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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1902)
so THE SimDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, APRIL 13, 1902. TOBAeCO IN THE PHILIPPINES HOW THE "CROP IS RAISED AND PREPARED FOR THE MARKET if THE CHEAPEST , v CIGARS OF THE WORLD. WASHINGTON, D. C., April 7. Take a smoke with me this morning while -wo look into one of the highest Industries of the Philip pine Islands. We shall suppose ourselves In Manila, and we need not be afraid of leading others astray by using the weed. This is no Sunday-school country. Here the men smoke like chimneys and the women go about with cigarettes in their mouths. The boys begin to puff nicotine before they can talk, and girls of 8, 10 and 32 pout for their daily allowance of black cigarettes. Look out there on the street! See the girls riding by In that cart. They are smoking cigars! Those boys on their way ;to school are puffing away, and there on the opposite side of the street is a child playing marbles with a cigarette balanced over each ear. These Filipinos smoke everywhere, and no one thinks of asking permission. They puff between their courses at meals. Your ihoctess offers you a smoke as soon as you enter the house, and if you invite her she will probably Join you. The priests smoke on the streets, the ladles smoke in their parlors, and there Is not a Government (office in which the clerks, both native and lAmerlcacs, do not smoke while at work, fit is the same in the banks. In the stores, bind, in fact, everywhere. The Cheapest Clgrars of the "World. What kind of a cigar will you take? jHere is one wrapped in tin t oil. That cigar fin the United States would sell for 25 cents. It is the most expensive thing of (the kind in the islands, and it costs $4 per hundred, or Just 4 cents apiece. Think tef getting a Quarter cigar for less than a nickel! That ls?the price at which they bell here, and I venture you can buy a (good smoke In Manila for less -money than anywhere else in the world. Cigars equal jto our nickel cigars are sold for 1 cent in isllver or half a cent gold. Our "ten cent ers" would bring less than 2 cents in Ma siila, and a fair cigar can be had for a cent. Our soldiers usually buy their ci gars by the thousand, and "but few fit them, including the officers, pay more than 1 cent a smoke. Filipino Cigarettes. . Cigarettes are fully as cheap. They are put up In packages of 30, and the lowest priced package sells for a cent. The very best is worth 4 cents American, so that leeven of the best "coffin pegs" cost you only 1 cent. The Filipino cigarettes are manufactured almost exclusively for the native trade. (Many are hand-made, one factory turning out 24,000,000 cigarettes every week, or so many that within a month it could give a smoke to every man, woman and child in our country and nave 20,000,000 to spare. The Filipino tobacco Is darker than ours pnd the cigarette tobacco Is almost black. It is a pure tobacco and not doctored with teweets and flavoring extracts, so that it Is Bald it can be smoked with less Injury to the nerves. The cigarettes of both coun tries are of the same size and shape, save fhat only one end of the Filipino cigarette s open, the white paper at the other end being turned in. You always light the closed end. Among tbe Clgror Girls of Manila. Manila exports about 200,000,000 cigars every year. It has enormous factories, employing thousands of hands, and it is said to have the most expert cigarmakers bf the world. The best of these are girls, bur Filipino cousins have long, slender fingers, which they use with a swiftness and skill which our best clgarrollers have not. They roll all cigars -by hand, and the greatest care Is taken in making and classifying the finer grades. Let us visit one of the large cigar facto ries. "We find them all over Manila. They are situated even in the heart of the city, and one of the biggest is Just next door to the leading hotel. The building is one of three stories, with oyster-shell windows and with floors which could be used for making pianos, the. wood Is so fine The factory covers three or four acres. It has j many large Tooms, some of which are S00 j ifeet long. These rooms are filled with workmen. The factory employs 3000 hands, WHAT THE COURTS DECIDE 'N Texas a person may be convicted of betting, for playing "crackloo," a game played by throwing coin at a track in the floor, holds the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas in the case of Donathan vs. State (66 S. W. Rep., 781). Can't Climb Through "Window. An officer. In order to execute civil pro cess, cannot climb through an open win flow of the defendant's dwelling. If that Is an unusual place of entry, holds the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas in the tease of Hillman vs. Edwards (66 S. W. tRep., 788). ' Duty of Notary Public. Giving notice of dishonor of protested paper is, in the absence of contrary in-, structlons, an official duty of a notary public, in Nebraska, for neglect of which en action is maintainable by the party injured, upon his official bond, holds the Supreme Court of Nebraska in the case of Dartmouth Sav. Bank vs. Foley (89 N. AV. tRep., 395). Police Chief Liable. Where a woman was unlawfully arrest ed by a policeman, and locked up at the police station, and was confined there more than 50 hours after the Chief of Police had knowledge thereof, and was then discharged by his order, no com plaint being made agalnet her, and she Slot being taken before- any court, the Chief of Police having the authority to j say whether she should be kept there, and when she should be released, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in the case of Martin vs. Golden (62 N. E. Rep., 877) holds that a verdict against both the policeman who made the arrest and the 'Chief of Police for damages for false im prisonment Is Justified. Island Belong to State. An island was formed in a navigable stream, and by reason of Its accretions .gradually Joined the mainland. In an action of ejectment to determine the own ership of the Island, the Supreme Court of California In the case of Glassell vs. Hansen (67 Pac. Rep., 964) holds that the Island, with the accretions, belonged to the state and its grantees, and not to the owner of the mainland. Victim Jfot Xegrligrcnt. A pedestrian who falls Into a hole in a sidewalk cannot, as a matter of law, be held negligent because she was at the time talliingv to a companion, holds the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in the case of Butcher vs. City of Phila delphia, (51 At!. Rep., 330). (Question of Delusion. On the issue of Insane delusions, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In re Bennett's Estate (51 Atl. Rep., 336), holds " Tan , HHhhSHh l ? bHBsdHIHBf BSBHE SlHHBBaHRHm BE'-IHHBiHIHKSBllBBv y3r8R2j'Tf',.v''15ijlBliBBHH and the most of the 3000 are of the femi- nine gender. ' "We enter the building and walk up the , siairs. xne ncn smell of the tobacco noats down, and a titllating dust comes into our nostrils. "We pass through a wide door and find ourselves right in the midst of an acre of women. About 1000 Filipinos of all ages are sitting about. us handling tobac co with their long, yellow Angers. They are dressed in white, and their dark faces shine out over the snowy handker chiefs they have pinned around their shoulders. All wear decollete dresses, and those who have thrown off their neck covering on account of the heat, look as If dressed for a ball. Here and there a dress has been pulled to one side, and a mahogany shoulder shines out. All are In their bare feet, and we can see the shape ly ankles and the upturned soles and toes of those who are working about us. They RECENT FINDINGS OF INTEREST TO THE LAITY AND LAWYERS. that it Is never a question of soundness of view, but the proper Inquiry always Is -whether the party imagined or conceived J something to exist which did not In fact j exist, and which no rational person, In j the absence of evidence, would havo be- j lieved to exist. Divorced "Wife I Beneficiary. The divorced wife of a member of a fra ternal order, who was named as the bene ficiary in the benefit certificate while she was the member's wife, was held by the Supreme Court of California. In the case of Courtols vs. Grand Lodge, etc (67 Pac. j Rep., '970), to be entitled to the benefit fund on the death of the member, who died without in any way changing the 1 beneficiary. , j Pmnenser Assnrae.i Risk. j A passenger standing on the side steps of an open street-car, when there Is ' room Inside, Is held by , the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in the case of Woodruffe vs. Roxborough, etc, com pany (51 Atl. Rep., 324), to assume the risk, so that there can be no recovery for his being struck by a pole support ing the electric wires. Bondholder Entitled to Payment. j Under an act authorizing a town to j issue bonds and use the proceeds to pay i other bonds legally issued and remain- ' lng unpaid, the Court of Errors and I Appeals of New Jersey (51 Atl. Rep., j 274) holds that the holder of such un paid bonds Is entitled to payment of thein, even though Judgments have been recovered upon the coupons taken from i said bonds after the bonds became due. ' when the proper municipal authorities naa determined they shall be paid under I the provisions of the act. Must Hnve a License. A person advertising himself as a doc tor and practicing osteopathy Is held by the Supreme Court of Illinois, in the case of People, etc, vs. Gordon (62 N. E. Rep., S5S), to be engaged in the prac tice of medicine, though he does not use drugs, medicines or instruments in his treatment, and is subject to pen alty for practicing without a license. Rishts of a nelljxloun Society. The refusal of a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church to recognize 'a society organized as a Roman Catholic Churcli society Is held by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts In the case of Canadian Religious Association vs. Par menter (62 N. E. Rep.. 740) not to prevent J the society and its officers exercising the powers or a religious corporation con ferred by law, nor prohibits members from maintaining their religious worship. Ruling: on Suicide Clause. Where, In an action on a life Insurance policy, providing that the "policy Is void in case of death, by suicide," the Insured are sitting at long tables not quite a foot high. Some are on stools, but most have their legs bent under them; others so sit that their knees rise above the tables in what seems to us a most uncomfortable way. They work rapidly. Notice this pretty maid at the right. She picks up a leaf of tobacco from that pile before her. She spreads it out upon the table and pounds it with a stone to make it lie flat. To this leaf she adds another, then another; and so on until she has enough for a long, black cigar. She now rolls this rap Idly around in her delicate Angers, and then, putting it between her pearly teeth, she bites off its end, kissing the cigar, as, it were, before she lays it away. That should be a smoke for a king, and that is how the girls make cigars In Manila. You must not think, however, that all of the cigarmakers are beautiful nor that all died from the effect of a pistol shot fired by his own hand, the Supreme Court of Illinois m the case of Central Mutual Life Association vs. Anderson (62 N. E. Rep., S2S) holds that such provision is not a defense if the shooting was Involuntary or done while he was Insane Judgment Is Inadequate. A verdict of $309 damages for the death of a child In a railway accident was set aside and a new trial granted by the Su preme Co.irt of New York in the case of TVIllsen vs. Metropolitan Street Railway (74 N. Y. Supp.. V74), on the ground of gross inadequacy. In its opinion the court said: "The verdict Is for $300, but the funeral expense and other special damages not contested and conclusively proved amount to $1S1, thus leaving less than a trifle over $100 as the figure placed by the Jury ns the value of a human life. . . . The verdict Is perverse and the damages arbitrarily and capriciously fixed at such a low figure as to shock the moral sense." Rnsnlnn "Free Sugrar." "Free sugar,',' sd'-called, exported from Russia to this country. Is held by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals In the case of Downs vs. United States (113 Fed. Rep., 144) to be subject to the addi tional duty imposed by section 5 of the tariff .act of 1897. The laws of Russia, holds the court, bestow a bounty or grant upon the exportation of so-called "free sugar," so as to work a benefit or ad vantage to the exporter In two ways: First, by remitting tho excise tax due upon the sugar exported, and, second, by the issuance by the Government to the exporter of a certificate of exportation, which authorizes the sale In the domestic market of an equal quantity of "free re serve or free surplus" sugar without the payment of the additional tax otherwise required to be paid thereon, and which certificate Is transferable and has a sub stantial market value Credibility of Expert Witness. An expert medical witness cannot be dis credited by reading an opposite opinion from a textbook In the presence of the Jury, and asking whether it is correct, where he has In no way referred to the book to sustain his opinion, or otherwise relied on it holds the Supreme Court of North Carolina, in the case of Butler vs. South Carolina, etc. 40 S. E. Rep., 770). Jndfire Interrogating: Witnesses. While it Is the right of a trial judge to Interrogate witnesses, when essential to the administration of Justice, holds the Supreme Court of Nebraska. In the case of Leo vs. State (89 N. W. Rep., 303). yet the practice of so doing except when ab solutely necessary, should be discouraged. Shipowners Are Liable. The owners of a ship are liable for an injury to a carpenter, employed by a firm which had been hired to make re have sweet lips or pearly white teeth. Among them we see many gray-haired old women, with fangs as black as the tobacco they bite, and some, we'shudder to notice, chew the betel at Intervals during their work. The most of the cigars are made by the piece, the best women earning as much as $3 per week, while the ordinary girl does very well if she can make 25 cents a day. In other rooms of this factory the workers are men and boys. The women are the more skillful, and the best of the cigars aro made by them. The Philippine cigars are of six different grades, ranging from light brown to al most black. The tobacco is not so heavy as our American article. It contains less nicotine and is less stimulating. "It com pares," says an old American smoker, "with our leaf as beer does with whisky. "When the American wants a smoke he pairs or changes in the interior of tho ship to fit It for cargo, and who was sent till UUtUU fc-W VVU&JW UUllUb fcG AAtt,. i fell through a hatchway In a dark and unusual place which had been negligently left open, without notification of warning j to those who were doing the work, (west India, etc. Company vs. Welbel, 113 Fed. Rep., 169, United States Circuit Court of Appeals.) Ground for a. New Trial. Peremptorily forcing one indicted for a criminal offense to trial, immediately af ter the appointment of counsel to defend him, without giving to such counsel an op portunity to make an Investigation of the case or prepare for the defense. Is held by the Supreme Court of Georgia, In the case of McArver vs. State (40 S. E. Rep., 779) to be ground for a new trial. Principal Is TVot Liable. If an agent whose authority is limited to purchasing with cash furnished him by his principal buys on credit, the Su preme Court of Georgia, In the case of the Amerlcus Oil Company vs. Gurr (40 S. R Rep., 780), holds that the principal Is not liable for the price of things so bought, and one who deals with such a special agent Is bound to Inform himself as to the extent of the agent's authority. Straightening: a Theological Kink. Passengers In an uptown car one after noon last week were very much entertained and amused by a discussion of things spiritual by two colored passengers. As the debate waxed warmer the voices of the debaters grew louder until what was said was plainly audible to all In the car. After each had made a confession of faith and given his views of the means whereby mortal man could gain salvation, one of the pair blurted out In a tone that Implied that all his hope for the next world was embodied In the words: "Well, sah, I b'lleve dat what's gwlne- to be Is sho'ly gwine to be." "Huh!" grunted his companion, con temptuously. "Den yo b'Heves in pre medltashun." Baltimore Sun. Irresistible Temptation. Representative McCleary, of Minnesota, tells a story of the man who was running what la known In that country as a "blind pig." In the East the establishment would be known as a "speak-easy." According to Mr. McCleary, the man was arrested, tried, convicted and fined. He went back and again engaged In the business. He was again arrested, again tried, again convicted and again fined. He returned to his illegal business. After the performance had been repeated several times, the Magistrate questioned him: "How long," disked the Magistrate, "are you going to keep this thing going?" "As long," was the reply, "as there's 8 cents profit In a 10-cent drink." Washing ton Post. The Doivnivard Path. "There goes a man who started life as a bartender, and now he's a member of the Legislature." "You don't say? I suppose the im possibility of .avoiding evil associations in His business was responsible for It." wants something he can feel, and I doubt if our people will ever care to use the tnlld cigars of the Philippine Islands." The best Philippine tobacco comes from the Island of Luzon and the very choicest from the Valley of the Rio Grande River In tho northeastern end of that island. The Rio Grande River Is a large stream, navigable for email boats for many miles. Its valley north and south Is over 100 miles long, with a width of from Ave to 20 miles. The river is subject to annual floods, during which quantities of rich silt arc brought down from the mountains and spread over the valley. This fertilizes It as the Nile does Egypt and gives it a soil which can be used for tobacco culturo year after year without other fertilization. There are four large provinces In this val ley, In which little elsa than tobacco and Indian corn are grown. In addition to this territory there Is a strip of land In Northwestern Luzon which has many plantations. The tobacco there is not so good nor Is It raised in such quan. titles. Many of the farmers are Igorrote Indians. There are also other small plan tations In the other islands of the archipel ago. Panay raises quite a good deal, and portions are grown in Mindoro, Marin duque and Mindanao. Outsldo Luzon the most of the crop la consumed at home, very little being exported. How the Tobacco Is Grown. The tobacco of the Philippines la grown. In small patches, although one of the Ma nila tobacco companies has one planta tion on which are several thousand hands. The average tobacco farm consists of but a few acres, and its owner produces but three or four bales of tobacco a year. The' seed Is first sown in beds, Just as In the United States. After the plants have well sprouted they are set out about two or three feet apart; so close. Indeed, that, it Is said, there are sometimes 10,000 tobacco plants to one acre. The planting Is done late In the Fall, and by March and April the leaves arc ready for harvest. The crop must be kept weeded, and every morn ing the plants must be gone over for worms. This work Is done entirely, by women and girls. The tobacco leaves are cured In sheds and then allowed to fer ment, and then dried in the air. "When ready for market they are put up GEORGE ADE'S ONCE there was a Family called Jump that had sampled every Ward within the Corporation Limits. The Jumps did a Caravan Specialty every time the Frcet went out of the Ground. When the Sarsaparllla Adds began to blossom, and the Peach Crop had been ruined by the late Cold Snap and the Kids were batting up Files in the Lot back of th Universallst Church, and a Barrel Organ down Street was tearing the Soul out of "Trovatore" these were the Cues for Mrs. Jump to get her Nose Into the Air and begin to champ at the Bit. Mother was a House-Huntei from away back. She claimed to be an Invalid 11 menths out of the Year and took Nerve Medicine that cost $2 a Bottle. Just the same, when April hove into view and Dame Nature began to stretch herself, then Mother put on her Short Skirt and a pair of Shoes Intended for a Man and did a tall Prance. She was good for 12 hours a Day on any kind of Pavements. With her Reticule loaded full of "To Let" Clippings, she hot footed from Street ttf Street. Every time sh'e struck a Fresh Trail she broke Into a Run. Mother wag looking for a House that had twice as many Closets as Rooms and a Southern Exposure on all four sides. She had conned herself Into the Belief that some day she would run down a KQueen Anne Shack that would be O. K. In all Particulars. In the Magazine that came every Month she had seen these Dream-Pictures of Pal aces that can be put up for $1500, If you steal your Materials. She had gazed at the Bunco Illustration of the swell Structure with bushy Trees dotting the Lawn and a little Girl rolling a Hoop along the Cement Sidewalk and she had set her Heart on that kind of a Home. Mother loved to study the Plans and count the Bath-Rooms and figure on Win dow Seats and what kind of Curtains to put in the Guest Chamber. Every Spring she found the Place she j had been seeking and gave a Grand Signal ior tne wnoie uuttit to begin packing up. Those were the bright vernal Days when Mr. Jump got all that was coming to him. Mr. Jump was a Man, therefore any old kind of a Hut suited him. For eight years before starting on his continuous Tour with Mother, he had roomed over a Drug Store. His Apartment had been one of those j delectable Man-Joints where women j riever butted in to hide things and give the whole Place a Soapy Smell. The Sweepings went under the Bed, so as not to Utter the Hallway. Once a Year he had a House-Cleaning.' In bundles of 100 leaves each, tied with strings of rattan. Forty such bundles make a bale, so that there are Just 4000 leaves to the bale. The bales are wrapped In mats of banana leaves, and tied with rattan. In this shape they are floated down the Rio Grande or other rivers In covered boats to the seaports, whence they go by steamer to Manila. The chief to bacco port of Luzon is Aparrl, at the mouth of the Rio Grande River. There are a number of tobacco com panies here of large capital, which handle both leaf tobacco and cigars and cigar ettes. The business is about equally di vided between the Spaniards and Ger mans, with the Spaniards In the lead. The several companies have their branch houses in the Cagayan Valley. They send out agents, who buy of the farmers and ship the crops to Manila. Some of the companies are large, one having a capital of J15.000.000 gold. It employs altogether In the neighborhood of 10,000 hands and has steamers of its own to carry Its to bacco from the plantations to Manila. It has great warehouses there where the leaf Is packed for shipment, and also cigar and cigarette factories. It annually produces about 100.000,000 cigars and about half a million cigarettes, in addition to some millions of pounds of cut tobacco. Baling; for Export. I visited one of the warehuoses of thl3 oompany and watched the process of sorting the tobacco and baling it for ex port. The packages are opened as soon as they come in, and the leaves carefully sorted and graded, being kept as far as possible In the original bundles. After sorting they are laid one on top of another In the shape of a bale about four feet long and two feet square. This bale is wrapped in matting made of banana leaves 'and then pressed. The pressing Is done by a screw worked on tho principle of a letter press. The screw Is moved around by a score of Chi nese, who push upon, levers attached to a wheel In which the screw is fastened. After the bale has been pressed to the de sired dimensions it is again bound with strips of rattan and marked for shipment to Europe. The work of handling the tobacco Is done MODERN FABLE HOW MRS. JUMP HAD HER OF HOUSE HUNTING. That is to say, he employed a Colored Man to beat the rugs, which had to be separ ated from the Floor by means of a Shovel. Inasmuch as Women never came in to straighten up, he knew where to find everything. He knew it was somewhere in the Room and all he had to do was to excavate until he found it. Then he hooked up with Laura so as to get a real Home and she gave him. a new one every Year. Mr. Jump soon discovered that although every Man Is the Architect of his own Fortune, the Wife usually superintends the Construction. When Mr3. Jump made her Spring An nouncement that they would move to an other House, he did a deal of Kicking, but he always went Into tho Wood Shed to do It He saesed her Inwardly, but not so that she could hear. She was a Wonder at framing up Rea sons for hurling the Lease back at the Landlord. One Year she quit because the Owner papered the Upstairs with a Jay Pattern that cost only 15 cents a Bolt. Another time the Family next door kept Chickens. Usually the Children across the Alley were not fit Associates for their own little Brood. One Time she quit on account of a Cock roach. She saw It scoot across the Pan try and that afternoon she headed for a Renting Agency. Father suggested that Instead of vacat ing in favor of the Cockroach, they offer a reward of $100 for Its capture, dead or alive, and thereby save a little Money, but she refused to listen. If the Plumbing wasn't out of Whack, the Furnace required too much Coal or else the Woman across the Street had been divorced too many times. If they squatted in a low-down Neigh borhood, Mrs. Jump was ashamed to give her Address to Friends in the Congrega tion. If they got Into a Nest of the New Rich, then Laura, had the freeze-out worked on her, because Mr. Jump was on a Salary and she had to ride on the Trolleys. So she began looking for a Street In which In tellect would successfully stack up against the good, old Collateral. And, of course, that meant a long Search. Therefore, every May 1st something Red and about the size of a Caboose backed up to the Jumps'. Several husky Boys began throwing Things out of the Win dows. Father did a Vanishing Act. When It i come to lifting one corner of a Piano or hanging pictures he was a sad Bluff and he knew it. "How about Paradise?" he asked one daj. "I understand that Inside of the Pearly Gates each Family has Perma nent Quarters. There are no Folding Beds to juggle down Back Stairways, no Pic ture Cords to Shorten; no Curtain Poles very cheaply and not as carefully as it should be. The labor is everywhere so cheap that if the United States should remove its tariff on tobacco it will be sent by the ship load to our markets. Philippines -vs. the United Stntes and Cuba. In that case there would be at once an immense increase In the tobacco area. I am told there are vast tracts of wild land In the islands that might be xised for to bacco raising. Much of this belongs to the government, and It will probably soon be offered for sale. Under the present conditions there Is no reason for alarm, for tho market for Philippine tobaccos is already fixed. The most of the product now goes to Eu rope and the greater part to Spain. Of the leaf exports In 1S07 Europe took In round numbers 24.000.000 pounds; England, 5,000, 000; Singapore and India. 973,000; China and Japan, 274,000, and Australia, 3200 pounds. "We took cigars only, of which we imported that year 2,500,000 as against Europe's 30,000,000, Great Britain's 21.000,000 and Asia's 95,000,00. Cuba's tobacco crop ex ceeds that of the Philippines by many mil lion pounds. It produces twice as much tobacco annually as the export of the Philippine leaf, but Its exports of 'cigars are. about the same, each closely approxi mating 200,000,000 per year. TVe Lend the World. Our own tobacco crop Is the biggest of all the world. It amounts to more than 400,000,000 pounds, or about four-fifths a3 much as the tobacco crop of all Europe. Our tobacco Is very cheap, and Is desira ble for mixing with and fortifying the Eu ropean leaf. It may be that a combina tion of It with the Philippine leaf will pro duce excellent results. The Philippine leaf Is darker than our American tobacco. This is especially so with fche cigarettes, which are as black as burnt coffee. The people of the far east like the Ma nila cigars. They are the favorite smoke of the swells of China, Japan and India not only on account of their quality, but also of their cheapness. Spain's Tobacco Monopoly. The Philippine Islands have not been de veloped along the lines of tobacco culture largely because of the government monop oly, which prevailed here until about 20 years ago. For 100 years prior to that time tobacco planting and tobacco selling were entirely in the hands of the Spanish government. The people of the Rio Grande Valley were compelled to plant tobacco on penalty of losing their lands. Every unmarried man had to set out 4000 plants every year, and he who had a wife was expected to raise at least SOOO plants. Tho government practically owned the lands, and any land that was not in tobacco for three years in succession was liable to pass out of the hands of the man who lived upon It. The government regulated Just how the tobacco should be raised and cured. It pro hibited the planters from selling to any one but the government officials, and It fixed Its own prices, which were 50 per cent less than those paid in 18S3, when the monopoly was abolished. The planter could not even smoke his own tobacco ex cept in certain places and at certain times. His house was subject to search for con cealed leaves, and the officials sometimes even searched the persons of his family. Including his wife and daughters on the pretense of preventing smuggling. Insults committed on this pretext frequently caused the death of the officials. The laws provided Just where the to bacco should be raised and how it should be handled at Manila. The government had five large factories in which 20,000 men and women were employed. It required 400 offi cials to manage the tobacco bureau, and the income from, the monopoly was about $5,000,000 a year. At the last the govern ment began to pay the planters In treas ury notes Instead of cash. These sold for only 50 cents on the dollar. They caused great misery and Anally brought about such opposition that the monopoly wa3 abolished. This was on the 31st of Decem ber. 1SS2. Since then the business has been In the hands of private parties, but It haa always been more or less hampered with tariff and other restrictions, and has not had the opportunity for development which it should have under our govern ment. FRANK G. CARPENTER. (Copyright, 1902, by Frank G. Carpenter.) ANNUAL ATTACK to saw off, no Book Cases to get jammed In Stairways. I am sure there will be no Piano-Movers, for I have heard their Language. Do you "think you can be happy In tho Promised Land?" "It will depend entirely on whether or not tho Rugs fit," she replied. "Let U3 hope for the Beet," said Mr. Jump. Moral The Queen of the May Is usually a Woman. (Copyright, 1902, by Robert Howard Rus sel.) Fuel Was Very Spicy. Cleveland Plain Dealer. First tourist Isn't this lovely? Just think! Pharaoh lived here, and and Cheops, and and Moses! It make3 your head swim, doesn't it? Second tourist I guess it's the bad air. It hurts my head, too. Is that the Nile over there? "Mercy, I suppose so. Isn't it dirty? It doesn't seem as If Cleopatra could have ridden In her barge to meet Marc Antony down that horrid stream, does it?" "No, it doesn't. But that was a long time ago, wasn't it?" "I believe so. Fve seen the play, but I don't remember just when it was." "See that crocodile basking in the sun!" "Is he basking? Oh, Maud, that re minds me. How are you going to have your new basque trimmed?" "Mercy, there's the Sphinx!" "What's the Sphinx?" "Why, it's a thing that asked riddles, you know. Dear me, I'm not sure whether that's the Sphinx or one of the pyramids. Just look at those children! They must be going In swimming." "Look there! That must be the desert. But I can't see any caravans. Perhaps it isn't a desert. Maybe' lt'3 a mirage." "What's a mirage, dear?" "Oh, It's something they see In deserts. Everything Is upside down, you know." "Isn't that just awful? Oh, see that handsome native! What a picture! "He's playing on the concertina and passing his hat." "What a shame! My, Isn't It nice to travel on a railroad where they don't have any smoke or cinders?" "Yes: and do you notice what a balmy odor comes in the window?" "Yes. Isn't It fragrant? So spicy. Can't you smell the cloves? Ah-a-a, I like to breathe It In." "So do I. I'll ask the conductor what It Is. There he la. Conductor, please!" The conductor Well, ma'am? "Conductor, where does that spicy smell come from?" "From the locomotive, ma'am. We use nothing but mummies for fuel on this line, ma'am."