1912. 
601 
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY. 
Last week the trial judge made an 
important ruling in the trial of E. G. 
Lewis, charged with fraudulent use of 
the mails. The ruling in effect was 
that if Lewis made representations 
believing them to be true, he should not 
be held criminally liable because they 
proved to be untrue. But if he made 
representations which he knew were not 
true, in the belief that he would later 
make the enterprise a success, then the 
belief or faith in his future success 
would be no defense to the charge of 
fraud. In other words his belief or 
hope in future success would be no ex¬ 
cuse for fraudulent misrepresentation at 
the time he was getting the money. The 
motion by Lewis’ attorney to strike out 
testimony was overruled accordingly. 
During the week the District At¬ 
torney took up the counts in reference 
to the debenture scheme, characterizing 
it as a scheme to defraud. He said 
that in July, 1910, when the plan was 
proposed, that the four Lewis concerns, 
and E. G. Lewis himself were insolvent, 
and that Lewis evolved the debenture 
scheme as a solution of his financial 
difficulties. The plan was outlined in 
a page article in one of the Lewis 
papers in July, 1910. This article stated 
that a committee of bankers and ac¬ 
countants had examined the Lewis 
affairs and developed the debenture plan, 
and that each member of the commit¬ 
tee subscribed for $10,000 worth of the 
debentures. It was represented that the 
total assets were about $8,000,000; and 
that two to three millions would be 
sufficient to finance the obligations. The 
article was signed by L. B. Tebbetts as 
chairman of the Board of Trustees. 
The debentures were simply ten-year 
notes of E. G. Lewis, the District At¬ 
torney said. They were to be issued in 
exchange for stocks, notes and other 
obligations of Lewis and his enter¬ 
prises, and for interest and dividends 
due. They were also to be issued for 
cash and several other purposes, in¬ 
cluding membership in the League and 
for subscription work. 
Tebbetts, who was associated with 
Lewis at the time, testified that there 
was no such committee. He repudiated 
the alleged report and said he did not 
write it. He testified that many of the 
statements in it were untrue, and that he 
protested to Lewis against the use of 
his name. He said he did not subscribe 
for any debentures and no other direc¬ 
tors had done so to his knowledge. He 
said he did not authorize the use of his 
name, and did not know it was being 
used as a trustee of the fund. The 
statement was made that $1,158,485 of 
the debentures were issued in exchange 
for other notes, stock, etc., and about 
$223,591.55 for cash. The people who 
sent this money got debentures which 
the District Attorney said were merely 
10-year notes of E. G. Lewis, who was 
insolvent at the time, and yet owed 
about $500,000 in unpaid notes. He said 
there never had been any action by the 
board of directors of the trust com¬ 
pany authorizing the trust company to 
act as trustee of the fund. His princi¬ 
pal objection to the use of his name in 
the advertisement, he said, was that the 
whole article was untrue. 
Treasurer Putnam also testified that 
at the time the debentures were pro¬ 
posed all the Lewis Publishing Com¬ 
pany publications had suspended except 
the Daily; and that Lewis had discussed 
with him the advisability of suspending 
the business of the company. At the 
same time the value previously given 
the suspended publications was carried 
as an. asset on the books. Putnam also 
testified that $225,000 cash, and nearly 
$100,000 worth of secured notes which 
were sent to the trust company on the 
debenture scheme, were taken out of 
the fund for the use of the Lewis 
Publishing Company. The cash, he 
said, was used for running expenses. 
In place of the cash and secured notes, 
unsecured notes of the publishing com¬ 
pany or of Lewis himself were placed. 
He said $25,000 of the secured notes 
went to Nathan Frank, in payment of 
the Star. This cash and mortgage 
notes were to be assets behind the de¬ 
bentures. They had real value. They 
were taken away, according to the tes¬ 
timony and worthless notes put in their 
KURA5 
place. The debentures are now worth¬ 
less according to statements which re¬ 
cently appeared in the Lewis paper. In 
making up a table of assets Putnam ad¬ 
mitted that he included the capital stock 
of the companies, which he also admit¬ 
ted are practically worthless. 
Putnam also testified that although 
the United States Fibre Stopper Com¬ 
pany never made any stoppers for mar¬ 
ket, nearly $70,000 of the stock of the 
company had been sold and other 
amounts had been given as bonuses. The 
Publishing Company, he said, owed the 
League $40,000. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Salton Sea, that body of 
water paralleling the Southern Pacific tracks 
from Mecca to Rockwood, Cal., 70 miles, is 
rising rapidly and a washout of the line 
is threatened. This would inundate thou¬ 
sands of acres of the Imperial Valley. The 
lake’s source is believed to be an under¬ 
ground connection with the Colorado 
River. Recent changes in the Colorado’s 
course are held responsible for the present 
danger. 
One man lost his life in riots at Rock 
Island, Ill., March 26, and a number 
of others were hurt. The National Guard 
was called out. The mayor states that 
the troubles arc due to his efforts to 
close disorderly resorts. 
Women voted for the first time in San 
Francisco March 28, and 10,000 of them 
went to the polls and voted for civic 
centre and city hall bonds to the amount 
of $8,500,000. Women served on election 
boards in many parts of the city and did 
their work well. As clerks they were a 
decided success and the presence of women 
did much to give to polling places an 
atmosphere totally different from that seen 
on other occasions. The bonds carried, 
43,000 to 36,000. Ninety per cent of the 
registered women voted, while less than 
50 per cent of the men went to the polls. 
The right of Senator Lorimer of Illinois 
to his seat in the United States Senate 
was upheld March 28 by the special in¬ 
vestigation committee, which decided that 
the Senate’s vote sustaining Mr. Lorimer 
in the last Congress on substantially the 
same charges barred any further proceed¬ 
ings against him. The vote was five to 
three. By a vote of 5 to 0 the committee 
adopted a resolution declaring that if there 
were any corrupt dealing in connection 
with Lorimer’s election to the Senate, 
Lorimer had no knowledge of it. 
The jury in the trial brought against 
the sugar trust under the Sherman law at 
New York disagreed March 30. Its final 
vote was 11 to 1 for acquittal. 
Andrew Carnegie has brought suit in the 
Supreme Court to recover the $2,000,000 
of United States Steel bonds, with the in¬ 
terest due on them, which he lent to the 
officers of the Carnegie Trust Company 
when it was represented to him that the 
trust company was in danger. The 
amount sued for is $2,250,000 and the de¬ 
fendant named is Samuel H. Kress, the 
department store man, who was a director 
of the Carnegie Trust Company at the 
time. Mr. Carnegie alleges that he has 
got but one payment of $50,000 on the 
loan, which came to him on May 1, 1910, 
five months after the loan was made, and 
merely represented interest. 
Floods are extending over a wide area 
as a result of heavy rains and Spring 
thaws. Twenty feet of the Grant Williams 
dyke on the Kankakee River, unable to 
bear the ice gorge, gave way early March 
30, between the towns of Shelby and 
Schneider, Ind., and 15 feet of water swept 
out over the surrounding country, which 
consists of the most valuable farm land 
in Indiana. The loss by the break will 
reach $250,000. Great damage already has 
been wrought in the lowlands around the 
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. 
Immense damage was done in the vicinity 
of Cairo, Ill. Columbus, Ky., was under 
five feet of water March 31, and property 
was damaged to the extent of $50,000. 
Everything in Bclimont, Mo., Vas sub¬ 
merged.. A levee was cut opposite Bel¬ 
mont and above Columbus, Ill., to prevent 
a levee above the latter town from giving 
way. The big ice gorge at Yankton, S. D., 
broke March 30, forcing upper Missouri 
River Valley people to their homes. Fre¬ 
mont, Neb., was submerged. The business 
section of Norfolk, Neb., was submerged, 
but the Platte River began to subside. 
The overflow encroached into Des Moines, 
la. Many people were rescued from house 
tops in the Platte, Elkhorn and other val¬ 
leys of Nebraska March 31; special trains 
with boats were being sent from Omaha 
for that purpose. Twenty men and women 
who had been marooned on a bridge two 
days crawled on the rails to escape. Fif¬ 
teen children who had been carried away on 
an ice floe in the Nodaway River in Iowa 
were rescued in boats. To escape from a 
train in which he had been marooned 24 
hours Gov. Aldrich of Nebraska March 31, 
crawled 100 feet across a broken bridge 
over the Platte River, walked five miles 
in the flood and caught a train to his 
home. April 2 increasing damage was re¬ 
ported from Tennessee, where the Cumber¬ 
land Valley experienced the worst flood in 
its history. Hickman, Ky., was under 20 
feet of water and 3,000 persons were with¬ 
out shelter. Broken levees were reported 
at Commerce, Mo., and Birds Point, Mo., 
McClure, Ill., was all under water and 
it was reported that much of New Madrid, 
Mo., has been washed away. Bridge sup¬ 
ports, railroad tracks and miles of gravel 
ballast were washed away April 2 by the 
breaking of the dike along the Kankakee 
River at Schneider, Ind., and thousands 
of acres were submerged when the river 
cut a new channel to the Illinois State 
line. Complying with a recommendation 
made in a special message April 2 by Presi¬ 
dent Taft, the House and Senate speedily 
passed a resolution appropriating $350,000 
to reinforce the Mississippi River levees 
and to combat the floods that are destrov- 
K EW-YORKER 
ing property and menacing life in that 
valley. Conditions in the Mississippi and 
the other rivers in the West and South 
were urgently brought to the attention 
of the President by members of the Louis¬ 
iana, South Dakota and other Congress 
delegations representing States where the 
flood w r aters are doing great damage. The 
President promptly wrote a message to Con¬ 
gress on the subject. 
Gov. Dix of New York signed April 2 
the Brooks Assembly bill, providing that 
all meat, meat products and butter shall 
be sold or offered for sale by weight. 
All other commodities not in containers 
shall be sold or offered for sale by stand¬ 
ard weight, standard measure or numeri¬ 
cal count and such weight, measure or 
count shall be marked on a label or a 
tag attached thereto, except that vege¬ 
tables may be sold by the head or bunch. 
The net contents of containers must be 
indicated on the outside. The bill estab¬ 
lishes the standard barrel and prescribes 
that all commodities within reasonable 
variations must be marked on the outside 
of the container to show what is offered for 
sale within. 
At Boston. Mass., April 2. the bill for 
woman’s suffrage in Massachusetts was 
killed by the House, 106 to 86. 
Lucius P. Wilson was arrested in New 
York by postal inspectors April 1. The 
charge is fradulent use of the mails in the 
working of the rather aged “dead man” 
game. This is a scheme by which stock 
certificates are sent addressed to the names 
of recently deceased men culled from the 
newspapers, and alluring literature is en¬ 
closed to induce the relatives of the de¬ 
ceased to pay for and keep the stock in 
order that a golden opportunity may not 
be missed. Wilson’s operations were first 
brought to the attention of the Post Office 
Department by the Adams and the Ameri¬ 
can Express Companies, who had noted a 
conspicuously large number of C. O. D. 
packages sent by Wilson to various per¬ 
sons in scattered cities which had been 
returned by the consignees unopened. The 
packages were alike and each was In a 
large envelope. Each contained a cer¬ 
tificate for five shares of stock in the 
Dominion Porcupine Mines, Ltd., with a 
face value of $5 for the five shares, along 
with a map of the mines and the sur¬ 
rounding property and some other litera¬ 
ture. The accompanying statement apolo¬ 
gized for delay in sending the certificate. 
It happens that the express companies 
make their returns by mail on small C. O. 
D. shipments. So that if a man working 
such a game should choose express sendee 
rather than mail to avoid the postal laws 
he would not get far. The post office in¬ 
spectors found that all the persons ad¬ 
dressed—so far as they got in their inves¬ 
tigation—had died within a few days of 
the date of the shipment. They also found 
that something less than 200 packages, each 
with a supposed value of $5, had been paid 
for and the money returned to Wilson. 
Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island 
were shaken as by earthquake April 1 
when 15 tons of black powder blew up at 
the Laflin & Rand powder works at Wayne, 
N. J., about nine miles west of Paterson 
and some 25 miles distant from New York 
City, killing two men and wounding sev¬ 
eral. The shock was felt for more than 
25 miles around. In the immediate neigh¬ 
borhood of the explosion the concussion 
was tremendous. Scarcely a pane of glass 
w’as left whole iu Wayne and in the neigh¬ 
boring village of Little Falls. Although 
the damage done to the neighboring coun¬ 
try was not nearly so great, the shock of 
this explosion was felt as far as that of 
the Communipaw disaster of February, 
1911, when a powder barge blew up at the 
New Jersey Central wharves killing more 
than a dozen men and doing several thou¬ 
sand dollars of damage to windows in Man¬ 
hattan and Long ^Island. 
REFORMS IN EXPRESS BUSINESS.— 
The Interstate Commerce Commission and 
the express companies have practically 
reached au agreement as to reforms to be 
instituted in the express business. The 
new reforms include a simplified form of 
receipt, a system that will prevent express 
companies from charging at both ends, the 
extension of delivery limits in many towns 
and cities, and several other suggestions 
of relief advanced by commercial organ¬ 
izations and shippers gexxerally throughout 
the country. But more important than even 
these reforms will be a system of ex¬ 
press charges which the Interstate Com¬ 
merce Commission is now working on. The 
commission has evolved a zone system of 
charges which it is said will approximate 
the charges under a parcels post service 
in this country. It is believed now that 
the proposed zone system of charges is the 
only feature of the comprehensive readjust¬ 
ment plan contemplated by the commission 
that the companies will contest. The com¬ 
mission. however, has the right to name 
reasonable rates on the express business, 
and it is going ahead with the firm deter¬ 
mination to bring about a readjustment of 
the tariff schedules in a way that will be 
fair to the companies and the public alike. 
The new reforms have developed from a 
suggestion by Interstate Commerce Com¬ 
missioner Lane that representatives of the 
commission, the express companies and the 
shippers get together and try to devise 
some method for doing away with gross 
abuses that have heretofore been prac¬ 
tised by the companies. Since then there 
have been many conferences between mem¬ 
bers of the Interstate Commerce Commis¬ 
sion and representatives of the express 
companies and the reform programme has 
now reached a point where its acceptance 
is practically assured. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The New York 
Association for Improving the Condition of 
the Poor wants to hear from farmers or 
others who have work that can be done 
by unskilled men. The association receives 
every day a large number of applications 
for work. Many of the applicants have 
had experience in farm work, others have 
not, but are willing to learn and receive a 
compensation commensurate with the value 
of their services. Qualifications of each 
applicant are investigated and the associa¬ 
tion tries in each case to send the man 
best suited to the work. The references of 
the men who apply to the association are 
investigated and reports are received from 
their former employers. Owing to the un¬ 
favorable conditions of the labor market, 
the number of persons in New York City 
seeking work is much larger than usual. 
The association will cooperate with any 
one who needs farm or other help and who 
will address a communication to the cen¬ 
tral office, No. 105 East Twenty-second 
street, New York. 
The prompt response of the market for 
meat and hog products to the acquittal of 
the Chicago packers on the charge of con¬ 
spiracy to maintain prices caused a shock 
to the purchasers who visited Washington 
Market March 26. The wholesale prices 
for boef and pork in barrels were advanced 
from 50 to 75 cents, and retail prices were 
boosted, as usual, more than enough to 
make up for the wholesale advance. The 
only explanation was that “the trust has 
things its own way now, and we have to 
follow suit,” overlooking the fact that ad¬ 
vances were made with entire impartiality 
on meats which had been bought before the 
advance in wholesale rates. 
A rural high school, with all the modern 
equipment of a city institution, has just 
been dedicated in Harper County, Kan. by 
t State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction. The building stands on 
a five acre plot, where space is laid out 
for demonstration classes in agriculture 
H has an auditorium with a seating ca¬ 
pacity of 300. Lecture courses and pollti- 
S a literary meetings will be held there 
for the benefit of farmers and families who 
find little leisure to drive miles to town 
There are domestic science and manual 
training, laboratories and a fully equipped 
gymnasium. 
, Tbe aanual short course in beekeeping 
at the Massachusetts Agricultural College 
is offered from May 29 to June 13, to be 
concluded by a convention and field day. 
the course and convention is under the 
personal direction of Dr. Burton N. Gates 
in charge of the agricultural service of 
the college and State. A special invitation 
is , ex J ended t° a U beekeepers to display 
and demonstrate inventions, implements or 
methods. If table space is desired, or 
special equipment is to be prepared, notice 
should be sent to Dr. Burton N. Gates 
(Amherst, Mass.,) at least two or three 
weeks before the convention. The college 
will, provide covered tables for the exhibit 
Registration with the Extension Service’ 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, Am- 
classes MaSS ’’ iS nccessary for admission to 
?lSnn? EST ^ A , D LAW.-The sum of 
k 'Por 2'il?°. was takpn to Canada in 1910 
by 12o,000 Americans, who were attracted 
to various provinces of the Dominion by 
lands that were procured practically for 
the asking. Iowa and other States of the 
Northwest declined in population or failed 
to show normal increases in the decade be¬ 
tween 1900 and 1910. Western Congressmen 
contend that this condition of affairs is 
directly traceable to the more liberal laws 
governing the disposal of the public <k> 
main in the Dominion. While the popula- 
of , tke , Northwest is decreasing or 
failing to inekrease, the population of Can- 
ada is increasing at the rate of 1 000 a 
(lay. Canada is drawing on this country 
to increase her population, and the farm¬ 
ing regions of the border States are yearly 
losing thousands of citizens who are at- " 
tracted to the provinces by lands given in 
patent to settlers at low prices and on 
are fay orabIe otherwise. This in 
”7 f in S hPh-,1f SUI ? ent V’-'n was used March 
f T ‘ In behalf of a bill passed by the 
House governing the disposal of the public 
wh?, a hV n th i e U “ lted States. The measure! 
o' I lcb K bas , al ^ Gad Y passed the Senate, will 
soon be submitted to the President for ap 
proval. It was framed by Western mem- 
. a *? ls - desi g«ed to check the flow of 
ada S The !m i t n he 1 UnIted ‘ Statpa to Can- 
5f a - , ln large measure is pat- 
terned after the land laws of Canada. In 
the first place it reduces the residence 
the American homestead from 
five to three years. Second, it permits an 
entryman and his family to be absent from 
a homestead five months during each year 
of the residence period. 
First plowing of year this week (March 
21). Irovender nearly exhausted and 
clamorous demand at any price, however ex- 
* s bock-fodder” (corn) command- 
ng three to five times ordinary price 
K° rn *o2 Cents per bushel, common Timothy 
nfiToc?" 5 P rs ton, and buyers haul 10 to 15 
rrnles First tobacco beds sown since 
March 18 Ihose who remember similar 
far ™ p « nd !tions are dumb or have migrated. 
Kidd s btoiG, Ivy. j 
, ® ur Spri m£ seven Weeks later than 
last year. The fruit trees are just coming 
into bloom, March 20. The buds are all 
sound and we are going to have a glorious 
rruit crop. I have my full force budding 
pecan trees My negroes have all become 
e SP ei L t budde , rs - We are using the Texas 
mit P h b d d w?s h0d L Wh,c t h ls by far the best 
method. When done just as the sap rises 
in the Spring a very large per cent of the 
b " ds Hje. For all kinds of trees that are 
difficult to propagate this chip-bud method 
is the greatest discovery in horticulture in 
modern times. You must get conditions 
exactly right. That is all. 
Louisiana. sam h. jambs. 
February has been quite a changeable 
month. We have had thunder shower and 
then intense cold. We have very icy roads 
and a heavy coating in places on wheat We 
shall watch and report the results on the 
wheat where it is covered to a large amount 
We have had nearly two months of fine 
sleighing, and there has been a large 
amount of business done in the way of 
hauling ice, logs, firewood and manure. 
Stock is doing fairly well, but consuming a 
large amount of feed. Fat stock of all 
kinds except veal is low in price. This Is 
the day of auctions; many changes are 
being made. Farm property is high. Cows 
and horses are high in price. Wheat can¬ 
not reach the dollar mark, and yet flour 
and mill feed are high. Clover and Timothy 
seed are expensive, clover, $15; Timothy, 
$8.50. Wheat, 95 cents ; oats; 60 ; corn 70 • 
barley. $1.10; potatoes, 95; butter, ’ 30; 
eggs, 32; hay, $20: veal. 8% cents; pork, 
5% *, lambs, 5%: red kidney beans, $2 40’ 
red marrows, $2.25; bran, $30 per ton; 
chickens. 12% cents live. e. t b 
Ontario Co., N. Y. 
