MAY BE MEMBERS WOULD PARCEL POST IS WOMEN WOULD REVIVE Army and Navy league Abandons Long-Standing Rule. GREAT SUCCESS ARMY CANTEEN First Day's Business Shows Benefits of New System. Many U«e Insurance Feature Spe­ cial Delivery AI no Help« Com­ mon Stamp« Don't Go. Washington, I). C. Suffragists re­ ceived a word of encouragement from the Army League of th« United States, which haa decided that ita membership may include "all cltix«ns of good repute." both men and women. The organization, while only recently formed, includes in its roll of member­ ship such numes aa Theodora Roose­ velt, Granville Dodge, Rotiert Bacon, Curtis Guild, William C. Endicott, August Belmont, Henry A. DuPont and the adjutants general and promi­ nent militia officers of many of the slates. The league is noil-political. Following an announcement that In the near future a meeting is to be called to elect |M,rmanent officers, a committee representing the league Issued a circular letter explaining ita aims and objects. The letter says in part: "We believe that we should have a regular army strong enough to meet the emergenciea of the hour and that back of It engaged in their civic pur­ suits should tie a sufficient number of trained citizens to augment this army to a force adiwer. The Army l«t atarnjia, many NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS being taken by colleitora. It la expected to ahow wonderful Washington, D. C.--A New Year's gniwth when ita aucceaa la demon­ greeting was flashed to all the world strated to the |>eople and they come to at midnight December 31 from the a full realization of what it meana to Navy department’s great wireless them in the aaving of time aa well aa tower at Arlington, Va. in coat of transportation. The Arlington operator succeeded The parcel pout system worked in catching the time signal from the without a hitch during ita flrat 24 Eiffel tower, in Paris, a distance of hours in New York. There waa little 3900 miles, and the French station rush, due to the holiday, and the waa asked to watch for the New clerka wore able eaaily to cope with Year's signal. It was hoped the mes­ the buaineaa. It waa «aid that the sage would reach the Clifden station, first full day’* buaineaa there would in Ireland, as well aa the naval sta­ ahow a total of about 350 packages. tions on the Atlantic and Pacific Postmaater Morgan roceived on an Coasts and American warships at sea. early train from Waahington the silver loving cup sent by Postmaster General CASTRO RETURNS TO EUROPE Hitchcock to inaugurate the service. Six fresh eggs, mailed from St. Louis to Edwardsville, 111., early in While Officials Deliberate, General Change« Hi« Mind. the morning, were returned at night made into a cuke. The eggs were New York — Cipriano Castro, ex- mailed at the main postoffice at 12:05 prewident of Venezuela, seeking o'clock a. m., and the cake waa deliv­ entrance to* thia country after a long en'd at 7 p. m. Edwardsville is about residence abroad, waa taken off the 2<> miles from St. Louis. steamship I .a Touraine at quarantine A four-pound piece of side pork, and removed to Ellis island. mailed from Addison, Mich., waa the While officials were deliberating as first package received by parcel post , to whether Castro would be allowed to in Detroit. The second was a broken . enter the United States, the Venezue- horse collar which a farmer at Peck, | Ian suddenly changed his mind and Mich., sent In for repairs to a whole­ Commissioner of Immigration Wil­ sale harness dealer. liams announced that Castro had ex­ A briak buxines* marked the open­ pressed a desire to return immediately ing of the parcel post service in Bos­ to Europe. Castro wishes to take a ton, more than 100 jieraona wating for ■ German steamer landing at Hamburg the sign id inaugurating the ayatem at and this permission probably will be midnight. granted. One of the first packagea waa a Castro, who is traveling under the small |»>t of Boston baked beans, sent assumed name of Ruiz, acquiesced to Mayor Fitzgerald. when told he must stay at Ellis island. Chicago's New Year resolution to "If those arc the laws of your coun­ make use of the nation's gift the try, I must comply," was Castro's parcel )«>at system—waa initiated the only comment. first day by the sending of approxi­ His baggage was hastily gathered mately 2500 packages of merchandise. and he was taken on board the govern­ A mail-order firm deposited 450 pack­ ment boat Immigrant, which started agea for delivery. immediately for Ellis island. One concern alone bought $17,000 worth of stamps. Russia la Conserving Oil. Sugar Dividend Passed. New York— The directors of the American Beet Sugar company decid­ ed not to declare the usual dividend no the common stock. They is­ sued this statement: "Resolved, that in view of the large stock of manu­ factured sugar on had unsold, no ac­ tion be taken on payment of the divi­ dend on the common stock at pres­ ent.” The common stock was placed on a 5 per cent basis in 1911. An­ nouncement of the action of the direc­ tors was followed by heavy selling of the common stock on the exchange. Power Wires Shot Down. Mexico City — Rebels are said to have shot the power transmission lines from th» poles carrying them from the River Necaxa, in the State of Puebla, to the capital, and this reason is given for the failure of the electric power service of the city, which caused the stoppage of the streetcar lines for sev­ eral hours. The lines were discon­ nected at a distance of 20 miles from the city. A partial service of light and power was re-established. San Jose After Record. San Jose, Cal. — Residents of San Jose ure hoping that for New Year’s day they will hold the country’s record for quantity of parcel post pnekages handled. To this end and for the glorification of the Santa Clara valley prune, two carloards of prunes, done into small packages, were sent out by parcel post to addresses all over the country. Directions for proper cook­ ing of the prunes were on each pack­ age. ________________ • Rebel General Defiant. El Paso, Tex.—"We will respect all foreigners respecting us; none others," says a proclamation signed by General Inez Salazar and 18 rebel generals, copies of which were distributed along the border. It also is declared that the rebels will continue their policy of destroying bridges, station-houses and rolling stock of railroads "aiding our enemies by hauling federal troops.” Washington, D. C.—Convinced that the supply of coal is inadequate and that oil will be the fuel of the future, the Russian government is reported by American Consul General Snodgrass at Moscow to be making elaborate pre­ parations to make ready that country for the changing conditions. Millions of acres of rich oil lands have been withdrawn from private en­ terprise, but regulations are being drawn up which will encourage pri­ vate capital to investigate and draw up the properties under strict govern­ ment supervision. Taft Back at His Desk. Washington, D. C.—Much pleased by his visit to the Panama canal and the conditions he found there. Presi­ dent Taft returned to the White House and immediately plunged into the mass of business and correspondence that had accumulated during his ab­ sence and needed his personal atten­ tion. For several hours after reach­ ing the executive offices the presi­ dent waa busy going over business affairs. He received few visitors and late in the afternoon he found time to play golf. High Court Stirs Strike. Melbourne, Australia—A general maritime strike throughout the com­ monwealth is likely to take place shortly. Trouble has been stirred up owing to the high court's action in nullifying an award made in favor of the seamen by Justice Higgins, pres­ ident of the Arbitration court. An effort is being made to settle the dis­ pute between the men and the owners on the basis of the Higgins award, which the men hope will be done. Holland Wants Exhibit.' The Hague, Netherlands- The gov­ ernment has introduced a bill in par­ liament providing for the appropria­ tion of $300,000 for the participation of Holland and the Dutch colonies in the Panama-Pacific International Ex­ position. which will be held in San Francisco in 1915 to celebrate the opening of the Panama canal. NOTIFY HIS FRIENDS If Married to Hatchet-Faced Wdwian Who Did All Talking, Man Would Lot Fact Be Known. General Wood Also Recommend New Merit System. Would Weed Out Unfit Officers, Recognizing Fitness and Ability in Promotion. Washington, I). C. The restoration of the army canteen and enactment of legislation for the elimination from the United States army of unfit offi­ cers are among the principal recom­ mendations of Major General I^onard Wood, chief of staff, in hla annual re­ port made public Saturday. General Wood recommends the con­ centration of the army on strategic lines and in areas where it can be maintained more economically. He would transfer all the personnel of the staff corp« — excepting engineers, medical officers and chaplains -to the line, increasing the numtier of the general officers and line officers in the different grades. The transfer of the personnel of staff corps to the line, in General Wood's opinion, will terminate the constant struggle between line and staff, a struggle which is aa old aa the army and one which promises to con­ tinue. There would be no interfer­ ence with promotion, nor would the members of the present staff corps lose any of their present advantages. Discussing means for the elimina­ tion of unfit officers the chief of staff says: "The full efficiency of an organiza­ tion of men cannot be secured without a system by which the merits of the individuals shall have some effect upon their advancement. "The army long has suffered from the lack of such a system. Up to the grade of colonel promotion is by sen­ iority in each branch, and there is no way under the law by which an officer, no matter what his merit, can be ad­ vanced a single number except by making him a general officer." CASTRO MAY REMAIN IN U. S. («■gal Step« Taken to Establish Statu« of Venezuelan. New York — The Federal courts have been invoked in behalf of Cip­ riano Castro, and a writ of habeas cor­ pus was granted to bring him before a judicial tribunal which may determine the cause of his detention at thia port. It was alleged in the application that the ex-president of Venezuela was il­ legally held at the immigration sta­ tion on Ellis island, where be haa been detained since his arrival. The court will be asked to sustain the writ and thus set him at liberty. Castro, immediately upon finding his right to land was questioned, had decided to return voluntarily to Eu­ rope, and had passage on the steamer Amerika.for Hamburg. As soon as he learned the writ had been granted he cancelled bis passage. BODY OF AMBASSADOR REID REACHES NATIVE SHORES New York -Great Britain delivered Saturday to his countrymen the body of Whitelaw Reid, editor, statesman and American ambassador, who died in London. The British cruiser Natal brought the body home and placed it under the Stars and Stripes in the Cathedral of St John the Divine. President Taft, dignitaries from the army and navy and representatives of foreign powers will attend the funeral services. , The Natal was met off Nantucket by two United States battleships and four destroyers and the funeral fleet lay off Sandy Hook Friday night. A thick fog blanketed the bay and it was 11 o’clock before the procession got under way. A gale that swept up the river made landing the coffin a diffi­ cult task. Girls No Chicken. Colorado Springs, Colo.—By going without chicken at their Sunday din­ ners, by washing hair at 25 cents a head, cleaning rooms and other menial tasks, the 200 girls of the four dorm­ itories of Colorado college have raised $9300 toward a $50,000 endowment fund to obtain $100,000 offered for a gymnasium by Mrs. A. D. Julliard, of New York City. As E. P. Shove, a retired business man here, has offered to give a dollar for each one they raise, the girls now have secured $18,600 and declare they will raise he rest. Gompera* Appeal Is Filed. Washington, D. C.—Samuel Gom- pers, John Mitchel) and Frank Mor­ rison, of the American Federation of Labor, convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to jail in connection with the Buck Stove & Range case, filed their appeal in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. It al­ leges the men 'were convicted not of contempt of court, but of want of re­ spect for’judicial authority. Seven­ teen alleged errors are charged. Laborer Finds Fortune. Nowata, Okla.—George Hardsook, a laborer, unearthed* $37,500 in gold while digging a trench near the vil­ lage of Oglesby. Hardsook's posses­ sion of the wealth, however, probably will be of short duration, a state law requiring that such funds be surren­ dered to the owner of the land. The money bore evidence of having been buried a number of years. . “Who Is that hatcbet-faced woman over there who seems to think ft Is necessary for her to do all the talk­ ing r "Don't you know her?" “No. I never saw her before. If she's married I'm sorry for the poor devil who Is her husband I can't Imagine anything more terrible than being tied up to a woman Ilk« that for life, heavens, hear her go It! Her voice la like a rasp. I should think her throat would be all worn out Do you know what I'd do if I were mar ried to such a woman?*’ "No. For heaven's sake toll ma" “Oh I beg your pardon, old man. 1 didn't mean any offense. I—I apolo­ gize ." "That's all right You gave me to understand a moment ago that there was something you would do if you were married to such a woman. What is itr “I'd hasten to let my friends know it when 1 took her out anywhere so they wouldn't be in any danger of making the kind of a break I've just muer care the trip is ently it is compressed into a narrow pertectly safe, but there is one gorge mo­ through which it makes its de­ ment of the journey when the mist scent to Lake Ontario. This sudden and spray from the fallB blot out from narrowing into a defile whose bed is slgm hie nearest companion, which studded with rocks churns the im­ gives the man of average nerve as mense volume of water into a mass of keen a thrill as he cares for. His ver­ turbulent waves, where the main cur­ dict when he is "through" is that he rent, traveling at 30 miles an hour, is is glad to have done It once, but will swung backward and forward and be content not to attempt It again. from side to side like a drunken thing. There is a certain temperament, how­ These whirlpool rapids, as they are ever, which the very sight of these ap­ called, empty the stream into the palling waters seems to goad to a whirlpool Itself, from which it has frenzy of mad adventure. Some time still to surge through the Devil’s Hole ago. for instance, a man who normally rapids, no less triumphant, before it followed the unheroic occupation of once more becomes navigable near keeping a restaurant, went over the Lewiston. Horseshoe falls in a steel barrel and The Whirlpool rapids were »afely , was safely fished out afterward, hav­ threaded in 1861 by the Maid of the ing suffered no damage but a broken Mist, but the ordeal turned the cap­ leg. This act of foolhardiness at any tain of the steamer into an old man Hixon—You say you raise flowers rate cannot be charged to youthful Many years later a man named Perry and yet you live in a flat? | rashness, for the man was in his sev­ made the same trip in a lifeboat A Dixon—-Oh! yes. You see, I plant entieth year, nor can it be explained rival, R. W. Flack, challenged him to 'em in folding beds. by Ignorance of what such a feat must a race over the course, and lost his involve, for he had already made the life in a preliminary rehearsal. But Hanging Prophets. passage of the seething rapids some the most tragic story Niagara has to “A little girl at our morning serv­ distance below in similar fashion. tell is that of Captain Matthew Webb. ice yesterday," said Rev. James E. In some of the most remarkable The son of an English country doc­ Craig, "knelt beside her mother while feats of which Niagara has been the tor, he entered the mercantile marine the commandments were being read. Beene the fascination of the encoun­ as a lad. but before be was thirty he When the rector said, 'On these two ter itself has been seconded by a cer­ abandoned a seafaring life to become commandments hang all the law and tain commercial instinct. The per­ a professional swimmer. In 1875 he the prophets,' the little girl whis­ formances of Blondin, we may be sure, swam from Dover to Calais. In 1883, pered : were shredwly calculated with a view though warned that physically he was “ 'Mamma, how many----- ’ to future box office receipts. In 1859 not what he had been, he made the “'Sh!' hissed her mamma. and 1860 he crossed the falls several desperate resolve to swim the Whirl­ " 'But. mamma, how many prophets times on a tight rope three and a pool rapids. In describing his plans are there *' quarter Inches in diameter, 1,100 feet he explained that when he found the “ 'Why. Isaiah, Jeremiah. Habbakuk, long and 160 feet above the water. water very bad he would go under, Jonah, Haggal, Malachi. Zephaniah, He was not satisfied with the mere and would remain under until com­ dearie. I can't think of all of them promenade, but would raise the hair pelled to come up for breath. He In­ without looking them up. but I fancy of the spectators—sometimes there tended at the whirlpool to strike out there must have been about twenty.’ would be as many as 25,000 with all his strength to keep out of “'Twenty? And they hanged ’em watching him—by al! manner of freak­ the suck hole in the center. “My life," all on two commandments?*“ ish variations. Perhaps he would he added, "will then depend upon my make the journey blindfold, or he muscles and my breath, with a little Business Instinct. would trundle a wheelbarrow in front touch of science behind them.” On “Columbus.” said the boy who is of him, or be would appear burdened the afternoon of July 24 he took the studying history, "discovered Amer­ with heavy shackles from head to plunge from a small boat On enter­ ica.” foot In the character of a Siberian ing the whirlpool rapids he was al­ "Yes." replied his father, who is in slave, or he would carry a cooking most turned over by the force of the finance; "he discovered IL But It stove and stop to ma\e ^n omelette water, but he recovered himself, and took a number of people like myself on the way. or he would stand on his in about five minutes he had trav­ to put the proposition on a paying head when half way across. Once he ersed the mile and a quarter from the basis.” carried a man on his beck and the un­ old suspension bridge to the entrance easy movements of his passenger, so of the whirlpool. Here he seemed for In 1940. It is reported, drew from him the a moment to be doing well. Then he "Say. my boy. you're 25 now It’s threat: "If you don't sit quiet I shall threw up his arms and disappeared. time you settled down and got mar­ have to put you down." The late king Swimming Whirlpool Rapids. ried.” of England, then prince of Wales, was In July, 1890, John Soules was mors "Oh. I'm not ready to get married among the spectators one day when yet, dad." Blondin crossed on stilts, and in spite fortunate than Captain Webb, for his "Not ready? Why, young man. I of the success of this feat declined defeat came earlier. While be was in want you to know that when I was the acrobat's offer to take him over the whirlpool rapids the breakers dashed him against the rocks, and he your age I had been married twice.” Gorge Below the Falla. was washed ashore, badly bruised, be­ 81nce Blondin's day there have been fore reaching the whirlpool Other Trod the Path Before. Miller—Just ns Millet and the several "equilibrist" exhibitions at Ni­ swimmers who have attempted the widow started up the alls« to the al­ agara, but no imitator has quite riv­ passage have hesitated to trust their tar, every light in the church went aled the example of daring set by the unaided strength and skill. W. J. master of the profession. Perhaps Kendall, a Boston policeman, got out. Mumford—What did the couple do the nearest approach to his triumphs through in 1886, but he wore a cork was that of Dixon In 1890. He crossed vest He reported at the end of hla then? Miller—Kept on going. The widow the river below the falls on a three- journey that he had found his swim­ quarter inch wire cable, and in one ming abilities useless. The current knew the way.—Judge. of his feats lay for a time with his took him into its main eddy and back on the wire. But, startling as sucked him down like a flash. When Fair for Both. Kind-Hearted Stranger—See here, such performances may be, presum­ he reached the spot where Webb lost my friend, take my advice and let ably they do not surpass either in ac­ his lite the water went from under tual risk or in trial of the nerves him and a wave knocked him uncon­ those dice alone. They're loaded. Intoxicated Gambler—Certainly they some of the ordinary feats of acrobats scious. He was seen to be shot out ire! ?So'm I. Fair for one as 'tls tn the circus or even the dally round from the pool 50 feet from the center. and common task of steeplejacks and On regaining consciousness he swam for the other.—Puck. ether useful persona whose work re­ ashore, thus avoiding being dashed quires a cool head and a sure step. A down the devil's hole rapids. On Sep- He and Hie Present. "How did you feel at that faehlon- quite different kind of problem, is that temper 7, 1889, Steven Brodie, who of “shooting Niagara," either at the some time before had jumped off Brook­ *ble wedding?” “About ae conspicuous as my pickle falls themselves or at the rapids. lyn bridge, descended the falls them­ dish looked among the jeweled Every one has seen pictures of the selves, clad in an India rubber suit falls and can form some conception surrounded with steel bands and bronsa s and ropes of pearls.” of what It must mean to take the thickly padded. About a week later drop over th« cataract The Niagara another adventurer, Walter Campbell, Adept at the Art. "She carries her age the same way rapids are less familiar, *o a brief wearing a cork jacket, equalled Ken­ topographical note may be helpful. dall's feat, and even excelled It, for She ca Ties her money.' One set of rapids occurs about ths be made his way as far down as -He« Is that?” falls. I»«' before the waters gather Lewiston. ‘'CkrefuUy concealed' T