The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-15
FRON OTHER PENS
COUNTRY HOMES.

Comparatively few people who live
in cities, and depend upon purchasing
their necessary table supplies in the
daily markets, have given much
thought to one change which has oc-
CURED in recent years which may
have affected the prices of vegetables
and other products of the soil.
That change, which has been COM
mon with a good many cities, is the
purchase and occupation, as suburban
homes, of considerable tracts of rich
land, situated from two to four miles
from the city and the conversion of
these tracts fcrmerl-' kept under inten-
sive cultivation, into grass plots, lawns
and woodlands This has had the eff
feet of withdrawing such conveniently
located tracts from productive cultiva-
ton by farmers and gardeners, who
have, in consequence, either aban-
doned thier calling or been forced to
prosecute their business at points
more distant from the city markets.
This latter course has involved more
expense in delivery of products, great
er difficulty III obtaining reliable labor
at reasonable prices, and more ex-
pense in hauling from the city the fer
tilizer necessary to keep the soil at a
high point of productiveness.-Na
vile American.
A FuLL-SPEED FLEET.
One of the most familiar assump-
tons, rejecting on the efficiency of the
fleet, is that trial speeds signify little;
that these are made under especially
favorable conditions in order to cover
the contract and if possible. win bon
Uses; that in actual service the battle
ships record speed is rarely matched.
This assumption may have had some
basis in fact during the early period
of our steel navy. But such is the
technical skill acquired for maintaining
the machines and by the officers and
crews for operating them, that the
ships nowadays behave more nearly as
they ought to do. Logically, machine
fresh out of the shop should not be
so efficient as when it has got down
to its bearings and its operators be-
come fully experienced in its employ
nent- The voyage of the Oregon around
the hemisphere furnished refutation
of the assumption for general applica-
ton. Doubtless other like records have
been made without attracting public at
tention. It is further encouraging to
the country's confidence to learn that,
in speed trials recently held off Guam
| tanamo. six ships of the Atlantic fleet
exceeded their designed speed, the Con-
necticut by more than knot.-Provi-
dence Journal.
| SUFFRAGE WITH A MACHINE"
The Woman Suffrage party, having
adopted a platform and effected a
regular orga citation, is now to be
It now possesses all the party ma
| chinery necessary for the conduct of a
campaign, having a central committee
with a city chairman at its head, dis
| trict leaders n all but few of the
assembly districts of Manhattan and
active workers in all the boroughs. to-
gether with new facilities for getting
| out the votes. 1t would be invidious to
say it has a boss. but in Mrs. Carrie
| Chapman Gait, city chairman, the par
| ty has a capable executive.
In a word. it has machine" and
having that !uvaluable foundation for
| efficient campaigning its opportunities
| have been largely increased: Given
| that the machine operates harmon
| iously, the woman's party will be in a
position to make deals with the older
parties, to exercise a direct political
| influence and to accelerate its
propaganda by the most approved
methods. che suffragists are to be
congratulated on. their new tactics.
They have progressed from the chrys-
ais stage and are now a full blown
party.-NeH York World.