Pacifio Coast’—the first article I ever wrote on political economy. “When I returned to San Francisco I found tho Herald dying, and, as the printers were the only ones on it who could get money to live on, I went to work at the case. “After this I edited the Oakland Transcript, and made a friend of Pro fessor William Swinton. Governor Haight, who was fighting the Paoific Railroad, offered me charge of a Dem ocratic paper, the Becorder, and I took it. It prospered, and I used the money I made from it in starting a penny paper iu San Francisco. “The articles I wrote, supporting Haight in his anti-monopoly fight, at tracted attention, and about this time I also developed the idea which was afterward worked out in ‘Progress and Poverty.’ “I published it first in a pamphlet called ‘Our Land and Land Policy,’ of which a thousand copies were sold at twenty-five cents each. More might have been sold, but when the edition ran out I determined to wait until I could develop the idea in a way I thought more worthy of it. “Our penny paper was printed on a flat press of the old style, and we found we could not get off enough copies to supply the demand or to make it pay. A man was very anxious to buy and we sold to him. One of my partners went to Paris with the proceeds of his venture, but I re mained in San Francisco and wan finally induced by the purchaser of the paper to take an interest in it for nothing, as he had lost hope of suc ceeding with it. We got tho first Bullock perfecting press ever used in California, but just as we were start ing a morning and Sunday edition the Bank of California failed and brought lllilllK IF' / SCENES AT HENRY GEORGE’S HOME, FORT HAMILTON, BROOKLYN. on a disastrous panic. “YVe were "pressed for the money which had been borrowed to buy the press, aud tlie sacrifices we were com pelled to make determined me to re tire. I held a small political office in San Fraucisco, by appointment for four years, and during this time wrote ‘Progress and Poverty.’ “I could not find a publisher in the East or iu England. The publishers laughed at tho idea of there being a sale for a work on political economy written in San Francisco. My old partner, W. M. Hinton, who had a printing office in San Francisco, de termined to risk it, however, and he printed au edition which sold for $3 a copy. “Iu January, 1880, I came East after the Appleton* had agreed to re publish the book hero. I came on borrowed money, and left my family in California, but ‘Progress and Pov erty’ was a success from the start. I have no idea how many copies have been sold. I think considerably over half a million. There were three edi tions in German alone, and there have been editions in Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian aud even in Japanese Chinese. From many of these, of have never received anything i ■ --j'FK A ||[ -nniftjjtoLfi but only one ptftujgko supply tho en tire population wijjf water for all pur poses. The polimjkiearched my trunk and found a f>y book on tho Irish land questifw which they con sidered dangerous Setter T : iippuso. “At any rate l ' Jfe , c tho man sion of the ideation, I shall never forget I trust it pre sented with the V of tho village. Well-dressed poop™ <vere playing lawn tennis on its • ds. it had stately trees it and an air of the utmost resj,” lability and com fort. Tho squire s >t mo back to the subordinate magist? e and I was re committed to the lock-up. In the moan lime a telegram had been sent to London, aud Mr. Gladstone I think it was, had ordered i,,y immediate re lease( So I was turned out. “I wrote a letter lo the President, detailing the circumstances of the ar rest, and on my return Secretary of State Frelinghuysen sent for me. Ho told me that the English Government was willing to pay tup damages, but I did not want them. All I wanted was to make it as plain as possible just how things were usually done in en forcing English authority in Ireland." FEET 2 i-2 INCHES LONG. They Are tho Smallest lo the United State* and Belong to a Chinese Woman. The tiniest feet in the United States are tho property of the wife of a Chin ese merchant of Philadelphia. They are just 2 J inches less than the length of the ordiffljP, man’s little finger. A few days ago tho Oriental super stition regarding modern inventions was so far lulled to sleep that tho owner of the Lilliputian feet permitted an X ray photograph of her right foot to bo taken. No morsstfjisshapen thing was ever seen. In her most freakish mood nature never dreamed of any thing like this. No curvature of tho spine ever approached this curvature of the foot. It looks for all the world as if it were part of the frame of one of those grotesque prehistoric mons ters that the paleontologists tell us about. If little girls in China are not killed 'at birth—a kindly fashion that pre vails in China—their feet are placed : in compresses, should they happen to be of fairly high caste. These com presses are never taken off for any length of time until the girl has reached ail age where her feet grow no more. In Chinese eyes her feet are perfect. In the eyes of others she has become a hopeless cripple. These deformed feet of the Chinese women of aristocracy are a potent fac tor in keeping slavery at high tide. Unable to walk, they must be con stantly waited upon, and for this ser vice sluves are necessary. Fortunately, the female slaves have feet such as na a 1 8 Vi rc-7 V- fjp* ' v *-. J SOMEWHAT SLIPPERY STUFF. Bis Industry In Gathering linrli From Certain Kind of Kim, Slippery elm bark is widely used in medicine to-day. Long ago, when doctors thought iva*ov, wh " drank pi. ar vas certain death to a person with fever, slippery elm came to the rescue f suffering thousands, and when it was put in the -a ter the pi i.oou was allowed to drink it. As tho years went on, and the doctors grew in wisdom, new use o were found for slippery elm bark. There are big factories iu which this bark is pulver ized, aud it is prescribed by physicians and sold by druggists for various uses. Sometimes it is fora poultice for some inflamed aud irritated place. Again it may be used when there is internal irritation, to soothe and allay the suf fering. Its uses are legion, and for years the frugal people who live in rural districts of the East have hail lucrative employment iu gathering this bark. In later years the Eastern supply has grown so short that the manufac turers have had to cast about for new forests, and have turned to the South j for their supply. Accordingly, last spring, Alien Asher, of Memphis, re- j ceived an inquiry from an Eastern house wanting from 100,000 to 200,- j 000 pounds of the bark. This was last April. Mr. Asher inserted an ad vertisement in the papers inquiring where aud in what quantities the bark I could be found here, There were ! hum! i .( sponses* aud a thriving little industry has been established. Mr. Asher tells the story of the hark in this maun er: “After looking into the matter care fully I found that there was any quan tity of this bark to be had in this sec tion. In Mississippi, Arkansas, Ten nessee and Alabama I found, by ad vertising, that this bark was very plentiful, mostly on ridges contiguous to rivers, creeks or bodies of water, and I immediately corresponded with sev eral hundred persons who had an swered my advertisement, telling them I wanted the bark iu large quan tities, and endeavored to secure all this bark I possibly could. The mill which wants it desired to get from 100,000 to 200,000 pounds annually. This, of course, is a large quantity of the bark, owing to the shape in which it is desired, and the fact that, when dry, it is not nearly so heavy as when stripped from the tree. “If the people would pay particular attention to gathering this bark for the market, it is so easily gathered, aud requires so little work, that it would be quite remunerative, especially as it can be gathered from the time the sap rises until the fall? It is not nec essary to cut down or kill the trees. It is better to not cut them down nor kill them. If enough bark is left, the parts stripped will be covered thicker and better iu time. All that tlie mill requires is that the outside, or rough part, of the bark, betaken oft’clean to the white part of the bark; then, that the bark bo thoroughly dried, aud while drying protected from the weather. If it is left out in the weather, so the rains and dew3 fall on it, it will mildew and become discol ored. When protected from the weather, and thoroughly dry,it is almost perfectly white. After tlie rough part of the bark is taken off, it can be stripped from the trees in any width and in pieces from three to twelve feet long, and then doubled over itself three to three aud a half feet long be fore drying, so that, when dry, it can be made into nice shipping bundles easy to handle in transit. “I dou’t think tlie people realize liow much could be made in this man ner bv men and children engaged iu farming, and it is really an extra duty and can be performed when the crops are laid by or when the weather is too wet to plow or do other field work, or at any spare time. The frugal East ern people have been gathering it for years to supply tlie increasing demand of manufacturers and druggists. “We pay 31 cents for tlie dry bark. So far most of our supply has come from Northern Alabama, Crittenden County, Arkansas, and along the line of the Illinois Central Railway as far down as Grenada, Alias., but we could handle many times what we now get, and would be glad if greater numbers of people would become interested in this industry. Many might find it more profitable than cotton. —Mem- phis Commercial Appeal. Avevffgp Height of Men* During the war measurements were made of over 1,000,000 men in the | United States Army, and it was found | that the average height of men born iu the United States was (it. 3 inches. According to Topiuard, the average height of Englishmen, Scotchmen and Swedes is 67.4 inches; Irishmen, 67; German, 66.2; Frenchmen, 65; Danes, 66.2; Kussiaus, 65.4; Chinese, 61; Bushmen, 62: Laplanders, 60.7; Amer ican Indians, 68.2; Patagonians, 70.3. Taking these measurements as a beds, the average for the world would be about 05.8. Natives of the United States, it will be observed, are taller any other representatives of the Cau casian race, and it is au interesting fact that residence on this continent, or, at least, tho northern part of it, tends to develop all the races in re spect of height, weight aud muscular power. Thus, in the army rucarmo ments referred to tho average h ight o'. foreign-born citizens v. ' ih.'.u atsr than the av 'are >r. then- .c --v ive countries. Tin* of :is 1". ur:s is • p ■ :a jg? IDEAL GRANDMOTHERS. J* Women Who Enow the Laws of Nature r.nd Cbffy jr Them Ivlay Live to Green Old Age. Mr*. Pin! mm Says When We Vir.h.to Nature’s laiwt ‘ Our J’uiii-hment Is l*n>n—lf \VVt,oqJJitao Providence has allotted us each at least seventy rtlfc’feviiZ rfpSssr* years in which to fulfill our mission iu life, and it is generally our own fault if ® Nervous exhaustion invites disease. S r, statement is the positive truth. K - .-ryjfepfeWhen everything becomes a burden SjCjffti''',jjy LfjtreqlwEr'• ■qP and you cannot walk a fi\v blocks v vSSk* gL>- I v-'ithout excessive fatigue, and you T A break out into perspirations easily, 7M j / jfe’i It and your face flushes, and you prow ,r W/ J 1 excited and shaky at the least provoca ffe V *l\ tion, and you cannot bear to bo fSS.b'fß i \crossed in anything, you are in dan -1 , m tat 4-81 t ger; your nerves have given out; you ' need building up at once! To build * up woman's nervous system and re store woman’s health, we know of no better or more inspiring medicine than Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. Your ailment taken in time can b# thrown off, if neglected it will run on into great suffering and pain. Here is an illustration. Mr.s. Lucy Goodwin, Holly, W. Va., says: “ I suffered with nervous prostration, faintness, all-gone feeling and palpi tation of the heart. I could not stand but a few moments at a time without having that terrible bearing-down sensation. “ When I commenced taking Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound I only weighed 108 pounds, and could not sit up half a day; before, however. I had used a whole bottle, I was able to be about. I took in all about three bot tles of the Compound, aud am entirely cured; now I weigh 131 pounds and like anew woman, stronger and better than ever in my life." So it transpires that because of the virtues of Mrs. Pinkham's wonderful Compound, even a very sick woman can be cured and live to a green old age. He Believes in Witches. Near Galena, IU., there lives an old German wood sawyer named Conrad Seip, who declares that he is con stantly tormented by witches, and, as be appears to be perfectly sane, his statements have attracted the atten tion of a large number of investigators. He is about 70 years of age, Is well educated and is still an earnest stu dent and reader. He says that he is constantly surrounded by witches, who often try to take him up and fly away witli him. To defeat this pur pose he wears about his waist a sack iike belt filled with chunks of lead and weights his ankles with minerals to such an extent that he is barely able to drag one foot after the other. He subsists entirely upon herbs, which, he says, keep the witches away at a safe distance, and eschews ail kinds of meat, vegetables and other food usu ally eaten by man. He lias a number of cheap alarm clocks, which are set for every hour in the night, under the belief that their striking will keep the witches away from his house. The latter is a miserable hovel located on the outskirts of the city, where he dwells alone. The place is almost filled with bottled toad3, lizards, snakes and other repulsive objects, which, he says, possess an occult pow er influence which protects him, to some extent, against injury or harm by the witches. These articles appear on every hand and in al! sorts of re ceptacles. There are also scores of dried snake skins suspended from the . mortariess rafters, and a number of skeleton,! of dogs and cats, most skill fully articulated and polished, are set up on a shelf over the old man’s bed. Before meals and on retiring at night ho repeats various incantations to pro pitiate the witches, and when about his work, and not talking to other peo ple, he constantly mutters and talks to the hobgoblins, by whom he claims to be at all ti-.-'s surrounded. How Berliners ‘‘Spruce Up.” The men of Berlin have an odd habit of brushing and combing their hair and whiskers in public. In the rest aurants aud cafes men pull out their implements and “spruce up” while waiting for their orders to be filled. They do not take the trouble to leave the table, either. In the foyers of the Berlin theatres there are many mir rors. Theoretically they are placed there for the convenience of ladies. As a matter of fact the men are the prin cipal users. Five minutes before the - - : : -ip a rcan may be seen standing before every mirror indus triously using brush and comb. One minute before the curtain rises all hands place brush and comb Duck in their pockets, and with a well-groomed appearance and self-satisfied smile they march down to their seats. —New York Commercihl Advertiser. A Simple Fire Extinguisher. Hand-grenades, the simplest form of fire-extinguisher, can be made at home cheaply and easily. And it is well to have at hand a simple contrivance for extinguishing a small fire at its start. Take twenty pounds of common salt and ten pounds of sal ammoniac (ni trate of ammonia, to be had of any druggist), and dissolve in seven gal lons of water. Procure quart bottles, of thin glass, such as are ordinarily used by druggists, and fill with this, corking tightly and sealing, to pre vent evaporation. The breaking of the bottle liberates a certain amount of gas, and the heat of the fire generates more, thus work ing its own destruction. A NoniciiHlciil Notion. Some folks actually believe tliajt they (Min ( tire sUin through their -'tinnachs. n,\s abemed on it* face absurd on tbe face ; t i <• man who believe too, because h.s disease s ‘.. IVS i' ij,j Js t there. = there till he uses It’s tho only i fe and- 'ti n cure j- r Ringworm. Eczema anil other ji ; ; r ; t itions. Good for Dandruff, too. A I- (trufr tfori'd, ft)cents, or by mail from J. T. . w hup trine. Savannah, Ga. \ bird iu the hand is worth • *vo ie the bush; v i; • is-* not tbe opinion of the bird. Rudy arc! K i pli Un ; written one of hi.-* best stories for the 1.8 18 vo ame of Db* Youth's Din-Mi : of tin -u-iiii San ■ a •' TRUTHFUL LADIES SPEAK OUT ©Pocahontas, Tenn., writes: Have used I>r. M. A. Sim mons Liver Medicine l 5 years. It cured me of Pal pitation of the Heart; Sick Headache and Fe male Trouble. My Hus band uses it for Bilious and Malarial dieorderw- In this section it ia aa staple as Meat and Dread. \Ye think it. much Su perior to J. XL Zeilin’t .3 Liver Medicine. Jenifer, Ala., writes: Jhnv used Hr. M. A. Simmons Liver aiedicine U 0 years. It cured J. M. Clark of Sick —Headache, and M. L. Powell of Heaviness and / Tired Feeling. Have used h “black Draught” and Zei- J a," y !in’s Regulator, but find the Kw l)r. 31. A. Simmons to be o*2 the best Medicine. Lono, Ark., writes: Have used I)r. M. A. Siminuns Liver 'w Medicine 20 years for q 34 . Sick Headache, and 1 rL cannot speak too highly \ -sr- of it. Have used Zeilin’s Liver Regulator, also y ■ “Black Draught,” but Y.iJiaLl- ' found both very inferior. . ' Cobden, 111., writes: y For ver at, d Fe ~ biS mnlc Troubles j'T§ nothing except Dr. VL> tj M. A. Simmons Y*- P Liver Medicine did V k me any good. “Black ,ngood. Corn responds readily to proper fer tilization. Larger crops, fuller ears and larger grain are sure to result from a liberal use of fertilizers containing at least y% actual Potash Our books are free to farmers. GERMAN KALI WORKS, 93 Nu*sau St., New York. w-' Pi £1 ell U '<&# PREVENTED BY TAKING “Our Native Herbs” the Great Blood Purifier aiu! Liver Reliefer, DAYS’ TREATMENT $!.00 Containing a Registered Guarantee. .12 page Hook and Testimonials, FRE2£. sent by mail, postage paid. Bold only by Agents for THE ALONZO 0. BLISS CO.,Washington, D.C. Snaffle FREE INFORMATION Klondike Seattle, Wash., Chamber of Commekcr Alaska I;; ' r • EA, ''■ - 1 iLE, Klondtnt'. At •