The Hennessey Clipper. (Hennessey, Okla.), Vol. 13, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 5, 1902 Page: 3 of 8
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(Snglanb is jioiu Opening
iirui African Crmtorj>8®
Military Expeditions Paving the Way for Advancing
Civilization Along the Niger River.
PREPARING FOR THE STRIKE.
tory
IJ1IE report that Great Brit- I sonably be expected to entitle one to
ain is opening* up the Niger exrccise a protectorate over. The
"ty Kiver country brings into | term is a very indefinite one and, ac-
'V consideration a bit of Af- j cording to the French interpretation,
rican wilderness that has as the territory belonging to them by
wild and barbarous a his-| natural expansion included a strip that
have record of, for the j entirely surrounded the British pos-
sessions and then extended off indefi-
nitely towards the Mediterranean sea.
(The final allotment, indeed, recog-
nized the French "sphere of influence"
over land extending in fact quite to
the Mediterranean.) The English
might have regarded the matter in a
similar light from their standpoint;
but they failed to assert their claimg
soon enough.
Friction between the powers became
so great that they resorted in 38S4-5
to a conference to decide vexatious
boundary disputes. The conference
was held at Berlin and from that con-
ference dates the real partition of
western Africa. By this conference
the basins of the Niger and the Congo
were declared free to the flags of all
nations.
But very shortly the basin of the
Lower Niger became in a measure the
bone of. contention between England
and Germany, and each country
claimed the territory as belonging to
its "sphere of influence;" but by a
subsvjuorv*, settlement the Germans
withdrew th.?ir northern boundary
leaving the British in possession of all
the region about the Lower Niger
and the basin of the Banue from Yola
to its confluence with the Niger.
With regard to the claims of France
they were practically determined, sc
far as this territory is concerned, by
early explorers found in tha«t region
the very hotbed of fetish superstition
which sacrificed human beings to the
spirits at the harvest festival or to the
king's "ancestral ghost on the death
of great chiefs or on almost any pre-
tense whatsover. "At Kumasi. mean-
ing 'the place of death,'" says one
writer, "whole streets were set apart
for the habitation of the Executioners
of men. women and chfWren doomed
to die bj' hacking off of heads on the
edge of a huge execution bowl five feet
in diameter."
Happily, however, early expeditions
into the interior did away with these
heathenish horrors and the present ex-
pedition has nothing of this nature to
contend with, although it has had skir-
mishes in plenty with the Nigerian na-
tives.
But the British purpose to get at
the resources of this part of the west-
ern coast of Africa has especial in-
terest, for the reason that, if present
signs count for anything, the territory
has a future of more than ordinary
promise, agriculturally. Already cot-
ton has become an important product,
while the more singularly African
products, such as palm oil and shea
butter—a grease obtained from the
seeds of the shea tree, and valuable
for the manufacture of candles, soap
and grease for railway wheels—have
Ifl
fl\tw ant) Women of futures
anti ^octctp tn jlrtn J3ovh n n
tea ri v
—Minneapolis Journal.
Mllirnnlipp School lloy-"Tonchcr« koIiik om n strike, are they —well,
forewarned I* rearariuedJ"
ENGLISH GUNBOAT CN THE NIGER RIVER.
come to be exported in large quanti-
ties, and this foreign export trade is
growing to such an extent that boats
of much larger size than haunted, a
short time ago, the mouth of the Niger
river now venture above the conflu-
ence of the ltiver Benue, and small
launches run their prows into the lit tie
tributaries, seeking the heart of the
country. The thick tropical forests
of this territory furnish also cargoes
of indiarubber; and while tire india-
rubber trade is of comparatively re-
cent origin it promises, under the pres-
ent systematic programme, to attain
to considerable proportions. In the
Niger River country, as in all new
provinces which have for ages been
given over to the fiercest of beasts and
of men, trade relations with the out-
side world increase by easy and gradu-
al stages, gathering momentum natn-
rally. The suspicious native is first
induced to bring t o a givyn landing the
orange colored fruit of the shea tree,
which only he knows where to find in
quantities and which only he can se-
cure with the minimum of effort. The
white man with his genius for con-
verting natural products into mate-
rials for remunerative export trade
attends to the extracting of oil and
grease. Soon whole tribes of natives
are employed in bringing their burdens
of fruit and oil nuts in packs, on their
heads, by long and tortuous paths im-
possible to the feet of the white trad-
er. So gradually does this process con-
tinue that the world takes little heed
until, suddenly, the products of a new
colony have come to be a large and im-
portant factor in t lie competitive
struggle to supply the world's needs.
In this way the Niger River country
has quietly been developing.
This brings us to a curious state of
affairs which is common in all newly
partitioned countries: that of "paint
brush annexation." It is much easier
to make a map than to conquer a coun-
trv. and that this method is invariably
the first resort is at once apparent
commercial rather than by political
supremacy. When French companies
established posts on the Lower Niger
and began to trade with the natives
they found themselves pitted against
a British company having almost un-
limited capital. The commercial war-
fare which immediately ensued finds
parallel, perhaps, in the fight for su-
premacy between the early trading
and fur companies in our own north-
west. The British "National African
Company" prevailed, as did the Hudson
Bay Fur company on this continent.
It is said of them in this commercial
struggle with the French that they
bribed native chiefs not to make treat-
ies with the French; and that compe-
tition became so fierce that the French
with their lesser resources found it
impossible to carry on a paying export
trade. At this point the British com-
| pany kindly offered to buy out the
French companies for."spot cash" and
the offer was accepted. This contest
took place shortly "Before the Berlin
conference and was concluded in time
to enable the British representative
at that convention to declare that the
British company alone had commercial
dealings in the basin of the Lower
Niger. Thereafter the British com-
pany held supreme commercial sway
in the Niger River country and two
years after the conference they se-
cured a charter under the new name,
The Royal Niger company. They con-
tinued to make treaties with native
chiefs and welded the country into a
unit that strengthened the British po
litical claim to the territory.
With the city of Logos as a seaport
and with a recognized British protec-
torate over a large area of the most
promising of African lands the com-
mercial future of the company and of.
the colony is assured.
The Niger river is justly one of the
most famous of African streams. At
the confluence of the Benue and Ni-
ger rivers the Niger is about three-
juarters of a mile wide and the Benue
OCEAN'S MANY MICROBES.
ratal llenultJi of Ilrilllaney In Sea
I.lfe anil ltactrrloloitlcit 1 \\ un-
der* of the Depth*.
At no particular spot has the sea
been found to be free from organ-
isms although those isolated and rec-
ognized have proved to be harmless,
?onsisting* of active motile rods and
ribrios, cocci being less numerous.
\s might be expected, the number of
organisms increases immensely as
the shore is approached. Thus, about
a mile from the slrore something
like 4.000 germs per cubic centimeter
have been found, and this influence
of the shore extends for four or five
miles. Some hundreds of miles from
land the number diminishes to GOO,
liul at greater distances to 200 or
.ess, says Science.
Of course, the fact that algal vege-
tation is richest near the shore, pro-
riding a highly nourishing hunting
ground for the marine organism, ac-
counts for the myriads usually found
there. Samples of sea water taken
it some depth below the surface
proved to contain only a .few bac-
teria per cubic centimeter. Thus at
la If a mile below the surface only
from eight to twelve bacteria were
present. There is little doubt that
;ven should pathogenic organisms
£ain access to the sea, as must be the
;ase where sewers discharge raw
iewage into it, their activity must
sooner or later be destroyed.
The sea is remarkable from a bac-
teriological point of view in con-
taining phosphorescent bacteria, and
it is probable that some of these are
disease producing, so far, at any
rate, as regards certain aquatic ani-
mals. Thus, a bacterium has been
successfully cultivated from the body
of the luminous talitrus which is
both pathogenic and luminous. This
bacterium invades the abdominal
cavity of this aquatic animal, and all
its organs with a fatal issue. Durin
the presence-of the disease the vic-
tim shines with a green light, which
is said to be visible nearly a dozen
yards away and which persists for
some hours after the demise of the
animal. It is not improbable that
the luminosity of other marine ani
tnals may be due to the fnvasion of
(his light and disease-producing or-
ganism.
The very beautiful phenomenon of
the phosphorescence of the sea is
caused by the photobacteria in part
as well as by a variety of low forms
of animal life. The eerie light is in
no way connected with the element
phosphorous, as is commonly sup-
posed. The cause of the phenomenon
is respiratory exchange or oxidation,
an aerobic function. Sea phosphor-
It isn't everyone who can apply for [
$3,000 consulate by a picture and
get the consulate
This is ho w |
Thomas Nast did i
"1 happened t"
read about the
troubles Consul
General Leon was
having in Guaya-
quil," he explain j til (
t o his friends,
"ami 1 sat down
a n d in a d e a
sketch of myself
to show how
fierce 1 could be
if necessary. 1
sent it to Secre-
Large tracts 111 new countries take on | js one mile wide, the united stream be-
tlie map color many long years before I ing not unlike a lake. From this point
the native tribe that inhabit them | the great river rushes through a deep
have been reckoned with. valley and then emerges, near the sea-
The Portuguese, the French, the ; coast, into an expanse of lowland,
English, the Germans, all scrambling 1 much of which is under water during
for territory on the western coast of | the flood seasons. Here begins one of
escence is nsver witnessed in perfect-
ly smooth water, while brilliancy of
the light when it is observed is al-
ways greatest upon the crests of the
waves or where the water is in a vio-
lent state of agitation, as in the
wake of a steamer. It* occurrence,
therefore, is evidence of active oxi-
dation. Could, again, the sea be ster-
ilized phosphosescenee would cease.
The presence of highly combustible
matter increases the light. A very
simple experiment proves this. If
the flesh of a fresh haddock or her-
ring be placed at a low tempera turn
(from 40 to f>0 degrees Fahrenheit)
the liquid will rapidly develop phos-
phorescence, which becomes quite
brilliant on adding a little glycerine
or sugar, or what in other words, is
respirable material. It is curious
that in marine life disease and death
should be associated with luminous
phenomena.
Sulxlneil \ | p 1 a 11 n«>.
During the earlier days of the reign
of Queen Victoria, dramatic perform-
ances were given at Windsor castle, un-
der the management of Charles Kean.
The audience being limited and stiffly
aristocratic, the applause was, natural-
ly, not especially hearty, and the
comedians felt the absence of the more
demonstrative approval manifested in
the regular theater. One evening the
queen sent an equerry to Mr. Kean to
know if the actors would like anything
(meaning refreshments), when the
net or replied: "Say to her majesty
that we should be grateful for a little
applause when the spectators are
pleased." Back went the equerry and
conveyed the message. At the end of
the act there was a slight suggestion
of handclapping and exceedingly gen-
tle foot-tapping. .Tames Wallack, who
knew nothing of the message sent to
the queen, hearing the mild demon-
stration. pricked up his ears and in-
quired: "What is that ?" Mr. Kean re-
plied: "That, my dear Wallack, is ap-
plause." "God bless me!" retorted
Wallack, "I thought it was someone
shelling peas." London Chronicle.
The \\ orld'* SmnlleHt Home*.
According to the theory of a well-
known horse breeder, the conditions
that would produce the smallest race
of horses are a mountainous country
in a very hot climate. One of the most
experienced horse breeders of New
England describes a race of horses
which he says he discovered had been
existing for many years on a high
plateau in the island of Ilayti, and
tells his experiences in capturing and
transporting them to his home farm
in Rhode Island.—Leslie's Monthly.
The Limit.
Some men are so stingy they won't
even give advice.—Chicago Daily
News.
It Secured a Consu-
late tor N.* t.
tary llay, with the message: *.va\ ,
the word and I am off,' and it did the
business. The president sent in 111 v
name." Probably Mr. Roosevelt 1
thought the subject of such a sketch 1
would be "strenuous" enough for any !
emergency.
Ask any man of 50 years who is
America's greatest cartoonist, ami he
would be apt to say "Nast." I'he i
story of how the great little Prus-
sian week after week attacked the |
giant Tweed ring with his vitriolic ■
pencil until he more than any other j
agency drove it from power is the
most splendid one in the history of 1
the art press. Of late years Nast has
done little sketching; he has pre-
ferred to live at his ease in Morris- 1
town, N. J., whence he occasionally
runs up to New York to see his old 1
friends.
When Nast was drawing his Tweed ,
cartoons, George William Curtis wa
the editor of Harper's Weekly. It is j
no disparagement of later men to say j
that the Weekly was then what it j
can never be again and what 110 oth- [
er American paper was or is. Just
such a combination of literary and
political wisdom as Mr. Curtis may
not often be found. Of course, too,
the daily paper has usurped most of
the political functions of the weekly.
This is one thing that drove Mr.
Nast into retirement. 1'ncii 1 is fer-
tile brain was appalled at the idea of
evolving a daily cartoon. There art-
men who can do it, but the strain is
something terrible; and perhaps tin-
best of them do not average more
than one "ten-strike" in the week.
tious horses through the maze <>f traf
fie of Fifth avenue, but the fair drivers
did not seem ncrvou- One wa- that
daughter of E. C. lit neiiiet wh< >e mar-
riage to Thomas Hasting-, the archi-
tect. was last year's most intereHii g
romance In high life. Another was
Miss Clare l'rice, daughter of Lloyd
Brice, ttas editor and promijeti r
.'f the North American Re\ie* aft t r
the death of Allan T)iorndike uidb
1. Harvey took the magazine.
Another was Mi- Barney, who as the
niece of \Y. C. Whitney knows all about
horses.
The automobile is not displacing
horses in the affection «>f society. *0 far
as one can see. t7list now there is a dis-
tinct reaction against the buzzing
demons that make frantic effort t
break "records" between all the con-
ceivable towns on the map.
The Cireat t'artoonl«t* of Xew ^ ork.
The dean of the profession is C. G
Bush, of the World, who learned his
art with t h
Harpers, where,
in the old days,
he sat at his desk
alongside Edwin
A. Abbey and C.
S. Reinliart and
many another
famous artist and
illustrator. II i s
pictures are
never coarse and,
though he can
flay a rogue as
fiercely as a 11 y
man, he prefers
alien he can to
oe good-natured.
Davenport, of the
\ Rotable \11tomohlle Trip.
Here is the unvarnished tale of an
attempt to break the record between
Philadelphia and
New York.
Barclay II. War-
burton. who has
money and a big
b I a c k b u 7./.ing
demon of a ma-
chine, low a 11 d
rakish, started at
e a r 1 y morning.
(i o i 11 g through
Princeton he
scared a team of
horses, one of
w h i c ll t ried to
jump over a picket
fenceand w as hor-
ribly impaled. At
New Brunswick he found the police,
warned from Princeton awaiting him.
"I'm Barclay 11. Warburton," I10
said, trembling with the excitement <>f
d. "Don't stop me, please; I'm.
ug to break a record. That Prince-
ton atVair, 1 suppose. I'll settle all
claims."
In three minutes he actually did get
away—you can guess what arguments
he used and started north again. In
Newark, whose streets are almost as
busy as New York's, he ran against a
wagon, threw it half across the street
and badly bruised its two occupants.
A doctor was called, the autoniobilist
fuming with impatience; when it was
found that neither sufferer was dan-
gerously injured, Warburton patched
j up another truce with the law -again
s pci
The March of
Humanity ^
By BENJAMIN KIDD,
Author ol Principles of Western Civilization.
Africa and all adopting the "Hinter-
land" policy, it was inevitable that
their interests should clash about so
fertile a region as that which reaches
the most elaborate delta systems in
the world. The swampy, channel-cut
region extends for 120 miles along the
coast and quite 140 miles inland. A
hack from the famous delta of the Ni- j curious fact concerning the Niger and
gev- The term "Hinterland" is a very
common phrase in the colonies, or
rather in the high councils of the va-
rious powers. It is humorously de-
fined as meaning "as much as w e can
pet"- first by bluff and second by a
combination of armed display and
diplomatic juggling. "Hinterland" is
f'apposed to refer to such portion of
the Interior of the new country as
one's fcliore line possessions might rca-
Benue rivers is that they are not in
flood at the same time, their sources
being found in widely separated dis-
t ricts. In .Tune tropical rains swell the
Upper Niger, while the Benue reaches
its greatest height in August or Sep-
tember. Below the confluence the
character of the Niger changes, ac-
cording as it is influenced by the flood
water of one or the other of these
differing streams. MILTON MARKS.
When we look back to the days
of primeval niari upon this earth—
the days when each lived for him-
self, and every man's hand was
against his neighbor — and com-
pare such a state of things with
the vast social fabric of the twen-
tieth century of otir own era, the
mind loses itself in wonder and
awe as it thinks of the duration and the strenuousness of the discipline
that has alone made the present result possible.
What, we ask, has been the agency at work?
The first requirement was that the individual must be subordi-
nated to the State. This involved a condition of absolute militarism.
This condition reached its climax and perfection in the military power
of Rome.
The second great requirement—the second lesson man had to
learn—was THE SACRIFICE OF THE PRESENT TO THE FU-
TURE. Only those nations have triumped who have deliberately
subordinated the interests of the present to the interests of the fu-
ture.
The future belongs to the nations who have learned the lesson
of self-sacrifice; IT BELONGS TO THE ANGLO-SAXON PEO-
PLE, provided they remain faithful to the ideal which they are grad-
ually coming to perceive. Almost the first sign that a nation is subor-
dinating the present to the future is a growth of tolerance in its midst,
a tolerance so broad as to be intolerant of nothing save what tends
to destroy that tolerance. As an example let us look at the religious
tolerance of the Anglo-Snxon people of to-day, the result of centu-
ries of fire and sword.
you may guess by what arguments—•
and started for New York. But the
record wasn't broken. I suppose the
daring adventurer cursed the scream-
ing. writhing horse upon the fence
pickets and the groaning men upon
the Newark pavement for delaying
lii111.
A few of the best known automo-
bilists have cards which read "Mr. ♦
w ill arrange for all claims," or words
to that effect. When the dashing au-
10111 obi list sees or suspect s that he ha
caused horse to run away or smashed
a wagon or injured anyone, he throws
out one of these cards and goes on.
There is another kind of automo-
bilist who goes on without any card.
T have myself seen two shell men.
The Cartoonist's j -pj ,; mfK.],jne frightened a horse
Beginning. ' ^ .
driven by a half-grown boy with whom
oiirnal. is inan\ ■ nio^lor holding her babv in her
fears younger, nml has a Pacific roast nrmf. T))p horRp tnrI)(,a theliglit wag-
manner. lie offends more people on ]it<,ra„y am1 pnmpMrly „psM(>
than Hush, and perhaps he makes his (lown jn |h(1 (lif(>ll „pon „,p Wlinlan.
victims writhe more cruelly, llis la i ,m, bov; nnil tll0 mon went nn
a wholly different conception of the i „nB,en(}v fnr i,ap1(
cartoonist's purpose. 1 he Herald | ov(,r 1]iHr svi0„1(lprs ntl(1 laughing,
has strong cartoons from Nelan and j T||o ]nw ,|1,)i„os ovory n„ner tr)
have his initials painted upon his ma-
Richards, and other papers are usual
ly served by buying* occasional
sketches from free lance artists.
The "funny men" are in a different
category. They are not called car-
toonists or expected to keep in-
formed upon political topics, though
the best of them could qualify for
cartoonists if they wished, Prob-
ably most of them prefer the free
lance life—for the comic artist is less
likely than the cartoonist to have a
steady job—and a steady grind. Of
course,when an artist has developed a
specialty, such as "Foxy (irandipa" or
Miss Carew's "Angel Child" he is en-
gaged to furnish it regularly for one
paper. This is not a trivial matter.
The paper that got "Foxy tlrandpa"
away from the Herald by liberal of-
fers of increased pay at once en-
joyed a discernible advance in circu-
lation.
•liine. but how read them In a cloud
of dust?
The Women Whips' First Drive.
If women have no sense of humor
they can ut least drive horses without
shutting their
eyes and yelling
every time a lead-
er shies.
The first oacli-
ing parade in this
city or any other
city in America
where w o m e n
were the only
drivers has just
been held. I t
was a distin-
guished success.
Nobody's horses
ran away from her
The Woman Whip a or were .scared by
Lste Novelty. nn automobile or
otherwise misbehaved. The horn
sockets were empty, so that the
coachers did not make them-
selves obnoxious to others by un-
necessary racket. There w ere but four
coaches, with a hack to "fill out with, '
but there will be more next year. A
number of the finest women whips of
the city were not seen on this occa-
sion.
It *• "o small feat to guide four frac-
The- Vninlerblll Ploturo*.
It lias been 20 years since a general
public view was possible of the pic-
tures of the late
William TI. Van-
derb i 11, w li i c h
have now been
placed in the Met-
ropolitan museum
by his son Cicorge.
When Mr. Van-
derbilt built his
house on Fifth
avenile — called
the "Brown Stone
Packing B o x"—•
the gallery behind
it on the side
street was opened
to the public until
it was found that
Van-lerbilt and Hi*
Messonier.
the pictures were being ruined liy boor-
ish visitors, when the privilege was
more closely guarded. Of late the pic-
tures have been visible once a week to
people properly introduced or who
could identify themselves.
Mr. Vanderbilt had something to do
with making the great commercial
success of "I'apa Meissonier"and Kusa
Bunheur. lie was of the same age as
the latter artist, who outlived him by
more than a decade. Vanderbilt was
the original of the character in
Crane's "Henrietta," who says that ho
has bought a new Meissonier, so-and-
so many square inches, at so much an
inch.
lieally Vanderbilt knew a good pic-
ture very well. Any man of common
sense with opportunity can learn pic-
tures- and a man like Vanderbilt does
not lack .opportunities.
Curious that this momentary re-
calling of the name of the once richest
man in the world should coincide with
the sensational developments as to tlio
Wall street fortune of his son-in-law,
Dr. \V. Seward Webb. The Vanderbilt*
have always been luckiest when they
haven't tempted luck.
OWEN LANGDON.
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Daves, N. F. The Hennessey Clipper. (Hennessey, Okla.), Vol. 13, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 5, 1902, newspaper, June 5, 1902; Hennessey, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc105013/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.