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FORTY GIRLS POISONED
Students of Athens, Ala., Female
College Become 111.
SCHOOL SUSPENDED 10 BAYS
The Malady Has Been Pronounced to
Be Ptomaine Poisoning, and There
Is an Epidemic of Grip.
Birmingham, Ala. —Perhaps fifty
girls, students at the Athens Female
College, at Athens, Ala., have pass¬
ed through Birmingham, or stopped
here, going to their homes, The
school has been disbanded, owing to
a malady existing there. Some of
the girls passing through were on
invalid beds. The school was dis¬
banded.
Relatives of the girls arriving say
that there are forty-odd girls at the
college too ill to be removed. It is
said that a Nashville specialist has
pronounced the malady, which was at
first thought to be fever, to be
ptomaine poisoning, and it is also
said here that It is an epidemic of
grip. Whatever It is, there are doz¬
ens of sick girls. No deaths are
reported. Seven trained nurses from
Nashville are said to he at Athens.
The college Is under the auspices of
the Methodist Church,
Advices from Athens are, to the
effect that the school has been sus
jiended for ten days. The president.
Miss Mary N. Moore, was thrown
from her horse about, ten days ago
and sustained a broken rib. For
several days she has been at. the
home of her sister, Mrs, F, W. Bran¬
don, in Bessemer. Rev. F. W. Bran¬
don, presiding elder of the Bessemer
district, is now at Athens in charge
of the school.
It is stated that about 100 students
have left, the school in the last few
days. Although great secrecy has
been maintained about the situation
at the school because of the fear
that It would do the institution in¬
calculable hard, It is understood that
the doctors have been greatly puz¬
zled by the malady. The first symp¬
toms are said to be a severe aching
of the lower limbs, followed by vio¬
lent vomiting. That It has not been
really serious is shown by the fact
that there have .been no fatalities.
The sickness, is it said, passes off
in two days.
II. D. C. ELECT OFFICERS.
Little Rock Gets Next Meeting of the
Confederate Daughters.
Houston, Texas. —With the selec¬
tion of Little Rock, Ark., as the con¬
vention city in 1910 and the election
of the general officers for the year,
the sixteenth annual convention of
the United Daughters of the Confed¬
eracy adjourned sine die closing the
sessions in Houston an hour before
midnight. The following general of¬
ficers were elected:
President general, Mrs. Virginia
McSherry of West Virginia; first vice
president general, Mrs. L. C. Hall of
Arkansas; second vice president gen¬
eral, Mrs. M. E. Bryan of Texas;
third vice president, general, Mrs.
Thomaa T, Stevens of Georgia; re¬
cording secretary general, Mrs. A. L.
Dowdell of Alabama; corresponding Chlldipess
secretary general, Miss of
Louisiana: treasurer general, Mrs. C.
B. Tate of Virginia; registrar general,
Mrs. James B. Gantt of Missouri; his¬
torian general, Mrs. J. Endois Robin¬
son of Virginia; custodian of cross of
honor, Mrs. L. H. Raines of Georgia;
custodian of flag, Mrs. F. A. Walk of
Virginia.
Honorary presidents. Mrs. J. W.
Tench of Florida, and Mrs, N. D.
Randolph of Virginia.
The Shiloh Monument Association
committee's report was read by Mrs.
White of Tennessee, which showed
that, over $20,000 has been donated
last year. :»
CAR SHORTAGE IN SOUTH.
American Railways Make Statement
on Car Situation.
Chicago, III.—The American Rail¬
ways' fortnightly statement made
public here shows a shortage of 23,-
431 cars in the east and south, and
a surplus of 35,977 in the west and
northwest. The report adds: “There
seems to be no doubt that the rail¬
roads are carrying as much freight
as they did in October, 1907, and it is
to be noted that the shortages are
one-third of what they were then,
when there was no surplus at all. The
surplus has been reduced 17,4111 in
the last two weeks. It is probable that
we have reached or nearly reached a
maximum shortage, although it is
probable that the surplus will he fur¬
ther reduced. If there is any serious
shortage this fall, it will provably bo
upon the commercial roads.
$100 FOUND IN MAIL
Unaddressed Envelope Containing
Money in the Dead Letter Office.
Washintgon, D. C. —Somebody is
out just. $100 because of carelessness
in forwarding money through the
mails. The division of dead letters of
the postoffice department received,an
envelope, unsealed and unaddressed,
containing an amount of currency ag¬
gregating about $100.
The envelope was deposited in a
street letter box in a town in New
York state.
The inquiry will be continued for
some time and if the identity of the
sender of the money is not disclosed,
the money will be turned into the
United States treasury.
FARMERS CHARGED WITH PEONAGE.
Alleged They Made a Negro Work
Out a Debt.
Mobile, Ala —Butler, Sam, Eugene
and Andrew Seary and Henry Shanks
—well known and prominent farm
ers of Butler and Crenshaw counties
—were taken to Montgomery and
held in $1,000 bond each, charged
with peonage. It is alleged they held
"Wash Gardner, a negro, in peonage
to work out a debt. The warrants
were sworn out by United States
District Attorney Parsons.
DEATH RATE DECLINING.
So the Government Vital Statistics Show.
Tuberculosis Is Decreasing.
Washington, D. C —The great, fight
against tuberculosis is being won, ac¬
cording to Chief Statistician Creasy
L, Wilbur, of the division of vital sta¬
tistics, United States Census Bureau.
In a bulletin issued he eays:
“A continued decline in the death
rate from it from year to year, may
be expected.”
He says that the organization of
many state and local anti-tuberculo¬
sis societies since the international
congress on tuberculosis In Washing¬
ton in T908 has helped to check the
disease. The total deaths from tu¬
berculosis returned in 1908 was 79,-
289, exceeding those of any previous
year of registration, but the death
rate per 100,000 for 1908 is consider¬
ably less than that for 1907. In all
registration states, the death from
the tuberculosis showed a decline, ex¬
cept In Colorado, Rhode Island and
Vermont.
Mr. Wilbur notes pellagra, as a dis¬
ease of increasing importance with
twenty-three deaths recorded in 1908.
This does not include the bulk of pel
legra deaths In the south, from which
no records are received. Among the
rarer disease, smallpox caused nine¬
ty-two deaths; plague, five; yellow
fever, two; leprosy, eleven and hy¬
drophobia, eighty-two.
OBLITERATE CASTE LINES.
Methodist Home Mission Board Dis¬
cusses Work Among Operatives.
Charlotte, N. C, —The special con¬
ference of - the home mission board
of the Methodist church, south, call¬
ed to consider the relation of the
church to the industrial problem,
came to an end with the adoption of
resolutions embodying suggestions
as to the most advantageous steps
to be taken in the conduct of work
in mill settlements. The substance
of the discussion was that caste lines
in the church must be obliterated and
that the churches in the cities having
outlying mill settlements must contri¬
bute to the work amongst cotton mill
operatives.
Statistics read in the conference
show that there are in the south,
843 cotton mills, with 411,542 mill
people, and the eagerness of the mem¬
bers of the conference to reach these
people was manifest.
GOVERNMENT GINNING REPORT.
5,525,591 Bales Ginned to October
the Eighteenth.
Washington, D. C. —The census re¬
port shows 5,525,591 bales, counting
round as half bales, ginned from the
growth of 1909 to October 18, com¬
pared with 6,296,166 for 1908, 4,420,-
258 for 1907 and 4,531,621 for 1906.
Sea island cotton 36,330 for 1909,
32,013 for 1908, 18,775 for 1907 and
12,091 for 1906.
The number of bales ginned of the
crop of 1909, by states, is as fol¬
lows:
Alabama 513,535, Arkansas 327,645,
Florida 34,903, Georgia 1,113,700, Lou¬
isiana 144,073, Mississippi 393,414,
North Carolina 253,245, Oklahoma
329,705, South Carolina 622,570, Ten¬
nessee 101,190, Texas 1,672,812, all
others 19,799.
SWALLOWED GOLD TOOTH.
Macon Woman Had Gold Crown in
Her Lungs a Year.
Macon, Ga —In a violent coughing
spell Mrs. Walter Garrity coughed a
displaced gold crown from a tooth
from its lodging in her lungs, where
it had been a year and a day. She
was desperately ill and physicians
had contemplated an operation. She
will recover, it is believed.
A year has passed since she was
in a dentist chair getting work done
on her teeth. A crown in her mouth
slipped and she drew' it into her
lungs. She had several severe at¬
tacks, but Improved each time until
the foreign matter was finally thrown
off.
Lovett Succeeds Harrinm
New York City. —Robert S, Lovett,
was elected president of the Union
Pacific railroad, to succeed the late
E. il. Marrimau, ai a meeting of the
board of directors. The executive
committee was re-elected, with Judge
Lovett as chairman, to which place
he was elected as Mr. Harrinian’s
successor a few weeks ago. .
Would Bar Tobacco to Ministers.
Savannah, Ga. —The use of tobac¬
co by ministers will be barred, if
the wishes of the Woman’s Board of
Home Missions of the Methodist
Episcopal church, south, are carried
out by the general conference.
Newsy Paragraphs.
As a result of a feud between Ital¬
ian families of New Orleans, Lewis
Manacia, aged twelve years, is dead
and his mother and two children are
dying. They ate sugar sent them as
a present. It was discovered that it
was sent by enemies of the family.
Senator Johnson Claimed by Death.
Fargo, N. D. —United States Sena¬
tor Martin H. Johnson of this state
died from an attack of acute bright’s
disease at his hotel here. Senator
Johnson was fifty-nine years old. In
1890 he was sent to congress, and
was three times nominated. He was
eight years in the lower house.
Ten Killed in Mine Explosion.
Hartshorne, Okla—Ten men are
dead, two are injured and one is miss¬
ing as a result of an explosion in
mine No. 10 of the Rock Island Coal
Mining company. The men are be¬
lieved to have gone beyond a “dead
line" with lighted lamps in entering
the mine, the lamps igniting the gas.
Tillman Will Not Attend Taft Banquet.
Columbia, S. C. —Because he was
asked to pay $10 for a plate at the
luncheon which will be given to Pres¬
ident Taft on the occasion of his visit
to this citv November 6. Senator B.
r Tillman has declined to attend the
luncheon, and states that he may not
serve on the reception committee.
Senator Tillman says that while Co¬
lumbia is to be the nominal host of
j,j r Taft, the city expects the state
al targe to pay for the president's en¬
tertainment.
MANEUVERS ESSENTIAL
Officials Say That War Games
Will Not Be Abandoned.
MILITIA NOT A PLAYTHING
Physical Standard of the National Guard
Muit Be Kept as High as That
of the Regular Army.
Washington, D. C.— Recognizing
the law of the “survival of the fitt
est," the officers of the war depart¬
ment have determined that henceforth
only the country’s strongest and best
will be allowed to participate in the
war games of the national guard. The
explanation of this action i-s that the
maneuvers are altogether too strenu¬
ous and too much like the real arti¬
cle for those not physically fit. '*■
The division of militia affairs will
soon send out instructions to the
medical officers of the various na¬
tional guard organizations directing
that more strenuous medical exami¬
nations be required of recruits enter¬
ing the militia and that no militia¬
men who are not physically able to
stand the strain will be allowed to
take part in future war games.
Strong faith in the present method
of training the national guard is ex¬
pressed by General Robert Shaw Oli¬
ver, assistant, secretary of war, who
has charge of militia affairs.
"The war department,” he says,
“has not the slightest intention of
varying its plans for the general ed¬
ucation of the national guard in con¬
nection with the army in joint camps
and maneuvers in alternate years,
and by the methods provided in gen¬
eral orders of the war department,
Future participation of the national
guard in maneuvers similar to those
recently held in Massachusetts
should hereafter be limited to such
organizations as have proved fit to
take reasonable and proper care of
themselves, and only those organiza¬
tions which have been especially re¬
ported to the department as such
should be given this privilege.
“There is no question that the re¬
cent maneuvers have been invalua¬
ble, and simply because certain hard¬
ships may have been suffered through
their ignorance by some of the men
of the national guard there fa certain¬
ly no reason for interference with
or changing in any way the well set¬
tled policy which has been determin¬
ed upon by the war department.
There is no reason for assumiug that
there was any excessive amount of
sickness or injury to health in the
recent maneuvers. On the contrary,
from certain unofficial statistics
which have been published, it is in¬
clined to believe that there has been
leas sickness as a result of these
maneuvers than usual,”
The real lesson derived from the
Massachusetts war games is that the
physical standard of the national
guard must be kept practically as
high as that of the army itself. The
militia can no longer .be considered
a mere plaything, or an excellent sub
stitute for gymnatsic exercise by cit¬
izens. It must be ready to respond
effectively when called upon, if it is
to be taken seriously as a factor in
the national defense.
WHY WOMEN MARRY.
Chicago Minister Explains Cause of
Matrimony.
Chicago, 111—Matrimonial mishaps
and how to avoid them tvas the text
of an address delivered before the
Klio association, a woman’s club, by
the Rev. D. D. Vaughan.
About two hundred young women
listened to the discourse and went to
their homes with some of the follow¬
ing epigrams to ponder over:
Marriage is the normal state, but
it is no longer a necessary state.
Women often marry for a home,
for money, or because they wish to
show some other woman that they can
marry that particular man.
Learn to understand your husbands
—men are transparent.
Pretty women are not in demand;
neat girls are.
To hold the love of your husbands,
keep fooling them. Make them be¬
lieve you are the angel they supposed
you before the wedding ceremony.
Women should love their husbands
more than their children or parents;
otherwise they will not be ideally hap
py
“The idea that a man can live
cheaper after he has married than he
did before is fallacious and mislead¬
ing,” said Mr. Vaughan.
"That ig possible only when the
candidate for matrimonial honors has
spent his income in riotous living.
The single man wbg has been thrif¬
ty will find that when he gets married
he will be called upon to spend three
times as much for living expenses as
he did before.”
DR. CARLISLE IS DEAD.
Signer of Secession and President
Emeritus of Wofford College.
Spartanburg, S. C —Dr. James H.
Carlisle, the venerable president em¬
eritus of Wofford college died at his
home here. Dr. Carlisle was born at
Winnsboro, S. C., eighty-four years
ago^ his parents having come from
County Antrim, Ireland.
In 1875 he was chosen president of
Wofford college, and in this position
continued until 1902, when he resign¬
ed and became president emeritus.
Dr. Carlisle and Colonel Robert A.
Thompson of Walhalla, S; C., were
the only surviving signers cf the or¬
dinance of secession which precipitat¬
ed the war betweent the states.
CONFEDERATE FLAG RETURNED.
Captured From the Ram Albermarie
Just As It Went Down.
Richmond, Va, —Dr. Thomas A.
Warrell, formerly of Company B,
Company B, Pennsylvania volun
teers, has presented to the confeder¬
ate museum here a confederate flag
that was taken from the confederate
ram Albemarle, which was sunk off
the coast of North Carolina, during
the civil war. It was removed from
the vessel just before the ship went
down.
BONDS FOR WATERWAYS.
President Taft Declares Himself in Fav
or of Inland Waterways.
Corpus Christi, Texas —In an open
address here before the Interstate In
land Waterways league and the citi¬
zens of Corpus Christi, President Taft
announced himself as strongly favor¬
ing a permanent and practical sys¬
tem of inland waterways as a means
of controlling railroad rates, and said
that he favored the policy of issuing
bonds for carrying out a practical sys¬
tem of improvements.
Up to the present time, Mr. Taft
declared, congress has provided for
improvements in piece meal fashion
the work on improvement has
been nothing more than "a procession
of jerks.” Before any project is en¬
tered upon, the president declared, it
should be thoroughly considered, in¬
vestigated and reported upon by a
board of engineers as to its feasibil¬
ity and desirability.
Once the improvement is declared
desirable and the communities which
it is to serve can convince congress
that their growth has been such as
to justify the expenditure of a large
sum of money to take care of increas¬
ing trade, bonds should be issued in
order that the improvements may be
carried into effect at once and the
benefits of it be quickly secured.
The president took occasion to re¬
fer to that in some localities that
there is a disposition to do injustice
to the railroads and to drive the cor
porations to a system of economy,
which prevents the development of the
country through which they pass. The
president said it was often the case
that the citizens of a county would go
to any extent to get a railroad to come
into the county, but once there, no a
friend of he railroad could anywhere
be found, • except perhaps the local
counsel.
The remark called out hearty laugh
ter.
The president turned serious again,
however, and urged a “square deal”
for the railroads, that they might not
be deprived of reasonable profits
through popular prejudice.
FARMER’S FORTUNATE WIFE.
Woman is Left $4,000,000 by a
Former Sweetheart.
Jonesboro, Ark.—Coming as a se¬
quel of her girlhood days, Mrs. John
D. Erwin, wife of a Green county
farmer, will probably be put in pos¬
session of an estate valued, it is es¬
timated, at $4,000,000. R. E. McGoff,
a Kentucky attorney, executor of the
estate of a resident of that state
whose name he will not disclose, is
in Jonesboro securing proof as to the
identity of Mrs. Erwin.
Some years ago, it is asserted, Mrs.
Erwin, then Mary Duval, met a young
German, who told her of vast ances¬
tral estates. The two became fast
friends, but because of parental ob¬
jection the marriage which he pro¬
posed did not occur. Instead the
young woman became the wife of a
farmer. Recently the man who first
sought her hand died, naming in his
will as his legatee his former sweet¬
heart. That she can produce ample
proof that she is the person is de
dared by Mrs. Erwin,
POTASH MONOPOLY PLANNED.
Germany Wants to Hold Up American
Trade.
Berlin, Germany, —The completion
of contracts between the German pot¬
ash mines and American fertilizer
companies at prices lower than those
of the syndicate has influenced the
imperial ministry of the Interior to
prepare bills for submission to the
reichstag, with the object of creating
a government control over the pot¬
ash industry. The legislation propos¬
ed would prevent the filling of Ameri¬
can contracts at prices contracted by
the Americans, who have placed or¬
ders covering a greater pari of their
requirements up to 1917.
If these measures should be adopt¬
ed, America, which takes about sixty
per cent of the potash exported, would
be obliged to pay monopoly prices.
The American interests here are
concerned over the situation, and
probably will make representations
concerning it to the state department
at Washintgon,
ANTHRACNOSE DOES GREAT DAMAGE.
Disease in Cotton is Spreading and
is Costing Planters Millions.
Columbia, S, C. —in a report just
made to Commissioner Watson, State
Botanist Barre declares that the dis¬
ease of anthraenose in cotton is cost¬
ing the growers of the state probably
$5,000,060 yearly and the Georgia
planters possibly as much as $14,000,
000 each year. According to Mr.
Barre, the disease is spreading. Its
worst manifestations have followed
the use of imported seed, for which
reason he urges that inspection of cot¬
ton seed be provided for in the pro¬
posed legislation to minimize pellagra
by the inspection of grain.
Rocky Boy and his band of Chip¬
pewa Indians, numbering about one
hundred and fifty braves, encamped
near Birds Eye, Mont., probably will
owe their rescue from death by star¬
vation to the promptness of Indian
office officials, who took speedy
means to relieve their desperate
plight.
The West Virginia synod of the
Presbyterian Church in session at
Elkins, W. Va.. adopted a resolution
protesting against the invitation ex¬
tended to President Taft to address
the iaymens’ missionary convention
November 11. This action was tak¬
en after a lengthy discussion, argu¬
ments in favor of the resolutions be¬
ing based upon the president’s affilia¬
tion with the Unitarian church.
That San Francisco had made pre¬
liminary plans to hold a world's fair
in commemoration of the completion
of the Panama canal was the state¬
ment made in Seattle by Colonel J. A.
Filcher, executive commissioner from
California to the Alaska-Yukon-Pa
eifle exposition. He said the United
States government should furnish “a
million or two to celebrate the event.”
San Diego, Cal., also is mentioned as
a possible site for a world's fair cel¬
ebrating the completion of the canal,
and it is understood that one or more
southern cities bordering projects." the gulf
of Mexico have similar
CHILD LABOR IN SOUTH
Textile Union Denounce* the
Employment of Children.
ATTACKS ATLANTA MINISTERS
Delegate Say* Atlanta Preach era Fight
Whiakey But Are Indifferent About
Children Working in the Mill*.
Washington, D. C. —Declaring that
dearly as he loved the south, he was
not willing to have her purchase com¬
mercial success at the sacrifice of
her little children, F. C. Roberts, for¬
merly a Georgian, and chairman of a
committee of the Central Labor Un¬
ion of this city, at the convention of
the United Textile Workers of Amer¬
ica, stirred up much indignation
against Dr. C. A. Stiles of the United
States Public Health and Marine Hos¬
pital Service, who was quoted before
the Southern Textile Association at
Raleigh by a speaker who was defend¬
ing the employment of children in the
southern cotton mills.
Mr. Roberts declared his surprise
that a public officer, paid from the
public revenue, should appear before
a convention of employers of labor
and undertake to defend the system
of child labor in the southern states.
He advocated action by the conven¬
tion in opposition to any attempt to
further extend and to perpetuate the
system of child labor in southern cot¬
ton mills. Such employment, he said,
merely tended to displace adults.
“I love the southland,”’ said Mr.
Roberts, “and I would do almost any¬
thing in my power to have the cotton
of the south manufactured in the
southern states. But there are prices
I would not pay for such a commer¬
cial victory. I would not give our
little children as the price of success.
“We know that the houses of these
people are unsanitary. The effort of
organized labor is to make them more
sanitary. Here in the district of Co¬
lumbia is a daily occurrence to hear
white and black men and women ask¬
ing the judge of the police court to
send them to the workhouse because
they would be better off there than in
their own homes.
Thomas Tracy, secretary of the
Union Label Department of the Amer¬
ican Federation of Labor, called at¬
tention to an article appeariuing in an
August magazine, which, he said,
would place Dr. tSiles in the position
of a witness against himself in the
matter of the employment of child¬
ren in southern cotton mills.
In that article, he said. Dr. Stiles
had deprecated the employment of
children and stated there were 200,000
children in the southern cotton mills,
and that their lives weer slowiy be¬
ing sapped by the hook-work disease,
John L. Rodier of this city warned
delegatee from the New England
states that if they looked with indif¬
ference on the policy of working the
children in the southern cotton mills
they would soon face a movement for
the repeal of child labor laws in Mas¬
sachusetts, Rhode Island and Connect¬
icut, as the New England industry
would find it impossible to compete
against such cheap labor.
“I find,” said Mr. Rodier, “that men
who advocate putting children in the
cotton mills of the south do not put
their own children there, but send
them to school,
Mr. Rodier told of his experience
in Atlanta, Ga., during a campaign
against the liquor traffic,
“Ministers of. the gospel and women
got down on their knees,” he said,
“and prayed to save big, strong men
from the demon rum and against their
own vices, but these same ministers
and women were indifferent when we
attempted to get legislation prevent¬
ing the employment of children un¬
der ten years of age.
After the speaker had left the as¬
sembly hall, hie reference to the min¬
isters and children brought Edwin
Johnson of New Bedford, Conn., to
his feet, declaring that a gratuitous
insult had been offered to the minis¬
ters.
Secretary Albert Hibbert of Fall
River. Mass., suggested that it was a
fact that ministers did not take the
same interest in prohibiting child la¬
bor that they took in the liquor traf
fic.
PATRICK II. M’CARREN DEAD.
Democratic Leader of Brooklyn Never
Rallied After Operation.
New York City.— Patrick H. McCar
ren, state senator and democratic
leader of Brooklyn, died at St. Cath¬
erine’s Hospital, Brooklyn, never hav¬
ing completely rallied from the ef¬
fects of an operation for appendicitis
which was performed on October 13.
His death was not unexpected; in
fact, the senator himself realized that
his end was near.
SPANISH CABINET RESIGNS.
Spain Tranquil Under New Order of
Government.
Madrid, Spain. —The Spanish cabi¬
net, which was formed January 15 ,
1907, under the premiership of Anto¬
nio Mauria. resigned as a result of
the bitter attacks made against the
government by the former premier,
Moret y Prendergast.
The fall of Premier Maura and the
conservative cabinet has produced a
feeling of relief and encourages hope
that a period of internal tranquility
has been ushered in. It is now an
open secret that M. Maura’s refusal
to give King Alfonso an opportunity
to pardon Ferrer is regretted by his
majesty.
DIVINE HEALER DEAD.
Charles M. Schiatter Was Unable To
Cure Himself.
.. Hastings, Neb.— Charles M, Schlat¬
ter, who claimed to cure ills by di¬
vine power, was found dead in a
room at a local hotel. He was penni¬
less, and unless relatives or friends
claim the body it will be turned over
to a medical college. Schlatter was
widely known, having thousands of
it newspaper to various clippings American "discribing his
old cities. He died
of age.
LATE NEWS NOTES.
General.
In a lecture before the Aero Club
of America, Lyttleton Pox urges that
the club take immediate steps to
cause the enactment of laws defining
the tights and privileges of persons
who travel in balloons and aero
planes. Mr. Fox fears that unless
laws to the contrary are passed, them prop¬
erty owners whose titles give
possession of the air above property
may prosecute air travelers for tres¬
pass. In order to avoid suits for
trespass, Mr. Fox suggests that the
various states condemn a certain ae¬
rial stratum as a public highway
and take title to it.
Two large 22,000-pound Rodman
guns, relies of the confederacy,
mounted at the abandoned Fort Hen¬
ry, near Pass Christian, Miss., will
be blown up and shattered into port¬
able sections with dynamite. They
were recently sold to a St. Louis
firm by the state of Mississippi and
were to be exhibited as historical cu¬
riosities. But the purchasers have
found it impossible to get the guns
away from their mountings. The site
of the old fort has almost been buried
under the accumulations of the past
forty years
Counterfeiters, working almost in
the shadow of the treasury, have in¬
vaded certain districts of Washington
with spurious coin. The counterfeits
are of the 25 cent and 10 cent coin¬
age, patterned after the issue of 1908,
but, according to the secret service
operatives, they are poor imitations.
John L. Carlisle, a prominent farm¬
er and politician of Marion county,
Mississippi, with is so strongly impressed
the belief that he has found gold
on his farm near Magnolia that he
has sent a sack, of the nuggets to the
United States assay office at Wash¬
ington for analysis. The nuggets
were picked up in a cotton field on
the Carlisle place, and the ground
is thickly strewn with them. They
appear to be a composition of sand
and bright flecks resembling gold
dust.
The International Banking corpor¬
ation, an American concern, which
was the .first to open a ^louse in Pe¬
kin, China, started a branch in Han¬
kow', with the object of increasing
trade relations between the United
States and the Far East.
Washington.
When President Taft returns from
his western trip he will find awaiting
him in the white house a big barrel
of sauerkraut which represents his
winning at the Elks’ fair held at San¬
dusky, Ohio, last winter. The pres¬
ident was presented the winning tick¬
et by W, H Reinhart, head of the
Perry centennial commission, while
the latter was in Washington. The
barrel was packed with twenty-two
gallons of fresh briny food and tx*
pressed to Washington.
Record target practice, scores of
the vessels of the American navy for
1909 made public at the navy depart¬
ment show that the Washington is
a winner of the .battleship class, the
Charleston a winner in the cruiser
class, the Wilmington a winner in the
gunboat class, the Tingey the win¬
ner in vessels competiting for the tor¬
pedo trophy.
The use of the words “so help me
God" at the end of oaths may be
prohibited in the courts of the Dis¬
trict of Columbia if congress passes
a law which is now being drafted by
the commissioners of the District of
Columbia. The bill under considera¬
tion is similar to one enacted by the
Maryland legislature, and leaders of
the bench and bar in Washington are
being consulted as to the desirability
of recommending its enactment by
congress,
A pew in the fashionable St. John's
Episcopal church in Washington, the
property of the late Dr. Robert Rey
burn, was put up at auction. As there
were no bidders the pew probably
will be sold at private sale. Last
May a pew in the same church
brough brought $3,000. This is not
the only high price paid for a pew in
St. John’S In 1816, when the edifice
was built, the pews sold for $100
each, but at that time the church or¬
ganization received the money and
not a pew holder, as now is the case.
A few years ago Representative
George M. Huff of Pennsylvania pur¬
chased from an estate a pew directly
in the rear of what is known as the
“presidential pew,” paying $2,750
Uncle Sam grew financially fat off
industrious inventors last year, the
records showing that revenues in
fees from this source were sufficient
to pay $1,887,443, the expenses of the
United States patent office, and leave
a surplus of $88,476. This fact, which
is emphasized in the annual report of
Edward B Moore, commissioner of
patents, has made the basis for im¬
portant recommendations urging new
law's by congress which will effectual¬
ly expediate methods for issuing pat¬
ents.
Improvements in the methods of
sustaining the army while traveling
by rail have made the lot of the pri¬
vate soldier much more comfortable
than formerly. This is shown in the
annual report of Commissary General
Henry G. Sharpe. The report eays
the operations of the kitchen tourist
car, the detachment mess car and
the portable gas cooker, which he
says have been thoroughly tried out
are found satisfactory. They have
revolutionized, he says, the old «sys
tem of providing for subsistence of
traveling troops. The report shows
that it cost the commisary depart¬
ment $333,822 more to keep the army
of Cuban pacification in the island
than it would have cost to take care
of the soldiers in this country.
The father of Knud Rasmussen has
received a letter from his son, who
lived for many years among the Es¬
kimos and speaks the language per¬
fectly. in the letter M. Rasmussen
says he will arrive at Copenhagen
from Greenland on November 1
bringing conclusive ,
Cook evidence of Dr.
against Commander Peary.
Joseph C. S. Blackburn, governor
of the canal zone, who is in Washing¬
ton for a few days, says the canal
will certainly be completed bv the
latter part of 1913, which is 'about
tw6 years less than the engineer’s
estimates.