davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-08-26

and was appointed a postmaster,
Those were the glad and happy days
when rival editors called each other
horse thieves, skunks, wind bags and
other amfable names, and it was Colo
mel Ballinger's proud duty one day to
kick his loathsome contemporary out
of the postof1ce. Young Richard
Achilles learned to set type, sell pa
pers and tend sheep. Then he went to
Kansas and besides punching cattle
became a clerk and earned enough
money to take him to college First
he attended the state university, but
on advice OF John J. ingalls, went to
Williams, from which he graduated
at the age Of twenty-six. In the class
behind him was James r. Garfield,
his predecessor as secretary Of the
interior.
Returning to Illinois, he studied law,
as his father had done before him,
the elder Ballinger having read with
Abraham Lincoln. When admitted to
the bar the young man went to Ala
bama and started practice, but after
few years returned and hung out
his single in Washington and finally
went to the state Of Washington.
There he became judge Of the superior
court, United States court commission
er, mayor of Seattle and finally COM
missioner Of the general land Office at
Washington. It was Garfield that got
him into the last named job, and Bal
linger accepted against his wishes. He
told President Roosevelt story Of his
cowboy experiences in Kansas, which
related to three rattlesnakes he had
dispatched on the prairie one night
before he could 60 to sleep. Roose-
velt convinced him that there were
some snakes to kill in the land Office
and that induced him to accept the
place. He held it only one year, but
during that time he thoroughly reor-
ganized the Office. His motto then
and probably now was, 81 hate a
snake"
While mayor of Seattle Mr.. Balm
ger concluded the town was too wool
" even for the wild west, so he took
of some Of the hair. Those were the
Klondike days, and everything was
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-08-26

haps it is not strictly proper to speak
OF other Nimrods as mighty hunters
since Bwana Tumbo got into the
game. Not wishing to be guilty of
leze majesty, I withdraw the adjec-
tive and leave it in solitary state upon
the shoulders where it obviously and
exclusively belongs. Anyway, Mr..
Pinchot is a hunter and has trophies
nailed up all over the premises
Father of Conservation Movement.
! More important than all, Pinchot has
taught us how to conserve. Now, the
chief difference between him and Bal
linger seems to be that the secretary
Of the interior also wants to conserve,
but he wants to be nice and legal about
it, while Pinchot doesn't give hang
how he conserves so long as he does
it. That shows that he was not a
member Of the Roosevelt ''tennis cabi-
metz in vain. He saw the way his for
mer chief did things and got the habit
iBallinger also was a member Of the
tennis cabinet" but he was a lawyer
~oI4AA C0A1AC1, " u4CA SOlQc" AdL ucuLId4-
lied the effects Of that inspiring and
perspiring experience. It is hard to
teach on old lawyer new tricks, for
the reason that he knows them all.
Pinchot had nothing to restrain him,
and when he got to conserving did it
for all he was worth.
President Roosevelt said that Pin
chot started the conservation move
lment, and that is glory enough to
make small man swell up. But Pin
ehot did not swell. He simply went
ON conserving. He conserved not only
the forests, but the water and the
coal and everything else that he could
find that needed it and that had not
been gobbled up by the trusts. This
threw several kinds of rage into the
lumber barons, the timber thieves, the
coal trust, the power pirates and va
rious other malefactors Of great
wealth who wanted to grab off the
natural resources Of the country and
sell them by the bushel It left Pin
,chot standing all alone between tn,
'defenseless timber lands. coal lau..
and water sites Of the nation. Gil t.,
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-08-26
Impressions Of the Two Principals.
Who Differ as to the Method
Of Conserving Americas
Natural Resources.
BY JAMES A. EDGERTON.

~ONGRESS may have adjourned
and the president may have
~ gone to Beverly, but the coun-
try is not left without midsum-
mer topics. We yet have Mr.. Clifford
Pinchot and Mr.. Richard Achilles Bal
lfnger, who have put on the official
gloves and will favor us~with a few
rounds to let us know that the gov
eminent still lives; otherwise we
might have concluded that it had gone
on vacation along with it's chief Of
fcials.
Mr.. Pinchot is our head tree planter
and knows more about forestry than
Willis Moore thinks he knows about
the weather. Pinchot did not write
"Woodman, Spare That Tree" but
might have done so if George P. Nor
Els had not beat him to it. Pinchot
has done more than write a poem. he
has made forestry an applied science
in this land that never did know what
to do with piece Of woodland except
to clear 1t off. He has taught us that
the presence or absence of forests de-
termines the rain supply. In fact, he
has made us look upon the tree as a
friend and brother, not a mere awning
or ornament. Many people have re-
;garded him as the most useful man in
the world. That is what Roosevelt
used to think when he wanted to play
tennis and could not find any other
available partner. Mr.. Pinchot was
always ready to take a hand at the
game and thus became far shining
figure in white fannels in the .'tennis
cabinet" he has plenty Of money
and thus can afford to hold Office in
washington. He has many other dis
t1nctions, such as being an expert
angler and mighty hunter. Or per-
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-08-26
THE P|NCHOI AND BALUNG[R EPISODE
Side Lights on the Controversy Imok.
Ing the Chief Of the Forestry
Bureau and the Secretary
Of the interior.

one hand, and, on the other, large
collection Of amiable gentlemen with
greedy eyes and yawning pocketbooks.
It was about this time that the gov
ernors foregathered in Washington at
the call Of President Roosevelt and de-
cided to take hand in the conserving
game. So they made speeches, adopted
resolutions and appointed commits
sion with Mr.. Pinchot at its head.
Since that proud day the natural re-
sources Of the country have been able
to sleep nights without the narrowing
fear that they would be kidnapped be-
fore morning.
In addition to all his other activities
Mr.. Pinchot was made a member Of
the country life commission, which
went about asking questions Of the
American farmer and then returned
and told him what was the matter
with him. 1t was this commission
which made Uncle Joe Cannon grow
real sarcastic and say things that caus-
ed glee in the hearts Of the scoffers
and smokers on the back benches. The
only SOrC OF upl1ft" that Uncle Joe
ever practiced is that of the front end
of his cigar.
Ballnger Once a Cowboy.
Mr.. Ballinger, the other end Of this
difficulty, has lived pretty much all
over the face Of the country. At one
time he was cowboy in Kansas and
rode seventy miles every week to recite
Latin. At an earlier age he was at the
front with his father, who was colonel
Of negro regiment. The boy, though
only five or six years old, was sup
piled with a drum made out of fig
box, on which he hammered away for
liberty.
After the war the elder Ballinger
became a country editor in Illinois
The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-08-26

wide open. Mayor Ballinger not only
closed the worst Of the dives, bit
made Seattle a model city. His life
was threatened often, but that IS a
tribute offered every man who does
real work. Ballinger's life was threat
ened in Alabama also by a colonel
who wanted to pull a gun on him and
was made to desist only by little
judicious choking. The secretary Of
the interior does not like to have these
old stories told Of him now, it is said.
But why did he get into the cabinet If
he did not want to be talked about?
The Point at Issue.
Having introduced the two princf-
pals in the ''mill," it may be as well to
tell what the row is all about. Prima-
rily it is over one of the Roosevelt poll
cies. Just before the ex-president left
office he withdrew nearly a million
acres of timber and water site lands
from public entry. The ostensible req
son was to preserve the forests. but
the real purpose was to protect the
water power sites on portion of this
domain. Hardly had Secretary Balm
ger entered Office than he again threw
this land open to entry Mr.. Pinchot
thereupon appealed to President Taft.
with the result that $4,000 acres, con-
tanning some of the most valuable wa
ter sites, was a second time with
drawn.
At the national irrigation convention
recently held at Spokane and at the
transmississippi congress, still more
recently in session at Denver, Mr..
P1nchot defended his conservation pol
icy amid immense enthusiasm. He
was especially cheered when he assert
ed that conservation of natural re-
sources is Roosevelt policy that Taft
is pledged to carry out. In his Spo-
kane address he boldly asserted that a
power trust is being formed in the
country which is seeking to obtain
possession of the government water
site lands, leaving the Inference plain
that Ballinger's action in throwing
open these lands left the way clear for
their acquisition by the trust. This
was universally construed into an at
tack on Ballinger. At the same con-
vention Ex-Governor Pardee Of Cali
fornia assailed the secretary Of the in
terror openly for having played into
the hands of private interests as
against the public veal
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06

MODERN STREET SCENE IN CATANIA, TO
WHICH CITY MEsSINA REFUGEES FLED.
made less of show than usual. In
March there was a disturbance in
northern Mexico, near the Rio Grande
river, which did not do much damage.
On the following day Chilapa, over the
Mexican border, was roughly shaken,
and there were even few casualties
Earthquakes are SO infrequent in At
RIGA that some scientists have been in
clined to regard the dark continent as
immune. This year, however, that the
DRY has been made untenabIe. Two
heavy shocks We're felt in the Kongo
Free State, almost directly under the
equator, covering an area Of hun
dred square miles.
But the most convincing realization
OF the Insecurity with which we walk
the earth has come to the American
people through the seismic exhibitions
which have occurred nearer home, the
horror of April 19, 1906, in San Fran
cisco, the devastating shock of 1902
which wrecked the island of Mar
Unique in a twinkling and the similar
sisitatfons on the Carolina coast. Nor
does It detract greatly from the inse-
curity Of our position to be told by the
scientists that it is only the necessary
yettling Of the earth's crust. ITS q
long time settling, We retort rathel
anamiably
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06
Sicily

BY GEORGE H. PICARD.


4 APPALLING as 1t is, the recent ca
lamity which has plunged the
Italian peninsula into the deep
est sorrow and the remainder OF
the civilized world into sympathetic
horror is nothing especially novel.
More than once has 1t BEEN demon-
strated with awful distinctness that
Calabria and Sicily are not terra firma.
It Is region which has been shaken
SO frequently and so disastrously by
seismic CONFUSION that 1t has long ago
passed into history as ..the home of
the earthquake" In ancient times it
was the battle-ground Of southern Eu
rope, and even at that early day it was
a saying common enough that .the
earthquake takes from Calabria that
which war has Left
It Is bright and smiling region, a
sunlit and fertile land. a country so
kindly dealt with by nature that 1t
seems to be mans ideal of everything
that constitutes fit abiding place. In
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06

reau Of the Chicago Times, and the
son accompanied him, each Of them
sending several columns of cables and
letters every week. One day Storey
fired the elder Wilkie by cable, and
the son went to the head Of an Ameri-
can commercial agency in London,
where he remained almost two years.
Returning to Chicago, he re-entered
the newspaper field and soon became
city editor Of the Tribune. Frank e.
Vanderlip was financial editor Of the
paper at the same time, and the two
became chums. When Lyman J. Gage
was made secretary of the treasury
he took Vanderlip along as private sec
rotary and in short time made him
assistant secretary Of the treasury.
Vanderbilt remembered his friend VIII
kie, tried him out on some work for.
the government and succeeded in get
ting him appointed chief of the secret
service. This is the story Of John 3.
Wilkes rise as have it from the lips
Of a newspaper man who used to work
with him as a police reporter. While
much of it has seen the light, think
it has never been printed before in all
its details.
sSecret Service True to Name.
In Office Mr.. Wilkie is one Of the
most democratic and easily accessible
Of all government employees. There
are two rooms in the treasury building
with the legend Secret Service over
the door. Anybody can walk right In.
and will usually find Chief Wilkie in
his shirt sleeves going over reports or
considering some knotty case. In the
same room Is his assistant, w 81. Mo-
ran, and IN the adjoining room are q
number Of clerks. Nothing mysterious
about all this but the most prosaic
and matter Of fact routine OF every
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06
Uncle Sam S 4 =
q x Secret Service
Work Of Government Detective Bureau Which Is Bone Of
Contention Between Congress and the President
Sketch Of John E. Wlde, Chief Of Sleuths.

All of these things and some others
made congress forbid the further lend
ing out Of Hawkshaws. There are
stories and cartoons to theseffect that
a governmental spy system has grown
up in Washington. This the admins
tration denies, but at any rate there
will be an investigation.
Wilke Started as Reporter.
The head Of the secret service start
ed life as reporter. He is John n.
Wilkie of Chicago, son Of famous
newspaper man in his day who was
Wilbur f. Storey's chief editorial writ
er on the Chicago Times Young VIII
kie started as a fire and police report
er and was so intensely in earnest in
the role that he bought fireman's
helmet and outfit and went to all the
fires to help out, receiving much chaff-
Ing therefor both from the real fire.
men and the other reporters. He show
ed the same spirit in his police report
Ing and In at least one instance sue
ceeded in unearthing sensational
crime. A store burned in a manner to
show that it was fired by incendiaries.
The proprietor was out Of town at the
time, but came in on train soon aft
er. In rum1naging about through the
ashes Wilkie came upon charred
photograph, evidently taken Of the
owner of the store when much
younger man, but on the back of
which was a Philadelphia address and
a name different from that by which
the merchant was then known. On
being confronted with this witness
from the past the man supposed the
jig was up, broke down and confessed
that he had set fire to his own store,
using time fuse that would allow
him to get out Of town. This was not
the only piece Of sherlock holmesing
done by the young police reporter.
Every available moment he was loung-
ing around detective headquarters
picking up ideas.
Some time later the elder Wilkie was
placed in charge of the London bu.
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06
BY JAMES A. EDGERToN.

"HERE is no government depart
ments concerning which less Is
known than the secret service.
At the same time there is none
about which there is greater public
curiosity, which Is just now heighten-
ed by the row between the president
and the congress.
The secret service is Uncle Sans
Sherlock Holmes. It catches counter
feiters and now and then bags a con-
gresham or senator who has not been
content with making laws, but has
started to breaking them also, thus
working both ends Of the line. It was
{ this feat of getting a few legislators
into Jail that caused all the trouble
. between Mr.. Roosevelt and the present
session. Congressman do not like to
be imprisoned for which we can
scarcely blame them, considering the
other infections they have to bear,
such as associating with each other
and listening to each others oratory.
President Roosevelt charges In eff
feet that 1t was because the secret
service had exposed Senator Mitchell
and an Oregon representative in the
Hand fraud cases that congress cut
down the appropriation for the secret
service and prohibited its use outside
OF the treasury department, whereat
certain members Of the house, dignified
senators and others not so d1gnified
regard themselves as grossly insulted.
Come to think Of it, there is something
9 In the nature of a personal insult in
sending a man to Jail or even in init
mating that he ought to be there,
though most men do not base their
objection to Imprisonment on this
ground Now, the president did not
say that all members Of congress
should go to jail, but only that the law
they had passed helped nobody but
criminals, and the chief argument In
its favor was that 1t keeps members Of
the two houses from being investigated
and prosecuted.
He went further and intimated that
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06

II they did not want to be investigated
IF they had records that would not
bear investigation, presume he meant
they might exempt themselves by a
special provision, but should not Grip
pie the whole detective agency of the
government. That is talking some,
even for Roosevelt. Congress waited
few days, and then the senate passed
some mild hammered resolutions, adopt
ed amid oratory not so mild and ac-
companied by thoughts positively un-
speakable, directing the committee on
appropriations to investigate the secret
service, the message and everything
else with handle on that looked as If
1t could be used to cause trouble. The
house merely asked him for the facts
on which the president based his state
ments, evidently wanting him to show
his hand before it did any blufing.
The head-on collisions the house has
had with Roosevelt on former occa-
sions have apparently taught it eau
ton.
Hunted Down Land Frauds.
: Z
The secret service proper belongs to
the treasury department., and it's chief
duty is to catch counterfeiters. For
twenty years, however, it has been the
habit Of the chief Of the service to
lend his men to other departments
wherever needed. Among those SO
borrowing Uncle Sans sleuths was the
secretary ct the interior, who used
them in hunting down land frauds, in
which they gathered in the United
States senator and congressman before
mentioned. It Is also whispered that
the secretary OF the navy used one OF
the detectives In hunting down IN alb
sent naval official, and the place where
The was found laid the basis for. q di-
vorce suit. That caused another row.
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06
Great Earthquake Region.

M HallNe u SICILY OF the CalaDrian
mainland ever reaches mans estate in
ignorance Of the earthquake With
some form of the dreaded upheayal he
must become familiar long before he
reaches the Scriptural age limit. These
manifestations vary in intensity from
tremors so slight as to be observed by
the most delicate instruments to vio-
lent destructive shocks. While the
more serious and death dealing blows
are felt at intervals so remote as to in
spire sense Of security, the slighter.
manifestations are so constant that it
requires years of habit to make them
other than premonitory signals Of trou-
BILE to follow.
1t matters not at all to the surviving
Calabrian peasant, whose entire inter-
est In the business of living has been
cut off suddenly by this abnormal
trick of nature which has swept his
every living link into oblivion. that
science is at hand with it's theories of
the cause of his misfortunes. It will
not revive his hopeless spirit to be told
that the blow which has felled him is
but another evidence thats1he foot Of
the Italian "boot" is sinking into the
sea. It is a scientific fact that has
been going on for centuries. Like the
California earthquake Of 1906, the re-
cent italian disaster was due not to
volcanic disturbance, but to the sub
sfdence of the earth's crust and it is
believed by experts that should this
settling continue it will be followed
by volcanic activity and that the gran
lite hills of Scylla and the greater por-
ton of the mountainous region Of the
mainland will be submerged
As for Messina, 1t has always been a
city of tremendous disaster. Long be-
fore the Apostle Paul preached his
novel evangel in the crowded streets
OF Syracuse it had known affection of
the deepest In the fifth century be-
fore Christ it was captured by the
Greeks, and its inhabitants were sub
jected to great indignities. In 1876 B. c.
1t was destroyed by the all conquering
!, Carthaginians and was rebuilt by Die
EnysiGs, the tyranf of Syracuse In the
following century Hannibal and his
/
Cartha ian hosts again sacked the
town. After the fall of paganism 1t
Jared not whit better. for it was
taken by the saracens in s31 and prac-
tically destroyed. Two hundred years
later it was pillaged by the Normans.
| In TAO the plague carried of over
| 10000 victims, and forty-three years
later an earthquake practically buried
| the city and It's remaining inhab itants
As late as 1913 It was nearly wiped off
the map By bombardment, but seems
/ to have been restored sufficiently to
lose 10000 inhabitants by cholera in
1854
All Sicily Devastated.
The seventeenth and eighteenth cen
turtles seem to have been the most pro-
life earthquake periods II modern
times IN September, 1893, IN sicily
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06

reality it has proved itself to be the
most treacherous Of earth's beauty
spots, as little to be trusted as are the
historic Scylla and Charybdis at the
entrance to the strait of Messina. It
has always been an active center Of
seismic disturbance Of almost every
variety. Even before the recent horror
1t might have claimed the record, for
the great Calabrian earthquake which
began in 1873 continued for four years.
New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-06

The Proper Punishment.
To fit his thieving hardihood,
His neanness small and rank,
The man who jumps his board bils
should
Be made to walk the plank
-Philadelphia Press.
Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-11-14
BRIEF MENTION. t . 2 . $

Mrs. Harry Eversfeld. of Filler. was in the city yesterday.~ MT. and Mrs. R. l.. Rutherford lief. yesterday afternoon for Hot Springs.
 Warren Ferist has gone to Camden where he will visit Miss Det Fer ist.
 Mrs. Rachel Bloom, of Little Rock spent yesterday in the city with fel. atives.
 F.. L Cutler is home from Flint Michigan. where he, went on a bust
 ' s..-l~--~-%~-s-- ness trip.---,--s >>..-4..---- .------.---.---- "A. Brewster returned yesterday at' ternoon from brief business trip ,c RussellYille. ..........--...--. --..'-
 Mrs. W c Dunaway has returned to her home in Little Rock after Q business trip here.
 ". 2. Tankersley has returned from sta- City where hs spent few days