THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND, AUGUST 11, 1912.
OHIO'S MILLION-DOLLAR FARM
DEMONSTRATES OWNER'S IDEAS
Success Crowns Efforts of Ohio C. Barber to Show to "World That Agriculture Is Highly Profitable Industry.
Some Wonderful Eesults Achieved on Great Plantation Near Akron, in Three Years.
Arts and Crafts Furniture
LIMBERT S
STRIKING FACTS ABOUT
OHIO C. BARBER
Ohio C. Barber, one of the
money giants of America, has
bought 2200 acres of land and has
been spending J1000 a day for
three years in order to prove that
agriculture Is a profitable busi
ness. Here are some of the strik
ing facts concerning his great
experiment: Will have invested
1.500,000 by the end of 1912;
owns the largest herd of Guern
sey cattle in the world; his
record-breaking cow is worth
$7000 and one of bis bulls is
valued at J10.000.
Predicts that the revenues of
his dairy will amount to $150,000
a year.
Will butcher 1000 swine an
nually and says he will sell his
haras for SO cents a pound.
Means to send 10.000 squabs to
market annually and is raising
20.000 chickens and 18,000 ducks.
Sold his eggs last Winter for 60
cents a dozen. His poultry de
partment is now paying him
$35ii0 a month.
Has set out 15,000 currant
bushes and will make special
ties of bar-leduc and Jelly. Also
will have . muscatel grapes for
sale every month in the year.
Sold $1000 worth of tomatoes a
week this Spring and Summer
and grew great quantities of
lettuce.
Will have ten acres under g,lass.
Plans to pickle and preserve the
things he cannot sell at high
prices, is likewise testing the
profitableness of bees.
Purposes to show big farmers
and little farmers bow. to make
money.
Will give young men and
young women postgraduate
courses free of charge in agri
culture, horticulture and domes
-1
tic science.
BY JAMES B. MORROW.
Tf-KRON, Ohio, Aug. 10. (Special.)
Eight miles from this city, which
" is the greatest rubber center in
the world, on a plantation containing
2200 acres of ordinary up and down
lapd. Ohio C. Barber is attempting to
prove that agriculture Is a highly
profitable industry. He has been
spending $1000 a day for three years.
By the end of 1912 he will have invest
ed $1,500,000 In his unique and striking
experiment. Four hundred men, helped
by 80 sorrel horses, are making his
roads, digging his ditches, planting his
trees, building his new barns, cultiva
ting his crops and caring for his live
stock. "My object Is to show that large cor
porations can buy land, put it to the
plow and make as much money on their
investment as ought to be made in any
business," Mr. Barber said to me as we
etood looking at his 100-acre field of
growing alfalfa.
"Then I mean to show the little man
what can be done with vegetables,
fruits, berries, flowers, poultry, pigs,
sheep and milch cows. Yes, and with
pigeons and honey bees. I want htm
to come here, talk to my experts, and
return to his home filled with knowl
edge and inspiration.
"This land," Mr. Barber went on to
say. circling the horizon with his arm,
"was owned until three years ago by
nine farmers. They were glad to 6ell
me their property. There wasn't a young
man or a .young woman on any one of
the farms. Nor a child. Old age, rheu
matic, enfeebled and discouraged, dwelt
In the decaying nouses ana araggea
out of the neglected soil a hard and
barren livelihood. Oh, it is so almost
everywhere. And yet the earth is
man's most kindly, faithful and obe
dient friend. Feed it. air it and water
It, and it will respond gladly and
abundantly. Human beings are often
faithless, ungrateful or cruel. The
earth never is. I like to think of It as
a living and breathing thing. It seems
to love mankind, and to want to help
mankind, though it is being over
worked and plundered.
Barber Made Hla Fortune.
Up to three years ago Mr. Barber was
one of the most active and potential
manufacturers of "big business in the
United States. He began selling
matches, made in his father's factory,
away back in 1856. and was a partner
in the firm at the age of 20. since tnen
until the present, he has been a pio
neer in industry, commerce and
finance, a pushing and successful man
among the giants of money. He gath
ered the match business into an $18.
000.000 corporation and built factories
, In Great Britain. Germany, Switzerland,
South Africa. Perut Chili, Brazil and
the Philippine lsianas.
More than 20,000 acres of timber
land were purchased by his company in
New England and 80,000 acres were
bought on the Pacific Coast. He cut
and sawed 6666 carloads oi lumber an
nually, using the odd pieces in bis
match business. He manufactured his
own chemicals and strawboard and in
vented his own machinery. In the
meanwhile be was traveling 50,000
miles every year. Under his vital
touch, a steaming and smoking city
rose up from among uninhabited corn
and wheat fields. He started one of
the greatest rubber works on the con
tinent. He organized banks. He ex
posed the financial and economic short
comings of the railroads and built a
railroad himself. He gave a fine hos
pital to Akron.
Such Is the man who, at the age of
68, ' thought it was his duty as an
American, practically to demcnstrate
that money could be made in agricul
ture. He is trying to end the pull
toward the cities and the drain that
is depriving the rural regions of its
youth and energy. His experimental
farm is, perhaps, the largest in the
world.
For more than a quarter of a century
Mr. Barber has been making annual
business trips to Europe. He has toured
the principal countries many times in
automobiles. No matter where he goes
he questions the people and Investi
gates their manner of working and liv
ing. He is interested in every human
problem, and can talk and write with
skill' and ability. He reads. Inquires
and reflects. Also he dislikes Wall
street, and condemns high finance. He
is as tall as was Abraham Lincoln, and
at-the age of 71 is as unbent in his
shoulders and as straight in his limbs
as any young man on his plantation.
Bis Idea Result of Study.
"I found that the average farmer of
Europe was getting about double the
result from his old land than is the rule
in this country, where the land is com
paratively new." Mr. Barber said. We
were in the beautiful library of his fine
new house, and flowers from his gar
dens filled the air with fragrance. "Let
me add that I had long noticed the
slipshod methods and dreary atmos
phere of our own agriculturists. Now
any man who enjoys his business will
look happy. And he will enjoy his busi
ness if it pays. 'A cheerful worker is
a good citizen. This idea may be fol
lowed out into a long essay or a book.
-"While I thought about the subject, a
purpose came into my mind. Politicians
and theorists were suggesting remedies
for the evils of mankind. More or less
was being said about slavery and tyr
ranny In the United States. Complaints
were being made with respect to dear
food. Cities were declared to be grow
ing big and rich to the cost of the coun- j
- . j ?:t :
4 '
" ? Jk h I
trr. T wonlH create farm. T thousrht.
and demonstrate by actual results, by I
the indisputable figures of my account
books, that agriculture, rightly carried
out, will pay a good dividend on the
labor and capital put into the business.
was getting old and had to nurry
matters if I meant to. make trie test.
So 1 bought this land and went vigor
ously to work. I have already gone far
enough to say -that I shall prove my
case if I live and keep in good health,
and if my money holds out."
The qualification as to money caused
Mr. Barber to smile. He has no other
heir than a daughter, Mrs. Arthur Dean
Bevan. wife of an eminent surgeon in
Chicago, and doubtless feels free to risk
$1,500,000 and possibly more, on a great
utilitarian idea. The average first cost
of his landd was about $142 an acre, we
says that he is spending $65 an acre
to drain it and restore its fertility. His
houses and barns were built of brick
and stone, and have towers and other
distinctive features, architecturally,
The wide roads have been planted with
shade trees, and here and there with a
double row of fruit trees. Even though
several hundred men are at work, tne
plantation, as Mr. Barber calls it. has a
finished look and no aisoraer or cumu
slon is noticeable.
Young Men to Be Given Chance.
"I shall eventually build a college for
young men who have gone through our
agricultural schools." Mr. Barber said.
"They will be invited to come here
without cost for tuition and maybe I
shall give them free meals and lodging
besides that they may see tne practi
cal, and therefore the profitable appli
cation of scientific farming and stock-
ralRlnc- methods. Thus they will be pre
Dared to work their own land, or to
superintend the estates of rich men or
to manage the large larms or corpora
tions. I want to show them how to
save the land, to increase the food sup
ply of the people, and to make agricul
ture a humanly interesting and paying
industry.
"Women, too. shall be invited to come
and learn domestic science, and how to
make the best use of a surplus of fruits
and vegetables. They are well quaiuiea
to achieve success In horticulture and
with bees and poultry. A woman is' in
xharira nf m v niireon department. She
managed an Indiana shipping plant for
seven years previous to acirejiLniB em
ployment with us. We started with
2000 pigeons, mostly Homers, Royal
Whites Buff Empresses and imported
Belgium stock. I mean to send 10.000
.nuoh. tn market every year, principal
ly to Chicago and New York. . Pigeons
raised for food must be confined in
pens; flying keeps them poor, hardens
.i i .,.li nnrl makes them tough. I
have sold enough squabs to know that
there is money in tne ousmes n "
run on a sound commercial oasis.
"About 20.000 chickens are now com
ing on. They are White Leghorns, to
produce eggs, and White Wyandottes
and Barred fiymuum n"-, c
as broilers and roasters. I am develop
ing both ends of the chicken Industry
the meat end and the egg end. I sold
all of my eggs last Winter to a hotel
in Chicago for 60 cents a dozen. Eggs
laid one day were shipped by express
in the evening and reached Chicago the
next morning. There is always a ready
sale for eggs If the supply is fresh and
regular. We estimate that our reve
nue now amounts to $3500 a month from
the chicken yards, counting in the value
of the guano, which is spread upon the
land, and is as good to us as the cash
m hand. We shall also annually raise
about 18.000 ducks.
Guernsey Herd Best In World.
-r i.vit, shout noultry." Mr,
r.i nn to MY. "beCaUSB it
, nnv-crsation naturally,
but I began my first experiments with
cattle. I have, so i am -largest
and finest herd of Guernseys
in the world 106 head were imported;
the others were bought in this country
I now have 400 cows and calvesall
fullbloods including Spotswood Daisy
Pearl, valued at $7000, who . broke the
records by producing 18.602 pounds of
milk last year, or 6 gallons a day,
which was the equivalent of about
1125 pounds of butter. A young bull
of my own breeding Is said to be
worth $10,000. I would not sell him,
however, at that figure.
"A celebrated Guernsey expert came
down from Canada to see my herd.
'You must have been engaged for a
very long time, he said to me, 'in get
ting your cattle together?1 'n
"Let's see, what month is this?" I
replied. "Oh, yes; June. Well, on Sep
tember 1 I shall have been at the work
for one year exactly.
"My cows are curried each day, their
tails are combed, and they are washed
whenever they get dirty. They are ar
fectionate and intelligent. I feel sorry
when I think of the neglected cows In
all parts of the country, kicked by men.
chased by dogs and tormented by flies
and insects. Cows are family pets in
Europe, and they repay kind treatment
by an increased production of milk. I
shall be milking 200 Guernseys by the
i -v'v;
BARBER.
1 end of this year. All of them are to
be kept in box stalls, ten feet long and
14 feet wide. We have found that box
stalls increase the milk product of each
cow by about three pounds a day, which
means at the price I get 8 cents a
quart some S4 cents a week, or nearly
$44 a year, and that will be a high rate
of interest on the money being put into
the barn I am building.
Cattle Will Yield 150,000.
"It takes three acres or pasture to
feed a cow, but one acre of silage will
feed three cows. So we keep our cows
indoors, leaving them out several hours
a . day for exercise. They are always
glad to get back into the barn, how
ever. I am still adding to my herd and
am only selling a bull calf now and
then to persons who are willing to pay
for thoroughbred stock. The time is
near at hand when I shall be selling
$150,000 worth of milk, butter and cat
tle each year.. Interest on the invest
ment will be fully met, I feel certain.
through the natural Increase of the
herd.
. "I learned a great deal on the Island
of Guernsey about cows and sensible
farming; The people have about 10,000
acres under cultivation. Their yearly
exports of cattle, butter, cream, fruits
have an average value of $350 to the
acre. Two lines of steamers to England
and two to France are in daily oper
ation during the busy season. The
farms are small but are intensively
cultivated. I have seen muscatel grapes
growing so thickly that one could
hardly get the edge of his hand be
tween the bunches. The grapes . are
old in London and Paris at from 40
to 60 cents a pound. Why, we Ameri
vans are scarcely more than agricul
tural botchers and land butchers.
"So far, I have five acres under
glass and am growing muscatel grapes
myself and shall have them for sale
every month of the year. I had peaches
early in June and also cantaloupes
and nectarines. Our receipts from to
matoes a good part of the Spring and
early Summer amounted to $1000
week. The price at one time went as
high as $10 a bushel. The tomato
house, made of light steel framework,
with glass for its sides and roof, is 88
feet lde a:id S00 feet long. "I took off
the top soil and mixed it with fer
tilizer and put down nine miles of
4-lnch glazed pipe, one foot apart, at
the bottom of the excavation. The soli
was then carried back and steam was
turned into the pipes. Every insect
every egg and every seed were de
stroyed by the heat,
Lettuce Sold by Ton.
"We planted lettuce as a first crop,
receiving 2 cents to 4 cents a pound
more than did other growers and ship
ping about four tons a month to mar
ket. Tomatoes followed the lettuce.
The vines, trained straight up, were
eight feet and a half long before being
topped. No insects troubled us, no weeds
appeared. This Fall I shall set out
more lettuce, and shall also plant cu
cumbers for sale during the Winter.
"Five additional acres are going un
der glass in which to grow fruits, flow
ers and vegetables. There are to be
four houses, each 500 feet long and 34
feet wide, for flowers. Shipments will
be made to Pittsburg, Cleveland, Cin
cinnati and Chicago. Five additional
houses, each 185 feet wide and 800 feet
long, are being built for cucumbers, let
tuce and tomatoes. Grapes will be
grown in eight houses, each 36 by 157
feet, and will pay the Interest on the
ten acres to be under glass finally. In
the meanwhile the outside orchards are
rapidly developing. Doubtless at times,
at the fag end of seasons and when
prices fall, we shall have more fruits
and vegetables than can be disposed of
at a good profit. I mean, therefore, to
have a canning department. And the
products will be so fine that everyone
will want them. Currant jelly and bar-
le-duc are to be two bf our specialties.
Fifteen thousand currant bushes are
now growing on the plantation. We are
to be manufacturers, you understand, as
well as producers. Nothing is to go to
waste. The surplus of cucumbers will
be pickled. Apples left over from mar
ket, will be canned and dried and made
into butter and vinegar. Each depart
ment is to be run on modern scientific
principles and every dollar possible is
to be obtained on the investment.
Hint Given On Selling- Hay.
'If merchants and manufacturers
were as unintelligent as farmers they
would quickly become bankrupts. That
is the one great lesson I hope to teach
eight miles from Akron. A farmer, for
example, hauls .a load of hay to town
through the dust He loses his own
time and the time of his team and
wagon. Maybe there is rain. Along
toward evening he sells Jiis wet hay
for what the purchaser pleases to offer
him. In the first place, the farmer
should have fed his hay to horses or
cattle, made a profit on those animals,
which are his finished product, and
then have put the manure back on his
fields. Manure is a very valuable by
product. It was the humble by-product;
that helped John D. Rockefeller to be-i
; j
L05ESEftTOJ5HION
Wlffl.405PRINfe
Hesiry Jeoimio
CORNER SECOND AND
The Home of Good Furniture
come the wealthiest man in the world.
By-products have turned the Western
beef packers into multl-mMenaires.
"Leaving grapes and flowersi" Mr.
Barber continued, "let me tell you that
we shall raise 800 swine this year
Berkshire swine, originally out of im
ported stock. I mean to butcher 1000
hogs annually, feeding them on corn,
alfalfa and skim milk, all produced on
the plantation. It has been found that
skim milk at a certain price can be
profitably used to fatten swine. There
fore, we make butter in our creamery
in order to get the milk. We shall man
ufacture bacon, hams, shoulders, lard,
salt pork and sausage. Specialists in
Virginia cure hams by putting them
away for two years to ripen. The hams
are sold for 50 cents a pound. We in
tend to prepare our product in the same
manner, and to make everything else
we have to sell so attractive and
palatable that customers will come to
us and thereby save us the trouble and
expense of going to them."
"But the pip will attack your poul
try and the cholera will break out
among your pigs and "
"You are wrong, Mr. Barber said,
not waiting to hear the whole sentence.
"There has never been even the first
symptom of disease among the live
stock on the plantation. Our animals
are the finest in the world, and are
properly cared for by experts who
know their business. Order and clean
liness are the first two laws of our
management. Alfalfa, it is was said,
would not grow in this latitude. You
have seen for yourself that the proph
ets were in error. I am almost tempted
to say that nothing is impossible In
the country. Why, take that field over
yonder," Mr. Barber said, pointing out
of the window. "It contains 40 acres
and had hardly grown anything for
years but briers and mullen. I laid
four-inch drain pipes three feet below
the surface at a distance f two rods
apart. Drainage is the first essential
nrinclple of good agriculture, especially
11 the land is worn out. But all land
should be drained. We have already
paid out $50,000 for draining 900 acres.
and expect to spend a great deal more.
DralnlnK One Secret of Success.
"On drained land the rains of the
Spring sink into the earth and run
away instead of covering the surface
and washing a good part of the rich
top soil into depressions and ditches.
The water having run away, the air
creeps downward through- the crevices
carrying nitrogen and oxygen in witn
it. After the land Is plowed, harrowed
and planted, the Summer rains fall and
the air in the crevices hold the water
back from the drains, and then the sun
draws it up into the roots of the grow
ing platns. Such is the philosophy of
drainage- Even the best of land should
be drained.
"Coming back to that field over
there." Mr. Barber said, "I plowed it
deeply' and worked its surface until it
was almost as fine as gunpowder, on
each acre I put 10 tons of ground lime
stone, one ton of pulverized phosphate
rock and 20 tons of ordinary manure.
The phosphate rock came from Tenn
essee and cost $8 a ton deiiverea near-
to my farm. 'Who owns the phosphate
mine?' I asked the dealer '
" A company in which J. P. Morgan
is the principal shareholder,' the dealer
replied.
" 'Oh, indeed.- I said. -Morgan cnarges
twice as much for the phosphate as
it is worth and then taxes me $1 a
ton for hauling it on his railroads to
my plantatinn. He would be making
100 per cent profit if his freights were
$2 a ton and lr nis price tor roc were
reduced one-half.'
"And that is one of the ways," Mr
Barber said to 'me. "in which Wall
Street is squeezing the honest agri
culturist. Well, totaled up, the re
building of the field cost $8 for phos
phate, $20 for limestone, $20 for ma
nure, and $30 for drainage, or $78 an
acre In all. I piantea wneat ana Har
vested 30 bushels to the acre, or more
than double the average yield the
country over. This year I cut two
large crops of clover, one for hay and
the other for seed. The land nas oeen
rehabilitated. All that it will neea
for several seasons to come Is a re
duced amount of phosphate. The cold
figures prove that the money paia out
for redeeming the land will come back.
along with a good rate of interest. It
seems to me that every time I cross the
field that It smiles up in my face and
thanks me. All that It wanted was
fair treatment."
(Copyright. 1912, by James Morrow.;
Tailors and Buttons.
National Magazine.
Tailors double their thread used to
sew -on buttons and make a knot and
hold the knot in the teeth while they
twist the thread, when they wax it
and that keeps it twisted. Then they
put a pin across the button, and after
the buttons are sewed on they remove
the pin and wind the thread around
several times, making a kind of a stem-.
This makes it more easy to button the
garment. The buttons on children s
waists should be sewed on this way so
more than one garment can be but
toned on the same waist.
DIPPLFS RETURN ASSURES GREAT
AMERICAN GRAND OPERA SEASON
Metropolitan Manager. 'Rounds Up" Europe in Search to Appease Appetites of New York, Boston, Philadelphia
and Chicago Patrons Pacific Coast Tour Is Being Planned.
BY EMIL.IE FRANCES BAUER.
THE return of- Mr. Dippel to this
country means that the energetic
impresario has, so to speak,
"rounded up" Europe and will imme
diately set to work upon his plans for
next season, which will include the
presentation of opera in Philadelphia,
Chicago and the long tour of the Pa
cific Coast. Mr. Dippel was too hur
ried to spend much time with the ever
present interviewer, but he promised
to have much more to say "a little
later." Mr. Dippel has more than one
talent, and this does not refer to his
career as", tenor of the Metropolitan,
which first brought him before the
American public. He knows how to
make & little news go a long way; in
other words, he knows how to keep his
affairs before the public in a manner
similar to the style of a serial story.
That is, he always stops at the most
interesting point, with the promise that
there is more to come, and it must be
accorded the impresario that he al
ways keeDS his word.
- Mr. Dippel declares himself for the
American artist, and he proves his sin
cerity by the number of Americans he
employs in his scheme. He has also
engaged new artists, among" whom are
an unusual number of Italians, wmcn
would indicate that he intends to fur
nish more Italian productions than he
did last season. Among the newcom
ers will be Cecelie Gagliardl, an Ital
ian dramatic soprano: Helen Stanley,
Edna Darch, Helen Warrum. Julia
Claussen. Maria Gay, M. Zenatello; Cal
leja, GiorginI, Mascal, and Rossi. Of
the new artists three are Americans,
including Miss Stanley, a Chicago girl,
who has sung at the Royal Opera, at
Wurzburg; Edna Darch, the young girl
discovered by Mme. Calve some years
ago in Los Angeles, and Miss Warrum,
an Indianapolis girl.
Miss Darch has sung in opera at Ber
lin, but Miss Warrum has not appeared
on the operatic stage as yet. Other
Americans who sang last season, to
say nothing of the great artist Mary
Garden, are: Mabel Rlegelmann, of
San Francisco: Agnes Berry, of Ta
coma: Marie Cavan, of New York; Jane
Osborn-Hannah, Saltzman, Stevens,
Carolina White, De Cisneros, Marta
Wlttkowska, a niece of Mme. Mod
jeska; Eversman, Egener, Clarence
Whitehill, Ellison Van Hoose, George
Hamlin, Henri Scott and Frank Prelsch.
Some of these have made great rec
ords in Europe, such as Whitehill, long
identified with Bayreuth, and now in
Italy working upon Italian roles.
Among the foreigners, whose con
tracts have been renewed, are: Tetraz
zini, Teyte, Zepilli. Berat, Dufau, M.
Dalmores, Warnery, Daddi Venturlnl,
Crabbe, Dufranne, Sammarco, Huber
deau, Nicolay and others.
The conductors will again be headed
by Cleofante Campaninl.
Mr. Dippel has secured a number of
novelties, among which is' a work
called "Kuhreigen," by Kienzl. a Ger
man composer, and others of which he
promises to speak later.
Boston Season Promise Much.
There will again be an Interchange
of artists between New York, Chicago
and Boston, and when Mr. Dippel will
bring his company West he will no
doubt take his choice from the three
companies.
It is understood that the Boston sea
son will open with "The Tales of Hoff
mann." The new stage manager, Josef
Urban, has already begun work on the
stage and scenery for the production.
Among the engagements are to Je
noted Mary Garden, Alice Nielsen,
Frieda Hempel, Lucille Marcel, Mmes.
Tetrazzihi, Fremstad, Destlnn, Gadski,
Carolina White, and many that will
appear only in Boston. Felix Wein
gartner will come to Boston again, and
it may be he will make some appear
ances in Chicago. Miss Nielsen will ap
pear as Malliela in Wolf-Ferrari's
Jewels of the Madonna, wmcn will
be given in Boston for the first time.
She will also appear as Donna Anna in
Don Giovanni, which will be given
undjer Felix Welngartner for the first
time in Boston.
It is said that Boston will hear, a
great number of French works this
season and that Mary Garden will have
more appearances In that city than
anywhere else during the season.
In addition to supplying Boston with
what opera it is to have, the manage
ment has arranged to send out Alice
Nielsen with a baritone and a come
dian to impersonate the count and
the dumb servant in Wolf-Ferrari's
"The Secret of Suzanne." ' Miss Nielsen
is ideally equipped for the charming
Suzanne, whose crime was that of lov
ing too well, but not wisely,, the deli
cate weed which some few decades ago I
REDUCED
ONE-THIRD
This great reduction on such standard goods
is made for the purpose of giving us more room
for our immense lines of new Fall goods now on
the way and soon to arrive. Lambert's Arts and
Crafts Furniture is in excellent taste in an
house, large or small. It lends an air of distinc
tion to the surroundings and will last a lifetime.
Don't miss this sale, which we expect to break
all records.
MORRISON STREETS
One Year Ahead of Competitors
was prescribed in polite society, but
which of later years seems to be the
insignia of said society. The cities un
der consideration for this entertain
ment include St. Paul, Minneapolis, San
Francisco, Los Angeles and Winnipeg.
The latest literary light to join the
rank of librettists is Hermann Suder
mann, whose "Fires of St. John" has
been selected by a young Italian com
poser, Ezio Camussi. The work will
be condensed into three acts instead of
the original four, and it is expected
that the opera will be ready for pro
duction in Italy by next year.
It is a wonder that Sudermann has
not long ago attracted the composers,
and it seems equally strange, in a day
where the search for a good libretto
seems so difficult, that Hauptmann has
not been called into the field, espe
cially with such works as "The Sunken
Bell" or "Hannele s Dream.
All of these are rather more than
the problem plays which both Suder
mann and Hauptmann have given the
world. They are poetic and picturesque
masterpieces, and in the right hands
should meet with satisfying results.
Few books that are essentially Ger
man lend themselves to a Latin mu
sical setting, nor do the stories that
eminently belong to the Latin temper
ament do well in Teutonic hands, but
"The Fires of St. John" have the qual
ity which should give scope to an
Italian composer If, indeed, he have
the picturesque qualities of a Puccini
and an equal command of color. In a
word, why did Puccini overlook Su
dermann's splendid drama which
seems to clamor for that particular
workmanship?
"Madame Sans Gene AMured.
"Madame Sans Gene" will reach
America before the season of 1913-14,
as all arrangements have been com
pleted for a production at the Metro
politan Opera-House in January. This
opera by Giordano, composer of "Andre
Chenler" and "Siberia," will be among
the novelties unearthed by M. Gatti
Casazza, who Is still hoping to dupli
cate the brilliancy of. the season before
last, when it fell to the great New
York house to present for the first
time on any stage two such sensa
tional works as Puccini's "Girl of the
Golden West" and Humperdinck's
"Koenlgskinder."
But operatic successes do not grow
In every country and in every clime,
and one by one will fall, leaving
scarcely the" memory of the produc
tion. The American failures will be
the only one that will not be forgot
ten. Leaving the American composer out
of the question at present, the public
of this country may or may not hear
within the next 'few years an opera
by Mascagnl and., D'Annunzio "La
Cltta Morta," by Pugno and D'Annun
zio," "Ysabeau," by Mascagnl; "Regin
etta Delle Rose," by Leoncavallo, per
formed for the first time at the Cos
tanzl Theater in Rome, June 24; "Cas
sandra," by the Italian composer,
Gnecchl, who at the time that "Elek
tra" had its first production, issued a
pamphlet with comparative diagrams
to prove that Richard Strauss copied
the work systematically and Inten
tionally; "La Vie du Poete" and "Ju
llen," by Charpentler, composer of
"Louise," notwithstanding a feeling
against America Charpentier is said to
entertain, forgetting the success of
"Louise;" D' Albert's new opera, "Die
Toten Augen" (the dead eyes), which
will have Its first performance in
Dresden in the Fall; "Ariadne ad
Naxos." by Richard Strauss, to be per
formed for the first time in October,
and there are still two promised by
Claude Debussy "Fall of the House of
Usher" and "The Devil in tne eenry
both upon books of Edgar Allan Poe.
ThU not lnciuae seveini
nnam. hv Siegfried Wagner, who, not
withstanding his illustrious name, has
never been able to interest the im
presarios whb provide music in Amer
ica, -i
Failures Blamed to Americans.
As in the case of Giordano's "Andre
Chenler" and "Siberia," Catalani's "La
Wally, Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur,"
Puccini's "Le Villi" and "Fedora," and
many other operas, which passed out
of the memory with the season in
which they were produced, some of
these will hardly have made more than
the ripple of the first production, but
their failure will not injure the cause
of the young aspirants of the differ
ent countries. Only American com
,..,. viii huve to bear the stigma of
supplying tne operauu uiaiAcv nit.ii
failures.
"fronchita" did finally land in opera
form, a was perhaps to have been ex
Sons
pected in a day when tastes are so
deliberately perverted and degraded
by the subjects which seem to attract
composers and playwrights, and, it
may be added, stage directors, calling
to mind Max Reinhardt and his inde
cent "Sumurun." which is to be toured
through America next season. "Con
chita," which is the story of "La Femme.
et le Pantin," by Pierre Louys, was set
to music by Zandonia, who is said to
be about 30 short, slight and with a
long, serious face and sad, earnest eyes.
His eyes certainly will not grow any
more cheerful from the study of.that
disgusting piece of French degeneracy,
although we are told that there have
been many changes.
Just before Puccini decided upon the
Belasco melodrama, "The Girl of the
Golden West," which Blanche Bates
was playing with sensational success
the season that the Italian composer
visited America for the first produc
tions of "Madame Butterfly," at the
Metropolitan, he had decided to use the
Louys book for an opera. His plan
had gone so far that he had Intrusted
to Carlo Zangarlni, who later supplied
him with the libretto of "The Girl." ,
tho making of the libretto which he
too had decided to call "Conchlta."
Puccini happened upon an article in
one of the papers which decried the
tendency of 'the modern composer to
debase his art by using books which
should not be tolerated in any decent
society and he renounced all Idea of
using this story, his own remark upon
the subject having been: "I believe
that this would not be a story which
the American woman would approve
and while I do not write for America
only, I have a keen desire to please the
opera-goers of this country, who have
shown me too much consideration to
allow me to ignore their tastes and
likes."
It Is a singular coincidence that
Puccini is now writing an opera upon
a Spanish subject and he is planning to
visit Spain to gather the material and
to get the color that he wants. But
there will be no deep tragedy about
the new work. It will be called "The
Cheerful Soul" and it will be as nearly
a comic opera as the maestro can make
It and keep it within the bounds of the
houses which have never approached
light opera more closely than the Met
ropolitan Opera-House did when it
made the sumptuous mounting of Jo
hann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus."
BABY'S HAIR CAME
Layer of Scales on Top of Head.
Crust Thick and Yellow. Almost
Bald. Itched and Burned Badly.
Cross and Fretful. Cuticura Soap
and Ointment Effected Cure.
510 East Washington St., Portland. Ore.
"When my brother was one month old a
layer of scales or scabs began to form on
tho top of his head.
The trouble began as a
rash. The scales in
creased until several
layers thick. The crust
was thick and yellow
and looked to be all in
oue piece but came off
in large scales. His
hair came out in
bunches and baby became almost bald. Bis
scalp itched and burned so badly as to make
him cross and fretful.
"We used every remedy recommended by
our friends without success. Then we
started with the sample of Cuticura Soap
and Ointment, washing his head good with
the Cuticura Soap and then applying the
Cuticura Ointment. Before they were used
up wo could see an improvement In his
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scales loosened and came off easily. In
about two months after we started to use
Cuticura Soap and Ointment the scales
had entirely disappeared and his hair
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(Signed) Miss Ella Ehrlich, Mar. 11, 1912.
Cuticura Soap and Cuticura Ointment are
sold throughout the world. Liberal sample of
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dress post-card "Cuticura. Dept.T. Boston."
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OUT N
BUNCHES