davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

While the Indiana commission for the
worlds fair at st. Louis next year is meet
ing with some encouragement from Indiana
manufacturers the outlook is that the ex-
hibit of Indiana labor products will be by no
means commensurate with the Importance
of the manufacturing interests of the State
or of the fair as a national exhibition. To
some extent the same difficulty is met with
among manufacturers OF other States, and it
begins to look as If Germany and possibly
France would make better and more COM
plete exhibits in certain lines of manufac-
ture than the United States.
Whether this is due to the fact that Amer
lean manufactt rers have been so crowded
with trade during the past five or six years
that they do not regard advertising as nee
essary. or whether many Of them have
reached the confusion that this sort Of ad-
vertising costs more than 1t comes to. is not
known. but the journal believes that in
either case they are making a serious mis-
take. 1t was his exhibit at the Centennial
that made the name OF Corliss known the
world over and started the Coriiss type OF
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

steam engine on its way to the wonderful
prestige it now holds. The exhibits OF GER
tain makes of pottery at the worlds fair
in Chicago gave them very great vogue,
where they had been practically unknown
Heretofore, and were worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars to the makers. Hup-
dreds of instances might be multiplied Of
the happy effects of good exhibits.
Like any other kind of advertising. an ex-
hibit must have something to show and
show it in an attractive way. TO be success
full. Otherwise 1t had better never been
made. If goods will not show UP well in
competition, or if the manufacturer is I'M
able to make display that will be credit
able, he might better keep his goods at
home; but Indiana manufacturers are not
in that boat. Very many of them are lead
ers in their line and will bear comparison
with the best, and certainly they have in
genuity enough and taste enough TO make
the right kind of displays, and, if the thing
Is done right, 1t is money well expended.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25
MORE "HIGH FINANCE. ~

Wall street speculation seems to have
got a body blow in the revelations con-
corning the organization of the United
States Shipbuilding Company. The pub
lie" has been scared from the street, and
the brokers and financiers and promoters
are left to feed upon each other and carry
their undigested and undigestible securi-
ties as best they may. 1t will be far better
for the legitimate business interests of the
country if the public shall remain perma-
nently out of the maelstrom of specula-
ton. 1t is the other fellows game. He
handles all the cards, and he handles
them not merely under the table, but out
in the back room, and it is only when
his operations get into the courts that his
victim has any means whatever of know
ing how the deck was arranged.
The Shipbuilding Company is probably
fragrant example of the way the thing
is done, but, since it is the only one on
which the light of publicity has been
thrown. it must be accepted as in large
measure typical of the methods. We find
boy clerks acting as dummy directors
and voting sundry millions of money. We
find little experimental shop that had
never earned cent turned in at a valua-
ton of more than million. We find a
big steel plant costing less than $780, 900
turned in at 5000 ,00O-and a string to it
to haul it back to its original owner, one
of the promoters of the scheme, who is
able to sequester its earnings. We find
Mr.. Nixon. another of the promoters, sign
ing papers and indorsing over checks that
he knew nothing about; and, finally we
find a check for $3.50, OoO on which the money
had been drawn, that nobody seems to
know anything about or where the money
went. The way these people tossed mill
ions around with little or no notion Of why
they did it was delectably careless.
This type of finance is too altitude
nous for the ordinary mortal If certain
men want to play that way and have
the money to play with, it may be all
right for them to amuse themselves, but
the public will be disposed to keep an eye
on its money and get as far as possible
away from the investments offered by
these gentlemen.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

The indictments against DIR. Hunt, Mr..
Brown, Mr.. Noel and Detective Stahl, grow
ing out of the attempt to trap Logsden.
member of the Board of Public Works.
into saying he would accept bride to give
protection to some mythical slot ma
chimes, were quashed in the Criminal Court
yesterday. AS legal question it narrowed
down to the point OF whether or not there
could be any criminal intent to corrupt
man, though he might be a public officer,
by Offering him a bride for doing an un-
official act, or an act he had official
power to perform. Judge Afford ruled that
there could not, and quashed the indict-
ments without waiting 10 hear counsel for
the defense. Since the point to be decided,
one, it is not strange that the grand jury
erred in bringing in these indictments. And
in considering this case publicly, 1t is fur
Their to be remembered that this jury was
Of mixed politics, composed mainly of farm
ers and drawn before such a question as
this was ever dreamed OF.
But while 1t seems evident that these
indictments were not forced by or in the
interest of the Bookwalter administration,
certainly the action of the jury was more
disastrous to MIR. Bookwalter's reelection
than any other one thing that happened
during the administration. The public,
without taking time to go into the subject
deeply, reached the immediate conclusion
that they had been forced, and Mr.. Book
walter and his friends lost In an hour all
they had gained through the blunder of the
News, the Citizens League and Noel in
bringing a detective from ST. Louis and
trying to entrap Logsdon with the offer of
bride. The public was willing to mete
out to all these the punishment due to stu
pidity, but not that due TO crime for there
was no criminal intent, and everybody
recognized the fact. Recognition of this
fact by Judge Afford doubtless helped him
in quickly reaching the right conclusion on
the legal question involved. There still re-
mains the unfortunate fact that three men
of clean and honest lives have been under
indictment, a stain that should never have
been put on fair names without the most
careful and intelligent consideration of the
case.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25
THE MAN OF FIFTY.
He Has Some Rights, Especially IL He
Il Fat.

New Orleans Times-Democrat
Take the man who is fat and fifty for
instance 90 you not think he is entitled TO
some consideration on the crowded carr"
asked the man with Pickwickian front,
land can you give any good reason why
he should be required to give his seat TO
a lady unless IL is thoroughly clear that
she is less able 10 stand on her feet than
a man of the type mentioned? The man
who is fat and fifty has some rights which
other men ought to consider. There are
times. of course, when any man. no matter
what his condition may be, should yield his
seat in the car to a lady. Even II he has
to rest on crutch 1t would be the proper
thing to do. But cases of this sort are
exceptional. I am speaking OF the average
and ordinary condition on the street car.
Fellows who come under the fat and fifty
class can appreciate the point make when
1 say that are entitled to some consid-
Grafton on the crowded car. Fifty years
count for something when they weigh down
on ones shoulders. 1t is a good long time
to wander around the face OF the earth.
IL is at this period as a rule that the undo
ing process sets in Men begin TO decline az
feeling at this age. We are tired. Some
times we are stopped. The frost begins TO
show in the color OF the hair. In walking
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25
THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK.

In his farewell address to the employees
of the adjutant generals department., of
which he has been chief for several years,
General Corbin paid a warm tribute to
1.-The man behind the desk" There is little
glory for this man, he says, "but if his
work is not well done no army can be
efficient" What is true of the army is
true Of every other department of public
service and Of every private enterprise.
Each government bureau has its chief who
may be in reality an executive manager,
or may be a mere figurehead. In either
case he is the one who represents that
bureau to the outside community. Behind
him, with the threads of all the affairs of
his department in their hands, are book
keepers, record clerks. correspondence
clerks and other quiet workers. Some OF
them are experts in their special lines,
some are the actual executive heads with
out the distinction of official title. The
work of their department would go on if
the nominal head were absent on indefinite
leave; often does so go on with the preci-
sion Of a machine, SO well do these uncon-
sidered men behind the desks conduct it,
of so little real Importance is the chief
who comes and goes with the passing adj
ministration. 1t is the fashion to speak
lightly of the labors performed by the
partments, but it is to be noted that the
work gets done, tremendous amount of
it, and it could not be done without faith
fulness and skill on the part of the work.
ers. 1t was deserved praise General Cor
bin gave to the bureau he knew best, but
workers get no glory, but without them the
wheels could not go around.
In every private business are men who
come in contact with the public and other
men who are behind the desk whom the
public never knows. 1t is the first, nat
urally, who share in any distinction the en-
terprise with which they are associated
may have, yet the power behind the throne
may be the man behind the desk; ''hired
man." probably, who plans and directs and
provides the ideas that bring success when
carried out. Even If these inconspicuous
men only lOllOW TOutlne ana exercise no
talent save those of faithfulness and hon.
esty 0hese are talents as well as virtues
in these days., to them is due a large
share of credit for the success of the busi-
ness. Their work is not spectacular; they
do not figure in advertisements or on bill
boards as important parts of the establish
ment; the public never hears their names
or learns of their skill, but without their
services the other part of the worlds work,
the part wherein men win fame and dis
tinction and fortune, could not be done.
The man behind the desk provides the
warp in the loom on which the man in
front weaves wool OF color-but without
the background, what? The man behind the
desk deserves his share Of glory.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25
FALSE STANDARDS AND TRAGEDY.

1t would be well for American men and
women to pause and seriously ask them
selves if our common standards of life
and our ideals of happiness do really lead
to happiness or to misery-and sometimes
death. In Chicago we find employers of
large forces of clerks putting forth the
edict that there shall be no more gambling
by their employees. We find bankers under
taking surveillance over the private lives
of their employees, not for moral reasons.
but for the very plain business reason that
when a trusted officer or clerk is living be-
yond his means it is time to cut off any
opportunity he may have for defalcation.
Here we find a young man missing and
there we find another man committing sui
eide. Here we have young couple moving
on to the next city to escape their cred
itors. and there we find others wringing
their hands because they are swamped with
debt and cannot see their way out
And wherefore? Does it not all revert
back to the fact that material wealth is,
after all. our real standard of judgment on
one another? The man that has accumu-
lated a tidy sum may not always be re-
spected, but usually he is. His family may
have qualities that bar them, but, other
things being equal. they more accept
able socially if they have money and the
pretense Of having more money than one
has; hence a scale of living not justified
by the family income; hence 'the pace
that kills" There will always be an i'm
mense amount of false pretense in any So
ciety, whatever its standard may be-. but
their results. A pretense of blue blood and
mythical ancestry are very harmless. A
pretense of great learning or great ability
or artistic taste seriously affects nobody
further than to bore them. But the pre-
tense Of wealth involves trouble all around.
Somebody must suffer for it, and usually
there is suffering for all concerned. How
very common this pretense is! A and b
have lived side by side as children are
thrown In contact. A has been fortunate or
wise or thrifty and b is doing only fairly
well. A and his family have pretty things
lar luxuries-and buy them on credit. A
rides in an automobile and B gets one--on
the installment plan. Mrs. A entertains
lavishly and Mrs feels it incumbent on
herself to repay the social obligations as
modestly as may Debut still beyond the
capacity of her husbands income. To keep
up the pretense B must lie about the size
of his salary or income from his business
or his patrimony, but such a lie and such
false life must necessarily be of brief dura-
ton. Occasionally a genius is found that
can by hook or crook keep up the pretense
for years, but there must some day be a
Grassland the end of it all is tragedy. It
is tragic to have to cut out social and per-
sonal friends in order to go to a cheaper
plane of living; 1t is tragic to have to con-
fess insolvency; it is tragic to have to slip
out Of town and leave lot of creditors to
whisper their indignant surprise among all
the people you have known-and yet it
must lead TO one of these results or to
death. or worse than death.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

negroes escaping from the house In safety
and proceeding along their flight while their
owners camped about the home
Joseph Morris was known throughout all
the land for his strict integrity. his char
tiles and his deeds OF good, and during his
lifetime tributes OF appreciation came 10
from the occupants OF the humblest negro
cabin to Presidents in the White House. A
Quaker, living to the strict tenets OF That
Iaith, ne was home missionary IN every
passed on errands OF charity. which carried
him into many perilous places. He aided
escaping negroes before the war.
he followed the Union army through the
Virginia campaigns, giving such assistance
as was in his power TO the wounded ana
distressed. He went to Chicago during the
great fire on mercy bent, and in one way or
another made his figure a familiar one TO
the officers and inmates of half the char
table and penal institutions OF the land.
The story of his good deeds would nil a vol
ume. Up 10 the time of his death he was
reverenced by all who knew him, and the
local negro population still holds his MEM
DRY in honor for the good he did their peo-
pie in their hour of need.
During the days Of the underground rail-
road" Mr.. Morris worked in conjunction
with Levi Coffin, one of the most pro-
nounced Abolitionists Of the country. and a
Mr.. Rankin, who was accustomed 10 help
ing negro refugees In crossing the Ohio 10
Ripley. where they were started on their
journey north.
The route usually followed extended
through Chillicothe, the first important sta
ton north of that place being at the home
of Aaron L. Benedict. in Delaware county,
from which they were forwarded to the
home of Mr.. Morris and thence north to
Sandusky City.
Few of the colored refugees cared to
strike Marion, as 1t was regarded as a most
uncongenial spot in those days, and the
'Old Mud" pike, or the road to the east of
it, was usually followed by the wagons en-
ployed in what was then forbidden traffic.
these
porary places of safety, but if pursuit was
hard and fast an effort was always made to
get the negroes to the Morris home, near
which the two roads passed
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

Did you know that the forcing of plant
blooms at irregular seasons can be brought
about by the use OF anaesthetics? That
Is what scientific paper says has been
accomplished by a Danish experimenter
This Ingenious investigator found that a
sufficiently large dose OF ether suppressed
the activity of the maturing organs OF the
plant without killing it. The organs in
repose thereupon began to develop and
grew with rapidity. Under the process OF
etherization the leaves of the shrub. as a
lilac. drop as IL touched with frost. the
buds Immediately swell and the plant is
placed In dollhouse and treated by ord-
nary methods. The cause OF this action
OF anaesthet!cs on plants is not under
stood. but TO- that matter their action on
human beings is not understood. so that
the flower scientists are in no way be-
hind their medical brethren. Tnis forcing
Of plants seems a good deal like cruelty
70 sentient creation, but since some OF
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

The New York Tribune, in commenting
on the death of Samuel Z. Morss speaks
OF him as the originator of the SANDER
circulated by the Sentinel in the campaign
OF 1854 against Mr. and Mrs. James G.
Blaine. This is an erroneous statement,
Mr.. Morss's connection with the Sentinel
did not begin until 1887, three years after
the publication OF the defamatory Blaine
story. The Tribune. Of course. was far
from intending to do injustice to the men,
Dry Of the editor. but it is unfortunate
that 1t should have made such an error
since 1t may gain wide circulation.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25
THE CHEERFULNEss OF DEATH.

In spite of the lurid pictures painted by
orthodox religionists of the ordeals endured
by the sinner in the hereafter. ii is prob
able that the dread of death felt by every
normal human being, whatever his relig-
jous belief, relates to the physical rather
than the spiritual side. He breads the
pangs that seem to belong to the giving up
of his breath more than he fears what may
come after. 1t is a. natural, inevitable
happy future is not sufficient to overcome
this purely human feeling: the entrance into
the abode OF bliss seems to the healthy, nor
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

Despite the strain in New York and the
fact that some OF the large combinations
IN the Industrial field are curtailing opera
tons. the general volume of business re-
mains very large. railroad traffic is in
excess OF last year-or any other year for
that matter-and collections were never
better. This latter phase is a splendid
demonstration OF the strength Of the gen.
eral business situation There has been
overcapitaiization in floating big combina-
tions. and that is the only real trouble
There has been no general imitation Of
credits. and the people are paying as
they go; and when they are in that con-
dition things can never go very far
wrong.
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

The German secretary of the interior
uses strong language in speaking of the
effects OF the excessive drinking of alco-
land the increase OF drunkenness is en-
gaging the attention of all thinking peo-
pie, and in Russia the drink habit is the
one great problem with which the imperial
government has been unable to cope. 1t
IL the great curse of all northern peoples.
and only the governments OF Norway.
Sweden and Denmark have approached
anything like an intelligent handling of
the problem They make the sale of in
toxicants a government monopoly. with
very stringent regulations
The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25
AN UNDERGROUND STATION.
Mysteries of an Old Ohio AbOlitionist
MausfOu Solved.


Marion CO., Letter to New York Herald.
For several years prior to the civil war
possibly no Ohio home was so well known
throughout the South as an old two-story
frame farm house on the Canaan pike. in
Richland township. nine miles southeast OF
this city. Occupied by an old Quaker,
Joseph Morris. and his family, 1t was easily
the most important station on the under
ground" railroad across the State from the
Ohio river to the lake. 1t proved a haven
to hundreds of negro slaves being rail-
roaded" out of the slavery States into
Canada, and of all it sheltered not one
was ever captured inside its walls.
Why Shareholders should trace their
slaves to the Morris home and there lose
all sign of them was a mystery for decades.
All sorts Of theories were advanced, but
the right one was never discovered until
Gently. Mr.. Morris lived to be over ninety
five. and up to the time Of his death, which
occurred in 1892 he lived in the old home.
Until quite recently, when the property
passed into the hands of its present owner,
Charles Swartz, the old place remained in
the possession Of the family and it's mys-
teres were safe.
or late stories Of mysterious chambers
and tunnels have been heard, and last
man permitted to examine the house
and the grounds surrounding It, Then the
safe disposal of the negro refugees was no
longer a mystery.
The old house is no different from the
ordinary run of houses of its time on it's
first and second floors, but the low attic
and the cellar alike reveal systems OF false
partitions and secret chambers by which
the fugitives were concealed in safety. The
garnet is a labyrinth. The main room
plainly shows two false partitions, one on
either side. forming two more rooms. but
beyond and around these are many more,
all so carefully constructed as TO be able
TO deceive. as they did deceive in ante-war
times.
The cellar also has secret chambers.
There are two of them, each capable Of
forming a safe hiding place for a dozen
negroes. Their walls are made of cement,
to correspond with the outer walls. In the
days of the underground railroad these
chambers were concealed by two big cup
boards fixed 10 the cement doors which
divided them from the main cellar.
But this is not ALI Out of the cellar two
tunnels lead. One runs 20 the site Of an old
barn, the other to the old corncrib. These
passages were concealed in the same man
ner as the secret chambers and afforded
means of escape from the home when sur
rounded by shareholders. In several cases