Lincoln County leader., January 08, 1909, Image 2

LINCOLN COUNTY LEMB
R C COLUNS, Editor
r N HAYDEN, Mansr
TOLEDO.
.OREGON
Peary reports Ice ten feet thick. But
he does not say he Is cutting much.
One of the most remarkable things
In the world Is the way a furnace will
draw on a hot day.
It would be a lucky thing If night
riders caused no more havoc tlinn Is
wrought by Balkan armies.
Doubtless It surprises Hnrry Thaw
to note the warm, gushing sympathy
the public la not manifesting for him.
Why do some persons complain of
hard times and high prices when they
can buy a good automobile for only
?1,500?
It Is said that chewing gum will cure
sea-sickness. We do not know who said
It. Probably the man who manufac
tures the guin.
A Philadelphia man who inherited
$2"0,000 ten years ago has died penni
less, lie moved to New York after get
ting the money.
Prof. Starr of Chicago says the Fili
pinos are not lazy. All the some they
Beem ready to accept almost any olilce
that Is offered them.
Harry Thaw found going insane
quite convenient, but It annoys him
greatly to think of having to remalu
Insane for an indefinite period.
Mrs. Lnngtry won J100.000 on a
horse race n few doys ago. Her friends
should earnestly advise her to cash In
now and quit following the races.
The night riders have been active
recently, but the college liazers can
still point with pride to the fact that
they are beating all others in producing
cripples.
Some men seem not to care how
much trouble they leave behind them
when they pass on to that other shore.
Three widows are claiming the estate
of a Boston man.
A Maine hunter shot a man whom
he mistook for n squirrel. Being mis
taken for a deer is bad enough, but
being mistaken for n squirrel is cer
tainly adding insult to injury.
China nsks a helping hand, declures'
IA Sum Mug, the Hong Kong editor.
Anyone who has attempted to master
chop sticks with only two hands will
realize that China should have a third.
A boy 7 years old was Bent to Jail
for two days because he told lies. Hud
the lawyer been keen, the boy might
have been acquitted on the ground that
he was merely practicing for a political
career.
The roads In the United States, Syria
and Australia belong In the same class,
according to a speaker at the recent
good roads convention In Buffalo. Some
of them are good and some are bail.
He also says that roads in the Fiji
islands nre Ivetter, ns n whole, than
those here, ami he does not speak with
out experience.
The earnest reformers who have been
trying to amuse public opinion to the
necessity lor establishing uniform di
vorce laws have not yet been able to
remove all the obstacles in the way of
the proposed reform. But they will do
a great work If this agitation results
in shutting down the divorce mills of
some States, where marriage rciiis to
be, regarded as a Joke, ami not ns an
Institution which ought to be strength
ened and safeguarded at every point. -
Uncle Sam lias struck a blow at a
class of professional .men peculiar to
Washington. An order has been issued
prohibiting United States government
clerks swelling their Incomes by prac
ticing medicine or filling teeth on the
Mile. It has for n long time been a
common practice for department clerks
to attend night colleges, and, after se
curing diplomas, practice professions
after office hours. These so-called "sun
down" doctors, dentists, lawyers, archi
tects, etc., were able materially to In
crease their Incomes. Protests were
made by regular members of various
professions, complaining of the unfair
competition of the '"sundowners," who
cut prices. Tills has resulted in an or
der prohibiting clerks from engaging
in any outside business that requires
their personal attention while in gov
ernment employ. .
On both sides of the Atlnntic the
Hew patent law which has gone into
effect In Great Britain, after the ex
piration of the year of grace, Is re
garded ns of great industrial and com
mercial imporance. Stripped of details,
the new law provides that henceforth
fill foreign patents iu Great Britain
may be revoked, after a reasonable
time, unless the patented article is
manufactured or the patented process
operated iu the United Kingdom to nn
adequate extent. It will be seen nt
once that this change is most radical.
Heretofore the manufacturer, Met us
say, of au American harvest ing-nia-clilne,
has been allowed to make It In
the United States and send it over and
sell it in England. Ills English patents
protected him from British competi
tors, and the wages he paid in his fac
tory were paid to Americans. Here--after,
unless he would lose his patent,'
he must build another factory In Great
Britain, and there make a porjlon of
his product. The inference is, of course,
that the wages In that factory will go,
to Migllslimen. It Is not difficult to
see and sympathize with the British
point of view. A patent Is, of course,
a legalized monopoly. The number of
patents annually granted by Great
Britain to foreigners Is somewhat
greater than the number of those
granted to British citizens. Each pat-L
ent not only conrers a benefit on the
owner of It, but by virtue of its being
a monopoly it deprives others of that
benefit. Moreover, many patents in
" " ",c . ' " 1UV
,re not operate,, out serve mere.y to
o.u a special neiu away rrora compel-
ltors l oth France and Germany pro-
tect their citizens from this evil
In
. ..... ,eiu im,i ue worsen in
two years, and In Germany in three
years. It has seemed reasonable to
Knglishn.en that their own Pple
should share more largely than they.
have done In the benefits which pat-
ents confer. The Importance of the
change may be Judged by the estimate
of the head of a prominent firm of
British ship-builders that one hundred
and twenty-five million dollars will be
Invested in Great Britain for the man-
ufacture of articles heretofore made
abroad. About eight thousand patents
Tm. . M 4 i. L t. i 1
in
come under the new law.
According to the Washington Post , lhe (lrought whk.h has bPPn general
the call for fiction in the public libra- throughout the country : but there have
rles of the capital has fallen off 05 hren oth(ir a(lvPrse conditions which
per cent. The newspaper says that this hllve COIltrbuted to the menacing situn-
decrease has been noted in many other . In,lmli ns an expert on forestry
cities. Novel reading has gone through rpmi,y pointed out. It has seemed as
a great .period of dissipation. It look- though every Imaginable unfavorable
ed for a time ns if public libraries were condition has been present this year to
endowed nud maintained for no other i,Pip aing the deadly and destructive
purpose than to supply fiction, the WOrk. Deadly because, in mldition to
greater part of it worse than useless, the loss of property, there has been nn
It was discouraging to those who wish- appalling loss of life in connection with
ed to see a mnrked Improvement In the this year's fires.
average of intellectuality because of Kvfin , or(l, pnr ,t ,g p8tI.
he spread of libraries. But the tide nmted that not ,(.ss than Rlxtv.flve m.es
has turned and heaven be praised for are ,nclwM , the to exftcted by for.
that. The quality of the greater part est flrps durlng the tweIve month8i and
of the fiction which has been coming tn,8 yenr , the mM of the human me.
from the presses of the publishers In riflee, n9 wlth the loBS of mater!al
lie last few years has been markedly tbInga tbe BVPrage has been greatly ex
Inferior. Novel readers became Cham- pee'ded. Moreover, thwe will be a se
berlzed, MacGrathicized and McCutch- quel t0 tllis year.8 nres that LOt
eonated until life, Itself, to many. wasvnpppnr ln connection with any of the
a cross oerween a cane wane and a
scene in the boudoir of her grace, the
Princess of Wurtenberg, or other. A
lot of the stuff which was advertised
as historical always clever in any
case had about as much history in
It as one of Grimm's. And the rest of
it was the froth of soapbark and wind
which druggists sell in glasses. If
there Is a reaction it Is a. thing to be 0f the suffering and exposure thus en
blessed. Bending fiction of the typo tn!Iod thpre wtlI probably be much In
whlcli usually wears a red binding is validlsm and many deaths that, not
often very, restful. If one cannot I being Immediately attributable to the
amused by the characters there Is nt forest fires, will not be Included In the
least 'amusement in wondering at the statistics that will constitute the chron
author who could write such drivel. PiP of this year's fire record.
But continued absorption of ' modem ; climatic Condition. Unfavorable,
fiction has the effect of eating tool ., .,, foa . tUa fn.
much candy. It Is bound to sicken In
time. A demand for material more se
rious Is In line with the more serious
bought of Americans. Nearly every
oho Is coming to have" special Interest
along certain lines and there Is a need
of ' literature which delivers informa
Hon . succinctly and dearly The pub- rk(8 t)0 forPst flres raged slmultnne
llc 1 brarles must supply the more ex- onR, nml evp on the rM Congt
pensive and elaborate works which t. mon ,, hoon nPoa(1f fi0fo.
renders cannot themselves afford to
purchase. When the bottom drops out
of the Harold School of Fiction, there
will be still room for the good and
worthy style of novel more room, per-
Imps. Then thr. libraries can use the
discards for the purpose nature Intend
ed them starting the furnace fires.
Stratricy.
"I thought your bank wasn't going to
glve any vacation this yenr? '
"It didn't intend to.,", replied the as-
sistant cashier, brown frnna long out- ;iven the country an unpleasant object
1ng, "but I put on an anxious look and lesson as to what may happen nny venr
puttered over my books , so long they' md has aroused everybody concerned
Insisted on my taking n rest." jt0 a realization of the need of some
"So they could expert your nc- better system of fighting and prevent
counts?" Ing this immense yearly loss: Not only
"Sure. And they found them in such hnve private Individuals and corpora
elegant shape that when I struck for a tions owning timber lands been stirred
raise they had to give it." Phlladel.
phla Ledger.
llnpplneaft.
ome roms mea oi Happiness," said point a way to prevent many forest
Uncle Ebcn. "is to hah so much money Rres and to control those that, dcjsplte
dat dey'd have to work fohteen hours precautions, gain a start
a day fob tie res' o' der lives to keep As R flrst gt the G .
count of It. -Washington Star. mpnt b(m ,md one of the mogt effluBnt
When a man asks your advice, be 'm'yef Its forest wTvice. Mr. Bay
always tells you Just how he expVvt, ."'""V I"" "". raveling over the
you to dec'-' burned areas ln the Northwest and else-
J where, and not only gathering detailed
The calendar year of 1908 will be
memorable as the most disastrous
.eve months , bistory , polnt of
the dpBtnictlveIieM of forest fires In the
United States. It is estimnted that in
m.(iiHry years the average annual loss
throURh forest flre8 , tut) country lg
not ,PS8 thnn j-ooo.oOO, but, great as
ta thte havoc nmler what might be term-
Hl norm(U conditions, It appears almost
insK11ncant by comparison with the
reCord-breaking waste of the present
perlo(li wnpn the aggrogate loss will
probably .amount to several times the
1IRUnI $r)0i0oo,ooo. For a considerable
interval thls nutumn, when the forest
flrP8 have boen at thclr heigbt( tLie
flilme9 wer-e dolng dnnmge to the
m
. uiiiiriiiit, ui fll.UllMJini n ui T.
The principle cause of this epidemic
nt forpwt firfs lina hoon fnniid. nf emirsp.
statistics of loss at first hand from for
est fires. As renders of the newspapers
have had good cause to realize, the flies
this year haye not been confined, as is
often the case, lnrgely to the densely
wooded and sparsely populated dis
tricts, laying waste towns of consider
able size and driving great numbers of
people from their homes. As a result
nt flres of IOCS is found In he wide
range of territory visited by the flames.
In the Maine woods and, in the Adlron
dae'ks of Northern New Tork ; through
out the State of Pennsylvania : In Mich
igan, Minnesota and Wisconsin nnl
ntlinr tnri'ltnrv- ndineent to the Hrent
ing among other things the' destruction
of one of the finest groves of the prized
big trees. Moreover, the forest fires
this ydar have been unusunlly difficult
to conquer, nnil in many Instances the
owners of magnificent private forests or
hunting preserves provided with the
best private fire-fighting systems have
round themselves unable to cope with
the rapidly traveling flames and have
been obliged to nppenl to near-by mu-
nicinalities for aid.
The season's unparalleled record hns
to action by the spectacle of the past
few weeks, but the United States Gov'
rnment has Inaugurated a country
wide campaign that It Is believed will
statistics that will be of value in urging
congressional action on the subject, rut
also taking notes as to the physical
characteristics of the fires and all de
tails that might lead to a better under
standing of this destructive element
and the best means to circumvent It
At the same time the national au
thorities have detailed an expert on for
estry, Mr. Taul G. Bedlngton, to
make an Investigation of the whole
broad subject of forest fires and to
devise ways and means for an im
provement of conditions in the future.
In speaking of the line of action to be
taken by the government in enlisting
co-operation for the common cause
Forester Bedlngton said recently:
"What is wanted Is nn organized ef
fort on the part of the government,
the states, corporations and individu
als. There should be adequate fire
laws in every State where any forests
arc located. These lav.-s should pro
vide for the appointment of fire war
dens, who should have authority and
the power to enforce such, and to call
upon the services of citizens in fight
ing forest fires which occur. The law
should provide a penalty to be Im
posed upon any man who refuses to
give his services in time of need."
It is realized Hint the railroads
through their spark-emitting locomo
tives coustitute one of the chief
sources of forest fires and consequent
ly one of the first, moves which has
been made by Uncle Sam in the pres
ent undertaking was to invite the rail
roads to make common cause with the.
federal government against forest fire
menace. There hnve been prepared
articles of agreement for a co-operative
working arrangement between the
government and those railroads whose
lines- traverse the national forests in
the West, and this Is believed to be
but a beginning of a better under
standing between some of the parties
most concerned. Without the unsel
fish aid of corporations the United
States government wiil have uphill
work In Its crusade against the forest
Are menace.
v The Foreat Patrol.
When it conies down to systematic
methods of fighting forest fires, the
subject does not, happily, present a
wholly unexplored field. For some
years past the United States govern
ment has been rapidly developing an
efficient patrol and fire-fighting system
on Its own forests, and, inasmuch as
Uncle Sam now controls about one
fourth of the forest area in the Unit
ed States, It can be seen that the na
tional authorities have had an excel
lent practice ground on which to try
out their theories on a lnrge scale.
The realization brought by the forest
tires of 1008 of the crying need for
organ ized effort In fighting forest flres
throughout 'the entire country, comes
just nt a time when the government
has its own system practically perfect
ed, and there is no doubt that this
will be used ns a model that will be
copied by State and county authori
ties, corporations and private Individ
uals, who are owners of extensive tim
ber lands.
Under the forest patrol system main
tallied by the United States govern
ment on its own land a ranger or
guard travelp on foot or on horseback
over the district of which he hns
charge nt regular intervals and keeps
a careful lookout for any fires thnt
may have started since his preceding
patrol. This nomadic fire warden
makes especially frequent trips along
the wagon roads, trails or other fre
quented routes of travel through the
forest and not only keeps his eyes open
for incipient fires, but cnutions all per
sons who may be traveling through the
forest to be sure that any fires that
they may light nre fully extinguished
before the camp ground is abandoned.
' The arteries of travel through the
forest are also "extensively posted or
placarded with printed notices warn
ing hunters, campers and the traveling
public in general against , the dangers
of starting fires except when absolute
ly necessary, or abandoning a camp
site while the embers of the camp fire
nre still aglow. Not only do the for
est rangers, or government patrolmen,
pace their "beats", through the forest,
but every now and then each of these
guards climbs to commanding eleva
tions or lookout points within his dis
trict to survey the " whole situation,
nnd, if the existence of a fire Is ills
covered, the ranger either puts It out
himself, if he is alje, or, If the flnmes
are too formidable for his unaided ef
fort, he summons the assistance of
other rangers. St Louis Globe-Democrat
THE TIBETAN EXPL0E.EE.
Dr. Sven Hedin's second Journey of
exploration in Tibet is likely to prove
of the greatest value. So much mate
rial has the doctor collected, Indeed,
that he has stated It vill be three or
four years before he has worked up
all the information gained regarding
tracts hitherto unknown to the West
ern world. During a considerable part
of his journey the explorer went dis
guised as a common Ladnkhl, bis hands
and face darkened with paint When
strangers were met he drove the bag
gage animals and sheep, as the inferior
servant of the apparent bead of the
caravan, and was known as "Hnji
Vr",safA-.-Ax(ZK':, i.
V.'f, .
BVKN UK DIN, ALIAS 11AJI BAHA.
Baba." On several occasions the real
business of the party was suspected
by the Tibetans, and the doctor had
several narrow escapes.
HE WAS A SCIENTIFIC RUBE.
Knew More than the Expert Wheu
It Came to Local Condition.
"We were sitting around the stove In
the bar of the little hotel in a Maine
town," writes an electrical salesman
In the Electrical Review, "when the
electric lights flickered and went out.
"From the darkness came a solemn
voice that said :
" 'Electric lights all out, b'gosh, and
yet it ain't blow-In hard, either. Gome
thln's happened to the dynamo, maybe.
"I had been selling electrical supplies
to the little lighting companies for sev
eral months, but I had never heard this
particular idea expressed before.
"I laughed long nnd loud and was all
the more amused when no one joined
me.
"After they had lighted a big kero
sene lamp I proceeded to explain to the
crowd that incandescent lamps can't
be blown out by the wind. When I had
finished, the old rube who had com
mented on the lights said:
" 'Look here, young man, if you knew
a little somethiu' about local conditions
and about your own business, you'd
know that the wires ln this township
are hung up slack on the pules In some
places and that they get to slatting in
a good stiff breeze. .When they do,
there's a short circuit that puts the line
out of business.' "
Caught the General.
One of the regular army officers tells
a story of how the old stringent army
regulations once went against General
Scott. One wet afternoon that soldier
was caught In the rain in Washington.
He was in full uniform and was well
known, so, no cab being nenr, he bor
rowed an umbrella. Arriving at his
hotel, nn underofiicer approached him
and calmly remarked: ,
"General, you will consider yourself
under arrest for eight days for'carry
Ing an umbrella while in full wU
form."
No Terror for 111m.
"Sir," exclaimed the Rev. X. Ilortei,
"I'm surprised to hear you swearing nt
the heat. What will you do in the next
world, where there's not a drop of
water to moisten your parched "
"Huh!" granted the fat man. "Are
you sure there's no water there?"
"Positive."
"Ah, then there's no humidity ;. that's
what knocks me. I can stand the heat"
Philadelphia Tress.
' llil Solicitude.
"Is it a fact that your moUier-ln-lav.
threw herself out of the third story
window and you did nothing to re
strain her?"
"Excuse me, I went to the flrst story
to catch her, but she had already
passed." Diavoio Rosa.
When a barber shop porter shines a
barber's shoes, does he get paid for It?
Or dos he do It as a professional court-y?
' fell
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