Arizona republican., 1898-02-08
WASHINGTON GOSSIP,

as, IS spending a portion Of the win ter here.
 A. A. Zimmerman, better known ss "Zimmie,' the undefeated bicycle champion of the world, is stopping at Willard-s for a few days. ''zimmie" has just returned from q tr-p through the south and left many of the bicy- cle cranks in training there. "A num- Der of the racers, headed by Eddie Bald" he said, "are keeping them selves in trim by hard work in the South. They are located at Bella;r, Fla, where there is quite a good quar- ter-mile track, and the bcys spin about this in record-breaking style every fair day To train in the South is some: hing new for circuit cha CTS, but it shows that the interest in b.cy- cle racing is growing, and a firs--class man must be constantly in training if he expects to cut much figure during the season.
 "A few years ago the circuit was very small, and the season only lasted for a few weeks. Now many of the Southern cities want dates, and ths season will probably be prolonged I until the circuit men are hi-ti" g it up around the tracks in the South, when i it is showing in the places where they met earlier in the season. With the cheapening of bicycles. I think ] that interest in wheeling generally should increase, and be very pros porous one for the sport.''
 What used to be known as the cct- ton belt in Georgia, Alabama and Mis- sissippi, and the most prosperous dis trict in the country, is now declining | and the people who once made small 1 fortunes, and every enc 3 flair living, are getting poorer and less prosperous every year. said Mir. Lee J. BIya', of Montgomery, Ala, the United Sta es marshal for the middle district of his state, who is in the city. "It is inn possible for the farmers to raise cCt- ton at profit when it only sells for 5 cents or less ga pound. These people have their plantations equipped for cotton raising and it is hard for them to abandon it and try some new pro- ducts, so they continue to grow cotton and grow poorer year ofter year. Several years beck they wer5 in eX cellent shape, most of the mortgages on the farms having been paid off and little laid by, while at the same 1 time the mining interests were net so good, and this was the class who sui fered. Now the mining interests are veTy prosperous and the cotton grow CTS, To matter how good their crops, I find it very hard to make both ends meet. The price of cotton shouli log ically be greater, when it costs within a fraction of as much to raise it as it sells for, and perhaps it will climb up soon, but not too soon to suit the peo- pie in the cotton belt.''
 Representative James Hami ton Lewis, of Washington state, is a peaceful man, but in his boyhco1 days he engaged in what is frequently termed "an affair of honor," for which he bears a scar on his person ali the present time. Many people know that MT. Lewis was born down at Danville, Va, and that he WAS educated St the University of Virginia. The eXac: de- tails of the affair have never been made public, but MT. Lewis became in vclved, through the rsshness Of one of his college friends, not as a prinei- pal, but as secondl A sequestered spot was selected, the weapons were d-cided upon, and the valcrous youths set out for the field of honor to sesk each others blood
 While 1t is uncertain how much the ! principals bled to avenge supposed in suits, il is known that Mir. Lewis, in some unexplained manner, was mixed up in the encounter so that he with drew, after the action, with a badly wounded hand. So the Wash .ngton 1 State Iawmaker bears the scars of 1 battle, not upon his face, as German 1 students are proud to do, but upon one 1 of those soft, velvety hands, with which he makes graceful gestures when charming the House with his i oratory.
 i The spirited oonfabs between MT. 1 Dingley, the floor leader of the Repub- licans, and Representative Jerry Sim | pson, of Kansas, the past week, are not entirely without precedent. The 1 two had an interchange of words last summer during the consid. ration in | the House of the Dngley bill. There was a provision in that measure. al- | lowing logs, cut on American soil, to l he floated down water courses that 1 flow into foreign territory and back again. The provision was intended Tor the benefit Of Maine lumbermen. who operate on the headwoters of the St. Croix river That river, on it's way to the sea, forms the boundary 1 lire between the state of Maine and >Ho PiOFiHct Ol NeW BrunSW1ck, so 1 that logs f1oated on it's waters would be much in Canadian territory before reaching the great saWm1l1s at Calais. where they are manufactured into l lumber.
 MT. Simpson thought he smeIIed a rat in the provision of the bill, and inquired of MT. Dingley abont it. The latter explained it to him in detail, | stating that the same nrincinaI hod i been embodied in the Ashbur,ou treaty between this country and Great Britain, many years ago A little later MT. Simpson secured the floor of the House, and made bitter alta k ] on Mr Din gley henauSa of ,,,.-