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4 Tftfi TRJ-WEEKLY JOURNAL ATLANTA, d A., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST. Entered at tIM Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of the Second Class. Daily, Sunday,. Tri-Weekly .SUBSCRIPTION PRJfiCE TRI-WEEKLY Twelve months. . ..4. $1.50 Kight months ... .y SI.OO Six months >’• 75c Fork 1 * months .......j. . ....... 50c Subscription Prices Daily and Sunday (By MV-il —Payable Strictly in Advance) 1 Wk.l Mo. 3 Mo«. 6 Mos. 1 Yr. Dnil, and Svnday....> 20c (Me $8.50 $5.00 $9.50 nnilv ..\ 16c 70c 2.00 4.00 7.50 Sunday ...... m.. Jc »0e ■'•*> The Tri-Weekly Journal is published ou Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and is mailed by the shortest '.routes for early delivery. It contains news from all-over the world, brought by special leased 'wires into our office- It has 1 a staff of distinguished con tributors, with strong departments of spe cial vaßie to the home and the farm. Agent\ wanted at every postoffice. Lib eral commission Outfit free. Write R. Ry BRA!D£jS!!T, Circulation Man ager. The only traveling representatives we have are B. F. Eolton, jC. C. Coyle. Charles H. Woodliff, J. M. Patten, Dan Hall, Jr., W. L. Walton. M‘. ij. and John Mac- Jennings. We will be' responsible for money paid to the above-named traveling representatives. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS The label used for addressing your paper shows the time your subscription expires. By renewing at least' two weeks before the date on this label, ■you insure regular service. In ordering paper changed,', be sure to mention, your old as well as your new address,-. If on a route, please' give the route number. . We cannot enter subscriptions tp\be"ii) with back num bers. Remittances should be sent’ by postal order or! registered mail. Address all orders and notices for itliis Department to THE TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, Athinta, Ga. The Middle IFest Rallies to the Cause of Southerri Ports. ’\npHE earnestness with which Mid-West £ ern centers of industry and, oommeroe v are enlisting in the movement' to pre serve equitable freight rates to Southern ports is of St. Louik In the* reception it's, recently ac corded the touring p\irty of business leaders from the South 1 Atlantic States, that city showed enough how it appreciates its own and this ’s mutual and how readily ft fd>r their protection. This is the characteristic attitude iof the entire Middle West. Tiie manufacturers and merchants of that territory are aware ‘of the advantages which Southern ports afford them in a large portion of their ocean bound shipments, particularly those destined for Latin American rnarkets. They are aware that for long years Northeastern raalroads, by imposing discriminatory jrates annulled the natural inducements which the' Southern routes and Southern outlets possess but that now through a just parity of rates, inaugur ated last December by the Federal Railroad Administration, those inducements are in force and those advantages available, know ing the situation as they do, the Mid-West erners spontaneously protest against pro posals to restore the old inequitable rate which virtually compelled them.' to y ; p by Northeastern roads even when ■. the Leathern lines were muctix the shorter and in. Ve economical. i 'er their part, the Southern interests are siek Vg no privilege but contending for tig Vt and a principle that are of as much con?V V-ence to the common -country as to •‘ <L V” O£ ’- era contending that all ports', should have a fair deal* in the matter of rat\ s from the interior andjthat only thus can tlu' nation's commerce prosper as it should.\ When that principle is contravened in the social interest of Northeastern roads Injury is \done not only to the \South but to the West well, and in the lonfc run to the entire country. Hence the far-reiaching im portance of 'khe movement to maintain the present between Southern and North Atlanti&ports; and hence the gratifi cation which cKmes of\greet; cities like St. Louis leaguing tvemselVfes in support of this just cause. \ —i 1 Opportunity In liberty Bonds APROPOS oft the transient decline in Lib erty bonds the New York World inter estingly points oat that the average price of forty different securities of large private corporations is not quite seventy-two, while Liberties at their lowest averaged far above eighty. “They have been sold in a pinch,” the World* adds, “because they were the best securities that men had and could be marketed at less loss than, anything else.” This striking evidence of the inherent val ue of Liberty bonds should be duly pondered by small holders. Big concerns need no argument on this score. When they sell their holdings on a large scale it is because re stricted credits and high-priced money make it more advantageous for them to dispose of their Liberties than to pay prevailing dis count rates. For the rank and file, however, except in cases of vital emergency, it is poor business to sell on a low market one o fthe best securities ever to be had, when an ad vance to par or beyond is as certain as is the existence of the United States itself. If the time is now unfavorable for the seller of Liberty bonds, it is/ most auspicious .for the buyer. “The small investor,” a wise observer counsels, “never had such easy access to the bargain counter; he ought not to wait until the bigger operators with their stronger buying make the prices less attrac tive.” Soon or late these adamantine securi ties are certain to rise above the temporary depression. Their redemption at par, to gether with a regular yield of interest, is guaranteed by all the wealth and power and integrity of this republic. Fortunate indeed is he who owns and holds them. IChy Belgium Thrives. STILL grows the wonder of Belgium’s re habilitation. Recent reports ehow that her collieries have not only re gained their 1913 rate of output, but acutal ly are exceeding it, their present production being three per cent above the pre-war nor mal. She depends, of course, upon foreign sources for much of the coal needed for her industries; but when this supply becomes adequate her factories, all of which have been re-established, will resume fully their long interrupted operations. As it is, they are producing with prodigious energy. By the end of the current year, it is predicted, the nation’s industrial recovery will be com plete. As for commerce, her exports to Hol land- France, Italy and Germany exceed her imports from those countries, while trade with England is almost balanced. Back of all this constructiveness, and chiefly to be credited, are the vigor, loyalty and sagacity of the Belgian character. “Our workers,” says Mr. Emile Francqui, presi dent of the Societe Generale of Belgium, who is now in the United States, “are not Bolshe viks, they are not anarchists, they are not radicals, they are producers; we can rely on them right up to the opportunity afforded them; our socialists are as loyal nationally as are our conservatives.” THE ATLANTA TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL. IChat Atlanta's Census Shows And IChat- It Fails to Show. THE figures announced from Washing ton for Atlanta’s 1920 census, while obviously below the community’s in corporated population, to say nothing of its suburban thousands, nevertheless compare very favorably with the national average. Having increased from 154,829 a decade ago to 200,616, according to the present Federal reckoning, this city’s gain is 2 9.6 per cent as against a mean of 20.6 for others thus far reported. This appears the more significant in light of the fact that while for the country as a whole the census gain from 1910 to 1920 is seven and four-tenths per cent less than from 1900 to 1910, for Atlanta it is nearly two per cent more. Scores of cities, including St. Paul, Kansas City, Mo.; Albany, N. Y.; Columbia, Louisville and Jacksonville protest that the population officially credited to them is far below what they actually have. Rarely, indeed, have the bureau’s figures in the present census fulfilled expectations. Atlanta’s growth in the last ten years has been both intensive and expansive. The busi ness district has pressed more and more upon the residential lines, thus sending the home seeker farther and farther out. To- this strong tendency, add the effects of the great fire which swept away some seventy blocks, mostly dwellings, and forced an exodus of hundreds of families to points beyond the city limits; add the war-time restrictions which shortly thereafter were placed upon building operations, and the ever-climbing costs of con struction material; add the natural drift of urban population into the outlying country, wherever trolley car communication, good roads and motor vehicles offer encourage ment; consider all this, and then reflect that Atlanta’s municipal boundaries, embracing only twenty-six square miles, have remained unchanged during the decade. The logical conclusion is that a great part of the com munity’s increase is in the suburbs—people who in every essential are Atlantians, but who are excluded from the city’s formal cen sus. That this is indeed the case a glance at the remarkable development of Decatur, Kirkwood, College Park, Hapeville, Buck head and other adjacent districts will show. Decatur alone has attracted a multitude of discriminating home-seekers, many of whom moved directly from the city, and today probably numbers more inhabitants than did all Atlanta only two generations ago. These facts considered, it cannot be reasonably that Atlanta’s virtual population, 'that is to say, the population which really counts in the city’s business and social activi ties, and which really contributes to its wealth and progress, is in the neighborhood of at least two hundred and fifty thousand. Warrantably proud we may be over the in crement which these ten busy years have brought. And with what zest the hale spirits of the pioneers-—the settlers of Marthasville and builders of Atlanta—must have rejoiced when tidings reached them in Elysium that the town of their loins and nurture has grown to a metropolis of more than two hundrdti thousand six hundred souls! Those pioneers, having even more of the Atlanta spirit now than when they tarried in the flesh, will understand, of course that “200,616” is but a ghost of the city’s real population. They will not accept a tittle less than 250,000, nor fail to recall that only twenty years ago the figures stood at 89,872, forty years ago at 37,409 and sixty years ago at 9,554. History has made it plain enough that At lanta was born for greatness. Decade by decade she has moved toward her destiny with ever rising fortunes. Let us of today see to it that she grows not in stature alone, but also in wisdom and in favor with the best; in schools and libraries and playgrounds and parks, in efficiency of government, in ad vantages for the rank and file, in all that makes for civic character and comeliness. Produce Food. THE danger of a world-wide food short age is serious, in the opinion of authorities who are familiar with conditions in America and Europe and who have watched the trend of developments during the past year. The situation, they say, is far more disquieting than, the aver age person realizes, and, according to re ports, shortage of labor accounts for the conditions. About one-third of the farms of Massa chusetts have been wholly abandoned. Con ditions are nearly as elsewhere in New England; and, even more surprising, pro duction in lowa, Kansas and other great farming States of the West has been mate rially decreased owing to the inability of farmers to get help. Attractive wages, short hours and amuse ments have drawn thousands of laborers from the- farms of the country to the cities, and there is small likelihood at present of any considerable exodus back to the farms. There is a shortage of this kind in the South, but it is less pronounced in this section. The danger in the South, agricul tural leaders say, is that the farmers may go in too extensively for the production of cotton, when sound judgment counsels more extensive effort in diversified crops. It is, as Richard H. Edmonds, editor of the Manufacturers’ Record, declared in a recent telegram to the American Cotton As sociation, in session at Columbia. “It is vital for Southern farmers, regardless of the price of cotton, to raise all of their own grain and provisions and at the same time do as much as possible in helping to feed other sections.” The safety of the country and of civilization, in the opinion of Mr. Edmonds, depends upon the efforts of Southern farmers to increase the food sup ply. In diversified agriculture lies safety for the South and for the common coun try. The farmers of Georgia are in a posi tion to render invaluable service to their State, their Nation and to the world It is their duty as well as interest to engage more extensively than ever in the produc tion of foodstuffs. Cotton should be a sec ondary crop consideration. They will ren der inestimable service by raising on their J™ a ? ° f the grain and Provisions Required to feed their own families and to nelp supply the requirements of the mil lions who are not so fortunately situated. Freak Taxes. THE subject of taxation has been a live issue with all countries ever since the beginning of governments, and the costly business of war has always occa sioned the necessity of extraordinary taxes; these have ever been a bugbear to the governments that were forced to levy them, so that the dilemma in which Congress now finds itself is not unusual. Englishmen, in the seventeenth century, paid a “hearth-money” tax—a levy of two shillings on every hearth in every home. Tax collectors Invaded the homes to count the. hearths, and the tax was bitterly re sented as an Intrusion upon their personal liberties. England abandoned this tax and sought funds that might be assessed without in vading the homes’. It levied a tax of two pence on windows. They might be seen and counted without entering the home. But this tax was resented because the English paople regarded it as a tax on sunlight and UNAPPRECIATED FRIENDS By H. Addington Bruce HAVE you ever studied the" ways of an earth worm? Probably not, for most people have a profound dislike for earth worms, deeming them unpleasant looking nui sances, fit only for bait. Yet earth worms are actually among the most useful friends and greatest benefactors of the human race. If it were not for earth worms the vegeta tion of the world would be scant indeed. They plough the soil, they fertilize it, they loosen it about roots, they even play a part in the planting of trees. Their castings on hill slopes, carried down by wind and rain, go to enrich the bottom lands of valleys. They level inequalities to make possible the wide expanses of smooth, verdant turf, pleasing to the eye and refresh ing to the soul. So varied and serviceable are their benefi cent activities that that greatest of all natu ralists, Charles DarwiiT, once declared in speaking of earth worms.: “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures.” Don’t you think that your estimate of earth worms had better be revised upward? And as with them, so with bats, which also, [ imagine, you heartily despise—and of which you perhaps stand in some fear. “Nasty, clingy, clammy things, of not the slightest good whatever!” is the common ver dict concerning bats. And, without doubt, it is scarcely pleasant to have them com# blundering near one’s head. Yet, like earth worms, they are faithful friends of and workers for man. The earth would be far more crowded with insect pests if it were not for the tireless efforts of bats. In especial, they are prodig ious hunters of the baneful, disease-spreading mosquito. Many a winged malaria carrier has been cut short in his dread career by the timely intervention of some bat. Defenders of the public health is what bats may truly be termed. Notable as a mosquito hunter, too, is an other unappreciated friend of man, the drag on fly, so mistakenly dreaded because of its really ferocious aspect as it goes darting through the air. “Devil’s darning needles” is the name that aptly expresses the popular misconception of dragon flies. Nursery legend to the contrary notwithstanding, they do not se./ up the ears of sleeping children. Nor have they a terri ble sting. They have no sting at all. They are ab solutely harmless to man. But they are death to mosquitoes. And to this little list of unappreciated friends let me add the good old toad, who, for all his ugliness, is beneficence incarnated so far as concerns humankind. Favored is the garden wherein a toad makes his home. In three months, it has been calculated, he can put a quietus to ten thousands insects. Here is a portion of his bill of fare: Beetles, snails, grasshoppers, crickets, wee vils, caterpillars, wasps, and yellow jackets. All of these we can easily do without, and to their destroyer we may well feel grateful. Certainly, at all events, we can and should refrain from doing any harm to our friend the toad and those other friends we are too prone to hold in abhorrence. And we should see to it that our children do not harm them. (Copyright, 1920, by The Associated News papers.) GOOD WORK By Dr. Frank Crane I wish to preach a little sermon to that in numerable company who want to write. The woods are full of them. They shower their manuscripts over every editor’s desk. They besiege every successful author questing his secret. Some of them will achieve; most will not; as in all other fields of endeavor. And I wish to make one point, which is about all any preachment should have. And that point is that success demands two things, the Inner Impulse (or the divine spark, or genius, or natural gift, or what they may call it), and Skill (or craftmanship, or that dexterity that comes only by ififinite practice). Wherein you will perceive that good writ ing is come at by precisely the same road as good piano playing. It takes Hand as well as Head. Thousands of mistaken folks think they could write if they only had time. They have such grand thoughts. All they need is just to dash them off. But nay, nay! Good writers are as scarce as good carpenters.' And for much the same reason. And let me point my text by a book enti tled “From the Life,” by Harvey O’Higgins, I mention this book, not because it is pe culiar (though it is), not because its author has vision and is naturally clever and all that, but because he knows the craft of writing. In the days of the Renaissance a great Italian master sent, along with a letter, to a great German master, a drawing, “to show him his hand.” Not his soul, mark ye, nor his novelty of invention, but his hand. I would like to put O’Higgins’ book into the possession of every writer “to show him his hand.” Os his genius the world cannot tell until some time after an author is dead; but of his craftmanship we can tell at once. In the great days of Florence young men studied and worked in the shop of one Ve rocchio, whose name signifitd “the true eye” He was more than a master. He taught mas ters. For the Renaissance was more than a new inspiration; it was an era of Good Work. O’Higgins’ stuff is not “literature,” as the high-brows use the term. God forbid! It is not poverty of conception tricked out in stu ped fol-de-rol of fancy phrases. It is just good, honest, clearly seen ideas expressed in vivid, terse, swift and easy English. I love it, as I love a wall put up by a bricklayer who knows his business, or a bis cuit baked by a cook who knows how, or piano music played by Paderewski, or the flute played by George Barrere, or a play staged by Belasco, or an editorial by Frank Cobb, or a good shave by Joe the barber, or anything that is Good Work. (Copyright,. 1920, by Frank Crane.) QUIPS AND QUIDDIES It was foolish of Jones to make a wager that he would eat a peck of peas with a hat pin if his college football team lost their next game. But, having done so, he had to make good. “There’s only one thing I ask,” said he to the winner. “What’s that?” Inquired the winner. “If you’re going to stand by and see that I eat all these peas with a hatpin, I want you to admit that you won the bet and are insisting on its payment. Don’t you pretend that you are my keeper!” air. The indignation resulted in the repeal of the assessment. Later, the British government levied a head tax on servants as a means of reach ing its richer classes, but this has long since been abandoned. The United States considered such a tax during the war, but the suggestion aroused a storm of protest throughout the country and the plan was discarded. , Mrs. Solomon Says: Being the Confessions of The Seven-Hundredth Wife BY HELEN ROWLAND Copyright. 1920, by The McClure News . paper Syndicate. HEAR now, my Daughter. These polite proverbs for damsels, which are Mrs. Solomon’s. Lo, in the daily communion of matrimony, a cheerful disposition io mere to be desire 1 tun blond hajr, and a sense of humor more comforting than a Scotch conscience. But a little artistic temperament is a terrible thing! Think not to know a man before marriage. For courtship is only the “prospectus” of matrimony, and resembleth it no more than the? ad vertisement resembleth the summer resort. And how 'shalt thou ’ know any man, until thou hast shared his breakfast, his troubles, and his news paper—and gone through the pockets of his fishing clothes? Wit attracteth the ear and a bright hat the eye—but a damsel who can hotel her tongue and look inscrut able, can hold any man! When other women pursue a man, be npt tempted, but stand discreetly aside. And, behold, when he is “backing away” from his pursuers, he shall, peradventure, back into thine arms—for consolation. Scprn not the folly of thy friend who married first, nor say “what could she see in him?" For, verily, thou knowest not what thou mayest see in ’ any man, when thou art dazzled by the moonlight in his eyes. Sigh not for a Prince Charming, made in the image of Lou Teilegen and William S. Hart. For, alas, in real life, there is no such Paragon. And a pleasan'-faced youth with $5,000 a year and a flivver is not to be despised, because he lacketh x a Greek nose, and maketh love like a freshman in a college of courtship. Yearn not for a man who "under standeth” thee. For when a man hath learned to understand women, they are all as yesterday’s newspa pers—and he still seeketh for one Seek not tobind a man with proni- Seek not to bind a man with prom ises. For a promise turneth a kiss from a pleasure into a duty, and a lie from a luxury into a neces sity. When a man praiseth “rational dress for women,” hearken sweetly and let him raVe. But be not moved. For no woman hath ever walked over a man’s heart in eommonsense boots. And many a man hath mis taken a pink chiffon hat for the aura of a beautiful soul. While a man saith, “All thy ways are perfect, and all they words are wonderful!” be not puffed up. But when he turneth critical, and seeketh to improve thee, thou mayest choose thy going-away gown. For, he hath already begun to feel “husbandly.” Go to, my daughter! As one that seeketh a job in an artificial-flower factory, because she understandeth botany, so Is a damsel who goeth into marriage, with only her own theories and a cooking-school di ploma. But a wise virgin delighteth in In struction and keepeth my precepts. Selah. foyDsilea w. shrd shr sh setaoa THE CHILDREN’S” MUSEUMS By Frederic J. Haskin WASHINGTON, D. C., May s 4. A middle-aged Irishw<>fean was hustled by a proud ton into the Children’s museum in Boston the other day. “See, mother,” he urged in an Ex cited whisper, “here’s that fllnfc I found in Mike’s back yard, and it has my name by it.” The mother admired the Bit ftf rock, and then was hauled wipidly around to see the butterflies, > Japanese village, and other ex hibits, and wonders of which hdr son lovingly described. Then Mrs. Finn must meet “the lady.” So she was dragged puffing to the desk of the director. By the time she left she had absorbed some of her son’s enthusiasm. “Sure,” she told “the lady,” "this is a foine thing for the childern. It’s a lot they- need to learn in the world besides an iducation.” According to the director, Miss Griffin, this is a typical incident in the routine of the Boston Children’s museum. Few visitors, however, sum up the function of the museum so aptly as did Mrs. Finn. The need for boys and girls to learn in other ways besides through formal schooling is more and more realized, we are told by museum officials attending a convention here. In this connection, they say, the children’s museum is coming to be regarded as an important means of developing the child mind. Numerous cities here and abroad are planning collections for the children, either' in the form of independent mu seums, or in connection with schools, libraries, or other institutions. These museum officials predict that to fu ture generations children’s museums will be as familiar as children’s libraries or playgrounds. Three Stow in Operation There are now three well-estab lished children’s museums in this country, and a number of variations of the idea. The first one was start ed in Brooklyn, New York, twenty years ago. There is another in Bos ton, six years old, and one was started this winter in Cambridge, Mass. The idea of a museum for boys and girls first came up when a house was willed to the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. The house was taken for a storage place for extra exhibits. Then a curator cleared out one room and fixed it up with shells, flowers, and birds for the be refit of children visiting the main exhibit. Word of a museum just for children spread through schools and play grounds until the room became so popular that the whole building was given over to a regularly organized museum for school children. Some years later the public school teachers of Boston were complaining that it was impossible to teach nat ure study in bugless and plantless sections of the city, and to children who had no personal experience with plant and animal life. To meet this situation the Boston children’s mus eum was established out of funds from the public school system and private subscription. A real children’s museum is a place arranged entirely for boys and girls. The exhibit cases are low enough so that a si -year-old can examine com fortably everything in them. La bels are in god print and plain Eng lish, with no dry technical descrip tions but lots of really interesting facts. The curators are always watching to see if the labels are sat isfactory to the children. If a feroc ious-looking beetle is not accompan ied by information showing whether he will bite and what he does with his horns, and the children seem In terested in these points, the label is revised to include them. Then, the chairs in the lecture hall are chil dren’s sizes, and the books in the li brary are on low shelves and right where a young scientist can refer to them without stopping tiresome formalities. The children like to share their information and thrills. Thus one very little girl was heard describing the model of a dinosaur to a little boy. Sarah Simpson is a very strong minded woman If you don’t bfelieve it ask her husband. “Now, Samuel, remember! If that man Johnson offers you anything to drink you will refuse!” Samuel sighed as he agreed to her edict. Later as they started for home, Sarah eyed her spouse with gloom in her face. ‘When Mr. Johnson made that pe culiar sign to you,” she began, "and shortly afterward you both hurried from the room, where did you go, Samuel?” “Oh—er—yes, my dear! He mere ly asked me to step into his study to look at some old books he bought recently. You know I have a taste for books.” “Yes, Samuel, and from what I heard, your taste—for books—was highly gratified. You forgot to close the study door and I heard a smacking of lips and then you .exclaimed:, ‘Ah, that’s the stuff!’” SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1920. DOROTHY DIX’S TALK ON Don’t Write Discouraging Letters The World’s Highest Paid Woman Writer BY DOROTHY DIX D'JRING the war the families of the soldiers were constant ly urged not to write them gloomy letters, for it was found that nothing so effectually and quickly took the heart out of the men, and broke down their morale as to get letters from home filled with wdils and weeps and dis mal news. The ban on the doleful letter Is one of the war-time measures that we may continue in peace with ad-. vantage. Most of us are every day at grip with life in a battie that is just as fierce as any ever fought on the bloody fields of France, and that, calls on us for just as much cour age, and endurance, and as high a spirit, if we are to win out, and we, too, need words of cheer to back us up, not screeds of woe to depress us, and take the last bit of fight out of us. The writing of blue letters is a crime against our peace and happi ness that is chiefly committed by those of our own households, for it is only those who love us best who feel that they have a perfect right to make us miserable.' And it is a crime to which the female sex is as prone as the sparks are to fly upwards. Heaven knows why, but generally when a woman sits down, and takes her Pen in hand to indict a letter, she seems not to dip into ink, but into a well of tears. Pessimism of the deepest, darkest dye pervades her every line. Funer als, and divorces, and hideous acci dents, and bankruptcies are the tid bits of gossip she chronicles. She re calls the sorrows of the past. She dwells upon the harrowing state of the present, and draws a melancholy forecast of the future. The lamenta tions of Jeremiah have! nothing tn gobs of gloom over the average fam ily letter. Not long ago a woman who has many cares an’d anxieties of her own, and who is making an heroic strug gle to support herself and her two children, said to me: "I adore my mother, but when I get a letter from her it is sometimes two or three days before I can sum mon up nerve enough to even open it. The very sight of her handwrit ihg on the envelope sends my spirits down to zero and makes me feel that some awful calamity is hanging over me. “For mother’s letters are simply sodden with misery. She begins by reminding me that she is getting old, and will be with us but a few years more. She (Jwells on every little pain and acne until I fancy her mortally ill, and twice have I fled to what I supposed was her deathbed to find her well and chipper. "She tells me about everybody who Is sick, and has had an operation, or who has been run over by an auto mobile, or lost their money, or had any untoward misfortune. Then she begins on family news, and really gets down to business. John isn’t getting along well in business, and She foresees that his family will land in the poorhouse. John’s wife hp.s been nasty to her and I get a de tailed account of the perpetual moth er-in-law and daughter-in-law war fare. "Sarah’s husband stayed out until ? a. m., playing poker, and Sarah and he are at outs, and she only hopes for the children’s sake it won’t come to divorce. Tom has a cough that she fears means consumption, and there follows a long chapter about aunts and cousins who have lost their money, and their cooks, or broken their legs, and who seem to have bunched every ill that flesh is heir to. "And then mother pities me until I want to sit down and howl because I have to work for my living instead of being a millionaire, and because I am a business woman in place of being a queen, although ordinarily I think I’m lucky in having a good job, and am merry as a cricket. CURRENT EVENTS OF INTEREST Information received from Wash ington states legislation providing for a national system of civil serv ice pensions, was completed recently with the adoption by the senate of the conference report on the Ster ling bill. General retirement of all government employes at the age of seventy is provided with the retire ment of mechanics and artisans at sixty-five and railway postal clerks, mail carriers and one or two other special classifications at sixty-two. Pensions ranging up to $720 a year are to be given to individuals Os long service out of a fund provided for by direct appropriation of the govern ment and by assessments from sal aries. Reports of the discovery of gold in northeastern Siberia have reach '• ed Nome, Alaska, and many boats ; are awaiting the opening of naviga t tion in readiness to carry “stamped ers” to the new fields. Ice is reported broken five miles out in Bering Strait from Nome, and the schooner Polar Bear has been hauled out a considerable distance. Holes are being cut in the ice for her launching so that she may get an early start for Siberia. , The Ming tombs, near I?ekin, are #the most famed tombs of China. But tin the matter of tomb building the emperor of the “Three Kingdoms, ’ 220-265, A. D., greatly exceeded the Mings. He ordered his son to build for him 72 tombs, so that his ene /mies would not know which contained his body. t Another Chinese emperor built, peopled and garrisoned a city near a tomb he had built to contain his own body. The tombs of the kings of the “Six Kingdoms,” in Shantung, though now only earthen pyramids, terraced with little fields, have the air of the pyramids. The Manchus followed the Chinese customs arid law in respect to their ancestors. Solemn juniper forests in close their sepulchers, which are ap proached through magnificent p’ai lous, and preceded by stately build ings. There are fiVe Imperial Manchu burial places. The ooiginal is at Hsin-King, Eastern Manchuria, and Ms called the Yung Ling. Two are at Mukden and two in the region of Pekin. Jewels valued at $1,500,000 the property of Prince William of Wied and other German noblemen, which were seized by Swedish customs au thorities last August when they were brought into this country by air plane, were released recently. For feiture of the gems was claimed on the ground they had been smuggled into Sweden. The court held the charge of smuggling had not been proved. The honor system of handling con victs is a failure, according to a statement issued by Warden Everett J. Murphy of the Illinois State Peni tentiary at Joliet, 111. The warden said that under the honor system prisoners were given position of trust without showing conclusively that they were entitled to such posi tions, while under the merit system the reverse was true. Governor James P. Goodrich and the state courts were charged with failure to do their duty by Judge A. B. Anderson in United States district court of Indianapolis, after he had Sentenced several persons who plead ed guilty to theft of automobiles and transporting them in interstate traffic. The national congress of the Sons of the American Revolution adopted a resolution favoring passage of Federal immigration law that will place burden of proof on the immi grant as to his desirability for enter ing this country, in order that unde sirables may be barred. The resolu tion was presented by the Ohio so ciety. Fifty-one freight cars loaded with 3,060,000 pounds of sugar are being sought in the railroad yards in Chicago by federal agents. It is said the sugar has been shifted around on side tracks for two weeks and, according to infor mation in the hands of District At torney Charles F. Clyne, no attempt has been made to unload the cars. Sugar is being sold at 31 cents a , aoimd retail. ’ "Mother writes the same sort of indigo letter to all of her children who are away from home. I often wonder why she does it, and if she never realizes that after we have re ceived one of her pessimistic epistles we feel that the whole world is a vale of trials and tribulations and that there is no use in trying to achieve ai y happiness or success in it. “She knows that I have about as heavy a burden to bear as I can stag ger along under. Why, then, add to it the sorrows of those I love, and am powerless to help? Why sadden me with the worries and troubles of others, when it does no good? • "It takes the heart and courage out of me. It lessens my efficiency because I’m grieving over Susan when I should be eoncentrat ed on my work. It depresses my vitality, and makes me nervous and jumpy. It breaks down my morale and makes me feel like turning coward and quitter. “Surely if Mother and the other people who Indulge their morbid love of horrors by wjriting gloomy let ters, realized how far-reaching and disastrous was' the effect of their wails on the recipients, they would refrain from ever burdening the mails with another cerulean mission. “For my part I think that the writing of discouraging letters' should be recognized as a crime pun ishable by law. If people can’t write bright and cheery letters we should be able to get out an in junction prohibiting them from writing at all.” There are two explanations of the melancholy letter. The first is sel fishness. The writer wants to en joy her troubles by telling them to someone else and she does so by first, regardless of how they may affect another. It is not easy to get some one to listen to the recital of your grievances, but when you write them you are sure you have gotten the sad, sad story of your wrongs over to one person, at least. He or she ‘can not help but hear them. The second reason for the gloomy letter is that women think it is romantic and poetic to be miserable. Therefore they let themselves go when they sit down to write. Their correspondent isn’t there to see, so they pose as martyrs, and exagger ate every scratch on their hearts In to a compound fracture that is bound to be fatal. They blot their letters with their tears because it looks highfalutin to do so, forgetting that the person at the other end of the line won’t know they were property tears. They do not realize how much more final an Impression the writ ten word is than the spoken word. When Betty comes to tell her that her marriage is a failure because her husband doesn’t understand her, and that he is a brute who has reduced her world to cinders, ashes and dust, we do not suffer unduly with her as we observe that she is tucking away three cups of tea and Innum erable olive sandwiches, and that she is arrayed like Solomon in all his glory, and looking uncommonly well and fit. But when we get a letter from Betty detailing her domestic woes, and representing herself as a mel ancholy wrfick we are simply dis solved with pity for the poor darl ing and we go through agonies of sympathy. , _ , And just because there is this power in a scrap of paper we should be careful how we use it. It should always be with us a bit of white magic that carries good luck to the one to whom we send it. It should be filled with cheer, and courage, and love and laughtef, never with bad news and raven croaking. There is no place for the gloomy letter except the waste paper basket. Dorothy Dix articles will R PP ear in this paper every Monday, M ed nesday and Friday, A forest fire is sweeping Belle hasse county, threatening destruc tion o fthe villages of St. Camille, St. Fabien, Panet and Daaquam, according to telegraphic appeals for aid received at Quebec. Daaquam was said to be in immediate danger and the inhabitants were reported leaving their homes. Several scores of women and children, refugees, were brought out of the fire district by a Quebec Central train which had to fight its way through the flames. Water had to be drawn from the tender to quench the blaze about the coaches as the train pushed through the burning woods. Timber valued at more than sl,- 000,000 is reported in peril. Vol unteers with fire fighting equipment and Red Cross supplies have been sent from neighboring districts into Bellechasse county. Public prayers are being offered by persons in the threatened districts that their homes I be spared. Japan immediately will open ne gotiations with Russia for a buffer state in Siberia, it is reported in a Tokio cable .to the "Nippu Jlji,” a Japanese newspaper in Honolulu. The Japanese war office has an nounced that the first detachment of Japanese troops was landed a few miles south of Nikolaevsk re cently, beginning their operations against the Bolsheviki, according to a Tokio cable to the same news paper. Senator Louis Martin, at a confer ence with the French Union for Woman Suffrage in Paris told the women that he would bring up a motion before the senate next month to give women the vote. He said he was not optimistic of success at first, but he requested the union to continue its propaganda, declaring that if it did so the women of France would enjoy the privilege of suffrage within a year. Bates Huntsman, 83, lowa’s “man of mystery," is dead. Huntsman was a member of a band of treasure seek ers whose efforts to locate $90,000 buried on the “Klondike” farm in Taylor county caused blasted lives, untimely deaths and an unsolved murder. Huntsman came prominently into the public eye a few years ago when he was made a defendant in a mur der case involving the slaying of a wealthy cattleman in 1868—a crime once laid at the door of the James boys. HAMBONE’S MEDITATIONS MISTUS TALKIN' ? BOUT DEY AIN' NO CQMP'TIT4ON Twix' folks in Biz'ness NO mo' , but she wrong BOUT DAT---DEY TRIES T' SEE WHICH ONE KIN 'CHARGE D>E MOSTEST.'!. OMT Copyright, 1920 Dy McCiur* NowspapDr Syntflcpto.