OCILLA • DISPATCH i
\
OCILLA. GEORGIA
UPUJIEBSON * HAYLON, Publishers.
An Army and Navy club has been
organized at Manila. This is quite in
line with the good American rule to
make yourself as comfortable as pos
e;ble under all circumstances.
Out iu Missouri the other day a
man who was tilled 320 for beating
his mule was fined iJ3 the next day for
beatiug his wife. Justice evidently
woiks on a sliding scale out there.
The Russian author, Bliokh, whose
book, “The Future War,” convinced
the Czar that proportional disarma¬
ment is an absolute necessity, says
that the United States are the richest
of the peoples and their wealth is
growing at a greater rate than that of
any other nation. He adds, “The
main cause is the absence of militar¬
ism.”
Spain’s protests, complaints and
lamentations have pervaded the whole
course of the negotiations with a per¬
sistency which curiously illustrates
her utter misconception of her own
defeat, says the New York Commer¬
cial Advertise". She hows to our su¬
perior force, but deems it a cruel in¬
fliction; she disdains our greed,-yet
takes our money; she looks upon us
as a conqueror without that nice re¬
gard for Spanish honor, which, for¬
sooth, anyone familiar with its his¬
tory ought to have, and manifestly
suffers from a wounded self-love Which
refuses to be healed, So does the
mnu who fails in business or cannot
otherwise gain the respect and consid¬
eration for the lack of which he suf¬
fers. To him the mortgagee or bond¬
holder or successful business rival are
offenders against whom he beavs a
personal grudge. They have fleeced
him, dishonored him, ruined him.
That is the way Spain looks at it, riot
being aware, evidently, that her own
sloth aud corruption have put her out
of the race of nations.
The inroads that women are mak¬
ing ou those professions aud indus¬
tries that a few years ago were filled
more Or less exclusively by men offer
au interesting problem to the sociolo¬
gist. The puzzling question is: What
did the elder .sisters of these women
do? Girls are uow employed as sales¬
women iu many stores that a few years
ago were served entirely by men aud
women have even intruded the edito¬
rial sanctum and read their effusions
in other parts of the paper than on
the “Woman’s Page.” The law,med¬
icine, aud even architecture offer new
avenues for womau’s endeavor. Le
Figaro of Paris is astounded at this
state of affairs in the United States,
and says that the day is not
far off when all positions save those
of the most arduous toil will be filled
by women. Possibly the most aston¬
ishing part of some statistics recently
published on the subject has refer¬
ence to women accountants and secre¬
taries of firms aud companies. There
were none, it is said, in 1870; there
are uow 43,071. Of doctors and sur¬
geons, there are 688-2, compared to
527 feu years ago; aud of women
writers, 3163, compared to 159, As
for women stenographers aud compos¬
itors, they numbered 7 iu 1870. The
number today is 52,000.
The daily reports of suicides,ruined
lives and the like strongly suggest
that we Americans are morbidly in¬
clined to “take things too seriously, >
olmerves the New York World. For
example, a woman committed suicide
who habitually made herself unhappy
over trifles, who on one occasion
“moped for days” over a question of
grammar iu which she had been found
to be wrong, At the last she killed
herself because her husband,a printer,
was too sleepy to talk to her when he
came home from his work at 2 a. m.
Another case was recently reported iu
which a woman killed herself because
some dish that she had set out to
make hail proved a failure. Another
in which a man committed suicide be¬
cause his income was slightlyreduced.
Another in which a bright hoy, owing
to illness, failed to pass a school ex¬
amination aud because of his parents’
censure hanged himself. Isn’t it time
for our schools to cultivate in our chil¬
dren a sense of humor ? Isn’t it time
for them to teac.. the philosophy of
hopefulness ? Many a mail has con¬
fronted despair at night ouly to find
success awaiting him iu the morni ig.
Despair is always morbid. Hopeful
ness is always strength. It is impos¬
sible for circumstances to defeat a ca¬
pable person who faces conditions
courageously. The little things of
life are really very liitle. The great
thing is courage, and is all-conquering.
RUSSIA TO CUT A GREAT CANAL 9
Will Connect Baltic and Black Seas—Of
Immense Commercial Value.
Whether or not the disarmament
proposal of the czar was so intended,
the fact remains that It came at a time
which aided in keeping secret a. pro¬
ject of immense importance. But for
the proposal public attention would
inevitably have been directed to the
fereat internal waterway now under
consideration at St. Petersburg. This
scheme Is to unite the Baltic and
Black seas by a canal crossing the
empire. Such a ship canal Jf com¬
pleted would work a revolution in the
naval operations of the powers and
might well work a similar revi lution
in commerce.
The plan involves the construction
of a canal which will have a sufficient
depth of water to admit of the pass¬
age of the heaviest battle ship. . This,
of course, would also admit of the
passage of the heaviest freight steam¬
er, so that Russia would be able to
receive and discharge an enormous
amount of commerce. When one con¬
siders the immensity of the trade of
the land of the Romanoffs with other
countries, enforced now because of the
lack of natural facilities for transpor¬
tation, the possibilities of such a canal
can be appreciated.
Great as the plan is, it is so simple
in its engineering aspects and - also
from a financial view point that the
only wonder is that the work has not
been done long ago. Though the
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BERLIN ©
waterway will be ten times as long as
the Suez canal, the territorial condi
tions are so favorable and the exist
ing waterways are so large and deep
and convenient in their natural direc¬
tion that only about 150 miles of the
1.000 miles will need to be dug, and
comparatively little dredging will be
required to complete the availability
of the natural waterways.
The least width of this great ship
canal is to be a little more than 213
feet at water level and 114 feet at the
bottom, The depth will be 29% feet
uniformly. The Baltic sea terminus
of the canal is to be the port of Riga.
Riga is on the mouth of the Dvina
river, which is navigable for many
miles from its mouth. The channel of
the Dvina river will be used for the
canal as far as' Dunaburg, where an
artificial canal will branch off across
the Lepel watershed and into the
Beresina river, a confluent of the
Dnieper, the third largest river in Eu
rope. Here there is little work except
dredging necessary and the canal
builders will utilize the course of the
Beresina to the Dnieper, meeting the
latter stream somewhere near Loief.
Then, the Dnieper channel will be fol¬
lowed to its mouth on the Black sea,
where the port of Kherson now is.
The topographical conditions are so
favorable that the canal needs only
two locks, one at each terminus, and
the soil of almost the whole territory
through which the canal will pass is
of the best possible character, being
clay of exceptional consistency and of
such good quality that the bricks and
much other necessary material-can be
manufactured as the work proceeds
from the earth which is dug up.
Five years is the time which it is
calculated will be necessary to com
plete the work and open the canal
for shipping. The cost is estimated at
only 200,000,000 rubles ($154,400,000), or
about one-half that at the recent valu¬
ation in American gold of the flucuat
ing ruble.
Besides the two terminal ports fif
teen inland ports are to he created
from cities that are almost isolated at
present. The canal will practically
give them the importance of coast
cities, for in each it is planned to con¬
struct harbor facilities in which the
largest ocean-going vessels can lie at
anchor and take and discharge cargo
without intertering with the com¬
merce of the canal.
The engineers who have been plan¬
ning this great Russian waterway es¬
timate that the largest ships can
steam through it at the rate of six
knots an hour and thus go from the
Black sea to the Baltic in a ttle less
than seven days. The branches of the
Dnieper, most of which are deep and
wide, can be opened as feeding canals,
and thus an immense inland territory
of Russia, w-ill be opened to the outer
world.
Perhaps the most direct Interest for
Americans is in the fact that this ship
canal will open a cheap and quick route
of transportation to the wheat growers
and petroleum producers of Russia.
They can reach the Baltic and the Med¬
iterranean with equal facility and
economy, and thus supply Asia and
Europe and Africa more quickly and
economically than can the Americans.
The canal passes through the best
petroleum territory.
Russia expects that the facility of
intercourse which the canal will fur¬
nish will give great impetus to many
industries which are prosecuted at
present only for home purposes and
which could be extended enormously
when the markets of the entire world
are open to them. What this means
can .be estimated from the figures that
show' the wonderful growth of the pop¬
ulation of some of the cities which will
be ports on the canal when it Is fin¬
ished.
There is Ekaterinoslaf, near Kher¬
son, for instance, which has doubled
its population and size in less than
twenty years. Odessa, with 404,000 in¬
habitants, and Lodz, with 314,000, have
grown with a rapidity that would be
remarked even in the United States,
the country of rapid urban growth.
Riga has 282,000 inhabitants and is
growing at a rate which promises to
double this number in ten years. Kief
has 230,000 inhabitants. All these
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cities and a half dozen other with
more than 100,000 inhabitants each,
will be in easy communication by wa¬
ter, the cheapest of routes, with the
markets of Europe and America.
In the efforts to drive the American
petroleum out of the Russian markets
the Russian producers always have
brought all possible influence on the
government for reduction of freight
rates, because they saw that only in
this way could they- fight the petroleum
from the United States refiners. The
government helped them several times,
and the rate now is only about 1%
cents a gallon, throwing a heavy bur¬
den on the roads, without, apparently,
any great corresponding benefit to the
shippers. The ship canal will be the
one thing that they need.
The Russian navy will gain immeas¬
urably in effectiveness from the new
canal. Its fleets are separated hope¬
lessly now. The Black, sea fleet is
in by the Dardanelles and could
make connection with the Mediter¬
ranean fleet except by breaking
through. Even if the two did manage
to combine in that way they would be
penned in a sea both exits of which
are held by Great Britain, Gibraltar
commanding one and the Suez canal
the other.
With the canal the entire question
in time of war would resolve itself into
a question of commanding the Darda¬
nelles, with an immense advantage on
the side of the Russians, owing to the
facilities with which they could send
ships, ammunition and men to the
scene. Should the Black sea fleet, on
the other hand, be menaced by a vic¬
torious enemy, the canal would save
it, for where the ships now would be
locked up, with the canal they could
steam into the Baltic in a week,
A LEGAL QUIBBLE.
Parnell's “Apology” to Henry James—
Gladstone and Salisbury.
Mr. Parnell on the lfith of April,
1878, characterized a statement made
.by Mr. Henry James as “a legal quib¬
ble.” worthy of the honorable and
learned member from whom it pro¬
ceeded, says the New York Times. “I
must inform the honorable member,"
said the speaker, “that an expression
of that kind is unwarrantable and must
be withdrawn.” Mr. Parnell apologiz
ed for having used the expression. “1
will say,” he added, “that the state
ment was more worthy of the tngenui
ty of a petty sessions attorney than of
a lawyer of the ability of the honor
able and learned gentleman.” This
anecdote recalls the famous retraction
by Lord Salisbury of a comparison be
had instituted between Mr. Gladstone
and an attorney which is told in The
Ninotpent-h Penturv Purhw the de
bate on Mr. Gladstone’s historic bud
.get ,s of 1861-the budget which abolish
ed , the , stamp . u .. ies o n _____,,
thereby led to the esta
the penny daily press-Lord Robert
Cecil (the present Gird Salisbury) said
the tactics of the chancellor of the ex
chequer (Mr. Gladstone) were worthy
rather of an attorney than of a states
man. The remark w-as not ruled out
of order by the chair, but it was receiv-
ed with cries of “Oh! oh!” and “With¬
draw!” from liberal members. Sub¬
sequently on the night of the 13th of
May, Lord Robert Cecil rose to make
a personal explanation in connection
with the Incident. “The expression I
used is thought to be too violent,” said
he, “and when any gentleman In the
heat of debate drops an expression
which on reflection he feels to be
stronger than wa# necessary, he ought,
I think, to take the first opportunity
to apologize or to retract, (Hear,
hear!) Therefore I feel that I am only
doing justice to my feelings when I
avow that on that occasion I did great
injustice (Hear, hear!) to the attor¬
neys. (Laughter and cries of “Ohl
oh!”) They axe a very honorable body
of men, and I am sure—” But the
shouts of disapproval from the minis¬
terial benches waxed so loud that the
conclusion of the sentence was lost
in the reporters’ gallery.
Youtlifnl Hopes Unfilled.
Eddie, aged 4, had just returned
home after his first morning at the
kindergarten. “Well, Eddie,” asked
his mother, “how did you like It?”
“Didn’t like it at all,” he replied. “The
woman put me on a chair and told me
to sit there for the present—” “Well,"
interrupted the “But,’” mother, “wasn’t that
all right?” continued Eddie,
“she never gave me any present.”—Chi¬
cago News.
Fifty thousand Bank of England
notes are on the average made daily.
CENTURY OF EXPANSION
OUR COUNTRY’S CROWTH FROM
1798 TO 1898.
It Represents a Physical and Moral Ad
vancement Without Parallel in the
Annals of tin) World—from a Popuia
tion of B.ooo.ooo to One of 85,000,000.
A comparison of the territorial area
and the national influence of the
United States with those of 1798 will
show the vast material and moral ad
vanoe which this country has made
in 100 years. In the historical books
1798 does not figure with any prom
inence, but in reality it is an impor
taut landmark in the country’s expan
sion. It was just a hundred years
ago that the provisions of the treaty
of peace with England in 1783 were
fully and finally carried out. For fif
teen years after that date the United
States, in its endeavors to secure the
boundaries guaranteed in that agree
ment, was obstructed by two nations,
England and Spain. The British held
possession of posts at Oswego, Ni
agara, Detroit and other places in
United States territory on the north
ern frontier, until J ay’s treaty, which,
among other things, provided for their
evacuation, went into operation in
179c > an<1 even then the work of
abandonment was carried on with a
slownesa ^oh was exceedingly ex
asperating to the people of the United
States. .
With Spain, however, the United
States had much more trouble in secur
. itfj treat rightg under the
| , ee .
mont of 1783 tbaa it had witb
j and> Then, as now, Spain was slow
grasping the justice of any demand
by any -other nation, and in that par
titular crisis the situation for this
country was reudered doubly embar¬
rassing by the fact that Spain was still
one of the great powers of the earth,
while the United States was only an
insignificant spot on the map and had
no rights which any of the great nations
felt bound to respect. Spain con¬
tended that the Florida region which
she gained from England during the
war of the American Revolution, and
which extended west to the Missis¬
sippi, went as far north as the month
of the Yazoo, about the parallel of
thirty-two degrees north latitude,
which would make the southerly line
of the United States on the Missis¬
sippi end at that point.
Both England audthe United States,
or. the other hand, insisted that this
country’s southern boundary went
down to latitude thirty-one degrees.
At last the protests and threats of the
United States and Spain’s dangers iu
polled Napoleonic wars then under way com
the latter to accede to the
American demands. Spain did this
in the treaty of San Lorenzo iu 1795,
which was ratified by the Senate iu
1790, but 1798 arrived before the
Spanish flag went down iu Natchez,
the most important town in the terri¬
tory in dispute, and the Stars and
Stripes went up. Then fifteen years
after the treaty of independence and
just a hundred years ago, the title of
the United States to all its territory
between the Atlantic and the Missis¬
sippi and from the Great Lakes to the
Florida line was definitely confirmed.
America’s situation in 1898, ma¬
terially and morally, makes a striking
contrast with that of 1798. On the
day when Gayoso’s forces lowered
their flag iu Natchez and sailed down
to New Orleans, the person who
stepped below the southerly line of
Georgia, into the lower end of what
i* now the State of Mississippi, or
who crossed the Mississippi River,
would be in a foreign land. We were
surrounded ou three sides by power¬
ful nations. England was north of us
as now, and Spain was south and west
of us, as she held Florida, which com¬
prised the present State of that name
and a strip westward along the south¬
erly line of what are now the States of
Alabama and Mississippi to the Mis¬
sissippi River, and she had all the
region west of the river. Tho popu¬
lation of the country was about5,000,
000 .
The Louisiana cession and all the
other annexations were still in the dis¬
tance. Nobody oonhl have foreseen
at that time that the narrow strip of
populated area east of the Alls
ghanies, with the scarcely less di¬
minutive stretch of wilderness be¬
tween those mountains and the Mis¬
sissippi, would ever reach the Gulf of
Mexico and the Pacific. Much les3
could anybody have foreseen then that
this country would annex all of Rus¬
sian America, absorb all the islands of
value in the Gulf of Mexico, aud ac¬
quire possessions scattered thrpugh
the Pacific extending almost to the
continent of Asia. The growth of
America from au area of 827,000
square miles and a population of 5,
000,000 in 1798 to an area of 3,800,
000 square miles aud a population of
85,000,000 in 1898, atteuded as it has
been by a rise from a position in
which its enmity had no menace for
even the feeblest of foreign States to
one iu which its friendship is sought
by tho most powerful nations of the
earth, represents a physical and moral
advancement without parallel in the
annals of the world.
Tiie President’s ^Letters. V/
The President of the United States
receives an average of 1700 letters a
day. One-half of them ask favors of one
kind or another. The other half offer
advice on every subject under the sun,
or express their approval or disap¬
proval of executive acts and policy.
Just uow the question of expansion
suggests the topic for most of the let¬
ters, and ninety-eight per cent, of them
approve it.
Ancipnfc Linen Cloth.
The cloth of the old Egyptians was
so good that, though it has heeu used
for thousands of years as wrappings for
mummies, the Arabs of to-day can
wear it. It is all of linen, the ancient 1
Egyptians considering wool unclean.
,NDIAN witchcraft in ala;
TIi© Government Trying; to Stamp Ouli
P ractices of the Medicine Men.1
The United States Court of All
| acting under is endeavoring instructions to froimjfl stain™
mgton, Ij
witchcraft, as practiced by the
tribes on the southeastern coast of
j Territory. A number of Iudqpi
a (; Juneau under arrest, and f
j oases are being considered by
j Grand Jury that is uow in sess
j These Indians are very superstitij
] even more so than those of the i
i j rior. to effect If the medicine in man is hel urij
a cure any case
nounces the patient bewitched. |
relatives of the sick Indian will al
some of the tribe of being the ‘'1
devil.” The-accused is confined|
the fate of the patient is decided.j
every case he is put to death il
sick man dies. Thu number of
aians killed as “witch devils” 9
creased during the past year, al
Governor Bradygave it prominence..]
his report.
Judge Johnson, iu charging tlj
Grand Jury, said: “You will be calls!
fenses upon to peculiar investigate to this a Territory number of oj
grow pri'
mg out of the belief in witchcraft
valent among th£ native people. Mad
of the Cruel murders among them nfl
readily be traced to this belief, andl
is your inquiry duty not and to ignore, return but true to ma| hi
patient warrants,!
where the evidence so
the protection of these people. S
stamp of the law’s disapproval emphatic!^B a
such practices must be
WISE WORDS.
Culture will convert targs ir
wheat. ^
Fierce storms may mean a qiu
voyage.
Weak-minded men are apt to be q
stinate.
A good conscience is the best arfil
against calumny.
Happiness is iu Enjoyment rath
than in possession.
True education never induces ca
tempt of the ignorant.
be The the man last to who forgive has injured you w!
you.
When we despair, not only our oJ
pass, but our ship, is gonb.
The body is the templjs, the heart is
the altar, love is the iucause. 1
A crack in a wall maybe very small
but you cau see a great deal through
it.
It is not the niau who is paintin
the house who is doing the great*
work. B
Money may buy horns for a donkes
hut it cannot hide his brogue when h
speaks.—Ram’s Horn. -1
Added Terror to W»r,
Reports with have the been (Janet published quiek-iiri^B of e^!
perimeuts ne^H
field gun, which is to be the
weapon of the Frennh artillery anolH
concerning which until quite recently
the greatest secrecy was maintained.
Judging from these reports, the effec¬
tiveness of the gun must be truly won¬
derful. Twenty-two shots per minute
were fired at one official trial, and two
hundred dummy soldiers placed at a
distance of two and one-half miles by
way of a target were bowled down in 9B
one minute and three-quarters.
taneously ordnance officers in England,
putting a new through field piece made for the de-9 J!
British army a test, were
lighted by .the almost incredible shot^B ac- a
curacy of the weapon. First a
was fired without particular aim, :uu®
a telescope, having been focused on tlfl
point of impact of the shell, vB
fixed in that position. Each sncceq® tbq!
iug shell fired front the'gun—and
of were the many—exploded object, glass of within the telcscoj^B the fiej®
Such which are the have pleasant officially diversions aecepted^B ou^fl
tions
vitatioiis the to tho Czar’s advanced peace nations V-mgr^fl ^B
—and most
that.—(Philadelphia Record.
Stuff tile Regulars Are Maile Of.
A volunteer who took part iu the
Santiago campaign relates the folios*
ing incident as having occurred J
July 1 at San Juan Hill:
day One of Private our men Brown. who was He killed slM tH^B
was was
just fence, as but we survived reached several the barbea-^B hour®
an unconscious state. He was a fl
lege lad from Cornell and startec^B a gou®
favorite. Four of our men
carry him hill. up the incline to aud the it c^fl JB
of the He was heavy
slow, hazardous work. To the lefH
our line Regular were some men from WheiriB the ^B
teenth Infantry.
order Private came Morris, to retire one of the saw^B li^fl
a musician,
men struggling up the incline 19
poor Brown. He did not know
or Brown. But he They stopped were not iu that of hIs^B le|^!
ment. first®
hailstorm aud helped. And, <lo^!
ail, he had our men put Brown
while he wet his lips with water fr(9
his canteen. ^^B
That w-as the stuff the regulars wen .^fl
made of.
Tlie Endurance of Africans. '
Two cases-notably illustrative of-?®
African native’s power of endnraifaB
are reported from the British CentraH
Africa Protectorate. In each instance
a man was dragged from his canoe by
a crocodile, and had au arm bitted al¬
most to a pulp. The men had to he
takes long distances overland, On
reaching Zomba each had the injured
limb amputated and quickly recov¬
ered. Dr. Douglas Gray, holing chiet
medical officer there, remarks further,
in his report, upon the growing con¬
fidence of the native in the European
medicos. Reports of cures—more’ es
pocially in relation to surgery—-spread
rapidly amongst the natives, and tho
one old cure—a fibre band tied round
a limb above the seat <T disease—is,
he says, fast losing its reputation.—
London News.
