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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1908)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND. OCTOBER 18, 190S - . ' ' ' - - - g - " "i SEE where- there's a barber over on Broadway that's goin to turn manager and take a show out troopin'." said the House Detective of the St. Reckless. "I spose he'll be putting on Bay Rum and Witch Hazel for his afterpieces." "Pray ceai your ill-timed jesting. I.arrv." said the Hotel Clerk. "I've seen managers before now that I thought ought to make fair barbers, with a little training, and the way some of the barbers have taken cents away from me for an egg shampoo and a hair singe when all I wanted when I came In was a quick shave once over, has convinced me they've got the making of good man agers In them, and really ought to be on the road with a 50-cent show getting JJ for It. Besides anybody can take out a Fhow. It s getting it back intact that really shows the true managerial ability." Thty tell me the seasons opened up purty rough." said the House Detective. There's a lot of companies closed al reariv." "Well." said the Hotel Clerk. "It used to be that a non-successful metropolitan success could be nursed through the Winter, like an ailing calf, and maybe not drop off until the Spring was well advanced. But now they get the ans wer quicker. After the third perform ance., the ambitious producer nearly al ways knows whether it's up to him to buy more paper or a ticket home. These times we want action In our drama and If the actors can't furnish it the audi ence will by getting up and walking out. I d hate to tell you how many produc tions they've already been where the zealous and capable performers delivered their lines at the close of the first act to many red plush seats and an array of broad, intelligent human backs that filled every aisle leading to an exit. We don't have near as many hung juries In the theater as we do in the Courthouse. "To be sure they've been some con spicuous successes. George Cohan has once more let us know that the name of that other and scarcely less illustrious George. I refer to George Washington shall not be forgotten as long as he's able to turn out a song number in which the chorus can simultaneously raise the Grand Old Rag and the right leg to the height of the left shoulder. I sup pose by now there must be as many as 3509 or SOOO Salomes exposing themselves to the dangers of our uncertain . climate In all parts of the Nation. In the border states the Southern Hams, Vigglnia style, ran still make the old reliable war drama Ftand up If there Isn't too much moving picture opposition: and the illustrated song balladist who comes out In a pretty near dress suit and announces that he v.lll ren.ler She Died In the Springtime by Request, Is reasonably sure of winning the commendations of the inland popu lace providing he's there with the newest colored slides and a good carrying voice. Many of them do have voices that can carry almost anything except the tune at that. "Bat there's been very little of the llngering-around and hanging-on thing here in the home of tiie American drama. I can't remember the time when so many coming dramatists found they'd come entirely too soon. Quite a number of new stars have also been prematurely, discovered. And yet we keep on demanding more and more of the producers, too. It used to be. in bygone years, that an E. P. Roe hero could lead a Louisa M. Alcott heroine out on the stage and sit her down on a golden oak plush velour sofa, loaned by the Daisy Installment House, for two regular comps, and they would swap copy-book maxims and groat palpltat lng truths like you find in Barriers Burned Away for half an hour at a stretch, and the audience would stick all the way through It, knowing that in good season the housemaid in the frilled anron and the comedy butler would ap pear and exchange a few lines of sprightly repartee. Now. you've got to hand them atfhnsphere and shock and novelty and all the clothes In the world. or no clothes' at all, as the case may be and solve the great economic and politi cal problems In time for the commuters present to catch the 11:05 on the Phoebe Snow or the 11:05 on the vuaicer uais, or else many people will create a scene bv sroing out to the box-office and car rying on, demanding their money back. This goes. Larry, for serious work, and if it's a musical show there must be a distinct and noticeable shock or jar every 30 or, at most. 40 seconds. If not after about the second week an Au tumnal picnic is observed on the way up Cemetery Hill and the -manager is the cold meat in the front wagon. "Still, they're a remarkably hopeful lot. those managers. Christian science has nothing on them. I was talking to one that came in here yesterday. He had one of those mother of onion breaths that did not seem to draw me to him closely, but he was all right otherwise. He must have money, be cause he wore a fur overcoat that was onlv slightly moth-eaten about the col lar and the diamond In his tie couldn't be worth a cent less than $200,000 if It s real. He's going to take out The Devil Company. No. 2007. He has swell book ings, too country rights for the entire Texas Panhandle and one whole Con gressional district in Northern Arkansas. He said he anticipated probably the most successful season In the history of the drama on this continent. The only de Distinctive Railroad Rates as Effecting Portland's Commerce Xew Center Must Develop Soon and TraMc Must Double Every Ten Years. BT LOGAN G. McPHERSON. THE commerce of a city or of a traffio district naturally divides Into three classes: First, the commodities which it produces for market elsewhere: second, the commodities which It must bring from elsewhere for consumption within Its limits: and third, the commodi ties for which it is a distributing center; tliat Is the commodities which both come from elsewhere and are marketed else where. The freight rates affecting the first class are by far the most Important, for If a community cannot market that which. It produces. It cannot obtain the where withal to secure that which It needs. The products of Oregon, which largely pass through Portland on their way to the markets, are In great measure of theH soil, the fruits and vegetables that must have quick transportation in order that they may not perish en route, and low rates In order that they may be sold In competition with the similar products of other sections. Low rates are also forced by the fact that at no time in any mar ket can a price be secured for these products of the soil that will enable the railroads to charge a high rate and at the same time yield sufficient resurn to the growers to encourage them to con tinue in production. In co-operating with the farmers in extending the cultivation of the farms, the orchards and the groves. It Is nec essary that the railroads leading from the Pacific Coast obtain the participation of practically all of the railroads of the I'nlted States In the througn rates that are requisite to market Its product. Their traffic managers are in continual communication with the traffic officers of about four hundred other railroads to this end. This, of course, is that their lines may secure an Increase in traffic, but It is also an inestimable benefit to the producers. The result is a system of freight rates not paralleled by that en Joyed by any other traffic region of the United States. On deciduous fruits the rate from the orchards of Oregon to Chicago is $1.25 per ion pounds by the carload, with a minimum load of 24.000 pounds. The rate to Cincinnati. Pittsburg. New York and Boston Is $1.60. There is. in addi tion a refrigeration charge, which is $ per car from Portland to Chicago, and in proportion to other markets. The fact that owners of apple orchards in the Hood River district have recently re fused $100 per acre for their land, and that the return to them at the orchard Is $3.1- for a 52-pound box. out of which their expenditure for picking and pack ing Is but 50 cents. Is sufficient indica tion that the transportation charge per mits the profitable marketing of this fruit, which goes to ail parts of the world. On the dried apples .and prunes, of which Oregon markets hundreds of car loads every year, the rate Is $1 per 100 pounds to all places In the United States east of the Missouri River. Canned sal mon, canned peaches, pears, plums and cherries are also carried at a rate which Is the same to all places east of the Mis souri River. This transportation charge on canned goods is 75 cents per 100 pounds, and is termed, like similar chaiKOS of broad application, a blanket rate, because it extends like a blan ket over the vast region that reaches from Omaha and Kansas City to Boston. Jacksonville and New Orleans. There seems to be no controversy over the fact ihat the rates on the products of the Oregon soil permit their widest distri bution with ample remuneration to the jjrnwers. There Is. however, friction between the shippers and the railroads over the rates on lumber. The clash in regard to this commodity is not confined to the Pacific Coast, but exists In the South and South west, and every region whence lumber Is shipped. In each place the conflict has the same basis. The railroads claim that In the earlier years when the forests of the interior states were the principal source of supply for the markets of the East It was necessary to grant rates on lumber from the remote region that were unremuneratlve. In order to enable it to enter the markets at all. They claim tnat as the farests of the interior have feeea cut away the remote re;aa have become the chief source of supply, the prices advancing manifold: and that therefore they are entitled to compensa tory rates for the transportation. The iumber men In the South and the South west, as well as on the Pacific Coast have bitterly contested the advances, and in one form or another the various cases are now before the Commissionrs or the Courts. On the second class of commodities, those which it is necessary to bring from elsewhere for consumption- within her limits, the city of Portland enjoys a freight rate adjustment that eeems to meet Its needs. On its supply of meats Portland, unlike many other cities, does not have to pay1 a transportation charge from the cattle-raising grounds to remote packing-houses, and from thence to her kitchens, the packing-house adjoining the city filling its requirements. At certain times of the year It Is necessary to bring butter and eggs and even poultry from the Missouri River Valley: the rates on these products are so low as not to be the source of complaint. When Portland became a mercantile center Its stocks of dry goods, hardware, of many kinds of groceries, of tools, of the smaller appliances and bits of mech anism in general were obtained by ves sel from San Francisco, whence they had been brought by clipper ships around the Horn. When the first trans-continental railroad was opened the rate per 100 pounds on merchandise from New York to San Francisco was $. Competition with the water routes gradually reduced. this rate to Its present level, the railroad companies charging somewhat more than the vessel lines because of the interest saved by the shorter time In transit, the marine Insurance and the general benefit of the quicker service. Thte status contin ues on the through traffic to the present day. Competition with the clipper ships around the Horn ceased long ago. but competition with the steamship service by way of Tchauntepec and Panama are still active. Aa the more recently con structed trans-continental lines reached other termini on the Pacific Coast, the desire of each railroad that Its ports have the same rates as those accorded the ter mini of other lines, and the other phases of commercial rivalry, have led to the ap plication of the same rates from the At lantic seaboard to the Pacific terminals. San Diego. San Francisco, Portland, Ta coma and Seattle. Insofar as the obtaining of merchan dise from any place east of the Mis souri River is concerned. Portland has therefore the same rates as San Fran cisco. The rate on cotton goods from the mills In New England via the Hawaiian American steamship line is 2 cents, while by the all-rail route it is 90 cents to $1 in carloads. Similarly the rate In less than carload lots on drygoods in bales Is $3. on blankets $1.40. on calicos $1.50. on earthenware $1.30. on ordinary furniture In carloads $1.10 to $2.20. on drugs and chemicals In carloads $1.40. on agricultural Implements in carloads $1.25. and on woodenware In carloads $1.25 to $1.35. The rates on merchandise 'of the first class are $3 per 100 pounds, of the second class $2.60, of the third class $2.20. and of the fourth class $1.90. In no one of these cases Is the ratio of the transportation charge to the con sumer's unit materially greater than it Is from the Atlantic seaboard to the Mis souri River. That Is. for Instance, al though the rate on dry (roods from Bos ton and New York Is twice as much to Portland as to Kansas City, being $3 in the one case and $1.43 In the other, the difference amounts to but a fraction of a cent per yard. On the heavier com modities, such as machinery and wooden ware, which largely come from the Ohio and Mississippi Valley the transporta tion charge beans a somewhat hither ratio, but it very seldom. If ever, will Justify more than an Insignificant addi tion to the retail price of any commodity. These commodities that under the class ification set forth in this article are of the second class when sold by the retail dealers for consumption in Portland, are commodities of the third class when sold by the wholesale merchants of Portland to the retail dealers of other cities. There is. probably, no one thing so con spicuous in the commercial development of the United States as that redistribution" of the distributive function which is con tinually In process. Many years ago the city of New York bitterly resisted the ef forts of the merchants of Burralo to oo a wholesale business. Chicago and St. Louis were in bitter rivalry for many years, and then entered into conflict with J OUT 4. SOOT TAKE THS " DEVIL. turn enlisting in mercantile combat with Lincoln. Neb., and Wichita. . Kan., the competitive wholesale area gradually ex tending to include Denver and Salt Lake. The larger cities not only have had to struggle in a fight with the distant com mercial centers of other regions, out es pecially in the more densely populated states of the interior and the Bast, with the smaller distributing centers that have arisen every 100 or 200 miles: for example, because of the growth of Dubuque and Des Moines and other similar cities, even Chicago cannot at this time wholesale the great staple articles of general use, such as sugar, flour, nails, wire and the more common kinds of dry goods, farther west than the Mississippi River, although its distributive area of these products once extended to the Rocky Mountains. These struggles that have been eo marked In the East are paralleled by like conflicts between the wholesale dealers of the various cities of the Pa cific Coast. San Francisco and Los An geles are at logger heads for the trade of the San Joaquin valley. There is no one In Portland who does not know of the rivalry between that city and Spo kane. The distributive area of Port land, which once included all of Mon tana and Idaho, is even being circum scribed by Helena and Boise City. It Is no purpose of this article to go Into the details of this rivalry. The mer chants of each city ever struggle to hold their markets, and to extend their markets. The traffic officers who are bound to protect fhe interests of the railroads, are buffeted between the con tentious competitors. The result in other regions has been, as It doubtless wlll be In the growing West, to decen tralise the distribution of the great staple commodities, leavmg to the larger cities the wholesaling of Uie higher grade specialties which are not consumed In such large quantity by the various communnlties, and the distribution of their manufactures. A leading manufac ture of Portland Is furniture, which Is marketed throughout Oregon, Washing ton, Montana, Idaho and California. 'penetrating as far eastward as Grand Junction. In Colorado. Its lactones fur nish boxes for use not only in the orch ards and truck farms of Oregon and California, but throughout the Missouri and Mississippi Valleys. Condensed milk from the factories of the Willamette Valley Is marketed as far East as the Atlantic seaboard, as far bouth as Tex as, and through the Orient- Throughout the entire controversy as to railroad rates one underlying fact must be borne in mind. The freight traf fic of the United States Increases on an average 100 per cent every ten years. During the last score of years by the introduction of more spacious freight cars, larger and more powerful locomo- 'wnn. C&X. e"H Omaha; Lhasa cUiea la Jlvea, and. variou improvements Sa meth ods of operation, the railroads have ef fected radical reductions In the cost of transportation. These, however, during the past two or three years, taking the country over, have been more than offset by their ad vanced expenses in other directions. Pro vision for a 100 per cent Increase In tho traffic of the country during the next ten years will mean much more near ly an advance of 100 per cent in facilities than during any previous decade. It has been reliably computed that to keep the railroads of the United States abreast of the demands upon them It will be necessary to expend an average of $?00, 000.000 a year for the next ten years in the extension of their plants and equip ment. This means large issues of stocks and securities, which cannot be sold if capital is hot allowed a return approxi mating that to be obtained from invest ments in other fields. This is the prime consideration beside which the jealousy of competing manufacturers and of com peting wholesale dealers pales. In cases their contentions may have just founda tion, and in other cases they may not have any foundation at all. Oregon n'erts. above all, an extension of her transportatien facilities. To this end It is necessary not only that the railroads be fair to Oregon, but that Oregon be fair to the railroads. The Proper Way to Water the Flowers THERE are but three ways to water flowers, two wrong ways and one right one. Many people adhere to the plan of frequent application of small amounts of water. Thus the soil about the top of the opt is constantly moist, but the lower two thirds of the soil Is entirely dry. By this method the upper roots are nourished, while the lower roots, which demand water, soon die and the plant Is continually In an unhealthy condition. Directly opposite to this Is the plan of overwaterlng which many persons thoughtlessly follow. They water their plants thoroughly today. Tomorrow they apply the same amount, and so they go from one day to another. The result is that the soil Is kept saturated with mois ture. It is In the condition of mud all the time, a condition that suits only aquatic plants, and one in which the ordi nary plant will soon become diseased. The stagnant water will sour the soil and the roots will begin to decay. By and by the plant dies. Either of the above-mentioned methods are equally de structive to healthy plants There is only one right way. When you water a plant do it thoroughly; In fact, be sure every particle of soil is wet. Then do not apply any more until the sur face of the soli is really dry. As long as the surface of the soil looks damp you may rest assured that the rest of it con tains sufficient moisture. Enough should be given, as stated above, to completely saturate all the soil in the pot. If proper drainage Is given all surplus water, that is, all water that the soli cannot take up and hold will run off at the bottom of the pot through the hole provided for this purpose. By proper drainage we mean that something must be placed In each pot to keep the soil from washing down and stopping up the hole. There should be at least one- inch of flmlnig?- placed la all four, or fiva-incJi pots, and from one to three inches used In. larger pots. The best material to use for drainage is old bits of broken flower pots or broken bricks. Use small pieces, not much larger than a marble. Many people are careless about this drainage or ignorant as to its value, but no one can grow plants successfully without lt- Bonie reader may ask: "How can I tell when I have given enough water to per meate all portions of the soil?'" Well, in answer let me say there Is only one sure way and that Is to notice the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot When we see the water trickling through that we know It Is time to stop. Some plants have roots that enable them to make use of much more water than others. Then, again, some soils part with moisture much more rapidly than others. Some rooms are kept so warm that evaporation takes place rapidly. When all these things are considered It will be seen that there can be no. regular time for watering plants. Water must be given when the appear ance of the soli shows need of it; not until then. Use ordinary hydrant water. Use It just the temperature you draw it from the hydrant; neither chill it nor heat it. By following the above directions you should be very successful with the aver age plant. The Way of It. Baltimore American. Proud Traveler I have had such ex periences with the bandits In Italy and Spain. Have you ever had an experi ence In the least like it? Stay-at-Home Citizen My dear sir, I can surpass your experience. There was a time of my life when I never went out that I was not held up by force of arms. P. T. Good gracious! How was it? S. A. H. C It was when I was a baby Pn .my auras took ma put lor aa airing. tail worrying him at present was where he was going to get the money to pay the fares to the town where they open. After I had convinced him that it would be Impossible for me to do anything for, him at this Immediate time, owing to the present stringent condition in- the stringency market, it suddenly occurred to him that he knew the very man. and So he turned his cuffs and went away to look for him. as full of bright and hopeful prospects as a double-yolk egg in a patent incubator. He wasn't wor rying, so far as I could see, about the fares coming back: they never do, which is all right, too. when you come to think It over, because any town that a bunch of actors get into they can get out of. That's been proved time and again." "I see some parties Is blamln' things on the syndicate." said the House De tective. "And there's others that says It's the critics that put so many shows In the graveyard." "From where . I sit the syndicate merely looks like any other benevolent asslmilator." said the Hotel Clerk. "All business these times is run on the principle of the prairie dog's house keeping arrangements. When night comes the prairie dog. the ground owl and the rattlesnake go into the same hole together. Hold on a minute: it's no nature fake I'm handing out to you. Naturalists and others have seen em do it. Into the same hole at dewy eve goes the trustful prairie dog, the unsuspecting squlnch owl, and the dig nilied rattlesnake. Do they all come out again in the morning? They do. They come out practically together; that is to say. the rattlesnake starts out first. Then the other two come out, one after another. You can tell where they are by the lumps in the rat tlesnake's waist line. He's picking his teeth and has a happy smile on his mobile countenance. I'm not blaming the rattler for abusing the sacred name of hospitality, either. Any prai rie dog that'll retire Into the same apartment with a rattlesnake deserves to be eaten. And anyway, if the rat tlesnake didn't eat him. he'd eat the rattler. That's human nature, whether It's the banking business or prairie dogs or a theatrical syndicate. "I don't think it's the critics, either. I never saw anybody that paid much attention to a critic unless 'twas an other critic. There're more than 11,000 critics in this country that can tell you how to write a successful play, and they do tell you how every few morn ings, but you can count up the critics that have- written strong, successful plavs on the fingers of one hand and never get past the first finger. But when one of their own number does find time to write a play the otners all rally to him. I'll say that much for RVIH S.COBE them. They proved that here tha other day when one of our best llttla critics put on a piece of his own." . "Did they stand by him?" asked tha House Detective. "Those that couldn't find room to stand on him stood by him." explained the Hotel Clerk. "They couldn't have had a better time with him if he had been a rank outsider. And after they'd wiped his mangled remains off their feet and put the dulled and dented assegais back Into their hip pockets, they glanced at one another as If to say that they'd all be glad to furnish another demonstration of the corpse du esprit prevailing in their profession if some one present would kindly volun teer to be the corpse." "If you wui goln" to put out a show would you start In by makin friends with the critics?" said the House De tective. "I'd start in by chucking a large, spangled bluff," said the Hotel Clerk. "In almost any line of endeavor you can win out by being a consistent poser from Posey County, but it's far better to be the champion bluffer of Bluffton. on the Bluffs. A fellow can stroll through this hotel lobby with his face full of scars and nobody'll know whether he's one of those German duel ists or merely a party that's learning to shave himself, but if his bluff Is sufficiently massive it won't be 15 min utes until we begin calling him Herr Von. and inquiring how things were at Heidelberg when he came away. And I don't know any business where a good bluff can travel as far on its re sources without any other visible means of support and still bring home the spinach as the theatrical game. That's one reason why a certain party at Washington naming no names, Larry, but he lives In a place called the White House would be one grand success in the theatrical business. I love to think what a hit he'd make of it if he'd only, abandon his present plan of going to Africa after next March and chasing big game in the vicinity of the original Uncle Toms cabin. He ought to stay at home and run a show. He would do wonders with a Wild West outfit, and I don't believe there'd be his equal In the country at staging a grand entry." "Wot would you take on the road if you wuz this here barber?" asked the House Detective. "I'd take my kit of tools." said tha Hotel Clerk. "By Thanksgiving day there ought to be veteran theatrical managers riding in on every eastbound through freight, but there's always a demand In the country districts for a finished haircutter." Poisons Which, Even If Detected, Would Be Impossible to Affirm Deadly Draughts That Leave Xo Sign Even to Skilled Ana lytical Chemists. THE rare alkaloid, which I am not even going to name, and which, when detected, it would be Impos sible to affirm " Those words are not quoted from any novelist's romance in which an effect of mystery is attained by calmly dis regarding scientific fact- They are the words, of Sir James Crichton Browne, F- R. S., and were uttered during a lec ture to students of pharmacy, says the London Saturday Journal. In spite of oft-repeated assertions that science knows no poison which the analyst cannot detect, there is a sub stance which would baffle even Pro fessor Pepper, the Home Office analyst, whose name has become famous in connection with the many murder mys teries he has unraveled. Sir James Crichton Browne was blamed for saying even as much as ha did! A London coroner publicly de- nlored the fact that at a lecture to which the press were admitted, "it should even be "mentioned that there were organic poisons well known to medical men which could be used without even the slightest fear of de tection. " A connoisseur of poisons could slaughter hundreds of persons without the slightest fear of his crime coming to light." A very small dose of the poison is sufficient to cause death; but having done its work. It decomposes immedi ately into various harmless substances such as are found in every human body after death. To convict the author of a crime perpetrated by such means would be well-nigh impossible. Curiosity is -frequently aroused by occasional coroners' Inquests that give a verdict, after a post-mortem exam ination, of "cause of death unknown." Very often the cases in which such verdicts are given are open to very curious speculation. But since the mere fact that a secret poison exists is now known to the gen eral public, it is impossible not to reflect that there may be poisoners at large and enjoying complete immunity from discovery. Knowledge of the poison referred to is, luckily, confined to a small class of men, whose general education and great knowledge lift them out of the ordinary channels of criminality. Still, it would be idle to deny that even among this select class occasion might find a man capaore oi committing murder to serve some pri vate end. The nubile may derive some consola tion from the very extraordinary fact that when medical men stoop to mur der they usually employ the quite easily detected poisons. Indeed, the writer cannot find on record a case In which a medical poisoner has gone beyond the common poisons included in schedule A. Palmer used strychnine, Smethurst used antimony, Lamson used aconite. It i verv fortunate that the common poisons, such as cyanide of potassium and arsenic, leave traces that are quite unmistakable, and also that such drugs are very difficult to buy. It is true that they are largely used in manufac turing processes, and the former even enters Into the equipment of the photographer; but you cannot buy them as you would cough lozenges. In the rare cases when by means ot false pretenses chemists are Induced to part with poisons to persons wno medi tate crime, detection and conviction nearly always follow. This was the case in the St. Neots murder. , Hors ford would probably have escaped had not the chemist in selling the strych nine faithfully observed the regula tions. Strychnine, bruclne and aconitine are familiar alkaloids. The ptomaines which are sometimes set up in decom posing foods are a modern discovery, and are alkaloids. Nicotine, an alka loid with which all smokers are said to be more or less poisoned, has been given with malice aforethought in only one known case that of the Count Bocarme. who killed his brother-in-law, Fougnies. The ancients had no knowledge of ptomaines, and evidence points to the fact that most of their renown as poi soners was achieved by the simplest means, Je know, that powdered glass was used with dire effect. Arsenic un doubtedly was prime favorite with wicked Italian and French court ladies. It should be remembered that until the second quarter of the 19th century arsenic could not be .Identified with certainty in the body of one who died from it. Now It is the most easily recognized of all poisons. Taffanla, the notorious Italian female poisoner, used arsenic. She gained large sums of money by the sale of mysterious preparations which were merely solu tions of arsenlous acid. These were sold In small phials bearing the image of a saint. To detect the presence of a poison an analytical chemist may spend many days with test-tube, watch-glass, re agent and microscope. Even If death has been caused by a poison- whose mere smell has been fatal, truth will out: and there is more than one poison of this subtle kind. For Instance, oil of almonds which is used for making toilet soaps and also for increasing the scent of lavender sold In the streets If Inhaled sufficiently, causes death by nitro-benzole poisoning. But the cause can be unerringly as certained in a post-mortem examina tion. And no less certain of detec tion are poisons injected by hypoder mic syringe. Extraordinary is the power of analy sis that modern science has placed In the hands of the chemist, and few sub jects are more Interesting than the pro cesses he employs. In the silence and secrecy of the laboratory many a dramatic experiment is worked out. Take Marsh's famous test. Hydrogen is, generated in a flask, and the sus pected liquid is poured in. If arsenic be there the hydrogen seizes on It and forms a gas that will burn. Now watch the analyst as he holds a clean porcef lain dish against the flame for a moment. Does a brown spot appear in the middle? That is poison arsenic or antimony. If close to the flame and on both sides of It a notched spot It is antimony. If deposited at a little distance from the flame. It Is arsenic. Again, chloride of lime dissolves the stain of arsenic, but not that of anti mony. On the other hand, protochlo rlde of tin dissolves the antimony, but not the arsenic. Mistake Is Impossible. And there are scores of similarly un failing, precise experiments. The clever chemist and pathologist could, undoubtedly, deliberately Inocu late with some fatal disease, and, in a way that no analyst could detect. The victim would simply die of one of the common maladies of mankind. But happily the necessary knowledge for such experiments is very uncommon, and the people who possess it are not in the least likely to use it improp erly. A Similarity. Washington Star. "What do you think of the Darwinian theory?" asked the girl who is improving her mind. "The Darwinion theory." answered Miss Cayenne, "is very much like good advice. It seems all right enough for people in whom you're not interested, but doesn't Help much for personal use." The Music In the Parlor. Chicago Record -Hera Id. There's a heap' of satisfaction, when tbe nights are growln long. And the lark has ceased to wake you In the mornln' with a eons. When the leaves are turnln' yellow and a blaze is In the grate. When there Isn't anybody in tha whole world that you hatf. To sit dreamln' a you're smokln , with jour wife beside your chair And your daughter In the parlor, gladly slngin' something there. There's a heap of atlfactlon when thare ain't no debts to pay And you've got a llttlo money laid up for tho rainy day; When there lint any mortgage that'll soon be comln' due. And you know that there's nobody who can blame his woea on you. To ait back and take It easy, with your feet up on a chair And your daughter In tha parlor, alngin "Annie Laurie" there. There's a heap of satisfaction, as I've mentioned heretofore. When you needn't worry over makin pay ment any more. When you're wearin' easy slipper ana the nights grow long and cool And your girl ain't get tin' ready to go oft somewhere to school. To it back and hear her gladly trlllln" mir Knme sweet air To the well-to-do young fellow with her
