Lincoln County leader., March 08, 1907, Image 2

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TOLEDO..
.OREGON
Mark Twain, at the age of 71, Is In
favor of peek-a-boo waists.
Some men are able to bear misfor
tunes and some others have sense
enough to avoid them.
The greatest advantage of the rich
man would seem to be that he doesn't
have to put up a front
Italy proposes to fight the Standard
Oil Company. Hasn't Italy learned
that suicide Is a crime?
Japan says she would not take the
Philippines as a gift Then It will
really bo safe to leave them out after
night?
New York's population has Increased
by 875,000 souls In the last year. Judg
ing from accounts, nearly all of them
were chorus girls.
A youth of 19 killed himself because
he was a "failure In civilized life."
I'oor fellow, he hadn't even got through
the a b c of trying It
It Is reported that n German profes
sor Is able to make artificial rubles
that are genuine. But how about the
profits In the business)
Another man has arisen who says
that neither Shakespeare nor Bacon
wrote the plays. They will be charging
It up to George Ado next.
A woman Is said to have contracted
diphtheria from clothing twenty years
old. Anyone who wears clothing that
old Is apt to have most anything.
Mr. Carnegie declares that an Income
tax makes liars. If other taxes don't
do the same thing they at least cause
liars to give their talents exercise.
The advunee In the price of peanuts
Is out of all proiwrtlon with the In
crease of wages; still, It Is In keeping
with the augmented general cost of liv
ing.
Tedro Alvarado, Mexico's richest
man, Is busy giving $10,000,000 to his
needy fellow citizens. It probably isn't
hard for Alvarado to draw a crowd
wherever he appears.
Peary la going to make another dash
for the pole Just as soon as ho gets
through reading the proofs of the book
which deals with the recent dash thut
wasu't quite long enough.
Confectioners who sell short-weight
candy might set up the plea that they
consider their goods so bad for people
as to make It advisable to give them
as little for their money as possible,
On each day In the year there Is an
average of twenty-one aliens debarred
from entering the port of New York
If Congress carries out Its threat this
number may soon be greatly Increased.
Even If the salary of the speaker
of the House of Representatives is In
creased to $12,000 a year It will be n
good deal less than an ordinary mid
die weight prize fighter gets for stay
lug fifteen rounds.
Mention has been made of the fact
that Mr. Rockefeller is able now, for
the first time In thirty years, to eut
and digest mince pie. Thirty years
more of popular disfavor should en
able him to make a meal of fishhooks.
The American college professor who
has been telling the Germans that the
Uonroe doctrine Is obsolete may be an
luthorlty on mathematics, but the Ger
uans shcuild be a bit chary about tak
bg his Judgment on matters of Inter
tatlonal politics.
Many large employers of labor tex
tile manufacturers, steel-mills and rail
wad companies have raised the wages
v f their workmen without pressure on
(he part of labor. This Is one of the
ilgns of prosperity. Since a dollar does
lot buy as much as It did, the Increase
if wage gives a share of the prosperity
b labor.
The kickers on the farm are not so,
hard to get along with as the kickers
b town. On the farm there Is the kick
bg cow and our long-eared friend, tho
nule, while In town there Is the old
bossback, who wants all the municipal
improvements without paying for
them. The cow may be sold for beef,
the mule traded for a shotgun, but
tothlng but a funeral will get rid ot
the town kicker.
An excellent lesson In finance Is set
by the experience of the government
with the silver peso, Coined for use In
be Philippine Islands. When first
coined Its face and bullion value were
10 cents, but silver has Increased In
value, and the peo Is worth SO cents
to-day as silver bullion. Consequently
speculators In the Inlands are sending
the coins to Hongkong to be melted.
making a profit of 12 per cent on the
transaction. The approaching disap
pearance of the coin from circulation
Illustrates what economists know as
Gresham's law. Sir Thomas Gresham
first called the attention of Queen
Elizabeth to the fact that a superior
krnd of currency has a tendency to dis
appear as soon as an Inferior kind
which will do the same work Is Intro
duced, or when the bullion value of the
coin Is more than Its face value. To
keep the peso In circulation the govern
ment Is considering a reduction of Its
weight
Rural free delivery was Inaugurated
about ten years ago with a service of
eighty-three carriers and an appropria
tion of $10,000. During the last fiscal
year the number of carriers was 35,
G00, the appropriation came to $25,878,
300, and the expenditures were but lit
tle below that amount We note, how
ever, In the report of P. V. Do Graw,
the fourth assistant postmaster gen
eral, a statement to the effect that the
climax of development was reached In
1004, when the service was Installed on
0,447 roads. "At that time the aver
age number of petitions filed per month
was 700. This average was maintain
ed during the fiscal year 1905, but dur
ing the lost fiscal year the number of
petitions filed was 4,087, a monthly av
erage of 390. Of tills number 3,720
were accepted for Investigation." Con
trary to the old practice, the depart
ment will not now accept petitions for
Investigation until there has been a
preliminary Inquiry to show whether
or not the petitioners are residents
along the proposed routes. Schemes f
Interested postmasters and would-be
carriers are thus defeated. It must
appear also, before service Is Installed,
that three-fourths of the possible pa
trons have provided themselves with
mall boxes. An Inspector Is sent to
the locality for an Investigation of con
ditions and when they are favorable
he lays out the route. Describing fa
vorable conditions the reiwrt says that
the roads must be good and unobstruct
ed by gates; there must be no uu-
brldged creeks or streams not fordable
at all times of the year; there must
be a possible patronage of 100 fami
lies or more on each route of twenty-
four or more miles In length, or a pro
portionate number of families where It
Is necessary to make routes less than
standard length. Of a possible patron
age per route of 124 families in 1003
the average actual patronage was only
70, and In order to Insure the service
a pledge of patronage from three
fourths of the families on a route Is re
quired. Though there has been some
Intriguing for the Job of carrier, there
were 4,441 resignations last year, the
largest In the history of the service,
and the report Indicates why. The
routes are long, the carrier has to bo
out In nil kinds of weather, he has to
supply his own equipment, the maxi
mum pay Is $720 per annum, the nt
rewards of his labor from $380 to $420,
A suggestion is made that the pay he
Increased to $900 for routes of twenty
five miles or more. In spite of the
provision as to good roads, many car
riers have to travel bad ones, and the
relation of the service to the good
roads movement Is interesting. Car
riers report on conditions for the In
formation of State ond local authori
ties, who thus receive the co-operation
of the department. In Indiana, when
a rural delivery route Is established, It
Is the duty of the proper officials to
keep the rad In good repair, and uuder
the law they are subject to a flue for
neglect of this duty. Legislation like
that of Indiana has also been passed In
Pennsylvania, but In many parts of
the country there is urgent need of ef
fective help from the States.
One Kind of Man.
At a dinner at Newport Rear Ad
mlral Evans spoke with scorn of
young man who had married an old
woman for her money.
"That chap calls himself a man,
suppose," said the great sea fighter,
"but there are various definitions of
the word man, and one definition that
would fit our friend best Is the Peebles
one.
"A Scot of Peebles said to his friend
MacAndrew :
" 'Mac, I hear we have fallen In love
wl' bonny Kate McAHster.'
" 'Weel, Sanders,' Mac replied, 'I was
near verra near daeln' It ; but the bit
lassie has nae siller, so I said to my
sel', "Mac, be a mon." And I was a
mon, and noo I pass her by wl' silent
contempt " Philadelphia Record.
Ill-Managed Applause,
"The applause In this theater doesn't
seem to be as loud and spontaneous as
It used to," said the theatric star. "Is
the audience cold?"
"No," answered the manager; "we
have had to employ some new and In
experienced ushers." Washington
Star.
The under dog gets a lot of sympa
thy, but the upper canine collars most
of the gate receipt,
1.
The popular Idea that all government
employes lead a life of ease Is Justi
fiable to some extent but now and then
one rises up and lives the strenuous
way, and one of these is John A. Cam
eron, deputy collector of Internal rev
enue at Nome, Alaska.
Mr. Cameron Is a deputy of the dis
trict of Washington and serves under
B. D. Crocker of Taconia, the collector
of the district He Is a "sour dough"
that Is, he has seen the Ice Jam up and
freeze Alaska off from ony Intercourse
by water with the outside world, seen
It rot beneath the climb of the sun and
wash out from the harbors long locked
by Jack Frost And more ; he is an old
time "dog niusher," familiar with the
winter ways and trails of all Alaska.
H4s duty demands that he travel far
and wide. There are taxes that must
be" collected, and until he was detailed
to his present place there was much
of "hootch making," as Illicit distilling
of ardent spirits Is designated In that
land of snow.
The drift of men into Alaska In
search of gold brought bits of human
flotsam of all types and from all quar
ters of the world. At first each man
was a law unto himself, and all the
Justice that existed lay In the right of
might. The strong prevailed all over
Alaska, and until John A. Cameron out
fitted and started to collect fhe taxes
due the government he serves, there
was no one to see that all the laws
were honored and. the tithes paid In.
Collector Crocker knew his man and
Cameron knew the country. Their con
ference was brief, for both are of the
West that was few-worded, quick to
act and slow to speak and when they
separated Cameron was a deputy col
lector of internal revenue, with all
Alaska, from the bleak north shore
washed by the Arctic Ocean to the
pleasant waters of Chatham Sound;
from where Siberia lifts across the
Behrlng Sea to Rampart House in En
gland's northwest territory. The land
was his to travel over and control.
There was no way to go except by dogs
and Klondike sled ; no way from town
to town save half-seen trails where
FLOATING A STRANDED OCEAN LINER BY PUMPING
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g RAM SHOWING HOW THE WRECKED
To turn a 12.000-ton steamship Into
a huge steel bubble by Dumping her full
of compressed air, and float her off
rocks on which she had been Impaled
for more than a year, Is a feat which
has been accomplished In the wrecked
Allan liner Bavarian, at the suggestion
of Captain Leslie, the well-known
wrecking expert of Kingston, Ont
With a full passenger list and valua
ble cargo, the Bavarian ran on Wye
Rock, thlrtyelght miles below Quebec,
on the nlght of Nov. 8, 1905. Many of
the Bavarian's compartments filled
with water, and the ship settled down
on the rocks. The ship's bottom plates
were badly torn, and when the wreck
ers made an examination It was declar
ed that the floating of the vessel would
be a most difficult Job.
After the Allans had worked for sev
eral weeks to get the vessel off she was
turned over to Lloyds, and the under
writers set to work to save their
money. All the old methods for rais
ing vessels were employed, and failed.
At last the underwriters gave It up.
The big liner lay on the rocks
throughout the whole of the winter,
and when spring came, and It was seen
that the vessel bad not suffered from
the winter storms, hopes began to re
Tlve that perhaps she might yet be
saved. Captain Leslie visited the
wreck and after a careful examination
gave It as his opinion that the big ves
el could be successfully floated. He
windblown snow sifted back and forth
as dry as sand.
Hootch making was rife throughout
the country. Illicit stills, scarce bid
from view, made moonshine for those
who bad the price. It was a fiery stuff,
throat burning, with a strength of al
cohol that bit Into the blood. The In
dians of Alaska quickly found it out
and under Its Influence sold the furs
that they bad trapped with utter dis
regard of real value. Distilled from
anything that would ferment, It finally
became a menace to the whites, and
many a brawl and murder was trace
able to it
To put an end to this condition of
affairs was the Intention of Collector
Crocker when he appointed- Cameron,
and to-day, throughout the length and
breadth of all Alaska, while one hears
whisperings of stills close hid and drip
ping hnntch, tlipr Is no open breaking
of the law. When he had outfitted,
Cameron set out at once upon his trav
els, and mysteriously, as word files In
the wild, news went , the length and
breadth of Alaska that the government
must have Its own. Men made returns
and paid taxes that bad slumbered
lightly upon their conscience for years,
and hootch makers hid their stills un
derneath the snows. The government
personified by Cameron, went far afield.
Men who had forgot that law can pene
trate behind the bind of Ice grew to
remember It and obey.
Fifty-mile Journeys across wastes of
snow are only little trips for Cameron,
and sometimes his day's travel covers
a hundred miles, from one tiny group
of winter-prisoned houses to the next
Ills Is a life of hardship and bitter
work. Camping at night, sometimes In
solitude of snow that reaches endlessly,
he cooks his food, cares for his dogs
and then seeks rest In bis small tent
a man alone In an eternity of snow.
Often when the time conies for him to
travel on again there Is no morning
there be finds that wind-blown snow
piles high above bis tent and to his
call sees his dogs plunge out from
banks of snow, where tbey have slept
away their rest time In snow caverns
hollowed by the warmth of .their bod
ies. Once, when the drop of mercury
had caught him unprepared, frost mas
tered hlin out and a drowse crept upon
him that ' presaged death by freezing.
Scarce knowing what he did, or caring,
for the luxury of numbness was upon
him strong, he lined his dogs out for
proposed to employ compressed air to
do the work. Such a thing had never
been done before, but Captain Leslie
succeeded In Interesting Canadian and
United States capitalists and engineers
lu the enterprise. -
All the ship's compartments were
made as nearly air tight as possible.
Hatch after hatch was closed by plat
ing, which was simply laid under the
hatch combing, so that when the air
pressure was applied the covers would
be held In place. Air locks were placed
on the compartments which had filled
with water, and the "sand hogs" as the
tunnel workers are called, felt as much
at home as If they were In their New
York tunnels. As the air was forced
la, the water rapidly receded and the
workmen were able to stop the leaks
with temporary plating.
As the tide rose the air compressors
were set to work and the full power of
tht plant used In forcing air Into the
hold of the ship. Suddenly there was
a movement of the great hulk and as
she lifted herself from her rocky bed
a cheer went up from those on board.
Five minutes later the Bavarian was
In possession of her own again and
floated clear of Wye Rock In sixty feet
of water.
Fish In Inclosed Waters.
Many, not without education and a
general knowledge of natural history,
are myrtlned by the presence of nab
the nearest settlement, wrapped him
self up as best be could, told the dogs
wearily to start up and went to sleep.
When he woke up the fires of a thou
sand white-hot needles prickled In his
veins, and he fouud that his team, true
to the trust that he had placed In It,
had followed the guidance of the wolf
ish leader and brought blm to where
rough-handed rescue waited him.
Some of Mr. Cameron's trips circling
from Nome up along the bleak north
shore and back down the Yukon figure
up 2,500 miles, and among the experi
ences that have been his Is a 2,000
mile chase after the worst hootchmaker '
who ever distilled Illicit spirits for
the sodden Indians or the reckless
whites. Charles Williams, the man's
name was, and his photograph Is one
of the ornaments of the rogues' gal
lery of the Northwest mounted police
at Dawson.
Cameron had heard of him, and
found some of the hootch distilled by
him. With patient carefulness, he
traced It to its source, found and de
stroyed the still, then set to work to
track the man down. Williams fled
toward the British possessions In the
Northwest The mounted police, warn
ed by Cameron, were watching for
him and captured him at once. On his
release from Imprisonment last year
Williams decided to stay away from
Alaska, for there was the old charge
of Illicit distilling against him, and a
man who never forgot awaiting him
with eagerness.
Cameron sees to It that all the laws
and all the regulations promulgated by
the Treasury Department that he serves
are observed to the letter, and In the
farthest mining camps the United
States dog team Is well known. The
winter's zero weather does not hinder
him. Snow, blown before cold winds,
that piles In drifts and changes all the
face of nature In a night, delays per
haps, but through the hardships that
are part and parcel of winter travel la
Alaska he mushes on, sleeps out In
wastes of snow where there Is not the
sllghtest trace of life.
His Journeylngs are ceaseless. The
end of one trip sees but the beginning
of the next, and, while the winter
binds the land with Ice and zero tem
perature Is pleasant warmth, he travels
east and west and north and south,
beating the path before Lis dogs where
snows are light and travel hindering,
thinking perhaps of his cozy house at
Nome, but bound by his oath of olfice
and duty driven across unending seas
of snow.
HER FULL OF AIR.
In Inclosed waters. For many year
there was open-mouthed wonder over
the perch, bream and crayfish found la
the newly cut dams near the Markuarle-
river In New South Wales. In some
cases the water had scarcely settled af
ter the rain had filled the dam when
the fish were observed and the Austra-""
Han farmers started a theory of spon
taneous production. This obtained and
gained wide credence until a Sydney
professor chanced to pick up a wild
duck and found Its breast feathers and
webbed feet well dotted with fertile
and almost batched fish ova, on which,
the "spontaneous production" theory
was promptly withdrawn.
Mustn't Smell Postes.
Hay fever baa been found to be a
form of pollen poisoning, and 114
plants Including wheat, rye and other
grains are now known to have toxlo
pollen. The toxins, which vary great
ly, can be used for producing anti
toxins. Late experience has been that
a mixture of sugar, and antl-toxln
from one ot the principal pollens gen
erally cures hay fever and confers a
certain Immunity, 222 cases having
been treated with success In 127, Im
provements In seventy-one and failure
In twenty-four.
Many young folks can't find any
thing to talk about until the old folks
have gone to bed,