The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-23
FROM OTHER PENS

ECONOMIC WASTE OF BASEBALL.
The New York World is great on
statistics. It figures out every day un-
der oath its circulation Of the previous
day, with illuminating comparisons as
to how much It has grown in a given
period of years. Just now it is inter
ested in the statistics Of the baseball
world and shows that the attendance
on the games of the National and
American leagues during the season of
1909 aggregated 7,S7S,108, or an IN
crease of S.9S6 over the official attend
ance during the season of 1908. We
wish the World would now figure out
how much the communities in which
these games were played actually lost
by this attendance upon the national
game. The gate receipts at these
games could not have been less than
S3,6ss,054, and the economic waste
would not have been less than $11,-
O6e.162. Not counting the productive
capacity of the baseball players them
baseball cost this country in the Ma
tional and American leagues during
the present year not less than $14,-
756.216,-CharIeston News and Cour-
Ter.
TO INSTRUCT JANITORS.
A school for janitors has been opened
in New York city. This important en-
terprise is in charg. Of tho Children's
Aid societya and appropr' ateiy, for are
not all tenants as children before the
power of the janitor? Certainly, the
undertaking is Of imr"rtanes as high as
the skscrapsrs This is the the land trI,anf Of
poet; yet among its institutions Is the
most arbitrary of autocrats. His
princely condescension to those within
his realm surpasses that OF the head
porter in a European hotel to the un-
janitor? Certainly not among the coal
bins, the ash cans and the garbage.
They are environments for his under
lings. The electric bell marked with
his title affords no clue. His looks be-
speak volumes, yet the wise refrain
from asking his habits.
The announcement declares that this
school will be "the first attempt to edu-
cate prospective janitors in the funda-
mental principles of their calling" 1t is
cheerful news that there are principles
connected with janitors. directly or in
directly. More definite is the state
inent that there is to be a class in
courtesy.-Washingt Herald
CHICKEN CENSUS INACCURATE.
We can readily imagine that it will
be a great shock to most people to
learn that the chicken statistics In
previous censuses are not absolutely
reliable. Inc unpleasant OlSCOFeTy HdS
been made that the enumeration of
1890 showed the existence of a greater
number of chickens in this country
than in 1900. This is conclusive evil
dence of gross errors in figures some
where Chicken fanciers lay the fault
to the care1essness of census officials,
while the experts in Washington say
that poultry owners are prone to ex-
aggeration when the census man. calls
on them, and that the man who owns
so chickens will almost invariably
claim that he has 100. This, however.
does not explain the discrepancy be-
tween the totals for the two dates
mentioned-if the poultry men are
consistent in their presentations from
one decade to another. 1t will hardly
do at this late date for anybody con-
nected with the census bureau to or
ganize an Ananias club and populate it
with the men engaged in the gentle
art of raising pouitry.-Rochester
Democrat and Chronicle.