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virs sans Half a' Century in Business The Merchants Bank of Canada 118.8.11156 completed fifty years of busmess in Canada. and has cele-J brated the half century mark by showing the best report, in its his- tory. Net profits for the year amounted to $1,218,694, which is equal to 17.8 per centflo-n the aver- .age'pald-up capital for the year. .Takln-g into account the average of both capital and the. rest account, 'whlch amounted to $13,348,100, the {Bank earned 9.13 percent, which :is a trifle less than was earned dur- ing the previous year. In view of the fact that the year, which just iclosed, was a somewhat trying one ,for the banks, the showing made by {the Merchants Bank is considered fhighly satisfactory. For a consider- able portiOn of the year, Canada, in common with other countries, en- countered .a. period of depression (’which interfered with the earnings -lof the banks. Exact comparisons with prevmus years is difficult to imake, owing to the fact that the .fiscal year of the bank was changed éfrom Nov-ember 30th to April 30th :and the statement issued previous lto the present one covered a period lof but five months. An examination of the report ishows that gains were made in all :departments of the bank’ s. activi- ties. For the first time in the his- tory of the bank, the reserve fund ;equals the paid-up capital, each of :these now standing at $7,000,000, a ,considerable gain. over the showing lfor the previous year. The bank’s lcas’h (holdings are $1,500,000 greater it'han at the end of April, 31913, [While savings deposits have increas- ied' by $2,600,000. The bank’s cur- ;rent loans increased during the lyear by over $1,000,000, and now ,amount to $54,700,000, indicating éthat the bank has been doing its full share by catering to the commercial needs of the. communities in which fits branches are located. The total assets show a gain of almost $2,500,- ;000, and now amount to $83,120,000“.h “ During the year the. bank issued , ew stock, on which the premium amounted to$180,000, which, with ,Lthe net earnings of $1,218,000 and balance brought forward amounting lto $401,000, made $1,800,000 avail- .abile for distribution. Dividend reâ€" ;Quziremernts absorbed $686,000, pro- :fit and loss $580,000, bank premises account $1,000,000, officers pensions ifund $50,000, written off for depreâ€" elation in bonds and investments $135,000, leaving $248,000 to be harried forward. A feature of the bank’s report was the large. proporâ€" - ,tion of quickly available assets, [which'represent over 36 per cent. of its total liabilities to the public. This is a satisfactory showing, espe- _ci-ally in view of the recent financial stringency. Altogether, the show made by the bank is most encourâ€" Eagin'g, as it shows that good bank- ing practice and careful conserva- l‘tive management characterized the (year’s ope-rations. At the annual ' ~eeting it was also decided (to es- gtablish a Holding Company for the. lpul‘pose of taking over and manag- jing the premises utilized by the ibank for the housing of the various lofiices. The old Board were re- elected, and, at a subsequent meet- Eting, Sir H. Montagu Allan was re- 3elected President and K. W. Black- ;Well, Viceâ€"President. .-R‘,_.â€"â€"-__. THE CITY OF MEXICO. lPolnts About the Capital of Distressed Country. Mexico City is 7,415 feet above sea llevel, and by rail 264 miles northwest of Vera Cruz, With a wet, undrained lsub-soil, and many thousands of In- fdlans and half-breeds, living in crowd- led quarters, the death rate has been inotoriously highâ€"46 to 56 per thou- ,sand, though drainage works, under- ;ground sewers, and sanitation_ have ltended to improve these conditions. lThe city is laid out with almost un- ';broken regularity. The name of a .street changes with almost every block according to old Spanish custom. The lPaseo de la Reforma, the finest avenue iin the city, is a broad boulevard al- lmost three miles long. There were ,(1908) 323 government schools in the (city, including 13 professional and [technical schools, and nearly 200 pri- ;vate schols; 3. Geographical Society, 'an Association of Engineers and {Architects and a Society of Natural History, also a National Library dedi- cated in 1692 of upwards of 225,000 {volumes There are over 160 manu- facturing establishments, including iiron working shops.- . l ______*__a > “Doesn't it give you a terrible 1' eoling when you run over a man ’2” they asked him. “Well, if he’s. a [large man,” replied the motorist, "‘it does give one a. pretty rough jolt.” ‘of his twelve windows let HOW TO CURE 'SIOMACH TROUBLE The Common Cause is Lack .There is the most intimate rela- tion between the condition of the blood and the activity, of the stoâ€" mach. The blood depends upon the stomach for a large part of its nourishment, while every act of digestion, from the time the food enters the. stomach and is ass-imi- lated by the blood needs plenty of pure well-oxidized blood.- The muscles, glands and nerves of the stomach work only according to the quality of the blood. The most common cause of indiâ€" gestion is lack of rich, red- blood. Not only does impure. blood weaken the muscles of the stomach, but it lessens the product of the glands of the intestines and stomach, which furnish the digestive fluids. Noth- ing will more promptly cure indi- gestion than plenty of pure blood. Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills are the safest and most certain bloodâ€" builder] A thorough trial of these pills gives a. hearty appetite, per- fect digestion, strength and health. Here is proof of the value of these Pllls in cases of indigestion. ers. Alfred Austin, Varna, Ont., says: “My system became run-down and my stomach very weak. I had no desire for flood and what I did take caused me great distress, and did not afford me nourishment, and I was gradually growing weaker, and could scar-cer do any work at all. I did not sleep soundly at night, and would wake up not at all re- fresh-ed and with a feeling of dread Some years previously I had used Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills with much benefit, and this decided me to again try them. My confidence was not misplaced, as by the time I had used six boxes I was again feeling quite well.” Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills are sold by all medicine dealers or will be sent by mail at 50 cents a. box or six box-es for $2.50 by sending to The Dr. Williams’ Medicine 00., Brookâ€" ville, Ont. >z4_______ - DIFFER 0N FRESH AIR. London Specialists Who Want Their Windows Shut. i Sir Robertson Nichol complains about the “detestable habit of open windows,” by which he asserts that he catches cold. Despite'th-e fact that many; doctors preach the gosâ€" pel of the open window, there is apparent dissonance between medi- cal teaching and medical practice, says the London Standard. At halfdpasst eight o’clock on a re- cent morning in Harley street there was scarce a window that let in the morning air. Later exploration at eleven o’clock and at noon of a warm, sultry day in the doctors’ quartersâ€"Harley street, Queen Anne street, Cavendish square, Wimpole street, and Devonshire streetâ€"corroborated «the fact that to outward appearance, doctors do not practice all they are believed to preach. _ A physician gave the following explanation: “All up and down Harlev street just now you observe the painters’ “ladders. I want the- air but unmixed with the odor of paint-ff This failed to account sat- isfactorily for the case, however. While the painter-s were busy about the house of Dr. Abercrombie, for instance, and the doctor’s many windows were all seal-ed, the men of the brush were equally busy next door to Sir John T-Weedy. yet most in the odorou-s air. Ladders were reared against Dr. Gordon Holmes’ and Dr. Pegler’s, but the windows there were open wide. Yet «a tour of the district, where spec-ialists’ consultâ€" ing rooms vastly outnumbered the paint pots, made it evident that eleven out of twelve of the I’V-est End medical practised the plan of the closed window. ' In Cavendish square but one half heaâ€"rtedlv opened window let the noontide air into the house of Dr. Symes Thompson, son of the great pioneer of open-air treatment for tuberculosis. Sir Victor. Horsley kept his closed, save one on the second floor, and seemingly of his mind were Sir D. Ferrier, the spe- cialist in neurology; Dr. Sandwi‘th, Dr. Elizabeth Pavtteson, Sir Ar- buthnot Lane, the senior surgeon of Guy’s; Dr. Dundas Grant, throat and our specialist, and Sir Ronald Ross, who has special ex- perience of tropical medicine. There it appeared as lthough a six-inch opening was in deference to the wishes of a small bird that hung in a gilded cage. No. 7 Harley street, which has the plates of seven doctors on its door, had but two sparingly open- ed windowa On the other hand, 0f Bloodâ€"Therefore You air as "he could 1into every room. . - The practical evic once at the house Must Bulld up the BIOOd Dr. List-er, err-president of Guy’s not been able to do for years. those of Dr. Guthrie Rankin, physi- cian to the Seamen’s Hospital at Greenwich, all opened so widely that the curtains fluttered out into the zep‘hyrs of the street, and Sir Anderson Critchestt, surgeon in or- dinary to the King, invited as much and an authority on consumption, was to the contrary purpose. At Dr. Wethered’s. physician to the Brampton and Ventnor Hospitals, three windows out of twelve were opened a little way; but. Dr. Pas- teur’s, senior physician .to Middle- sex Hospital, were opened wide. Sir Maurice Abbottâ€"Anderson, sur- geon 'to the Princess Royal, used the double window favored by Queen Victoria, so arranged that his first floor was aired between the panes. - But these and many open-air ex- ception-s only proved the rule of the sealed house. >X4,__._. ___,___. . CRAFTY SNAKES. Instance of the Wisdom of the south African Eggeater. The South African snake called the eggeater has inherited from long gen- erations of ancestors a sense of smell so acute that it appears never to be at fault. Professor Fitzslmons, direc- tor of the Port Elizabeth Museum, gives in his book on “The Snakes of South Africa” an interesting instance of the wisdom of these serpents. Being short of fresh pigeons’ eggs once, I went to my cabinet and took the clean-blown shells of a few doves’ eggs. Beating up the contents of a fowl’s fresh egg, I syringed them into the empty shells, and carefully pasted tiny bits of tissue paper over the holes. I put these in the egg-eaters’ cage, and watched, for I expected the snakes to swallow them as they did the other eggs. First one eggeater advanced. He touched each egg gently in turn with the tip of his nose or the point of his forked tongue, and crawled away in disgust. Another and'yet another eagerly advanced, repeated the per- formance, and straightway retired. I began to get interested. Leaving the eggs, I returned in a few hours’ time to find them still there. For two whole weeks those eggs re- mained in the cage untouched, al- though I refrained from giving the snakes any others. Then I procured some fresh pigeons’ eggs and put them into the cage. The snakes approached, touched them with their noses or tongues, and instantly began to swal- low them. I tried this experiment a second time with the same result. Fre- quently I have noticed that the snakes would eat some of the eggs that I gave them, and reject others. »On breaking the. latter open, I always found that they were either addled or else had a partially developed young bird inside. I could never induce an eggeater to swallow an egg that was not perfectly fresh. ‘ >X< HER MOTHER-IN-LAW Proved :1 Wise, Good Friend. A young woman found a wise, good friend in her mother-in-law, jokes notwithstanding. She writes : “I was greatly troubled with my stomach, complexion was blotchy and yellow. After meals I often suffered sharp pains and would have to lie down. My mother often told me it was the coffee I drank at meals. But when I’d quit coffee I’d have a severe headache.” (Tea con- tains the same [poisonous drug, caf- feine, as coffee). “While visiting my mother-in-law I remarked that she always made such good coffee, and asked her to tell me how. She laughed and told me it was easy to make good ‘coffee’ when you use Postum. “I began to use Postum as soon as I got home, and now we have the same ' good ‘coffee’ (Postum) every day, and I have no more trouble. Indigestion is a thing of the past, and my complexion has cleared up beautifully. ' “My grandmother suffered a great deal with her stomach. Her doctor told her to leave off coffee. She then took tea, but that was just as bad. . “She finallywas induced to try Post-um, which she has used for over a. year. She travelled during the winter visiting, something she had She says she Owes her present good health to Postum.” Name given by Canadian Postum‘ Co., Windsor, Ont. Read “The Road to Wellville,” in pkgs. Postum now comes in two forms: Regular Postum â€" must be well boiled. 15c and 25c packages. Instant Postumâ€"is a soluble powâ€" der. A teaspoonful dissolves quick- ly in a, cup of hot water and, with cream and sugar, makes a delicious beverage instantly. 300 and 500 tins. The cost per cup of both kinds is about the same. “There’s a Reason” for Postum. -â€"â€"Sold by Grocers. ______.>x<____ “Did mother punish you {co-day, iainei‘?”d ‘rz"Â¥es‘,wf[atlier.” g‘VV'haIt {seo i‘ar‘emesaym the room while she was taking her singing lessons.” m BUY/Nd YEAST CAKES BE CAREFUL TO. s- DECLINE 30357170751 V snow E- To" Pessssr MY sssr .FRlENb E.W. GILLETT CO. LTD. SPECIFY g TORONTO. pom are; z, t.. j: FOUND HAY FEVER CURE? Toxin Remedy of. Western Physi- cian Provcs Successful. A cure for hay fever? - Out of the despised ragweed, th loved and feared golden rod and the honey-bearing Spanish needleâ€" the pollen bearing trio that set the world to sneezingâ€"is made the rem- edy that was proposed as a cure be- fore the convention of homeopathic physicians of Missouri, held re- cently. Dr. E. J. Burch of Carthage, Mo., 8. widely-known homeopath,‘ made the announcement. It caused a sensation at the closing session of the convention. The remedy, he explained, was the result of his wife’s severe case of hay fever. He conceived the idea of a toxin from the weeds that cause the trouble, and after many experiments prepared a toxin which he used as a hypodermic injection. That was last summer_ His wife wascompletely relieved of all symp- toms, he reported, and out of twen- ty who took the toxin either as a cure or as a preventive, nineteen cases were successful. ‘ “I am not announcing this as a cure,” he said. “I certainly hope that it will prove as successful on further trials as it has so far, and if it proves the cur-e we have sought so long, I want the entire medical fraternity to have it. . “The process of preparation re; quires great care. ’The pollen must be gathered early in the morning before the sun rises, for the toxin found in the pollen in the heat of the day is a different thing from that found in early morning or late. night. I shook the pollen from the ragweed, two varieties of gold-en rod and two varieties of Spanish needle on a plate of glycerin and prepared and strained a toxin with water that I inject-ed into the bodies of the patients. It carried the ac- tive poison or principles of the polâ€" len. For a cure I used four doses two days apart. “For a preventive I began before the time for the patient’s hay fever to appear and used an injection each week for five weeks. “The toxin has shown its virility by hastening the hay fever season of patients in an overdose.” '1‘ FIRE AND WATER. Woman’s Swim for Life in at Burning Sea. The story of a two hours’ swim in the sea at night in danger of being overtaken by a flood of burning ben- zine is told by Mrs. Anna Boeme, wife of the captain of the Russian steamer Kometa, which blew up off Algiers, and was completely burned, with the loss of 15 of her company. “My hus- l burning ship. The benzine spread on the sea and formed 'one vast burning film which the wind drove towards me. For two hours I swam desperately from the flames. on the point of giving up, I heard a voice shouting in Russian, “Come here!” ‘- Itwas the chief stoker and some of the men in a boat which was full of water. They hoisted me in it and I sat in water up to my hips for two hours’ more. I can only hope that my husband is among those who were picked up by the English ship Lim- erick.” . >1~_______ THE HIGH COST OF LIVING. ,At the present time possibly no other subject is receiving quite as much attention in Canada as this one. It Will be a surprise to most readers to know that during the fis- cal year which ended March Blst, 1913, Canada paid $11,500,000 in duty on food, andall of this large sum is virtually a direct tax on the consumer. In glancing over the list it is easy to understand that the buying pub- lic are themselves largely to blame in- many instances, for there are articles of food produced in Canada that are equal in every respect to those made in any country in the world. In the baking powder line alone there were 667,904 lbs. imported into Canada, and this means the consumer. paid in duty the enor- mous sum of $67,000. The-re are no better goods in the world in this line than magic baking powder, and it is made in a model. sanitary up- to-date factory, and can be pro-_ cured in any first-class store at one- ‘ half the price the. imported article sells for. Such articles .. as raisins , .curran ts, and many other things, which do not grow in Canada, or are not pro- duced here, have of necessity to be imported, and the duty paid. If the consumer would devote a little thought and attention to this subject a. large amount of money could and Would be savedâ€"Cana- dian Home Journal. _>!< An Unlmown Tongue: Doubl-eyewâ€"-Is that your wife talking baby talk to the dog? Picksâ€"Either that or she’s talk- ing dog talk to the baby. It’s up :to the man who would live long to live slowly. A bigamist, says a wit, is a man who has more w1ve-s than Judgment. “Mike, I am going to make you a present of this pig.” “Ah, sure, I): an’ ’tis just like vou, sor. Many a good man has let a good band put me in a boat after the ship 10b get away from, “him because 'he had burst into flames” she said, “but 1 harbored the delusion that no other man was smart enough to get hlS place. it capsized. I began to swim in the black water, which was lit up by the does make the bread and butter taste good I” T is when you spread it out on bread or pancakes, fruit or porridge, that you notice most the sweetness and perfect purity of REDBATIjI_Exua Granulated Sugar. Buy it in the 2 and 5-H). Sealed Cartons, or in the 10, 20, 50 or 100-lb. Cloth Bags, [you’ll getth'e genuine . absolutely clean, just as it left the refinery. 83 CANADA, sum some co» LIMITED, MONTREAL. ' At last, when'I was . L ' l ’ 5* . . L l a if all. a ~. 0,, ‘3 . IVVV»V»Vy-¢vgvng- "W’V‘- e...- www Va». Nw=u~45w~ “M: . We‘WWK \figyfif‘ '. . . .41» nupfi,’ . I" ‘m i n. ‘ ‘ i. ' .. I 1.3.... 5.1“ '5 ._ ‘ a we‘v. '3. 93:9» ,v‘ .meflw "\"'~?‘~"~’\-\“~Mtr x. <1. L _-“-.A« . . v ’ >“WA~A’A:‘_ '. .. <Iz-l’_ uflxywah.‘ .. A