1909. 
341 
DIRECT PRIMARY NOMINATIONS. 
A friend in Minnesota sends us the cartoon re¬ 
engraved at Fig. 141. It is from St. Paul Dispatch. 
Our correspondent says: 
I inclose a couple of clippings which show that Minne¬ 
sota is satisfied with the primary nominations law, after 
several years’ trial, and will stand no fooling from the 
bosses who try to get it amended to suit themselves. Keep 
after it. w. s. w. 
The clipping gives an account of efforts to amend 
the law. One amendment would have limited the 
primary to election of delegates to convention. No¬ 
where that we can learn is there any strong desire 
among the people to repeal the direct primary laws. 
We have received many letters from western people 
on this primary nominations question. The great 
majority of them write letters like the following: 
About the best recommend for the direct primary is 
the “Oregon” case. In that State a quiet worker, 
W. S. U’Ren, with others, got several good laws passed 
by “trading politicians.” The direct primary with state¬ 
ment No. 1 was one. This statement is that the candidate 
for the State legislature agrees to support for United 
States Senator the candidate before the primary receiving 
the majority vote irrespective of party. This enabled the 
people of Oregon to eliminate the corrupt politicians can¬ 
didate. This is why a Republican Legislature elected a 
Democrat as United States Senator. The people said: 
“We da not want Fulton.” Fulton is the man Attorney 
lleney said was "fundamentally corrupt.” In Iowa after 
Senator Allison’s death, the primary vote showed the Pro¬ 
gressives (Cummins) were in the majority although the 
"stand-pat” Major Lacey was the strongest man in that 
wing of the Republican party. The primary gives every¬ 
body a chance. The caucus is too easily packed. w. 
Clinton Co., Iowa. 
A few men oppose the primary for one reason 
or another—most of them for defects which could 
be overcome, by strengthening the law. So far as 
the principle of direct nominations is concerned 99 
per cent of our correspondents in the West stand 
for it. __ 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Equal suffrage was defeated in the Iowa 
Senate March 11 by a vote of 37 to 11. The limited suf¬ 
frage for women hill was also defeated, 36 to 12. This dis¬ 
poses of the movement for woman suffrage at this ses¬ 
sion.The Minnesota House March 11 killed 
woman’s suffrage twice. Representative Ware’s plan of 
referendum at the next general election, when women were 
to be allowed to vote on the question, was indefinitely 
postponed, 79 to 27. J. N. Johnson’s bill proposing a 
constitutional amendment was voted down, 59 to 46. 
. . . . W. B. Burnell, J. O’Calahan and B. O. 
Fryer of the Hudson Bay Railway survey party arrived 
at Selkirk, Manitoba, from the north March 11. They 
report having had a very cold Winter, the thermometer 
registering as low as 76 degrees below zero. This has 
been the hardest Winter ever experienced in the Mackenzie 
River district, according to the oldest Indians. For two 
months the thermometer averaged 39 below zero and fre¬ 
quently dropped to 70 below. In this weather the Indians 
were afraid to venture from their shanties, and to add 
to the troubles the snowfall was phenomenally deep. Some 
unknown pestilence has caused the death of hundreds of 
Indians, and the fur catch has been very small. Lynx are 
said to be responsible for the scarcity of fur. Once every 
seven years for some reason, they trend toward the east, 
the woodsmen say, not in a band but singly, covering a 
swath some 200 or more miles in width, and kill off 
almost every animal from west to east.The 
Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia handed down 
an opinion March 11 sustaining the decree of Justice 
Gould of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia 
granting the injunction prayed for by the Buck’s Stove 
and Range Company of St. Louis restraining Samuel Gom- 
pers, John Mitchell, Frank Morrison and other officers of 
the American Fed “ration of I/abor from prosecuting a 
boycott against the stove company and from publishing it 
In the Federationist, the official organ of the federation, 
under the caption “We Don’t Patronize.” The opinion of 
the Court modifies in some respects Justice Gould’s de¬ 
cree, but it is a substantial affirmation. As modified 
Gompers, Mitchell, Morrison and other officers of the Fed¬ 
eration are still restrained and enjoined from conspiring 
or combining to boycott the business or product of the 
complainant or from aiding or abetting in any boycott or 
indirectly threatening, coercing or intimidating any person 
from buying, selling or otherwise dealing with the stove 
company.Frederick II. Richardson, president 
and owner of the J. Richardson Company 7 , a shoe corpora¬ 
tion of Elmira, N. Y., was arrested in Chicago March 12 
following an indictment for grand larceny. It is asserted 
that Richardson has secured more than $300,000 from 
banks, trust companies and mercantile houses in New York 
City and elsewhere. More than 150 firms in New York 
alone are said to have lost money on credit extended to 
Richardson upon false mercantile statements. Richard¬ 
son’s corporation, which was owned almost entirely by 
himself, failed in January, 1908, with liabilities of $385,- 
000 and assets, accruing from the disposition of stock and 
property, of about $105,000. The Chemung Canal Trust 
Company of Elmira, which according to the statement is¬ 
sued March 12 by the District Attorney’s office was out 
$55,000 through Richardson’s transactions, became the 
receiver for the bankrupt corporation. Richardson was 
asked to make an accounting, but he disappeared. 
Details of a stupendous land swindle, in which the Men- 
nonites of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota 
probably are victims to the extent of half a million dollars, 
are just coining to light at Marion, S. D., where the Men- 
nonites are believed to have been caught for nearly $100,- 
000. The game is worked by a man claiming to be a 
Mennonite, who offers California land for sale in 20-acre 
plats at $100 per acre. As part payment he takes in ex¬ 
change anything offered, but always requires a note to be 
given for the full amount. . . . George B. Davison, 
THE RURAI> NEW-YORKER 
president of the Eureka Mower Company, of Utica, N. Y., 
and a prominent inventor and manufacturer of farm im¬ 
plements, died at Utica on March 13 at the age of 73. 
He was a native of this State, but he spent his early 
years in Troy, Pa. A large part of his life was devoted 
to building farm implements. Probably no man had a 
greater share in the development of such labor saving 
devices as planters and seeders, of which he contrived 
and patented several of the most important now in use. 
. . . . Night riders are again causing trouble in 
Kentucky. March 15, in Christian county, tobacco beds on 
the farms of J. T. Walker and Min Long were sown with 
grass seed. Three beds were ruined on the Walker farm 
and one on Long’s place. Reports from Caldwell county 
say many plant beds have been destroyed by night 
riders.George Thorndike Angell, “the friend 
of dumb animals” and a leader in the humane educational 
movement, died at Boston, Mass., March 16, aged 86 years. 
Mr. Angell was the president and one of the founders or 
the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty 
to Animals, and for the last 20 years had been president 
of the American Humane Educational Association, another 
organization he had helped to establish. Mr. Angell was 
born at Southbridge, Mass. He was graduated from Dart¬ 
mouth College in 1846, and after studying law at Harvard 
was admitted to the bar in 1851. In 1866 after seeing 
two horses run to death in a race, he became interested in 
humane work for dumb animals, and, prompted by the 
action of Henry Bergh, who had started the New York 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Mr. An¬ 
gell established the publication Our Dumb Animals. Since 
that time he had been actively engaged in humane work. 
In one year he had printed more than 17,000,000 pages of 
humane literature. He travelled over the United States 
and other countries in pursuance of his work, and caused 
to be established more than 70,000 “bands of mercy” in 
America and England. 
TARIFF REVISION.—The long expected tariff revision 
bill prepared by the Republican members of the Ways 
and Means Committee to carry out the pledge contained 
in the national platform of the Republican party was in¬ 
troduced in the House of Representatives March 17 by 
the committee’s chairman, Representative Sereno E. Payne, 
of New York. It is a maximum and minimum measure, 
the maximum rates being on the average about 20 per 
cent higher than those of the recent Dingley schedule. 
The minimum rates are in many instances material re- 
UNDERESTI MATING HORSE SENSE. Pig. 141. 
Reprinted from the St. Paul Dispatch. 
ductions from the present rates. A duty of eight cents a 
pound is placed on tea coming from countries producing 
it and nine cents a pound from other countries; no duty 
on coffee; tax on beer not increased; duty on rough lum¬ 
ber fixed at $1 per 1,000; bituminous coal from countries 
not taxing it, hides, iron ore, cottonseed and croton oil on 
the free list. There is reciprocal free trade with the 
Philippines, but free sugar is limited to 300,000 tons. 
Art works, with pictures 20 years old are free. The only 
marked departure from the usual means employed by the 
Federal Government to raise revenue is found in a pro¬ 
vision for tax on inheritances. This was recommended by 
President Taft in his inaugural address. The inheritance 
taxes are to be graduated and similar in percentage to 
those imposed on inheritances in New York State. The 
nine cent duty on tea, if enacted into law, will prove a 
great blow to the tremendous tea business of Sir Thomas 
Lipton. The duty on refined sugar is reduced 5-100 or 
one-half mill a pound, and a fixed amount of Philippine 
BUgar is to come in free. The internal revenue taxes on 
cigarettes are increased. The demands of newspaper pub¬ 
lishers prior to the last political campaign that wood 
pulp and print paper be admitted free or at a greatly re¬ 
duced rate of duty are granted in large measure by pro¬ 
visions in the bill. At the time these demands were made 
the publishers insisted that there should be special enact¬ 
ments in their behalf, but the House leaders refused to 
accede to this. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The imperative demand that 
the home gardener should be given more instruction in 
horticulture has led the Rhode Island Horticultural So- 
city and the State Board of Agriculture to establish a 
free evening school for this instruction, which was 
conducted on the evenings of March 16, 17 and 18, in the 
lecture room of the Providence Public Library. 
This Is a fine fruit section, but undeveloped. Our people 
are spraying more and more every year, but so far there 
is not a power sprayer of any kind in the country. 
This Is our apple year, and so far the prospect is good. 
The trees are full of fruit spurs, and we have had no 
warm days to bring them out. The Winter has been 
open, and at this time the greater part of the corn land 
has been turned. I have had my first experience with 
Silo this season. I can scarcely see how I have been able 
to get on without one. 
Franklin Co., Va. S. G. 
CONDITIONS IN CENTRAI INDIANA. 
Previous to the late era of “prosperity” there had been 
a series of years of indifferent crops in central Indiana 
caused partly by droughts, insects, etc. Farming was at a 
discount and good farms went begging for buyers at $60 
or thereabouts per acre. Then followed a term of years 
of good average crops, accompanied by higher prices 
for produce. Interurban lines were built in all directions 
from Indianapolis, and farm lands began to soar. To-day 
average farming land without buildings within a mile or 
so of the electric lines brings up to $10 per acre, while 
improved, well-located farms are worth from $100 to $160 
per acre. City people are investing along the car lines, 
and the effect is shown by better improvements, etc. Corn 
and hogs are first in importance, while dairying is mak¬ 
ing rapid advancement both in quantity and quality of 
product. Fruit growing is still somewhat neglected. 
Schools are being centralized, there being in our town¬ 
ship only two buildings where formerly there were six, and 
high school branches are taught in each school. The 
telephone and rural mail delivery have been important 
factors in making farm life more tolerable here, as well 
as over much of the whole country; and we here in this 
district take considerable pride in the fact that tile de¬ 
velopment of the rural delivery system has been brought 
about in no small measure by our own former Congress¬ 
man Overstreet. Of course there is an undercurrent of 
dissatisfaction in certain directions. Even many progres¬ 
sive farmers believe that our pace has been too fast; that 
money has been injudiciously spent and even wasted, and 
that Congress could do much more for the rank and file 
if it was disposed to do so. The boys and girls who are 
financially able and have directness of purpose enough to 
go through the high schools and colleges rarely get back 
to the farm. Many others get work wherever they can 
find it, so it is not farm work. On the other hand there is 
an increased interest among the farmer boys of the State 
in the courses at our agricultural college. The attendance 
at Purdue University at the beginning of the present year 
showed a distinct falling off in all departments except the 
agricultural, which has a larger enrollment than ever 
before. t. a. ar. 
Valley Mills, Ind. 
A HUMAN MAIL PACKAGE. 
A Woman By Parcels Post. 
The English Postoffice Guide contains the follow¬ 
ing: 
Postmasters may arrange for the conduct of a per¬ 
son to an address by an express messenger. 
In a London paper sent us by a subscriber in 
British Columbia, a lady gives her experience as a 
human mail package: 
“Recently I was dispatched as an ‘article’ under the 
exceptional express service from Baker-street Post office 
and delivered at Carmelite House, all within three- 
quarters of an hour. It was five minutes past one when 
we entered the post office in Baker-street. 
“ ‘I believe it is possible to arrange for a person to be 
sent to an address under the care of an express mes¬ 
senger,’ remarked my companion, tentatively, to the 
young lady behind the counter. 
“‘Yes; threepence a mile. What address, please?' was 
the girl’s reply, in business-like tones, as she opened her 
express letterbook and prepared to write the address. 
“ ‘Carmelite House—that will be ninepence, please. The 
lady pays her own fare.’ 
“ ‘No ! No labelling is necessary. The messenger has 
the address,’ said the girl in reply to further questions, 
and I and my voucher were placed under the care of one 
of the waiting messenger boys. From first to last there 
had not been a smile on the girl’s face. 
“ ‘Turn to the right, please,’ directed the messenger 
politely as we left the post office and began our journey 
towards Oxford-street. At each crossing he waited for 
a lull in the traffic and then conducted his ‘parcel’ safely 
across. 
“ ‘Suppose I want to stop and look in the shop window 
—what would you do then?’ observed the ‘parcel.’ 
“ ‘First ten minutes free, 2d. each succeeding ten 
minutes,’ was the brisk reply. 
“At the end of Orchard-street we halted. ‘A Vanguard 
No. 6 will take us almost to Carmelite House,' volun¬ 
teered the youth. The omnibus soon appeared. Will 
you please take a 2d. ticket?’ directed the messenger 
when the conductor came round. He paid for his own 
ticket. 
“ ‘This is our stop,’ remarked the messenger as we 
reached Chancery-lane. The boy kept a watchful eye 
on the traffic, and at the crucial moment piloted his 
‘parcel’ across Fleet-street and down Whitefriars-street 
to Carmelite House, and just before ten minutes to two 
received a receipt in full for his charge.” 
One gentleman, whose little son, aged seven, was at 
a school in the Midlands, instructed the school authori¬ 
ties to send the boy up to London in charge of a Post 
Office messenger. This was done; the boy duly arrived, 
and was signed for as an “express packet.” 
Another instance was that of an American lady. She 
wanted to go shopping in the West End, and, being un¬ 
familiar with London, wanted some one to act as guide 
and stay outside the shops and look after her children 
while she was making purchases. A boy was placed at 
her disposal. He performed his task of “nursemaid” so 
well that it drew forth an enthusiastic appreciation of 
our British postal service. 
RELEASE FROM QUARANTINE.—The Federal quaran¬ 
tine on account of foot-and-mouth disease has been entirely 
removed from the States of Michigan and Maryland, effect¬ 
ive March 15, no cases of the disease having been found 
in those States since early in December. The quarantine 
on certain portions of New York and Pennsylvania re¬ 
mains in effect, but covers only the particular townships 
In which the disease existed together with certain adjoin¬ 
ing townships. Live stock, hides, skins, hoofs, etc., may 
be moved interstate from the quarantined portions of 
New York and Pennsylvania, however, upon certain con¬ 
ditions w-ith the permission of the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture. 
