1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
9i7 
Events of the Week. 
DOMESTIC.—.7. 71. Osborne, a director of the Hocken- 
liull-ElIiott Hank at Jacksonville, Ill., reputed to be wealthy, 
and Kev. Thomas I?. Smith, a minister, were arrested De 
ce.idler 4 accused of conspiracy to obtain money by false 
pnetenses. Attorney Frederick Kingsland, representing the 
Orinoco Minina and Milling Company of Idaho Springs, 
Colo., says Osborne ami Sm'th have victimized twelve per¬ 
sons out of money amounting to .$.">,000. He says they 
used the title “National Stock and Bond Guarantee Com¬ 
pany'' and advertised to nuance worthy enterprises. In¬ 
stead of furnishing caoilat tney agreed to underwrite eaeli 
venture, lie asserts and for a certain sum in proportion to 
1 lie amount of bonds ro ne issued, agreed to give a written 
guarantee for ihe responsibility of the company. This 
guarantee, he says, was worthless. . . . The Federal 
Grand Jury, silting at Topeka. Kan., lias returned indict¬ 
ments against these persons: The II. 8. Boice Cattle Com¬ 
pany of New Jersey, II. S. Boice. Kansas City: Louis* Cans, 
New York: Emanuel Lenman, New York: E. A. Merdian, 
New York : A. B. I.yiien. Stevens county, Kan. : Robert Mer¬ 
ton. Stevens county, Kan. Kadi of these seven is indicted 
on four counts for each offence: Unlawfully making and 
constructing fences: unlawfully asserting right to exclusive 
use; unlawfully making, constructing, controlling enclos¬ 
ures: obstructing passage through the lands of the United 
States. The Boice Cattle Company. K S. Boice, Louis 
Cans. Emanuel Lenman. and E. A. Merdian were eaeli in¬ 
dicted on eight counts. They are all officers of the Boice 
Cattle Company They maintain two tracts- of land in 
Stevens and Morton counties, in which they are, it is al¬ 
leged, illegally enclosing Government land. Lynch and 
Merton are each indicted on four counts. They have but 
one pasture earn. In the case of the cattle company, the 
total line, if assessed at the limit, will lie $10,000 or $1,000 
for earn count. Imprisonment of one year can he enforced 
against each count. Botli fine and imprisonment must he 
assessed. The total enclosure in its two pastures of the 
Boice Cattle Company is 101.000 acres. Of tills amount 
50,160 is Government land. The II. S. Boice Cattle Com¬ 
pany is organized under the laws of New Jersey, and it is 
a very wealthy concern. II. S. Boice is treasurer of the 
Kansas City Live Stock Company and lives at Kansas City. 
He Is now in Texas on business. . . . Twenty-four in¬ 
dictments against wealthy cattle barons, on charges of 
conspiracy and subornation of perjury in securing fraudulent 
homestead entries and for the illegal enclosures of govern¬ 
ment lands, were returned December !) by t lie United 
Skates grand jury ar Topeka, Kan. The total amount of 
land held under renee ny the indicted eat lie men is 403,400 
aco'es, of which 135,060 acres is Government land Among 
these men are R. M. Crawford, county treasurer of Stevens 
county : M J. Alien, county attorney: and E. M. Dean, pro¬ 
bate judge ot Morton county. J. S. Bilby is reputed to be 
one of the wealthiest men in the State of Missouri. lie is 
indicted for illegal land fencing, but his son. John E. Bilby, 
must answer the more serious charges of conspiracy to 
defraud and subornation of perjury. . . . Initial steps 
toward (lie criminal prosecution of some of the biggest 
railroad corporations in the United Stales as a result of the 
alleged unlawful system of giving rebates were taken in 
Philadelphia. December 11, when United States District 
Attorney .7 Whitaker Thompson applied to the United States 
District Attorney to 'lie bills of indictment against com¬ 
panies rite names of which he would not divulge. A sweep¬ 
ing investigation of (lie rebate system by the Grand Jury 
was what the District Attorney said he wanted. Scores 
of witnesses, including shippers said to have received re¬ 
bates. were subpoenaed. Attorney-General Moody by order 
of President Roosevelt Is said to lie directing the investiga¬ 
tion. . Beginning January 1. 30,000 operatives em¬ 
ployed by the American Woolen Company of Boston will 
nave their wages advanced 10 per cent. The increase will 
become effective in the thirty plants of the corporation, 
which are located in seven States, and it is expected that 
several mills not owned Tty the company will grant a sim¬ 
ilar advance. The Scotia Worsted Mills of Woonsocket, R. 
I., controlled by an independent concern and employing 
175 hands, posted notices announcing a 10 per cent, raise 
on New Year's day. It is estimated that the advance will 
give tlie American company’s operatives an aggregate of 
nltrcr $1,000,000 more each year than they have been re¬ 
ceiving. ... A monument was unveiled at Prospect, 
Nova Scotia, December 7. In memory of the 562 victims of 
the wreck of the steamship Allantic, thirty-two years ago. 
'Fite expense of the monument was borne by tlie White 
Star Line, which owned ttie Atlantic. The monument was 
unveiled ny the Rev. W. .T. Ancient, who was Die rector at 
Prospect at tlie time of the wreck and took a prominent part 
in Hie rescue work. . . . Senator John H. Mitchell of 
Oregon, died at Portland, December 8. as the result of hem¬ 
orrhage following the extraction of teeth, aged 70. Senator 
Mitchell was indieten with a number of others in December, 
1001, for connection with the land frauds in Oregon. It 
was alleged that In 1902 he was In the scheme to defraud 
the Government out of a portion of its public lands by means 
or false affidavits and fieri tious persons, and that he took 
$2,000 in return for nls Influence with Representative Her¬ 
mann, then commissioner of the General Land Office in Wash¬ 
ington. Hermann was also Indicted, and it was alleged that 
lie expedited 12 claims which he knew to he fraudulent, act¬ 
ing upon the suggestion and wish of Senator Mitchell. Every- 
thfn* T possible was done to save Mitchell, but the evidence 
was too strong, and he was convicted a few months ago. 
His attorneys secured his release pending decision of their 
appeal, and the senator was never sent to jail. Mitchell’s 
political enemies had previously charged him with many 
other crimes, but he had always come out successful when 
the tug of war came. 
CONGRESS—The Emergency appropriation Dill to pro¬ 
vide the Isthmian Canal Commission with the funds to carry 
on the construction of the Panama Canal will contain no 
genera! legislation. This was decided by the Senate Com¬ 
mittee on Appropriations December 12. when it was agreed 
to report the measure appropriating $11,000,000. the amount 
named by the House bill, me first section of the bill, in 
relation ro ihe issuing of bonds, was stricken out. A Di 11 
containing Ihfs feature was introduced in the Senate by 
Mr. Teller, and it will he dealt with by the Finance Com¬ 
mittee. The hill wae amended further to provide that in 
the future no expenditures shall lie made for the canal ex- 
rept by authority of Congress and when appropriations have 
been made* by Congress. Secretary Taft, Theodore I’. Shonts, 
chairman of the Cana! Commission: Joseph B. Bishop, secre¬ 
tary. and other officials of the commission, including the 
purchasing agent and ihe assistant purchasing agent, were 
before committee and were subjected to pointed inquiries 
as to the manner of making expenditures. Mr. Taft and 
Mr. Shouts* urged mar the appropriation lie increased to 
$16,500,000. tr„- amount named in the Dill before it was 
amendpff in tDo House. They admitted, however, tiiat $11,- 
000,000 would he sufficient to carry on the work until April. 
In view of the fact that Congress will have plenty of oppor¬ 
tunity to legislate by that time, it was determined not to 
restore the $5,500,000 cut out Dy the House. 
FARM AND G WIDEN.—Roundaway plantation, the 10.- 
000 acre farm belonging to a syndicate composed of John 
.Tnono Astor, Stuyvesant Fish and others of the Illinois Cen¬ 
tral Railway, has been Tendered to the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment for cotton growing, according to the Department’s 
ideas of combating the hop weevil. In company with As¬ 
sistant Second iHce-President Smith Mr. TV M. Bamberg, 
special agent of the Department, left Memphis. Term., De¬ 
cember 7. for tin' mg plantation to plan future planting and 
to make a careful slimy of agricultural conditions in the 
Yazoo Delta. Mr. Bnmnerg Inis established raanv small ex¬ 
perimental slattons, but t.lie Roundaway place will be worked 
on a scale hitherto unknown to Government experts. Every 
known and many experimental plans for the eradication of 
the poll weevil will be tried there. The Illinois Central 
{arm fs one of the richest on earth, and with timbered lands 
comprises about 50,000 acres. 
When (ho convention of tlie Farmers’ Union of America 
reconvened at Texarkana. Tex.. December 6. a vote was taken 
on the question as to whether or not a national organization 
should lx* formed, and the proposition carried by a very targe 
majority. These delegates were appointed as a committee 
to draft a constitution and one on by-laws and constitution 
for the government of the national body : .7. T. Wakefield. 
Sooth Carolina : II. 70. Webb. Texas; r. y. Skenern. .7 W. 
Sanderson. Indianhoma: T. .7. Brooks. Tennessee: J. R. Roll. 
Georgia, and A. R. Cole, I.onislana. After the appointment 
of other committees the convention took up the question of 
the advisability of establishing a national newspaper organ. 
A National Society for the preservation of (lie American 
Bison was formed at the office of Win. T. Ilornadtiy. Director 
of the New York Zoological Dark, December 8. President 
Roosevelt is an officer in Ihe society. 
The annual election of officers of the American Cheviot 
Sheep Society was held at the office of the Society. Fayette¬ 
ville. N. Y., December 5. Sixty live shares of capital stock 
were represented, and the following officers were elected 
for fhe ensuing year* President. C. S. Plumb, Columbus, 
O: vice-president, F. E. La n't z, Carlock. Ill.; secretary and 
treasurer, F. E. Dawley, Fayetteville, N. Y. ; member execu¬ 
tive committee for three years- F. E. Lantz. The reports 
of the officers showed the society to lie in a most flourish¬ 
ing condition, and ihe indebtedness, which was* incurred at 
the consolidation of the old Cheviot sheep societies, nearly 
all wiped out. A special meeting of tlie Cheviot Sheep So¬ 
ciety was held in the l.ive-Stock Record Building, during 
the Live-stock Show at Chicago, December 10. 
A farmers' institute will lie held at Canistota. N. Y., March 
15-16. The meeting scheduled for Schenevus, December 10-20, 
lias been postponed indefinitely. The institute arranged for 
Oswegatchie February 14-15 lias been changed to Ileuvel- 
toti : Alfred lias been changed from March 14-15 to 12-13; 
Belfast and Elbridge, both March 12-13, are out. 
CHRISTMAS IN ODD CORNERS. 
How Rural Readers Met Santa Claus. 
The R. N.-Y. has readers in every State of the unioti and 
in most foreign countries. A little idea of the extent of 
its circulation may he seen in the following notes*. 
CUBA.—The most that I remember about last Christmas 
Day, or rather the day before Christmas, which is really as 
much of a holiday in Cuba as Christmas Day itself, is that 
we were busy nearly all the forenoon getting vegetables from 
our garden ready for market. Some of our hoys returned 
with empty Imskets two or three times for a fresh supply. 
Radishes and lettuce were most in demand to accompany 
the roast pig, black beans and other (Van dishes of tDo 
Christmas Eve dinner, which is usually partaken of l>e- 
tween nine o’clock and midnight. We had our own Christ¬ 
mas Eve dinner with our 50 or more children at an earlier 
hour, at four p. in. The tables were very attractive, deco¬ 
rated and loaded in part with lettuce and radishes, nice 
large oranges bought at 60 cents a hundred and peanut 
candy of home raising and manufacture. The tables had 
been decorated earlier In tDo afternoon witli boxes of candy 
and other Christmas gifts sent by mail by members* of two 
Sunday Schools in Tennessee lo each individual of our large 
family. At seven p. m. we took our children to a Christinas 
tree entertainment, a recent innovation in Cuba. TDe 
morning and the evening may have been a little cool, but 
the day was so warm that we were comfortable with doors 
and windows wide open, and dressed in what would lie called 
liglit Summer clothing in New York. In the surrounding 
country Christmas time brought a short lull lo the work, 
in which almost everyone was engaged from die first of 
December into April, the work connected with cut ting and 
grinding sugar cane. About, one million sacks, each con¬ 
taining 325 to 350 pounds of sugar of last Winter's crop, 
have been exported from Cardenas this year. Nine such 
sacks have been donated to our institution, almost enough 
to keep us all sweet till next Christmas. 
ELM Kit E. HUBBARD. 
QUEBEC PROVINCE.—Christmas occurring last year on 
Sunday was observed by attending service in the usual Sun¬ 
day manner, morning and evening, but the customary Christ¬ 
mas dinner and general merrymaking took place on Monday. 
In the afternoon, our young people, and the young old pe'o- 
ple. adjourned to a neighboring pond, where skating was 
indulged in. During Sunday and Monday we had enough 
snow for sleighing and the temperature ranged between 
28 and 30 above zero. It is hardly necessary for me to 
add that in the evening those who were fortunate enough to 
have sweethearts went to see them. wit. craiu. 
SOUTH DAKOTA.—I-ast year was a bad year in this 
county : crops were poor and the price of grain was high. 
This year crops are good and prices reasonable. I live on 
a stock farm of about 3,500 acres. I-ast year the price 
of corn was so high I did not feed anything. At Christmas 
I was just looking after my stock, which consisted of 300 
head of cattle and 40 head of horses: they run out all Win¬ 
ter on grass and stalk fields. In stormy weather I would 
haul them some hay or millet. At Christmas the weather 
was fine and the stock needed very little attention. Stock 
winters better here with less care than any other place I 
know of. e. l. c. 
NORTHERN MICHIGAN.—Although so near (lie North 
Pole we were 'doing about the same as the “Blue Hens” in 
New Jersey and the “Crackers” in Florida. We ale our 
chicken and called it turkey, raised in Michigan and stuffed 
with oysters from Maryland: we pounded our lingers in 
cracking hickorynuts, and munched our good red apples. 
Out of doors the weather was very comfortable. The air 
of the Lake Superior region is so dry that we do not feel 
the cold as we used to in central New York or lower Michi¬ 
gan. A coaling of snow about eight inches deep gave us 
good sleighing and made tramping on snowshoes or skees 
pleasant and invigorating. The day before Christmas the 
thermometer ranged from six to 18 degrees: Christmas Day 
from 7 to 25 degrees: the day after IS to 28 degrees: anil 
the last day of December from 35 to 40 degrees. Christmas 
morning liglit snow fell from 7.15 to 9.30; in the after¬ 
noon the Bright sunshine and th“ warmer air called us 
to out of doors life of all kinds. The work going on in Hie 
Lake Superior region about Christmas time was of all kinds. 
In tlie cities and towns many were erecting houses and 
other buildings. On tin* farms men were busy earing for 
their stock or were cutting wood for fuel. In the woods 
contractors were cutting pine for lumber or hard wood for 
use in our charcoal iron furnaces. In the mines hundreds 
of men were digging out ore to be placed in stock piles 
ready for shipment to ports on the lower lakes when navi¬ 
gation opens in the Spring. c. k. 
NOVA SCOTIA.— I was home in Scotland Christmas of 
1004. Weather was mild and wet. A day before we had 
had a forenoon's skating on the pond, but later the ice 
rotted. Plowing was the work being done on the farms, 
using the long Scotch plow weighing about 200 pounds. [ 
would think, and turning a furrow six or seven inches 
square, horses 1.600 pounds apiece. They mark Hie field 
out in “rigs" of about 174 rod by mean’s of a long pole 
attached to the beam, of the plow, and guyed to the hatnes 
of one horse. This is done by Ihe foreman, the plow being 
a narrow double mold-board and the pole having a sharp 
drag. I like Nova Scotia better, especially in Summer. 
.t. n. i. 
BRITISH COLUMBIA.—Last Christmas I was herding 
sheep 14 miles west of Maple Creek, Assiniboia : at the time. 
I was living in the ranch house, so that I had neither cook¬ 
ing nor washing to do. The weather was beautiful for the 
Northwest :• frost said to he 31 below, a very slight fall 
of snow, bright sun, calm. The whole family were in town 
at a family dinner, the teamster herding the son's band of 
sheep. angus cameron. 
ARIZONA.—There are usually some farmers engaged in 
cutting, raking and stacking Alfalfa, which we usually cut 
seven times a season unless the canals go drv. which hap- 
pened tDis year. Others are engaged in leveling new land 
which is sown to grain at any lime between November 1 
and February 1. A voar ago Christmas Day we hauled 
Alfalfa in forenoon, also gathered roasting ears and dug 
sweet potatoes. l»t is not uncommon to have watermelons 
at Christmas time. In Yuma, and on the mesa, the orange 
and lemon trees, are hanging full of fruit, flowers are bloom¬ 
ing and birds singing. Here in the valley it is slightly cool¬ 
er. as we are somewhat lower, hut the thermometer seldom 
registers below 28 or 30 degrees above zero during the night, 
and usually reaches 75 or 80 in the heat of the day. The 
weather is almost perfect, the sun shines brightly nearly 
every day, and there is seldom a cloud to be seen. 
w. J. .TONES. 
IDAHO.-—I.ast Christmas was a bright pleasant day: 
about two inches of snow on tlie ground, thermometer 32 
above zero, and the ground not frozen. I had been pruning 
fruit trees up to Christmas, on that day pruned about 50 
monthly rose bushes in order to get a lot of cuttings for 
my daughter to plant in western Washington—otherwise 
would not prune the roses until Fehruarv. Our climate is 
very mild here .so that roses like Mareeh’al Neil. Pan! Nev 
ron. La France. Gen. Jacqueminot, etc., grow in the open 
without protection, and we are near the west side of tlie 
Bitter Root Mountains, and less than 200 miles from the 
northern boundary of the United States. But we feel ihe 
effect of Ihe Japan current, although 400 miles from the 
Pacific. Dur farmers generally keep on plowing here unwi 
slight snowstorms in December, hut the ground generally is 
not frozen all Winter, so we often leave potatoes in the 
ground to dig in the Spring. The Clearwater Valley, in 
which 1 live, is being planted largely in fruit, berries and 
grapes, and Black Hamburg, Flame Tokay and other choice 
European grapes do exceedingly well here. geo. runkel. 
FLORIDA. Wife and I arose at 5.30 A. M., gave a few 
final touches to the Christmas tree, lit the candles, and then 
did you ever hear noisy hoys on a Christmas morning? The 
tree in Ibis ease consisted of a real orange tree full of 
natural fruit. Our breakfast consisted of melons, pa- 
paws, grape fruit, green breakfast onions, radishes, fried egg 
plant, home-baked bread, butter, coffee with German coffee 
cake and fruit cake. The tempting Florida sunshine soon 
calls us into the open air after the light choring is done: 
we assemble on the lawn and enjoy a game of croquet, the 
youngest busying himself with his new Christmas toys. 
Some neigliliors call and present us with a box of grape 
fruit (Ours being too young to bear) and are presented in 
turn with numerous vegetables. We take (the men folks) 
a stroll over tlie farm and notice that the mango peppers 
and tomatoes need picking. Dinner at 1 I’. M. consists of 
roast chicken, homemade noodles, new potatoes, sliced en¬ 
cumbers, with cream, head lettuce, celery, Jamaica sorrel 
(similar to cranberries) mixed sliced pineapples and oranges. 
After dinner we all discuss (on tlie veranda) the contrast 
of this tropical scenery with our former Iowa home; there 
tlie ground frozen hard and snow covered, while here we 
are picking peppers, egg plants, tomatoes and other tender 
vegetables, with temperature rather low for here (68 at 
noon, 57 at 5.30 T\ M.) More neighbors call and the chil¬ 
dren all take a sail on the waters of the Everglades nearby. 
Supper al 5.30 I’. M.; cold chicken, guava short cake, with 
bananas and cream, tea. All attend Christmas festival at 
church at Miami, five miles away, which is easily reached 
on our hard rock road. Walter waldin. 
MAINE.—Christmas, 1004, pleasant; thermometer eight 
below, hut 30 below at foot of our Dill. Sleighing good. A 
dear old lady, a near neighbor, aged 95, passed away that 
morning. Our work was among Ihe poultry, which require 
close attention in such cold weather. Our neighbors were 
cutting and hauling wood for market: one man cut and 
sold about 500 cords. The returns from our last shipment 
of eggs to Boston were at 42 cents per dozen. 
_ F. C. CURTIS. 
APPLE GROWING IN WEST VIRGINIA. 
We send samples of two of our new apples. The larger 
one is Regan's Red or Black Ben Davis, the other Collins 
Red or Champion, grown from lop grafts, which I grafted 
two years ago. They are not as perfect as I would desire, 
but they are the best I had. You can see they do not 
know what a spray pump is intended for. The' trees of 
both these varieties grow finely in this mountain soil, and 
promise to do well in this section, which is adapted to 
the growth ol “Dig red apples.’’ In fact there are onlv a 
few varieties that do not do well with us. Possibly there 
are many interested in fruit growing who have vet to learn 
that West Virginia is destined to lead the world in (lie 
production of choice fruits, particularly the apple and 
peach, and in many parts of the State pears do excellently 
and are very profitable to grow. There are thousands of 
acres of mountain land unoccupied that will grow the 
finest fruit. The horticultural meeting at Martinsburg this 
Fall reviewed several important facts, among them the fact 
that to grow choice fruit we must not be afraid to make a 
tree use of “elbow grease;” we must cultivate and improve 
the soil, give proper attention to pruning, as well as to a 
liberal use of insecticides, and if we expect to profit by fruit 
growing, we must make a careful selection of the very best 
kinds, find out the best, and stick to them. Last, but not 
least, plant nothing hut first-class trees. For vears the peo¬ 
ple of (his seel ion have been buying a low grade of nursery 
stock, taking any kind that a designing agent might offer 
and the result is. thousands of trees are worthless. But 
some of our people are cutting their wisdom teeth, and 
nursery stock will have to come O. K.. or stock will l>e 
rejected, and left on the agents’ hands, just what ought to 
be done if stock is worthless. urn 
Matchless, W. Va. ' 
R. N.-Y.—The apples were large and high colored—very* 
attractive in appearance. We do not call either variety 
high in flavor. 
FARM PROSPECTS. 
Early corn on high land is good: where worked on bot¬ 
tom land drowned out badly: verv short wheat crop hardly 
worth harvesting. Cotton very light, compared with last 
years crop :a bout all gathered here in North Georgia No 
apples and very few peaches. Last year peaches went from 
this county in train loads. Strawberry crop was very light 
on account of hard freeze in the middle of April, .t. c. h 
Menlo, Ga. 
Iowa farmers are now nearlv through husking the if.rgest 
corn crop ever gathered in tliis part of the State: 75 to 
100 bushels shelled corn are not uncommon yields. Some 
fields, however, that have been planted to corn for several 
years without rotation, will not produce more than 20 or 25 
bushels. The apple crop was a failure. Last year we had 
anples to sell. This year we have bought our apples in 
Albany Co.. N. Y.; our boyhood home! Thev cost laid 
down here $2.00 per barrel. Local dealers are selling at 
$4.50 and $5. p. q ( p. 
Tipton, Iowa. _ 
EXPRESS REFORM.—On page 855 I noted tlie article 
headed “A Story of an Express Dackage” My attention was 
drawn toward it because of some experience’s Hint a friend 
had been relating to me. I took the above mentioned copy 
of paper to him. and he was very much interested and not 
a little amused: also I am induced to believe, somewhat 
comforted : possibly on the ground that “mlserv likes com¬ 
pany." luit being a man of very high standards' and a keen 
sense ol what is due to one from another. I think he has 
begun to hope that a new era mav be dawning 
for at least some measure of reform in the matter 
of the transportation of small packages, such as are now 
almost exclusively sent bv express, although the rates 
charged are so exorbitant that an article must ha'*e great 
commercial value or else a value vastly greater than its 
commercial value on account, of its utililv. to make It prac¬ 
tical to send anything bv express. What we need is a 
parcels post with a large range as to weight, size and 
character of articles that may lie sent bv it. There can 
lie Dut little doubt that we would have had such a system 
long ago were it not for the influence of the express’ com¬ 
panies, tliis influence being so quietlv and covertly exerted 
as to seem almost invisible: hut on this account so far from 
lacking tiower. appears to have had peculiar potency. While, 
personally. I have had little experience with express com¬ 
panies, yet what little I have had is* sufficient to demon¬ 
strate to me. that while reform seems to be the order of the 
entire world at present, it will he great cause for re-met if 
the methods of transportation of articles now handled bv 
express, are not radically reformed. k s w ’ 
BUSINESS BITS . 
The Welt-Bote Almanac is a handbook for German 
speaking people. In addition to the data usually found in 
an almanac there is a large amount of useful information 
It is well printed on good paper and will he sent postpaid for 
25 cents by the publishers, Welt-Bote Pub. Co., Allentown. Pa. 
McClure’s Magazine.- Mention of this periodical alwavs 
brings to mind its monumental history of Standard Oil. its 
stories of political corruption, and its keen and incisive 
studies of labor conditions. Tlie coming year carries out 
similar features in new lines. Ray Stannard Baker will dis 
cuss railways, their rate discriminations, their influence in 
polities, etc. Burton .T. Hendrick will write the t-<*;itli about 
life Insurance, while William Allen White will give character 
sketches of public men who fight corruption. The autobiog¬ 
raphy of Carl Schttrz will he « strong feature. In addition 
to this, there will he the usual presentation of strong, pie- 
turesnue fiction and vivid illustration: a very liberal offering 
for $1 a year. We are always glad to speak a good word 
for this magazine: it lias proved such a prolific source of 
pleasure and Interest. 
