OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 307, 24 December 1912, Page 6

OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) ' XEW YORK, November 22, 1912. A PLEASANT AUTUMN. Delightful weather, clear, 0001, refreshing, and without mosquitos. has characterised -the American metropolis for several -weeks past, a «d bhe evenings .particularly, being -a,t prc_spn.t bright -TK.onl-_g.ht-. find the streets and avenues -thronged with pedestrians. Of couree, -we shall pay up for it la,tor on. but tbe present fine streak may Last til] aftr-r Ohrietmaß. As yet, tlhore has been m frost, the mercury ranginjr from about 40d«g. io slight.}' above OOdeg., and the majority of office buildings and steam.heated apartment Jwuses ai-e obliged to keep open windows, because the janitors fe«t it incumbent upon them to domonstrate .tieir heating facilities ™hile the task ra easy, TegardJeH. of the waste of otra.l, -w.h-c.ti has become so scarce that bhe price is up .to 10 dollars a ton retail. Dealers, however, are frank in advising tbo-jr eustomere to hold off if peasihle in their supplies, as it is expected that when the Western demand ceases wifh the. close of _vaviga,tion on the Great Lakes next month, fl_« supply for the Eastern cities will become ample. The Western demand this year has been muoh greater than .heretofore, owirur to lndnstnall activity and the laying in of j more than laet year's supplies for the winter. THE ELECTION AFTERMATH conditions .since the elections noTmaI ' and ar<? "«>* likely to develop materi.ilJv until after: Congress namemblea in the sprinr* ! Present-elect W-iteon has gone to Bor-'! mudafor a re*t, and :hn R left people the n?w S rl" aa i tO ; vho ma y institute he new (abmct at Washington. \ 0 - Uunr* is certain, and ft will not be *ur if h0 arta thp *£_ n refusmg to sanction any radwi l£ turbance of eating conditions in -regard hS? •1 . • reffmu - at lra " s t- Every' predicted, especially in *h.pp jn .r affaim ' n: i t t "y c ca > r n -r7 ° f t ' h ,° P « Z ™ tively small one by Taft M f" 1 ' Th° S r X ? lAL AMPLY AVENGED. Ine finding °iiiltv hct ■,_.____. r a _, list week of mur. Jr ,n he first degree of the four m n who actually did the shooting of the pnmbler Rosenthal, for which crime r !" Ckrr a,? ° «"*« ori t\T ° f <lf ~ nth for h;,vin? instigated the crime, e : ,me as somewhat as a surprise to the under-world, but hi* % use f. he better classy tn heave a sW Of relief that the convictions have . lon accomphshed, Xever .before have five men been sentenced to death for t he murder of one. The conviction of the g)« men ' makes the chances of a reprieve for Becker all the slimmer, but whether the appeal of any of the four may attain results is doubtful. It will be remembered th.it this w ns the beginning of the unfolding of the graft system 111 the city police force which was "found to hesitate at nothing. PROSECUTING A GRAFTER. The present most interesting f—sft ca.-e under trial is that of Mr Charles •H. Hyde, former eitv comptroller who is charged with obtaining loans from banks on threats of refusine city deposits, and otherwise doin<j things not considered strictly honest in regard to the public funds under his control. Mr Hyde is a Xova Seotian by birth, the nephew of Mayor Oaynor's first wife, and the mayor disclaims any responsibility for his actions. TRAGEDY OF FEAR. A most unfortunate illustration of the danger of carrying firearms transpired on November 13, in a railway train near Philadelphia, when a young New York lady, who was travelling with her mother on the way to select a trousseau for her wedding, pulled a revolver from beneath her pillow in the sleeping c_ir, and shot a supposed burglar, whose hand she felt, and whom she supposed to be after her jewels. The shot killed her mother, who was only replacing a cover over the girl's sleeping form. i AX INTERNATIONAL | A decision was given in the case of the school boy in New Jersey, which I referred to in a previous letter as having been expelled fur refusing to join with the other pupils in repeating the oath of allegiance to the American flag as part of the morning school exercises. The boy was a Canadian, and was instructed by his parents not to refuse to ! salute the. flag as a matter of courtesy, j but that he should not forswear his j allegiance until he became of age. The ' Courts ordered that he be reinstated, and that the compulsory swearing of ; allegiance by scholars be abolished. j THE BIRTH OF THE " SPUG." Are yon a "Spug?"' is now the common question among females, and it is not unlikely that the idea may extend to the male sex very extensively. "Spugs" are members of a new society formed by Mrs August Belmont and other wealthy workers among tbe poor. Tlie name of the society is the Society for the Prevention of Useless ("Jiving, hence the combination of capital letters that forms the new word. It is designed especially to prevent unnecessary extravagance' at Christmas. '"Instead of being a season of true and simple pleasure-making." said Mrs Belmont, "Christmas has come to be a serious burden to thousands of working girls. The Christmas-giving custom may have originated in the mind of some kind person, but it results in trouble and hurt feelings."

THANKSGIVING DAY. Thanksgiving comes on Thursday of next week—always the last Thursday in November in this country, although in Canada the date has in recent years been established for a Monday in October as being more seasonable tltere, and affording people a better chance to go home over Sunday. It is always, however, a great national holiday in both countries, and the last before Christmas. As turkey is the national Thanksgiving dish in America, there is a standing joke this year in connection with the war. In a recent play tried both here and in Chicago without much success, the principal actor says that America is the greatest place for birds. He personates a Frsjichman passing comments on what he sees in this country, the principal reason why the play was unsuccessful, because Americans certainly do not like to be criticised by foreigners. However, lie says: '"You have the big bird to fight for you (the ■eagle), the bird that brings the babies (the stork), the little bird that whispers things in secrets, and the bird you thank God with —and what else?"

FISH AND THE CUSTOMS. One of the things that may come before tbe Supreme Court, if not also before Congress, for decision in the near future, according to rumour among fish dealers, is the interesting question as to whether fish caught on the high seas and brought to an American port in a foreign vessel should be made to pay duty. The contention always has been that a vessel has to show her last clearance papers in entering at a Customhouse ou arrival, and that foreign vessels cannot carry cargo from one American port to another. Consequently, if a foreign vessel sails from an American port and catches a cargo of fish at sea, she cannot enter them without paying duty as foreign fish. The new claim is that they cannot be construed as foreign fish any more than if they were taken by an American vessel. If such fish can be admitted duty free, it will open a large avenue of trade for Canadian and other vessel.. MISSIONARY RECOLLECTIONS. The season of public dinners, annual meetings, etc., is now in full force. At a recent meeting of a Home for Destitute Children of Seamen I heard the incidental remark that it was just 49 years (November 7) since the mission vessel Dayspring, built by the pennies of school children in the Canadian provinces and Australia and New Zealand, sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on her maiden voyage to the South Seas. Some of your readers may remember her as a handsome little brigantine which visited Auckland in 1864, and made many trips to Aneiteum, Eromanga, and others of the New Hebrides under command of Captain Wiliam Fraser in the interest of the mission established by Rev. Dr. John Geddin. 1 know that some of the crew are still alive, and I think that a son of Dr. Geddie is living in Sydney or Melliournc. FOR RANCHING. The raising of foxes has developed into a n': i! industry in Prince Edward lslai. ently in that province a deal in foxi .ii'-s made when a Russian syndicate closed with the Charles Dalton Silver Black Fox Co. for six pairs of next season's pups for the sum of 100,000dol. The foxes are to be delivered in Russia, and Mr Dalton will accompany them to their destination to ensure delivery and give necessary instructions in ranching. EXTRAVAGANCE IN FURS. 11l the line of furs, probably the most expensive garment extant has lately been made for Mrs. Ada Drouillard of 1008, Fifth Avenue, whoie nusband is Captain .1. I'ierre Drouillard, U.S.A., retired. The coat is made of more than 100 of the best Imperial Russian sable skins that could be found, and the cost is said to have been 35.000 dollars. Mrs. Drouillard has always been fond of fine furs, and in ibis she lias been rivalled by her sister-in-law, Mrs. Paul A. Sorg. Last ■..-inter Mr-. Surg appeared in a sable opera oat reputed to have cost 20.000 dollars. No sooner nad Mrs. Drouillard seen it than she resolved to have a better one, ami an onier was at once paced with a New York furrier for a cloak iv'i'"h was to surpass anything New \ork. if not the world, had ever seen. The furrier sent a man abroid and after two and a-hall' month:, spent in selecting the lest sable skins in Europe, more than 100 magnificent pelts were secured and shipped to New York. Six furriers went lo work nt once and alter months of 1-Jbour created the garment which is now the envy of all society. Mrs. Drouillard'* cloak weighs a little over seven pounds and N fifty-eight inches long. Tho fur is brown, tipped WTth white, and the skins are so well pieced together that the garment might be supposed to have been taken from the back of ft bear, of finer and moro beautiful fur. Mrs. Drouillard's brother, Paul A. Sorg, lives at 12, East Eighty-seventh Street, and he and his wile are known as among the most lavish entertainers in society. -Mrs. Sorg's 20,000-doiUr sable coat was stolen while she was at the theatre with Mr. anil Mrs. Elisha Clifton Tower last winter, only a few days after her sister-in-law's remarkable garment had been ordered. Captain and Mrs. Drouillard were married in 1905. Captain Drouillard's sister married the Comte de N. Montpres, of Paris. PAYING A RIDICULOUS WAGER. Miss Myrtle Hays, a society girl of Addyston, a Cincinnati suburb, rolled a peanut three blocks with her nose to pay a wager she made that President Talt would be re-elected. The whole village population was on hand to sec her. With her hair well bundled up and a pillow as a pad, the girl, after a few jocular remarks, went at the task. It took her a trilie more than an hour to complete the task. She stopped twice to imbibe an ice cream soda. A CANADIAN HERCULES. Every country has its special hero, real or mythical, whose deeds of strength have been celebrated in song and story. Greece has its Hercules, Judca it 3 Samson, Assyria its Nimrod and Albania its terrible Scanderberg. The iSainson ot Canada died on November 11. Louis I Cyr was, after all, a remarkable physical phenomenon. He was born ia the village of St. ("yprien (Quebec), iv the year 150.'., his mother being a woman over six feet in height and 267 pounds. Even as a boy Louis exhibited wonderful feats of strength, and when be had attained his full growth he was ii feet 10* inches in height, but so vast were his proportions that he tipped the scale at 3G5 pounds. His chest measured 59J inches, with the extraordinary powers of expansion of seven inches, while his arms around the biceps girdled 22iin. He could raise above his head with one h-and a dumb-bell weighing 347 pounds, lift 297 pounds clear of the ground with one hand from ground to shoulder, lilt 987 pounds clear of the ground with one hand and 552* pounds wdth one finger, and shoulder a barrel of wet sand weighing 432 pounds. In 1888, at Berthtervifle, he made a back lift of a platform upon which was placed 3,530 pounds of pig iron. H'rs greatest weight-lifting feat in the " harness" was the raising of a platform upon which sat twenty-five men giving a total weight of 4,562 pounds. This °wa.. done at Sohmer Park, Montreal, in 1894. W r e have no exact reliable record of any greater lifting powers ever exhibited by any human being in all his-1 tory. His most dramatic feat was that in which he pulled against four horses weighing a thousand pounds each. Two horses were attached by traces to each arm, and try as they would, their combined strength was unable to move him from the stand he had taken. Other men, like Sandow, were able to perform sleight-of-hand tricks with great weights which Cyr could not do. but no contemporary ever approached him in feats of pure muscular strength. He travelled i quite extensively in different parts of J the world, and proved what Canadian muscle is capable of accomplishing. That he possessed moral stamina as well as herculean thews is shown by the fact— pleasant to record — that he always lived the clean, upright life of the moral and

religious Habitant till the last. His early death was brought about by valvular heart disease, no doubt resulting from the overstrain of his athletic feats. No performance of Cape Breton's Goliath, Angus MacAskill, rivalled those of the St. Cyprien villager. RAILWAY REVENUE. Railways of the United States earned 2,873,279,987 dollars in the fiscal year 1912. Their gross revenues increased 54,499,587 dollars over 1911, operating expenses increased 54,550,400 dollars, and net revenues decreased 50,413 dollars. Taxes increased 12,689,253 dollars, resulting i.i a decrease of over 13,500.000 dollars in net income, notwithstanding an increase of 3.252 miles of operated line reported. With gross revenues the largest in their history the net income of the railways of the United States for the year ended June 30, 1912, after deducting operating expenses and taxes, amounted to 7152,003,579 dollars, or 3.81 per cent on their estimated value of 20,000.000.000 dollars. Analysis of the returns shows that had the expenditure for maintenance of road and equipment been on a scale commensurate with the normal advance in the demands made on their railways by the American people the net results would have been at least 100.000,000 dollars less satisfactory from the income point of view. Then there would have been less reason to anticipate a ear shortage whenever traffic resumes normal proportions.