THE PADRONE SYSTEM | I ing tianies; it radiates from the reerfluity was children of India: corn that might prove supplying warmth and comfort all through more previous than all tin* wealth of Or- the land. The first few bushels went on lints to the isolat«*d miners on the banks the coals with reluctance: it always seems of the Klondike, is the ordinary thing to a dreadful thing to destroy food, ami one's burn as fuel in parts of Nebraska. It is mind keeps wandering to the Russian burned by the cook in the kitchen; it peasants or the natives of India or to sends a pleasant glow of warmth through whatever |airt of the world happens to be th«* cozy library. where children and their starving nt that particular moment; but elders relax to rest and watch the tlicker- one soon gets used to it, ns to everything F DISAPPEARING else, arid aft«-r alt eoi.i maxes a cheerful, crackling blaze and thaws the numbness out of the fingers and toes as well as oak logs or coal do. It does not do to be too seutim«»ntal. It is not only on the farms that this new fuel is cooking the dinner, cooking itself, in rian.v cases; but in ths cities ami towns people have their dinners . cooked by the golden maize of the poets. The practical manner by which corn first came to be adopted ns fuel was intro­ duced during last winter, when a large number of inquiries wer«* receive-! by the Department of Agriculture of the Uni­ versity of Nebraska asking for informa­ tion about the efficiency of corn us fuel. Prof. C. R. Richards, aided by the State Board of Transportation of Nebraska, ad­ dressed a circular letter to grain and coal dealers throughout the State asking for conservative estimates of the number of people in their vicinity who were burning corn. Many of the replies to these letters are of interest. Th«* information in all of them is essentially the same. Prom all of them it appears that a large percentage of the people in Nebraska use corn ns fuel when the crop is abundant and the price low*, and we may naturally infer that the same condition prevails in some of the other Western States. It is an unfortu­ nate fact that in most of the sections where the valu«* of corn is least, the cost of coal is greatest. Corn and coal are now rivals. The gold­ en cobs wave a haughty defiance to coal cars from Wyoming as they run the gauntlet of th«* serried ranks that stretch from horizon to horizon. Will corn be a practical fuel for the generation of power? Now it is cheap and economical for do­ mestic use. It is cleaner an«l more easily handled than coal ami contains but a very small amount of ash. Some special form of apparatus ingeniously adapted to the new medium utilizing as much heat as possible may increase its practicability. some sections to cut all trees that are art* taking the place of those cut twen­ <: inches in diameter, whereas a year ty years ago. There are some en­ ago nothing smaller was wanted than thusiasts who believe that an effort 12 inches in diameter. In the forests should be made to replant the pine for­ th«* stumps ar«* 8 and 10 feet high, but est, but the conservative lumbermen thes«* wen* cut ten years ago, anil th«* say that it takes from fifty to on«* hun­ average person is at a loss to know dred years to grow pine tree's to profit­ why men would go to th«* trouble of able proportions. Nevertheless, some cutting a tree so l'ar abovt* th«* ground. have found It profitable to return to de­ When tli«*se tre«*s becnine victims of vastated forests and cut the trees th«* loggers they wen- surrounded with that were rejected ten an«! twenty snow to a depth of from 7 to 10 feet, years ago. They claim to have made and men wen* obllg«*d to cut them at rts great profit as those who handled th«* snow level. Now th«* order runs to th«* lumber originally. cut th,*m as low as 15 inches and not Many of tin* millionaires of Wiscon­ higher than is inches above the ground. sin have mad«* their money from lum­ Tin* best portion of th«* tn*«*. It is ber. Among them ar«* ex-Senator claimed. Is at tin* butt, but an experi­ Vilas, ex-Gov. Upham, Gov. Scofield, ence«! lumber limn says that the In­ I’lilletus Sawyer of Oshkosh, Rusts creas«* of Illinls-r by such close eirts and Ingrams of Eau Claire, tlu* Luillng- does not pay half tin* extra trouble tons of Milwaukee* anti Senator J. II. that loggers encounter while cutting Stout, of Menomonee. tin* tret*. Lost the Connection. Th«* sain«* conditions exist in Michi­ The students of one of our well- gan. Th«* lumlter Industry at l’ere Marquette is almost r«*a«ly to expire, known colleges for women, says the and has already e«*as«*d to exist at Portland Transcript, a re accustomed to do their shopping In town through the medium of a certain John, who, lack­ ing intellectual gifts, has a faculty for doing errands. John writes dowu his orders himself. On«* day his list closed with: •'mb roz. madder 1" “choc cream lp” “git a string.’’ John [Hindered: “Get it where. What kind? Who had ordered It? Was it for an eye-glass, picture-cord, corset­ lacing?’’ lit* couldn’t remember, couldn't “git” it, and went back with­ out any. But tlu* moment he saw Jenny Peters tuning her guitar at tlu* window and heard her call out. "O John, did you do my errand?" lu* remembered all about it. ami said to himself: "There now, why couldn't I 'a' thought of her glta-trlng and written out so plain, too! Strang«* I couldn't« 'a' thought o' that!” FORESTS. The Lumber Industry of Michigan and Wisconsin Must Soon Decline. It is estimated that th«* output of lumber in Wisconsin and Minnesota «luring the year 15115 was 4,51Mt.lMH|,IMto feet. If this amount had all been sawed Into boards, a house Kt foot High and 15 feet wide, with a board loot-, could have been built around th - globe, with enough lumber left to build a fence on «»aeli side. Bicyclists enjoy g«ssl boanl tracks, which lire only too short to suit them, but this amount of lumber would have built a track r«*acl.- ing ten times around th«* «-itr.'ii. t»f nil th«* manufacturing capital luv<>sted hi th«- State, lumbermen claim about 42 per cent., or m-urly .1- H i 5,2 men ar« employ«*! in th«* State to harvest this year's crop, and by the time too season closes $14.IMMIJMMI will lav* gon«* Into th«* hands of th«- hard work Ing men of th«* forosts. Tin* forests of Wisconsin ar«* fast disappearing. In th«* past twenty-four years nearly 54.- (<10.000.000 feet of pine alone lias been carried away, which. If It had I hm * ii cut In board» 1 Inch thick, would have made a walk 41 feet wide long enough to reach the moon. 250,000 mil«*« dis­ tant. There Is said to be remaining 8,000,000,000 f«s*t of pine, of which 2,000,000,000 Is locate«! In Bayfield and Douglas Counties. Th«* mill men cf late have be«*n ordering U m » loggers Ln I 1 ■ [ | j PLANTS IN WISCONSIN. Muskegon, Whit«* Hall and Grand Haven. Now a movement Ison foot to manufacture shingles out of some of the stumps which remain. This Idea has crept into the Badger State, and Is nu-etlng th«* approval of old lumlxT men. who Isdlev«* It to la* profitable In th«* end. According to census statis­ tics this Stat«* manufaetunxl 080,000,- tHM> shingles In 1890. Whether men will r«-sort to th«* stumps to Increase th«* crop Is a matter «>f «*onjecture. Uncl«* Sam seems to lie «aiming to th« rescue. Not long ago In* sent an agent. Filbert Roth, of Washington, to in- veetlgnt«* th«* situation, an«l If possible to ascertain th«* extent of th«* devasta t.on and the possibility of reforesta­ tion. He found that Marinette has n«*arly 1,000,000,000 f«»«*t of pine and 309,000,000 feet of hardwood. Along the Menomon«*«* River, 3,000,000,0* feet Is still to I»* saved, and It will take twenty y«*arH to exhaust the sup­ ply in this region. It waa l«*arn«sl also that lu some sections young plus trees “I understand that Jones has a hard time getting along with his wife." "How's that?" “They rid«* a tandem, and tlu* madam weighs 250 | h > uu «1 s ." — Philadelphia Call. What He Waa After. Congressman So you want to serve your country, do you? Applicant Well. 1 ain't particular whether I serve my country much or not. but 1 should Ilk«* to get an offi«*e at a good salary. Somerville Journal. A Discreditable Trick. "Sputter says he Is not writing fot fame; he Is writing for posterity." “Well, all that I have got to say Is that lu* is taking a mean advantage of posterity." Detroit Free Press. The First Person Singnlar. “That's the most egotistical man I ever saw," sai«l one usher at a theater. “Yes. He won't even sit anywhere except In Section I.”—Washington Star. When some men feel blue they get «Irunk aud paint things re«L frowns U[x>n th«* padrone system, but thinks it merely a matter of good i health to keep bis mouth shut. Tills | matter of sullen retention of knowl- FLOURISHES IN CHICAGO’S ITAL­ **«lg«* Is one ««f tlu* hardest things tlu* IAN SECT'ON. ■ police have to cop«* with. Murderous affrays are common among the llal- lals. but it is exce«*dlngly difficult to Miserable Children Held in Hitter make an arrest or secure a conviction Bondage and M lit tinted So an to Create because even th«* victims refuse to giv«* the Sympathy of the Publie—Fiend­ information. Tlu* stiletto is ever ready ish Cruelty and Greed. for th«* informer. On Forquer street, not far from Jef­ White Slaves! ferson, lives a padrone who is waxing Tlu* horrible padrone spstem flourish­ fat off the pickings of twelve little chil­ es lu the Italian section of Chicago and dren in various stages of productive­ Innocent childhood is held In a tlirall- ness. Some travel about with wheezy dom far worse than the slavery that concertinas, others peddk* newspapers, existed In th«* South before the war. others sell chewing gum, ami others Recently a newspaia*r man, with sev­ get money in questionable ways. But eral police officers, made a tour of the they all bring grist to his financial mill every night or they go supperless to bed and feel the weight of a stick as Well. From this den the party made its way through a «lark alley, clutter«*d with refuse, to th«* rear of a black, for­ bidding-looking building on Desplalnes street. A sudden yanking open of the door by the combined efforts of tlu* four officers revealed a crowd of «les- jierate men huddled in a small room. On the faces of all was plainly written the fear of arrest, ant! the assurance that nobody was wanted seemed to give relief to all of them. This build­ ing is th«* one from which Capt. Wheel­ er’s officers in December last took a ! padrone named Mosielll and his wife, Lucy, on the charge of having delib­ erately burned out the eyes of three “AFHAILl TOGO HOME.“ children for begging purposes. When Italian quarters and tin- result la a the children were first found they re- story of bitter bondage, of fiendish fus«*d to say a word against the pa­ drone, ami it was not until they were cruelty and of most rapacious greed. The first stop, says the reporter, was given to the cart* of a reputable Italian made at a tumble-down two-story woman and tenderly treated that the house on Ewing street, near Des- terrible story was coaxed out of them. plaines. No lights could be seen from Capt, Wheeler, who made a personal the outside, but the noisy gabble of investigation of the case, was satisfied voices told of a lively commotion that Mosielll would be sent to the peni­ among the inmates. Here, on the up­ tentiary, but at tile trial tlu* same old per floor, in one squalid room. Ilves it difficulty of securing testimony was ! about tne padrone quarter for nearly throe hours, looking into all sorts of miserable holes, few of them fit to shelter a self-respecting dog, and yet all Inhabited by human beings. Cellars and garrets alike were crowd«*«! with men. women ami children of varying ages, from the wee mite of a boy just large enough to serais* a few notes out of a wheezy violin, to girls just merg­ ing into womanhood. In every pl;, t* some on«* man was in supreme con­ trol. and none disputed Ills authority as "boss.” If there was any talking done with th«* officers it was the "boss” who acted as spokesman, ami the oth­ ers maintained an inquisitive silence, alert to what was going on, but never speaking a word. Suddenly emerging from a dark al­ ley Into Hnlsted street the glare of the gaslights lillnde«! for a moment even tlie veteran officers, and they nearly stumbled over a poor wretch of a girl sitting on th«* curbstone anil shivering with cold. Unlike th«* other unfortu­ nates, sh«* was rebellious In her deter­ mination. and willing to talk, a willing­ ness which was Increased by the gift of a quarter and the promise of police protection. "’l-’raid to go home,” salil the girl in broken English. "Got no money and padrone beat mt*. Must have 50 cents. No money, no supper, no lied, get lick­ ing to-night. Then to-morrow no breakfast—must bring in dollar to-mor­ row to make up for to-day.” Postage Stamps. Th«* design of the stamp is engraved on steel, ami, in printing, [dates are usetl on which 200 stamps have been engraved. Two men are kept busy at work covering these with colored inks, and passing them to a man aud a girl who are equally busy printing them with large rolling hand presses. Three of these llttk* squads are employed all the time. After the small sheets of paper containing 200 printed stamps have dried enough they are sent into another room and gummed. The gum made for this purpose is a peculiar composition, made of the powder «>f dried potatoes ami other vegetables, mixed with water. After having been again dried—this time on little racks fanned by steam power—for about an hour, they are very carefully put be­ tween sheets of pasteboard and press­ ed in hydraulic presses capable of ap­ plying a weight of 2,000 tons. The next thing is to cut the sheets in two, each sheet, of course, when cut, con­ taining 100 stamps. This Is «lone by a girl with a large pair of shears, cut­ ting by hand being preferred to that by machinery, which would destroy too many stamps. They are then pass­ ed to another squad of workers, who perforate the paper between the stamps. Next they are pressed one«! more and then packed and labeled anil stoived away, to be sent out to the various offices when ordered. If a sin­ gle stamp is torn or in any way muti­ lated. tin* whole sheet of Itk) stamps Is burned. Not less than 50,000 are said to be burned every week from this cause. The greatest care is taken in counting the sheets of stamps, to guard against pilfering by the employes.— Ashton Recorder. Shaker Relic Discovered. THE PADRONE EVIL IN CHICAGO. [Helpless children held In bondage, forced to beg and steal and punl-lied by their Italian masters If they do not bring In the money required of them ] man witli fifteen children ranging in age from 5 to 16 years. Non«* of these belong to him by parental ties; they have been bought or leased from inhu­ man mothers and fathers, or stolen outright. As the party groissl its way up the «lark stairs there was the sound of a hard slap, ami a man's voice ut­ tered some harsh reproof in Italian. A faint gleam of light came from under th«* door of the room, but the door it­ self was barred—they always are in that part of the town, where unexpect­ ed visits by the police are not welcome. Officer Birmingham laid his hand on the knob lightly and the lamp was at once extinguished. It took long rap­ pings am! repeated assurances in mon­ grel Italian to convince th«* man that no harm was intended, or, in other words, that he was not to be arrested, and finally he consented to open the door part way while iuquir.v was made after a supposititious neighbor. The timely striking of a match revealed a room bare of furniture with th«* excep­ tion of a rickety cook stove, a rough pine table, a couple of chairs, and some pallets of straw on the floor. On these latter children were sleeping just as they had com«* In from tin* street. . Walls, cisling and floor were filthy with dirt, an«l the stencil was stifling. It is only at night that the Italian quarter can I m * seen at its worst. There are the same dirt and bail smells In the daytime, but the men and children are then mostly absent—the former at work and the latter on the down-town streets begging, stealing, and in other ways trying to scra|>«* together th«* amount of money which the padrone has named as the stint. In most cases this Is 50 cents for each child. Thos«* who bring this sum back with them at night get some kind of foo«l and shelter and escape punishment; those who fail ar«> starved and lieaten. Ewing street, from Canal to Des- plaines. is full of padrones' dens, and most of them are counterparts of that first descrltw*«!. Dm* room. «lark, filthy and devoid of the commonest klrnl of sanitary conveniences, will hous«* half a dozen people. The man ! who rents two rooms is looked upon as a sort of Vanderbilt or a crazy profll- gnte. Tony Musch Is the swell of Ew­ ing street because he lias a suite of two rooms In th«* Garibaldi Building, a great rambling structure with many devious and confusing passages, through which no stranger <*onl«l possi­ bly make his way unpiloted. .Maseb is one of the law abiding Italians who encountered, and the man escaped with a year in the bridewell. As subsequent events proved, the ease was not an un­ usual one among the padrones. Other instances were found in which children had been deliberately mutilated In var­ ious ways so as to excite the-sympathy of charitable people and make sure the giving of alms, but In no case has it been possible to get the evidence neces­ sary for a conviction. Back from Moslem's old den the party traced its way through a maze of blind alleys ami ill-smelling garbage boxes to Mather street, where the offi­ cers arrived at a house just in time to prevent a man from beating a boy with a club. Even then the youngster was sullen in his misery and refused to give tin* policemen any information, and the old rascal of a padroni* actually laugh«*«! at the officers in contempt. Outside this place the party lingered some tim«* in the hope that a renewal of the attack would give them excuse for making an arrest, but the padrone was too sly to lie thus captured. Late as was the hour, many of the llttk* In the old shaker settlement at Son- yea, N. Y„ a peculiar relic has been discovered. It consists of a stone about 2%x4% feet and four inches thick which is covered with Inscriptions, though most of them : re so badly defaced that they cannot be deciphered. But the words "Tlie Lord's Stone,” and the date, “1847,” are sufficient to identify the stone as connected with the wor­ ship of th«* Shakers. It was found by workmen in excavating for a building that is to stand directly on th«* site ot the Shaker meeting-house. The stonf is supposed to be a sort of "kissing stone.” It has been turned over to the Historical Society of Mount Morris ami will be preserved in a glass case. No doubt some process can be e, allowing about one inch per foot in the width of the pulley. Then soak the leather in water until it is wet through. Now stretch it well in the direction of the circumference of tlie pulley and cut it to exact shape and length. It should next I m * sewn up butt to butt with a shoemaker’s awl am! thread, and the leather, having been stretched in the direction of the circumference only, will, as it gets dry, have a tendency to resume its former shape, thereby shortening In circumference and “clip” tc the pulley. A shallow groove might be made for the stitches to sink In. while slaves were just returning home to report to their masters ami hand over the financial results of their day’s work. Through streets and alleys they came silently like rats, those who hail I money pushing along carelessly, while th«* unfortunate who had fnileii in their task hung back, dreading to encounter the fierce padrone and yet afraid to [ remain away longer than the appoin­ t'd time. It was a mournful sort of procession, this return of the child chattels, and even the stolid policemen, The Rise of Cities. inurod to countless repetitions of the Europe has four times as many cities scene, could not forbear from com as it had in 18S1. and the United States meating upon it. In this manner the party tramped fourteen times as many.