Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-10
Judge Tyner is the Man Who Drew
ii on Count Tolstoi's Book.
HIS NOSE FOR IMPROPRIETIEs.
American Housewives Threatened With q
Troublesome New Bug.
A FARM TO SUPPLY INSECT POWDER.

Assistant Attorney General Tyner is to the
great American Republic. 1t was he who
rendered the decision against Tolstoi's book,
''The Kreutzer Sonata" the other day, de-
claring that it was indecent in character and
for that reason not 'mailable." Whatever
Judge Tyner, Chief of the Law Division ol
the Postotice Department, says is final in
questions Of this sort.
Whenever postmaster in any city Is
doubtful regarding the morality of a pub
LEGATION that is sought to be mailed, he for
wards a copy Of the suspected work to the
Third Assistant Postmaster General here,
by whom it is referred to Judge Tyner.
Very likely the Judge may be too busy
to investigate the case personally; in
such. an event he turns it over to one
of his assistants, who does the perusal and
marks any passages in the book or PAM
phlet that be may consider of an indecent
tendency. This was done in the case of
Tolstoi's work, and the Law Lord had SIM
ply to pick out the tidbits of impropriety
and pass upon them. Some people feel
quite envious of the Judges prerogative.
The Assistant Attorney General is supposed
to have developed by cultivation nose for
indelicacies unequalled for keenness in
this country.
FACTS IN THE CASE.
Tolstoi, as everybody knows who has read
him, is q maniac. His hobby is that the
domestic relations are essentially immoral;
his own mind is so infested BY and polluted
with the habit of nasty thinking that the
whole arrangement of lie which constitutes
the home appears to him a concrete in
decency. The work in question, enti-
tied, 1.-THE Kreutzer Sonata" is little
more than an essay, the object Of
which is to prove the proposition
stated above; there is nothing in it
immoral in the sense of being calculated
to lead anyone astray; the impressions
stated in it are beyond measure gross and
repulsive, nothing more. The decision
against the book served as big advertise
quence. The officials of the postofice say
that they know this; but they were obliged
to perform their duty in the matter. For
tunately for the publishers they have no
difficulty in circulating the Objectionable
volume as widely as they choose BY the SIM
pie device Of sending it letter postage. Law
does not permit the department to open
parcels on suspicion.
In the case OF the Tolstoi book attention
was called to its objectionableness, first of
all by the fact that its sale had been al
ready interdicted in Germany and Austria,
on the ground of its alleged immortality.
When it appeared in this country, news
papers commented unfavorably upon il, and
was thus invited.
NOT A PROSECUTOR.
The Postofice Department is not in the
criminal line; il does not make a practice
of prosecuting people who attempt to send
indecent matter through the mails. But 1t
does very often call upon district attorneys,
through postmasters, To prosecute in such
cases. Postmasters, too. are instructed
to notify district attorneys when
ever improper matter is offered |
them for mailing, in order that the |
parties may be prosecuted. |
Whenever matter that is grossly and un-
and the like, is caught in the mails-and
much of such stuff drifts in through hesita-
ton on the part of recipients to call for it
it is sent to the Dead Letter Office, and
after examination burned in the furnace.
Washington is a great town for bugs.
Upholsterers say that there is no city in the
United States where moths are so bad, feas
appear in occasional plaques, and a de-
Itroyer new to this country has recently ap-
,eared here, promising misery to house
wives all over the continent This last has
been newly designated as the "carpet
,eetle" by the Department of Agriculture.
Before saying anything more about this
interesting creature, however, it will be as
veil to refer parenthetically to business to
which the Department of Agriculture has
,iven some encouragement in California.
A GUARDED SECRET.
For some centuries past a mysterious
arming industry has been carried on in
Persia and Dalmatia which has supplied |
he world with powder for the destruction
# insects. For hundreds of years the nat
Ire of this powder remained unknown, the !
ecret being handed down from father to
ion. All that anyone understood was that |
he stuff produced was of a vegetable
nature, and that it was simply deadly to
insects of every kind. In 1928 an Armenian |
named Juntikoff succeeded in |
getting hold of the insect powder secret and |
began manufacturing the product in Trans. |
Caucasia. But, not lacking appreciation of |
the value OF his knowledge, he made no |
on the subject, and travellers |
and counsuls tried in vain for years after to |
obtain the precious information.I
Seeds of the the plant were repeatedly |
brought and planted in European soil, but |
they would not grow, for the simple reason |
as was subsequently discovered-that they |
had all been carefully baked by the in |
yenious Persians and Dalmatians before ex- |
porting them. Naturally this interfered |
with the result, but finally United States
Consul did secure few unbaked seeds of the |
plant in 1880, and during the next year the
Department of Agriculture circulated them |
widely. Strangely enough, however, only |
'ne farm established for the preservation of |
he plant exists at present in this country.
A BUG POWDER FARM.
It is located near Stockton, CAL, is 800 |
lcres in area, and produces very large part
,f the insect powder at present used in the |
United States. The insect powder plant ia
10 much like the common field daisy that
you would hardly know the difference. In
Persia it has red petals, but in Dalmatia
white petals; the Dalmatian variety is the
,ort cultivated in California. It is planted
in the spring. and the plants are trans
planted into rows before the winter rains be-
gin. FROM the second year on they bear
proftably. 1t is ignorantly supposed that
she powder employed is merely the pollen;
but the fact is that it is obtained by grind
ing up the entire flower, petals and all.
Men collect the flowers by cutting them
off from the plants in punches with stems,
using sharp knife for the purpose. The
picker takes the flowers to sort of iron
,omb. with teeth just big enough to accom-
nodate the stems; he introduces the blossoms
% the comb, gives jerk, and the flower
parts roll off into basket, while the stems
ire thrown aside. Thus gathered, the flower
aeads are sent in sacks to mill at Stock
on, where they are ground by mIllstones
md passed through fine selves, so that only
he finest powder falls through to be put up