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mmlmm ONLY WARMED OVER SREENBACKISWI REVIVED BY THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE. Money Notion Rroa(ht Up „s- _ loan Form Than E*er-- H|*- Of Ytkle Strange Delusion in Our U*u Straight FMb, Mr. Polk of North Carolina, the presl- the Farmers' Alliance, at tho ^convention declared: _ congress had persistently Ignored 'Alliance propositions and even sap* * discussion of them, notably in the of tlie measure known as the sub- ry bill. "Congress," he said, "must i nearer to the people or the people will tN»axer..fo eong**Bs." . Ail outlining the future financial policy V^$fc|>'jfclliaace President Polk said that it I demand the restoration of silver to i rights and qualities of legal tender . Which gold possesses; the issue of govern- CMiht currency directly to the people; the equalization of taxes; the prohibition of all IklMMi ownership of land: the ownership and ' aMtgqlof transportai a>ti Un« by the gov- the limit of public revenues to the economical administration of the gov- onunetit; graduated taxation of incomes, •and the election of United States senators by a direct rote of the people. It will be seen that thia Is substan­ tially the platform of the St. Louis alli­ ance convention. In an interview had at Ocaia two days earlier President Polk said. I am morally certain of the reasons for republican defeat in the late elections. Wo shall have to look beyond the McKlnley tariff bill---it was not that. We must look beyond the Lodge bill--it was not that. We must look further than any and all of the political questions which have been obscur­ ing the real issue for nearly twenty years. It was the oppression of the financial sys­ tem of this country upon the masses of the people. They have just found out what the matter Is. They are thinkers to-day if they never were bofore. They have scratched away all tho rubbish of the negro question, of the bloody shirt, of the tariff, and of the federal cont rol of elections, and they have at last got down to hard pan. It is the dol­ lar that is keeping the people down to-day. It is the money power--the rule of plutoc­ racy. And the people will have no more of It. The slogan henceforth is to be financial reform. The national banking system must go. The farmer and laborer must be given a chance to get what money they need upon the security of their real property--a privi­ lege which is denied them to-day. The is­ sue from now on is to be a square one be­ tween the manhood of America on the one aide and the great American dollar on the Other. And I tell you right now that unless the leaders of the great, political battles to come recognize the real Issue and make it there are going to be terrible times In this country. This is simply the old greenback fiat idea. It is another outbreak of the strange delusion known as fiatism--that a government by its mere say-so can give to a piece of printed paper the in­ trinsic value possessed by gold or silver. This idea had full swing in tho Ameri­ can colonies prior to and during the rev­ olution and also during the early history of some of the western states. Wher­ ever tried, on a large or small scale, it has worked mischief. That it should come up again backed by so many voters is another evidence of the eternity of folly. Mr. Polk demands that the govern­ ment of the United States loan the farm­ ers all the "money" they need on tho se­ curity of their lands and crops, charging them 1 per cent, interest. As the gov­ ernment has no private resources, as it has no vast hoard of heaped-up treasure, and little more money than is needed to pay current expenses, where is it to get the billions the Alliance schemo calls on to, loan oat? There is but one answer to that. The government ^l.aUst get some paper, set the print­ ing presses to running at full speed, and turu out tons of pretty pictures, which it declares by act of congress shall be a legal tender for all debts. When it has made a lot of these works of art--not redeemable on demand in coin--It must issue enough of them to every farmed in the country to enable him to "pay off" his mortgage, his store bills, and his taxes. All the debtor farmers will be happy then. As well might the govern­ ment declare, without the intervention |i' , of any currency at all, that all debts are J:/,, "off" and canceled by proclamation of %X. the president. y 4 The next thing on the program is the Jr< S seizure by tlie federal government of all 3J* . "'the railroads and other transportation which will be operated thenceforth y the politicians and their henchmen, he number of employes will be in- eased, wages raised, and the efficiency "-of the service lowered. The present owners of these properties are to be paid for them in fiat money or 1 per cent bonds, the interest and principal of which will be made payable in "Flat." in the next place, all f armers'products are to be stored in warehouses built and run by the federal government, and are to be kept there free of charge till the public demand for them forces up tho • price to a figure satisfactory to the alli­ ance. Then the stuff is to be sold at 'famine prices or as near them as possi­ ble. That the producer may not suffer while waiting for the sale of his crops ' | tho government is to advance him 80 per a. 1 cent, of their fair value. Of course ij§ * these advances will have to be in fiat • money. There will be none other avail- le, £or gold and silver would have dis­ appeared the moment the new order of thupgs went into force. <<3 hat with carrying the clrbps, paying .he mortgages, and buying the rail- Is, it would not be long before the htry was deluged with shinplasters. at would their purchasing power be th4n? How long would it take that jpotft of stuff to drop to 25, 15, 10 and 5 jff x, )cejnts on the dollar? A year would see * 'V* gl^ld quoted at 1,000--ten fiat dollars for k :.one gold one. The worthlessness of the " • Confederate shinplaster would be rivaled * - and outdone 1 The test of tho value ef the pretty pictures of the government would be their purchasing power. A creditor might be forced to accept the fiat stuff for his coin value debt, but no legisla- '<j. /.tion could compel him to sell his goods or his land for shinplasters at their face ?]'• V, value. When the farmer went to tho " -/ '*8tore with the fiat which had been given * \ him as an advance on his warehoused l^^'iCrop he would find that its purchasing power vms hardly worth considering, r' ' He would be charged 81 for a pound of f. sugar, $100 for a barrel of flour, and 83 1 f 'W • or f4 for a pound of tea. The cross- J t.^jijreads' blacksmith would charge $75 for I a horse, and a thousand feet of •*, v lumber would call for 8500 or 8700 of fiat. . -. Nor would there be any credit. The shopkeeper would want his pay, such as ttwms, at once, and would not run the 'ri9^ a 8'ill greater depreciation of the "• , currency. -a. Therefore the relief for the evils of t ;•§ which the farmer complains is not to be " 4? 5 found in mad projects which will lead to j - f^,:the ruin of himself and others, but , . .rather in the repeal of unnecessary du- S"» •£ *.%es and the scaling down of those which • ,.:*|are too high to the moderate protection i - '-level, and in placing the raw materials ' of manufacturers, such as wool, coal, g? " few ore, lumber, etc., on the free list. seek for larger markets for the i'., * XMprnr, according to Blaine's reciprocity * f * sPeheme. These reforms will cheapen the ™ of the accessaries of life, and at the raise the market price of his 71"" -products, reduce the rate of interest, loanable capital more abundant, create prosperity throughout the conn try for every interest, farm- pnanofactarlng, and commercial. Pbastk's apportionment • food deal of <*>Da- • / * V* mendatton. The idea of adjusting the mattereccoidlogto the priiMstjple of per­ centage is a manifestly just aad fair one to all states and to all parties, and con­ gress could not do better than to adopt it. ,-T rv-S V: ' 7-^*8 OTHERS SEE US. A t-.v^vvv ^ , [New York Press.] The London Time* is not usually re­ garded by patriotic Americans as good authority In American politics. The Times wanted Cleveland elected; so did Lord Sackville-West, but Americans voted the other way, and Cleveland was defeated. The Times opposed the Mc- Kinley bill, and expressed great joy wh»n th.e result of the election showed a denocratic majority in the house of rep­ resentatives presumably antagonistic to th/ measure. But the staff correspond- er.-s of the Timet in Philadelphia has the honesty to tell the people of England jjjst how much the tariff had to do with tte republican defeat. He describes £.•> two prominent causes of disaster the renewed solidity of the south and the farmers' alliance in the west. Then he 0dds: The third cause, generally prevalent throughout ihe Country, and equally poten­ tial, was the new tariff, not so much on ac- «iount of its direet influence, because it had not actually got into practical effect, bat through the avidity with which every shop-* keeper took advantage of it to mark up his* goods. Thjs advantage was made almost; the very day the bill went into effect, and was universal, covering everything, includ­ ing many articles not affected by the bill. The "tariff" was generally assigned as the reason of the advance, and two or three weeks of this sort of thing got a good many voters into prime condition to knock down the tariff if possible. This influence was universal, being particularly effective in New England and New York, as well as the west, and to it, with tho powerful aid given by the Importing class, whoso business the new tariff curtails, is duo the Tammany democratic victory in New York city. The correspondent of The Thunderer is altogether too sweeping in his assertion of a general advance in prices, but ho is undoubtedly correct in his statement that the tariff itself did not produce that advance, but that it was in many in­ stances a deceptive and fraudulent pre­ tense, intended to affect the election. Regarding McKlnley the London Times writer says: "Ho is One of tho few re­ publicans who have gained prestige. He was defeated for re-election, but made a remarkable run in the district that was 'gerrymandered' to defeat him,.and he will probably be elected by the repub­ licans next year governor of Ohio, as they hold the state by a good majority on the direct tariff issue." This testimony, in the colnmns of a great foreign newspaper, well known to be hostile to the republican party of tho United States and its protection policy, is worth reading just how. THE SUBTREASURY SCHEME. [Lincoln Journal.] The sub-treasury scheme of the alli­ ance prophets and dictators is one of those doctrines that they reserve mostly for secret advocacy in their lodges. They are quite chary of putting it to the front in their national and state declarations of principles, but they use it with great effect in the rural lodges for it is the greatest and most tyrannous class combination of producers to force the market to their advantage, ever soberly put forward since the time of tho French revolution. The anarchists would perhaps in an insane moment adopt a principal as wild as this, but the anarchists are producers, as a general rule, of wind only, and are not worthy of serious attention. This is tho scheme. In every county in the country where proof is made that the agricultural products amount to 8500,000 per annum the secretary of the treasury shall open out an office to be called a sub-treasury and put up ware­ houses of sufficient capacity to hold all the agricultural products of the country, such as cotton, grain, tobacco and everything that will keep in store. The sub-treasury being opened and tho warehouses prepared, every farmer will have tho right to store his crops in the warehouses, taking tho receipt therefor. The storage and insurance charges shall be just sufficient to pay actual cost of tho same to the government. Upon getting such a warehouse receipt, the farmer will step up to the sub-treasur­ er's office and draw an amount in treasury notes that are legal tender, equal to 80 per cent of the "market price" of the grain or tobacco or cotton that he has deposited. This money he can keep for any time he sees fit. Fin­ ally when he gets ready to sell his ware­ house receipt he pays 1 per cent, per annum interest on the money the treasury has advanced him and the stor­ age and insurance charges. Of course tho first benefit expected by the alliance men from this arrangement is the cash in hand, as soon as he stores his crop. But the chief profit and ad­ vantage is that he and his neighbors and the farmers generally will be able to combine and refuse to market th$ year's product of grain or cotton or tobacco until the famine in tho land is sufficient to send up the price. The chief attraction of the scheme is the combination or trast part of it, and the people at large will have to bear the expense of hoarding the products of the farm and keeping them out of the market until the combine can get its own price for them. The people will merely pay tho farmer 80 per cent, of the pres­ ent value of his crop and hoard it for him at a minimum expense until the farmers have run the price up as high as they think the nation can stand, and then they pocket the difference, whether the retention of the crop from the mar­ ket has doubled or trebled it in value. No other producer in this country, however, is to be allowed to go into a like "combine" for the raising of the value of his product. The laws are to be made so stringent that it will be a penal offense for the laborer who manu­ factures iron or stoneware or furniture or shoes or clothing, to enter into an ar­ rangement to control the market by holding by a part of the supply until prices rise. The only legal combine will bo that made 011 an immense scale by the honest farmers with the United States treasury to furnish tho capital necessary to maintain and support the trust. In addition to the "sub-treasury" scheme is the plan of drawing on the treasury of the country to the extent of 50 per cent of the appraised value of the farms for loans to farmers, at the same rate per cent that is to be paid for advances on crops. This is touched on very gingerly, also, in the open meetings and in the promulgated platforms of the political managers of the alliance, but, as is well known is one of the baits held out at the secret meetings ol the lodges. Those were the bribes held out to the farmers by the alliance leaders during the late campaign to got them to "stick" to the ticket put up by the independents. With these Utopian schemes in *iew by which a vista of boundless affluence and big profits wore held up to* tho gaze of the agriculturist, suffering greatly 1 the low prices produced by abundant crops of last year almost total failure of the ci season of 1980, U is no woodei tariff was forgotten, that the Issues seemed paltry and and that an enthusiasm such as awakened for years attended the ing addressed by the anarchical ora1 Compared to the dazzling prograi of getting every former** hand Into United States treasury, all of government look poor utier tnpmcticabitttir of aa. ; will, fcowsver, in time develop itself to the land Rimers of the country. Of all tho peopl* o£ the world, the land owner cannot for any length of time be Induced to play the rote of anarchist and general confiscate* of property. And when tho sub-treasury bubble and the "fssuing-of- money - directly - to - the - people" bubble burst, down goes the meat house of the "third party." Its foundations are moon­ shine. , So far as the . other and fmore opea planks of the platform of the alliance party are concerned, they are not such as to distinguish them from any other political party. Their statement that railroads and telegraph companies should bo controlled and perhaps finally owned by the government, is not original or distinctive, but is the common prop­ erty of all parties. The same can be said of all the rest Of the platitudes they put forth. But the proposition to divide all the money that can "be coined or printed by the government, among one class of la­ borers in the country, a class that monopolizes the laud of the country al­ ready, is peculiar and distinctive and is what has given the manipulators of the alliance their immense influence over tho imaginations of the farmers of the west and the planters of the south. t ? . , E L A I N E I N i 8 9 2 * > y IfMhineapoiis Tribune.) ^ Everything by way of indication grows stronger, day by day, that Mr. Blaine will be the leader of the republican phalanx In '92, if he but consents. All other candidates, like Allison, Alger, and other possibilities, are willing to step down and out of the race, if by doing so it will facilitate his nomina­ tion. No ono can fail to see this ic tho signs of the day. This talk of mug­ wump sheets that ho is too old and its- firm won't go down. The people know better. He was born in 1830, and Ms masterly manner of handling public questions and men give tho lie to the last proposition. Tho fact is, and those who speak or write to the contrary hate no personal knowledge of what they assert, he is looking younger to-day, and is in better condition physicially than he has been before in the last ten years. And he is more popular all over the country than ever, largely bo- cause he has wiped ont forever the idea heretofore entertained by a good many republicans that he wits too much of tho "jingo" stamp of poli­ tician to be a safe leader. All sorts of national disasters have been pictured as to take place if he were ever promoted to tho executive chair of the nation. Good republicans were afraid he would get us into trouble with foreign coun­ tries, and set section against section even in our own country. But the man who would even intimate such dire con­ sequences to-day as tho result of the elevation to tho presidency of this fore­ most of American statesmen, would be pronounced a knave, fool, or fit subject for the lunatic asylum by nine-tenths of the people of the United States regard­ less of sex or political affiliations. In fact, the principal objections to the can­ didacy of Mr. Blaino heretofore made by not a few honest-minded republicans, and so publicly and unscrupulously bla­ zoned to the world by selfish, dishonest politicians, no longer exist. He has dispelled and disproved them himself. Maj. McKinley's friends concede that his chances for receiving the next nom­ ination are well nigh wiped out, whether rightfully or not. Of course it is history that many things said of the law for which he stands responsible were false; but, al&o, many things said of it were true, and he can never outlive the dis­ trust and bad feeling that have gone out broadcast about him on account of it. Even if before the real time comes to name the next republican candidate it shall have become patent that tho so- called McKinley tariff law is a good one, still the leaders and the real mass of voters in the republican party will not hazard the intents and success of party by nominating him. No, McKinley, able and popular as he is, good president as ho would unquestionably make, is not considered in the raco for the '92 nom­ ination, except by a few warm frienrts and personal admirers, and it is doubt­ ful if he himself has the slightest idfta of entering it. Sherman, perhaps, might loom rp again, were it not for the faot that in­ terest in the silver question calls up his record in bringing about the passage of that 1873 law, demonetizing silver, re­ ferred to elsewhere. That makes him an impossibility. The great west and northwest and the Pacific slope demand, among other things, as one of the requi­ sites in the make-up of the next candi­ date, that he shall not bo a man whoflb whole financial life has been pitted against what the silver men believe to be their interest. Thi9 feature of his pub­ lic life has never been brought out, as it will be now if his friends seriously con­ template putting him in the field. Speaker Reed, also, might have strong and perhaps irresistible backing to-day were it not for the almost universal feel­ ing that he must share with McKinlcy largely tho disfavor and suspicion cast upon him by the disastrous defeat of November just passed. NEXT YEAR AS AN INDICATOR, [St Louis Globe Democrat.] Does the victory which the democracy gained in 1890 mark a permanent tam­ ing of the tide in favor of that party, or docs it indicate irferely a temporary ob­ struction in the current of republican success? These are questions which thousands of intelligent persons all over the country are asking themselves at this moment. The history of American political parties shows the folly .of basing sweeping generalizations of this sort on any single triumph, however extended and overwhelming. After the great victory in 1840 the whigs seemed to be justified in looking forward to a long period of power; yet defeat came to them two years later in the congressional elections, and four years subsequently in the presidential canvass. In 1852 the whigs were al­ most swept out of existence by the demo­ crats, but the house of representatives chosen in 1854 was controlled by the ele­ ments opposed to the democracy, and in 1856 these elements, which had thefi taken the name of republican, missed the presidency by what in sporting phrase is termed a "scratch." Othtfr elections, before and since these datee, tell a similar story of the changes which two or three years may reveal in the at­ titude of the people toward the great parties. The elections of 1891, however, can nOt fail to afford considerable light as to the chances of the parties in the can­ vass of the succeeding year. Many of the states will elect governors or oth-r state officers twelve months hence. In several of these--New York, Ohio aDd Iowa in particular--the contest promises to be animated and • exciting. These choose governors, and in each, democrat or probably be looked ial possibility. This .cause each party to make the con- or&MfiiK exciting athV^^H^pions, of Ob.ci^^^^^Bes, will nsly if^^^^Hfcss, and ' r jnf^^^^^the tam­ ing or- fai as the ro­ th* ground that they will recover all of It in 1899 and carry the country will be reasonable. Bat if, on the other band, tho democrats hold most or laif of the states hitherto republican which they wen in 1S80, re­ publican prestige will suffer and repub­ lican chances fOr victory will not be flattering. MMCINLEY AND MUTfONt [N«w York Press.] Ex-Becretary Robert H. Lamborn of the American Iron and Steel association says that while the English manufact­ urers were investigating oar resources during their recent tour of the west and south ho met thr^e of them who were thinking of establishing their works here; one, a manufacturer of finished iron; another, a carpet manufacturer, and tho third, a brewer. At least one of these is to bo directly credited to the McKinley bill, which increases the duty on carpet wool, which can be grown here. TVs! carpet manufacturer knows that the supply of carpet wool will be ample in any event for the carpet trade. The fact is that under the old carDet wool duties a great deal of carpet wool was need in making clothing, to the exclu­ sion of American one-quarter blood t: wis. "The decrease in tho sheep in jthe United States during tho laft few *vears." says Justice, Batcman & Co., ol Philadelphia, a recognized authority on wool, "has beeh almost exclusively in those yielding coarse wool; they are what are known as mutton sheep, and the decrease in these ilocks is thus also decreasing the food supply of the United States." Worklngmen, we believe, will not fail to note the point that, In spite of the free trade howl about "taxed carpet wools and dearer carpets," the McKin­ ley bill is actually encouraging foreign capitalists to co-ne here and make more carpets, and thnt these very carpet wool duties are likely to make mutton cheaper as well as carpets. If Maj. McKinley were never to enter public life again he would be vindicated with a vindication of which auy public man might be proud, when his bill should have cheapened the poor man's leg of mutton. [NDANGEROFSTARVING BAD CONDITION OF MANY OA* KOTA FARMERS. THE THIRD PARTY QUESTION, [Lincoln JouraaL] H»e "national alliance" has refused to countenance tho meeting of a conven­ tion for tho establishment of a third party. The southern brigadiers now controlling that body explain that the southern members of tho alliance will never under any circumstances unite with the republican party. They have provided against that by passing the resolution against any legislation tend­ ing to secure a fair count at congres­ sional elections. They say that there Is little uonbt that the democratic party will adopt anything that the alliance want* it to, and so it will be super­ fluous to establish a third party when the democrats are all ready to come in so far as the south is con­ cerned. Then they further believe that the northern democrats are as willing as Bar! is was and that the next campaign will *ee the democracy and the alliance marching hand in hand to victory and "the republicans beaten out of sight. This is the outcome that the Journal has predicted. The alliance was started for po other purpose than to split the republicans in a few northern states and g'vfc the democrats an easy victory in 1F9S, But there is many a slip betwixt th« ^upand the lip and the probability is ihat the republican farmers of the northwest will not fall into the embraces of t&e southern brigadiers with quite the faculty expected. .3., POLITICAL NOTES to Farmers' alliance appeal# to be greasing itself for the purpose of being swallowed by the democratic party. ri'HK Cleveland-Hill vendetta may have been settled; but the fact remains thtit Gov. Hill is the kind of a politician wh.o alwrys carries a sand-bag under his overcoat. ?£NATOB VOOBHEES says he "thanks Go J for newspaper men;" and Che latter cei tainly have reason to be thankful for liim, as his absurdities so often make thc.m laugh. tBEsiuKNT HABBISOK says it was "a cor.catenation of circumstances" that de­ feated the republican party in the No­ vember elections. This may be regarded as £ sly attempt to so state the case that the democrats canft understand it. Yhe accession of /3oV. Tillman, of South Carolina, to pywer pats the lower social stratum in the palmetto state on ton. He was not and is not a member of <ek>uth Carolina's four hundred. He is, *n fact, wh*t the French of the old davs used to call a "gentleman of the pavement." Under the peculiar con­ ditions prevailing in that ultra aristo­ cratic commonwealth this is almost as sweeping a revolution as that was which pus the people in power in France a cet tury ago on the ruins of the Bourbon rc&imo. T*hb greater part of the third party tal'f at the Farmers' alliance convention is among the delegates from the west. Thas means, of course, that if the allK aiu-fl should put a national ticket in the field in 1892 the republican party would suPer more than the democratic. His­ tory repeats itself in this respect. In almost every instance in which a minor organization has appeared prominently in politics it has drawn from the domi­ nant party. It is this party which is responsible for legislation, and, as a con- sequcnce, it becomes the target for all the restless, dissentient and impractic­ able elements of the community. three states will the sui ,.. Books Mma» of Clay. $Nt#away beyond the plains potamia, on the banks of the River Tigris, lie the ruins of the ancient Nine­ veh. Not long since huge mounds of earth and stone marked the place where the palaces and walls of the proud capi­ tal of the great Assyrian empire stood. Ihe spade and scraper, first of the French and then of the English, have chared all the earth away and laid bare a il that remains of the old streets and palaces where the proud princess of Assyria walked and lived. The gods they worshipped and the books they aead have all been revealed to the sight <.f a wondering world. The most curious <<f all the curious things preserved in Vhis wonderful manner are the clay books of Nineveh. The chief library of the city was contained in the Pal­ ace of Kanyunjik. The clay books which composed its contents were sets of tablets covered with very small letters. The tablets are all oblong in shape, and when several of them are used for one book the first line of the tablet following was written at the end of the one pre­ ceding it. The writing was done when the clay of the tablet was soft; it was then baked to harden it. Each tablet was numbered just as librarians of to day number the books of which they have charge. Among these books are to be found collections of hymns, descrip­ tions of animals and birds, stones and vegetables, as well as of history and travel. The Assyrians nftere great stu­ dents of astronomy. The method of of telling time by the sun and of mark­ ing it by the sundial was either invented by them or their neighbors, the Baby­ lonians, None of our modern clocks or watches can be compared to the suadial for accuracy. Indeed, we regelate our modern inventions by the ancient Assyr­ ian and Babylonian systems.JLOMCS JftfwMlcan. fa Sftak aad HoMrhborlm* CooaMd Yfcar* Will Bo Mtiedt Suffering YMs Winter *ow Sp««iUwa Suppress the Itwta About tb« Condition or thn Psople. [Chicago dispatch.] "A man cannot kill a hen in Spink County, South Dakota, for his sick wife without breaking the law," is the way William Broakans, a lawyer of Redfield, S. D., who is stopping at the Leland, expressed himself concerning the deplor­ able condition of the farmers in the county he mentioned. "I moan by that," he continued, "that 00 per cent, of the real estate in Spink County is mortgaged for all it is worth, and nearly all the chattels are also mortgaged, and in this case if a farmer kills one of his chickens, a calf in his barnyard, or anything else he may have on his farm he violates the law. The situation is serious. Many families have left the county and others are leaving. Some of those who remain would like to go, but they have staid so long that now they can't. "I have seen an entire family drive out of the country, taking everything it possessed on earth in a small wagon, the chattel-mortgage shark having claimed everything else. "Hundreds of families In Spink County have not provisions enough to last them a week; no money to buy any­ thing; nothing remains in the houses to sell, and they cannot secure credit Last year the state of affairs among the farmers was bad, but this year it Is worse. Worse, because the people of South Dakota who wrote to their friends for aid and secured it are denounced as defamcrs of South Dakota. "There is little fuel on hand in the towns, and not much in the entire coun­ try. There Is scarcely any straw or hay to burn, as the drought left no crops. Thousands of acres were not cut this year. But such reports as this were not sent out to the newspapers. Prosperity and immsnse crops are what the men who were elected to office tried to make the outside world believe. "Should a severe winter set In, and It is not at all unlikely, the result would bo awful. The roads would be blockaded for months, and, with the scarcity of supplies, tho towns would contain noth­ ing but starving, freezing people. And how would the few fare who have se­ cured their supplies? Starvation makes an angry mob of a crowd, and nothing like rule would prevail. And, if the blockade continued long, there might not be any one in the spring to tell tho story of the sufferings. "The farmers fear that this is the con­ dition that confronts them, but no such report gets outside of the State, because real-estate boomers send out denials of the true state of affairs. I will go so far as to say that the ollicial statistics are falsified, and Judge Howe, who was re­ cently elected from Redfield, is my au­ thority for saying this. People in the other States believe there is prosperity in South Dakota, and for that reason are unwilling to help those who are really in need. "While at the Farmers' Alliance con­ vention at Mitchell, S. D., Mr. Ashley, of Iowa, told the farmers that the people of his State were willing to help those in need, but as soon as they heard from some family that was probably starving, reports would appear in the local Iowa papers denying the state of affairs, and claiming the starving people of South Dakota were imposing upon the gener­ osity of those who desired to help them 'If you want to secure assistance,' said Mr. Ashley, 'you must close tho mouths of the real-estate boomer and the huaii gratfon Bureau.' "This is not the condition in every part of the State. In the eastern and southeastern parts there is more pros* perity, but there is not a county east of the Missouri River where many people in need of help cannot be found. The extortions of railroads and money-loan- ers lie back of the suffering. What little wheat was raised had to be sold to i>ay interest and debts." The Kin* of Bells. The largest bell in the world is the one at Moscow, Russia, known aa the King of Bells. It was cast in 1732, partly from fragments of another great bell called the Giant, which was brok­ en in the early part of the seventeenth century, by falling from its support. The Giant, although not so large as the King of BoIIb, was, nevertheless, no pigmy, for we are told that it weighed two hnndred and eighty-eight thousand pounds, and took the com­ bined strength of twenty-four men to ring it. The King of fcells, like its predecessor, had the misfortune to be broken five years after it was cast, by falling timbers during the great fire of 1737. The bell is now upon the ground, the broken place in the side being as large as a good sized door. The old bell itself is large enough for a dwell­ ing house, being nineteen feet and three inches in height, and sixty feet and nine inches around the margin. This monster of monsters weighs four hundred and forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty-two pounds; it is said that an enormous amount of gold (by some authorities estimated at over a ton) was by accident incorpor­ ated into its composition. Russia takes the lead in the matter of great bells, Moscow claiming the sec­ ond largest bell in the world, also the St. Ivan, which weighs one hundred and twenty-seven thousand eight hun­ dred and thirty pounds, over thirteen times as much as the largest bell in America, and six times as large as the largest on St. Peter's, at Rome. St. Ivan is sixteen and a half inches thick and forty feet and nine inches around the base. Bells are relics of paganism having first been used "to scare away devils and to break the lightning." Personal Brevities* Bis BtrrutB lectured Saturday night in Boston on "Wendell Phillips," and took occasion to announce that this would be probably his last appearance upon the lecture platform. Miss Braddox, the English novelist, who in private life is'Mrs. Maxwell, is described as a tall, dark, earnest-looking woman, with peaked features and a com­ plexion indicating long hours of work. She talks well, dresses expensively, and wears costly jewels. Kim KalAkatta's motto, as blazoned upon the royal coat-of-arms, consists of the following mystic words: "J»a man ke ea oka ika pond," which, according to the translation given by a returned mis­ sionary, means in English: "A straight flush beats three of a kind. * Ismail Pasha, the ex-Khedive, whose extravagance ruined Egypt and neces­ sitated his recall, has now applied to the Sultan for 850,000 to enable him to buy furniture for his palace at Stamboul. There is nothing close about Ismail as long as his friends settle the bills. ^ Audttbon, the distinguished natural­ ist, was buried in Trinity Cemetery, New York, nearly forty years ago, but there is no stone or other .thing to mark his grave, and several New York scien­ tific men have started a) movement to raise a fond for a monument over Ida last reattny place. Bow They f.!ve. A writer in Science telk this atofj ol life in the igloo or h&tof the na- tiveeof King WBlJam'a La*d: "The tempmtnre inside ranges from freez­ ing (above which, of course, .1$ cannot ascend) to about ten or t wenljj^dBgrees below. Late in the winter, wfrcctt all have inured themselves to the cold, the same tribe will keep their houses much colder with the same apparent comfort At these temperatures one feels very warm after ooming in ifom the outside. The outer clothes are taken off, and even baths are indulged in; the little children, stark naked, playing on reindeer-skins of the bed with the little puppies and toy harness. Those tribes that do no use oil lamps are, of course, much colder in their houses, having only the warmth of tho body and a few lights, with occasionally some cooking from the lamps; yet I do not think it ever gets below zero. Even in these igloos I have known a Kinnepetoo to take a reindeer skin that had been soaked to rid it of hair, and that v,"uri apparently fiOieu K> mniu w- boiler plate, and putting it under hib coat against tho bare skin, hold it there not only till it was thawed out, but aHo until it was dry, and lit to be used as a drum-head for their superstitious rites. Juggernaut could show no greater de­ votees among his followers. Such are the iron Innuits of the unwarmed ig­ loos of the Arctic. A reoently ootf structed igloo is more oomfortabU than one long used, the alternating heat and cold of the day and night soon converting the latter into a translucent mass of ice, that becomes uncomfort­ ably chilly on a cold night; besides, the steam from the cooking and the moisture from the breath congeal upon the roof, and, in the course of ten or twelve days, become so thick as to form a base for a constant liliputian snow-storm, which is disagreeable beyond measure. One of the most conspicuous discomforts ol Arctic traveling is the constant chang- i n g o f i g l o o s . " • » AFFAIRS IK ILLW0II ITEMS GATHKRBD PROM VARKll OUSSOWRCfeS. : ^ What Omr Pttlghbora Am ITiit>i utaimtg' oT Omamt* Ml t*ead Intel Hagee aad Death* AccldeaU 1 --Personal Pointer#. AT Chicago Paul Holt?., 16 yaara cnt the throat of his sleeping fathtidh a caseknife. The deed was dsan fai' blood, and the details are unosnafty I rible. We quote from the Chicago JNrt.* Father and son slept togotlMr, : o'clock the boy went to bed. M htm »table knife. Half an hoar father came home, undressed, and I bNtie his son, who was apparen & Brain In Chare*. . ' £ ; . The last place from which one would expect to hoar of a bear invading s church during the diviue service would be in the city of London, yet it was in the heart of that city, and not in Kamtchatka or British Columbia that suoh an invasion recently took place. A service was in progress at a Non­ conformist chapel in the English capi­ tal one Sunday morning not long ago. The good pastor had just announced his text, "Be not afraid," when a lady in the congregation uttered a scream and started toward the pulpit, looking back toward the door as she did so. The movement attracted the attention of the congregation toward the back oi the church, and there they saw a large bear taking a seat in an unoccupied pew, as if he intended to participate in tiie worship. Notwithstanding the peaceable aspect of the bear, the women and ohilaren continued to leave their pews and take refuge around the pulpil, as if they ex­ pected the minister to defeud them, and there was general belief, even among the men, when the proprietor ol the bear, an Italian, entered the church, bowed respectfully and apologetically, and attaching a strap to a ring in the bear's nose, led him out. It seems that the bear, one of the European sort, which win coppers foi their owners by dancing, had been acci­ dentally freed for a moment in front oi the church, and had seen the half-open door and entered. It is possible that he had been at­ tracted by the sound of a hymn the congregation had just sung, for many bears are known to be fond of muaio. Found In n Crane's Craw. A trullv wonderful plant is at the Alleghany Conservatory. No one knows to what class it belong*, or anything about it. It .is the subject of muoh speculation among botanists, and they anxiously await the development of a bud that is forming. : Then, they say, they can place the plant. The botanists have a suspicion that the plant is a tropical one, and Superintendent Ham­ ilton is treating it on that supposition. The history of the plant so far as known is a unique one. During the summer one of a party of gunners brought down a crane. It was a beau­ tiful specimen and the taxidermist of the party set to work to mount it. In the bird's craw were found several seeds. With a view to learning if the seed was killed by the bird eating it they were placed in water. In a few days the seeds sprouted. They were planted in loam and kept in a warm, room. Edward Y. McCandless took charge of it, The plant was an object of interest to Mr. McCandless and his botanist friends and its development was closely watched. Last week it was transferred to the conservatory. The. leaves are long and broad and heavy, not unlike a species of pa^r^igfr b u r g h C h r o n i c l e . ! ; f : / - 4: A New Type of Goo. -' William T. Chamberlain, of Norwioh, has invented and perfected a gun whioh promises to be the most durable, simple, and effectual gun ever made. It is called the electric hydrogen gun. There are three methods of firing the arms. By the first method Mr. Chamberlain claims the projectile is sent from the gun by a pressure equal to 37,000 atmos­ pheres ; by the second process by four times that force, and by the third method it is transformed into an air gun with a pressure of from 1,500 to 2,000 pound. The gun is simple, without other machinory than the chamber and barrel. The demand for new and valua­ ble weapons is so great that some of the great powers may lied in this arm the executor they have been anticipating, while Mr. Chamberlain may find in it the fortune, the shadow of which haa kept his brain active and his hands busy for mapy a day.--Norwich. Bulletin. A. DUtUctien. ' Old Moneybags (her father)--Look here, you young scoundrel, if you had any money, I'd sue you for libel I But I'm going to thrash yon within aft inoh of your life! Yc IihuM&i oung Bliffkins--W-hat for, a-eirt Didn't you tell several people I was a regular old pirate? No, s-sir, 'pon my word! What! After that night when I kicked yon out of the house? N-no, I said you were a freebooter, and you did boot me very freely I--Bos­ ton Traveler. a*otea With Compulsory Kitocattoa. Arizona, California, Conneeiicut, Dis­ trict of Columbia^ Massachusetts, •hire, New Jei Vermont, Wiaood^^^^^^^Yyooung have compulsory ing every mala yeare--usually 8 to not less than a; twelve weeks mUk year." The boy was not asleep, however, but, man nerve, lay with hie eyw dosed said Hie knife clasped in his haatt under tke teA-eieC&es. He lay movlag«sraMft* the old to Tits* fa* softly raised felt carefoHy atwtt natfl he found hfa fath~ er1* throat, aad then, with all his ssreustfc. sawed the tell tebMknit* back aad fcrtli acroas iae : mmm'a grwrnjr ibnwi nn the warm biood gjiwted Into his face tmA the bubbling groaa aad sjafttoeitlng Mratfa told the boy that the old aaa* was dyfag. Still the boy murderer's awrv» not de­ sert him. Ue dreestid, ran to the station, and cooHy reported that his had attempted to cOBKalt suicide. D*. HeJ- son was summoned and with the police har­ ried to the hoase. There a ghastly sight met their eye old man had dragged himself from tl struck a light, and on a sheet of wrapping paper was tracing with his forefinger wet with his own He finished just as they entered and fdt back apparently dead. The paper bore the words: "Paul Holtz hat's gethan--Paul llolt* did it." When the doctor had bandaged up the dU man's throat he was able to talk a ilttlew and, pointing to the son, he sr>ii in Germanr "Vow have killed me, Paul, bat you can never enjoy the money. God will pnnhdk you for this." The father wassent to the County Hospital in the ambulance, bnt died before reaching there. The son was taken to the station, whera |he broke down. "I did it because he starved me," said tks boy, UI work in a picture-frame factory at No. 177 Randolph street. I earn tt a week, and my father takes it from me and dose not give me enough to eat. He was a cab­ inetmaker and worked at Overbeck's on North Green street. He didn't much more than I do, and spent most of hla money on women." THE State Superintendent's annaal re­ port of the condition of public schools for the year ending July 1, 1890, showa the number of males in the State unde^ 21 years of ago to be 879,205, and of fe­ males to be 864,833, a total of 1,744,044. The total number between the ages of • and 21 Is .1,163,440. Out of a total of 11,511 districts school is held in all but thirty-two. In forty-two districts school was held less than 110 days, the minimum prescribed by law. There are 1,534 graded schools in the State and 10.735 ungraded, a total of 13,359 schools. The total enrollment is 778,316. The num­ ber of teachers employed is 23, of whom 7,522 are males and 15,642 fe­ males. The average number of months schools were in session is 7.4, with ft total days' attendance of 83,653,370. There are 309 public high schools in the State and 098 private schools, with 105,232 pupils. These pri­ vate schools are taught by 2,966 teachers, of whom 1,206 are males and 1,760 females. During the last year there have been 230 scli00]houses built* making 12,252 school houses in the State, of which 192 are stone, 1,476 brick and 10,476 frame structures. LibrariM ate maintained in 1,607 districts, for which during the year 65,833 volumes lteve been bought, making the total number of> volumes in district iibrarlea - The highest monthly wages paid to a male teacher is 8300, and to a female teacher $220. The lowest wages paid are, respectively, $13.50 and $10. The. amount of the district tax levy for sup-* port of these schools is 810,405,782 04 and the estimated value of school property i $26,335,231; libraries, $305,314.85; ap­ paratus, $4,228,896.84. The total re­ ceipts of the department during the. year were $1,530,757.07 and the total ex­ penditures $12,137,281.24, leaving the balance on hand July 1, $3,140,464.03. Actual net cost of the schools for one; year, exclusive of salaries of superin­ tendents and officers and their Incidental expenses, $11,549,399. > NELSOX C. JENNINGS, for four years cashier of the Chicago branch of the. Sunday Creek Coal Company, has gone, no one knows whither, leaving a deficit of $3,363 in his accounts. CHICAGO Times: The annua! report of the city department of buildings for the eleven months ending Nov. 1 plalStly shows the tremendous strides of Chicago in building. The returns for December will not be tabulated until after when they will be published in the an­ nual reports. The complete figuree wilL show that during the year over 3,500 new buildings were erected in Chicago, having a frontage of nearly tw«u|y*al!X miles and costing over $3o,oo0,o«fc the exact figures for the eleven moattpaasMl- ingDec. 1 are: Number of bt' 5,270; lineal feet frontage. 126,487}' $28,978,550. Of these 94 were gjttbtic and office buildings, 79 were storey 698 stores and dwellings combined,1 and •3.433 dwellings. There were 41 churches built and 142 manufactories. Of the public and office buildings, four wore eighteen stories in height, five sixteen stories, two fourteen stories, and tho re­ mainder ranged from ten to thirteen stories, while the lesser stores and dwell­ ings varied in height from two to eight stories. THE Farmers and Merchants' Bank of Vandalia, with a capital stock of $10Q»~ 000, has been organized, MINNIE SHABP and May Roberts, aged, respectively, 13 and 12 years, met death - by drowning while skating on Laio*.! Calumet, near Chicago. THE new St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Peoria has been completed. It Is a beautiful stone structure and cost $80,000. ABWER CASS, a Sangamon Oouaty farmer, was thrown from his wagon and had his neck broken. Gkh. L E Curra.v, of Alton, has is his possession an original letter written, by George Washington to Gen. Spote- wood of Virgiuia less than a year before Washington's death. The letter Is dated Mount Vernon, Sept. 14, 179$, aad la therefore ninety-two years old. Though yellow with age it is yet well preserved* and the lines written in Gen. Wi ton's fine hand are yet perfectly I@#ritb3 Gen. Curran has repeatedly refus large sums of money for the letter. Dubiso the ceremony at a Henry, Marshall County, vandals ail the wraps of the guests and th*lji||ra valuable wedding presents. ? ; THE honor of having discovered that pulmonary consumption is caused by, minute parasitica! organisms is for an Illinois physician, Dr. Blaisdell, of Quiucy. In an lished in November, 1877, by Whig and reprinted in Ai the Maeomh Journal, Dr., nounced his theory that cause of tuberculosis. consumption 188S,tt>iir • i • 1 '<*>16 * W3 - - > If? % 4,1 -Tm-lflMttive,,