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MAGAZINE SECTION THE STATEHOOD QUESTION. LIKELIHOOD OF THE ADMISSION OF OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY . m- Disposition to Grant Them Statehood Irrespective of Arizona and New Mexico—New Congressional Align ment on Question. The assembling of congress will bring new blood in both the House and Senate. There is promise of a long and very important session. New policies are to bo discussed and material changes in existing economic conditions are to be proposed. Coming upon the eve of a congressional elec tion, the session will feel the effects, to a certain extent, of political consid erations. A . .. The admission of new states to the Union will be one of the hold-over questions to occupy the attention of the new congress. It appears now that there will be a decided shifting of position on the statehood problem, some new lights having dawned since statehood was discussed at the last session. It is understood that the committees on territories of both House and Sen ate are inclined to stand by the old program of creating two states out of the four territories, but it will not be a surprise if this program fails to meet the approval of a majority of the republican senators and representa tives. Since the question of state hood for these four southwest terri tories was brought into congress many senators and representatives have personally investigated the exist ing conditions in the territories, and the result is that public sentiment among public men is crystallizing in favor of the plan of admitting Okla homa and Indian Territory to state hood and, if necessary, letting Arizo na and New Mexico wait. There seems to be few dissenting voices against the proposed admission j |miiaßi DK ‘'xß&sßf't ~r . . ,/z^ THE CHINESE MINISTER’S DAUGHTER. ■ « it. VI /it Visitors to the Chinese Legation at Washington have often been attracted to a tiny little figure perched at the head of the grand stairway. It is al ways there when a dinner party is go ing on or when Sir Chengtung Liang Cheng, the Chinese Minister, is giving a reception. It never fails to appear, ;«(! the uninitiated have been heard to tffVark in undertone that it is a queer figure which guards the head of ■Wijw'-'er, .• is a very animated some mmj after ah, for it is no other than voung daughter of the Minister, ■Rise' Liang, who, though barred Khrough the custom of her country and Rer youth from taking actual part in en ertainments, is, neverthfdess, determined to see as much of them as she possibly can. Perhaps her father, the Minister, does not know she is there and perhaps he does, but nobody knows, for no mention of the fact has ever been made to him, and Miss Liang continues to enjoy these many social affairs from* afar. This dainty little Chinese maid has been in this country ever since her fa ther was delegated to represent his emperor at Washington. She is just seventeen years old, and until she came to America she did not know what it was to be allowed to go out unat tended. Over in China the women never show their faces on the street, but with the appointment to Washington of Wu Ting Dang former Chinese Minister, members of the legation, and especially the women, were given greater free dom and now they go about with never a thought as to the propriety of the ex She llrnttiunmuii of Oklahoma and Indian Territory. Difference of opinion does exist as to whether the two territories should be admitted as one state or whether they should be admitted as separate states, but on the main proposition— the preparedness of these two terri tories for statehood —there is little dissenting opinion. In fact, the pre vailing view is that statehood has already been too long delayed in the case of Oklahoma and Indian Terri tory. It is almost disgraceful, well informed public men are saying, that these two progressive territories l should be held back simply because of disagreement as to whether those unprepared territories, Arizona and New Mexico, should be admitted. It is high time, many men declare, for congress to cut loose from the Ari zona and New Mexico proposition, no matter what form it may take, and admit Oklahoma and Indian Territory. The Royal Crown of England. “Uneasy is the head that wears the crown.” The crown of England is a costly toy and is better to look upon than to wear. Around the circle there are twenty diamonds, worth $7,500 each, two large center diamonds, $lO,- 000 each; fifty-four smaller ones at the angle of the former, SSOO each; four crosses, each composed of twenty-five diamonds, $,,0,000; four large dia monds at the top of the crosses, S2O - twelve diamonds contained in the fleur-de-lis, $50,000; eighteen smaller ones in same, $10,000; pearls, dia monds, etc., upon the arches and (crosses, $50,000; also one hundred and forty-one small diamonds, $25,000; twenty-six diamonds in the upper cross, $15,000 and two circles of pearls about the rim. $15,000. The cost of the precious stones alone is nearly half a million dollars. Here lies my wife’s nearest relative. All my tears cannot bring her back. I Therefore I weep. ■ perience. At home they would not dare. . . Society is eagerly awaiting the ex pected announcement that Miss Liang will be formally presented this season. She has learned to speak English ex ceedingly well and is a familiar figure in a box at the theatres on Monday nights. When she wishes to go shop ping she does so unhesitatingly, and her carriage i 3 frequently seen stand ing in front of some of the fashionable shops. .. Fewer girls, especially among those who have not been presented to so ciety, are more popular than this charming daughter of the Chinese Min ister. She has made friends with every girl in Washington society, and her chief delight is to jump in her car riage in the afternoons and drive about, calling on her young American friends. They are all delighted to see ( her, and no matter what is on the pro gramme it must wait if the attractive little Miss Liang happens to call. She is so piquant, and appreciates an American joke as well as any of her American associates. > Miss Liang is the constant compan ion of-her father and accompanies him on all his drives. They are great friends and apparently enjoy every minute of their time together. The Minister is very proud of his daughters progress in learning American cus toms, and it is not unlikely that before many more years are past the Chinese Legation will be enjoying even to a greater extent the American freedom in living which makes the assignment of Washington a diplomatic plum for which many hands are always ready. MOUNT VERNON, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, DECI-'.MHER. -JS. H»OS. MARK TWAIN AT SEVENTY. THE HUMORIST ENTERTAINS GROUPS OF AUTHORS AT BANQUET. At Three Score and Ten He Is Hale and Hearty—Gives Views on How to Live—Never Smokes or Drinks While Asleep. Mark Twain, that prince of humor ists lias reached the limitation of life as laid down by the Scriptures—three score years and ten. And yet he is still able to give us gems of humor and wit—such gems as attained fame for him years ago when Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer and Innocents ■nesaa | i ■'TT —j~l S' m ..4H MARK TWAIN, TO-DAY. Abroad were first given to us. On De cember sth he was the guest of honor at a dinner in New York, to celebrate his seventieth birthday. The guests were confined closely to writers of imaginative literature, and about 170 authors were present, nearly bail! of them women. Every guest received as a souvenir a bust of Mark Twain, half-life size. Naturally Mr. Clemens was the principal speaker; he took as his text, “How to get to be seventy and not mind it.” He said: — “The seventieth birthday! It is the time of life when you arrive at a new and awful dignity; when you may throw aside the decent reserves which have oppressed you for a generation, and stand unafraid and unabashed upon your seven-terraced summit and look down and teach—unrebuked. You can tell the world how you got there. It is what they all do. You shall never get tired of telling by what delicate arts and deep moralities you climbed up to that great place. You will ex plain the process and dwell on the par ticulars with senile rapture. I nave been anxious to explain my own sys tem for a long time, and now at last I have the right. Regularly Irregular. “I have achieved my seventy years in the usual way—by sticking strictly to a scheme of my life which would kill anybody else. It sounds like an ex aggeration, but that is really the com mon rule for attaining to old age. We have no permanent habits until we are forty. Then they begin to har den, presently they petrify, then busi ness begins. Since forty I have boon regular about going to bed and getting up, and that is one of the main things. I have made it a rule to go to bed when there wasn’t anybody left to sit up with, and I have made it a rule to get up when I had to. 3 his has result ed in an unswerving regularity of ir regularity. “In the matter of diet—which Is another main thing—l have been per sistently strict in sticking to the things which didn’t agree with me until one or the other of us got the best of it. Until lately I got the best of it myself. But last spring I stopped frolicking with mince pie after midnight; up to then I had always believed it wasn’t loaded. For thirty years I have taken coffee and bread at 8 In the morning and no bite nor sup until 7.30 in the evening. “I have made It a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time. I have no other restriction as regards smoking. Ido not know just when I j began to smoke; I only know that it 1 was in my father's lifetime, and that 1 1 -was indiscreet. He passed from this i life early in 1847, when I was a shade ; past eleven; ever since then I have smoked publicly. As an example to I others, nnd not that I care for moder lation myself, it has always been my | rule never to smoke when asleep, and j never to refrain when awake. “As for drinking, I have no rule 1 about that. When the others drln.. I like to help; otherwise I remain dry, bv habit and preference. This dry ness does not hurt rne, but it could <-asily hurt you, because you are different. You let it alone. First Standard Oil Trust. “Since T was seven years old I have seldom taken a dose of medicine and have still more seldom needed one. But up to seven I lived exclusively on allopathic medicines. Not that I need ed them, for I don’t think I did; but it was for economy. My father took a drug store for a debt, and It made cod liver oil cheaper than the other break fast foods. I was the first Standard Oil Trust. I had It all. By the time the drug store was exhausted my health was established, and there has never b*en mueh th* matter with me . since. “I have never taken any exercise, ex jeept sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any. Exercise is loath some. And it cannot he any benefit when you are tired; 1 was always tired. “1 have lived a severely moral life. But it would be a mistake for other people to try that, or for me to rec ommend it. Very few would succeed. You have to have a perfectly colossal stock of morals, and you cannot get them on a margin; you have to have the whole tiling and put them in your box. Morals are an acquirement—like music, like a foreign language, like piety, poker, paralysis—no man is born with them. 1 wasn’t myself. 1 start l'd poor- WHAT A STRIKE COST. Chicago Obliged to Divert Money Needed For Improvements Into Payments For Police Service. It will never be known definitely just what the recent strike of the teamsters cost the people of Chicago. That the total would run well Into the millions, however, la a conserva tive estimate, judging from the single item of the expense to the municipal ity for extra police protection. Some time ago it was discovered that the city could add $5,000,000 to its bonded debt, and the people au thorized an issue of bonds to this amount for specific public Improve ments. The end of the teamsters’ strike found $2,000,000 of these boml3 still unsold and an emergency strike debt of some $365,000. To pay this bill the council has retired the $2,000/100 of bonds and ordered their reissue In such form that they may be used for general corporate purposes. Thus $365,000—0r the estimated cost of lowering the two river tun nels —goes to pay extra policemen for defending the lives of citizens and pro tecting their property while a supine city administration practically gave license to the striking teamsters to make the ordinary business of peace ful citizens full of turmoil and haz ard. Money that the people Intended to go Into sorely needed permanent im provements has been diverted to meet the cost of lawlessness that never should have gone to the extent it did. The cost of this one strike is the $365,000 the city pays for extra police service, plus what the county lias to P&y for special deputy sheriffs, plus the loss to merchants, railways, man ufacturers, etc., in business; plus lost wages to the strikers, plus a dozen other items that It would be difficult to enumerate. And this only em braces money cost. It takes no ac count of inconvenience to citizens, of assaults on citizens, of the killing of citizens. It Is a tremendously expensive thing to fight a labor war in a great city. A Ring for a Throne. Mis 3 Josephine Strong, who was private secretary at Washington for Congressman Hawley, has a diamond ring that was once owned and worn by Louis Philllpe. king of France. The ring has a peculiar history. It will he remembered that Philllpe lived in this country when he was an exile. He lived one winter in Zanesville, Ohio, and spent another winter with - Gen. Morgan Neville, a rich pioneer and taught the district school. He had word from France that there was a chance to regain the Bourbon throne if he could but get to Baris, but he had not money enough for the trip 1 Gen. Neville lent the prince the money. ; something like SBOO, and the prince gave in pledge the ring that Miss Strong now wears. Going to New Or leans by boat, Phillipe got to France ' and the rest, is history. He regained 1 his throne and the money lent by Gen ■ Neville made it possible. The king sent 1 back the amount of the loan, told thd general to keep the ring and asked him t to visit him at the royal palace. The 1 ring is a pear shaped diamond, set in I black enamel and is naturally highly • prized. • I > Into the Earth's liowels. ’ At Bendigo, Australia, there is a * gold mine 3,900 feet deep, or only 00 i feet short of tbree-quartors of a mile - This Is said to be the deepest gold r I ifflne In the world. AMERICAN LAND MONOPLY. IS BEING FOSTERED BY OUR PRES ENT SYSTEM OF LOOSE LAND LAWS. Homestead Commutation nnd Desert Land Act. Supposed to Encourage Settlement— Largely Utilized tor Land Grabbing. Land monopoly is a black cloud of dread from which Ireland is just emerging, and we applaud England's act, while we may yet possibly be a little skeptical, in providing a plan whereby free Ireland may become a fact. Yet wo ourselves are as rapidly ap proaching land monopoly in America as it is possible to do, considering our vast extent of territory. Land monop oly brings with it more state evils than can bo recounted in any single article. It retards every internal de velopment, it smothers individual ef fort and enterprise and finally it transforms the stem and fiber of the individual citizen from that of a sub stantial, self-reliant supporter of free government to a supine, indifferent and passionless individual, lacking in mental and moral poise and in those sturdy and heroic qualities which have made America the greatest name in history. “Land monopoly, did you say?" says the American land grabber. "Why, there is enough land for the children of the nation for generations if not centuries to come. The gov ernment owns in the West alone near ly half a billion acres and how can there lie any land monopoly when this va.,t area is always open to free entry under our various land laws?" Half Billion Acres Remaining. It is true that there are valuable lands in the West yet remaining open to entry, or at least land which will bo valuablo when it. shall have been furnished water for irrigation, lint what is the general description of this half billion acres yet remaining under Uncle Sam’s control? Is it reasonable to suppose that the shrewd land oper ators, living on the ground, have not skimmed the cream of this land, and are not doing so to-day —the fertile valleys and the rich plains, where water can he applied—and leaving tho great bulk of tho land to their pos terity, land composed of mountain tops and impassable canyon Hides which will probably forever remain in the hands of tho government and at least can never support life. Glance at a physical map of Colorado, just for an instance, and note the vast preponderance of mountains. There are many fertile valleys In Colorado, for tho map is on a much reduced scale, hut from its appearance you would think tho entire State was com posed of nothing but chain upon chain aud range upon range of untlllablo mountains. Denounced by Commission. This question of land monopoly in the West, as it is fostered through the use of the commutation clause of the homestead act and the desert land act has been studied by the President's Public Lands Commission, and their report, the third Installment of which in published in tnese columns, com merits upon these two land luws. The commutation clause originally provided that after months of residence on a-homestead claim a man could "commute” by paying to the government |l.2a an acre and get immediate title to his land. After a number of years of operation It was conceded that this clause had opened the door for much land acquirement without settlement, and amid a great blare of trumpets. Congress, in a spasm of virtue, extended the time to fourteen months. What has been the result of this amendment? The op ponents of the repeal of the commuta tion clause have presented specific reasons why this law should not be touched; that the entryrnan needs to "prove up” and get title to his land so that he can mortgage his property and with the money buy groceries, tools, etc., with which to work his farm, which may sound well, but the fact seems to remala that the great bulk of the commuted homesteads are not to-day homes. There is a class of people who have apparently lost sight of the fact that the federal land laws, from the home stead law down, and even before the homestead law, were enacted lor the purpose of fostering the making of homes for the nation; they seem to think, and it must be confessed that they have successfully put into prac tice their belief, that the laws are to be construed into passing on the title from the government into private hands with absolutely no regard to homemaking. They argue that when the public domain goes into private ownership it becomes taxable property and this helps the country and the State, and the question is ignored as to whether men and women go upon that land and make homes and reaf families. The following part, of the report of the Public Lands Commission shows that, the commutation clause at pres ent is a farce and that land can be entered under It and almost immedi ately added to already large individual holdings. The Commission recom mends that the period of residence be extended from fourteen months to three years and that the residence be actual and not constructive, as it is at present. With such a law strictly enforced the evils of the commuta tion clause would be largely obviated. It is, however, highly improbable that if a man actually resided and Im proved his homestead for three years a FREDERICK 11. NEWELL Chief Engineer of the C. s. Iteclaniutlon Ser vice ami Member of the Public Lauds Commission. ho would be unwilling to pay $1.25 an acre for Immediate title, when by an additional two years’ residence, ho could save this amount. The provisions of the desert land act, and the recommendation for the amendment of which Is included in the following report will he discussed In next week’s article. Commutation Clause of the Home stead Act. In the preceding report a state ment wns made* that our Investiga tions respecting the operations of the commutation clause of I lie homestead law were si 111 In progress. We were not at tlmt time prepared to recom mend Its repeul. Investigations car ried on during the past year have convinced us that prompt action should be taken in this direction and that, In the Interest or settlement, the commutation clause should lie great ly muddled. A careful examination of the dis tricts where the commutation clause Is put to the most use shows that there has been a rapid Increase of the use of Ibis expedient for passing public lands Into the hands of cor porations or large landowners. The object of the homestead law was pri marily to give to each citizen, the head of a family, an amount of laud up to Uk) acres, agricultural in char acter so that homes would he created la the wilderness. The commutation clause, added at a luter date, was undoubtely intended to assist the honest set tier, hut like many other well-intended acts its original Intent has been gradually perverted until It is apparent that u great part of all commuted homesteads remains unin habited. fn other words, under the commutation clause the number of patents furnishes no index to the number of new homes. To prove this statement It Is only necessary to drive through a country where the commutation clause has been largely applied. Field after | field Is passed without a sign of per manent habitation or Improvement other than femes. The homestead shanties of the commuters muy be (Continued on next nage.) IDo You Use Acetylene? if so, We Want to Send You A SAMPLE BURNER We believe we have th*- very beat and the cheapest line of Acetylene burners. Our sample will show better than we can explain here why it would pay you to use our burners. Write ua po-day. mention kind of Gene r a tor used, enclose H cents In stamps to cower postage, ami we will send you A Snmplc Hurner W. M. CRANE COMPANY 1131-33 BROADWAY ! Room 10 New York, N. Y. PART TWO,