The Sunday Oregonian., June 29, 1902, PART FOUR, Page 30, Image 30

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THE SUNDAY OBEGONIAN, PORTLAND, JUNE 29, 1H)2.
ME-RieN IMVASION OF EUROPE
FIGHT BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE
t YANKEE TOBACCO TRUSTS
LONDON. Juno U.A. merry "war
is going on between the British Im
perial Tobacco Combination and the
American Tobacco Trust. For years the.
Britishers have monopolized the tobacco
sales of the United Kingdom. They havo
made the greater part of the cigars, cigar
ettes and tobacco uset, and there are to
day about 500 tobacco factories in opera
tion in different parts of the country.
The American Tobacco Trust made Its
flrfet invasion some years ago. It began
by attempting to purchase the biggest of
the British tobacco firms, but failed, bo
It took tho second. This was known
as Ogdcn's, a tobacco combination with
stock selling at a market value of a lit
tle over $3,000,000. The trust paid a
premium of $900,000 to get control of tho
business, and at once began to push tho
sales of Yankee-made tobaccos after
American methods. It was making rapid
Inroads upon the business of the British
ers when the Imperial Tobacco Company
was formed to oppose it. This company
now consists of a trust comprising 13 of
the chief firms in the British tobacco trada
and covering all parts of the country.
The two trusts are now fighting each
other for all they are worth, and the con
test excites great interest among all
classes. The newspapers- are full of it.
They publish dally articles concerning Mr.
Duke, the American tobacco king, and his
plans, and tho best displayed advertise
ments are those of the rival companies.
Yesterday it was said that stores would
be established in every village of tho
United Kingdom for the sale of American
made tobacco, and today It is reported
that the American syndicate has offerod
$55,000,000 a year to the French Govern
ment for the monopoly of the tobacco
business of France, which is now run by
the state. The end may be that the
Americans will establish enormous fac
tories here under British names and make
their cigarettes and cigars with British
labor.
Dovrn "With tho Tankee Monopolies.
The British tobacconists are much ex
cited over this feature of the invasion.
They publish requests for the people to
down tho Yankee monopolies and buy
English tobacco, and over their stores
you may see signs urging all patriotic
Englishmen to smoke cigarettes and cigars
made at home. I paid a shilling for a
poster which I saw In a cigar shop near
London Bridge this morning. It Js a ci
gar advertisement backed with a British
flag and addressed to the British public.
It reads:
"Americans, whoso markets are closed
by prohibitive tariffs against British good3
have declared their intention of monopoliz-
incr the Tnhnrnn TVnrJo nf ti!a Pnimti-v
"It is for the British public to decide j
pnetner BRITISH LABOR, CAPITAL
AND TRADE ARE to be subordinated to
the American system of TRUST MONOP
OLY and all that Is Implied therein.
"The Imperial Tobacco Company is an
amalgamation of British manufacturers
who have closed their ranks with the de
termination to hold the BRITISH TRADE
for the BRITISH PEOPLE.
"Its aim Is to provide the vast smoking
public with CIGARETTES and TOBACCO
made solely by means of BRITISH LA
BOR and CAPITAL," etc.
Cigar Shops In London.
It seems to me there are more cigar
shops than grocery stores In London. You
find them on every corner and in every
block. They are different from our Amer
ican establishments. The shops are small
and the most of the goods are In the win
dows. Little taste is shown in display,
and box after box of cigars and dargettea.
with the covers off and the tobacco show
lug, are piled one on top of the other un
til the window Is full.
Every tobacconist sells pipes and to
bacco pouches. There are different brands
of fine-cut and plug, and all sorts of
smoking tobaccos. More smoking Is done
by means of pipes than cigars, and every
other man you meet has a short brlarwood
pipe in his mouth. This Is especially so
of tut poorer classes. The British are
great smokers. They consumed $25,000,000
worth of tobacco last year, and nine-tenths
of the product came from the United
States.
A Bit of Tobacco History.
They have always gotten the "most of
their tobacco from us. Tho weed was
first Imported by Sir "Walter Raleigh, in
25S6, and later on It became one of tho
chief articles of trade between the colo
nies and Great Britain. Some tobacco
-was planted in England during the time
of James L Tobacco-smoking had become
general among the upper classes, and both
ladles and gentlemen smoked. King James
denounced the custom. He prohibited its
cultivation in England. Cromwell did the
eame and ordered his soldiers to tramp
down the tobacco crops wherever they
lound them.
Charles H tried to restrict our tobacco
trade to England. He forbade tho colo
nies to ship the product elsewhere, and
the result was the ruination of the Vir
ginia tobacco industry and the rebellion
-of the Virginia planters in 1675. which
-was in reality the commencement of the
struggle which culminated in the Ameri
can Revolution and our independence. In
those days the English had a monopoly
nd the profits. Now the Americans are
coming to the front, and the probability
is that our trust will even up the exac
tions of the past.
I do not know the amount of capital
possessed by tho Imperial Tobacco Com
pany, but It runs high into the tens of
muuous. xue American Tobacco Com
pany, incorporated in 1S90. had a capital
FfRE
BOSTON. June 2L-For the first time
in this country the prevention of
, r. nil3 plannInS too construction
of buildings in such a way as to reduce
tho opportunities for occurrence to a min
imum is to be made a regular feature of
tho training afforded at a college of
applied science. When tho Massachu
setts Institute of Technology opens In
the Fall, the diversity of Its courses will
Include a school or department of insur
ance engineering under the executive
charge of Professor Charles L. Norton.
Tho undertaking has the enthusiastic
support and co-operation of Mr. Edward I
AiKinson, of this city, whose efforts in
recent years have practicallr revolution
ized the methods of mill construction and j
the theories of Industrial insurance; and
It has appealed so strongly to mlllowncrs.
bujlucrs, manufacturers and other inves
tors to whom fire Is a constant menace
that, at Mr. Atkinson's Instance, a fund
sufficient to place It at once on a substan
tial money basis with liberal allowance
f"r the necessarily heavy initial expense,
will b provided
The Importance of the movement be
come evident when one realizes that
du-ing U o pat year destruction by lire
"rtl' ' i ii i 3r--ir i i-iTnnnwiiii ., i, .i .1....... - . . I , M I H
BHwII: Pip: I Hi kI HH few
fpjfPSK teiSfeH&Ssatf T.igffitfE PPgH 1 Tfteif Publish Requests wb
u"r Y for the Peopls io down I j)
lipiiBir m- j th&Yanhee Monopolies WJ
S St. Pauls .Cathedral nou b'ohted N
coith Qmcncan Electric Lamps J
mi 1 1 1 yg"7- T" ' ' ...TiiSSXifVS "".? v""lSaiM'B fw Mfop
Iw'PWIiPii1 . ''IUHIHkSSk?. "itJ
7" "prF-i ; !1 ryr
i-&
mi" HM 1 BnFM POl lir r r ;' "JMH-fc$ B
1 mB.MK 001 l ' it
-flIK4jcra(
of 523,000.000. and In 1901 it had so adaed
to Its holdings that its outstanding securi
ties aggregated $70,000,000. The Conti
nental Tobacco Company, organized in
1B9S, has a capital stock and securities of
about SLO0.O00.C00. and there ore other
companies which represent millions more.
It is safe to say that the tobacco com
panies of America altogether havo a cap
ital of H50.COO.000. and that most of them
are more or less interested In this fight.
American Tracks. on Old Landmarks.
Everywhere I go in London I see the
footsteps of the ubiquitous Yankee. He
Is either on the streets with his carpet
bag and samples, In the machine shops
with his American tools, or in the book
stores, supplying England with his share
of Its literature. Mark Twain, Joel
Chandler Harris. Mary Johnston and other
well-known American writers are as pop
ular here as at home, and their books
are sold by the thousands.
I find the American invasion not only in
the books, but In the materials of which
they are made. I dronnefl lntn on nt !
places immortalized by Dickens the other
P-ROTECTION . AS
in the United States amounted to over
$150,000,000. To this sum must be added
practically another $100,000,000 to cover the
excess of expense in water works, fire
departments, and in the conduct of In
surance companies due mainly to the ex
istence of avoidable dangers in our great
cities, so that the Nation's tdtal tax, in
an average year, is about $250,000,000
greater than the annual appropriation
for the common schools, moro than dou
ble the sum expended yearly for the sup
port of all tho universities, colleges, and
technical schools in the country, and
somewhat above the normal expense of
conducting the United States Govern
ment If we omit the Items of interest and
pensions. This onormous money loss by
re nas oeen increasing steadily during
tno last five years, despite every devel
opment of llrefighting apparatus and
methods, and the institute's plan is to re
duce to an exact science the means of
preventing destructive fires, not only by
putting out a blaze a- quickly as possi
ble after It has started, but by making
1 as nearly Impossible for It to start as
may be practicable.
There is, at present, no school where
.;IPTT!.1 !-. Siflu;ti?k
day to buy a lead pencil and notebook. It
was, in fact, the old "Curiosity Shop,"
about which the great novelist wove tho
story of "Little Nell." The sign over tho
door is that of a stationer named Poole. I
asked him for his best lead pencils, and
he showed me two, which were apparently
Just alike, but one of -Rhich cost twice as
much as the other. Tho expensive pencil
was made in Austria, costing 10 cents, and
the other was almost a facsimile for 5
cents, but on the back of tho second I
noticed a stamp showing that it was made
by the Eagle Pencil Company, of New
York. The stationer told me that much
of his paper came from America. This is
especially so of the cheap kinds, the most
of the newspapers being printed on paper
made of American wood pulp.
Yankees in "YVeonilnster Abbey.
Speaking of printing, Benjamin Franklin
did some of his first printing in London.
I came upon his old homo in one of the
houses of Craven street this morning. It
is within a stone's throw of Charing Cross
and there is a marble slab on the wall,
upon which are the words, "Benjamin
the elemental principles of prevention of
loss by firo forms any part of tho In
struction, and the Massachusetts Instltuto
of Technology bids fair to be the first In
stitution m this country, or In fact any
where, to supply what would seem a very
Important addition to modern education.
Professor Norton will start Immediately
on an extended visit of inspection to the
various large cities of the United States
with the purpose of examining their
buildings and investigating the methods
under which they are constructed, con
sulting prominent Insurance men in re
gard to the apparatus to be used in the
new school for experiments with fire
proof construction and the scope of the
instruction it should give. Unlike most
educational plans, the now school will
assume an Immediate and Important
practical relation to the business world.
The first work of Its testing station will
be bent, not only to educating students in
methods of fire prevontion, but also to
classifying sfnd establishing a standard
for the so-called flroprooflng materials
that are now in mere or less general use.
The department of insurance engineer
ing will require about an acre cf land,
and a site is now being selected in the
vicinity of Boston the necessary condi
tions being that the land shall be so situ
ated that somewat offensive and possibly
-r
intentbn of
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Franklin once lived here." I stumbled
across a statue of George Peabody, our
first charitable mllllnnnlr rinnV- nf thp
I Bank of England yesterday, and when I
eiucrea Westminster Abbey shortly before
It was closed to prepare it for King Ed
ward's coronation, I found on a yellow
card laid on one of the tombs a quotation
concerning the beauty of the place from
Oliver Wendell Holmes. I soon drifted
Into the poet's corner, and there upon tho
wall Just next to a statue of SHakespearo
was a most beautiful marble bust of our
roet Longfellow, with an Inscription stat
ing that it had been erected by the British
Rdmirers of the American poet.
St. Paul and It American Lamp.
You all know something of tho wonders
of St. Paul's Cathedral. It is one of th'o
largest churches of the world, and in many
respects the most beautiful. Many of you,
have visitfd it. but I doubt if you have
seen the vast structure as I saw It the
other day. lighted with the wonderful
electric lights in he beautiful fixtures
presented to the church by an American
tract magnate. Plerpoot Morgan has fur
A SeiENeE
dangerous experiments may be conducted
without risk to neighboring property,
and that a sufficient supply of water may
be available without having to make
special arrangements with the police, the
fire department, and the Water Board
before beginning each test. Offices and
laboratories will be erected at once, and
it is proposed that a certain number of
the buildings shaft Be In themselves ex
amples of the various methods of modern
fireproof construction. In this way they
will themselves be subject to an endur
ance test, so to speak, extending over
several years An element of co-operation
enters In here, too, for the manu
facturers of the various types of fire
resistance construction now before the
public are offered an opportunity to erect
structures embcdlng their respective
theories.
Tests "Will Be Made.
The bulldlngn will be of a uniform site,
on a rround p!an of 10 by 22 feet, with
one post In the middle, so that the rela
tion of ths middle beam and walls will
correspond to two bars In a factory each
2SxS feet in dimensions. In the rear of
each will b a one-story annex in which
cor-itint tests will bs made to determine
ability to resist f re or any other means
of accidental destruction,-that cAn be ex
perimentally brought to bear upon it
Jontisn fuolic
.. VafeV' .-1..".
Amtruxbcfast mcrkttf ore th fc
tarifft sfrmt British gcKxb, :6&dMti&.
mooiklisi4IwT
-' -of th C3ciAirv' 1
, . -v " . . .
BfitUK foWJc k Ui&teiTlSH tABOVtC
TRADE en h U mkohiinHk
MMNUrULYj.4rfIf !hat is mKU thtfiin.
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POiiiHlH' " lir Tf: rus.iM(P- 3' MEM
'Yanlfees ioJajestminSiten JJi)6ejr.
nished the money which enables the Eng
lish to see the glories of their greatest
church, whether the city in which it
stands Is shrouded In fog or not.
I can't describe the beauty of tho church
under the soft lights of these lamps. It
looks far better than in the brightest sun
shine. The church authorities told Mr.
Morgan that they could not afford to put
in this electricity, and he thereupon of
fered to do it for them. He wrote a check
for $45,000. and planked it down on the
pulpit, and told them to go ahead. At
any rate, that Is v, hat It cost at the start.
The fixtures are modeled after the origi
nal lamps designed by Sir Christopher
"Wren, and they aro in perfect harmony
with their surroundings. Some of the
most beautiful of them are In the -choir
Just beyond the dome. They are great
chandeliers of gold, hanging from the
roof, which is hundreds of feet higher up.
Each chandelier has six lamps, but the
rays are filtered through frosted glass and
they give the effect of a bright moonlight.
As I sat under these lights In tho mighty
cathedral, my mind went back to its. won
derful history, and it seemed to me that I
The annexes, used in this way. will also
serve to measure the power of the walls
of the main structures to resist tho heat
from a conflagration In an adjoining bulld-
inrr Ttt nlln fn. kl nn..n1 ..J.X.t.i
I o. -...- yiil 1U1 "HO 11U1CI UUUCl IUK.1I1&
Includes an office building for housing the
, finer iclentlflc apparatus to be upi in
measuring high temperatures, and taking
other minute observations while the tests
are in progress, and for making plans and
working out the scientific results of the
experiments, and at least one laboratory,
very solidly constructed of fireproof brick,
large enough to test fireproof flooring un
der high temperature and heavy loads sim
ilar to thoos that the same floor might
have to sustain In a big fire In a great
business block. There will be a place to
test flrcdoors, glazed windows and other
devices under the conditions of intense
heat, frequently sufficient to melt cast
Iron, that would be produced by the actual
burning of a building In which they were
located; and to produce such cxtremo
temper: turc In the small compass of a
laboratory there win be provided a gas
plant, for the ordinary materials, jwch as
cordwood. will not serve the purpose? on
th smaller" scale of an exp.-rlment Fires
will probably be started with wood and
then gas will be Injected to maintain them
at a very high and even temperature.
Special facilities are planned for dc
termlnlns tho efficiency of steel framed
posts and other metal features of up-to-
ptxih&ittve
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Abtfxxn $?km
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could see the ghosts of l.ts architect. Sir
Christopher "Wren, and of the hundreds of
England's dead now burled there hovering
about the lamps in amazed curiosity. St;
Paul's dates back to the days of the Ro
mans. Some authorities maintain that a
templo of Diana stood here in pagan times,
and Christopher "Wren found the ruins of a
church built by the Christians in the days
of the Romans, when he laid the founda
tion fcr this structure. There was a Chris
tian church here as far back as 1000 A. D..
and there was a cathedral on this spot
when the great fire of London came and
wiped it out in 1666.
Sir Christopher "Wren began his work
upon the present structure 15 years later,
and he lived to see it completed in 1710.
He watched the Job for 29 years, and in
that time received the munificent salary
of $1000 per annum as his architect fee.
Nevertheless the cathedral cost $3,700,000
to build. Had Sir Christopher received
the fee of 3 per cent which our architects
now demand, he would have gotten $185,000
for the Job, and after looking the building
carefully over I am sure it Is worth it.
Still, men of all sorts worked for less
t HHH
t IH
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
STARTS A NOVEL DEPARTMENT
date flreproofing and the value of their
protection against deterioration by vari
ous concretes, veneers, etc. Specimens will
be subjected to the arjing weather condi
tions of the New England climate for
a considerable period of time to discover
the effect of humidity or of & substances
with which they are coated upon the
metals. Steel, for example, embedded in a
suitable concrete with a base of lime,
may last 2C00 years, while the same ma
terial embedded in some of the concretes
now in use. is likely tQ corrode and even
be destroyed in less than 20. So the
a-hool will divide Its attention between the
action of modern building materials under
tho Influence of the slowest but least com
batablc of all destroying agencies, Father
Time himself.
Up to the present time this country has
been behind England In attempting a
thorough and systematic understanding of
the actual causes of fires and the best
moms of preventing them, and the archi
tects and engineers of London hae al
ready organized a Fire Prevention Com
mittee to devi3e safeguards against the
dangers that are believed by many ex
ports to lurk In some of the new" steel
and Iron buildings that were hailed only a
few years ago as absolutely safe. The
United States has, indeed, several Isolated
testing stations notably thore in Phil
adelphia and Chicago but the report of
none of them Is to be taken as defln'tely
in those days than now. Samuel Johnson,
whose grave I niourned over in the church
his statue stands not far from that of
the Duke of "Wellington made almost
nothing out of his dictionary, his total
receipts for his work being less than
$3000, the most of which was eaten up by
clerical line. That dictionary then was
as great an undertaking In comparison aa
the Encyclopedia Brltannlca Is now. and
the latter work, which had already run
its day in England, made $1,0C0.C00 for
some Americans who brought into Eng
land the system of selling books through
the newspapers. When they'first proposed
the selling of the encyclopedia in this way
to the London Journals, the publishers
laughed at them. At last, however, they
Interested the London Times, and through
that paper, on the installment plan, sold
so many books that it is said their profits
were 250,000, or $1,2:0.000.
ilother Goose and Goody Two Shoe.
None of the great authors of the past
made anything to compare with the au
thors of the present. Oliver Goldsmith died
deeply in debt at 46, and during the be3t
part of his life he ,dld not make more
than $2000 a year. All his literary earn
ings were hardly as great as the prlca
that Scrlbner's paid Barrie for "Sentl
mental Tommy." and still Goldsmith
wrote some of tho best selling books of
the English language. It is said that ha
was the author of "Goody Two Shoes"
and a large part of the original "Mother
Goose," which were published by John
Newbefy, whose shop3 were Just outside
St. Paul's Churchyard. Newbery was tha
first publisher of books for children, and
thereby the father of tho enormous busi
ness which. Is" now done In such books In!
the Anglo-Saxon world.
WJaat J. P. Morgan Could Not Bay.
Speaking of Pierpont Morgan, ho la
looked upon here as the Croesus of tha
0th century. The old painting for which
ho paid $500,000 I3 now on view In tha
national gallery. Ho will leave it there
and give the people a chance to see It
before he takes It home. The London
papers are full of stories of his wealth
and power. He is supposed to havo so
much that he can buy anything or do
anything, but I heard Just yesterday of
one bargain which he failed to make. It
was for the services of a middle-aged
Englishman, and a poor ono at that. Tho
man is the head porter at ono of the lead
ing hotels here. He stands at the front
door and greets the travelers as they
come in, looks after their baggage and
gives them all sorts of information as to
how to get about tho city and other
things. He wears a bright livery, with
gold lace on his cap and brass buttons on
his coat. Ho is always ready to accept
a fee, and if you don't give him one when
you leave, ho will have hl3 own opinion
of you. Thero are such porEers at every
hotel. The man whom Morgan coveted
had been head butler to one of the best
known of English dukes, and, as tho
story goes, Mr. Morgan wanted him for
his American home, and offered him the
position at a royal salary. To eery
one'3 surprise, the offer was declined.
The porter said he was doing well enough
where ho was. and that he did not caro
to leave England. It may be that his re
ceipts from fees are so large that he can
not afford to exchange them for the but
lership of even so liberal a millionaire as
Mr. Morgan.
The European Fee System.
And this brings me to the iniquitous fee
system which is in vogue all over Great
Britain. You can't turn without finding
some one at your elbow ready for a fee.
I have not yet met a man who will not
take one. and the more style the official
puts on the moro sure he is of getting his
fees. I have lately gauged my gifts ac
cording to the yards Qf gold lace and
brass buttons, the average being some
thing like a penny or a slxpenco a button,
according to the surroundings. You feo
tho guards on the trains, tho porters at
the depot, the men servants, women serv
ants and boy servants at the hotels and
almost every one who gives you Informa
tion. In the more expensive hotels of
New York the system is almost as bad,
but there you fee w hen you get the serv
ice, and when you leave there Is nothing
but the porter to pay. Here the sensible
man pays nothing until ho leaves, when
all the hotel servants come out for a
present.
This feeling Is very obnoxious to Amer
icans. I heard of ono Yankee who creat
ed quite a sensation in regard to It at a
hotel In Frankfort on the Main the other
day. He was a liberal man, and he scat
tered money after tho American fashion
during his stay. He dropped silver marks
everywhere, compensating each service
with a present at the time it was made.
Nevertheless, upon leaving, ho found a
score of greedy-eyed underlings in bras3
buttons and caps lined up to bid him
good-bye. He had not tome down until
his baggage was on the cab, and ho
looked at the expectant crowd with sur
prise. He had spent so much already
that he had not thought more would bo
needed on leaving. His heart grew hot
as he realized the cheek of tho proceed
ings, and said:
"Ah! Indeed! and are you all there?"
The servants, thinking he wished to
make every one, happy, looked up and
down tho line, and the porter thought of
his sister, tho chambermaid, and replied:
"No, Minnie, the chambermaid, has not
come."
"Well," said tho American, "you had
better get Minnie!"
And a few moments l,ater in came the
rosy-cheeked Minnie with her cap of
snow whiteness.
"And, now," said the American again,
"are you all there?"
"Ja! Ja! Meln Herr! Ja! Ja! Ja!" were
the replies, with low bows.
"Well," concluded the American, "sup
pose you stay there. '
And he thereupon got into the cab and
rode off. FRANK G. CARPENTER.
(Copyrighted. 190)
final. The new School of Insurance En
gineering is expected to supply this de
ficiency and to send out, jear after year,
several young men whose expert knowl
edge can accomplish a great saving of hu
man life, as well as of property and of
money investment. But perhaps the great
est economic alue of its "ounce of pre
vention" theory lies in its possibilities for
correcting one of the hardships of present
day conditions, under which a property
owner may protect himself against fire
loss by means of an insurance policy,
while hundreds of thousands of persons
may be deprived of their livelihood bj
the destruction of the buildings In which
they are employed.
Tacir Conadentlal Chat.
Chicago Tribune.
"Well. Dave,"' said Mr. Cleveland, smil
ing fatly, "are you still a Democrat?''
"Partly so. Grove," replied' Mr. Hill,
slightly closing his left eyelid. "Are you
still as Innocuously desuetudinous as you
used to be?"
Thl, strange to say. Is what they were
laughing at while the reporters at a little
distance were observing them and won
dering what they were talking about.
Sometimes there Is a period of nearly a
day and a half during which nothing
abusive of General Fred Funston appears
in the papers.