The Washington bee., 1908-09-05


nents. The displacement OF a period
was the cause, 1t Is said, or the
Jameson raid and therefore indirect
ly the cause Of the BOer war.
When there seemed a prospect OF
q conflict between the BOer Govern
ment and the Uitlander population
letter was sent to DR.. Jameson from
johannesburg, signed by Colonel
Rhodes and others.
According to the Grand Magazine
the original contained the following
sentence;
1--WE feel We are justified in taking
steps to prevent the shedding of
blood and to insure the protection
Of our rights. 1t is under these cir
oumstances that we feel constrained
to call upon you to come to our aid
should disturbance arise here. Cir
cumstances are so extreme that we
cannot avoid this step. etc.
In the message DR.. jameson re-
eeived the full stop was placed after
the word aid" instead OF after
there" Thus the qualifying clause
was cut on and became a part Of the
next sentence. The Rhodesians came
instantly galloping across the from
Ter on their I'll fated mission.
In May, 1908, eleven boys on
board the training ship Cornwall, ly-
ing OF Purheet, were suddenly
struck down by typhoid fever, and
inquiry proved that the outbreak
was the result of their sleeping be
tween fever infected blankets
brought from South Africa. In fiat
contravention OF army regulations
no fewer than. 200, 900 blankets re
turned from service had been sold to
two dealers at the Cape at five cents
each, and Of these 3, geo dozen were
shipped back 10 London, those that
were tainted being indiscriminately
mixed with those free from suspi-
oion carelessenss of this sort is in
very truth a crime of the deepest
dye.
Worse than all in its financial ef-
fects upon a great industry was the
carelessness which introduced the
Eo-called Bathurst burr into Aus
!. tralia. Wherever this plant has
spread sleeps feeces are thick with
the clinging burrs. These spiny seed
pods, difficult beyond measure to get
rid Of, reduce the wool that is full Of
them to a fraction Of its value.
The results of carelessness all too
often are beyond the power Of man
to remedy. An instance in point was
the collapse of the Campanile in
Venice. For twelve long years before
its final collapse SignOr VendTascO.
an architect In municipal employ, had
been urging and implOring the town
and Government to repair the tower
before it was too late.
But In matters of this sort the
- Venetian, alas, too strongly resemble
the Spaniards with their everlast-
ing "manana" It is a case Of
/ never do to-day what can be left till
tomorrow. Poor Vendrasco received
nothing but jeeTs or abuse, and at
last, Just a month before the day the
Companile fell, was summarily dis
missed for making a last urgent ap-
peal that something might be done
before it was too late.
Another irTepaTable loss to the art
world was caused in the winter OF
1903 by the carelessness Of the own
ers Of the Rosso Palace. also in Ven
ice. Because they could not or would
not take the trouble to find out who
: was competent to be intrusted with
the task they sent ten "old masters
to be cleaned by a totally incompe-
tent person.
These pictures included two OF the
finest Van Dycks in existence and
two Guido Renis and were all of i'm
mense value, both from an artistic
and monetary point of view. The in
competent cleaner washed them with
an alkaline solution and totally de-
stroyed them all
An official OF an American bank
once told the writer that It was not
professional swindlers who constitu-
ted the chief danger to the banking
NprOfession. It was rather the careless
methods Of customers Ia drawing
checks and thus giving opportunity
for fraud. AS an instance, he quoted
. case tried three years ago before a
Maine court OF Justice.
The cashier Of a certain electric
company drew a check in favor of a
man named Longacre for the sum OF
500. The treasurer Of the com
psny wrote the words "one hun
dred" in the very middle OF the
check and the figures thus; s 100
with a space wide enough for the in
sertion Of another figure between the
dollar mark and the 100.
When the check was presented the
words read "Eighty-one hundred
dollars" and the figures $500. The
bank paid It unquestioningIy, and
tie electric company promptly sued
70 recover the $4,000. The case
created a good deal Of interest, espe-
cially when the Courts decision was
given that the company, not the
bank, should be the losers on &C.
~eount Of gross carelessness" il
drawing the check.-New York Sun