The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-23

MT Meeker has travelled the trail in an ox-wagon.- The first time was in 1851, when he left Indianapolis and crossed to Puget Sound. A few years agv he conceived the idea of returning East over the same route and interesting
 the inhabitants of the towns along the
 way In erecting monuments to mark historic points along the old highway.
 He set out with his ox-team and the
 original prairie schooner in January
 1906. After reaching his old home at Indianapolis he evolved his scheme for reconstruction Oregon Trail, free
 to all who could find any means Of
 conveyance, as likely to point the way
 to a solution of the whole problem of
 railway oppression and monopoly, and determined to continue his journey
 across the continent and lay the matter
 before the president As Mir. Meeker
 has been promised the support of the
 National Roads Association and the
 national automobile organizations, 1t
 is not at all impossible that he may
 yet see his dream come true.
 If the cigarmakers, strike in Havana
 continues much longer. 1t Is feared
 that J. Piermont Morgan and John w.
 Gates may be forced to abandon the
 the famous black cigars which have
 contributed so much to the atmosphere
 of Wall street, and betake themselves
 to pipe smoking. Pessimists even
 talk of a smokeless New York. Dealers throughout the city are in dismay over
 the announcement from the importing
 jobbers that most of the popular brands
 of Havana cigars, especially those in dark colors, are exhausted. The trust
 was we'll stocked with the lighter and less fashionable shades of cigars when the strike began Q month ago, but even these are pretty well used up now. and prices are rising. Already the rank and file of New -orkers who indulge
 in Cuban cigars are finding their
 favorite brands cut off. and are turn ing in despair to the Porto Rico pro-
 ducts. New York smokes about 2Oo.- 900 imported cigars a day. at prices ranging from 10 cents up to half a | dollar. Cigarettes. however, have not been affected by the strike and the atmosphere has suffered accordingly. Even the odor of the five-cent cigar | threatens to become worse because Of the advanced price of domestic tobacco, particularly the Pennsylvania product, | from which many of the cheaper brands are made. Of cigars Of all | kinds, including stogies, New Workers | consume 100000 a day. the weekly cigar bill of the metropolis amounting | to $300,O00, or nearly $16,0O0,00O year. The demand for American cigarettes
  York, their place being taken to large | extent by the milder favored ones or Turkish, Egypticn and Asia Minor | tobacco.
 Fifth Avenue has a mystery, a mys- | tery that has set the coldly reserved dwellers in the vicinity of Fifty-fourth
 street, and the members of the Univer- | sity Club as well, to casting anxious | glances in the direction of No. West | Fifty-fourth street, which is some | times the home of John D. Rocke- | feller. The cause of it all Is the appear ance of the Standard oil magnate in | @ new role. Never before within the memory of the. oldest inhabitant of the street has Mir. Rockefeller been known | to occupy his city home at this time or | the wear Heretofore in summer he has always been in Lakewood, Pocan- | tico Hills, Cleveland, or some other place equally inaccessible to process | servers A few nights ago he sur prised his neighbors by appearing Tn | front of his house in company with two
 strangers One of them Is said to nave nay | smoothshaven, with gray hair. The
 other had a dark beard, tinged with gray. For two hours the trio walked up and down the block, taking earnest 1 ly and gesticulating emphaticaliy. Next night the mystery was deepeneo l by the reappearance of MT. RockeleIAer | and two other strangers. Again, as on l the previous night, he walked up ana down the block, his arms locked fast | in tho.e of his companions, his set face | indicating that he was intensely in | earnest in whatever he was talking | about, and the manner in which he
 emphasized his remarks lseeming to
 show that the matter was of great im- | portance. The following night he ap- I.f ret fuYn nnn | panions, but the conference lasted only an hour. Evidently a decision had | been reached. Now his neighbors are exercised to know whether 1t means
 a new public benefaction, rise in the price of oil, or a compromise on both. Surgery. which has accomplished so
 many other marvels in these days or
 advanced science, has nav invaded the
 realms of architecture and engineering
 with a proposal to amputate the four
 ton stories of the old Singer Building
 at the corner of Liberty street and
 Broadway, sandwich in three additional
 floors, and then replace the top In the
 original form. Work on the sca1-
 folding from which the operation VII!
 be performed was begun one day last
 week. and a small army of men will
 be occupied night and day until 1t Is
 completed According to the architect
 the operation is necessary in order
 that the eleven story building may
 conform in height and outline to the
 new fourteen story addition. Instead
 of actually raising the four top floors
 enclosed under the mansard roof. how
 ever, the roof and structural material
 will be removed in sections to the
 ground. The eighth, ninth and tenth
 floors will then be built on, after which
 the old mansard roof, enclosing the
 four additional floors, will be replaced
 section by section. The undertaking will be confined to the original corner
 building, which is to be part of the
 monster forty one story structure l.,,il inn In e