davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
The Alcohol Tax.

Commissioner of Internal Revenue
Yerkes has prepared bill for intro
duction into congress providing that
grain alcohol shall not be taxed when
methylated with wood alcohol. The
object Of this measure is to relieve
manufacturers of the same heavy In
ternal revenue tax that is paid by the
manufacturers Of alcoholic beverages.
The internal revenue tax on alco-
hol is S1.10 a proof gallon Of 80 per
cent. There is no reason why the
manufacturer who uses alcohol as an
agent Of pr reduction should be taxed
more than the manufacturer who
uses ammonia or some other
chemical. Alcohol Is used in a great
number Of arts and industries. AS
the tax does not apply to wood alco-
hol, which is poisonous and undrink-
able, the tax on grain alcohol has OPP
Grated as a bounty to the makers OF
wood alcohol. They have persistently
opposed every effort to secure the re-
moval Of the tax on grain alcohol used
In the arts and Industries. They are
satisfied, 1t Is said, with the Yerkes
bill. which will cause their product
to be in large demand for treatment
Of grain alcohol.
There ought to be no delay in re-
! moving the tax on industrially util-
lied alcohol. 1t is direct restric-
ton Of industry. If alcohol were
| cheap-it would be worth about II
cents a gallon if there were no tax
it would not only be more freely used
in the industries that now require it
but the door would be opened to bust
ness ability and inventive genius tt
utilize 1t in other ways. In France
and Germany alcohol motors are com
ing into great vogue, and there nigh
be q great field for their development
in this country, especially in regions
where natural fuel is scarce and high
If alcohol were cheap.
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
Lyceum-"Jlm the Penman."

In Sir Charles Young's sterling drama
of crime and society the Ferris company
presents this week the strongest, the most
interesting performance of the season.
The cast, moreover, IS tactfully chosen
to develop the best abilities of the COM
pany. The only disappointment last night
was the personal regret Of friends that
Dick Ferris, who has been seriously i'll,
was unable to take his published role.
This temperance of Jim the Pen
man. will not only entertain the average
playgoer, but will solace the admirer of
genuine drama. So fast and thick has
flowed the current production of metro
politan attractions-crude, snowy, improb-
able inconsistencies-that one has natur-
ally begun to doubt all standards of good
play-making; one has doubted especially
whether nelodramatic stories could really
be told upon the stage without shock
to reason and to taste. Amid the dis
appointing trickeries set forth locally by
the more recent works Of Belasco and
Clyde Fitch, chief foremen of the Amer
lean play factory, this revival of Young's
artistic melodrama looms up as the
shadow of great rock in weary land.
Here are crime and criminals, revolvers
and forged signatures, eavesdropping de-
tectives and attempted murder; yet moth
ing is shocking, vulgar, stupid or clap
trappy; nothing is impossible or even i'm
criminals; the surprises really surprises;
no afterthought suggests that such things
wouldn't or couldn't take place.
The actors this week-feeling strength
ened no doubt, by the knowledge of good
opportunity-work with something more
than their accustomed skill. Joseph Tot
ten, who understudies Dick Ferris in the
part of Captain Redwood, the sleepy,
swell detective, grasps admirably the at
mosphere Of unostentatious yet alert re-
pose, altho he's not quite in command OF
facial sentiment. A. Byron Beasley, az
| the American Percival, augments his
| habitual frankness with reserve, a com
parative freedom from mannerism, tha
fortifies his Interpretation. Ben Johnson
despite the inevitable embarrassment o.
| dialect, gives to Baron fairfield the power
| and distinction, the artistic elaboration
| that renders Mr.. JOhnson's art an unfail
| ing delight. In the difficult assignment O.
| 1.-The Penman,'' w. H. Murdoch has dis
creetly abandoned many signs of sin tina
flourish in the ranker fields Of popula
melodrana; he exploits often the i'm
| pressiveness of calmness. There's in
creased and welcome moderation, also, il
| the playing Of the deceived wife by Mis-
| Grace Hayward, whose personal attrac
| tiveness is seldom more evident Indeed
the performance compares favorably witt
memories of the all-star cast-Charle
Kent, Robert Drouet, Mary Hampton, Jacl
Maher, etc.-that appeared at st. Paul il
the same play some years ago.
i 'o H. B. Curry.
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
Metropolitan-"T kiIties."

Careful rehearsing and direction by
William F. Robinson, considerable
strength exhibited in the clarinet and bass
sections and pleasing variety in the
program presented gave the Kilties band,
which, played at the Metropolitan last
night, an ability to please which the Cana
dams have not exhibited to an equal de-
gree upon former visits to Minneapolis.
The rather small audience expressed by
it's enthusiastic applause and the repeated
recalls insisted upon, it's entire apprecia-
ton of the program given by the boys in
scarlet and plaid; and the Scotch reels,
Irish jigs and sword dance given by mem
bers Of the Clan Johnson troupe were
undoubtedly the best exhibition of the
sort ever seen here.
In it's rendering Of the overture from
civilian Tell" standard with bands of
the first class, and in it's closing number,
the prelude to the third act of ''Lohen-
grim the band demonstrated it's mas
terry over compositions involving rapidity
of execution and perfection in technic.
It's lighter numbers were, of course, well
played and happily received.
One of the features Of the concert which
appealed to the audience was the kilties
choir of fifteen, whose singing produced
the best Of effects while developing no
voices Of especial merit. The choir's num-
Der was unquestionably the most popular.
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
For Purely Business Discussion

The National Board of Trade will
meet in annual session tomorrow in
Washington.
This body of representatives from
the leading business centers Of the
country covers wide range Of sub
jects in it's discussions, and there is
usually a preponderance Of practical,
common-sense talk and resolution
upon topics of distinctly national in
unusually important subjects for con-
sideration, upon which there is, of
course, considerable difference of
opinion as to some of them, on the
part of the commercial bodies. The
board has been discussing the ship
subsidy policy with no little vigor for
the last thirty years, and there is little
doubt that, altho congress has not as
yet yielded to the pressure of the
subsidists, who, in the last congress,
| made one of their most heroic efforts
| to get Uncle Sam to unreef his
purse-strings literally for the ship
building guild. and struck a very cold
shoulder, they have decided to try it
again this year. The president, in his
message, did not help the subsidists
very much by recommending congress
to make provision for special COM
mission to investigate and report as
to desirable legislation.
The board will, no doubt, record an
opinion upon the Panama incident,
which is SO closely connected with
the trade expansion Of this country,
the board having, heretofore, strong
ly favored the construction of an 18TH
mian canal by either route.
There is sure to be a very interest
ing discussion upon the further
amendment of the interstate COM
merce law, for there is room for such
amendment by the admission Of the
interstate commission itself, which yet
lacks the power to hit the spot so
to speak. The Quarles bill, intro
/ duced in the senate, accords to the
commission, after due hearing, the
right to declare any existing rate to
be unjustly discriminative and to fix
rate IN place OIL II, WHICH 1t con-
siders just and reasonable. Such ar
ordering, however, is made review.
able by any federal circuit court ir
the district where the case originates
and the determination Of such cour
is appealable to the federal supreme
court.
The proposition embodied in thi.
: bill is antagonized on the ground tina
the giving to the commission of {
5 rate-determining power transgresse
:. the constitutional limitations.
Among the resolutions to come vi
f in the National Board are some in
t dorsing railway pooling under the sd
e peryision of the commission, tn
f adoption of a single uniform classic
: cation for all interstate freight, an
n a protest will probably be mad
r against the tendency Of the govern
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
ment to assume the function Of an

ment to assume the function Of an
infallible crop estimator.
The subject Of currency reform can
not be kept out of public discussion,
and, as national finance and currency
have always more or less figured In
the deliberations Of the board. as
within it's province, there will be some
intelligent consideration Of the vari-
Gus measures now proposed, which
will be useful as expression Of opinion,
but will not, this year. have the least
influence upon congress, which will
not heed the most earnest appeals
for a currency in conformity with
scientific principles and the demands
of business.
The board is likely to take action on
postal reform, and among other Inn
portant subjects which will receive
close attention are reciprocity. immi-
grafton and national grain inspection
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
MONDAY EVENING,
another candidate for the republican

y .
another candidate for the republican
nomina ton.
The democrats are especially eager
in this game, because they realize that
the greatest part of the democratic
campaign this year would be over
with the adjournment Of the republi-
can convention, If Roosevelt were de-
feated. Victory for the anti-ROOsevclt
forces in the republican convention
would probably spell, victory for the
democrats at the polls. Party loyalty
would be but a weak check on the
righteous indignation of millions of
republfcans-if by unrepresentative
manipulation the choice of the rank
and file should be defeated in the
convention.
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK
Asbestos Theater Curtains.
To the Editor of The Journal.

The awful loss of life in the fire in tho
IroQuois theater should direct the atten-
ton Of all enlightened municipalities to
the kind of Asbestos theater curtains
which are masquerading as such in nine
of the theaters, music
halls. ETC., turnout the United States, the
regular safety drop curtain being COM
posed of heavy jute, linen or cotton sheet
ing or canvas, merely covered with dis
temper or so-called Asbestos Pa int
which is usually quite innocent of any as
bestos, and would be of little service as a
fire stop or retarder even If it did contain
it, as the only kind of asbestos safety
theater curtain which Is of any service in
case of fire, is that in which the curtain
is made of the asbestos fibre itself. this
well known ;ncombustible mineral fibre be-
ing crushed, cleaned, carded, spun into
yarn, and afterward woven into cloth or
canvas for the very purpose Of making
fireproof theater curtains, as well as
gauntlets, mittens, packings. etc, where
fire protection is necessary, as in glass
blowing. the manufacture of armor plates.
etc. There is only one thing that worries
the mind theatrical, regarding asbestos
safety curtains-and in calling them as
bestos mean the real thing-made of as
bestos fibre strictly, and that is the fact
that the finest quality Of asbestos fibre is
somewhat costly, and hence tkeater cur
expensive, also. This cost, amounting to
from $3.50 to $3.50 per theater is the only
thing which prevents their extensive use.
theater owners generally. being unwilling
to pay for this NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
upon account Of this expense, are satisfied
with the so-called safety curtains" or
asbestos curtains''-the names being
only caricatures-at one-half or one-third
Of the price of the real asbestos curtains
these misnomers being made of heavy jute
linen or cotton textile materials, washed
over with such paints as "asbestine,' etc,
these washes being composed Of casein
(the curd from milk creameries). whiting,
and other similar substances. Such cur
tains saturated with tungsdate of soda,
phosphate of ammonia. sulphate of alum
ina, or other similar fire retardents, would
be hundred times better than the tex
tiles treated with asbestos paint. agalite,
asbestos pulp. or asbestine, but neither
of them can be compared with first class
textile curtain or woven asbestos fibre,
which should now be, and soon will be re-
quired. let us hope, by all enlightened
municipalities.
Richard V. Mattison, M. %.
Amber, Pa, Jan. S, 1904.
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18

Minnesota is entitled to representation
in the republican national convention
It will have 1t, too, and what is more
there will be no contesting delegations
on account of differences Of opinion as
to how Minnesota ought to elect it's dele
gates. AS the situation in this state or
account of the primary election law was
we'll understood. the national committee
should have made special mention Of Min:
nesota in the call. Evidently Minnesota
might have had better proxy at the
meeting of the committee than Perry
Heath
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
MINNESOTA POLITICS
About His Speeches In the Last Cam
paign-He Made No Public Appear
ance for the Ticket-No Danger of a
Hanna Contest from Minnesota.

The Pipestone Review asked a ques-
ton of Bob Dunn some ten days ago,
which has not been answered yet He
was asked whether it was true that he
had declined to speak for the republican
state ticket in the 1902 campaign.
1t was very easy, to reply to this ques-
ton, but not convenient. The truth is
that the state auditor did not appear on
the platform in that campaign. He was
invited to do so by the chairman of the
state committee. Robert Jamison, and first
accepted the invitation, saying that he
would make speeches while on his tour Of
land. sales, talking in the evening in each
town where he held SALE He was asked
to fix the dates SO the committee could
advertise the speeches and make sure Of
a crowd He said heswould get the crowd
all right by just announcing during the
sale that he was going. to speak in the
evening. Itrested that way till just be-
| fore time for the speeches, when he was
asked again to permit a newspaper an
nouncement Of them. He then said that
he had decided not to make any speeches
at ALL The democratic committee had
threatened to have men at every meet
ing to ask him about the merger, and
he did not want to be placed in posi-
ton where he would have to say some
thing on that subject, So he did not ap-
pear on the stump all thru the cam
pafgn. L51t. .r.Te
The st. Paul Globe is very much dis
turbed over the difficulty Of electing con-
gressional district delegates from this
state to the republican national conven-
tion fearing that it will permit the Hanna
men to make contest. The Globe prob
ably knows who the Hanna men are ir
Minnesota, but no one else does. Every
delegate selected from Minnesota, no mat.
| ter how he is chosen. will have to pledge
himself to Roosevelt. The problem OF
| ways and means for selecting delegates
is one for the state committee to wrestle
with.
The Mortified News says editorially:
1.-THE Anoka County Union still insists
that George Thompson Of st. Pau
ought to be made republican national com
mitteeman. We are tied up to Mr.. Nc.
Lain of The Minneapolis Journal, but i
he will release us we might be persuaded
to take up another metropolitan newspaper
man.
I am authorized to say that Mr.. McLair
has no information as to how the New!
happened to ct itself tied up in such al
embarrassing way, as he has no desire t.
be national committeeman and never had
He says thanks, awfully,' and the News
may consider itself released at once.
Charles B. Cheney
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
The Nurserynen.

Attention is called to the pages in
this issue devoted to the interests Of
the nurserymen and horticulturists Of
the northwest. Horticulture and ar
Horticulture are very important in the
development of the state. They are
subjects to which every successful
farmer must sooner on later give more
or less attention.
has had from its earliest days band
of earnest men and women who have
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD
Some Songs by Bliss carman Some Are
Good and Some Not So Good-A
Glimpse at Jack London and His
Method of Work-An "OffIciai History
Of Free Masonry"

The other day we saw Bliss Carman
playing the part of a literary Thor, doing
some heroic hammering against 'unfeel-
Ing publishers who encourage the produce
ton Of worthless stuff against the nine
ty-nine books in every hundred, or the
nine hundred and ninety nine in every
thousand, that are not worth preserving.
1t was the day after that we fell upon
Mr.. Carman's Pipes of Pan No. ILL.,, Songs
OF the Sea Children, and we were COM
PEELED to wonder whether Mr.. Carman
would not have been wiser had he linn
tied his production of songs-not, per-
haps, 80 or 1913 per cent, but, say at
least, so per cent.
This is to remember .the critical mind,
with its cultivated taste for the best y
with the emphasis on the best" of which
Mr.. Carman himself spoke when he was
exercising the hammer.
The Songs of the Sea Children ac-
cording to the authors prelude, "are
songs the wild sea children sang"
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
THE SUBJECTS OF BOOKS

Since the introduction of printing the
subject matter of the aggregate Of books
shows approximat ely the following aver
ages: Law and sociology, one-quarter OF
all; literature, one-ffth; applied science
e-eighth; history and geography, one
tenth; theology, religion and speculation
tenth; miscellaneous and bibliogra ply
one-tenth; philology and languages, one.
twentieth; natural sciences. art and phil
osophy shading off into small fractions
and poetry not appearing in the classlf.
cations.
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18

The Italian government is to cooperate
with the American in directing italian
immigrants to the farms of the United
States. Altho the Italians who come to
us are mostly farmers at home, they flock
to the cities here. There are large areas
of cheap lands in the south and south
west that would make ideal locations for
them, while as farm laborers they should
be In demand turnout the SOUTH
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
THE PERMANENT

What is excellent,
AS God, lives, is permanent;
Hearts are dust. hearts loves remain;
Hearts love will meet thee again.
Revere the Maker; fetch thine eve
Up to his style, and manners of the sky.
Not of adamant and gold
Built He heaven stark and cold:
No, but nest OF bending reeds,
Flowering grass and scented weeds;
Or like travellers tleeing tent.
A bow above the tempest bent:
Built Of tears and sacred flames,
And virtue reaching to its aims;
Built Of furtherance and pursuing,
Not Of spent deeds, but of doing.
Emerson.
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
The Great Daily
..OfHe. =. -.
Great Northwest
.Ofthe.
A Record for 1908
that Counts.

THE JOURNAL in 1908 carried
1913, 756 inches Of advertising or
So, 1854 inches more than in 1902,
an increase of about 20 per cent.
THE JOURNAL in 1908 carried
over 10000 inches more in it's
daily issues than any other Min
neapolis or St. Paul paper carried
in it's daily or daily and Sunday
issues combined.
The Journals Circulation
for December averaged 81, OO5
copies, which goes directly to the
homes.
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
The Democratic Game.

a There Is no organized or even we'll
defined opposition to President Roose-
welt within his own party. There Is a
certain element which is dissatisfied
and would welcome his defeat either
in the convention or at the polls. This
element is either 50 small or so inef-
fective that it is at present an insig-
nificant force. Nevertheless, there Is
loud roar Of protest against the
president coming up from many parts
of the country. The careless observer
might think that the president really
has a fight for the nomination on his
hands.
A little examination, however, will
show that about 90 per cent of the
roar comes from democratic, mug
wump or plutocratic sources. The
present spasm was largely started by
the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.
This paper Is said to be secretly con-
trolled by John r. Mclean, proprie-
tor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, which
is diligently culling the press Of the
country for every sentence indicating
dissatisfaction with or opposition to
Roosevelt.
The New York Sun, distinctly the
plutocratic organ, is also a loud con-
tributor to the roar. 1t is predicted
that 1t will soon become an out-and-
out democratic organ, thus carrying
its opposition to the president to the
logical conclusion.
Harper's Weekly, another organ of
q,
ident. The Boston Herald, mugwump,
Is giving the anti-Roosevelt cause a
good deal of free advertising space.
The New York Post is daily assailing
the president but it is always in the
"agin" party. The Brooklyn Eagle,
the great newspaper champion of
Clevelandism, Is filling it's columns
with gossip from Washington concern
ing the doings of the alleged Roose-
welt opposition.
Z Just now, apparently, the movement
to arouse a feeling of uncertainty in
the public mind is chiefly led by the
Eagle. According to this paper, Judge
Taft is to be the candidate Of the
. anti Roosevelt forces. He Is the
chosen man Of the Neutrality-suspicious.
machine insofar as that machine il
not for the president.
The Eagle thinks that the key t.
the situation is controlled by Senate
Quay Of Pennsylvania, who has beef
H a Roosevelt man up to the presen
time. Financial and business inter
ests are pressing him hard to use hi
great influence to promote the nomi
nation of Judge Taft. The admins
& tration is said to be so alarmed owe
4 the Taft movement that it has mad
special efforts to rush the judge thr
from San Francisco. where he is ex
pected the 22d, to Washington.
There is little substance to all thi
talk, but it has very shrewd pur
pose. One great element in the pc
litical strength of the president is tn
feeling that has prevailed for nearl
two years that there would be no or
* position to his nomination. Man
testify, the first step in the attack
to replace this confidence with doub
Hence, every democratic and ant
Roosevelt paper in the country
high or low degree, is blowing bla!
intended to alarm and stampede til
presidents SUPPORT. If a feeling (
uncertainty as to the outcome and TT
duced confidence in the president ca
be inspired, the field will be ready fe
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
NEW JERSEYS EDUCATED ROOSTER

Harry F. Edsall of Eammonton, N. j..
has what he thinks is the only educated
rooster in New Jersey. George is his
name, and he is of the barred Plymouth
Rock strain. The rooster will come at the
call Of his name from any one of the fam
lily as far as he can hear them call. He
also sits upon their laps and crows as
many times as asked. George is Of a
very jealous nature and does not like any
member Of the family to pay any attention
to the other fowls. II Mr.. Fdsall picks up
another chick George is ready to start a
pitched battle.