davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
A DEFECT OF FARM LIFE.

During the discussion in the House of the
bill providing for the teaching of agricul-
ture in the public schools, a farmer mem
Der who favored the bill said:
This bill provides that teachers shall talk
about agriculture, shall explain how the
corn grows and how the hogs fatten, in
stead Of lolling back in their chairs and
reading novels or theatrical stories. / want
my children to come home from school and
tell me of agricultural things instead of
telling me theatrical stories the teacher
tells them
The member unintentionally furnished an
argument against the bill. Its avowed OBJ
ject was. by disseminating a knowledge of
farming, to increase interest in the subject
and thereby keep young men from leaving
farms for cities and towns. Now, it is
the opinion of many that one reason why
so many young persons born and brought
up on farms abandon farm life is because
it is made so narrow. so devoid of pleasure,
so fun of farm drudgery and nothing else.
There are thousands of farm houses in IN
diana in which a bright book. an illustrated
magazine or even a picture paper is never
seen. The life is one Of monotonous drudg-
cry with scarcely relieving feature. 1t
is contrary to reason to expect young peo-
pie to take kindly to that sort of life. Their
moral natures require some pleasure and
some variety as much as their physical ma
lures do certain kinds Of food. The school,
while 1t lasts. affords change and if boy
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
MONEY AND OTHER THINGS.

New York broker named Talcott has
created great surprise in the community but
especially among his Wall-street acquaint-
ances, by retiring from business at the age
Of forty-one with fortune of one million
dollars. His fellow-brokers and other bust
ness associates do not know what to make
Of such a proceeding. They are willing to
acknowledge that a man may make out to
exist on a million dollars, but, after all,
million is not SO very much, they argue, and
why should a man be content with that
when he might make more? If he were old
or in i'll health the matter would be clearer
to them, but that a man so young should
deliberately and willingly abandon the eff
fort to increase his possessions is a puzzle
to them. And yet it is probably true of
majority of Mr. Talcott's surprised asso-
ciates that they began their respective COM
mercial careers with no intention of con-
tinuing the occupation of money-making I'M
til the end of their days. Comparatively few
men start out in life with a clearly outlined
plan for the future, but most of them, it
is safe to say. have visions of pleasure to
be enjoyed in the way of travel literary
or artistic pursuits. fancy farming pas
times and occupations that require leisure
and money. in that day when they shall
have attained sufficient wealth to put them
beyond the need of further exertion. The
visions may be vague or clearly defined, but
there is seldom a man who does not at the
beginning mean to get more out of life than
is involved in the mere grubbing for money.
for its own sake, but for what it will bring
to him of the things that make life worth
living. Too often the pecuniary rewards for
his labor are so small that the toll of neces-
sity continues unbroken, but where fortune
smiles it is seldom the case that the early
hopes and plans as to what the wealth shall
bring with it are allowed to materialize.
Luxuries may be at hand. but the leisure
for their enjoyment is not taken. The man
who wanted money because it meant other
things that he wanted more ends by desir-
ing the money. and more and more of it, for
its own sake. He may have nuch-far more
than he had ever hoped, perhaps-but not
enough to be willing to give up the absorb
ing pursuit OF further gains, He has lost
his literary or artistic tastes; travel is
WEAKNESS to him; the aesthetic and the
spiritual are unknown to him; he finds con-
tentment only in business; he is commercial
and nothing more. And so. when he sees
an associate break away from the enthrall-
ing occupation of dollar-getting. satisfied
with what he has. and with years yet before
him in which he may do what he will the
ey-getter wonders. forgetting his own
past dreams. We are a commercial people.
but there is leaven of sense and sentiment.
at work which in time, perhaps. viii make
men like Talcott the rule rather than the
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
SHREDS AND PATCHES.

Any man can be good when he's watched
if he isn't married.-The Bachelor.
Some families are so old they have be-
come monotonous.-Detroit Journal
The bigger hands man has the more he
server
The chief reason why we can't see our
selves as others see US is that love is blind
Puck.
I'm very fond of dates" remarked the
office goat. as he disposed of last years
Observation-Disclosures Record.
We are inclined to feel more or less re-
sentiment against people who don't do as
we predicted they would-PUck.
What some people need more than any
thing else is change-they have dollars and
they need sense.-Jewish Comment.
A Kansas girl captured bandit the other
day, She was. determined not to remain
slhSIe.-Memphls Commercial-Appeal.
While one finds company in himself and
his pursuits, he cannot feel old no matter
what his years may be.-A. B. Alcott.
If you are looking for candor you can
more certainly secure it from a small how
than anywhere else.-Philadelphi Times.
Possibly if the British lion had wagged
his tail sooner there would have been less
disposition to twist it.-Washingtori Star.
Hamlet was a melancholy individual. A
small town is called hamlet. so YOU can
draw your own conclusion.-Chicago News
We do not choose our own parts in life.
and have nothing to do with those parts.
Our duty is confined to playing them we'll
--Epictetus.
When a man takes it into his head to be
annoying he can discover more special forms
of littleness than a woman ever dreams
about.-Feminine Observer.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

to my country-people to try and bring others
to love the great poets OF England fha n,,t 70
be myself one Of the small ones. 1 denp-
erateiy and entirely cast aside my small
ambition. / resolved-sptte of the fact tnat
/ did not then see my way before me-to be-
come a teacher Of literature.
The book reviewer of the London Mail
says: 1t is considered to be detrimental to
an authors reputation. as also to his profit,
to publish more than couple Of books in
twelvemonth. The assumption is that Il
books come too fast they cannot be good
Presumably it is due to this fact that GER
tain novelists have lately adopted the in
geniouS plan of writing their four or nye
novels year and sending forth proportion
of them as foundlings. At least nve Well
known authors could be mentioned who are
regularly producing novels upon whose title
pages assumed names appear. half
pathetic, half-sensational novel published
the other day and attributed to new writer
is in reality the work of q famous humorlst,
and a decidedly risky novel which appeared
a few weeks back is in actuality the un-
acknowledged production of an author re-
puted for the strictly religious tendency OF
his fiction
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

purchase their supply a thousand miles dis
tant. when an abundance can be obtained
near at hand. When the average receipts
per ton per mile of the leading railroads
east Of Chicago are but six-tenths of a cent
competition in production practically ex-
tends to the whole country. Cheaper meth
DDS for increasing production have resulted
in a capacity to produce many articles of
general use in excess of the capacity to
consume This fact, in connection with the
wider field Of competition made by low
railroad charges, has created a condition
which has made production in many
branches of industry proftless. Consequent
~ manufacturers have resorted to the COM
bination called the trust to check competi-
ton which has often been ruinous to CAPT
tai and labor.
1t will not do for people to shut their
eyes to the trend of the industrial and bust
ness world. 1t may not be pleasant to
contemplate but it is fact that the small
enterprise of the individual manufacturer
cannot stand the competition which, even
during the past ten years, has made the
profits Of producers very meager. To make
as much money as was possible ten or ff-
teen years ago manufacturers must turn
out three times as many goods now to realize
as much profit as then. Manufacturers
must have large capital. modern appliances
and must be able to sell a great volume Of
goods in order to succeed. Hence the syn
dicate, the trust and the combination. In
the larger cities trusts as they are called,
n
ings and department stores. Two combina-
tons are now fighting for control of the
sugar-refning industry. Many branches Of
manufacturing are controlled by one or two
enormous combinations. The railroads are
declaring a purpose to adhere to the pro-
visions Of the interstate-commerce law in
order to stop rate-cutting and favoritism.
For the railroads to make freight rates
and live up to them on competing lines is
in the nature of combination
The objection to these combinations is
not that they create monopolies and obtain
excessive prices, but that they often close
factories and reduce wages. To prevent
such injustice should be the object of legis-
lation. In fact, the only defense that can
be made for the combination is that it will
maintain liberal scales of wages. such as
are necessary to the maintenance Of the bet
ter conditions of the wage-earning classes
in this country. AS has often been stated
in the Journal, the trust that is exacting
is not long+lived. Capital is abundant and
enterprise is eager and well informed, so
that when a trust makes more than a rea-
sonable profit competition will spring up
which will drive it to the wall. The wrecks
Of badly managed or extortionate combina-
tons to control production and prices are
very numerous
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF EMOTIONS.

An Eastern physician has invented an in
strument which he claims will test and
measure the effect of good and bad emo
lions on the physical system. Even COM
mon people know there is connection be-
tween mental or spiritual emotions and
physical feelings Everybody has expe-
rienced the effect on the stomach of a sud
den fright, shock or exciting piece of news
and all know how depression of spirits af-
fects the appetite and digestion. The ply
stefan referred to claims to have got very
near the secret of this connection. He says
that under the influence of strong emotion
of any kind the secretory glands throw poi
sonous or non-poisonous secretions into the
blood, the nature Of the secretion depending
on the character of the emotion He claims,
further, that some of these products are
breathed out by the individual under the in
fiuence of the emotion, and can actually be
collected and measured. His instrument for
doing this consists of a series of tubes
which are immersed in a freezing mixture
In these tubes the breath of the person to
be experimental upon is collected, con-
densed and analysed. About ten minutes
breathing into the apparatus will secure for
the operator about three-quarters of an
ounce Of the gaseous and liquid products
of the breath. The ordinary products, car
bonic acid gas, water vapor, etc, sep
arated from those due to emotion. The con-
densate due to emotional disturbances
forms a peculiar preciptate when treated
chemically, the precipitate varying with
the kind of emotion. BY continued expert
ments along this line the discoverer claims
to have established that pleasurable emo
tions increase the secretion of nutrient
products in the blood, while evil emotions
increase the secretion of poisonous quail
ties. If the theory is correct it establishes
closer connection between moral emotions
and physical results than has been sup
posed to exist, and the future development
of the theory suggests interesting possibili-
ties. If the secretion of nutrient products
in the blood is increased by pleasurable
emotions we have scientific authority for
the injunction to laugh and grow fat"
and if the secretion of poisonous qualities
is stimulated by evil emotions we have
new and easy if not painless mode OF sui
clde. All that person needs to do in order
to prolong life indefinitely is to enrich the
blood by cultivating cheerfulness, and if he
wants to die he has only to retire from
public view and kill himself by giving way
to jealousy, hate, revenge, etc. Such a dis
covery ought to prove an important factor
in moral reform, for when people discover
that whenever they get mad or yield to evil
49,.
ly powder that shortens their lives, they
will have a new inducement to behave
themselves. Perhaps the old copy-book
maxim BE virtuous and you will be happy"
is true, after ALL
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
CAUSE OF THE GROWTH OF TRUSTS.

The past year has been one in which a
large number OF combinations called trusts
have been made by manufacturers and 9TH
ers. The New York Herald gives an enum-
GRAFTON which makes the capital of the com
binations organized in 1898 in this country
81 .2J0 coo. oOc with a bonded Indebtedness of
$50. 10000. Such combinations, it may be
said. exist in other countries and in one
form or another have existed many years
dating back in England and Germany to the
middle ages in the form of trade guilds
which were organizations to maintain prices
and retain trade. The understanding of the
professional classes to maintain certain
prices for specified service. associations Of
retailers to ask certain prices and of trades
unions to maintain prices for labor, and the
repeated efforts of farmers and others TO
maintain prices for their products have their
inspiration in the same conditions as the
combinations Of certain classes of manufac-
turers which is a purpose to resist the loss
whic1 comes from an increasing competition.
Trade combinations now have a wider scope
than formerly because the railroads, with
their decreasing freight charges, have prac-
Ideally annihilated space. Instances are
numerous where the consumers Of product
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

librarian OF Congress shall be a man Of
standing in the literary world and pos
sessing as well executive ability of high
order" Such a man win be hard to find
If the word literary is construed to ap-
ply only to the writers of books. as is so
commonly the case. Men of this class sell
dom have executive ability. or, at least, it
is undeveloped because of lack OF need for
its use. John Russell Young had published
several books, but he was primarily news
paper man and had had opportunity TO ex-
ercise his executive powers in a variety of
ways. The President is more likely to find
his successor in the newspaper rather than
in the strictly literary ranks.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

The occurrence in Louisville of five sui
cides in four days led to an inquiry whether
such things are epidemic. The coroner. who
has had long experience in the Office, says
that when he has one case of suicide he
always expects al least one more in a short
time. Prof. Halleck, of that city, author of
a work on psychology, thinks that a success
sion of suicides can be accounted for on that
theory. He says:
Psychologists attribute it to the law OF
suggestion, which, by the way, is the secret
of hypnotism. In fact there is no other
solution of the question than is found in the
law of suggestion. 1t has been remarked
oTten how a suicide, especially of a prom
inent person, is succeeded by others. The
idea of self-destructiOn infects minds that
are morbidly sensitive to the suggestion, and
naturally initiative. In that respect
human beings are like monkeys. The
majority OF persons who have the suggestion
of suicide presented to them are not affected
by IL to the extent Of carrying out the sug.
gestion, but, like people VINO are physically
healthy and are not infected by bacilh OF
disease which they absorb, cast il off by
their strength of mind.
History relates that during the first EN-.
pire four soldiers in the French army com.
mitted suicide, one after the other, in the
same sentry box, while on duty. 1t is re-
lated that after the fourth suicide Napoleon
ordered the sentry box chopped into kind
ling wood and that stopped the epidemic.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
The study of Spanish.

New York Press.
'Of all nonsense the study of Spanish
for business uses is the most nOnsensicai,
said a more than ordinarily shrewd obseIE-
er to the reporter. 4 have just come from
Porto Rico. where had ample opporIunl-
ties for observing the trend of affairs WY
there won't be any Spanish language IN Inc
West Indies twenty years from now. dne
natives of Porto Rico are learning EngllSh
as fast as they can learn anything. Little
pamphlets are printed giving simple Engus9
words and their equivalent in Spanish, ana
they are eagerly read and studied by me
masses of the people, Why, natives STOP
you in the street and get you to tell tnenl
the English words for familiar objects
which they point to if you don't understand
Spanish. These words they repeat
over and over again and use upon
the first Engiishnian or American they meet
Within few years 1t will be as unnecessary
to speak Spanish in Porto Rico as IL Is
to speak French in Louisiana. or course;
the study of Spanish is a keen intellectual
pleasure. as is the study of any other Tor
eign language. To many business men. the
study OF foreign tongue IS the best KIND
OF recreation. Languages are a fad or NINE
and when / can spare the time | spend sew
eraI hours a week talking with well-n-
formed foreigners Ia their own languages.
l am keeping UP my Spanish that way now.
but | never expect that It win do me any
more good than the study OF Iceiandic-
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

Kentucky paper says an esteemed sub
scriber vouches for the following as a sure
cure for grip:
He gets a pint of Holland gin, and puts
INTO 1t full tablespoonful of quinine; after
mixing well he goes TO bed, taking the bottle
With him, and continues to take drink after
drink Of the liquid until he goes TO sleep.
After this heavy sweat sets in, and when
morning comes the grip has gone.
The remedy may have merit, but it never
could have come from a Kentucky man. He
would not have gone to Holland for the
liquid part of the prescription
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
A Prlncess's Prize.


Who knows what inspired the Princess
Victoria 10 compete for prize offered for
designs for book covers? You see she has
been going about overseeing all kinds of
good works and encouraging girls of ali
kinds to rise superior to their environment
and distinguish themselves in some wav
This kind of advice is contagious, and as
was quite natural, she felY to wondering
what she could do that was not like other
she should ca if she were obliged Ito earn
her living" So she tried her hand at de-
signing, entering ner efforts under the name
of Miss Matthews" and taking the first
prize. Probably her royal grandmother will
see TO it that she doesn't make a business
of designing book covers. so the howlers
who are always on hand to see shat a we'll
TODD woman doesn't do anything that
should be given 10 one in need will please
keen their seats.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

The impression prevails that in Glasgow,
Scotland, which runs lighting plants, Street
railways and some other public service en-
terprises and furnishes service at a lower
rate than prevails in most cities, the profits
are sufficient to meet all the city expenses.
Such is not the case. Glasgow is taxed as
are other cities. 1t is able to manage a
municipal street-railway system because
the management has been placed beyond
the reach Of what is called municipal pol
ftfca
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

The statement having been made that
freight charges are nearly as high as at any
time since the war, the Journal has been
asked to state the facts. The average re-
ceipts per ton per mile of the leading rail-
roads Of the whole country in 1870 were 199
cents; in 1880. III cents; in 1890, s1-1Ooth Of
cent; in 1895. 7S-1OOth of a cent mile. That
is. the same quantity Of freight was carried
en- the leading roads of the country in 1895
for $3.50 as was carried for 500 in 1870
These figures are those of the statistician
OF Poor's Railroad Manual, prepared for the
statistical abstract of the secretary of the
frea s1lrsy
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

United States Commissioner Peck's de-
cision that there will be no distinct and
separate woman's department at the Paris
Exposition is to be commended. The mis-
take of attempting such a division of the
products Of labor was manifest at Chicago.
If womens work is worth attention it is
because OF its actual and not its relative
merit, and if it is not of kind to be
brought into close comparison or COMPETE
ton with the work of men then it is not
worth exhibiting.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

It is claimed that Senator German is be-
hind the movement to amend the Spanish
treaty before ratification in order to defeat
Colonel Bryan, who has declared for rati-
dcation TO be followed by resolutions in ia
vor of the independence of the Philippines.
Thus the treaty is made matter of second
airy Importance to the defeat of Colonel
Bryan by Senator German The latter is
reported to have won to the support of his
proposition the greater part of the Demo
cratic senator's. thus proving that he is a
more potential leader than is Colonel Bryan.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

Just as members of family are brought
nearer together in time of trouble,
so do the people of a community come
into closer touch and feel the bonds of
their common humanity when calamity
visits one of their number. The af-
Fiction that has fallen upon Mayor
Taggart and his family is shared by the
public. The deepest sympathy goes out to
them from every quarter and all hearts ache
for them Words have little power of con-
ISOLATION in the face of SO tragic loss as
they have suffered, but freighted with the
tender compassion of a city full the thoughts
directed toward them may carry comfort
ing balm.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

Speaking of Indiana officers in the navy
recalls the fact that Rear Admiral Henry
l.. Howison is an Indiana ran. He was
appointed to the Naval Academy from
Scott county about 1852 by the late Hon.
William II. English, who was then MEM
Der Of Congress from that district Rear
Admiral HoWison was advanced to his pres
ent grade last Nov. -. lie served CALAMITY
all through the civil war, and during the
late war commanded the Boston navy yard.
He is a cousin of Captain w. T.. English,
Of this city,
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22

Compressed air is the motive power which
the Leiter-Cro1er Company proposes to use
to do the heavy hauling of New York and
vicinity. A year ago Mr.. Letter was pur-
chasing wind in the name of wheat The
COMPRISING process may pay better In
deed. many investigators see in compressed
air, rather than in electricity, the cheap
power of the future