OUR AMERICAN LETTER

Evening Star, Issue 12551, 8 July 1905, Page 11

OUR AMERICAN LETTER

ALCOHOL. TEA, AND COFFEE. It has become fashionable in this country of late years to link tea and coffee -with alcoholic" beveraaes as constituting an equal menace to health. There is especially a vigorous propaganda against coffee, which is charged with causing pretty nearly every ill that human flesh is heir to. Perhaps there is some foundation for this sweeping indictment of the two standard table beverages, as there is usually certain foundation for every new fad. Yet it will take a good deal more than mere assertion, even by food experts of renown, to convince very many of us that tea and coffee are as harmful as alcohol to the physical body. When we come to consider tho moral effects there can \n no argument. Neither tea 1 nor coliee ever save a man delirium tremens or caused him to beat his wife or turn his children out of doors. Whatever may be said of coffee, it docs not draw a man down into the gutter nor excite him to murder. Tea does not keep a man oat all night, and send him reeling home in the morning more a beast than a man. Alcohol has found some respectable friends of late, but its- new-found respectability and defence does not diminish its potentiality for evil. A NEW CONVENIENCE FOR TRAVELLERS. The American tians-continental ra-irwav through trains are provided with a special news service. Twice each day bulletins giving the important events of the world are now posted in library and observation cars. Travellers oa American lines will thus hear as soon as anybody the result of tho Rozhdestveusky-Togo fight. 'They will no more "be in the world, but not of it" while crossing the,alkali n-gion and the Rocky Mountains. Tho niiinojs Central Railwuy Company have introduced an all-night bullet service. Passengers who may get on !ato will not need to go to bed hun-rry or thirsty. Pei>x>ns who caru:ot retire for the night on an empty stomcch can get remedies lor insomnia. Those who like a '.ate supper will have an opporfcurutv to spand their money while speeding on the rails. Most of the comforts and all the luxuries of modern railway travel are supplied originally to meet the demands of long journeys. The man wlio rides from tho city to a suburb a few lniios out only waaits a seat. Those who ride all niglit want beds, and the Pulinwn sleeper is provided. Mt-n. a:\d women who travel night and day want good meals, and the dining car was invented. People who ride a week or more want nest and comfort, and the state--100:11 was provided for them. Anglican niilroad men are exceedingly watchful, and arc quick to imitate one another and go one better in any plan or device that will increase their passengers' comfort and convenience and the company's business. If they would contrive a more satisfactory method of ventilating cars and put larger berths an their sl"epers it would be possible to live on some trains almost as pleasantly as at home. AMERICANS' INCREASING LEISURE. The custom heretofore existing in most of our large citius among banks and financial and commercial institutions of closing their places on Saturday at noon and giving their employees the half-holiday. is fast" I crystallising into a law, and- will soon eai- | brace nearly all kinds of labor. The Satur- ! day half-holiday illustrates the tendency ! in America to reduce the hours of labor. | Tho effects of this movement axe most I marked in the cities, but aTc also visible j in the towns, hamlets, and even on tho j farms. Formerly not only laborers, but i all other clotsses, worked with a constancy j that astonished foieign visitors. The mer- I chant was at his store, the lawyer at his ! desk, from morning until night. Tho work ! of the farmer, no matter how well-to-do, | was never done, and vacations wen: \m- 1 known. Everybody was after the dollaTß, ! and thought, that tie only way to get them j was to toil like a galley-slave. But American business people are getting rich faster ' now than ever ; they sue working as etienii- j ously as ever, but are r.ot working as many ■ hours. Farmers go to their fields later and ictum earlier, as a rule. Many stoies and shops are closed at 6 p.m., while the lawyer closes his office, at 5 p.m. The physician cuts lids hours shorter. Many thousands take vacations evtry year, varying in length from a week to months. Sunday school excursions, outings, and picnics are all the go now : a romp in tLo woods, in tho parks, and along the streams with the children and friends is exhilarating and refreshing. But neither leisure nor anything el.se is an unqualified good, and many people suffer from too muoh of it. Like eve-rything else, whether beneficial or harmful dep nds cm. its Uoe. As a people we are getting more leisured, and we need to study' how to make the best use of our spare time. THE AUTOMOBILE. Another evidence of wealth arid of the tendency towards leisure and luxury in America is (he march of the automobile, but nowhere. he-S it made such a distressing record as in and about New York. Since January 1 to this date sixty-two people have been killed by it there, and 793 persons have bean rim down and injured. During the same time fourteen casualties have been reported to the police of Chicago. Many automobile accidents are in largo measure due to the fact that thia vehicle is new. and the people have not learned automatically to gauge the speed and become familiar with its eccentricities of behaviour. Another prolific cause of automobile accidents is inexpert: drivers. Perhaps after a few thousand more have been killed people will learn that it is not safe for a man or woman to run one of these machines without knowing something about it. The main euiu* of automobile accidents has always been, and is now, the love of chauffeurs and owners of going faster than is safe. Most autouiobilists are respectable and generally good, law-abiding citizens; they do not 'mean to hurt anyone, but too many would rattier break the law and take the "chance than forego the pleasure of speeding. Tiro law should be eniorced without fear or favor. It is just as much manslaughter io kill a man with a £SOO automobile ;•£• with a 2s 6d axe, and there should be no more hesitation or luke-warm-nesa in prosecuting one as the other.

A RATIONAL EDUCATIONAL DIET. The season for school commencements and gatherings of educators is now on. The eightesnth annua] Convention of the Association of Colleges of the Middle State and of Maryland is now being held, ;mtl PrcrShk-nit Warfield, of Lafayette College, «as one of the principal eprakers. In hi* - address be lamented the multiplication of studies, and illustrated: its danger by an experience in bifi own family. When his oldest, child rose from ten to eleven subjects (he did not say how many more he was threatened with) the father interfered, and ae a- consequence the rational diet was arranged for. Virgil, Ur&'k, German, and algebra, for a growing boy who is trying to acquire an education, ia recommended. Fossib.y tho choice could be improved upon The teachers, in conference assembled, certainly insisted thai there was the peril of indigestion in too many courses, and they were not talking as theorists, but out of the fulness of their experience. Appa~ rently we have reached a point when there is a" decided reaction in the profession. Science and the practical may be of immense value, but there are limits to the " variety show " in the schoolroom. As we who are older find it necessary to pass over

and ignore a vast amount of reading matter, if we are to read with profit, ; so there must bo a rigid selection and very much elimination if school work is to give the bgst possible results. It is : not of prime importance that any three or four Studies should be insisted on to übe exchv sion of all others. Latin and Greek will answer the purpose of drill very well, and so will other suhjeets that ore generally considered more practical. Within reason, able limits, som« freedom of selection m.iy be properly admitted. Better, however, a somewhat narrow rule than an overpowering jumble that must have confusion as a ' net result. UTKBACY AND PROPERTY OP IMMIGRANTS. Some interesting facte concerning the literacy of aliens* who came to us in the last fiscal year, and also concerning the amount* of money they brought with them, have been published. The volume of immigration this fiscal venv is alarming. At the present rate of .urivals it promises to be considerably iver a million. Selecting a number of the im-st important races—English, Irish, German, Scandinavian. Italian, Hebrew, and Ruesiam—it appears that the jinglisn have the advantage over ail others in their average amount of cash, while the Scandinavians have the advantage in literacy. Of all the races the Italians are the most poorly equipped with worldly goods aid ako most iHiteTate. Among the Scandinavians oidv one out of 168 of the immigrants was illiterate. The English show one out of ninety-two, the Germans one out of thirty, the Irish one out of tliityone. the Japanese and Hebrew one rut of five, the RutCTaue one out of four, and the Italians two out of five. Turning to rooiß-y possessions, it appears that two-thirds of the English lu-iug in over- £lO each, the Germans £lO, the Japaneoo £9, the Irish and Russians £6, the Scandinavians £5. the Italians anJ flehi-.-we £3. Although the Hebrews and Italians bring hi about tlie same amount per capita, the proportion of the Hebrews bringing in ovex £lO is twice that of the Italians, duo to the fact that tbe Hebrews bring their families with them. These facto interesting and worthy the attention of ;dl persons interested in immigration. PANAMA CANAL DIFFICULTIES. Mr Sbxvntz, tlte new chief of the Caral Commission., reports four prospective dilfi oulities in the way, but none that n.a.y not Ijc overcome Three of the obstacles bo names do not seem to be serious. .''Vie is climate But a worse tropical Climate exists in Africa, and thousands of miles of railway liave boc-n built there by Europe-ira supervision during the last- decade. Sanitation will be as eaisy on the isthmus as at Havana or Manila. The second problem is labor, the right kind, and to keep it contented. That task does not seem to bo formidable. The third is to maintain at a distant base a balanced supply and demand in labor and material All that can be accomplished unless American enteiprko, energv, and ingenuity have declined- The fourth problem—thait of engineering—is more weightv. Mr Shoutz sees nothing peculiar about it, except its immensity—a statement that is practically reassuring. It matters little -that- more tons of '-ock aim earth must be removed titan any other j excavation, for that is but it matter of j monev and perseverance. On the whole, i Mr fcfhontz's four- difficulties will have the i "eneral effect of a bracer, and it is an i agreeable fact that all the went com-nents j of engineci-sj have been favorable. A CATALOGUE OF CHIME. Posing as Carlotta, the widow ol the mi- | fortunate Maximilian, of Mexico, a woman j named Marie Teresa Orovo swindled Bus- j ton Italians out of £B,OOO, and then van- I ish«L The woman had an accomplice I named Moriarity, who posed as the Crown Prince Rudolph, whom 'some i>ersons still believe to be alive. Crovo iliaintainedi a I royal court at her home, wore, a crown, and j was surrounded by courtiei-s. She sue- j cecded in swindling the Italians by telling I them that she wou.d be able to overthrow j the Austrian Emperor if she. were supplied i with lunds. One of the mo.-ai interesting ! features of her operations occurred during a recent visit of an.Austrian warship. She formed a party to visit the vessel, and tinting her approach to the ship to coincide with the customary salute given' to the Navy Yard, she told the patty that, she would be recognised by thoe, aboard the ship. As her boat approached the ves.-ol the guns were fired, and the muuey-lenders went satisfied that tho salute was meant

' for her. | Tho cable will doubtless have told you that a man luxoed Robinson, residing at San Diego (Cal.), had run amok iiiid killed i four people, besides wounding a fifth, be- ■ lore he committed suicide. , Robinson, who ! had become insane through drinking, vent ! on May 15 to the home of Airs Kunna Stewart, wham he shot in tho head villi a ritie. He then subbed her son to death. Returning to his own home tho madman reloaded his rills, piucure-d a revolver, and killed a carpenter mixed Chase living hi the same building. Robinson next cvclod through the town brandishing his rifle, and proceeded to tho home of Mr W. 11. Doddridge, United States Collector of Internal Revenue. With rifle in one hand and revolver in the other he awaited the response to his ring at the deor b«:I!. Mr Doddridge's Eon answered, and Robinson killed him with the revolver. The victim's mother on witnessing the tragedy ran screaming from the house, and the maniac fatally wounded her in the back. George Wood, an ironwork contractor at Now York, is being tried at Somerviiie (X.J.) for the murder of George Williams, and the extraordinary defence is being set U p by prisoner's couu.-el that Wood possesses a double consciousness, and that at the time of the murder he was unaccountable for hbl actions. It is 'the first time jn the criminology of any country that such a defence has been set up. Wood had employed Williams to drive him from the village of Watchung to a neighboring town. Addressing the Court, court-el for the defence declared that for years Wood had been haunted by an apparition whom he called " Henry Wolf." This apparition frequently took possession of Wood's mind, ana caused outbursts of insanity. Wood continually changed his business, and moved from place to place trying to escape from tho persecution of Wolf, who eventually introduced another phantom called "Mack." Tho two in the end drove Wood from home, but left him in tho possession 'of- a black imp with terrible eyes, who compelled him to do whatever he (the imp) Willed. Thereafter there came a haze over Wood, so that hia personality was obliterated, and he knew nothing until he awoke in prison aecuded of murdering George Williams. Wood's wife, called as a witness, related various instances of her husband's mental derangement. Another witness, Dr IJall, who examined Wood after his arrest, pronounced him insane. On May 17 Wood himself took the witness stand in his own defence. He presented a pitiful sight, and showed every indication of a disordered mind. He described the appearance of the phantoms '•Wolf" and "Mack," quoted conversations with them, and, shudderina with terror, described how they absolutely took possession of his mind. Several other witnesses testified that Wood suffered from "physical epilepsy." The mysterious death ol RicbarJl Croker, youngest son of the ex-Boss of New York Tammany, is causing some stir. While- the young mau was on a visit to Kansas City lie induced the negro porter (Charles Williams) at the hotel at which he was staying to take "him to a Chinese opium den. While there young Croker smoked" thiee opium pills, and tho next heard of him was when he was seen to be put aboard a train bound to Oklahoma. He was then in a comatose state, and died shortly afterwards. . The coroner's jury returned an open verdict, leaving, it to the police to ascertain whether the young man was the victim of foul play, or whether' ha died from the effects of opium poisoning. The police are holding tee negro to answer a charge of murder, but Wilson protests that he is innocent. He says that - Croker drank a small quantity of liquor both before and after smoking the opium, and that he was suffering from the effects of his debauch when put on the train for Oklahoma. Two Chinese, who. were in the opiuiji den at the time, are also held for the murder. . The police, however, are divided abbilt the tragedy. The authorities at Kansas City

think the death was due to accidental causes; those at Newton City declare that Oroker was drugged and done to. death at Kansas City, and in support of their .theory point to the loss of his jewellery and that he woro a hat that did not belong to him, as well as cheap clothing, which was quite foreign to his habit. The Croker family support the Kansas City police, and say that the young man died from organic difeas9 of the heart, from which he suffered. There ia just a tinge of romance in the tragedy. He came to New York to woo a rich" young woman belonging to his father's political party, but she. declined his attentions. He then engaged himself to a young woman named H«rton, also belonging to New York, but of humble parentage. They were to have met at Oklahoma and been secretly married there. The Crokers deny the engagement, also the report that they had opposed the match because Miss Horton is a Protestant. A sensational robbery of diamonds took place on May 5 at Tiffaney's, the great diamond merchant- of New York. It appears to ha"e been the custom of the workmen to wrap up all precious stones in paper at the end of a Clay's work, and on the evening of the 4th, or early morning of the following day. tlrtee large diamonds., valued at between £12,000 and £15,0C0, mysteriously disappeared, and have not since been traced, J hough the police all over America in Europe were promptly advised. The robbery was discovered by the firm's principal cutter, ;m old and trusted servant, making inquiry for these stones on which ho had been working. The stolen g-euis were three of ten cut from the famous 3-lx-celsior diamond, and -were all pearl shaped. Owing to the great value of the stones, it in thought that it will be impossible for the thieves to recut and dispose of them without detection. A QUESTION OP INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. Tbe American Courts have before them an injunction caye, in which the Merriams, of Springfield, Mass., seek to restrain the United Dictionarv Company of Chicago from publishing their edition of ' Webster's High School Dictionary.' The final decision, when reached, is expected to embrace an interpretation of the manner in v, liich English editions of American books may be circulated in foreign countries—a question on which, publishers have entertained differences of oniuion for years. The case is the first of its kind. For more than sixty years (Jia Merrhims have published ' Webster's T>iotitma.rv' in several editions, one the high school edition' that is the present bono of contention. In England the book is sold under the title of ' Webster's Brief Inter*

[ I na.tioiral Dictionary.' [ | The United .States copyright Jaw provides , I that a copyright notice must he published, cm the title page or the succeeding page of every edition, while in the English law , , there is no such requirement. Jn the Eng- , I lish edition of the dictionary tho notice is ! omitted, and when the fcict was discovered several months ago by the United Dictionary Company a copy was purchased in London and plates prepared for a reproduction of tho work in America on the theory that the conyright had been vjtiittod by ths lack of. title-pane notice. In bringing the ease before Judge Kohisaat, Attorney Edward S. Rogers, on behalf of tho complainants, took tho ground that the United Sbatofi copyright law docs I not apply outside .of the country, and that in English editions there is no I v.eed of the title-page notices. The defend- ) ants contended that the law applies to j eveiy edition of an American work no matter for what country it is published. Tho arguments of both sides aro bused on the interpretation of section 4,962 of the eopyj right law, which reads: —"No person, shall j maintain an action for the infringement of I hie copyright unless he shall give notice thereof by inserting, in the several copies I of every edition published, on the title. I page, or the page immediately following, if I it be. a book, the following words." The j form of notice then follows. T'h:> celej 1-rated ense in which tltc opera 'Mikado* | fitnti'frd was quoted by the attorneys for the j defence. In this the libretto and score ! of the opera were published without the ! copyright notice, and Miit was started in t lie' United States District Court of New Yotlc. Joseph IT. Choc'.- was attorney for the complainants, but was dei'c-at-fd. ihc Court holding :ri its finding the following, which is held to bear on the present ea."o: —"lt- is immaterial whether the publication be, made in one country or another, in any a*r>eet of tin l case the complainant is not entitled to the relief .sought if the publication of the wmk is a dedication to the public." In English editions of American works it has been customarv for puD-lir-hers to leave tho copyright notice out in' order that- the public nviy not be prejudiced again sit it. Publishers assert that English renders have an antipathy to American works, b. cause it jars them 1o find "honor" and rimiVir words spiiled without the " u." As part of the evidence the defendants introduced an alleged copy of the contract, botwern the Merriams and George 15:11 and Kor.s, cf London, Englkh publishers of the dictionary, in which express stipulation is made that th-e copyright notice shall be. left out. Further interest is attached to the ease from the fact that • Webster's International Dictionary,' the standard complete edition of the lexicon, also is eirculat-ed in England without a title page notice of oopyrkdit. and a derision adverse io the complainants might throw this book open to reproduction by competing houeas. ODDS AND ENDS. It could only happen in this country. Judge Davis, who presided at tho first two trials of Nan Patterson, the chorus girl who was indicted for the murder cf her vvalthy bookmaker lover, addressed a Bur dinner at New York on May 15, and made tho sensaitional declaration that the girl was guilty. The Judge (Iceland that the actress waa a sordid echriner who had held Young for the benefit of her family and har other admirers. He believed that her brother-in-law, Morgan Smith, gave her a- revolver to flourish about in order to intimidate Young, and in the struggle which ensued in the cab Young was shut. Most New York people were Convinced that Nan was guilty, but being a young and handsome woimui sho gained the public sympathy. The general opinion is that Justice Davis was inspired to make his .remarks by ths overpowering conviction that she was guilty, arid by his indignation at a gross miscarriage of justice. Meanwhile Nan has l>ecoine a public celebrity, and her doings and savings engage almost as much attention as' thotie of the President. It is said that vaudeville managers are outbidding each other ni their anxiety to secure her services, and that the prince]v salary of £4OO a week has baeu offered to her. There va* no fourth trial. After the abortive third trial at tho beginning of May the State Attorney entered'a nolle prosequi, and withdrew ths information, charging the Smiths with conspiracy. The village of Scofield (Wisconsin) boasts of a canary farm operated by a Mr and Mrs Herbrrt Neupert, who are now raising about I.OCO birds annually, and aro doing a profitable business. It is a unique occupation, requiring considerable skill,- judg» ment, and patience The Nouper-te have been engaged in the business' for over forty years. The question of over-taxing Master Nicholas Brown, aged four years, who is known n.> the world's richest baby, is occupying the attention of the Newport (Rhode Island) authorities. Tire child, who is an orphau, possess personal property estimated to b3 worth over two millions sterling. 'Baby Brown's assessment was- raised by several thousand jiouneis, and his lawyers are appealing against the action of the taxing authorities. Ulysses. Kansas, June 6.