le !iatl)am ttccorb, H. A. LONDON, Editor and Proprietor, TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION, $1.50 Per Year. Strictly cn Advance ftljc t)atl)am Eecorb-v H I KM Tr T i T YT 1 RATES OF ADVERTISING One square, one insertion $1.00 One square, two insertions 150 One square, one month 2.50 For Larger Advertise- . ' tnents Liberal Con tracts will be made. . ' Ay VOL. XXVII. PITTSBORO, CHATHAM COUNTY, N. C., THURSDAY , AUGUST 18, 1901, NO, 1. fad M n )L &s if ffYVt flu Copyright 1996, by Bobkbt Bnnib's Son. CHAPTER XII. 'Continued. "I am Sir Thomas Roe, representa tive in this country of King James of England. Your passports and your let ter of introduction accidentally came Into my hands last night, and you may thank God that it -was so, for had it fallen out otherwise it is impossible to say "what might have become of you. The causes which have produced your recent experiences are quite clear to me. You have not been so unfortu nate as in the circumstances might have been expected. But before I ex plain further, console yourself with the knowledge that your ten chests of Eequins are quite safe, and so is your girdle, your passports and your Eng lish money, and that you are free to take them when and where you choose. Know then that we are in the second week of September, and that less than five months ago Constantinople was the scene of a bloody revolution. The Janissaries, incensed by deferred pay ments, broke through all restraints of authority on learning that Sultan Oth man contemplated a pilgrimage to Mecca, the expense of which they con nived boded ill for the satisfaction of their claims. This turbulent and pow erful military body broke down the outer gates of the Seraglio, and with angry demonstrations demanded the heads of the Sultan's Ministers who had advised the sacred journey. For the moment the discontent of the Jan issaries was appeased with fair word, but the Government was In a bad Tray, "with an incompetent Sultan, dire lack of money, and but feeble support of any sort, it was necessary that some vigorous measures should be adopted. The Ulema met secretly and resolved to depose Sultan Othman, who was soon afterward decoyed into one of the eeven towers which compose this building, where he was strangled by an ex-Vizier assisted by three pashas. This step, while it effectually disposed of the pilgrimage question, raised other questions vastly more momen--tous to the State. Mustapha, who was Othman's predecessor, and had him self been deposed, is again installed Sultan, though he cannot, I think, hold his high office for long his conduct " being al&fost empty, and money ur- irentlv needed, the Admiral Pasha was instructed to make reprisals on Vene tian vessels for indignities inflicted on the faithful by Venetian traders at Rhodes and Cyprus. There have been no complaints to the Porte of any such indignities for the reason, as I suppose, that no such indignities have been committed, but the Admiral Pasha understood his orders "in the spirit in which they were issued, and hence the capture of the Venetian fri gatoon in which you came hither. It was seen that you were not of the Jltalian race, and you and your effects were set aside for special considera tiona consideration delayed by the turbulence of the times, which en grosses the attention of all the officers of State.' It was last night when the Grand Vizier put your English papers1 into my Hands for intei!etation. l; . perceived within a little what had oc curred, and exercised such power as I have for your benefit. Your property, uninjured and complete, is at my! house, and there it is that I would ad- vise you to come and stay for the pres ent. With regard to the captain who has your ring I could by my word cause his head to be brought to you at once on a dish, but you have not been in Turkey long enough to be indiffer ent to the sight, and indeed his fault scarce merits the penalty." No words can adequately express the transports of joy with which I drank in the generous declaration of Sir Thomas Roe. When I was a school boy at St. Edmund's Bury I saw a thief standing on a gallows,, his arms bound and his neck in a noose, with the hangman at his side ready to turr him off, but the king's pardon at tat moment arriving, the halter ws re moved from his neck, his ms un bound, and he was led bae to prison. Nothing can efface frorc my memory tfee expression of Oat man's face while the king's pardon was being read out to hhr and I think I must have felt somewhat as the Suffolk rob ber felt on th&t occasion. My thanks, however briefly expressed, were Very fervent, and I felt faint with pleasur able excitement when Sir Thomas rose to leave and bade me accompany him. The two young Turks who had guard ed me threw wide the door to allow of our departure, and bowed to my pro tector so humbly that their foreheads touched the carpet. I would have re warded them for the kindly treatment I tigSl received at their hands, but l had nothing wherewith to do so, and the ODDortunity passed After descending a great number of steps and threading our way through some naved courts not much jihlike the courtyards of an English castle, my protector and I at last reached a puo lie street, where awaited us six ne groes with two fine horses. SirThomas and I having mounted the horses they were led by two negroes, with a negro walking on either side of each rider. . And in this manner we proceeded to Pera, where Sir Thomas Roe's house w situate. Our progress through WALTER. BLQ FIELD iiarroW streets filled with a motley crowd of petty chapmen strangely ap- pareled, all pressing closely to get a view of me, was very slow, but I would not, if I could have hastened it, for the sense of liberty, the curious scene, and the conversation of Sir Roe were delightful to me. Of Anita and her maid Sir Thomas could unfortunately tell me nothing. The usual course, he said, with female captives was to submit them to the Mistress of the Harem for examina tion, and if, in the judgment of that lady they were sufficiently young and beautiful they were received into His Majesty's harem, while such as failed to present the necessary youthfulness and beauty were sent to the slave mar ket and sold. He promised to institute an inquiry concerning them that same day, but warned me that he was un able to afford them any protection in whatever circumstances they might be placed, as they were neither of them English subjects. The house of Sir Thomas Roe was large, square and low, with wide ver andas on every side. It was in the middle of a garden on the side of a hill, andtOVjeTlooked the sea. The de; niesne was "stuToundedby" aT thfck'wall so high that the house could scarce be seen from the outside. We were no sooner entered within the gates than a swarm of slaves crowded about us. and our jaded horses were half led, half pulled, toward the house. I was about to dismount when a stalwart negro threw himself upon the ground right in my way, his legs and arms doubled under him In curious fashion, and the surface of his back presented upward. Hesitating for a moment, in doubt what this might mean, I no ticed another slave behave in a similar manner in front of my companion, who proceeded at once to dismount, using his slave as we In England use a stepping stone. I copied his example, but with an ill grace for Sir Thomas smilingly 'observed, "I perceive by many signs that you are newly ar rived in Turkey." As soon as we had refreshed our selves with sherbet and fruits, Sir Thomas Roe himself conducted me to a room, where I saw, standing one. uDon other on the floor, the ten black i chests, each bearing my name, appar-i entlv in the same state as when I last saw them in my cabin aboard the Orio' Malipietro, and there also was my sirdle full of money, my papers, and the pistols which Signor Simona had given me. "Mr. Trueman," .said my host, "if the contents of your chests had been known to your captors, I fear nothing I could have done would have saved them from confiscation. As it was, mv knowledge of you was acquired barely in time to help you, for the! public disturbances having now sub- sided, your effects would soon nave hpm examined, with wnat result you Tnv miess. On learning tnat your usage was the best which the Porte; allows to any prisoner I thought it pruj dent to make your property my first care, and accordingly oDiameu night an order from the Grand vizier; that it should be placed in my charge, and behold it before you as I received; it. Examine it all carefully at your leisure, for I must now to Seraglio, t will inauire concerning xne two Venetian ladies, your fellow pas- Cpno.oTs. and of the Venetian mercnam TChnao senuis vou say these are. Mean while you . must consider my house and servants as your own. .at tnese words my noble benefactor left me. and I proceeded to carefully scruti nize each chest. None of them had been tampered with in any way; they were all of the proper weight, and the resinous black paint with which each. was covered had scarce received a. cnTatfh Mv monev. too. was equany safe and correct, nine hundred and; forty-four pounds, all told, snowing, that my expenditure since. I left Eng land had amounted to no more than fifty-six pounds. i AffoT .m absence of several hours Sir Thomas Roe returned, and I per ceived at once from his countenance that he bore no .good .news, "The two. TTnnHar, indies'' said he, "you are not likelv to see again. I have spoken with the chief eunuch, who has con ferred with the Mistress of the Ha rem, and I Jearn that both ladles were rejected. 'as, unworthy of the Sultan, and sp'iit to the slave market for sale. I bsve een to the slave market, and talked with the merchants there, and hr thPtn that the younger of the two ladies was bought by an old merchant from Aleppo for two hun but that she protested in dumb show so pathetically against being parted from her .mistress, xae niv human being near with whom nhle to sDeak. that her new owner bought the other lady also for Mntv.fiv seauins. to be tfie servant Ma first ruirehase. and thus, both as Ul ' . slaves, and with their respective posi tions reversed, they have Deen carneu rnnr Anita! I was too dazed by mriiatinn of her -miserable and tuuuv."- . . ri fa to tn nffer any remark. Sir t.s141" continued: " "Signor Mario Battista is dead; he n. full month before you a r.AntfljatinoDle. Ha had V . ""r " amassed a large fortune by trade, and being a ehrewd, ' clever man he liber ally feed an Influential pasha, from whom he received in return intelli gence of State matters. In this way the unfortunate Battista learned in advance of the Porte's alleged griev ance against the Venetians, and cor rectly estimating the incident he closed his affairs here with as much secrecy and despatch as he could, and, accom panied by his wife and his two sons, embarked one night aboard a vessel he. had purchased, taking with him an immense treasure of money and jewels. But his flight was noticed almost at once, and his means of in formation ascertained. His friend, the pasha, was bowstrune, Battista's ship overtaken and sunk with all aboard before it had got out of the Bosphorus, and the treasure brought back and placed in the imperial treasury, where it now is." This horrible narrative dumbfounded me, and I resolved to get without the dominions of the Grand Turk as soon as conveniently might foe. Apprehend ing that. I should experience some difficulty in reaching Venice (for I designed to return to that city). I ques tioned Sir Thomas Roe as to the de gree of safetylen joyed "'by Englishmen in Turkey, and in particular desired him to tell me how it came about that his representations were more regard ed than the representations made toy- ambassadors from other countries, which appeared very plainly the case. ' "The Turks " said SirThomas Roe, "have resnected Eneland since 1588. In 1587 England humiliated herself by asking these people to aid her in repelling invasion. The Turk, who is nothing if not selfish, of course re fused, and Elizabeth's envoys succeed ed only in impressing the Porte with an idea of England's impotency. But when in 1588 England single-handed scattered and destroyed the whole might of Spain, it was noted here, as Indeed it was throughout the world, that the islanders of Northern Europe are not only keen in trade, but quick to avenge and formidable in fight, ac customed withal to speak the truth and stand for their rights against whatever odds. Your Turk, I say, noted these things, and the benefit to Englishmen has been that to this day their ships ride in the Bosphorus as securelyas intheir own narrpwjseaj. That" it is' not so with the ships of 'weaker States you yourself can wit ness." For many days I continued to reside in the house of Sir Thomas Roe, not going abroad further than the bound aries of the garden which encompassed it. My host was a delightful compan ion, as full of information as an egg is of meat, yet withal singularly modest in his manner of imparting it. By his advice I not only delayed my de parture for Venice, but refrained from walking about the city, and I was the more content to follow his counsel when I considered the pain which In telligence of the ill-fated Orlo Malipie tro and her passengers 'would inflict on Signor Simona, and so I rested my self, filling my mind from the rich stores of knowledge possessed by my host, and making under his able guid ance rapid progress toward a mastery of the Turkish tongue. But the time soon came when I could no longer suppress my desire to explore the streets of Constantinople, v.,i nhQoi-ro tho manners and customs and observe the manners and customs of the people, and I intimated as much to my host in the choicest Turkish I could command. My host no further opposed my desire, but merely auvised me to adont the dress or a TurK, and never to stir abroad unless accompa nied by at least two stout slaves; snj?restions which I very willingly adopted, though at first I found the loose flowing garments or tne uito mans excessively inconvenient; and could not then have believed that I should for twenty-eight years clothe myself In no other way. ThA health of Sir Thomas Roe was not robust, and it was always his cus tom after a spell of sickness to talk of !hia return to England, a change wnicn the contemplated with pleasure. He had no regular assistance in tne du ties of hiB officgj, which -at times pressed heavily upon him, so that when-1 volunteered to assisi iu his dispatches to King James my offer was gratefully ac- ,0ntPd. And thus the winter or j.oz nocaari axcnv. the sDring of 1623 ad- vanced and still my daily life remained oitoTori hut. I had meanwnue ac quired the language of the Turks, and J tit tnn -with little trouDie, lor ji pre sent's but few difficulties to an earnest cedent in June. 1623, intelligence reached Bir Thomas Roe, In answer to Inquiries which he had institutea ax my instigation, that Signor Pietro Si mona was dead, that the good old Venetian merchant had died in the belief that all who sailed from Venice t ho nrlrt MaliDietro had perished. There remained nothing now to attract me to that city, and abandoning my intention to revisit It; I continued to live with Sir Thomas Roe. To be continued. Actor's Independent Valet. Arthur Bouchier, the English actor, once hired as a "dresser," a frequen ter of the gallery at the theater. Mr. Bouchier says: "One night a new play was produced by me, and when I came back to my dressing-room from the stage I found the door locked. As time was pressing, I sent another man to search for my missing servant. He was caught red-handed in the gallery among his old associates loudly 'boo ing' his master. Arraigned before me, he maintained the firmest attitude possible and asserted boldly, 'No, sir, I am your servant behind the scenes, but as an independent man and hon est gallery boy I am bound to 'express my unbiased opinion either for or against any play which I may happen to ie at a first night, " Huraof 1 Or All Correct. An antiseptic baby lived on antiseptii milk; His clothes were antiseptic, made of ant septic silk. ... In antiseptic carriages he rode, with tim to spare. He had an antiseptic nurse, breathed anti septic air; And though upon this mundane sphere M did not long abide, They placed him in an antiseptic coffin when he died. Smart Set. j It Drawback. ' "Education is a great thing." ' "Yes, it turns out some mighty Intel ligent criminals' Life. : Expensive Engagement. Patience "How do you know her love for him was strong?" Patrice "Because it broke him." Yonkers Statesman. Ambiguous. Jack Nervey "I'm going to kiss you when I leave this house to-night." May Kutely "Leave the house this instant, sir!" Philadelphia Press. ,jt Mother Earth. "I wonder why people always speak of Earth as she?" "It's natural enough. Nobody knows exactly what her age is." Philadel phia Ledger. After. She "Ah, you men! Before mar riage you pay compliments, but af ter " He "After? Why, afterwe do befr ter; we pay bills." Life. Advanced. "You say that Lord Fucash's social position has improved since he married a rich American girl?" "Yes, indeed. Formerly he was only a nobleman; but now he belongs to our heiresstocracy." Washington Star. ; .4- Kone Such. "I'm looking for a painless dentist. Can vou recommend one? "I never knew any that didn't hurt at least once." "When is that?" "When his bill comes in." Detroit Free Press. is. Careless Artist. "Do you think you can draw that ball the length of the table r "111 have to, I suppose. But I don't see why the artist didn't draw it back there to begin with." Chicago Tri bune. , ..-.iii.-s.. Wisely Chosen, Mr. Short "Can I believe it you will TAflll-e mnrrv me?" I Miss Tall "Yes. I always make my own dresses, and. as we are both the own dresses, and, as we are botn tne same height, you will come real handy when I am cutting and fitting." New York Weekly. Not Compulsory. "Tell me, Colonel," asked the begin ner in politics, addressing the gray haired statesman, "can a politician be honest?" "I suppose so, my boy," replied the veteran, "but ah! it isn't necessary." Collier's Weekly. Making Allowances. "People do not take in proper ac count," said the broad-minded man, "the nervous strain under which we live. It is necessary to make allow ances for some of our public officials." "That's the idea," rejoined Senator Sorshum. "And liberal allowances, too." Washington Star. Physical, Not Political. Doctor "You have a perfectly sound constitution, sir, but you are over worked a little and run down, and that is why your physical energies have be gun to flag." Patient "Then in my case the con stitution does not follow the flag? Thank you, doctor." Yonkers Herald. No Contretemps. "How did your nephew's wedding pass off?" ..vjuu. "just spienuiu. ifciti "Were there any contretemps? "I don't think so. I didn't see any. Ymi see we had the church thoroughly cleaned up just before the wedding took place." Cleveland Plain ueaier. In the BiUvllle Baclrwoodn. "How far is it to the next town, my friend i" " 'Bout fifty acres or better." t Tnpnn how many miles." "Well, hit mout be two, or hit mout be six." "You're a big fool!" "I know it; but you orter seen mj daddy 1" Atlanta Constitution. Ills Preference. The father was giving the son some advice. "Now that vou are starting out in life." said the parent, "you will find it pays to cultivate the acquaintance of well-to-do people." But the son shook his head. "No, pop," he responded, "I will find It pays me better to cultivate the ac quaintance of easy-to-do people. I am going to locate in Wall Street" Chi cago NtWS. The smallest oak trees are to be found in China. They are one and one-half inches high and will take root in thimbles. ' m ' '"f Y The lancuaee of the Republic of Haiti is French while the language of the Republic of Santo Domingo, on the Island of Haiti, is Spanish. tii,m Dr. Carl Schmidt, of Heidelberg, Germany,- has succeeded, after seven years of hard work, in piecemg to gether two thousand small fragments of papyrus and translating the conr tents from the Coptic. Stunted dogs are very much admired by Parisian ladies. The demand for them is met by at least forty profes sional "dog dwarf ers," who bring up the duds on an alcoholic diet which has the effect of checking their growth. The Bank of England notes are made from new white linen cuttings never from anything that has been worn. So carefullv is the paper prepared that even the number of dips into the pulp made by each workman is regis tered on a dial by machinery. The Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia Is the fifth husband of his wife, Taitu, who was once a great beauty. Her first husband was one of King Theo dore's generals, her second she di vorced, her third was killed by King John, her fourth was "removed," and In 1883 she married Menelik. - ..r, Soldiers are despised in China. They belong chiefly to the coolie classes. The German officers engaged some time ago by the Chinese government found that their most important tasK was to overcome the soldiers' own feelings that they were a lower order of beings than other Chinamen. ' The Chinese department of the Brit l$,h Museum Library contains a single work which occupies 5020 volumes This wonderful production of the Chi nese Dress is one of only a small num ber of copies now in existeace. It is on on rv pinned La of the literature of China, covering a period of twenty fielrfc centuries, from 1100 B. C. to 1700 A. D. It is not senerally known that the vanilla bean is the costliest bean on earth. It grows wild and is gathered by the natives in Papantia and Mis cantia. Mexico. When brougnt .from the forests these beans are sold at the rate of ?12 per 1000, but when dried and cured they cost about $12 per Dound. They are mainly used by drug gists, and last year over 90,000,000 were imported into the United btates. The warrant under which John Bun- van was aDDrehended and placed in jail at Bedford for six montns during the reign of Charles II. was sold at auction in London for ?lo2o. 'ine warrant, which is signed by thirteen justices of the peace, six baroneis and seven esauires. charged tne tinlcer with contempt of law, by preaching and teaching: otherwise tnan "accord ing to the liturgie or practice of the Church of England." -lik k'aklne Ptarmican by Pitfalls. In Scotland there is a way of taking ptarmingan, which seems so simple that it is hardly credible tnat any birds can be so captured. Yet reliable witnesses have spoken of it as sue osfni A -nisi pa nn the mountain side is chosen where ptarmingan resort and the snow lies sufficiently deep, vux an old wine bottle, held neck foremost, holes are made in the snow and the bottom of each hole is filled with erain. The ptarmingans lean over to peck it out and find themselves over balanced a'nd caught head down in the snow, unwilling prisoners, but un able to use their wings in getting out again. In Siberia wild geese are regularly taken in pitfalls like these, but dug in the earth instead of being poked in the snow. The pits are dug on gras sy places where the geese assemble, and are shaped like flower pots, round and gradually narrowing to the bot tom. Baits of grain prove irresistible and the geese tumble headlong in and then, being unable to extend their wings, find that they cannot get out again. Chicago News. j . . New Potatoes. The discoverer of a new potato in England is selling the seed at $500 a pound, or $30,000 a bushel. That al most ranks with the Lawson Pink. It beats a ginseng garden, which is worth $50,000 an acre each year. But the Irish potato will surely have to go, as it is becoming too diseased for human consumption. We shall have to turn to Uruguay. The French scien tists, you know, have found on the banks of the River Mercedes what they style the "Solanum commersonii," a notato that is immune from all dis eases. Its yield is enormous, and its quality is superior to the finest insa potatoes. Let 'em come in! Life a Reality. Life is a reality- a useful, usable, noble reality. Happy, too, when once the grim idol Self has been dethroned forever. For it is a trutn wnicn we all have to learn oftentimea through many a bitter lesson that we cau never be happy unless we cease trying to mate owrseT so. ISIS Carrot Pudding:. f Two cups grated carrot, two cuDi grated potato, two cups chopped suet, two cups nour, one cup sugar, one cup molasses, one cud raisins, one cud cur rants, one lemon (srate rind and add juice), one teaspoonful cream tartar. spice ana salt. . Steam three hours. bake half an hour. '11 1 Chocolate Souffle. 1 Melt two tablesnoonfuls of butter: add five tablespoonfuls of flour; do not brown, but stir constantly until smooth: add gradually half a cupful of milk and stir until thickened; pour this over the yolks of three eggs and two tablespoonfuls of sugar, which have been beaten together; put two squares of chocolate in a pan over hot water; when melted add it to the mix ture: stand aside until cool; shortly be fore the souffle is to be served beat the whites of eggs until stiff; mix them carefully into a cold mixture; turn into a buttered mold; the mold should be only three-fourths full; cover the mold: stand it in a pan of boiling wa ter and boil half an hour; serve yvith sugar and cream. ' - Two Cheese JSandwichea. A circular cracker, of the variety known as water thin, is crisped in the oven.- It is ,. then spread with rich cream cheese .rather thickly, and toppec- with a layer of ruby bar-le-duc. This Is made of stemmed red currants floatir g in a delicious thin jelly. The other cheese sandwich consists of two blonfrs. three by one and one-half inches, of brown bread, cut very thfn and freed from crust. The filling is Drepaied by rubbing some cream cheese; very soft and blending It with mineeil watercress and two table spoonfuls of mayonnaise dressing. The brown bread sandwich is served on a crisp lettuce leaf. It is a tasty and delicious sandwich for summer lunch eons and for picnics. Nothing can fill its place. . . A Short Cuft to Marmalade. " To slice oranges and lemons in the process of making marmalade, there is nothing better than an ordinary car penter's plane, an instrument which ia found in almost all households in the larger or smaller form. The older wooden planes are preferable, as they do not discolor the fruit as the more modren all iron plane would do. To use. Invert the plane over the pan in which the marmalade is to be made. Take the whole fruit and move it back and forth over the knife, removing the seeds as they appear. This will give slices equal to those made with the very exDensive marmalade machine. though with slightly more trouble, but much more quickly and easily than with an ordinary knife. The plane blade should be sharp and properly adiusted before commencing tne sue ing. An individual once trying this short Cut will never use the ordinary kitchen . knife again, for the ease and rapidity with which the fruit is sliced is marvelous. Boston Cooking School. 0 THF5II iV -ar- ; noaSEKEEPEM Dishcloths- are quickly made fresh' and sweet by boiling in clean water with a good lump of soda added. Always put the sugar used in a tart in the centre of the fruit, not at the top, as this makes the paste sodden When peeling onions, begin at the root end and peel upward, and the on ions will scarcely affect your eye at all. In hoiliner meat for makinsr soud the meat should be put into cold water. in order to extract all the goodness from the meat. Soup will be as good the second day if heated to boiling point" It should never be left in a saucepan, but turned into a dish and put aside to cool. Do not cover the soup up, a that may cause it to turn sour. A tablespoon of black pepper put in the first water in which gray and buff linens are washed will keep the colors of black or colored cambrics or mus lins from running. A little gum arabie imparts a gloss to ordinary starch If moths are in a carpet, turn it over and iron on the wrong side with a good hot'flatiron. Then sprinkle the floor underneath liberally with turpentine, pouring it into the cracks if there are any. Rub the turpentine in and then you can turn back your carpet. Re peat this treatment two or three days. A good recipe which will keep the bristles of hair brushes stiff after washing is as follows: Pour into an open dish a dessertspooiiful of am monia to a quart of cold water. Dip the brush into this, moving up and down, but taking care not to wet the back of the brush. In this way the bristles will be clean and white in less than one minute and without any rubbing. Then dip the brush into clear water, shake and place in a rack to drain, If I 1 I M T C Tn TP s ja rxr . 1 Tfimnr r it 'rr 1 r in Checker Board Roads. 40 5 most parts of the West r . V wnere. tne puDiic ianas O I O were surveyed and laid X R off Into sections, halves , Vatf and quarters, the public . roads have been established on the' section lines. These roads consequent- ly run either north and south or east 4 and west, crossing at right angles. This method of locating roads is sometimes called "the checker board system," and the term is quite appropriate. In some States the road laws contemplate tne establishing of a road orr every sec tion line, so they will be only one mile apart, but not nearly all these roads have been actually opened. In comparison with the system, or lack of, system, which prevails in the Older settled States of the East and South, this checker board system has some advantages. The roads are not left to be located at hap-hazard, or on crooked farm boundaries, or accord ing to the whims or selfish interests of the locators. The order and mathe matical regularity of the system na- turally appeals to the minds of those who read about those roads or study, themon maps, but to those who actu ally travel them, their location appears to be very far short of ideal perfec tion. In fact the system involves two very -grave defects. If a man wishes to travel directly north, south, east or west, these roads take him by the shortest route.. But a large majority, of the people wish to travel in other directions. Let us suppose a man lives exactly ten miles northwest from his country seat. In order to reach it he must travel seven miles east and seven miles south, or fourteen miles in all. Thus a majority of travelers suffer a hardship in the matter of distance. " But the second defect in the system Is far graver. The mathematical pre- eision with" which these roads are located carries them across hills and hollows without any regard to econ omy in the matter of grades. Where the country is perfectly level there is no difficulty; where it is rolling tne roads can only be improved at a heavy, cost in making cuts and nils; wnere there are steep hills and deep ravines to cross the system is wholly imprac ticable. . Doubtless one of first benefits that will follow the adoption of the national plan will be the modification of this system so as to remedy these defects in a large measure. Naturally the first roads to be improved in a county will be those leading directly north, south, east and west from the county seat. Then main roads or av enues leading northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest from the county seat should be opened and im proved. Thus the first defect shall be largely eliminated. The second defect pointed out can only be cured by departing from the section lines where the lay or tne road makes it economical to do so. Under national and State aid compe tent engineers will be employed, to correct errors of location, so as to in crease the usefulness of the roads, and at the same time reduce their cost. The sentiment for national aid is making great headway in this part of the country. In Nebraska the Legis lature has declared in favor of it. Several members of Congress from Missouri are outspoken advocates of the plan. In Illinois a State Commis sion has been appointed to investigate and report on national aid. In a num ber of other States definite action will probably be taken in the near future. Conrress has no more widely useful measure of domestic legislation in hand that is contemplated in the bill put forward by Representative urown low and Senator Gallinger to give na tional aid to the good roads movement. The plan is to make a liberal appro priation which will be available ior the payment of half the cost of build ing new roads, the other halt to De paid by the State, county or local po litical division benefited by the im provement. The authors of this de sign pointed out in addresses to tne Automobile Club that the general gov ernment, which has spent $2,000,000 in ' the Philippines and.$l,500,000 in Porto Rico on road building, could properly do something in that line for the Amer ican farmer. As $450,000,000 has been spent on rivers and harbors since the Civil War, they suggest it is time to make facilities for land travel also a matter of federal concern. There is no doubt that the Ameri can farmer directly, and the whole people indirectly, would gain much by the stimulus the good roads move ment would receive from a federal appropriation sharing with the State half the cost of new roadways. xner is only one argument against putting tn2 plan quickly into effect, ana mat, is the danger of opening the way to extravagance in appropriations ana "graft" in their expenditure. 11 tne American people could have assurance not to say Insurance, against turning the plan to the advantage of reckless legislators and corrupt contractors, they would quickly order it carried out. They want no more river and harbor grabs or public buildings steals or rural free delivery plunder. There , are plenty of arguments against open ing the Treasury door to that kind of graft." But there is no argument against good roads. A Good Tip. R careful what you do here and don't worry about what will be done .with you hereafter. Chicagq News. it ' . M I'M 5! VI i i

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