The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-02

doings, however, were mostly outside
the society arena.
Unlike the sons of some rich men,
who think their mission in life may
best be fulfilled by dissipating the
wealth their fathers have gained this
young man seemed possessed of a
burning desire for more lucre. He
sought to quench that desire by an at
tempt to corner wheat which has be-
come historic. Like all his predecessors
there have been no successors as yet
he failed but there was a time when
the (paper) profits from his operations
amounted to $3,500,000. 1t was Armour
who downed him, and the downing
would have been complete and final if
the elder Letter had not come to the
sons aid. But while the attempted
cornering of wheat was going on
young Letter had the time of his life
and so did Armour.
There are those who say that Joe"
Letter cared more for the notoriety he
got out of the months he was monkey
ing with wheat than for all the
wealth he hoped to realize from it. 1t
is certain that his fun cost the elder
Letter a very neat roll of currency.
The young man has not been alto
gether out of the running of late. The
big miners strike al Zeigler Ill, which
was so often mentioned in the dis
patches all last summer, was against
the rules which he set up in his mines,
and the striking miners had all been in
his employ.
Joe" Letter is still under 40, and
he has plenty of time to do all sorts
of big things in the thirty odd years
that must .supervene before he is as
old as his father was when he died at
Bar Harbor last June. The latter was
a big figure in the business world dur
ing his active life, but he never fig
ured before the public in any spectac-
ular fashion.
DR.. I. K. Funk who gave up active
work in the prohibition field as editor
of The Voice some years ago to devote
much of his time and energy to spir-
itualism, has more of the investigator
in him than most prominent men who
have proclaimed belief in the eommu-
nications which purport to come from
the other world.
His investigation. at Chicago, Of the
establishment which advertised ma
terialization" and other Outfits" for
mediums was conducted with all the
nerve and aplomb Of a first-class news
paper reporter or an up-to-date detec-
tive. His publication in 1.-THE Homilet-
ic Review of his findings under the
caption The Fraudulent Side Of
Spiritualism"-you may have seen
summary OF II in the dispatches--has
caused more excitement among the
spiritualists OF New York than any
thing that has happened since the
rUmpus over the exposure Of the ell
legged spirit paintings with which the
notorious Nine. Dis De Bar imposed
upon Luther r. Marsh.
Those who know DR.. Funk well do
not believe that he will be any the less
firm believer in spiritualism because
Of what he found in Chicago. Some Of
his friends, like him, spiritualists, in
sist that the discovery of fraud
among those who profess the cult only
go to sshow its variety.
The discovery that deacon In a
church is at heart hypocrite, they
say, does not prove Christianity 10 be
fraud. and so Il is with spiritualisnn.
That this is the view OF Or. Funk Is
pretty clear from the article IN "fhe
Homiletic Review" indeed, the very
publication Of the facts In this )ne
case by him shows his continued be-
lief.
Personally. DR.. Funk strikes the cas-
ual acquaintance as a very clever
shrewd. clear-sighted old man. He
certainly has a well developed sense
Of humor. and he laughs as heartily
At a joke when II is directed against
himself as when someone else Is the