The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-08-07

water. even for his own use The gov
eminent gets profit of 1890 per cent
out of IT, and when the children OF the
poor of Rome are offered salt or sweet
meats they take salt. In France at one
time there were from 2,00 to 5000 ar
rests a year for violations Of salt laws
that worked a hardship upon the people.
Not only were high prices maintained
and fiscal agents employed TO dump back
into the sea any salt illicitly made bat
each family was compelled to buy a GER
tain quantity Of salt, and no one was
allowed 10 use it twice To prevent tan
ners from using it for any other purpose
than tanning it was poisoned. In Saxony
as late as lAS the purchase Of salt at
government monopoly prices in stipulated
quantities was compulsory.
Not worth his salt" is an expression
that dates back 10 the days of the Roman
empire. But few persons use the word
salary with the knowledge that it
means salt money" The word is de-
rived from the Latin "salarium argen-
tum." Each Roman soldier and each
military and civil official travelling in gov
eminent service was allowed ration OF
salt OF the equivalent in cash. Frequently
the salarium argentum OF the official was
expanded to the proportions Of a legis
latOTs stationery account, and from the
Roman soldiers ration and the Roman
officials graft originated salary as it is
used to-day.
So universal is the use Of salt that
there is a prevailing belief that human
life is dependent upon it, but historians
describe tribes that subsisted without it,
and it is claimed that the Firms did not
know salt until they got it from the
Aryan races. Daniel Boone was two
years in Kentucky without a bite Of bread
or pinch Of salt. But there are ample
proofs that all men, as well as animals,
are salt eaters when they have access to
it. Savages Of early history fought for
the possession Of salt springs. and the
bones of prehistoric animals at ticks at
test the fact that ever since the glacial
period salt has attracted them. Oae Of the
famous licks is Big Bone Lick. in Boone
County, Ky, where there have been found
not only bones of buffalo, deer, and other
animals common in America when this
country was discovered but also bones
Of the fossil elephant, the mastOdon, thu
caribou. the long-legged buffalo and the
musk OK of centuries ago.
Although the Louisiana mines and the
Salton Sink have made the Industry pic
turesque in this country. there is nothing
in America as strange as the salt city
Of Weiliczas. in Austria. The Austro-
Hungary government maintains a monop-
oily ia salt, and for centuries it has drawn
upon these mines as a source Of supply.
\ city in salt has been hewn beneath
the earth and railroads are not allowed
to come near 1t lest the vibration should
cause the earth 10 bury its population
The town has churches schools. restau-
rants, and other buildings that 90 TO
compose a city, all cut from the dazzling
rock salt veins and representing in the
aggregate fully 100 years Of toll One
feature Of this city Of salt is an immense
ballroom ornamented by wire-hUng chan
deliers Of rock salt, glistening with vari-
Gus lights and colors.
Tomorrow - Protecting Game in
America.