Evening star., 1906-09-08

Several years ago there resided In this
city a portly colored man who was known
as Major Dabney. One day an army om-
Ger who knew Dabney we'll addressed the
colored man as follows
"Dabney, / have often wondered how you
came by the title of major Did you re-
ceive it because of service in the civil war.
or is it a title conferred by reason OF your
connection with the National Guard!
mo sah," replied Dabney with Droao
smile. Il nebber sarved a minnit In de
sibil wah an l amt nebber bin In dc
Nashional Guard. De word maJah, san,
am my fust name an were glib ter me by
my mudder when 1 were bohn. 1t war a
toss up boss, whedder l should be named
Isiah or Majah, and as mudder war doin
reg'lar washin' for Majah Jeems Wilson,
dat name war selected. an Use bin called
Majah ebber sence."
In this connection it is said that many of
the old-time colored families have given
their sons such Christian names as Colo
mel" Doctor" General and the like. In
Richmond there is a young colored man
who has the cognomen of President john
son, while in this city is a dark-sklnned
citizen whose first name Is BISHOP.
r X X
One of the most serious difficulties that
the government engineers and contractors
on the great irrigation works in the west
have had to deal with has been the scare
ity of labor. There has been great lack
too, of several sorts of material Scarcity
of iron material has blocked much of the
government work. Firms have been chary
of entering into any contracts where there
was structural iron or steel or machinery
requiring iron and steel in its construction
with less than years margin in which
to fill the orders. There has been dearth
OF cement and of this hundreds OF thou
sands of barrels are required. All of the
cement mills east and west have been
working at full capacity. and even at that,
with the building of the Panama canal and
the rebuilding. of San Francisco, there has
been infinitely more demand than there
was material to supply.
But the worst trouble has been with the
labor. Contractors have been stealing men
from each other, and the average tramp
in the west has been able to pick up a
job often a suit of clothes and three square
meals a day, whenever he wanted 1t and
was always able to make enough In a
week to loaf on a month
The Indians have now been pressed into
service, and they make very good laborers
when they will work. A lot of Tonic
Apaches have been engaged on one of the
sections of the great Yuma irrigation prof.
ject. Some of them are a part of old
Geronimo's band as bloodthirsty lot In
their time as could be found. However.
they have come into camp now and work
very well when they work at ALL
The same Is true of the Blackfeet up
along the Milk river project. Indians are
employed to lesser extent on number
Independent. The Indians have gotten q
lot of money from the government and as
their wants are few and they are born to
the country, they are better off on the
average than the whites. They will work
IL they are politely spoken to, but 1t does
not take much to induce them to lay off.
They do not declare strike. They do not
even know what a labor union Is. But
they just quit work II they think any one
Is infringing on their dignity. With the
present scarcity Of labor they get treated
very considerat tely. Lie .,--.
Lo. the poor Indian. Is becoming very
important factor in the economic life of
the west
One of the stock questions Of the news
paper men who visit the State Department
every day relates to the status Of Ambassa-
dor Leishman at Constantinople. Since his
elevation to ambassadoriaI rank he has
failed to secure audience with the sultan,
who, is well known. is in feeble health.
To the usual question. Has Mr.. Leishman
been received?" the stereotyped reply, Not
yet is given.
When this formula had been gone through
with the other day Assistant Secretary
Adee waxed humorous, and said the situa-
tion at Constantnople was like that of a
man with rent in his trousers. The man
went into tailor shop which displayed a
sign Trousers mended while you wait"
He retired to an inner room and gave his
trousers to the tailor to fix up.
After waiting about two hours he called
to the tailor. Haven't you fixed those
trousers yet?"
Not yet" replied the tailor.
why what's the matter?" he asked
somewhat impatiently. Your sign says,
Trousers mended while you wait. -
'Oh. that's all right answered back the
tailor without the slightest trace of smile,
you're waiting amt you?"
Ambassador Leishman. said Mr.. Adee Is
still waiting
Virginia colonel. well known in this
city. had the unusual experience some time
ago of being called upon by a justice of