TEN PAGES.
DAILY EAST OREGONIAN. PENDLETON, OREGON, SATURDAY, APRID 11, IMS.
EOF
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
ISSUES INFORMATION.
Ptoiiiulnu Polwmlng (ho Subject of an
lntcrcnting lliillttiu by Prof. PcriMt
Public Is Warned of the Causes
ami Pomlhilltlcn of Uie Common
Form of Polwui Fount! In Foods.
Bulletins Nos. 87 and 88, the for
mer on canning fruits and vegetables
and preserving fruit Juices and the
latter on the Hun Jose scale, have
Just been Issued from the Oregon
Agricultural experimental Htatlon, at
Corvallls, and mny be had free for the
asking while they last.
No. 57, In addition to giving many
valuable points on preHervlng fruits
and vegetables and fruit Juices, de
votes considerable space to ptomaine
polHonlng with relation to canned
goods. Professor E. F. Pernot, the
author of the bulletin, says:
The general acceptation of the
term "ptomaine Is erroneously ' con
strued oh behi;r poisons occurring In
canned goods u:id other foods, but it
is a broader term, covering all bac
terial excretions, and as all material
Is more or less acted upon by organ
Isms, It necessarily contains pto
maines. There aro certain varieties
of micro-organisms which produce
poisonous ptomaines, but they ure In
the minority and produce poisons un
der certain conditions only.
The poisonous ptomaines are toxins
which produce toxic effects when
taken Into the system with foods;
these toxic ptomaines or tox-albu-inens
nrc elaborated by the activities
of certain bacteria, while they are
growing and feeding upon plant or
animal mntter, either raw or cooked,
and are designated principally by the
material upon which the organisms
nre acting. After these basic alka
loids ure once produced they are not
easily destroyed by subsequent cook
ing, hence the danger of partial de
composition of food material either
before It has been canned or after re
moval from the can.
There are several varieties of putre
factive organisms which produce pto
maine poison In canned meats, head
cheese, fresh pork, fish and other ani
mal matter, both raw and cooked. A
peculiar feature of ptomaine poison
ing is that the materiul containing a
dangerous amount of the poisoning, or
germs which produce It, show but lit
tle or no Indication of Its presence.
Specimens of porkchops and head
cheese lecelved at the laboratory and
which were known to have cnused se
vere Illness In Individuals who par
took of them, gave no Indications of
their containing a dangerous poison
nor organisms which produce It,
neither by discoloration, odor nor
breaking down of tissue, yet the mi
croscopical examinations showed the
specimens to be permented with ba
cilli. The enuc of ptomaine poisoning
may frequently be traced to careless
ness through the utilization of pro
ducts which nre not marketable ow
ing to partial decomposition. Ice
crenm has been known to produce
ptomnlne poisoning because it has
been allowed to melt and after re
maining In that condition for some
time Is mixed with fresh material and
again frozen. During the period dur
Jng which It remains In a melted con
dition an excellent media Is offered
for the growth of germs which pro
duce tox-albumens. and the subse
quent cooklni;. or freezing, does not
destroy the toxins.
Canncrs are sometimes unjustly
'held responsi: I" for goods which
cause ptomnlne poisoning when in
fact It Is the consumer's carelessness
'In allowing germ action to occur In
the material after the can has been
opened. On the other hand some of
the canning establishments should be
censured, If not punished, for placing
upon the market goods which have
been processed a second time. The
regular vent In cans Is usually a small
puncture In he center of the cap
which In the process of cnnnlng Is
closed with a drop of solder. A can
having more than one puncture fre
quently marks it as having been re
processed and therefore dangerous.
MODERN HOLOCAUSTS.
I.IMN of flO.nnn Lives In Lisbon by Far
the Greatest.
By fnr the greatest cntastropho of
modern years was the eurthquak
which totally destroyed the city of
Lisbon, Portugnl, In 1756. It was es.
tlmnted that about 60,000 persons
were either killed by the earthquake
or drowned by the tidal wave which
swept over the city following the
earthquake. The earth opened up In
one plnce and engulfed thousands of
people.
The first shock occurred early In
the morning when most of the popu
lace was ahead. It was very violent,
nnd many were killed In their beds by
the caving In of the buildings. Every
'structure in the city was either do
mollshed or badly damaged. Two
other shocks followed the first shock.
Thousands of the survivors gathered
upon an Immenso stone wharf at the
edgo of the bay to cscnpo the crum
bling buildings.
Without warning the earth opened
nnd the wharf, with all the people
who had sought refuge upon It and
several large ships In the harbor,
were enquired. The hugo gap closed
up nnd the bodies of those who were
engulfed were never found. A huge
tidal wave swept In from the ocean
over the city, destroying all that had
withstood the earthquake. Large
ships were deposited among tho ruins
of tho city.
. The Johnstown flood was the great
est disaster In the history of this
country. It Is estimnted that fully
10.000 persons or more lost their
lives. The propprty loss wag placed
nt (10,000,000. Heavy rains had. been
falling In Western Pennsylvania and
a large reservoir sltuntud a few miles
DNfl
PQ SON
above Johnstown was filled to Its
capacity.
About 3 o'clock In the morning the
dam gave way and the flood came
thundering down the valley, a moun
tain of water GO feet high. The chaos
that existed when the flood atruck
Johnstown Is indescribable. The city
was devastated and whole buildings
were lifted up bodily and carried
away with the flood. A great mass
of wreckage became lodge against a
railroad bridge and caught fire, which
added greatly to the horror. Several
hundred persons were burned to
death.
The entire country was horror-
stricken by the Galveston flood In
1900. A great tidal wave, accompan
ied by a hurricane, overwhelmed Gal-
vcBton on the night of September 8.
A gale of about 100 'miles an hour
was blowing. Business blocka and
residences and other structures were
crushed as though they had bee con
structed of pastboard. About 6000
people lost their lives.
Only one person out of about 30,000
who lived in St. Pierre, Island of
Martinique, survived the eruption of
Mount Pelee. The one survivor was
an Illiterate negro who was confined
In Jnll at the time of the disaster. The
eruption was at its worst May 8, 1902.
Tons upon tons of rock and masses
of molten lava thrown from Mount
Pelee were precipitated upon the In
habitants of the city, and practically
every structure In town was crushed.
The people tried to escape, but were
either killed by the falling buildings
or the rocks.
The eruption of Mount Krakatoa,
In the Strait of Sunda, in the year
1883. destroyed half the Island of
Krakatoa. The eruption caused great
tidal waves which swept upon neigh
boring Islands, drowning 30,000 peo
ple. Half of the Island of Krakatoa
sand benenth the waves.
In 1863 about 30,000 lives were
lost In Peru by an enrthquake which
extended along the const from Callao
to Iquique. The prlnclpnl loss of life
occurred In the cities, where the In
habitants had been given no warn
ing of the impending disaster. i"
The earthquake which wrecked
Charleston in 1886 caused a property
loss of about $5,000,000. But few
lives were lost. Earthquake shocks
were felt over a large part of the
country, extending from New York
as fnr west as Chicago and as far
south as Jacksonville. Fla.
I'p to the present time Chicago has
held the record for the greatest fires.
The fire broke out Sunday night, Oc
tober 8, 1871, and burned for two days
before it could be checked. The
burned area covered about three and
one-third square miles, and the direct
property loss was placed at about
$190.000. 000. Boston was visited by
a terrible fire In 1872, when property
valued nt $80,000,000 was burned. The
burned district covered about 65
acres.
WILL AUTHORIZE TOWXS1TKS.
Government Will Iy Out Towim on
Irrigation Projects.
As soon as the president signs the
Hepburn-French generul townslte bill
It Is believed the secretary of the in
terior will fix a day for the sale of
loU In the towns of Rupert, Heybnrn
und Sherrer, on the Minidoka Irriga
tion tract In Idaho.
These lots were to have been offer
ed for sale last fall, but upon request
of the people of Idaho the sale was
postponed until more favorable weath
er could be assured, thereby Insuring
a lerger Bale and better terms. Is the
report that comes from Washington
city.
There are approximately four thous
and people today In the three new
town In the Minidoka country per
sons who Intended to make a perma
nent home in this new country. AH
of them, or rather the heads of these
families, will make purchases of lots
fo rhomes and for places of business,
and there will be a great Influx from
other parts of the country as soon as
the date for the sale Is fixed.
There will be lots In abundance, and
a neat sum will probably be realized
when the sale begins. The lots will
all be offered at public auction, after
being appraised, and will be sold to
the hlghets bidder In every Instance,
unless tho Dubois bill shall pass, giv
ing preference to those persons who
have already established themselves
In the towns of Heyburn and Rupert.
NO PRINTERS IN PRISON.
Penitentiary Paper May Suspend for
Lack of Skilled Labor. j
"Lend a Hand" Is the name of a i
neat little monthly paper published I
In the state penitentiary at Salem. !
says the Oregon Dally Journal. But '
the April number of the publication j
will be late In coming out because '
there ure no convicts who are printers.
The last printer, who was serving a
short rentence, was discharged some
time ago.
The paper Is edited by convict No.
4382, who was sent to the prison sev
eral years ago from Grant's Pass. He
Is a well-educated young man and
has charge of the prison library as
well as the editorial work. But he Is
worried on account of the lack of a
printer. The April number of Lend n
Hand may be delayed until time for
the May number to be Issued. The
editor can "kick the Jobber" that
prints the paper, but he does not
know the cases well enough to stick
lype.
Veterinarian Law Sustained.
A decision wag yesterday made In
the supreme court granting a writ of
mandate to compel the state auditor,
Robert 8. Brngaw, to Issue state war
rants In payment of State Veterlnarv
G. E. Noble's salary and certain ex
penses. The original application for
the writ was brought Into the su
preme court by Richards & Haga. at
torneys for Dr. Noble. The opinion
was written by Justice Sullivan. Chief
Justice Stockslagcr concurs and Jus
tice Ailshle concurs to the extent only
that the law of 190S creating the of
fice of state veterinary Burgeon, Is
valnd and constitutional. Boise
Statesman.
EXPOSING A GRAFT
AND INCIDENTALLY THE
APOLOGISTS FOR GRAFT.
The Government Pays More Money
for Carrying Mali Sacks Than for
Carrying the Mall Itself The Pos
tal Deficit Last Year Was 14,000,
000 If the Government Paid Pos
tage There Would Be No Deficit
Only 40 Per Cent of Weight Is
Paid Matter.
Representative J. J. Lloyd, of Mis
souri, member of the house commit
tee on postoftlces and postroads, has
riddled the business methods of the
postofflce department and the system
by which the railroads are paid $48,
000,000 for the transportation of
maills.
There has been a definite purpose
by members of the house, led by
Chairman Oyerstreet, of the postal
committee, to convince the public that
the $11,000,000 deficit In the postof
flce department last year was due to
the low rate on second-class mail mat
ter newspapers and magazines.
Lloyd, taking the reports of the
postmaster general and bis assistants,
absolutely demonstrated that this ar
gument was without any basis. He
showed that the department is paying
more for the transportation of empty
mail sacks and office furniture that
are shipped by mail when they might
go by freight than Is paid for trans
portation of all classes of malls for
the whole country.
"The railroads have made a volun
tary reduction of freight and passen
ger rates of 20 per cent since 1880,"
said Mr. Lloyd. "There Is supposed
to be an automatic reduction of mall
pay In proportion to the Increases In
tonnage. The government pays more
money for carrying mall sacks than
is paid for carrying the malls."
Illustrating this subject, Mr. Lloyd
read the following figures from the
report of the Investigation of the rate
for mall transportation In 1889 the
latest report on the subject:
First-class mall, 9,000,000 pounds;
second-class, 38.000,000 pounds; second-class
(free), 3,000,000 pounds;
third and fourth-class, 14,000,000
pounds; government, free, 9,218,000
pounds; equipment, 76,806,000
pounds.
He then quoted a recent letter from
Second Assistant Postmaster General
Shallenburg. who explained that
"equipment" meant empty sacks,
locks and other paraphernalia.
"That year," Mr. Lloyd resumed,
"1,565,000,000 pounds of mall was
carried nnd only 40 per cent of It was
paid matter 60 per cent was free
government matter of equipment.
There would be no deficit If the gov
ernment paid Its own postage. We
have been paying for the carrying of
safet, desks, trucks and all sorts of
equipment at mall rates and under
the present system of weighing It
would take us four years If we start
ed now, to get rid of that incubus.
"It Is absurd to pay more for the
carrying of empty sacks than Is paid
for carrying mall. Reduce the num
ber of sacks, reduce the weight of
sncka ,and send them and other bulk
by freight and the deficit will! be
wiped out.
"My own conviction Is that second
class moll matter does not mean any
such expenditure to the United States
government because nearly all the
first-class mall is caused by second
class literature. T am not in sympathy
with that idea of the abuse of second
class mail. My own conviction is that
the most Important mall carried Is
second-class matter. It carries Intel
ligence to the people; It carries Infor
mation to the people, It brings knowl
edge to the great people of this coun
try. Would you take away the bene
fits that now come from the country
press nil over this land and put a tax
on the newspaper production which
absolutely goes free today?"
Lloyd's remarks were cut short by
tne expiration of his allotted time.
He was requested to continue, but de
clined to Infringe upon the time of
others.
The Tacoma Chamber of Commerce
appropriated $10,000 for the San
S in Francisco relief fund.
I Wireless
"We are on the forward
march ami within 12 months J
I more the American Dr Forest
X Wireless will be known nnd ac- J
I cepted throughout the Fnlted 1
Suites at a menus of trniivmls-
J sion of news equal If not better I
t thnn the Western Union, Postal
T
t Telegraph and Roll Telephone." J
Write, 'phone or rail for free,
wireless book.
MILTON HUBER
DISTRICT MGR., 20-21 Ql'INN
1 HIDING, WALLA WALLA,
WASH.
Office 'Phone, 479. Resilience
Phone, 187.
American De Forest
Wireless Telegraph
Company
est
We caU your attention to our large as
sortment of
$4.00 - - $4.50 - - $5.00 - - $7.50 - -
Garden Tools, Rakes, Grass Shears, and
Spray Pumps
The FishingSeason is Now Here. Oiir
Stock of Tackle is New and Complete in
Every Detail
W. J. Clarke. & Co.
Phone Main 2 1 HARDWARE 2 1 1 Court St.
WILL
Dally Cast Oregonlan by carrier, only IS cents a week.
You Forget:
LAWN MOWERS
GARDEN HOSE
1 0c-1 2 1 -2c--1 5c--20c-25c
ARE YOU TIRED OF PAYING
"BLUNDER TAXES"
op
Many a business man pays as much money for the luxury of blunder
ing as a steam yacM, or a private touring car would cost
"Blunder Taxes" cannot be evaded whatever else waits, these must be
paid. If a business man gets Into the habit of making the same blunders
more than once, the taxes will soon amount to confiscation
"Bl nder Taxes" are levied with amazing frcq 'ency upon store adver
tisers. Among the blunders which are assessed at "full value" In adver
tising are these:
Selection of poor mediums.
Using too little space In good mediums.
Devoting less attention to preparing t c dally store advertisement than
to the storing of some empty boxes in the basement.
Stopping the ad altogether for one or more days now and then.
Figuring the advertising appropriation on the basis of what you ca
"afford" after all other expenses are provided for.
The use of "programs." schemes, circulars, posters, fence-signs, pla
cards and Jim-cracks, under the impression that you re securing real pub
licity, and that somewhere, somehov-, sometime someone wfll be Influenced
by some of these things to come to your store and buy something.
VOIR "BLUN1 ER TAX" BILL GROWS SMALLER AND SMALLER
AS VOI R USE OF NEWSPAPER PUBLICITY GROWS BIGGER AND
BIGGER.
CONTINUOUS PUBLICITY IN
PREVENT PAYING "BLUNDER TAXES."
$8.00$9.50
THE
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