Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1903-03-25

The State University court has de-
cided that Hamlet is guilty of the
murder of the king of Denmark and
was not insane, as his defense tried
to prove. The court might next
tackle the question of who wrote
"Hamlet." Shakespeare or Bacon.
1t is reported that the scheme pro-
posed by John r. Waller of Rockford
of taking the Iowa school children
to the St. Louis exposition will in all
probability be abandoned, as the
Iowa commission does not approve of
the plan, thinking the risk too great.
Not all the district judges in the
state profit by the raise of salary
given that Office by the legislature,
but only those whose terms began the
first of January of this year. Judge
Clyde of the district west of this is
one of the unlucky ones and will
have to be content with $4,000 for
two years more. The constitution
provides that no state official can
benefit by change of salary during
his term of Office in which the change
is made.
With the object of discovering a
cure for typhoid fever a remarkable
experiment is being conducted at Ann
Arbor University, Michigan. Six
big tanks have been constructed, with
layer of gelatine, and on these 144
square feet of the fever germs are
grown at time. These living germs
are scraped of, killed and bottled up.
Two ounces Of them would kill 70,OoO
guinea pigs. The object is, if, posi-
able,to extract the poison from the
germ bodies. feed animals with it
and try to discover an antidote.
In referring to the subject of taxa
tion the Waterloo Reporter observes
that, take city property salable
for $1,000 and farm salable for the
same sum and the chances are good
that the former will be assessed con-
siderably higher than the latter and
will bear a greater burden of state
and county taxation, leaving out of
consideration altogether the city and
school taxation. This is not as it
should be, but each piece of real estate
should be fairly assessed on the basis
of its actual value, in order that the
adjustment of the burdens of taxation
may be equitably distributed.
A most interesting character study
is offered in the April issue of The
Cosmopolitan in Mrs. Louise P
Richards personal and intimate estim-
ate of "The Grand Old Man" of the
Norseland, Bjornsterne Bjornson.
The article is elaborately illustrated
with photographs of the cheerful
singer and charming story-teller,
taken in and about his home, and
among his simple, brave and sturdy
people. This great poet of the people
and dramatist of democracy has just
passed his seventieth birthday, when
all Scandinavia paid him tribute.
giving him national demonstration
seldom accorded to a man of letters.
But Bjornson is more than the pride
of Norway; he is Norwegian who
belongs to the world.
Burrell in the Washington, Iowa,
Press says: White or yellow? Bryan
and Hearst will be at the demo. ban
quet in Des Moines April 2. 1t should
have been set for April 1. They are
also rival editors. Both would like to
be president. Bryan tried it twice
without "a bar'l.,' Hearst inherited
millions and runs three yellow sheets,
in New York, Chicago, San Francisco.
geographically speaking they are the
worst looking papers printed any
where outside of the back woods. No
method in arrangement nothing
clearly outlined. all hodge podge. as
if edited with fork and high wind.
Don't know where to find anything.
Nothing clear cut. but all sloppy and
slovenly and silly. The fellow who
does all that wants to edit Uncle
Sam, too. Rich, but an ass.
Nearly two thousand miles of steam
railroad are being built or planned
within the boundaries of Iowa this
year. Railroad building in Iowa
will never be so extensive as this COM
ing season. Reports show that the
aggregate building will amount to
1856 miles, electric roads not being
couuted i'm this Twoutv ono Staam