Newspaper Page Text
Serious Books vs. Fiction
By E. S. Martin.
OHE habit of reading the more substantial books seems to have
taken hold of a much larger proportion of the people of the
British Isle** than of us Americans. And even that is not all.
We seem not to be gaining the habit, for the proportion of
light reading in the current mass of new literature seems to
be increasing.
Why that is, and whether it is a temporary condition or
something more serious, is matter for discussion. I suspect
it is one of the habitual complaints of literate mankind that
'he readers of the generation just passed read better books than those of the
enerations in being. It is no fault of the publishers, for there are plenty of
übiishers who are eager to print the best books they can hope to sell. They
von’t print many books that no one will buy, because such a practice as that,
‘ if it became habitual, would be incompatible with continuance in the publish
ing business. But they have an interest, which is more than a mere pecuni
ary interest, in what they publish, and would much rather find their necessary
profit in a book that they can be proud of than in one which can never do
credit to their name, however much it may help their pocket.
To be sure, the more substantial books are in competition wtih all the
great books that ever were printed. If readers neglected the good new books
in order to read the good old ones, we might regret it as something detri
mental to the book publishing business and the interests of living authors,
but we would not find in it a sign of decaying culture or degenerating taste.
But it is not the competition of the old books that limits attention to new
ones, for whoever has learned to read the one is by so much the likelier to
read the other. Who has the habit of good reading and the appetite for it
will read what suits his appetite if he can get it. The trouble is that the
appetite is not oftener formed.
If you are to make a silk purse, you must have the silk. You cannot
make a reader of good books out of any human material t.iat comes along.
You must catch a mind proper for the job. Not all good minds are adapted to
much reading. You find very able people who read few books, mostly trash,
and people of less ability who read more, and much better ones. You find
also interesting differences in the facility with which different people take in
the sense of printed words. Some people from childhood read very much fas
ter and with less effort than others. Their eyes seem to connect quicker with
their brains, and their perception of words and rows of words is almost instan
taneous. Other people never entirely get past the need of pronouncing, men
tally, each word.—Harper's Magazine.
The 400 is J\[ow
: : : ; “TheHOO”
By F. Townsend Marlin.
♦♦♦♦<)♦s*> HAVE been interested in society ever since I was eighteen
£ years old. New York society' has gone through its forma
# tive stage. Its society now resembles that of London, the
t oldest and most absorbing society in the world.
-*■ ❖ People say, casually, “The great balls of the- past have
been discontinued because the city is too large.” That is
♦ ♦ not the point. Society is too large—not the city. Society
grows with the city. I should say there are 1,100 persons
in society. I daresay this figure is staggering, revolution
ary, but I believe this number is accurate. Yet I know some women who
would say that 100 covers completely the number of persons they would care
to know.
New York society is beset by anew idea, which is as unsatisfactory as
it is perilous. It develops a narrow'ness of thought and the most extreme
boredom. Society is set-ridden. There are the Meadowbrook set, the Tuxedo
set, the Southhampton set, the Winchester set, the Lenox set, the Aiken set,
the set that meets in Palm Beach, in Aiken, and in Paris.
Mrs. William Astor’s retirement as the leader of society marked anew
epoch. There has been chaos since her influence and her annual entertain
ment have been discoptinued. There is no social leader in New York today.
Perhaps there will never be another, because the requisite qualifications are
rare. Each little set has its leader, who rules arbitrarily and is looked up to,
even idolized. But it is manifestly difficult to think of a woman who can
unite the little sets. Leadership, like monarchy, carries with it endless work
and endless responsibility. All of the important women in society would na
turally like to succeed to the popularity and prestige of Mrs. Astor, yet there
are limitations to each, which cannot be denied.
There s a Good Time
i Coming-
Zy Untied States Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts
BHE Republic of the United States is in no danger of ruin in
a business or in any other way. The resources of the
country are greater than they ever were before. The en
ergy of the people, if it is not paraylzed by too much sub
stitution of government for individual effort, if it is left to
march along the old roads which it followed from the days
of small things to the present days of greatness—the road of
independence, the road of individual enterprise, of determi
nation to succeed in the battle of life —will assert itself.
Let those old American habits continue to dominate in the United States and
tread the doctrines of socialism under foot. The wealth of the- world is here
in our soil, in our mines, in our factories. This decline of values is but a
passing ripple on the surface of the great sea of American life and action,
and all we need to do is first to try to prevent a recurrence of that alarm
which so paralyzed business last autumn, then to aid in the restoration of pub
lic confidence, and lastly to perfect a banking system worthk of our time and
country. I believe that the Aldrich currency bill Avill tend strongly in this
direction and serve* our initial and immediate purpose. I believe it will bring
back in a large measure the confidence which has been impaired, and help to
set the great car of American business moving once more upon the pathway
of triumphal progress which it has followed for more than a century.
When Wealth Getting
Becomes a Crime
By John Jl. Johnson,
Governor of Minnesota.
BERSONALLY I would rather be able to write a book that
would live a hundred years than be able to amass wealth
that would enable those who inherit it to live for genera
tions in luxury, and yet the amassing of wealth may be of
vast industrial service to the country and to those who seek
honest work and wages.
But WEALTH GETTING BECOMES A CRIME when the
man obtains it by the sale of all his finer instincts, by the
sacrifice of his character, by the violation of the nation's laws and by
trespass upon the rights of others to the pursuit of liberty and happiness. It
is this spirit and not the thing whlci* determines the nobility of a career and
the degree of success.
THE HIGHEST VICTORIES MAY BE WHAT THE WORLD CALLS
FAILURES.
$29,000,000 FINE LOST
. T
Government Petition for Rehear
ing Case is Denied.
THRUST AT U. S. LAWYERS
Court Criticise* the Conduct of Attorney
General Bonaparte and Other Gov
ernment Counicl.
Chicago, 111.—The government’s pe
tition for a rehearing of the case in
which the United States circuit court
of appeals reversed the trial court in
fining the Standard Oil Company of
Indiana $29,240,000 for alleged rebat
ing, was denied in the court of ap
peals here. It is authoritatively stat
ed here that the government will now
attempt to bring the whole matter
before the supreme court on a writ
of certiorari.
In closing its decision ,the court of
appeals severely criticized Attorney
General Bonaparte, Special Assistant
General Frank B. Kellogg, District At
torney Edward W. Sims and Special
Assistant United States Attorney Jas.
H. Wilkerson, whose names were
signed to the petition.
Immediately upon the overruling of
the petition Of District Attorney Sims
applied for a stay of mandate, which
was granted, thus leaving the case
still before the court of appeals pend
ing the government’s attempt to have
the case taken before the supreme
court on a writ of certiorari.
Washington, D. C.—lt was stated at
the department of justice that, in view
of the large amount of money involv
ed, the important questions of law and
the popular interest in the case, the
government would not rest on the de
cision of the circuit court of appeals
in the Standard Oil case, but that the
case would he taken to the supreme
court of the United States at the ear
liest possible day.
This will be done by an application
to the court for the allowance of a
writ of certiorari. Cases like the one
in point are not appealable to the su
preme court of the United States by
either side, but application for a re
view by the supreme court must be
made by the defeated party.
NORTH DAKOTA RIDES THE WAVES.
Premier “Dreadnought” of the United
State Navy Launched.
Quincy, Mass. —The most powerful
addition which the navy of the United
States has ever received, and Amer
ica’s first all-ro'und big gun battleship,
the North Dakota, was successfully
launched here from the yard of the
yard of the Fore River Shipbuilding
Company.
With the foam of the christening
wine streaming down her bow plates
from the bottle smashed by Miss
Mary Benton, of Fargo, N. D., and
under the watchful eye of Governor
John Burke, of the state for which
she is named, the North Dakota float
ed off into the basin about 60 per cent
completed. Some time next summer
she will be turned over to the gov
ernment for acceptance, and if she ful
fills the test, will go into commission
next September.
The North Dakota has been looked
upon by naval experts as establish
ing a new epoch in battleship con
struction.
CHINESE HUMILIATED.
Feel That They Have Been
Slighted by the Americans.
Pekin, China. —The foreign board
has sent its thanks to Admiral Em
ory, the commander of the American
fleet at Amoy, for his congratulations
upon the anniversary of the birth of
the Dowager Empress.
The foreign press of China makes
favorable comment on the visit of the
American battleships, but ibe central
government and the Chinese people
are humiliated over the fact that only
half of the fleet under Admiral Sperry
came to China.
The presence of the American ships
at Amoy again directed attention to
the decline of the American trade in
China.
DIRICT BURDEN ON FARMERS.
So Declares New Orleans Exchange
Regarding Jute Bagging Tariff.
New Orleans, La. —The New Or
leans cotton exchange passed resolu
tions calling upon congress to reduce
the present tariff on jute bagging used
for baling cotton. “This tax is a di
rect burden on the cotton raising in
dustry of the south for the benefit of
a few manufacturers who are thus
enabled to thrive at the expense of
the most important class of agricultu
rists in this coimtry,” declares the res
olution. .
AMBASSADOR’S HUME ROBBED.
Valuables Taken From the Residence
of Henry White in Paris.
Paris, France. —The residence of
Henry White, the American ambassa
dor, was ransacked by burglars and
a large quantity of valuables carried
away. The ambassador is at .present
in the United States, vrhile Mrs. and
Miss White have been staying at their
Chevreus chatteau. The servants of
the house, who slept on the third
floor, were not awakened by the burg
lars, who strewed the great salons
with the contents of boxes and bu
reaus. The booty includes gold brace
lets, pearl necklaces, brooches and
other jewelry.
VETERAN HILLED IN AUTO WRECK.
Machine Was Going at Rapid Pace
When Tire Burst.
Royston, Ga.—F. C. Holbrook, a
well-known farmer, 60 years old and a
Confederate veteran, was killed in an
automobie accident while F. G. Bond,
who was driving, William Bailey and
Bob Fower were injured, though not
seriously. The machine was going at a
rapid clip down an incline toward
Franklin Springs, when a front tire
came off and the wheel swerved, ov
erturning the machine.
LATE NEWS NOTES.
Students of the University of Wash
ington are facing a wholesale expul*
sion for the burning in effigy of Thom
as Franklin Kane, president of the in
stitution. The students took the effigy
into the campus and threw it into the
flames, dancing wildly about it.
Further than that he was always
laughing; that he was always good
natured, and w r as known as “Happy
Jim,” no identification has been made
of the man found murdered in one of
the galleries connecting the tubes of
the Pennsylvania railroad tunnel in
New York city.
Twenty-six men in Craighead coun
ty, Arkansas, arrested for night riding,
have been held for the grand jury in
bonds of SBOO. A special session of
court convenes on November 9 to try
the cases.
The English colonial office, it was
learned recently offered President
Roosevelt the freedom of the govern
ment shooting preserves in Africa.
Mr. Roosevelt replied that he wished
to be treated only as a private citizen,
and that he did not desire special
privileges.
Jesse Ake a cowboy of El Paso, Tex
as, is being hunted on a murder
charge. Asa Sante Fe work train,
loaded with Mexicans, was passing,
Ake lassoed Ramon Aragon, whom he
dragged from the train. Aragon was
killed in the fall, as the train was
running twenty miles an hour.
The four-master schooner Charles
F. Endicott, bound from Charleston,
S. C., to Batlimore, arrived in Hamp
ton Roads, Va., bearing the body of
her deceased master, Captain Marvin
Bailey, of Manasquan, N. J. The cap
tain was washed overboard from the
Endicott while at sea off Cape Hat
teras. He was rescued, but died from
exhaustion and shock upon being tak
en aboard of his vessel again.
One thousand men were made idle
for several hours at the plant of the
Algoma Steel company at Sault Ste
Marie, Mich., when a deer ran into
the mill and jumped on the rolls
where steel rails are made. The deer
was so badly injured that it had to be
killed.
With $20,000 of bonds -which she
had obtained from the firm of Bab
cock, Pushton & Louderbaclc, bond
dealers in the Rookery building, a
woman known as Alice Cheney Brown
was arrested at the union depot in
Chicago and made to return the se
curities. The method by which the
woman obtained the bonds was by
passing a worthless check on the bro
kers for $19,720. The securities were
returned to Mr. Babcock of the brok
erage firm. Mr. Babcock said the firm
would make no effort to prosecute
Mrs. Brown.
President Eliot of Harvard has re
signed.
Attacked by a mob of small boys
soon after he landed in New York city
from Blackwell’s Island, where he is
employed, Harry Roche, unable to de
fend himself or to make a policeman
hear his cries for aid, struggled to a
fire alarm box and turned in an alarm.
He soon had all the help he wanted,
for in response to the alarm four en
gines, two trucks and a patrol wag
on dashed up to the scene, bringing
forty-five firemen and a dozen police
men. His message for assistance cost
the city $66.
A revival of the war reports in
Belgrade jjjervia, has been caused by
rumors is supporting Ser
via’s positiOT, and the fact that the
Servian parliament sat with closed
doors. Troops have been sent to
strategic positions, and the removal
of the capital to a safer place is being
discussed.
The Norwegian bark Mercur, lum
ber-laden, blown ashore by the gale
in the Gulf of St, Lawrence recently,
has gone to pieces. Captain Madsen
and his crew were rescued with diffi
culty.
Charles Truett, engineer of the Cen
tral of Georgia, was killed at Opelika,
Alabama. He was on his tender look
ing after the water when he was
struck by an overhead bridge and in
stantly killed.
Mrs. Harry W. Lynn, wife of de
partment manager of the Illinois Steel
company at Chicago, 111., killed her
four-year-old daughter by cutting her
throat with a razor and then commit
ted suicide with the same weapon at
her home. No cause for the crime is
known.
Fire in a former mail house at St.
Louis, Mo., at the union depot did
$75,000 worth of damage and for a
time thratened the trainshed, bag
gage room and express office.
The wonder chrysantenum plant of
the world, coming from the green
houses of Hamilton McK. Twombly,
at Madison, N. J., is on exhibition at
the national flower show, in Chicago.
This flower is only nine months old.
only three fett high, has five hundred
blooms and is twenty feet in diame
ter.
Washington.
A grand total of $2,069,289,196 worth
of mineral products in the United
States is announced in the statistical
summary for the calendar year 1907,
by the geological survey. Of this
amount $1,116,165,191 was nometalic;
$903,024,005 metalic and SIOO,OOO non
specifled. The mineral products for
the previous year aggregated $1,904,-
007,034.
The torpedo flotilla of six vessels
now at Annapolis, has been ordered
to Charleston, S. C., for repairs, pre
paratory to leaving there December
5 for Pensacola. This practically is
thte beginning of the Charleston
yeard as a repair station.
Examinations by United States na
val experts in wireless telephony as
to the sound which will carry the
greatest distance develops that the
steam siren under seventy-two pounds
of steam' pressure, will emit a blast
which may be heard forty miles. Next
comes the steam whistle, the sound of
which is carried twenty miles. Among
the softer sounds which carry a con
siderable distance is the whistling
buoy installed under the light house
board, which has frequently been
heard fifteen miles.
FATAL DUEL IN STREET
Ex-Senator Carmack, of Tennes
see, Killed by Robin Cooper.
POLITICS CAUSED TRAGEDY
Cooper Had Warned Carmarck to Stop
Attacking Him in Editorials in
His Newspaper.
Nashvile, Tenn. —Asa sequel to the
recent bitter democratic primary for
the gubernatorial nomination in Ten
nessee, Hon. Edward Ward Carmack,
former United States senator from
Tennessee, was shot and killed in a
street duel here by Robin Cooper, a
young attorney. Young Cooper was
wounded in the shoulder by a bullet
from Carmack’s revolver, and is un
der police surveillance in a local hos
pital. His condition is not serious.
Carmack was wounded three times
—in the neck, the breast and the left
shoulder.
Colonel Duncan B. Cooper, father of
the younger man, was with his son
during the affray, but did not fire a
shot.
The direct cause of the killing was
a recent series of editorials in The
Tennesseean, a daily paper of which
Mr. Carmack became editor after his
defeat for the nomination for gover
nor. The editorials in question have
been vigorous in their comment on
Colonel Cooper and his alleged connec
tion with what Mr. Carmack termed
the “democratic machine” and its
methods.
Colonel Cooper, who is well known
in business, newspaper and political
circles in Tennessee and the south,
had, it is said, notified Mr. Carmack
that the references to him must
cease.
The men fought at close quarters,
and there w-ere but few witnesses.
The tragedy created the most intense
excitement throughout the city, and,
within a shorUtime, the streets were
thronged.
It is understood that the trouble is
one of the results of the recent dem
ocratic gubernatorial primary, in
which Carmack was defeated. Car
mack has, since he has been editor
of The Tennesseean, been quite caus
tic in criticizing what he called the
democratic machine, and has had sev
eral editorials about Colonel Cooper.
Within the past few days, it is said,
Coonel Cooper notified Carmack that
these editorial criticisms must cease.
Later another editorial reference to
Colonel Cooper appeared in The Ten
nesseean, and this is supposd to have
been the immediate cause of the trou
ble.
Memphis, Tenn. —Former United
States Senator Edward W. Carmack,
who was shot and killed at Nashville,
was born near Castalian Springs, in
Sumner county, Tennessee, November
8, 1858. He had an academic educa
tion; studied law; practiced in Colum
bia, Tenn., and was a member of the
legislature of 1884.
He was a delegate to the national
democratic convention of 1896, and a
member of congress in 1597T901, from
the tenth congressional district of
Tennessee. He served with distinc
tion in the United States senate for
six years, being defeated for re-elec
tion in the primary a little over a
year ago by former Governor Robert
L. Taylor.
•Last spring he opposed Governor
Patterson for the democratic guberna
torial nomination, championing the
cause of state-wide prohibition. He
was defeated.
Shortly after his defeat Mr. Car
mack was offered the editorship of
The Nashvile Tennesseean. He ac
cepted the offer, and since then and
for the last two months has been at
the head of The Tennesseean.
DAMAGE BY FOREST FIRES.
Hundreds of Thousands Worth of Tim
ber Were Destroyed.
Nashvile, Tenn. —Forest fires are do
ing great damage in this state, West
ern Kentucky and Northern Alabama
Timber amounting to hundreds of
thousands of dollars have been de
stroyed during the past ten days and
the fires are reported to be still burn
ing, and an immense amount of val
uabe timber in the West Tennessee
river bottoms has been destroyed com
pletely.
in Hopkins and other western Ken
tucky counties, where no rain has fall
en of any consequence since July, the
damage from forest fires has been very
great.
In North Alabama, particularly in
Limestone and Madison counties, large
tracts of valuable timber and miles of
fencing have been wiped out by the
forest fires, which are still burning fu
riously.
Bank Cashier Given Five Years.
Mobile, Ala. —In the circuit court of
Jackson county, Mississippi, W. J.
Stewart, who was cashier of the de
funct Scranton State bank, was tried
by a jury and found guilty and sen
tenced to five years in the peniten
tiary. He was charged with receiving
funds in the bank, knowing it was in
solvent.
For Spelling Reform.
London, England.—As a result of a
visit of Dr. Charles P. G. Scott, sec
retary of the simplified spelling board
of America, and Professor James W.
Bright of Johns Hopkins university,
the American movement for reformed
spelling was established in Europe.
Governor’s Son Joins Army.
Chicago, 111. —Among those accepted
for enlistment at the opening of the
United States army’s night recruiting
station here was Malcolm C. Patter
son of Tennessee. He was shipped
with others to Jefferson Barracks, St.
Louis.
Young Patterson, who gave his age
as 21, and his occupation as a news
paper reporter, said he was stranded
here and later declared that Governor
M. R. Patterson of Tennessee was his
father.
GOOD NEWS FOR UNEMPLOYED. '
Reported That 600,000 Mt „ Ar „ ‘
to Be Given Wcr * °° n
New Vork City.—The vtu
sociation of Manufacturer As ’
m the current issue of Amer? b Bhea
dustries, its official masraJfr au In
tinuation ot the statemlnu •**'*“'
conditions contributed h v , n
members representing every hr, 3 L " W
industry. The first serie/ £ an ' h -<*
statements, showing improvement P®
commercial conditions anneal • !n
October 15 issue of the Tag"'„">> *
senes now published indicates a T
tinuation of this improvement'aw £?'
the most part an optimistic view
the business outlook. °*
Telegrams were also sent Dr h r .
the election to a number of
tions’ members, asking them
specifically how many working V, “
would be added to their present [LI
by December 1, if nothing occurred tn
shake commercial confidence, a r
sumo of the information contained it
these replies is also given bv the ma*
azine as fololws:
“The percentage of replies received
-indicate that an average of 135
each will be added to t Lie majority
manufacturing plants in the \?socia
tion by December 1. The percental
shows that at least one-half of the 3
000 members of the National Assccia
tion of Manufacturers expect to add
to their present force more than 200-
000 working men.
“Taking this as a basis,” says the
article, “it is safe to assume that the
13,000 manufactuories, which, accord
ing to the census of 1900, employed an
average of 100 men or over, each will
add at least 50 per cent to the pres
ent force, making a total in round fi.
ures of 650,000 men. In other words
! with the continuance of business con
fidence of ..6 ..6 ..6 .6 ..6..
fidence the important manufacturing
interests of the country will be ena
bled to increase their present force bv
more than half a million workingmen
to meet the market demands for their
products*.
“In securing this information demo
cratic and republican manufacturers
alike were addressed. No attempt was
made to limit the canvass to any
particular section of the country, and
the queries sent to manufacturers
were based solely upon actual bust*
ness conditions and business possibil
ities for the future.”
12,5007003 BALES OF COTTON.
Needed to Prevent Decrease in StocK*
Next Year.
Washinngtcn, D. C. The world's
production of cotton for mill consump
tion during the year ending August
31, 1908, exceeded 2,310,000 bales the
production of the previous year, ac
cording to the census bureau's report
on the supply and the distribution of
cotton. It is a significant fact, the
report shows, that the fluctuations in
the world’s supply of cotton is meas
ured practically by the variations in
the annual production in the United
States.
If the consumption of cotton in 1903
equals that in 1908, the United States,
it is declared, must contribute about
12,500,000 bales to prevent further de
crease in stocks, number of cot
ton spindles in this country is 27,064,-
387, the distribution among the states
giving Massachusetts 34 per cent,
South Carolina 13 per cent and North
Carolina 11 per cent. Rhode Island
ranks fourth in the list. The num
ber of spindles has increased 23 per
cent in the last eight years and the
consumption of cotton 24 per cent.
RATTLESNAKE GN MENIJ.
For Gold Camp Borders When Meat
Was Exhausted.
Svlvanite, New Mexico. —Sylvanite,
the newest gold camp of New Mexico,
now considers itself strictly on the
map in the matter of up-to-date dish
es. The piece de resistance at one
hotel recently was rattlesnake, and
you can't get that even in New loik.
The supply of fresh meat in the town
ran out and the guests who pay
a dav for board kicked for meai.
William Gcdsmfth, the proprietor,
decided to have meat or bust, am, hir
ed everybody lie could to go a tei
rattlers. In three hours they gin sev
enty-eight snakes, for which the> go
50 cents each. The snakes weie giea.
ly relished by the hungry guests.
USED DYNAMITE TO SCARE WOMAN
Effort Made to Secure SIO,OOO from
Mrs. Genevieve Phipps.
Denver, Col. —A woman, gi'hig her
name as Mrs. H. C. Cones, compeliea
Mrs. Genevieve Chander PhipP s * ,
divorced wife of Lawrence Phipps,
Pittsburg millionaire, to take her l *
her automobile to a hank for the I
pose of getting SIO,OOO that she _
manded of Mrs. Phipps, on pain or us
ing blown to pieces with dynani -•
At the bank Mrs. Cones was overpo •
ered by special officers and P a
under arrest.
LEPER AT WASHINGTON.
Government Will Not Deport Ea r 'Z 3
North Carolina.
Washington, D. C. — Secretary Co*,
telyou has announced that he
in the recent decision ol A* J ! i ;
General Bonaparte against the *
tation of John R. Early, the - "
Carolina leper, who is kept
der guard. Mr. Cortelyou hoa .
while he has authority to nia “ e . °
ulations to prevent the in’rcun
of contagious or infectious c
into a state or territory or the 0
trict of Columbia from any i; ta
has no authority to make an^,1 u 'X te d
which Early can be legally ,
from this city or the state <■
Carolina required to receive *
PAYS SIO,OOO FIVE.
Government Ink Inspector P |e3Cifi
Guilty of Attempt to Defrauo*
Washington, D. C.—Edwin
Dyke, former ink inspectoi ot -
reau of printing and engraving.• ’’
ed guilty to two charges of 1 n .
to defraud the government on m* tfae
tracts and paid a fine ot the
largest ever paid in open cous- the
District of Columbia. He haa |, r two
clerk in Justice Gould s cot m .
crisp bank notes of the so* ooU
ination.