The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

w?3smm§. ̂ w-y* •+ "a£;c^>. _s _y r'T £V«, ,;,;»h v * >^!f"^*<,,;"y,w *' Jf ,T\t >*1IK ^ * y^- IMF t ^ ̂ ̂ ^ ̂ • ^ l # # 0 if . a,"! a1 £{. < < *, * *•*--• •• r#£* ' >**p >m: «* £ *~ iv•+*** * * ; - ,.jr ,'^.^5- ^ ** r -> ",* « * % >.'• 1 l it* The Menace of America's Rapidly Disappearing Forests Willful Waste Daring the Years of Plenty Certain to Bring Its Years of Retribution. SEVEN DEAD IN^f RECK *AIL*OAD LABORERSCRUSHED IN COLLISION. If the cutting down of our forests continues unabated, what are we go­ ing to do for lumber 20 years hence? This Is a question now beginning to assume a serious aspect, and those who, a few years ago, considered our forests Inexhaustible, are now realis­ ing the danger of the situation. It Is conservatively estimated by government experts that there now stand in the United States in the neighborhood of 1,475,000,000,000 feet of lumber, but that 44.000,000,000 feet of it are being cut every year. With­ out any attempt being made to replant the cut down area, it can easily be seen that our timber Is fast disap­ pearing. If this continues unchecked It will mean the crippling of one of the greatest industries in this country. Recent reports show that Uncle Sam is easily the greatest lumberman In the world. The greater part of the timber that is used in making any­ thing from matches to masts is hauled from the shores of the North Ameri­ can continent. Even the tree-clothed dustry, though it must be said to their* credit that the paper companies use great discretion in the selection of the trees, cutting only those that are ten inches in diameter several feet from the ground, thus giving the saplings a chance to grow and develop, making their forest acreage a source of inex­ haustible supply. t Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and northern New York were 20 years ago covered with splendid pines of enormous growth, but these are now mighty scarce, and abandoned sawmills through Sullivan county, the Catskills and the Adiron- dacks tell the story to summer resort visitors these days. We have been obliged to go further south each year for pine--to Virginia, then to North and South Carolina, then to Georgia, and now the pine lumbering opera­ tions are mostly carried on in inac­ cessible portions of Florida, Tennes­ see, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. The famous Georgia pine that doe* reach New York now comes from far ACCIDENT IN RAINSTORM 6. A. R. ENDS ENCAMPMENT ADJOURN8 AFTER DECIDING ON NEXT MEETING PLAtC. ft. B. Brown, of Ohio, Elected Con* mander-ln-Chlef---Fortieth An­ nual Parade Held. C My. •= S#|s' Some of the Big Trees Still Left in Washington. Islands of far off Australasia depend upon our forests for their supply of Commercial timber. The lumbeK producing territory of the United States may be divided into six geographical sections, each of which is commercially distinct from the other. . The lake region, with its white pine, of which little remains, in­ cludes the states of Michigan, Minne­ sota and Wisconsin, and parts of Mis­ souri and Illinois. Practically all the states south of Mason and Dixon's line, and as far west as the Rocky mountains, comprise the section from it] c ' _J& Vt£LD Of 1000 TO 2000 rter per acp£ YIELD or 2000 to -woo ~ tr fir# Acnc M I D O F 4 0 0 0 T O 6 0 0 0 ' rscr pta Aent Map Showing the Present Forest Con- , _ . yj •• d it ions. . ??•. '#*• • J' „ come principal^ tire1 Bhort and 3ong leaf pine and all the cypresses. •Of the various groups, that which fur­ nishes the greatest variety of woods Includes the New England and North Atlantic states. Their forest products range from the spruce and birch of Maine to the hickery and walnut of the middle states. Ohio, Indiana and part of Illinois form a district whose contribution to the world's supply of lumber is practically all hard wood. Redwood, Douglas fir, cedar and spruce flourish still in great quantities in the Pacific states, and the Rocky mountain states supply pine, aspen, cottonwood and spruce. Pine has practically disappeared lrom the New England forests alto­ gether, and the trees remaining are principally spruce and hemlock. Spruce, too, is fast disappearing owing to the heavy demand of the paper in- off Oregon and Washington, where there is still an enormous supply. The cost of bringing it here, however, makes it so very expensive that there is not a great market for it in the east. It is the bid story of willful waste in the years of plenty. Not so long ago there was so much lumber tn« the country that farmers used to burn it up, when clearing their land, in order to get rid of it.. Pioneers, as a rule, never appreciate the value of their resources; they squander and destroy without any regard for the future. This we have been doing in the Unit­ ed States, and only now are we be­ ginning to realize our folly. The lumber required to supply rail­ road ties alone is enormous, and the tlmberland is stripped continually to meet the demand. It is estimated that 200,000 acres of forest are cut annually to supply the railroads with ties, and that 15,000,000 are required each year. At the average price of 35 cents each, the amount of money put into railroad ties yearly amounts to $5,250,000. Railroad ties don't last more than four or five years and have to be renewed constantly. This of course is a great expense, and recent­ ly some railroads have laid plans to plant trees along their tracks in order to have their own forests from which to secure the needed ties. Several southern railroads have adopted this idea, and it promises to be a success. One railroad company has thus plant­ ed several thousand acres, and hopes in 20 years hence to have an excellent growth of pine. This Is a good Idea and could well be followed by yearly all the railroads. Much of the land beside the tracks is not fit for culti­ vation, but is an excellent soil in which to grow trees. In this way acres upon acres could be reclaimed and made to yield fine lumber which would give an inexhaustible supply of railroad ties. De Beginning Early. "What swell dressers those Chumleys all are!" "Yes, it's in the blood, I guess. I saw their newest baby trying to put his teething ring in his eye the other day. He was under the impression that R was a monocle."--Cleveland Leader. Sheets Water Prevent Engineer Seeing Work Train Ahead Of Him and Fatal Smash-Up Is the . Slllt. ' Johnstown, Pa.--Plunging through a blinding rainstorm at the rate of 45 miles an hour early Sunday, a fast freight train on the Pennsylvania railroad crashed into a slowly moving work train at Sang Hollow, killing seven and seriously injuring seven others of the work train crew. Three of the latter will probably die. The work train had stopped at a water plyg near Sang Hollow to take water. A Port Wayne freight was fol­ lowing and, because of the driving rain the engineer was unable to see the work train until just before the crash. • The engineer of the freight jumped and received Injuries from which he will die. The fireman remained on the engine and was uninjured. When the freight engine crashed into the work train it plowed its way through the cars. All of the laborers and others of the work crew were asleep, and those that were killed probably never knew they were struck. The cries of the; wounded, the burn­ ing cars, the overturned engines and the sound of escaping steam com­ bined to make a most horrible sight. The crew of the freight made an at­ tempt to rescue • the men from the cabin car, but oaring to the fact that the doors were ̂ battered in on the wreck1 and the timbers were crushed so that entrance was impossible, It was some hours before it was found out how many were dead. Four men were dead when taken out. The oth­ ers died after being taken "to a hos­ pital. According to reports Engineer S. X. Woods of the freight train had in­ creased the speed of his train just be­ fore the crash, that he might take wa­ ter from the water pans along the track, and in so doing is said to have exceeded his orders BOOM CANNON FOR PRESIDENCY Danville Convention Starts Move fHonor of Uncle Joe. In Danville, 111.--Speaker Cannon's boom for the presidency was launched here Thursday when the speaker was renominated for congress by acclama­ tion by the Republican congressional convention of the Eighteenth district. In accepting the renomination for congress, Mr. Cannon made a long speech, which sounded the party slo­ gan for the coming campaign. The speaker extolled the record of the Re­ publican party and pointed to the na­ tion's prosperity as a justification of its continuance in office. Labor leaders have declared war on Mr. Cannon for his attitude to labor bills in the last congress. He replied to attacks of President Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor, re­ garding the anti-injunction bi^ £nd other measures. BOYS FIRE INTO POWDER HbUSE Two Lads Are Blown to Atoms by Ex­ plosion That Follows. Yreka, Cal.--Two boys were killed and another fatally injured in a pow­ der explosion one mile from here early Sunday. Powder house No. 1, belonging to the Grant Powder company, on the line of the Yreka branch railroad was blown up. In nearly every business house in Yreka windows were broken. Remnants of clothing, a foot, parti­ cles of hair and flesh found on the .hill indicate that two boys were blown to atoms. Two small rifles found near the bod­ ies were badly damaged. It is sup- ^joaed that the boys shot into the pow­ der house through a ventilator. Hot and Cold. Little Willie--Say, pa, what is a weather prophet? Pa--A weather prophet, my son, Is the kind the ige dealer makes.--Chica­ go Daily News. looooooooooooooooooooooopauoooooooooooooooooooooooooofl WAR TO GO ON FOREVER. •*There will be need of guns just so i long as there is a man left to covet the property of another man," de­ clared Hudson Maxim of New York, Inventor of smokeless power, at the Raleigh last evening. "We may have peace conferences and talk of disarming the world, but there will be battles and strife until the earth has grown cold and the sun has gone out. Not until then will the rivers of btood run dry. Yet the basis of war has shifted. Battles are now fought in an area about 20 times as great as those in ancient timek For instance, 300,000 were slain when Attila was submerged in the battle of the Marne. The slaughter in war­ fare is not now nearly so great as it was. War is no logger a question of concentration of forces and close fighting, but of wealth, of science against science. Smokeless powder wounds more men and strikes more At long distance. In anient times lives were spent In war; now wealth Is spent Then all able-bodied men it to war; now nine out of every teu ujust stay at home to make mon- ty fqf fthe rest to fight with. Thus as war becomes more difficult and men become educated to higher ideals we have hope that there may be less of war and less of the corruption tfc(at war brings."--Washington Post Buffalo Treasurer Set Free. ' Buffalo, N. Y.--Fred O. Murray, col­ lector of customs, and former deputy county treasurer, was acquited Thurs­ day of the charge of grand larceny in connection with the. "graveyard" scandal by which the county was mulcted out of many thousands of dollars. When the state closed its case against Murray the court direct­ ed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. Veteran Actor Dead.* New York.--Lewis Morrison, an ac­ tor, whose work as Mephisto in "Faust" gained him fame, died sud­ denly of shock Saturday afternoon at St. John's hospital, Yo»kers, after undergoing an operation for a .disease of the stomach. Accidental Suicide. Atchison, Kan.--George Baumgart- ner, aged 16 years, studying for the priesthood, accidentally committed suicide. He had in play placed a rope around his neck and accidetnally stepped off a stage, breaking his neck. Further Irrigation Needed Chief Justice Fuller was not long ago the guest of a southern gentleman who had a servant named John, fa­ mous for his mint julep. Soon after Judge Fuller's arrival John appeared bearing a tray on which was a long! eool glass, topped with crushed ice and a small tree of mint. With low bows and many smiles he presented it, and watched anxiously while Judge Fuller appreciatively sipped it. "That touch the right spot, Bah?" he quer­ ied. "It does, John, it does," the judge replied. John disappeared, but was soon recalled by the tinkle of a hand­ bell. -The glass was now empty. The judge looked up with a twinkle la his eye. "I think I've got anottter soot. 1 John." he r Former Army 8urgeon Dead. ] Leavenworth, Kan.--Dr. W. R. Van- •Tuyl, who served in the Philippines as a surgeon in the United States army during the Spanish-American war, died of heart disease at his home here Sunday, aged 42 years. Death of a Pioneer Packer. St. Paul, Minn.--James T. McMil­ lan, aged 70 years, a pioneer resident as well as a pioneer in the meat pack­ ing industry of St. Paul, died at his home here early Friday, after a long illness from liver trouble. Minneapolis, Minn.--The . Grand Army of the Republic completed its fortieth encampment late Friday and adjourned to *neet In Saratoga, N. Y, in 1907. The encampment, after an exciting debate, decided that a pro­ test against the erection of a statue tiHHenry Wirz should be sent to Gen. S. D. Lee, the commander of the Southern Veterans' association. Minneapolis, Minn.---The following officers were elected Thursday at the annual meeting oof the Grand Army of the Republic: Commander-in-Chief; R. B. Brown, Zanesville, O.; senior vice commander, William H. Arm­ strong, Indianapolis; junior vice com­ mander, E. B. Fen ton, Detroit; chap­ lain-in-chief, Archbishop John Ireland, St. Paul; surgeon-general, W.H. John­ son, Lincoln, Neb. The new commander-in-Chief was born in 1846, and has always lived in Qhio. He enlisted in the Fifteenth Ohio infantry at the age of 16 years and served in the Fourteenth Army corps in the Army of the Cumberland until he fras mustered out in 1864. He then reenlisted as a veteran soldier and served as such until the end of the war. He was a private through­ out the first three years of his serv­ ice and then became a non-commis­ sioned officer. He has always been active and prominent in the Work of the Grand Army. Mr. Brown is now editor of the Zanesville Courier. Minneapolis, Minn.--For the fortieth time since its work in war was fin­ ished and its glory won, the Grand Anpy of the Republic was in line Wednesday. There had been many parades more gorgeous, many spec­ tacles more dazzling and bewildering?, but never was there In this country one more appealing and impressive than that which passed through the streets of Minneapolis during the morning. Col. Charles T. Keetlng, of New Or­ leans, was overcome by the heat and exhaustion and died an hour after reaching tlie hospital. Thomas A. Martin dropped while marchipg in the parade and died on his way to the emergency hospital. IGNORE GOVERNOR'S APPEAL. Mob Shoots Negro In Presence State Executive. of Columbia, S. C.--Within the shadow of the home of his victim, Miss Jen­ nie Brooks, after having been identi­ fied by her, and after Gov. D. C. Hey- ward, who went to the scene of the trouble, had addressed the mob in vain, "Bob" Davis, the negro who on Tuesday murderously attacked Miss Brooks with intent to commit assault, and who afterwards outraged a negro girl 14 yea^rp old, was lynched at Greenwood about 7:30 o'clock Thurs­ day evening. Gov. Hey ward reached the scene shortly after the negro had been cap­ tured. A platform was erected in a fence corner on the premises of the victim's father, from which platform Gov. Heyward addressed the mob in an effort to prevent the lynching. The governor beseeched the mob not to lynch Davis, but in vain. At the con­ clusion of his speceh the governor was vociferously cheered! The mob then removed the prisoner from the view of the governor and within a short distance of the home of his victim the negro was riddled with bullets. It is impossible to estimate the crowd, as citizens from several coun­ ties had gathered at the scene and for two days had been in pursuit of the negro, but it is certain that hun­ dreds of bullets were sent through his body. LABOR FAMINE IN NORTHWEST Illinois Mayor Dies. Bloomlngton, 111.--James S. Ne­ ville, mayor of Blomlngton and mem­ ber of the Illinois warehouse and rail­ way commission, died suddenly Fri­ day morning at two o'clock while vis- Agriculture and Industrial Sections Loudly Call for Help. . Duluth, Minn.--Scarcity of labor is the cry all over the northwest from the head of the lakes to the wheat fields of the Dakotas, where the de­ mand has reached a critical stage. In many cases the farmers are offer­ ing from $2.50 to |3 per day and board and have not more than 50 per cent, of the labor they require. The same conditions are being experienced in all lines,, of industry, including the railroads, * contractors and miners both on the range and in the copper coui^ry. Reign of Terror in .-Warsaw. Warsaw.--Scores are dead in this city as the result of ceaseless activity on the part of the terrorists. Bomb- throwing continues in spite of police and the thousands of troops "stationed here. The police admit 150 persons have been wounded by bombs and bullets, and that 31 police and soldiers have been slain and 18 wounded in re­ cent fighting. Fifteen citizens have been killed. 70.severely aM ly wounded.'- J ' " • ,'u? -t ' 'TK -.v., ^ Celebrate Return ' of ftultahsV ^ Teheran.--The return of the ex­ pelled mullahs was made the occasion for great ceremony, - the city being U-, lumhxated in their honor for four days. Crowds of people g$ieted Uieflj at a gate of the city, »> " '"!l* Y^' / Stensland Not in Mol>ite. Mobile, Ala.--There is no truth In reportB sent out from this city that a man believed to be Paul O. Stens­ land, the fugitive bank president of Chicago, was seen in a house oa the outskirts of Mobile. '* .i On the Ahr and Mosselle R ? I During the Vintage Charming District in Germany Where Nature and Man Work in Delightful Harmony. Train Goes Over Embankm%nr£ v South Bend, Ind.--An engine and 15 cars of a Big Four freight train went over an embankment near Eau Claire, Mich. The engine and train crews es­ caped. A weak^ne^ culvert caused the accident. City Empfoye Pleads lltfttty. Milwaukee.--John Broziek, sidewalk Inspector of the Eighteenth ward., charged with obtaining city orders by false pretenses, pleaded guilty and was committed to the Green A visit to the' Rhine district during the height of the vintage is a rare treat and the best place to spend the few weeks is In the more favored lo­ calities of the Mosselle and the Ahr. The Ahr is generally considered the most northernly point where the vine is cultivated In any quantity, and vis­ itors cannot do better than make Re- magen a center while exploring the valley and watching the vintage. Re- magen, a small town on the left bank of the Rhine, is noted principally for the elegant Gothic Apoillnariskirche, as well as for being the place where the greater part of the many million bottles of the famous Apollinarls water is loaded In barges for tranship­ ment at Rotterdam an<| other ports to all parts of the world. The church of St Apollinarls is on a hill a little below the town, prettily surrounded by well-kept vineyards, and forming altogether a charming introduction to the beautiful Ahrthal. The first town of importance to my subject is Ahr- weiler, about nine miles from Re- margen, an interesting place, with a population of nearly 3,000. Fine old walls encircle the town, in which there are four gates and numerous old buildings to delight the archaeologist one can Imagine the patient and la­ borious labor required in the cultiva* tion of the vine. Soil, manure, and, occasionally,, water have to be carried on the shoulders of the workers to these almost inaccessible vine plots. From here we proceed to the delight­ ful villages of Dernau and Rech, and thence to Lochmuhle, where are the rather important vineyards of May- schoss. The extreme Industry re­ quired In vine growing is here well observed. Every accessible shelf of rock has been patiently brought into use, and I "know of no finer stretch on the Rhine itself than the vineyard3 about here. The day is fine, and about ten o'clock, when the sun has got some power, the whole scene becomes alive with men* women and children turning out to gather the grapes. It is a case of "many hands making light Work; " ho "too old at 40" in this business, but every pair of hands, however feeble, are of use at this most critical time. The gathering seems done by magic, for no sooner do the "pickers" commence than the men start bringing down the grapes in specially-prepared baskets to the vats in carts on the high road. In some instances the bunches are passed uWa Terraced Vineyards In the Ender Thai. and artistically-minded traveler. The trade of this ancient town is--I might say--exclusively wine. Most of the vineyards between here and Altenahr --a distance of seven miles--are own­ ed by residents in Ahrweller. It is at Walporzheim, a short distance from Ahrweiler, that the wild and pictur­ esque scenery of the Ahrthal begins. Here the valley narrows, and the road and river have just room to strug­ gle through a cleft in the rocks, with a curiously-projecting ledge, called the "Bunte Kuh." Near by, in a short walk from the main road, IB a pic­ turesquely-situated wine house, where the wines of the Ahr may be satlsfac- Primitive Wine Press. torlly sampled, and beautiful views in every direction enjoyed. At Marien- thal we are in the midst of the vine Industry, and on the right, adjoining the road, are the ruins of the nunnery of Marlenthal. The vineyards appear as a succession of terraces, reaching from the top to the bottom of the hills, and in places are so steep that only by artificial meanB can sufficient soil be retained to give the necessary foot­ hold to the plants. However, although the conditions of culture are so diffi­ cult, the vines seem to flourish ex­ ceedingly, and are now teetoing with their luscious bunches of purple grapes quite ready for the vintagers. In some places steps are cut In the rocks. In others ladders are used for getting to the various terraces, so that between rollers, and in others pulped in a more primitive manner, thus en­ abling larger loads to be carried, and the vintage gets on apace. The whole available population of the valley seems to turn out for the vintage, and the road is thronged by happy groups, young and old, trundling their little carts joyously to and from the vine­ yards; ten horses, but here and there a team of soft-eyed, cream-colored oxen, led by quite a child, pass along the road, ladep with dellciously sun- warmed grapes that seem to fill the country side with their fragrance. The wine made on the Ahr--princi­ pally red--is of the Burgundy type, fairly strong, the finer kinds being greatly sought by the "trade" from all over Germany. Another couple of miles brings one to Altenahr, the crowning sight of the valley. The cas­ tle, perched on a rock several hun­ dred feet high, its slopes covered with vineyards, appears to entirely block the valley, and one wonders what Is to become of the river, to say nothing of the road. However, the river sweeps round the base of the castle for about a mile and a half, return­ ing to nearly the same point A tun­ nel passing under the castle rock car­ ries the road into the interesting town of Altenahr. We must now return to Remagen and take the train there for Coblenz, and thence to Cochem, a most beautifully situated town on the Moselle. Hotels are alive with Ger­ mans from all parts of the country, come to speculate in the vintage. Here, also, the vines have done ex­ ceedingly well, and there are rumors of the difficulty that will be expert enced In getting vessels sufficient to contain the yield. I consider the Moselle much more attractive than the Rhine. The banks when not under the cultivation of the vine are thickly covered with woods, while the innumerable villages, to­ gether with the complicated windings of the river and the undulating hills, are a source of pleasure not easily forgotten. The people one meets could not be kinder; they ane extreme­ ly cheerful, and the evenings In the hotels have all the delights of the family circle. H DUNNING. Could Take a Joke. "I^hat would you do If I were to offer you work?" "It 'ud be all right, mister," an­ swered Meandering Mike; "I kin take a joke as well as anybody."--Tit-Bits. DON'T START GOLF TOO EARLY. London.--When is a man too old to play golf? Dr. T. C. Allbutt, regius professor of physics at Cambridge university, recently issued the dic­ tum that the law ought to forbid any man playing the game before he Is 35 years old, until which time he is capable of more vigorous athletics. Dr. Allbutt left it to be inferred that golf should only be regarded as a kind of last resort for those tottering downhill towards senility. The presentation of the jolf prob. lem In this form led to Inquiries among the best known exponents and amateurs of British athletic games. As a result the following has been complied, representing theories as well as practice: Cricket should be abandoned at 40 years, football at 30, hockey at 35, lawn tennis by women at 45 and by men at 60, and rowing at 66. The age for quitting cycling Is not definitely fixed. Tegetmeier, for in­ stance, only abandoned the sport in 1906, owing to falling sight. Acoord- :4;:\ played while life lasts, but should not be begun too young. Scotland's ice sport--curling--alone takes no re­ gard for time, but looks forward to eternity. Not Guilty. * The Beggar--Please, sir, will tyou kindly assist a poor old man who has three wives to support? The Pedestrian--Why, do you mean to say you are a bigamist? The Beggar--Oh, no, sir. Two of them are the wives of my sons-in- law.--Chicago Daily News. > Unsympathetic. Elvira--I understand Miss Neurich has disgraced her family by eloping with their coachman. Mildred--Well, it serves them right They should have employed a chauf­ feur.--Chicago Daily News. "Did you notice old Wilkin's nose? He's a regular sponge, isn't her* WI don't think so. Sponges .. ... ..ai---- '.A...* BOYISH MIND WAS WORKIN& Youngster en His First Sail Qvof Ihj "Raging Main." > T Incite of us ever quite forget thoa# days--when our years were few--of dreaming about life on the raging main, when the imagination revetei in pirates and plunder from state* ly galleons and valorous deeds dona tfn storm-swept decka, Bays a writer in the New York Times. Recollection of this period is. at any rate, snA- ciently vivid, so that the remark of a small boy could contribute mate­ rially to the "gayety of nations," among the passengers on one of tht excursion steamers running from Manhattan across the harbor tf Coney Island. The steamer made her way acrpss the bay, dodging tugs and ferryboats --fortunately meeting no pirate craft. The passengers, escaping gladly from the city's heat, nibbled their sand­ wiches and enjoyed the breeze. The waiters moved about the deck with, their trays. The boy, just from th® inland town, where his life so far had been spent, sat rapt and wide- eyed. If one could but know full^ the "mental content" from which sprang his words at last! "Ma!" he ciied, hoarsely, "tell am which one of 'em is the skipper I" . Washington, D. C., August 20th.-- determined effort jwlll be made at the next session of congress to prevent another appropriation for the free dis­ tribution of common garden seeds. Congress now expends $242,000 a year in giving away the commonest varie­ ties of peas, beans, turnip, squash pumpkin seeds. They are divided into 40,000,000 packets so that the packets cost about half a cent each. But as a large part of the appropriation Is expended li clerk hire, packeting the seed, etc., the actual value of ths seed in a packet is much less 'than half a cent. These packets aro put up in packages of five packets, the total cost of the packages being about two cents each, and they are purchas­ able anywhere at five cents. Each member of congress gets 12,00& such packages, which he distributes to the voters of fcis district. The farmers say that these pack­ ages contain so little seed as to be of no value to them, while the total ap­ propriation, if expended in sending out really rare and valuable seed, or in maintaining a national agricultural college, or divided among the state agricultural colleges, would be of im­ mense value to the farming interests. They therefore protest against the waste of public money. The seeds­ men claim that as congress has al­ ready expended $5,000,000 in giving away turnip and watermelon seed, it is time it should give away saws, axes or hoes and give the seed trade a rest. Those who believe that congress should cut off this perquisite of Its members now used for political imp- poses, are writing their senators and representatives, urging them to abol­ ish the free seed distribution, and the National Grange, many state and local granges, horticultural, agricultural and other societies are adopting reso­ lutions condemning it. Mr. William Wolff Smith, of Washington, D. C., has been selected to represent the oppo­ sition to the congressional free seed distribution, and is personally answer­ ing all inquiries concerning the same. "PEN AND INK" BET.WAS EASY. Colons^"Ike" Hill Quite Rq?dy to I* crease the Amount. J* Col. "Ike" Hill, assistant sergeant" at-arms for the Democrats in the house of representatives, has violent £>olitical prejudices and <at election time is wont to back them with money. He got into a political discussion in the lobby of the Hoffman house is New York a short time ago and made an assertion that was disputed by • man in the gathering. Col. "Ike" reached down into hts pocket, pulled out a roll of money and peeled off five $100 bills. "I will just bet you $500 I am righl^. he said. "I'll take you," said the othsrt "Wait until I get a pen and Ink." A cold look came Into Col. "Ike's?' e y e s . ^ . • ' ' r _ "What do you want a pen and Ink for?" he asked. "Why, I want to writ© * check toI $500 to cover your bet." Col. "Ike" put his money hack in his pocket. 1 "Bring me a pen and ink, too," h# said, "'for if this Is going to be a check b«jt I'll make it $5,000."--Saturday Evening Post. Facts About Alaska. Alaska is an interesting region. In area she is twice as large as Texaa, with California thrown- ia, but her resident white populatlcn numbern only about 30,000, though in summer she has from 10,000 to 20,000 more whites. In fur, fish and minerals she is rich. Since her annexation she has furnished $50,000,000 of furs, $60,00#;- C90 of fish and $70,000,000 of minerals^ chiefly gold and silver. Her output of gold, which was $9,000,000 in 1904, was $16,000,000 in 1905, and will be fully $26,000,000 in 1906.--Leslie's Rice Eatery: ̂ £ ,? In Cfiina and its depenSeticteS. a population of 400,000,000, or 25 per cent, of the total population of the world, rice is the principal food sup- ply. The same may be said also of India, with its population of 275,000.- 000, and Japan, with its 40,000,000. In addition to these it is a chief article of diet with other peoples of Asia and Africa, whose population Is estimated at 100,000,000. The total reaches 815,- 000.000, or 50 per cent, of the total population of the earth.--Boston Globe. Switzerland's Silk Production. Few people probably suspect tiMl extent to which Switzerland figures among the silk-producing countries of the world, which, so far as Europe Is concerned, have always been supposed to be France and Italy. But Switzer­ land exports annually silk to the valu* of about $20,000,000, nearl7 all SoinS to European countries. Even at this stage of the game who deny that George wned a hatchet. .