I Topics o! I
I the Times
Singularly enough, the mors light
you get oa Mormoalsn. tlx darker It
looks.
Erea being baptised la the Hirer
Jordan will not keep torn man oat of
A prison cell.
Uncle Sam now baa th deed to the
Panama Canal atrip. Nothing mora re
mains but to dig the canal
Th Hoi m the orouna oana rauea
the other day for $3,900. , It la no
safer than the Old Tarn Sock bank.
The suthor of th phrase, "What la
the constitution between friends?" bat
just died In New York. But Ma spirit
goes marching on.
The attorney for the defense has a
hard time of It In Russia. The ac
cused Is usually hanged before a tech
nicality can be raised.
Japan has made a government mo
nopoly of the tobacco business. Ear
ing lighted the fires of war, ah In
tends to control the smoke.
Score one for race suicide. Tennes
see courts hare decided that married
men must support their mothers-in-
law, or else their wives will be entitled
to divorce.
Emperor William climbed Mount
Aetna on foot. His wind must be all
right. In spite of those stories con
cerning the condition of his breathing
apparatus.
tFTgemen and all other station em
ployee are positively forbidden to ac
cept "tips. The reason for this step,
the presld-ant says. Is the desire of the
road to furnish equal serrlce to all Its
patrons, a task which It cannot ac
complish so long as the practice of tip
ping continues. This phase of the
matter the injustice which the man
who tips Indicts upon the man who
cannot afford or does not wish to tip-
on which la not always kept In
mind, yet It involves a serious moral
question. One accompanies his appli
cation with a half-dollar, the other of
fers nothing. Human nature would
not be human nature It the employ
did not feel a little Inclined to favor
the man who haa tipped him. But
what Is It that the tipper has bought?
Not service he was entitled to that by
right but precedence and dispropor
tionate attentions, things to which he
was not entitled and which he cannot
have without robbing his neighbor.
The tip In such a case Is but a bribe.
On cannot, however, dispose of the
whole matter of tipptng In a word. The
practice Is too well rooted to be blown
away with a breath, and even If that
were possible. It Is a question' If It
would be wholly desirable. Certainly
It would work some Injustice and per
haps some hardship. There la the tip
which speaks of a cordial recognition
of special service, performed, perhaps.
at some sacrifice of comfort or con
venience. That, surely, might remain.
There Is, too, the tip which serves ss
a cloak for worthy charity and an hon
est desire to assist That, also, la
honorable, at least on the part of the
giver; and those who boast that they
"never give a tip" may well be sus
pected of hiding meanness behind a
mask of principle.
The Academy of Medicine at Paris
has decided that excessive meat-eating
causes appendicitis. It does more. It
cause emaciation of the pocketbook
and bankruptcy.
On of the mysteries of nature Is
tho ease with which song birds and
gam can be exterminated as com
pared with the difficulty In getting rid
of the boll weevil.
"Winston Churchill collapsed tn ad
dressing tile Hons of Common be
cause he lost his train of thought H
should adopt the plan of American
statesmen and learn to talk without
hinting.
A woman supporter of an "Ism" ad
rlsed her hearers to "concentrate their
thoughts on what they wanted to ob
tain and ther would jret If Good
plan; try It on a ton of coal and yon
will get It if you pay the money.
Looking over the list' of tones In
which a man's voice betrays bis char
acter. It to noted that the Woman!
Literary Club sees nothing admirable
In the male voice from low bass to
high tenor. The only really good man
must be dumb.
The example of the American Arbor
day Is the text for an appeal for tree
planting in Ireland. A writer in the
Clare Champion makes a plea for the
observance of such a day, and ex
presses the belief that It will be as
successful as It Is In this country. It
may possibly enhance the value of Ar
bor day In the judgment of Americans
to know that the suggestion is made to
Introduce the custom in the Green Isle.
Dissatisfaction with present condi
tions Is a motive to progress. In speak-
.lng on this subject before the Church
Association for the Advancement of
.the Interests of Labor in an Eastern
city, a clergyman recently said that
- there was a part of the city where the
"people are in the depths of brutaliz
ing contentment' Unrest is a good
thing because it is a sign of life. Did
any on ever see a more restless crea
ture than a growing boy?
The chief difficulty with the phe
nomenal high tide of immigrants has
been in the fact that they are read
ily, but without good reason, induced
to settle in the city and engage In
peddling or in digging trencnes or
subways, while the West and South,
- which need immigrants, remain
sealed book to the great majority. In
the country districts, where politics
' has not so completely been reduced
to an art or a science, there would be
fewer temptations because of politics,
and better temptations from the greater
probability of obtaining work at good
wages and with more comfortable and
elevated surroundings. It would be
better for the country and much better
' for the immigrant if be could be in
duced to turn his steps westward or
southward.
Russia in the past has never been
the equal of some of the western coun
tries in wealth, finance, Industry, agri
culture, education and culture. Yet
somehow she has come up. Somehow,
with her crude organization and gen
eral poverty, she has borne the succes
sive economic and political shocks of
great wars. Somehow, as her terri
torial march to the Pacific has proved,
she has shown an incontestable superi-
' ority in force to the Asiatics with
whom she has come in contact except
possibly the Japanese. Even the war
like Turk has succumbed before her.
If wars are drastic tests of a nation'
economic soundness and political co
herency and national fiber, then has
. not Russia successfully met them from
' the time of Ivan the Terrible to the
present day?
A prominent New England railroad
lias lately Issued an order by which
The development of the trolley sys
tem in Now England, where it has
made the greatest progress, is begin
ning to attract wide attention, espe
cially as it promises to become a dan
gerous competitor with the steam rail
road system. Already rails of the same
weight are nsed on the electric as on
the steam roads and well nigh equal
speed Is made in rural districts, while
greater speed Is made inside city Urn
Its. The cars are being made nearly
as large if not so heavy as thos on
steam roads, and in nearly all country
places mails and light freight are car
ried as well as passengers. Trolley
lines are connecting country towns
which . only could be reached by
wagons, and by bringing them into
communication with railroad stations
are developing their business. Nearly
every State in New England can now
be crossed, north and south and east
and west by electric cars and in some
cases cities as far apart as Portland,
Boston, Providence, Hartford and New
York hav been connected by - "the
broomstick train. One of the latest
developments of the system is the use
for the first time by a steam and
trolley road of- to Mm track. Tb
New York Central is to use a stretch
of track near Oxford, Mass about five
miles from Worcester, for delivery of
coal to a section it cannot now reach
easily. - This track was laid and is
used by the Worcester and South
bridge Street railway. The fact that
a locomotive and freight cars can be
run upon rails originally laid for trol
ley cars is opening up a wide field of
speculative possibilities among rail
road people. The Boston Advertiser
says that "the New Haven road has
already done something in the way
of third rail connections with steam
road track, and of course everybody
understands that the time will com
when steam and trolley roads will be
run as parts of one system, the street
railways acting as feeders to the main
line of steam track.
Opinions of Great Papers on Important Subjects.
52
3
X
mm
The Methodists and Amusements. j
US question as, to wbat amusements may be
permitted to the members of the Methodist Epis
copal Church la one that has caused more dis
cussion In church circles than possibly any oth
er. "Times change, and men's manners and
customs change with them, is an old and a
true proverb. It is also true that this change
in manners and customs and the inevitable change as to
how they are viewed Is as active in the churches a any
where else. 'It Is to this steady shifting of ideals and
opinions that the question remains perennial with the
MethduMsts.
In the early Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal
Church In America, the whole matter was dismissed In a
prohibition to members against "taking such diversions
cannot be used In the name of the Lord Jesus.1 But
along in the decades about the middle of the last century
the inevitable broadening of Ideas due to the rapid Increase
in population, the change from solitary rural life to the
hurry and bustle of the city all were liberalising ten
dencies. Especially in the cities, Methodists in good stand
ing indulged in amusements, etc., which were looked upon
with horror by the more conservative, and-hence more
strict members In the country, especially the elder genera
tion. But the liberals argued that they were well within
the prohibition of the Discipline, and that there was no loes
of true religion to themselves.
It became evident that the clause in the Discipline
needed amendment; that the church must authoritatively
specify what things could not be permitted to the Meth
odist laity. The change was made by the General Con
ference of 1S72.V The paragraph which haa stood since then
deala with conduct and expressly forbids among other
things, "the buying, selling or using intoxicating liquors
as a beverage." and "dancing, playing at games of chance,
attending theaters, horse races, circuses, d&ndng parties
or patronising dancing schools, or taking such other amuse
ments as are obviously of misleading or questionable moral
tendency," etc
But this did not end the controversy. In very many
churches, this regulation has become a dead letter. Meth
odtst members attend theaters, visit circuses, send their
children to dancing schools and play card games In their
homes; and they do not feel that they thereby commit any
sin. That Is to say, they do not admit that the church
has a right to prohibit any line of conduct that la not sin
ful; and feeling that these things are not they Ignore the
precept The matter was all threshed over again at the
recent General Conference in Los Angeles. Toledo Blade.
SI
NEED NEVER APPEAR OLD.
The Question of the Battleship.
ERETOFORE, when the public spoke of bat
tleships, the breath was bated and there was
a gleam In the eye that boded the kindling of
destructive pride. Some spirited souls even
went so far as to lift the bat when one of our
navy's ornaments was named, but something
has happened. It has become dangerous to
refer to America as sailing the seas Ilka a battleship. We
Card to-think of the ship of state as armored and carrying
12-inch guns. We cannot even remember that famous line,
"She seems to feel the thrill of life along her keel,"
without sympathetic shudders.
The reason is as follows. Cesarevltch, 13,110 tons, dis
abled by torpedo and beached. Fob. 8, at Port Arthur;
Retvizan, 12.700 tons, disabled by torpedo and benched at
Port Arthur, Feb. 8; Poltava, 10,900 tons, disabled at Port
Arthur; Sevastopol, 10.900 tons, disabled Feb. 0; Pobleda,
12.674 tons, damager by mine at Port Arthur, April 13;
Petropavlovsk. 10,000 tons, blown up by mine at Port
Arthur, April 13. Six first-class battleships, four of them
undoubtedly destroyed by submarine engines of warfare.
not to speak of the dangers within the ship itself, as we
have learned in the cases of the Missouri and the Iowa.
It is told that the unfortunate Admiral Makaroff dis
approved of battleships on the ancient ground of "all your
eggs In one basket" The admiral is desd and a battleship
holds his body, a battleship which sank within two min
utes after a submarine was exploded under it There are
others along the shore of the bay at Port Arthur, all for
mer prides of the Russian navy, pointed at by the experts
of other nations as perils to peace and warnings for war,
ChlcAso Doctor Urges Friend to Stand
Erect and Ketala Teatb.
"Don't imagine yon must become
stoop-shouldered because you are
growing old," said a well-known west
side physician to a friend on the Lake
street "L" road. "Old people do not
stoop because they are old, but they
get old because they stoop. The stif
fening of the tissues, which is the sign
and accompaniment of age, is warded
off by exercise. Self-indulgence in
eating and in drinking and in lazy
ways is the sure road to senility.
"I hare often been surprised and
gratified to find that regulated move
ments of the neck and upper truncal
muscles, employed for the purpose of
accomplishing something else, resulted
in a conspicuous improvement In hear
ing, in vision, in cerebration and, as
a consequence, in betterment in cere
bral circulation, also In sleep. Per
sons who habitually maintain an erect
position in standing or sitting are
stronger than those who slouch. A
person who stoops and allows the
shoulders to sag down and forward
and the ribs to fall back toward the
spine shortens the ante posterior diame
ter of the thorax anywhere from two
to five inches. The lungs, heart, great
vessels and other important structures
in the thorax cannot live, more and
have their proper being under such
circumstances."
Wherefore, the proper thing for per
sons who' are not so young as once
they were Is to brace up, dress young
and feel young. Sitting "hunched up"
over a fire won't do Chicago Chroni
cle.
An Affable Debtor.
"I guess there's no use of sending
any more bills to that man," said the
senior member of the firm.
"Does it make him angry to be dun
ned?"
"Not a bit He invites the bill col
lector to sit down and tells him sto
ries and prevents him from getting
money anywhere ' else." Washington
Star. '
now squatting drunkenly In th mud, their hug guns
raking th affrighted stars. They hav felt a shudder
along their keels, and their glory has dwindled Ilk a leak
ing balloon.
Th American people ar pron to ask questions when
things happen. Something has happened. The colored
pictures of our navy are singularly uninspiring Just at
present and w desire to know why. It w cannot find out
why, we, at least wish to be sur that something was
really wrong. So ther 1 th question in th air. How
much Is a 10,000.000 battleship worth? it a Japanese cor
poral's guard (or th naval equivalent of th body) can
take a rowboat, a cap pistol, and a torpedo and sink bat
tleships, we desire to be allowed to look oa and possibly
make a small bet on our own prospects. Further, some
would Ilk to know Just how w ar going to keep the upper
hand if our battleships won't battle against th enemy's
torpedoes. W ar in a state of doubt San Francisco
Argonaut
m
Chinese Exclusion.
T is expected that the new treaty regulating
th admission of Chines into th United States,
now in preparation, will permit certain China
men, not of the coolie class, who ar now ex
cluded, to enter the country. Under the eilst
Ing exclusion law, Chinese laborers are pro
hibited from coming to or remaining in the
United States. Registered Chinese laborers may leave the
country and return to It under certain conditions, and
Chinese officials, teachers, students, merchants and travel
ers may come into the country when properly certified.
The law has been strictly construed by th Attorney-Gen
eral, who ruled that not all Chines persons might enter
the country who were not specifically forbidden, but that
only those who are entitled to enter who ar expressly
permitted to do so. The ruling excluded traders, salesmen,
buyers, bookkeepers, accountants, managers, storekeepers.
Interpreters, physicians and agents. Persons falling within
these designations are not manual laborers, against whom
th exclusion law was particularly directed.
The classes excluded by the rulings are numerous, and
the new treaty may provide for the admission of some of
them. Our expanding trade with the East would doubtless
be stimulated by a more hospitable treatment of what may
be termed the Chinese mercantile and professional element
A discreet extension of the privilege of entry could be per
mltted.it Is believed, without Injuriously affecting the wages
of labor. It la understood that the contemplated regula
tions apply to th admission of Chinese of th blghor class
es and that there is no Intention to admit coolies.
Whether provisions shall be made for use of Chines
laborers In the construction of the Panama Canal Is under
consideration, and the more extended use of Chinese labor
In the Philippines is urged by certain Interests concorned la
th development of the possessions. Philadelphia Ledger.
w
mm
The Price of Fame.
TIEN one considers how much th people lore
to be humbugged. It is surprising .that ther
are not more people engaged professionally In
the business. A man with a very brilliant mind
may make a brilliant address before a brilliant
audlenco, and there the brilliancy stops; but
a man with a mind about the sis of
a shriveled walnut may talk a lot of nonsense to an au
dience of no or of average or unusual Intelligence, and
Immediately he becomes famous. An educator in a recent
religious meeting told a fairly intelligent audience that
dancing was the closest approach to Paradise, and to-day
his name and theory is known from Maine to California. A
University of Chicago professor tell wherein Rockefeller
Is superior to Shakspeare, and while the oil magnate mod
estly protests, the professor's mall Is overwhelmed with re
quests for photographs and locks of his hair. A Harvard
professor, who teaches Slavic literature, and, who is
native of Russia, expresses . th hope that bis fatherland
will be defeated in the Eastern war, and he gets half a
column of attention, where his sensible utterances hsd
never won him more than very moderato attention. And
so, if a man must simply be foolish to become famous, is
It any wonder that almost everybody to-day is famous
Baltimore Herald.
SOLDIERS OF THE CZAR.
The uniform of the Russian soldier
is the simplest uniform in Europe. In
winter a sheepskin coat goes on be
neath the gray one. In summer, or
during campaigns In hot climates, the
Russians, like the Japanese, fight in
white dress. , To critics who say that
this renders them needlessly conspicu
ous, they reply that It is better than
khaki; for a man dressed in earth col
or Imagines himself invisible, and be
haves accordingly. He gets shot'
whereas the man who knows he can
be seen keeps under cover and comes
off with a whole skin. A writer In the
Boston Transcript describes the sol
diers of the Czar as follows:
The Russian campaigner marches
somewhat heavily laden. He has his
kit-bag with clothing slung over one
shoulder, his haversack with two days'
rations of bread and salt slung over
the other, his greatcoat strapped under
one arm. Including his water bottle,
arms and ammunition, a section of tent
and the uniform he stands in, he car
ries something oyer sixty-six pounds.
The advantage which offsets the bur
den is that at a pinch the Russian
foot-soldier is practically independent
of a baggage train. He can transport
bis modest necessities upon his own
back.
The Russian cavalryman rides so
laden with cornsacks and blankets
and greatcoats and wallets and saddle
bags and things that he puts one in
mind of the much incumbered White
Knight in "Alice in Wonderland." Al
together bis impedimenta weigh 110
pounds. Fortunately what would op
press another soldier is no burden to
the Russian. He is sturdlness Itself,
Russian soldiers have been known to
march thirty miles without rest, and
then go directly into an engagement
Severity Is .accounted the prime fac
tor of Russian military discipline. Bat
something better than severity goes to
make soldiers of Russian peasants,
and that something is a powerful spir
it of camaraderie. A high Russian
officer does not hesitate to Joke with
his men.
When the commanding officer mots
his troops for the first' time In the
morning, he calls out cordially, "Good
morning!" The men reply with a pe
culiar, long, rattling shout "Your
good health, your excellency !"
When a maneuver is executed to
the commander's satisfaction,- he
shouts congratulations to the men, and
they respond all together, "We are
glad you like it"
13 THE 8UN HOT OR COLD?
Bon and a Hot Stove Have the Same
Kind of Energy
So far as I know, no reasons at all
for doubting the high temperature of
the central body of the solar system
hare ever been found. There are In
general three distinct ways in which
heat can be transferredfrom one bod
to another conduction, convection and
radiation. The first two are depend
ent upon the presence of matter, the
latter will take place across a perfect
vacuum, ' We may receive heat from
a stove by all three methods. If wo
plactt our hands upon it we receive
heat by conduction; if wr hold them
above it they are warmed by convec
tion, the beat being brought to them
by the rising current of hot air. If
now we stand in front of the store we
will feel its warmth, the sensation in
this case being produced by the beat
wares which it emits. These wares
are. similar to the electric wares used
in wireless telegraphy, differing from
them only in their length. They bear
the same relation to them which the
ripples on a mill pond bear to the
Atlantic rollers. With the instru
ments at our disposal at the present
time we can measure the length of
these wares ss accurately as we can
measure the length of a table .with' a
foot rule, and we can prove that they
will pass through a vacuum, a plate
of glass or a tank full of liquid air,
without losing their ability to warm
our hands. We find, however, that it
we pass this radiant heat through cer
tain substances, water vapor, for ex
ample, its Intensity Is diminished, ow
lng to the fact that some of the waves
have been absorbed. . It is possible to
determine the exact longth of the
waves of heat which have been re
moved by absorption In the vapor, and
If we test the radiation which comes to
us from tho sun we find that wares
of this same length are absent the
water vapor in the earth's atmosphere
baring refused to transmit them. This
fact taken alone, Is pretty good evi
dence that the sun and the hot store
are pouring out the same kind of en
ergy. Harper's Weekly.
Wanted a Demonstration.
"John," said Mrs. lituepeaco, com
ing out on the back porch, where her
husband sat tilted back in bis chair,
his feet on the railing, "didn't I hear
you tell the minister when he was here
that you were deeply interested in tern
perance morements?"
"Yes," Mr. Makepeace replied, rath
er stiffly. "I said so, and you know
that I am."
"Well," said Mrs. Makepeace, "sup
pose you go and make a few of them
on the pump-handle. I want a pall
of water."
WATER IN DESERT CACTUS.
Uvea Ar Accsatomed t Tap fleas
WkM They Ar Talr.tr. .
The marvelous strength of desert
plants is well known, but ws ars tt
loss to explain th source or rea
sons of their, lux urianc .In regions
rher only s few Inches of water fan
during th year, and that llttl Is Im
mediately drunk up by th torrid sun.
What enables th yucca to' thrust its
bead through thirty feet of gypsum
ml sand or th barrel cactus to store
enormous quantities of water and to
hold th water for months, perhaps
years, or th sumach to cling so ten
Mnualv to Its around when every
thing els Is swept away1, ar ques
tions which non can satisfactorily an
swer. No less marvelous and Inex
pllcsble Is the mesqutte shrub, which,
sometimes has roots over fifty feet
long, and other desert plants whose
hairy coverings and resinous coatings
prevent the evaporation of molatur.
These secrets may soon b discovered.
however, as th Caruegi institution
has established a desert botsntcal lab
oratory at Tucson to study them.
It was smoug th desert bins west
of Torres. Mtx. Th Indian rut th
top fronra plant about flv feet high
and with a blunt stak of palo vera
pounded to a pulp th upper six or
eight Inches of whit flesh In th
standing truuk. From this, handful
by handful, b squeezed tho water into
the bowl he had mnd In th top of
th trunk, throwing th dlscsrded pulp
on th ground. By this process be
secured two or thrv quarts or clear
water, slightly salty and slightly bitter
to the taste, but of far better quality
than some of th water a desert trav
eler Is occasionally compelled to use.
The Papago, dipping this water up in
his hands, drank It with evident pleas
ure and said that his people were ac
customed, not only to secure their
drlnklns water in this way In times
of extretn drouth, but that they used
it slso to mix their meal preparatory
to cooking It Into bread. National
Geographical Magatln.
REBUFF WAS CUTTING ONE,
Sitting Ketort of "Mad Toct" to an
UnffsntUmanly Ktmark.
Many stories ar told of McDonald
Clarke, known fifty years ago in Nw
York as the "mad poot" which show
that he had a vein of great shrewd
ness, such as is often possessed by
people who are counted Insane.
On day b was sested at a table
In a New York hotel quietly eating
his simple dinner when two young
men took their seats at the same table.
McDonald Clarke was a well-known
figure, and th young men at once
recognised him, though be did not
know them.
They were not gentlemen In the best
sense of the word, and it occurred
to them that they might have some
sport with th poor poet Conse
quently on of them said in an un
necessarily clear tone: -
I hav seen almost everything and
everybody In New York except Mc
Donald Clarke. I have a great ad
mirations for his poems, and I would
give a great deal to see th man."
When h passed the mad poot
leaned forward and said with evident
gratification: ,
Sir, I am McDonald Clarke, whom
you ssy you wish to see."
The young man stared at him with
mncb rudeness for a moment and
then drawing a quarter from hi
pocket, be laid it on th poet's plate.
saying, "That's for the sight T
Clsrke looked at the coin for an in
stant and then placing it in his pocket,
h took out a "York shilling," 12 ft
cents. This h hsnded to the young
man, saying gravely, "Children half
price."
Natural loo Is Passing.
. For several years past the business
of the Iceman of former days has been
decreasing steadily, and at the present
rate ere long he will find his occuds-
tion gone. It is no longer necessary
to wait for cold weather to secure a
supply of the refrigerating product; it
can be produced easily and cheaply in
the warmest weather by chemical processes.
In the State of Maine, where In
former years the harvestinir of ice for
market in more southern latitudes wa
carried to enormous proportions, tho
total quantity cut during last winter,
which embraced perfect conditions for
the securing of a large crop, was but
485,000 tons, against 700,000 tons gath
ered in the winter of 1002-3.
The advantages offered by chemistry
and modern machinery for the pro
duction of Ice and the perfect control
of temperature at whatever degree do
sired, when and wherever needed, ir
respective of climatic conditions, ren
ders their mechanical acquirements
cheaper than can be obtained from
natural ice when transportation front
remote districts of storing and the
great wastage of original bulk through -melting
is taken into consideration. In
all manufacturing necessity for cooling
and for maintaining uniform degree
of temporature, as well as certainty of
control of such conditions, together
with their greater economy, present
systems of artificial refrigeration are
crowding nature out of the field of
competition and reducing the latter to
chiefly local value.
What Made Him Ask.
Paying Teller What is your name.
anyway?
Indignant Presenter of Check Don1
you seo my signature?
Paying Teller Yea Tbafa what
aroused my curiosity. Baltimore
American. '
, Daily Guide to Table Manners.
Never kick on the food except on the
cook's day out Otherwise you might
lose her. It doesn't matter about your
wife, .ShCll stay. Baltimore i inert
Can.
Feats of Submarine Boats.
Two submarine boats made a sham
attack on the French squadron at La
Rochelle recently in the evening, and
so smartly were they handled that it is
said in actual warfare the whole di
vision would hare been annihilated.
-
Cincinnati has a deaf and dumb bar
ber, but with the aid of a phonograph
he manages to pull through.
We can't pronounce the Russian def
inition for war, but it's synonymous
with Sherman's definition,