davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-20
Heroic Servants of Civilization.

These mail carriers, in their humble way,
are doing more than anybody else to spread
civilization to the uttermost ends of the
earth The United Sta ties has behaved lib
orally to Alaska in the matter of mails.
Mail matter in some parts of this vast ter
ritory pays the government about 30 cents
a pound for transportation, and costs about
81 per pound to carry to its destination after
1t reaches the seaboard of the territory.
Costly as this policy is it places the lonely
prospector in touch with civilization and
tends to keep him civilized in a larger de-
gree than any other agency could.
But the cost to the mail carrier is often
times life itself 1t is strange that men
can be found to undertake a task full OF
such extraordinary and terrible risks
There is never any difficulty, however. The
adventurous life appeals to men of grit and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-20

number really lost on the trails of this grim
region since the carrying of the mails would
make long and gruesome list. Dogs, sleo
and man disappear. 1t is impossible, IN
these vast solitudes, to say what becomes
of them.
Two mail carriers on the short run 10
Atlin did not arrive last winter, and a
search party was sent out. They found the
tracks of the sled leading to what had been
a hole in the ice. That was all. In the
same district the frozen body of mail
carrier was found and identified by his
watch. He had been lost three years pre-
viously.
Harry Frayne, a mail carrier from Valdes
to Eagle started out last January with the
expectation of meeting the carrier on the
next stage. He found the dogs and the
sled. The carrier Tuffin, had abandoned
them when the dogs were exhausted, ana
had started off with the idea of carrying
the mail on his back for the rest of the dis
lance Some Indians found his frozen body
six miles from the summit of Mentasa Pass.
He had plodded with the mail until he fell
in the snow. frozen to death.
From the lower end of this lonely trail of
2O0 miles to Nome there is often in the
local newspapers brief mention of the dis
appearance of mail carrier, and people,
approaching the risks they run. are entirely
unmoved. 1t is an episode of daily life eX-
citing no more comment than a runaway
horse does in a big city,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-20
Men Who Vanish Forever.

These are mild incidents OF the everyday
hazards of the trail. told by survivors. In
this adventurous life the old saying that
''the dead tell no tales' II as true as II was
IN the days of piracy on the high seas. The
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-20
Wide Use in India.

The use of finger impressions for fixing
identity seems to have been first applied
by Sir VIM. Herschel some years ago, when
he was attached to the British Indian civil
The Washington times., 1903-11-29
LIKE HUMAN BEINGS

~ o YOU know that trees breathe
very much as you do? The
L. lungs OF the tree are more
beautiful to look at than human
lungs. They are brightly colored and
beautiful in shape. They are outside of
the trees body instead of being hidden
as your lungs are.
The trees lungs are the leaves.
These leaf lungs breathe steadily and
constantly. Like yours. they take in
oxygen from the air. and it is converted
into the DEMONSTRATING sap which is the
blood OF the tree and which circulates
through the trees body just as does
your blood.
Unlike your lungs. however. the trees
lungs need sunlight on them in order to
v oriS. Therefore. while the leaves
breathe in oxygen all day and all night,
they do not exhale the waste matter in
the night very freely. Consequently
there is more carbonic acid gas in the
Tree than 1t can breathe out.
In your body this carbonic acid gas
would poison your system and XIII you.
In the tree it burns up and forms car
bon that makes the wood and other ma
terial for the growth of the tree
If you will look at the young branches
of birches, cherry trees, and poplars.
you viii see queer little oblong and oval
spots that are raised bit above the
surrounding bark These are all like
pores of the human skin. and they, too,
take in oxygen.
Often. especially in the spring. YOU
viii notice that trees will be dripping
wet even though there has been no re-
cent rain. orchardists viii tell you then
that the trees are sweating. That is ex-
actly true. and this is how and why
they do 1t.
The leaves of a tree do not merely
breathe oxygen in and carbonic acid
gas out. They also breathe out watery
vapor. This is because the roots of a
tree take up a great 9eal more water
than can be used readily In the tree.
This water is sucked up into the twigs
ard leaves.
When they are gorged. the sap, which
is the product OF the digestion of the
earthly food and water taken up by the
roots. cannot enter these water gorged
parts. and the water must be forced out
of the leaves and the pores.
The Washington times., 1903-11-29

hind the White House as the nearest
way home.
Our favorite trick, though. was to
get behind a fence that incIosed what is
now Lafayette Park There wes a
three-ran fence there then, and behind
it the grass was good and high When
ever we felt like fight we would get
behind the fence with plenty OF sticks
and stones and get somebody to start a
bonfire up about Twentieth Street and
the Avenue and turn in our alarm.
In little while here would come the
Franklins. BY the time they reached us
they would be out OF breath from run
ming up the Fifteenth Street hill. Then
we would let loose on the whole gang
and beat the life out of them.
THE Georgetown crowd hardly ever
came over to Washington. but If we
went over there there was sure to be a
fight The Columbia Company and the
Metropolitan Truck Coltpany We're al
ways a quiet lot and didn't do much
lighting.
Politics Caused Many a Fight.
After a while politics got mixed up in
the fire companies or the fire companies
got mixed up in politics. I don't know
which. and then the fighting was worse
than ever. Some were Wings. some
were Democrats, and some We're Know
Nothings. Generally the members of
the same company had the same politics.
But they laid for the other companies.
One night there was a fire over in the
east There was a fellow named Pete
Kirk. who belonged to the Perseverance
Company. During the fire an Anacostia
Company man hit one of Pete's friends
of the Perseverance. and Pete heard
about it. Nothing would do but Pete
must whip the man who hit his friend.
He ran all around the crowd. yell
ing, Who hit my friend2 Where's the
man; want to ind him. Finally he
came up and asked big fellow. Did
YOU hit Bin?'
4" Yes, l hit him. the man said What
have you got to say about it?
=" Well you certainly did hit him a
HI OF a crack, said Pete.
we lsed 70 think those fights a heap
OF fun. concluded the veteran. Now
think they We're all foolishness. but a
man looks at things a different way at
different times OF life. I suppose"
The Washington times., 1903-11-29

Sometimes the trees have so much
water pumped up through them that
they cannot get rid Of it all in the form
of vapor, and it actually drips in drops
from the buds and leaves.
In most trees the water is pumped up
through the newest layers of the wood.
The result is that the wood that is
formed during the seasons when the
tree needs a great deal Of water is al
ways thinner and lighter than is the
wood that is formed when the tree does
not make such great demands.
This VIII explain how lumbermen can
tell. by looking at a felled tree. which
parts of its trunk were formed in spring
and which in summer The wood
formed in the summer. when the tree
needs less food. is always heavier and
stronger and often generally darker in
color than is the spring wood. when all
the trees pumps We're busily at work
A tree grows in height only Soy means
of new twigs and added wood. II you
were to drive a nail into a young tree.
say four feet from the ground, this au-
tumn,it would still be only four feet frcm
the ground in ten years from now, or
in 200 years. It would be hidden by new
wood that had formed around It, and
the tree might be ten times bigger
around than it was when you drove the
nail. But it would not have moved a
single inch in height. The tree has
grown in height in all that time only by
adding new tops.
Hollow trees often live and flourish
and bear tfruit. How can they do it2
When tree first forms layer OF
wood. that layer is porous and full OF
cells. Through these the sap runs free
~ as through human veins and arteries
The wood is known then as sap wood.
As new layers form year by year
around the early ones. these early ones
become harder and harder. till finally
their cells are all closed up and sap
cannot run through them at all. Then
this wood is called heart wood. 1t is
practically the bones OF the tree
Now. a tree with heart wood can be
killed easily. Ii IS necessary merely
20 girdle the trunk-that is. cut all
around the tree and lift out a big ring
of the sap wood. Then the sap. being
unable to penetrate the heart wood. and
having no way 10 get through the sap
wood. cannot reach the upper parts Of
the tree and 1t dies OF.
The Washington times., 1903-11-29

there have been forty-six issues Of
stock.
THE total receipts of the Equitable Co
operative Building Association in TWEEN
ty-four years amount to $40, 752. Dr. 80
There have been 1900 shares issued. at
an average OF about three shares to
each person. On these shares there has
been paid Ss.6l5 .552-s7. OF this amount,
S7.181, $3.50 has been returned TO stock
holders. while 74.47l.19 has been paid
in profits. The company mas loaned to
stockholders So. OO5, 100. of which they
have returned or paid in S1O.S16.5OO. The
association has never lost dollar OF
the loans made to stockholders, and
owns no real estate except its Office
building.
The Fundamental Principle
So far as this association and some
others in Washington, all building assoc
Citations in Philadelphia and elsewhere
IN Pennsylvania. and in Massachusetts
are concerned. they have adhered rig
idly to the fundamental principle of
building associations, which is to en-
courage regular. systematic monthly
savings. and 20 advance 10 stockholders
money for the purpose of buying homes
on long time, and making small pay
ments TO repay both principal and in
The Washington times., 1903-11-29

was right here where No. 6 now is. and
the vigilant Engine Company. Of
Georgetown.
THE District government gave
small appropriation for the purchase
Of engines ana apparatus. and for keep
ing UP the houses. Only one man re-
ceived pay. and he was the one who
took care Of the engine house and the
engines. He was called the engine keep
er. md got about Size year. The en-
CINE houses were generally kept locked
all the time. but some Of the companies
had Libraries. and the men used to sit
around and read in the evenings or get
up entertainments.
"Or Top Of each house was bell. and
wherever = fire broke out this was runE
as a signal. Every member of the
company would quit his work and break
for the engine house. AS soon as there
were tsough 10 start the engine we
wouIa make for the fire. Sometimes an
engine would go out with only four or
five men pulling her. but before we had
run block there would be twenty or
twenty-five men on the rope
Paris Belonged to Union Company
Il belonged to the Union Company.
and we would think nothing Of running
from Nineteenth and II Streets TO the
Navy Yard to a fire. Once we started
to Alexandria. but we broke down on the
way and never got there. The engines
weighed between $500 and 4.5O0 pounds
In those days. while the reels and sue
lions were lighter The city au.hori-
ties forbade our running on the side
walks. but we used to do it anyhow
Sometimes the constabIes would chase
us of. but as soon as we got into an
other ward we would get back again
There were very few paved streets in
those days and it was hard pulling an
engine along a dirt road or oyer cob
blestones.
Everything .generally went quietly
until after the fire." continued Mr. Par
ris. pausing a while for reflection. Then
came ,he trouble Sometime one com
pany would start the fight and somc-
times another. but the fight was more
than likely 10 be started. Sticks, stones.
brickbats. fists and sometimes knives
and pistols would come into play before
we got through. one company would try
The Washington times., 1903-11-29

were practically no dwellings IN that
section. Now 1t is well built up and one
OF the prettiest parts of the city. Dur
ing the past three years our sssocia-
ton has built 200 dwellings there and
other building associations have done
nearly as we'll
Nearly every home in Bloomingdale
Is occupied by IT'S owner. and very few
of the houses there can be rented. This
ownership Of homes naturally makes
those who live in that section take
great deal Of pride in it. 1t makes tiisrn
ambitious to keep up their places and
gives them an Infinitely stronger sense
of citizenship than they would have il
they were living in rented houses.
Supported by wage-Earners.
"of course. ali building associations
that cling to the principle Of helping
persons Of moderate means TO build and
own their own homes are supported By
wage-earners and persons on small sal
aries. and the result Of this is that they
do an immense amount Of good to peo-
pie of that class The system Of small
monthly payments has the effect OF
causing many man and woman to
save money who otherwise would have
spent it on things of comparatively
little value. salaried people who are
stockholders in a building association
and who want to get a loan can do 50
at much better terms than by getting
straight loan from a different sort
Of corporation
If man takes out a large loan FROM
other institutions he has TO pay it back
in a lump sum. with interest Often.
when he has saved a good sum Of
money and put it in bank against the
time when he shall have to meet his
note he will get hard up. yield 10
temptation. ard take what he wants out
OF the money that should be saved for
his debt In the building association
he is safe He makes his payments in
small amounts, which is always easy
for man on the most moderate salary
to do, and in time he is able to pay OF
his debt comfortably. The rate of in
terest is not much more. and IN
building association there are no COM
missions on loans. only q nominal
charge being made for the drawing up
of the necessary papers. and this does
not go to the association, but to the
attorney who draws up the papers.
Should Be Purely Local
I'VE are strong adherents IN our com
pany to the idea that a successful and
beneficial building association must be
purely local, and must have no trans
actions relative to property away from
the locality in which it does business.
We deal strictly with Washington real
estate. of which we know the value,
and in our twenty-five years Of bust
ness we have never lost anything with
stockholders. We started as a perma-
nent association, and have never changed
our system. For a number of years
past we have had an average annual
taking in in stock payments of $4,000.
We declare a pro rata dividend, which
varies according to the value Of money
Last year it was per cent. but in
previous years it has gone as high as
per cent"
The Washington times., 1903-11-29

terest. When this fundamental prin-
ciole las been strictly adhered to. and
carried out in principle and practice,
building associations have been uni
formly successful and remarkably sue
cessful. on the strength of the sue
cess in the past ten or twelve years
in this city Of purely local associations.
organized as stated. men have organ
lied institutions and have enormously
called them building associations. re-
ceiving deposits of all sizes and paying
dividends and making straight loans.
not payable in monthly intanments.
thereby taking away the very object OF
a building association. namely, an eco
nomical system of monthly savings and
monthly payments for homes. Many Of
these institutions have not been sue
cessful. and their businesses have been
closed, while others are what might be
termed experimental concerns. It is be-
lieved, however, that all who UNDER
stand the practical workings Of build
ing associations are opposed to depart
ing at all from the purposes Of a purely
cooperative building association.
Benefits of the Plan.
las to the benefits that accrue from
well-conducted building association.
The Washington times., 1903-11-29

- NE of the most interesting
pl,eses of the ever-inereasing
~ business Of washington is that
waich has to do with the
growth and development Of the
buiIdiag associations of the city TO
the small wage-earner. who wishes TO
save and invest his money, weii-con-
Quoted building association is one of the
greatest blessings in the world. he gets
from II a moderate rate of interest on
every cent of money he puts in. and
when ne has finally saved enough to
purchase q. home the terms he is able to
make with the association in which ne
is a stakeholder are such that with rea-
sonable care he is soon able TO obtain a
clear title to his property.
First Local Association.
The first building association ever or
ganized in the United States was form
ed at frankfort. Pa. now part of PHI
adelphia. on January g. 1881. and was
then known as the The Oxford Provi-
dent" FranIford was then a manufac-
turing town, as it is now. and the con-
ception Of the idea of the building so
ciety was to enable mill operatives who
came from England to America to bet
ter their condition and TO establish their
interests in the community in which
they earned their daily bread so iirmly
that they would have no desire to leave
According to the records of this old So
ciety there was a call issued to "a meet
ing of sundry inhabitants of the borough
of Frankford to be held at the house OF
Thomas Sidebotham for the purpose of
forming an association 10 enable the
contributors thereof 10 build or pur-
chase dwelling houses" The house re-
ferred to was an inn and for many years
building associations met there
A constitution was adopted. and the
title of the new society was called The
oxford Provident Building Association. %
At the first meeting forty members sign
ed the constitution and subscribed for
shares. Later on the payments were
made. and small payments they Were
and the building society system Of the
United States was founded
First in the World.
Long before sne Oxford PrOvident
Society. however. the Earl Of selkirk
organize a building association in Eng
land in HO5. His was probably the first
70 the world and Its purposes were
identical with those Of the Pre- yldent."
nameIs. to encourage the saving Of
money by making small monthly pay
ments with the ultimate view IF pur-
chasing a home when the amount Of the
savings attained the necessary pro
portions.
The bylaws, Of the oxford Provi-
dent" with some liberal notifications,
have served as a model upon which
nearly all later building societies have
been constructed. Some OF the rules
may be summarized thus: Vacating the
seat of any trustee If absent for three
consecutive meetings; filling vacancies
by remaining trustees; trustees to serve
without compensation; treasurer to
give good security and to make monthly
reports; TO Trustee to serve more than
The Washington times., 1903-11-29

years where the failure has been due to
actual footing of the assets in addition
to extravagant or loose management.
Next to Philadelphia, the District of Co
lUmbia has the largest proportion 90
homes acquired by means of building
associations. and here the average cost
and value of such homes largely exceeds
the average of the Quaker City.
Modern Improvements introduced.
1T is in the District of Columbia. too
that what may be called modern inn
provements in the building association
system have been first and chiefly in
trcduced, as, for example, the abolitiou
of the nigh premiums formerly exacted
from a borrowing member In addition to
the interest on his loan; the keeping
alive OF a borrowing members shares.
so that ne may participate In the profits
while he is paying back the loan, and
the substitution of a fixed percentage in
place of the varying profits formerly re-
ceived by investing members This last
modification has had the result Of i'm
parting to the local associations some
OF the characteristics Of a savings bank.
Instead OF fixed monthly payments. non
borrowing members pay in all they can
spare. making Withdrawals as needed.
with interest paid at the time of with
drawaI at the rate of 4'per cent per an
mum for the time the money has been in
possession of the association
Excess of Capital.
There is now always an excess OF To-
cal and outside capital in the District,
TO be invested IN first mortgage real es-
tate loans. This subjects the loanable
funds of building associations to severe
competition. But they charge no com
mission. the expense Of making loan
Is materially less than in the straight
loan market, and the facilities afforded
a borrower for reducing or readjusting
his account at will and making his pay
ments to suit HIS existing circumstances
preserve a marked advantage TO the
building associations It is nearly al
ways possible to a building association
borrower in any situation TO obtain,
carry. and settle his loan on easier and
lower net terms than by any other
method. The only handicap at present
Is the unintentionaI severity of the per-
sonaI tax law on building associations.
from which the present Congress will
probably relieve them by reduction Of
the gross tax,
Profits in twenty-five Years
According to the official statement Of
our secretary. John Cook. our profits
from advances in twenty-five years
have been 81. 4S7.15O45; and our profits
from other sources. sss.217se. making a
total of 81. 52S. ss7sI OF this amount the
following disposition has been made:
Profits paid to members. Sips. 540.11;
expenses. $15s.ss7.Is: surplus, Sis. $50 81;
total. s1.52s. 3s7s1.
when one comes to consider the
amount of benent washington has de-
rived from building associations" said
Max F. Muller. secretary of the Wash
ington Six Per Cent Permanent Building
Association. II know of no better exam
pie to cite than that furnished by
Bloomingdale. Fear years ago there