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THE TWICE-A- \V EEK TELEGRAPH ■& ‘ SOME QUEER FARMS ARE FOUND IN UNITED STATES F By BRIDGES SMITH. WASHINGTON, Feb. 19.—There r queer and freak occupations engag In by people of th*r** United Stai and among them may be classed fan «rs who have given up corn and cotton ) and entered the freak ranks. j Skurfk Farm. A few years aqo the fellow who j boldly announced that he was gflng I to start a skunk farm in 5. Innesot i was laught-il at and derjdi but wheu he proved that he was i; •' ::ur e . ..re load of money out of hi.- odorous ven ture others foil -wd in h:s footsteps, and now there are a number Of skunk farms In different sert! country. At first pub ’< facts about the skunk f> cultural Drprrtrr.ent war letters asking ab >ut this farming. Th" d< partrr> the dark abot the Igri- with r In rm th: Jo but in that the of any t partment was i undertaking nations along line. However, matters Art tiltiira: !'» part- i somc- ut Loud- itfentlon joke. the matter continued begged th' to nnnount In ignorant and hod in the skunk Changed and th Trent realized that ther thing In it. and the beaul smelting cnimal has rree nr the hands of the exper retary. Fhunk farming 1 ‘I but a money making enterprise, even If it is not pie.', -nt to the olfactory or nans of the farmers. Snail Form. Near Los Angeles. Cal., a French man n:n nd Vernot Is engineering a su .ces.-iful snail farm, and so far this Is the only'snail-railing farm in the KBhttad States. -About two years ago HpTeniOt Imported a number of snails p-ffoin France, and so rapidly did they MBmurea »ti during the breeding season that he found it necessary to‘employ additional help on his farm,- He has succeeded in producing the slimy, re pulsive looking creature at a rate en- tir. iv gratifying to himself and 'be b?” 11,-v. s d, u | <■ will i. i,. no d:f - fl. ulty in finding a market for ail that he enn raise. In the event, of the de- Bnand not being sufficiently large in this country, he says he can ship them v to Paris, at which place more than nine tens of snails are consumed an nually as an article of food Vernot says the proper management of a snail farm does not require very laborious work, and all that Is needed is an en closure In a moist place, so protected that the crawling gnsteropods cannot crawl away, but they are given to breaking away like a herd of Texas ponies and scampering away to parts unknown. Frog Farms. Although the national lawmakers kicked vigorously on an appropriation for continuing iho governmental ex periments in frog farming, the work will go along just the same. States and individuals have demonstrated that there is l>ig money In raising for market the low-browed songster of the marsh, and even without the “scientific” assistance which the Gov ernment might be able to giv • In frog farming there is not llkelv to be a scarcity of frog legs. I> nnsvlvania maintains a large frog farm, perhaps the most extensive of any State, hut the largest inilividn i! fro« -ry is owned and run by Miss Edith Htege. at Stege. Cal. This farm co'vers nearly ten acres, and last year the young lady marketed more than 3.500 dozen frogs' legs, from which she netted something mere than 52.000. A fairly good busi ness for a freak farm. Terrapin Farm. Down In Maryland, on the Chesa peake. near Crisfleld, Mr. Levalette owns a terrapin farm which covers several acres and on which he has more than 5100,000 worth of diamond backs. rnnging.In size from that of a ten-rent silver piece to the "bust -r" tcrraplfi, which are worth as much as SI00 a dozen. Nothing has been of fered to good feeders which can take the place of terrapin and champagne, and Mr. Levalette has never expe rienced any trouble in selling the out put of his farm. These toothsome birds are getting scarcer every year, until now large ones are worth their weight in silver. Less than seventy- five years ago Maryland had to enact n law prohibiting slave owners front feeding slaves terrapin meat oftencr than twice a week, ns the food was too rich and produced disease. At that time terrapin sold for ns low as 50 cents a wagon load. Washington and Lafayette entered a protest at being fed terrapin at Vorktown. There are other terrapin firms on the Chesa peake. but Mr. Levalettc's is teh largest in the United States. Crab Farms. Tn the tamo section, too, there are ur.tr>' there are maintained in every city ar.d State wht baby farms, places ace i who care nothing for the innoi ent little things save the money they receive for their care. Not Infrequently the stipend ceases to be paid and then the bAby becomes a. bur den to the farmer and as newspaper re- parts show, they arc often murdered to get them out of the way. There Is no farm which causes more sorrow and misery than baby farms, yet they thive In every section of the country. Snake Farm. Down In Watkinsville. Ga„ there is a man who conducts a regular snake farm and who has made a good living by raising them for sale. He has a large number always on hand and says hecan handle without fear any kind | of snake Including the rattler. Over I these reptiles he seems to have some mysterious, soothing power, and but I for the fact that people object to his snake farm, his life I would be pleasant and his occupation more profitable. Gourd Farm. Npt an uncommon sight In some of the Southern States is the gourd farm, and it is nn investment which pays well. Recently Representative Adam son. of Georgia, brought to a friend In animal world. Wasps made paper from (United States "the Philippines. Porto j I was reading the other night how j Judge Pollard, of the St. Louis police I court, deals with drunkards, or ratjier i with that class of men who drink to the hurt of their families. To a man, [ for instance, who spends all his week’s ; earnings for liquor, is lined In the police court, ar.d not having the money to pay the fine must remain in prison a given length of time, and during that time his family suffers, Judge Pollard oilers a printed form of pledge. No swearing Is required, only his word of wood long before man did. The fold ing scissors and folding pocket com pass are only copies of the folding lower jaw of the dragon fly. The dy ing squid, a specie- of cuttlefish, has a way of projecting itself as high as 12 feet above the surface of the water by forcibly expelling water from its body. Man saw this and invented the sky rocket. The ropemaking machine used in the United States navy yards fol lows' almost the precise lines that a And then there is Judge Pollard’s plan. Certainly fining and imprisonment > c _ b] - nsssi- - —• “ d Rico, and ether islands in the West Indies.” The treaty provided for t.he independence of Cuba. The only "other island." save Porto Rico, was the Isle of Pines. While the commissioners were nego tiating the treaty, one of the Ameri cans demurred at paying $20 000,000 for the Philippines. To this one of the commissioners on the part of Spain replied that the $20.0 n n,p00 was not being paid for the Philippines alone, •spider does when making his own frail ; but also for Porto Rico and the Isle of Pines. It would seem that there could be not the slightest doubt that President McKinley and his advisers believed that the sovereignty of the Isle of T’-e wh'nrin- iwst is barbarous The i ,nventea b >‘ v'omen about DO per cent j Pines was ceded to the United States. aw devoted to the home. the kitchen When the War Department ascertained and to dress. The first patent given j that the Isle of Pines was United a woman in. the nineteenth century | States territory, the Secretary of War toner. posting of photographs adds disgrace to the misery of the family. Judge Pollard's plan is merely a mild remedy. Fines and imprisonment fail. What else? Somebody will say prohibition. year. Sentence is suspended in such cases, and if the man gets crunk after ward he is made to serve the sentence without any further trial, » » » My experience with the police court covers many years from reporting >me of the towns- cases for- a newspaper, as clerk of the j court.-to sitting'as judge. In these po- | sivjons. and in that length or time, I j have seen a great deal of the drunken | man and of the distress he causes. I j have seen the man with hi3 first drunk, and the man with his one hundredth drunk. All sorts of men and all sorts of drunks have come within my ken, and I believe I am qualified to say Washington a gourd with a handle | something about Judge Pollard's plan, ore than four feet in length and with tain from drinking for one 1 Somebody else replies that there is no a beautifully Shaped bowl not larger than a large cocoanut. This species of gourd is raised to be sold and used as a dipper. It Is claimed that a drink of water from a clean, well-seasoned Filed away and out of sight, save for my own use, I have perhaps more than a hundred pledges, some for six months, some for one year, some for ten years, and some for life. There are gourd is betteer and sweeter than from some of them that have been broken tin or glass. Another gourd raised for so many times that I feel ashamed to market Is a very small egg-shaped one look at them. Some of them are re- w'nich is used by ind’J'trlous- hou wives ns a darning egg. Thera are large, round gourds which sell readily and can easily be converted into salt, coffee and bins for other purposes. These large gourds are frequently used newals, and some have never-been broken, even though they are getting yellow with age. *, • * Each one of them, however, has a story. It may be the simple story of a as peck measures in the rural districts, man who was willing to swear to any- Mint Farm The Virginian who conceived the idea of a mint farm evidently was not fa miliar with the refreshing qualities of a julep. He has found a ready and good market for ol^ the mint his farm has produced. The farm has been run for three years and its owner has accu mulated a pleasing bank account while hundreds have accumulated jags sip ping juleps made from his mint. Ginseng Farm. Among the rank freaks were placed ginseng farms a decade ago, but for tunes have been made by ginseng farmers. Formerly nearly all the gin seng produced In this country was ex ported to China, where It is used for almost every aliment, but the physi cians of this country are now using it very largely in their practice, and im mense quantities are sold in the United States. Perhaps none of the queer farms .are paying larger profits than that of ginseng. Prickly Pear Farm. Tn some portions of Texas the prickly pear has long been regarded as an un mitigated nuisance, hut now that It has been demonstrated that good denatured alcohol can be made from the stems, which have heretofore been thrown away when the pear was used for horse fo'hd, the despised thing has become valuable and the people of Texas are getting In their prickly pear farms in the cactus region. The prick ly pear farms promise to yield immense profits. Camphor Farm. Uncle Sam is going to establish an other camphor farm in Texas, and it is believed that the new Industry will prove a success. The crop requires no attention except the sowing and har vesting, and at present prices an acre of ground should not produce less than i $-150 worth of camnhor. At present the Japanese Government controls the world's supply of camphor, but it is now conceded that the United States can raise just as good an article. It has been suggested to the Secretary of Agriculture that In establishing these camphor farms it might add to the comfort of a number of persons to place them in close proximity to the skunk farms. ABOUT ARGENTINA. Argentina Is considered the acme of South American civilization, and to the mildly critical observer she seems to have produced the finest city on the western continent, an arlstocrary of rich absentee landlords and a prole tariat agitating for State socialism, writes Albert Hale In the Reader for February. It is necessary to glance at both her history and geography before we ca’n a m,mi,or of crab farms, and the crab god idead about our active riva farmers can match dollars with any 1 class of small farm in the country. The rrab season is short, and it is easy money far hundreds of persons on the eastern she'. The fivst shipment of any ^importance from the Chesapeake crab farms was in 1SS7, when the oul- rput was valued at $$4.npo. but it will f now reach $650,000, with S.000 farmers Tmnd 4,000 boms. 'Possum Farm*. Along with the good eating freak farms must be placed the 'possum farms, of which there are a number in the Southern States. These farms for the luscious 'possum are simply tracts of land with in South America. Argentina has an area of one million one hundred and thirty-five thousand square miles, and equals that part of our own country east of the Mississippi with the Dako tas. Minnesota and Iowa thrown in. From north to south the country measures two thousand three hundred miles and Us widest part, only eight hundred miles, is not maintained over the entire length. The interior, ex cepting in the extreme north, is all } within the temperate zone, and forms ! an Immense plain with its eastern edge | against the Parana river. Its western ( edge ascends to the summit of the An- abundance of | des, 20.000 feet. Everything that the United States can grow Argentina can grow, and cheaper; yet today, although she ex- portf; wheat to the Eastern world the price of bread is higher than when wheat was imported. Argentina has astonished and will continue to aston- e.ars on j ish the world by her fertility, for her i hunter 1 wheat, cattle, sheep and alfalfa multi ply from one year’s end to the other without taking any rest because there no winter's cold to check their thing to escape confinement in prison, still it is a story. To tell some of these would be a breach of confidence, did I not suppress names. Therefore, I shall take them up as A., B., C. and D. • • * Some ten years ago, A., who is a good mechanic, industrious, hard working. and who always had work, came to me to get him out of a bad scrape a drunken spell had gotten him into. He had a family and several children, and they got along well. Now and then he would “let his foot slip,” as be expressed it. and instead of going home with his week’s pay he slept his drunken sleep in prison, while his wife sat up that Saturday night waiting for him. the children crying themselves to sleep wondering why papa didn’t come home. When he came to me. as he had often done before. I told him there was •no more help unless he would sign a pledge for one year. He was then out of work and out of money. There was nothing to eat at home and bread he must have. He signed the pledge at 10:30 o’clock. For one year, to the minute, he did not drink a drop, and his family never suffered. At 10 30 one year later, he was free, and he cel ebrated the occasion, but for two or three months he kept out of the offi cers’ way. In that time his children wore ragged, dirty clothes, his wife spent many miserable, sleepless nights, and he went to the dogs. Finally, he borrowed enough money for a big spree, and through the bars he asked me to frame him another pledge. He signed it, and both of us quietly noted the hour. For several years these things occurred. Finally, some four years ago. I refu-ed to help him unless he would make the pledge for life. At first he kicked. One year had seemed an eternity, and for life! It was hard. I gave him time to think over it. And he did think. He was eool, sober, and his thoughts were of his home. Then he signed It. That was four years ago, and he has never broken that pledge. * * * I give this one experience because Judge Pollard puts his men on their honor. He bel-ieves that the honest, hardworking man. as a general thing, will keep his word, whether he drinks or not. In the qase I mention, the man is keeping his word. * * * B. Is a young man. with a wife and child. Twenty times he has faced the charge of drunkenness, and each time he has escaped full sentences by such thing as prohibition. It is not the condition of things, but the punish ment of the man who wllj deliberately was granted to Mary Kier in 1S09 for ! and preparted and disseminated a pam- "straw weaving with silk or thread”— ' phlet setting forth the fact that the the probable forerunner of American ■ Isle of Pines now belonged to the mattixg. One of the most recent in- 1 United States, and the advantages ventions by woman is a shoestring that ( which the island offered in the way of won’t come untied. | climate and fertile soil were dwelt upon The records of the Patent Office ; for the purpose of inducing Americans to settle on the island. Several hundred Americans went to I trie ideas. An invention called the ; the island and bought land. They had who will n »ri..r» Vimxow Ti.it r «"i'r.’.’ I “®ntl-snoring device,” is something j never a fear that the question of h 'T'. j- ...ilu 1 similar to a telephone. No sooner does j sovereignty would be raised. It was the sleeper begin to snore • than the j not raised during the American occu pation of Cuba, so far as I can aseer- depflve his family of the necessity of show how some neople have invaded j ' ‘ , bi' wi.es heart, the field of invention with most eccen- who will rob h.s home of us happiness. | tri( , «,i G o S . A n invention o.nlieu the t ard’wbo will violate his word uf honor ■ ‘II perjure TVhat will you do with him? MORAL OF “BEST SELLERS.” From the New York Mall. Why do the suffragettes rage and the imprisoned sisterhood Imagine vain thin go? Why vote when they can write? The real rulers, it. is true, are HOt any longer those who write the songs of a people. The writers sf a people’s fiction hold sway. For not sound is transmitted to his own ear causing him to awake at once. An other ambitious inventor has brought ont a machine which will automatic ally tip a man’-s hat when he passes a woman acquaintance on the street. A woman is responsible for a patent crimping pin that can be used as a paper cutter, a skirt supporter, a paper .„„„ . . . - (file, a bouquet holder, a safety pin, a Itinn^n? 64 an ? Rlc , har(JS0 P the ! shawl fastener and a bookmark. There at least reflate i hv ^novei^aT^ is a pat ® nt ch ’ Jrn that rocks the-baby-s re n ?: e s as , U cradle; a pocketbook that combines a Certainly this is true in p!stol> eo that when the highwayman ATTer Pfl. (IMP r>r*it* hnnlra mm- nor . - * America. Our new books may not be big books’. But they deal with big economic, political and social themes, and the'average opinion Is created more by its holder's magazine and .novel reading than he admits or knows. We must judge others by ourselves, though the old saw forbids. And by our standard the women who wish to rule England u'aste time in storming the House of Common's, because they rule already, in a list of twelve Eng lish “best sellers” not a single man Is represented. The books are: “Fen wick’s Career,” by Mrs. Humphrey Ward: “The Far Horizon.” by Lucas Malet (Mr3. Harrison); “The Treas urer of Heaven,” by Marie Corelli; “The Gambler,” bj- Mrs. Cecil Thurs ton: “Prisoners,” by Mary Cholmonde- ley; "The Dream and the Business,” by John Oliver Hobbes (Mrs. Cr.aigie). “The Viper of Milan,” by Marjorie Bowen; "The White House,” by Miss Braddon; "Tn Subjection,” by Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler; “A Sovereign Remedy.” by Mrs. Steel; “The Incom plete Amorist.” by E. Nesbit (Mrs. I-Iuhert Bland), and "A Queen of Rushes.” by Allen Raine (Mrs. Beyn- on Puddfcombe). The American list, on the other hand, gives a new and interesting answer to the old query: “Who reads an American book?” Americans do. We doubt If any year prior to 1966 showed not a single one of England’s favored books among the six “best sellers’ in the United States. By the lists of the “Bookman” we were less gallant than the trans-Atlantic read ers. Men wrote five of our six most popular novels. And thereby hangs a very pretty quarrel. Why this abolition of; the Sals law in English literature and; the substitu tion of Amazonian rule?; Why the male writer’s dominance by contrast in America? Is the old country fem inized. or have its women writers grown masculine? Is the literary taste of America virile, or does the sex of our favorite story-tellers serve only to mask feminine mentalities? Here is too wide a field for debate for us to close to our novel-reading readers with anv off-hand confclusion. tain. But when the Americans turnc v d over the government of Cuba to Presi dent Palma and his associates in 1902, to the surprise and horror of the Ameri cans on the Isle of Pines. Gonca-.al Wood also turned over to the Cubans the sovereignty of the Island, and Cuban soldiers and officials came over and assumed control. Regiments fresh from Spain would be rushed to the Isle of Pines from Havana as soon as yellow fever made its appearance in the ranks, and in a week or two the disease would dis appear. The maximum sumer temperature is about ninety degrees Fabre'nheit. Occasionally the mercury rises to 95. demand? your money or your life you can send him to kingdom come while in the seeming' act of handing him your valuables. The story is .told of an Iowa man who patented an india rubber sidewalk, but rarely. ’ One man told me that 59 After much lobbying with his friends 1 was as low as anybody had ever among the town council lie was allowed j known the temperature in the winter, to put down several yards of it as an I As a matter of fact, from what I can experiment. As a noise absorber U j learn, there is little difference be- w v , uuil , a coun[rv wllI proved most effective, and the early tween winter and summer on the Isle ) eminent of its own, territory. thing in his power to hinder and ham per business men if they chance to be industrious. For Instance, an importer had sent him from Mobile three buck ets of candy of ten pounds each in voice. It was found that instead of the thirty pounds of candy being packed in three buckets of ten pounds each it had been packed in two buckets of fif teen pounds each. The thirty pounds were confiscated. Almost numberless instances of the reckless manner in which Americans were fined and otherwise annoyed might be cited. Conditions have im proved within a year. Mr Pearcy, al most the discoverer of the Isle of Pines, haa led the fight against Cuban authority with such energy and per sistence that they have tired fighting him. President Palma, some time be fore he resigned his office, directed the alcalde to cease arresting Pearcy. saying that it was making votes against the pending treaty to cede the island to Cuba. No Respect for Cubans. Mr. Pearcy has been on the island for five years. Prior to that time be spent three years in business in Havana. He married the daughter of an American, who was for many years dentist to the royal family of Spain. Mr. Pearcy to a Tennesseean, who built the Nashville Electric Railway, and has built railroads all over the country. lie spent considerable time In Spain with his wife and family, and he knows Soanish character and Cuban character as few men know them. He seldom speaks °f a Spaniard of his acquaintance other than with respect. He rarely speaks thus of a Cuban. Mr. Pearcy went to the Isle of Pines soon after the close of the Spanish 5Y.tr and secured options on n large tract of land. He had little difficulty in obtaining the capital in Now York and the land was purchased. Other companies fol lowed. and the result Is that t’>». feland is now owned by Americans, and prom ises to reach a point of development hard ly equalled in this part of the world. But Mr. Ptarcy’s company, of which he is the general manager, has not tried to sell much land. Ho has devoted his energies almost entirely to the struggle for annex ation to the United States, or, rather, to prevent the United States ceding the Island to Cuba. He has been successful thus far. Tha treaty providing for the cession of the Island has been held up in the SAiate until the present time. It is hardly to be presumed that tilts Amreican Government will seek to turn over to Cuba, a country without n Gov- title demonstrations seemed to he living of Pines. i which is at least in doubt! to put lt'itTthe down all skepticism in regard to it 'so I Flowers bloom all the year. "Water- ! strong manner possible. When it rapf ‘ mm ' ~ 1 J persimmon trees. No one Is permitted to hunt on the land rxeep those who pay for privilige, and with the per mit goes a guarantee that large ripe ’possums will be found in abundant plenty. One old negro near the Van derbilt estate in North Carolina clear ed good money for several his ‘possum farm, but to e; he said it was mighty hard to see "dem ’possums gwine er way, ’case ef dere am anything I do love hit am ’possum and "taters.” Ostrich Farm. The ostrich cannot come under the classification of flood eating, but there art! a number of successful farms where j e L ei \ if 1116 United States were, wiped these birds of beautiful plumage are ” raised, and the female portion of our population is more interested in fine plumes than for something for sat isfying the appetite. While our women folks can forego terrapin and cham pagne and ’possum and 'taters. there would be forty million conniption fits thrown if the men folks balked on con tributing thousands annually su port of tlies farms. The flesh of about as palatable as a brass fire dog and about as juicy, and as a toothsome bird he is a rank failure, but as a dig- down-and-produce the-coln plume-pro ducer he is the star performer in all birddom. Cat Farm. Another farm in which the ladies take a very pronounced interest is that devoted to raising cats, of which there are hundreds in the United States, and for which the "choice of the pick" always fetches the farmer a good price. Onco or twice within the past two years men have been freakish enough to start eat farms for the purpose of rais ing them for furs. A fellow down near Augusta Ga„ bought up an army of black cats and announced that he was going to supDly furriers with black cat furs. The felines proved a nisance end he was forced to abandon his farm. There is a colony of tailless eat* at Rnrnegat Light, on the upper Jer- sev coast, end an attempt to establish a farm proved futile, as the eats with out caudal appendages refused to be tamed and w it’d fight p'ke tigers. Baby Farms. To the shame and disgrace of our for him. At last the court grew tired of his coming so often and the conse quent pleading of his family, and the sentences were made severer and se verer. Finally, he signed his first pledge, but only for six months, and was released. He broke it within six days. In business transactions they tell me he Is a man of his word. In the way of keeping from drinking—he cannot keep his word. * * * Looking over this package of pledges I find plenty of stories, hut they are really very much alike. They are the old, old stories of broken hearts, dirty, ragged children, the unpleasant, the uncomfortable, the unhappy, wretched and miserable home. It is not my pur pose .to lay them bare. This is not in tended as a temperance screed, but to show that while Judge Pollard’s plan may do some good, there are many who would only use it for a temporary relief. A man recovering from a drunken spree, with a bursting head, a parched throat, and thoughts of the sorrow at home, is willing to sign any pledge or to do almost anything to get out. For days, and perhaps weeks, and possibly for months he may feel as though that pledge is sacred, but one drink, and he forgets. * * a Of course this is not so with all men, ^ w but there are plenty of men who are growth. She could feed twenty million i wea ^ enough to •drink, knowing that persons on wheat alone, and with her ? ne meaj i s a \* they can get'. It animal food there would be nearly ' I s ? 0 A.* k ^, se 'f 0n !i third nor tenth drink, enough for the whole "Western world. ■ P, the first Ru t you couldn't make him believe It. Some men can take off the map. estates of thousands upon thousands of I rne ^j 1IKe - men d an ’t. Some m acres where sheep and cattle and wheat I n r e r sometning more serious than From the New York Sun. Whenever a new patent comes out, especially some little thing that any body might, have made, you will al ways hear the remark: “Why coudn’t I have thought of that?" fFortunes are his mother paying the fine -or pleading | made fro-m even the most trivial con- ill ill DOS as Mb To show now ^ouu rtiiu slums *<■ wan | viyi "mvmcu ivun coia, unless wnen majority or the inhabitants are Amerl- he beo-.an jumping up and down on It I several degrees further north. The eans. it is well-nigh inconceivable that With his whole weight. The walk could ! island is between the 20th and 21st tbe Senate will proceed to tarn the island not forget that it was -still rubber, and degree, north latitude. j 5'ST to . 'yp.? have so richly when the ambitious inventor. pianke tj The Isle of Pines is about the size selves' 8 ratc<5 thcir inability to rule them- his heels into he was promptly pitched and somewhat the shape of the State j Splendid Forests over the fence into a briar patch. The of Rhode Island. About the centre I I spoke a little way back of the devel- episode proved such a joke that the of the island, running east and west, j opment now in progress on the Islw of ' is a mountain range, and mountains I Plats. I believe that n much more ranid come down to the coast in several i ISi of '‘tvelopment is in the future, and Places There are nn foothills ‘ hla wYhout reference to whether the mftf' , no footh.HS. Cuban Ting or«ihc Stars and Stripes tiy The mountains spring up from the I over the island. y plane, without resulting from a grad- i The section south of the salt mnr=h ual slope from the level country, j which cuts the island in twain is covered Some of the mountains are almost with dense forerts of mahogany, ebony, solid marble, whose whiteness and ^re* other vaVi , i«2« n of V h^wi^S?a= 50 mi ld other desirable qualities are said to j development of these is about to be un equal those of the quarries of Carrara, j dertaken on an extensive scale, and when A great deal of the marble used in j these schemes are well under way the building Havana was quarried on the : is^nd will he prosperous to n degree hith- Isle of Pines, but the Spanish Govern- ! er J y V” kn °wn to Latin America, ment laid such a heavy tax on Pinero ( eiSlt^llS fmm P Nueva t Geiin2 na «r2 b thi marble that the quarries had to shut | San Rosarh/ hot springs. 0 ThS'curative down: this in the interest of thrj mar- | value of these waters In cases of stomach ble quarries of Spain—a species of j troubles and rheumatism have lieen known high protective tariff more worthy of a decadant monarchy than is the American system worthy of the gov ernment of “the most enlightened na tion on earth,” as we delight to term ourselves. A marsh, running east and west, cuts the island practically in two. j \ since the swamp is impossible. Be ing salt, it is not miasmatic. North of the swamps the country is open, and well adapted to agriculture. I have not seen any heavy pine forests, although a great deal of the coun try is more or less sparseely covered with pine. Almost everywhere, are the magnificent palms, so well-deserv ing to be called “royal.” Cocoanut trees, mangoes and guava hushes are growing everywhere, chiefly in the lower-lying sections. At this point it is proper to state that' no satisfactory explanation of General Wood’s action has been made. It has. not been established that a su perior officer directed him to surrvi- der the island to' the Cubans. It is : .... , charged in the most open manner I with the budding popularity of the new idea began to wane, and there are still no ruber .sidewalks in Iowa. Another hapnv idea thtat came to grief was the adjustable pulpit brought out by a Texas inventor. An observing member of a certain congregation in the Lone Star State noticed that some of the preachers were tall and some were short, to he conceived the idea of making an adjustable pulpit which would accommodate itself to al! heights. The first preacher to use the automatic -device was a short man. and the inventor was on hand and took ■his measure to a nicety. Later when a six-foot pastor came on the inventor had the grip and could not go to church. The pulpit was set for his short predecessor and nobody could do a thing with It. The inventor had in sisted that his device was easy enough to manipulate but it proved most stub born and would not submit to a re-ad • justment. The tall man started in with it, but it was so low that in reading his text he had to stooy over almost as much as if hi« book were placed on a chair. When he began to preach he was getting along well enough until he suddenly stamped his foot to em phasize a point. His action released the spring in the floor and the nulnit shot upward until it completely hid the preacher from the view of his hearers. The remainder of his sermon sounded about the same as if he had been in a well. Thomas Jefferson may be termed the "father of the Patent Office." for it was he who saw to the passing of the act creating the office and the copyright system. For many years he was one of the committee which passed on the merits of all designs submitted to the office. cannot be estimated, but whole estates are owned by one man. and the labor ers are South Europeans, who have no •ambitions beyond earning their daily bread, whose standard of living is sat isfied by a mud hut and the hope of ,,,, ^ i accumulating enough to pay their pas- plume-producing I ?ape ba( ' k to s . r,ain or There are ’ an ostrich is - 12,500 miles of as good railways as any in the world, with splendid trains, lux urious cars fine rock-ballasted beds and every modern comfort: yet apart from the railways most of the high ways are only tracks beaten across the plains by the Indians or by the later pledge. a • • One of my queerest experiences hap pened not a great while ago. A young man whom I knew well, and yet never knew that he ever touched a drop, walked Into my office and said he wanted to take the pledge for a year. I was surprised, but he was serious and after he -had signed he said he was goin out to do some missionary work. In ten minutes he returned with an other young man who gave me the second surprise. After he had signed h!s pledge, both said they would go out trivances. . A man walked from Phila delphia to "Washington to patent the gimlet- pointed screw, and the simple idea eventually earned -him more than a million dallars. The rubber tip on the end of lead pencils made its in ventor rich. The metal point on the end of your shoestring earned a for tune for the woman who thought of it, and the copper cap that so long adorn ed the toes of children’s shoes earned $2,000,000 for the lucky person who patented it. Many valuable inventions were hit upon in a most accidental way. The art of making sugar white was dis covered by a harmless old speckled hen. This feathered matron one day went for a walk through a field of clay and later without taking the precau tion to wipe her feet walked through a sugar mill on the same plantation, scattering clay over the loose mounds of sugar as she passed. After ward it was discovered that wherever 1 her tracks had fallen on the moist su- | gar the clay had whitened it. Scient ists took up the matter and from this incident introduced the method of , bleaching sugar by the clay process. A dog gave us the art of dyeing i cloth. One afternoon so many years ago that the date is of small conse quence. a. noted man and his sweet heart went for a walk along the sands of the seashore in a far-off country. A little dog trailed along at their heels and becoming weary of much love- making finally ran ahead and went fishing among the rocks. One partic ular shellfish which he captured and devoured exuded a fluid which dyed the hair about his mouth a pretty pur ple. Investigation of this Incident founded the science of dyeing cloth. A man from Michigan vrae told by the doctors to take his wife South for her health. He purchased a big wagon and team for the trip, and thought to make some profit by carrying a stock for over 200 years. The springs them selves are situated in a countrv ideally beautiful, but suseeotible to being im proved by the hand of man until it will rival in beauty the narks surrounding the celebrated resorts of Europe and America. A company Is now being formed for the purpose of establishing a health and pleasure resort at the springs, with .golf links nearly two milea in extent as an at tractive feature. Golfing the year round should prove a popular attraction. T have not said much about the possi bilities of coffee culture, and the cultu-e of rubber On-the island. Coffee orchards for sufficient of the hern- for private use are common, and it Is claimed that tha aroma and flavor of the Isle of Fines cof fee are superior to the Brazilian or l-'ss known Porto Ri-an product. T might dis cuss parrots, whlcn throng the tree tops by the hundreds, making the air sh!”-»r The Isle of Fines is a pioneer coun try. Although Columbus discovered it and landed here, probably on his sec ond voyage, it presents today, terri tory almost as virgin as was the Isorthwest in the earlier days of Sit ting Bull and Kit Carson. Americans own aljout 9S per cent, of the land of the island. They will have It all some day. A great portion of the island is ex tremely fertile. All of it is pronounced especially well adapted to oranges, lemons and grape fruits. Americans are doing all the work that is being done on the Island. Prob ably they do not number a thousand, although three times that number own land here. These are coming In by every steamer for the purpose of lo cating on their property and proceed ing to its development. While the steamer is still miles away from the island, one sees smolte rising from that he did so without orders. General Leonard Wood is not nearly so pop ular in Cuba and on the Isle of Pines as ho Is at the White House. He left Havana without the re spect Of a very large section of the American colony, tot put it with ex treme mildness. His connection with the Jat Alai, the great gambling game of Cuba, created a scandal in the United States and was much dis cussed in the States about the time the President promoted him to the Ith their screams One man on tbe ls£ land recently filled a contract with .an American to supply 1.900 of the bird*. He receives less than a dollar apiece for them. After heing taught to talk and brought to America a . ready sale is found for the birds at many times a dollar. ' Without reference to the possibilities in the way of money-making afford'd by t’-e Islo_ of Pines. I may conclude this artle’o confident declaration that every body who comes to the Isle of Pines on a visit must go away with regret, and plan ning to return so soon as fate may muko an opportunity. GENERAL DEFICIENCY BILL PASSED THE SENATE WASHINGTON. March 2—The Sen ate today passed the general deficien cy bill. The bill carries slightly less than $10,740,000. The Senate agreed . to an amendment authorizing the pay- rank of major-general. Generol Wood j gent of $15,000 to Senator Smoot for admitted granting a concession to the i remuneration on account of expense? company which, runs the gjatne, ard admitted also receiving a ten-thous- and-doll.ar silver service from the con cessionaries. Tobacco Trust. • The tobacco trust owns nearly all the fine tobacco lands of Cuba. These lands were purchased soon after the cessation of hostilities between Spain and America, for the most part, al though the trust had owned lands there under Spanish rule. About the time the trust rot con trol of the better part of th> Cuban tobacco producing lands it v.Vs dis covered that Americans had purchas ed all the 'tobacco lands on the Isle of Pines, and that this land was as well adapted to the culture of the finest cigar tobacco as were the lands of the Vuelta Abajo district, in Cuba. Were the Isle of Pines to remain many parts of the country.. each rep- i American territory, tobacco from the island could be admitted free of resenting an American citizen at work clearing his land for an orchard of citrus fruits. The Pineros are a quiet. Inoffensive, but by no means energetic, people, who watch the encroaching American with not the slightest alarm, and en tirely without jealousy, so far as I can ascertain. The Isle »f Pines Is the only piece of territory in the Western Hemis phere the ownership of which is in dispute. Every American on the Island believes there is not the shadow of a doubt that It belongs absolutely to the United States. President McKinley told many of them so when they were considering emigrating thither. Otherwise they , would probably have remained in the of feather dusters to sell along the j Northwest, whence most of them came, way. One day he went to the factory | jj u t President Roosevelt'and Secre- where 'ht? dusters were being made and tary Root say the Isle of Pines belongs while standing in the yard talking to | to the republic of Cuba. The Presl- one of the employes picked up from : dent has not said so with as much em- the ground one of the "strutters” or 1 phasis as was emploved bv his Secre- tail feathers from a turkey—the refuse i tarv of State in declaring for Cuban from the duster factory. He began idly j sovereignty. When the Americans go , ^ _ twisting a thread back and forth the Isle of Pines met, over a year ago, cowboys.' These tenders of cattle and and do more mIsslonar .y work. I began | through its broken edges, and the idea : and formed a territorial government in growers of wheat are about the only inhabitants of the primitive towns and villages scattered throughout the land, so that from one estate forty miles may be traveled before one sees more than a hut which gives merely shelter from the wind and rain: but on the next estate—estancia—is a palace filled with the products of European arL FRYE'S DAM BILL WAS PASSED IN SENATE WASHINGTON. March 3—Senator Frye, of Maine, startled the Senate todav He was On his feet making a report from the committee on commerce on several minor bills a duty he preformed fre- ouently. and which, as a rule, attracts llt- t!» interest or attention Suddenly raising his voice. Mr. Frye exclaimed: “If I can get immediate consideration fo r that dam bill I will promise the gr-r.ate not to report another dam bill this session " ,5nild a general laughter, the hi!! was Dn--.>r:l and a dam will be built across cer tain shoals on the Savannah River. to feel as if the world was growing : better suddenly. In ten minutes they returned with another young man. It looked like a land-office business. The third young man read the pledge over. Then he balked. A year was too long, he said, and he didn’t believe the oth ers would hold out. Possibly from force | of habit, one of the young men ex claimed. "I'll bet drinks that I hold ! out.” For a man who had just signed the pledge for a year this sounded queer. They failed to persuade the third young man, and as all three walked out slowly, as if greatly disap pointed. the though: struck me: AW 111 i ented the two convert the third, or will the third unconvert the two? duty, while Cuban tobacco, grown by the trust, would have to pay the enor mous duty which is now exacted. It is asserted that Secretary Root owns a magnificent tobacco planta tion in the Cuban. tobacco-growing district. It is not the purpose of this artice to thresh over this Isle of Pines con troversy. The Americans on the island are not being harassed so greatly now as they were a year or two ago. when some of them were In jail almost con stantly. Arrests were made by the Cuban officials without any save th most rediculous pretexts. The American papers have been full of stories of the arrest, conviction and sixteen-day incarceration of Mi. Miliy Brown, daughter of one of the most prominent Americans on the isl and, together with two young men. because they rigged up a toy telegraph line a few hundred feet in length. Another American was arrested be cause he took his spade one morning and undertook to repair the road that runs in front of his house. Another was arrested because he burled a kinsman in a cemetery which had been laid off by the Americans for the burial of their dead. The soldiers took up this body and , incurred by him in the contest for his j seat. | The Smoot amendment was the only one in the bill which occasioned dis- 1 cushion. Senator McLaurin offered an i additional amendment which provided : that the protestants against Senator Smoot should receive an equal amount. I When this was laid on the table he I proposed that half the amount should ! go to the protestants. It was explain ed that Senator Smoot had paid his attorneys $20,000 and the amount in the bill would only reimburse him partially for his expenditure. It was also stated in opposition of the additional amendment of Senator McLaurin that the Government had paid all the expenses attending wit nesses. making a total of more than $2S,000. Mr. Dubois said the women who had protested against Senator Smoot had raised the funds for their attorneys through collections. He had no doubt that if reimbursed the organization represented would use the funds for , good purposes. The ' second McLati- rin amendment was also defeated. of the featherbone came to him. The : order to be ready when American sov- featherbone is the successor of whale- ; ereignty should be asserted, Secretary bone, and Is indispensable to the at- , Root made himself rather ridiculous tire cf the modern woman. He patented : by reason of his heat in reDlying to a the idea and received so much money | letter sent hm by the Americans no- I hauled it for miles and buried It in an from it that he will never have to tifying him of their action. Secretary j other cemetery, and the man who had travel overland in a wagon again un- Root declares that if there was armed j dared to exhume the body of his kins- less he wants to. I resistance to Cuban authority an j man had to spend some weeks in Jail, A man standing in front of the post- American warship would be sent to i a part of the time In the carcel in Ha- offlce in Washington bent a small piece | aid in % the subjugation of the revolu- of tin in his fir.- rs until it took the tionists. To this the Americans re shape of a T. "This would make a ! plied than a man-of-war flying th» good paper fastener.” he remarked to I American flag would be hailed with the man with whom he was talking, delight and that American soldiers and he straightway had the idea nat- i would be welcomed with open arms. Another man made money from vana. 1 A son of Mr. S. H. Pearcy was ar- i rested and fined, after being locked up. because he spoke of the Cuba revenue cutter in the harbor at Nueva Corona, as a “boat.” instead of a “vessel.” ARIZONA AND REFORM. From the Denver Republican. For the first time in 30 years there is no open gambling in Arizona.—Press Dis patch. There’s somethin’ sorter missin’ In our winelike atmosphere; The breeze is jest as coolin’ and the sun shines jest as clear. But when the boys iog town war.] they're sorter ionesomelike. Sencc the ball has quie a-rolin’ and the gamblers had to hike. They dirve up. sorter listless, and they jest say: "Howdy, pard?" And their ponies' heads is droopin' like they, too. took it hard. And it seems alle hushed, like that day we planted Mesa Mike, Sence the ball has quit a-ro!!in’ and the gamblers had to hike. I ain’t a-sayln’ pardner. that it ain’t all fer the best. Though some of us ain't natchel with out cards clutched to the vest. But for life this town ain't in it with the graveyard up the pike. Sence the ball has quit a-rollln’ and the gamblers had to hike. We're a-Iearnin' simple pastimes, like Old Maid and House Crokay. And the cowboys of the ilar-C are a-lenrnlr:' to croshay; And we toddle to our blankets when we hear the curfew strike. Sence the ball hns quit a-rollin' and the gamblers had to hike. “We would infinitely prefer American j The alcalde, or governor, is a Cu- the device of an imbedded string in I mlitary rule to the rule of Cuban car- ‘itn. and he is one of the most offen- the end of an envelope to cut the paper ] petbaggers," said Samuel H. Pearcy, sive type of the office-seeking class, ns it is drawn out. Still another man ' one of the leading Americans on the j The captain of the port is even moro One of the suggested corrective added to this idea by tying a knot in ; island, and the representative of the 1 objectionable to American business . methods of such men is the whipping the end of the string to keep it from I Isle of Pines Americans at Washing- j men on the island. Cubans hate with • post. In Atlanta the suggestion is ! being drawn through. | ton. . j ft deadly hatred im> thing like energy, . made that they he oh rtigraphed and I It is irtcr -s'.ing to r:to how man has Ours By Treaty. | industry, enterprises or progress. This i their pictures be ported in the saloons, ’borrowed many of his ideas from the ‘ The Treaty of Paris ceded to the port captain, for instance, does every- NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. Examine label on your p.*- per. It tells how you stand cn the books. Due from date on the label. Send in due3 and also renew for the year 1907.