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GENERAL NEWS NOTES
BEHIND THE SCENES IN POLITICS
THE POLITICAL SOCIAL WHIRL
A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE NEWS
OF THE WEEK
$2,000,000 FIRT AT ATLANTA
By ERNEST M'CAFFEY
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Two Solid Business Blocks Are In
Ruins—No Lives Lost
ATLANTA, GA.: Two solid busi-
ness blocks of Atlanta are In ruins as
the result of a Are which threatened
for a time to carry Its destruction
through the business section of the
city and perhaps wipe out the entire
down town district.
The Are losses may approximate $2,-
000,000.
The Terminal hotel, one of the
largest in the city, was totally" de-
stroyed. It had on its register 200
. i-'sts when the lire started a bloc*
away. Every one escaped.
Near by were several other small
hotels, but in these there was no loss
of life.
(Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
The politician who is following the
calling for ti livelihood eats, (1 rinks
and sleeps politics. You cannot get
him off the track. He Amis little in-
terest in anything else. All his read-
ing, outaide of the papers, ii on po
litical topics. He keeps track of past
elections and past ward votes, knows
how his ward has gone, will go, and
ought to go in the future. He is the
life of all political assemblages, for
he has the air of the expert and the
glibness of an "illustrated lecturer. '
He attends the "wakes." funerals,
dances, parties, baseball and football
games, christenings, church fairs, pic-
nics and all other social happenings,
and gets himsBlf voted "the most pop-
ular man" whenever he has a chance.
I remember that at one political
jamboree- there was a "beauty sh >v\
and I was appointed one of .the judges
The other two judges were pulling
together," and 1 tw I was loub? ■
crossed" before* the "be:utt:e*" went
on the platform, In- front of the plat
form there wa a big crow i on the
chairs, and they were filled by the 1 •
spective adherents of the contesting
"fair." I Jiadv inn r.fl' suppn.Hl
that things were ' 11 th- ji: r •" un:i:
] was approach^ f by one <<! the iu !-;• ■ -
with the id' :i that the fl. t'p !/..• oug! •
to go ti% a certain -girl who,, to my n
t'.on, was not within a thousand mil-
of being first in the race. I* put un
such a fierce "kick" that the other
judges got a littj • bit uncertain, and
at last, as first and s v. nd prizes were
both gold watches, they agreed to le*
me select No 2 if I would vote for
their choice f ir ii t pri/.
When No l's name was announce 1
a groan went up fi ni the crowd, a
companied by a ch.' ir from one cor-
ner of the seats where the winner >
partisans were bunche i \Vhen No.
2's name was given she was clieere<l
by a big majority f the crowd, and 1
was satisfied my ev - ;ht was still
good. Now for both of these girls the
vote had been solid, three votes for
«ach. When it « . • \ > N> and
there were only three prizes worth
anything- ! did a little double-cms.
ing" myself. One of the judges pr
l>osed a girl wh ) had a face like a
custard pie at. twilight. The other
judge said, "Surthat's tho one!" I
had selected a gi : t >r thi prize an i
had got her nai , >. 1 said t • jud-
*s : ir :
pointed to her an 1 1 said, "Out of
sight; but we'd b iter split the votes
this time; you vote for Mi —
ing him the name of n choice—"so
that the crov 1 w n't i ave any holb
coming on th split: t .so votes to one
will win out anyway."
He did as suggested, hut as I also
voted for my choir the look of di-
gest that overspr* ad his features
when he saw how he ha 1 be n ' horn-
Bwoggled" was something classic. But
all he said was ' Ho
After a man Ik* Ir n mi• ' up in
1
perceive that politics has as many an-
gles in a social wa1 as the game <
"three-cushion carom*
of gradations u > w «j\ diversified
and the intervals > abrupt that
takes a truly cosmoi"!i:an spirit t >
successfully "take the degrees." At
four o'clock in ti e afterr.o  n 3 • i ina\
he touching glass: with a young m
chanlc at a "rathskeller" in a friendly
chat over jour be ' a - to how thin -
look in his end of the ward. At 6 p.
m. you may be dining with a bunch of
judges and p trty magnates iu some
fashionable club, making wild guesses
with the rest of them as t > how na-
tional politics looms up. At twelve
that night you may be addressing for-
ty or fifty people in a little hall back
of some saloon. You must be pre-
I ared to me-t all kinds of people at a
minute's notice, and you must be able
to understand them and adapt your-
self to them instantly and easily, or
you will be lost in political society.
Suppose you happen to drop in at
down-town headquarters where they
are waiting for a meeting to be called.
There may be twenty to thirty men
about, some sitting in chairs reading
or talking, some at a card-table play-
ing a friendly game of cinch, others at
a pool-table or a billiard-table. Can
you play car ls'." Now, of course, it is
not absolutely essential that > >11 can;
but ff you can make a hand at one
card-table or "pocket eight balls from
| the break." or play a fair game of bil-
liards you are a more w 'Iconic mom-
| ber of societ: in that s':at,a of politi-
! cal existence.
And if it s!mu! I happen that yon
i joined, a group at some high-tone!'
political club, where some topics such
as lit M-atnre. art .^eieuoe, invention or
similar matt ?rs were being discusse I.
and con! 1 h  Id > uir own *.•: on vers
tion, you w ;e'"making a hand" ther \
j the same as at the more plebeian
game of cinch. .Nothing thaf a man
lias learned with his head or his hand
but what will come in handy in poll-
, t ics.
; . Political clu'i meetings, in the case
of the down-towa organizari ins. took
place every Sunday'in mj time. They
i were enlivened by the admission of
new members, the r aiding of reports
[ and making of motions, speeches, and
always something in the way of a
vaudeville stunt either a member ;
| of the club or some outside talent. |
These down town meetings were vain !
able in bringing the leaders of the i
I different war is t  ther and affording
them an opportunity to exchange po-
I litical news and to discuss the coming
j spring or fall campaign They were
' alw.i> s Jarg 'ly att nded, and it was a
not have a re, r-'.s?n':itive on hard A
j but once. No r. att : what the weathv
( was the "faithful" were on ha 1 L
night ari ■ Sonv imes a recess was
( declared, and the men talk- i and
>moked until the meeting was called
to order again. It was amusing to sea
how those of tho tthering who were
office-holders were regarded. If their |
power, they w •• looked on as merely
happy accident * ami not ranking at
jobs to sort out. in neither of my
own positions did I have the appoint-
i ment of ev« n so much as a day-laborer
and the "grand hall. " which were
given. Don't imagine it did not cost
anything to mingle in polities 1 society,
polite and otherwise. You were abla
io buy ticket i to the balls, chances on
•
the benefit, of some needy politician,
| bads* a aud gloves, plug hats to march
in, together with other raiment, club
dues, tickets to various dances and
entertainments, and in fact, from
morning until night, day in and day
out. to "sift" your salary steadily into
"the hopper."
The "grand balls" were of course
the most important functions given
by the party. They were attended by
everybody, including the mayor, and
he led the grand march. It was a
lively time, and diamonds were as
plentiful as blackberries. Full-dress
suits were largely in evidence, and
the dancing kept up until morning.
At such a ball the extreme opposite**
of political life met, once a year, and
the occasion was one to be remem-
bered. Judges, with an eye to possible
t r probable re-nomiriation, were not at
all too proud to attend, and occasion-
ally some of the city's elite attended,
rust for the novelty of the thing. A
woman might be led .out by an ex-
governcr of the state for one set, and
the next set—
It was a truly cosmopolitan gather-
ing, unique and picturesque, and rare-
ly was there any ' disturbance that
amounted to anything.
Another and more common phase of
political social 'life was at the saloons.
It re the ward politicians gathered,
not only to talk politics, but to roll
ten pins, play pool ami, at the card-
tabh s, "play for the drinks." The
amount of social intercourse thus ha !
In a large city is enormous. After the
ordinary ward poli'.ician had eaten his
supper he would be ready to engage
in his political cruising, and he could
usually find a bunch of men at the
bowling alleys, or in the card-room of
his neighboring saloon. I went
through a great many political fights
and skirmishes, big and little, and ex-
cept just at election times I saw verv
little drunkenness. But there was n >
doubt that the workingmen and me-
chanics gat here 1 at the saloons to
see each other. Ar. I there was no
doubt that they spent money there:
maybe more than they should have
done. But that was where they went
to find companionship; to ni et their
society." I have often gone to the
swell political clubs and there me: the
professional men, lawyers, doctors
and professors, business men of larg •
interests in various channels, and
th* > sat at the tables and drank their
wine where the ward fellows drank
"poker" where the ward men play, j
"cinch," and when you come to th •
question of which is mora! and which
is not, 1 leave U cheerfully to every
man for himself to judge.
Every year, and alva: < In the good
old summer-time, the swell picnic was
held, generally away out in the coun-
tr in son. 1 grove. And here political
greased pig (so poli
the tu;of war bet
and policemen's tea
If in its gayest
;s." and gave itself
stivities of all sorts
race, chasing the
m the firemen
the dances, the
speeches, the bowling alleys, the "nig-
g r baby and baseball" stand, the um-
brella and cane game, the lemonade
-tands. the wandering minstrels, and
the "shell game'' You could spend
your money a little at a time at the
diversified amusements, or you could
have one swift thrill and lose it all at
the "shells."
, When the baud struck up a favorite
! waltz tune at the platform you could
go up and "pivot" with your partner,
j just to show that you were not proud,
; or that you knew how to "reverse."
Dancing went on all the time, couplas
coming and going and round dancing
being succeeded by quadrilles. Some-
times a lithe and sinuous jig-dancer
got a space cleared for himself to dis-
port in. and great was the enthusiasm
when some girl would accept a chal-
lenge and come out on the boards to
do a turn w ith the jig-dancer. Such ad-
vancing and swaying and retreating;
such apparent indifference and then
unexampled vigor; such a hammering
of the boards and turning and twist-
ing. until at the end the crowd roared
its approval and the dancers disap-
peared among the spectators.
Political society at the picnics, dem-
ocratic as it seezn&l at first blush, had
its lines of demarcation, which were
quite noticeably drawn. The wife and
daughters of the "big boss" were on
hand, together with the women-folks
of the various office-holders, but they
did not tyingie with the average lady
picnickers. They sat by themselves
in something of exclusive grandeur,
and were pointe i our. .by the more !
ordinary of the .111 ■: ry-makers to their :
companions.
Sometimes a possible presidential
candidate grace! the occasion by his!
presence and consented to hand out a
sample of silver-tongui d oratory. But 1
I never heard one yet who could draw !
away any of the attendance at the
baseball game or the fat women's race.
There's a limit, even to oratory.
Great was the cons rnation when,
as sometimes happened, the flood-
gates of heaven opened and drowned
the picnic grounds The last political
picnic I attended c unm >nced on a
very threatening day. and at last the
clouds seemed to make up their minds
to sweep the grounds. Our party had
taken alarm, with a number of others,
and had gone down the track to where
the first train to town was stationed.
The crow d got there and jammed the
train instantly. Just opposite the pic-
nic ground, and a half mile from 113,
was a wide platform, uncovered, on
which stood hundr " Is who were wait-
ing for this train. "Let her go, Sam,"
said the conductor; "no stop till we
get t > Chicago " Away we went, and
as we passed tho picnic grounds hun-
dreds m e • ■ tm down through the
drenching showers in white dresses
that stuck to their limbs and straw
hats ti 1 w. e being soaked to ruin.
Hut th train w *nt past regardless of
their yells, and as it went by the car
windows wen
of the latest
their ears:
MISSOURI OUSTER HEARING
Attempts to Drive Ou* International
Harvester Company
JEFFERSON CITY: Taking of tes-
timony in the quo warranto proceed-
ings brought by Attorney General
Hadley some time since against the
International Harvester company of
America has begun.
The charges are that the company
is in a pcol or trust with the Interna-
tional Harvester company of New
Jersey, by which rates are fixed and
competition eliminated so far as the
consumers of agricultural implements
in this state are concerned. The pe-
tition recites the taking over in 1902
of the McCormick company of Chica-
go, the Piano company of Illinois, the
Warden-Bushnel and Glessner com-
pany of Ohio, the D. M. Osborne com-
pany of New York, and the Aultman,
Miller & Company, of N w York, to
form th* Harvester company of New
Jersey, and the formation of the Har-
■ sier company of A-oerica, which is
the sole agent of the New Jersey com-
pany in this state.
EACH TRAIN LOAD A SHIPMENT
Standard Raises New Point in Fight-
ing $29,C00.0C0 Fine
CHICAGO: The Standard oil. com-
pany of Indiana commenced a new
fight to e. r ape from the payment of
the fine of $29,240,000 levied against
• by Judge Landis in the federal las-
trict court, when its attorneys appear-
ed before the United States circuit
court of appeals to argue the appeal
from the judgment of the lower court.
John S. Miller agreed that a reversal
should be granted because, he said,
the oil company did not know that it
was using illegal rates, and that each
trainload of the company's product
should have been taken as the basis
of a shipment instead of each car as
charged in the indictment.
Owen Demands Oklahoma Display
WASHINGTON: Senator Robert L.
Owen has demanded that the librarian
of the congressional library place the
official coat of arms of the state of
Oklahoma in a prominent place in
one of the great cathedral glass win-
dows. The senator noticed that the
coat of arms of every state in the un-
ion with the exception of Oklahoma
appeared. He made a critical inspec-
tion of these and decided that the
ornamental curved portion of the
grca* window just opposite the main
entrance to the reading room would
he the right and conspicuous place for
the five pointed star of the new state.
raised and the chorus
ng was wafted into
,'t dat awful,
His First Impression.
Th. y - .a. I bj the lake. She was
from Boston ami poetical.
"Aro you romantic? she chirped
after a long silence.
I'm • replied the Chicago
man as he lit an ther black cigar.
Ah, I .an so gl.i'l to hear It. What
drus yon yellow half iu< iti remind
you of?"
The Chicago man was thoughtful.
"Well, to tell you the truth," he re-
■
t tut ! Ilia I f tt • hall' of a
pumpkin pld and—"
But the Bot-t' ti girl was gone. Such
a gross allusion to fair Luna was
mure than her aesthetic nature could
tolcratu.
This vrotnan says tliat Slclt
women should not fail to try
Liydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable
Compound as she did.
Mrs. A. Gregory, of 2335 LaT\rpnce
1 St., Denver, Col., writes to Mrs.
Pinkham:
" I was practically an invalid for si.t
years, on account of female troubles.
I underwent an operation by the
doctor's advice, but in a few months I
was worse than before. A friend ad-
i vised Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetabla
Compound and it restored me to perfect
health, such as I have not enjoyed in
many years. Any woman suffering1 as
X did with backache, bearing-down
pains, and periodic pains,should not fail
to use Lydia E, I'iakham's Vegetabla
Compound."
FACTS FOR SICK WOMEN.
For thirty years Lydia E. Pink-
ham's Vegetable Compound, mada
from roots and herbs, has been tha
standard remedy for female ills,
and has positively cured thousands of
women who have been troubled with,
displacements, inflammation, ulcera-
tion, fibroid tumors, irregularities,
periodic pains, backache, that bear-
ing-down feeling, flatulency, indiges-
t i< m,dizziness or nervous prostration.
Why don't you try it ?
Mrs. Pinkham invites all sick
women to write her for advice.
She has guided thousands to
health. Address, Lynn, .Mass.
CAN'T EXCHANGE LEASES
"Coal Land" Provision to be Dropped
from tho McGuire Bil
WASHINGTON: That provision of
tho McGuire restrictions bill giving
coal operators in Oklahoma the right
to exchange leases on poor coal lands
far leases on good coal lands will be
stricken from the bill 011 the floor of
the senate. Senator Owen polled the
Indian committee and secured consent
to strike it out. The provision was
inserted by the senate committee
upon the request of the interior de-
partment. Some of the senators be-
lieved that it was a scheme to help
the operators at the expense of the
Indians and to avoid any suspicion
of graft In the bill it will be str-.-lten
out.
Favors Anti-Injunction Legislation
WASHINGTON: Pre.ii l nt Roose-
velt invited Congressman Madison to i
the white house to discuss the pro-
posed antl-lnjunction legislation. The
president wanted to know all about
the provisions of the Madison bill.
When the author explained them, the
president Indicated that such a bill
met his approval and urged Madison
to push it In the house.
Ranch Hand Guilty of Murder
BUTTE, MONT.: Lewis Ferris, the
ranch baud, was arralgt id, charged
with the murder of Eiu:n  Albert
0. Bui ey of Missouri, who was killed
when the Burling ou ea.-,: bound train I
w. s dynamited her '. Ferris, who con
fessed to the county attorney, waived
the preliminary examination and was
remanded without bail.
Bees in Block of Stone.
While workmen were sawing through
a block of Bath stone at Exeter, Eng-
land, they cut into a cavity in which
was found a cluster of two or three
dozen live bees.
The incident occurred at tha works
of Messrs. Collard & Sons, monu
mental sculptors. Thero was not much
sign of life in the bees at first, but
when air was admitted they gradually
revived and after a few hours several
of them were able to fly.
"Makes It Go Way."
We simply can't do without It. We
are not going to try. When Bobby
stubs or cuts his toe, it's "Ma, Where's
the Lightning Oil?" When Lizzie
burns her hand or arm, it's "Where's
the Lightning Oil?" When little Dick's
been playing with a bumble bee, It's
"Where's the Lightning Oil?" Tho
echo of all our afflictions Is "Where's
the Lightning Oil?" It's the balm that
makes the pain go way. Sincerely
yours, p. CASSIDY,
Montevalio, Ala.
Force of Habit.
"Bet that ladv has been to the mil-
linery opening." whispered the big
waiter In the white apron.
"What makes you think so?" asked
the cashier.
"Why, I said: 'Madam, what kind
of trimmings do you like with your
steak?' and she savs: 'Why, make it
black lace and two bunches of red
cherries with wire leaves.' "
In a Pinch, Use ALLEN'S FOOT-EASE.
A powder. It eures painful, smart-
ing, nervous feet and ingrowing nails.
It's the greatest comfort discovery ot
the age. Makes new shoes easy. A
certain cure for sweating feet. Sold
by ail Druggists, 23c. Accept no sub-
stitute. Trial package, FREE. Ad-
dress A. S. Olmsted, Le Itoy, N. Y.
Amiability Plus Science.
The public expects much of the
modern nurse—the same self-sacrlflee,
righteousness and pureness of liv-
ing as in the past, but combined with
a technical skill and an amount of
learning unknown to our predecessors.
—Tho Nursing Times.
TO DKIVE HI T M \ l 1111 V
AM) 111 ll.li I 1- THE STSTFII
Tnkn ttin 0.1 standard UROVU-i TASl'KI.KM
t11II.L I'OMO. Vm xnow what you ir •
1 h«  formula is plainly print.-1 ,,n every It.. ,•
Bbowiiijf it is simply yt'inin.'an 1 Iron in i f w.. • |
l.irm, an<l th.  m..st effectual form, bur ^ruwn
people aud children. 50c.
When you are dealing with a man
who continually insists that "business
Is business" you hail better cxamina
all the documents carefully.—Puck.
Lewis' Single Hin-br straight 5c ri^it
mi lc of n h, itit'l! >\v tobacco. Your deal-
er or Lewis' Factory, lV'urt 1, Ili.
Living well Is the b"st revenge w 
can take on our enemies.—Froude.
C Inir white cloth"* tire a sijn that the
h"ii-.'K.M'|, r tisR - l cr .. jjju Blu.
Largo - oi. pa. kige, S cents.
Even a poor wall-paper hanger may
put up at good hotels.
F. P. Tschamer, ot Muskogee, has
been appointed land law clerk In the
land offiee at Roswell, New Mexico.
Guara*1
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