davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

to print and bind a given volume in
morocco. That volume weighed four
pounds. At an expense of 81 cents 1t had
been sent to some library. The library
had returned it at similar expense to
the Post Office Department Of 80 cents.
Then it had been necessary for the super
intendent of documents to catalogue 1t,
to check it of as useless, to condemn 1T,
and to mutilate it. This cost an additional
10 cents making q total Of $474. After
waste for 3 cents, making total loss OF
$4.69 to the government upon this single
typical volume.
In 1910 similar action was taken with
reference to an additional million volumes.
In 1911 the volumes mutilated and sold as
waste paper amounted to half million.
Altogether in these three years three
million volumes were destroyed, and were
shipped away in carload and trainload
lots to the factories of the paper men
who bought them for song.
This number, the commission be-
lieves," says conservative Senator Smoot.
lis really bagatelle compared with the
vast amount of publications that have
been wasted by improper distribution and
of which the commission could find no
trace"
In referring to the greater waste Sena-
tor Smoot has in mind the system Of con-
gressional allotment of publications as
now in use. Under that system every
member Of Congress gets a certain num-
Der Of every publication of Congress. or
Of the departments. These publications
are automatically sent to the Senate and
the House folding rooms. The senator
from Kansas gets the same number OF
Nautical Almanacs as does the senator
from Maine, despite the unpopularity of
sea travel in Kansas. The senator from
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

automatic writing" Prof. Hyslop COM
menced experimenting with this new
subject, who, to protect her from the
annoyance of publicity. is referred to
under the pseudonym Mrs. Smead" in
the reports of the American Society
for Psychic Research.
~
She is a woman Of mystery, and all
that has been revealed about her Of a
personal nature is that she is blue
eyed young woman Of q modest and re-
firing temperament, who lives about
twenty-fOur hours OF from New York
in town which is surrounded by an
evergreen forest and in which her hus-
band enjoys good standing as rector of
an orthodox church surmounted by q
cross.
While she is in a trance her head is
held in a special headrest, which DR.
Hyslop exhibited to me, and her moving
finger writes upon paper spread on a
sewing table at her side. She was stud
led also by DR.. Hodgson, and on the
night that he dropped dead while playing
handball she is said to have seen his ap-
partition, which reported to her: 1T is
better here than I had hoped for"
Another noted savant who made COM
pact to thus communicate after death
was the great criminologist and ahenist
of international renown, Prof. Cesare
LombrosO Of Italy.
Until he was fifty-five years old Lom-
broso believed Spiritualism and all that
pertained thereto to be low tomfoolery."
Then he was taken OF unwillingly to at
tend the seance Of some spiritualist me-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

was called ''the despair of science" and
who made tour of America soon after
Lombroso's passing. In this country
Paladino did not make the cre6itable
showing that her managers had hoped
for, and several Of our investigators are
claimed to have exposed her. Whether
the Milan society has received Lon-
broso's promised revelations through her
or other mediums has not been ANNOUNCE
ed as yet to the world Of science.
1t = Is remarkable how many noted
thinkers are captivating to the spiritistic
hypothesis. Prof. Charles Richet of the
Faculty OF Medicine, Paris. claims to
have photographed the spirit OF a Span
ish soldier, and Camille Flammarion. the
French astronomer. is now an aggressive
convert to spiritism. He says he has
proved that such phenomena as the
movement of chairs without contact and
the suspension OF heavy tables in space
are bona hde, he having secured photo
graphs Of some floating in the air.
No less, than an ex-prime minister has
recently been leader Of the ghost hunt
ers OF England. where he recently served
as president OF the Society for Psychical
Research. He insists that science cannot
explain the psychic wonders which he
has witnessed. While he headed the So
ciety 1t made special investigation OF
$50 cases Of apparttions Of the dying in
England and Wales. and Of these fifty
two cases were accepted as beyond the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

his death. Apri! 4. no less a solid citizen
than DR.. Isaac Kaufman Funk, head of
the publishing firm of Funk & Wagnalls,
and editor OF dictionary. completed
elaborate arrangements to make, after his
demise. authoritative communications
with the American Society for Psychical
Research.
Speaking OF his improved arrangements
for transmitting these post-mortem mes
sages, DR.. Funk said, some months ago:
I'VE have determined on certain code
OF signals. which no one on earth knows
but the person to whom l will COM
municate and myself. If he receives one
Of these signals after my death. he will
be absolutely certain by 1t that I have
reached him. He will then establish COM
munication with me. either through a
designated medium or by some means
which may find in the next world AS I
am a much older man than he is. there is
every probability that will die before he
does and while he is actively engaged
In his occult studies
Ii is taken for granted by those In
terested in the test that the person with
whom the noted publisher made this COM
pact is DIR. James III. Hyslop, former
professor of psychology at Columbia Uni
versity, who had similarly arranged for
post-mortem communication with other
noted men.
DR.. Funk, who at the time of his death
was In his seventy-third year, served as
q Lutheran minister until he founded the
publishing house which bears his name
For quarter century he had been active
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

her. and while she lay unconscious
with her head upon a pillow resting
on a table, her hand wrote out mes
sages alleged to come from his father
She converted Hyslop to the spiritistic
hypothesis. and his announcements of
the fact made a stir in the scientific
world. He and Hodgson formed a
compact that whoever died first should
communicate with the other, and Prof
Hyslop expressed to me some time ago
his satisfaction that he has received
messages from Hodgson since the lat
ter's death in 1905.
Through Mrs. Piper, Prof James and
his wife also endeavored to get in
touch with the deceased Hodgson, and
q few months before the noted psychol-
ogist's death he contributed an ex-
haustive report on these experiments,
concerning which he said:
"But If asked whether the will to
communicate be Hodgson's or be some
mere spirit-counterfeit OF Hodgson,
remain uncertain and await more facts.
facts which may not point clearly to
conclusion for SO or 100 years"
In the course of his experiments with
Mrs. Piper a secret password from his
dead father was given to Prof. Hyslop
by her, 1t is claimed. before he had
unmasked and before she had ever
Seen him In her conscious state When
later he got the same password from
an orthodox minister's wife. who had
also developed trance mediumshiD and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

Capitol glutted with it, but the govern
ment was paying rent on half dozen
warehouses which were serving no other
purpose than for storage for these waste
documents. In addition to the rent OF
these buildings, watchmen were being
maintained for them.
In the year 1909. the public printer. by
direction of the joint commission on
printing, sold 100000 government docu-
ments as waste paper. These documents
sold for less than one cent a pound, and
only brought $4,000 in the aggregate.
There were $50 tons of these documents.
and under the law they must be mutt
lated before being sold in order that they
might not be disposed of by some jobber
as government documents. The mutila-
eminent nearly $1,000. The result in the
case Of a single book would be about as
follows: 1t had cost the government 81
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

for various years. There were many
wagonloads Of such reports as that of
the chief engineer of the War Depart
ment. The geological survey had con-
tributed great numbers of volumes of a
narrow and very technical nature, in
which only scientific men following very
narrow lines Of investigation were inter-
ested. The lesser publications Of various
bureaus and various investigations were
to be found in great quantities. Altogeth-
er there was in the vaults and corridors
perhaps thousand tons of worthless
printed matter that could be used by
very few people.
This vast accumulation Of useless
documents upon which many millions of
dollars had been wasted in printing was a
veritable white elephant upon the hands
Of the government. Not only were the
Easements of most Of the departments, of
the government printing Office and of the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

laws, of chance or the possibility of
fraud.
Two noted British knights, renowned
for their breadth OF intellect. have sur
rendered even more completely. Sir Oh
liver Lodge, head of the University of
British Society for Psychical Research
has given details of messages which he
claims to have received from dead MEM
bess Of the society through the pen q
women of mystery" From Edmund
Quincy. one Of the founders Of the So
ciety, Sir Oliver received an alleged mes
standing behind sheet of frosted glass
which blurs the sight and deadens
Our aforementioned medium, Mrs. Pr
per. has had a hand in converting SIR
Oliver. He got her to come to his Liver
pool residence, where, in the presence OF
a committee, she is reported to nave
told just what two women, utter stran-
gers to her, were doing minute oy minute
in their London home.
A brilliant English litterateur. F. W.
H. Myers, died in 1901 upon completing a
noted work, Human Personality, DEAL
ing with this problem of survival Of per-
sonality after death. Prior to his pass
ing away he expressed his intention of
trying. after death. this crucial expert
ment Of exerting his own influence upon
minds still carnate. After series OF
trials with Mrs. Piper and other mediums
Sir Oliver Lodge has announced that
Myers, Hodgson and others have, during
these tests, been constantly purporting
to communicate with us. with the express
purpose OF patiently proving their iden-
tity, giving us crosS-correSpondence be-
tween different mediums"
The other British knight referred to as
q convert is the celebrated chemist and
inventor Of the x-ray tube. Sir William
risked his scientific reputation by report
ing to an exalted body how he had COM
muned with a materialized spirit known
as Katie King; how he had had crys-
tails placed in his palm by hands not be-
longing to any persons in the room with
him.. and how in broad daylight he had
seen a cloud condense into hand which
carried objects about. This exalted body
to which he reported these alleged phe-
nomena was no less than the British
ROYAL Society. His paper was igno-
miniously thrown out, the great society's
outraged secretary refusing to so much
as enter 1t upon the files.
Quite as enthusiastic convert was
William T. Stead, the well known editor
of the English Review Of Reviews. who
was a victim Of the Inflated Titanic
catastrophe last week. A short while
ago ne surprised the oritiSn empire with
the announcement that he had become a
writing medium. At first the noted editor
accepted telepathy. and claimed to have
written down the thoughts of living men
many miles away. Then, OF late years,
he alleged he had gotten into close COM
munion with the dead. While engaged in
his automatic writing he claimed his right
arm became tmpassive. while its fingers
guided q pen over paper on which appear
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

ed letters from his son, the brilliant young
writer. William. who died several years
ago. Mr.. Stead stated that this writing
appeared without his exercising any will
power to either hold the pen or move 1t.
Next Editor Stead announced the OPEN
ing in London OF his Julias bureau, a
public telegraph Office, where any one
might call up friends across the gulf.
spirit controf'-the operator upon the
Stygian side-was alleged to be the shade
Of pious Chicago lady. Miss Julia A.
Ames, who for some years edited the
American organ OF the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union. 1t appears that Miss
Ames. like LombrOsO. Prof. James and
DIR. Funk, made arrangements to come
back after death. and that she made good.
Twice she came. and at the second in
stance / happened to be staying at the
castle where her apparition has been
Seen" said Editor Stead. LAS my hand
began to write automatically then. I
placed 1t at the disposal Of Miss Ames
and she has used it as her own ever
since"
Thus she became the Julia of "Julia's
bureau" through which Mr.. Stead some
time ago claimed to have received the
startling campaign literature sent over
the spirit wireless by the great Gladstone.
And it might be recalled that no less
a light than the noted Lord Brougham.
lord chancellor of England, reported the
fulfllment of such pact as DIR. Funk
entered 'into-one made with his lord
ships most intimate boyhood friend, &c"
with whom he attended the university.
We frequently in our walks
discussed and specialized upon many
grave subjects. among others ON the i'm
mortality of the soul and on future
state" wrote the chancellor In his
memoirs. This question and the possi-
bility. l will not say of ghost walking.
but OF the dead appearing to the living,
were subjects of much speculation; and
we actually committed the folly OF draw
ing up an agreement, written with our
blood, to the effect that whichever of us
died the first should appear to the other
and thus solve any doubts we had enter
tanned Of the life after DEATH" This
chum entered the civil service in India
and seldom wrote to Brougham, who
after few years almost forgot him
How this compact was weirdly fulfilled
Lord Brougham thus tells in his journal
of December 10. 1879: IT had taken. as
! have said. a warm bath; and while iy-
ing In IT / turned my head round.
looking toward the chair on which had
deposited my clothes. On the
chair sat G. looking calmly at me- How
got out of the bath / know not, but
on found
or whatever. 1t was that had taken the
likeness of g., had disappeared"
All OF this. according to the record. oc-
after his return to Edinburgh Brougham
received "a letter from India announcing
Cts death and stating that he had died
on the 10th OF December.
singular coincidence.
Copyright. 1912 By John Eifreth watkns.l
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

NOTED. Editor and Pub
- Usher Before Dying This
Month Arranged Test Code
to Prove Survival of Human
Personality After Bodily
Death-Similar Pacts En-
tered Into by Great Minds.
Whose Test Messages Are
Awaited With Interest
Surprising Number of Noted
Thinkers Lately Accept
Spiritualistic Hypothesis.
BY JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

as prohibitionist and reform leader.
In the course Of his Investigations Of
spiritualism, he had fearlessly exposed all
phenomena which he had suspected as
fraudulent
Some time ago it was announced that
he had been the principal in a most in
teresting psychic experiment. He shut
himself in q room in Brooklyn at the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

regard him as a fantastic visionary, that
he made this solemn ante-mortem COM
pact to place himself, after death, In def
mite communication with his fellow-mem-
bers of the Milan Society for Psychical
Research. And he arranged that his COM
munications should be made through that
famous Italian medium with whom he
had been experimenting for the past
fourteen years. Eusapia Paladino. who
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

writing and communication with the dead
were bona fide phenomena. To give her
a special test DR.. Hodgson arranged a
unique course of experiments, in which
he was aided by DR.. Hyslop, then profess
sor at Columbia.
Prof. .Hyslop masked himself and dis
guised his voice during his visits to
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

HAT SavantS en-
gagged in psychic
research now have
their star oppOr-
tunity TO prove
that the dead can
communicate with
the living Is claim
ed by many devo-
tees OF this mystic
science.
1t has become
known that prior To
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21
WASTE PUBLICATIONS NBASEr1ENT
5~5 OF The CAPITOL

raw paper alone in this quantity OF ma
terial would be worth $32O, 200.
in the hands Of the Superintendent of
documents the committee found an addi
tional two million publications that had
been returned by Libraries to which they
had been sent. These were mostly hand
somely bound books Of large size. Many
of them were such publications as the
statistical volumes of the census, which
would weigh four or five pounds each
and cost as many dollars to produce. The
government had probably spent $500 600
for material alone to go into these books.
To this must be added the expense Of
printing them, which would amount to as
much more. After having printed these
volumes the government had gone to the
expense Of sending them through the
mails to the various libraries. This had
cost 8 cents a pound, or about S160 600
one way. When the volumes were found
to be useless by the libraries to which
they were sent they were shipped back
to the superintendent of documents at
another cost of $4,000. When that Of
fetal received these volumes he had no
use for them and was merely put to the
necessity and expense Of overhauling
and destroying them. His laborers with
the axes again got busy on Uncle Sans
cations.
\
The Capitol building at Washington
covers about four acres of ground. Three
stories under this building is a vast SUBJ
cellar that occupies practically that en-
tire space. Into this subcellar for many
years had been taken all manner Of gov
eminent documents brought to the Capt.
tol and for which no use was found. To
him who ventured into this subterranean
region there was given the vista Of vast
als.es piled high with an accumulation
of these documents. There were to be
found great quantities of the Congress
sional Records, handsomely bound in
leather. There were practically unlim-
tied quantities Of the cloth-bound reports
of the secretaries of various departments
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

HAT you may get
just the govern
ment publications
that are of interest
to you and that
you may be spared
the g K D e II 9 e or
pri II t | n & costly
books which serve
no further purpose
[ n a n w o u | d q
frie n d ly postal
card, Congress Is
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

strenuously attempting to reform II
self with relation to the business
os printing. To accomplish this Con
gross has appointed a joint commission
TO investigate it's monster printing bills,
and that commission has reported that
the wastes in this direction amount to
tens of millions. and that despite the
great expense, the end aimed at is not
accomplished
Uncle Sam has. the commission states.
a gang of laborers at work regularly de-
stroying books which it has cost him mil
lions of dollars to print. Almost any
day these workmen may be seen with
axes chopping viciously into great stacks
of leather and cloth bound books such. as
would be an ornament to any library.
Every few years the government finds
itself the possessor of vast quantities of
printed matter stored in many Easements
as is grain in granaries. In the vaults
under the Capitol ii is no uncommon mat
ter to find thousand tons of worth
less public documents which Congress
finds itself unable to even give away.
Yet these documents have cost millions
of dollars in the printing, and those mil
lions, according to Congress itself, are
absolutely wasted.
Every day through the congressional
season there is mailed from the Capitol
and the House and Senate Office build
inss an average of twenty tons of print
ed matter. The men who mail it confess
that the vast majority of it is intended
to have no more effect than would a
postal card which reminds the constituent
that he is remembered. The cost to the
Post Office Department in sending this
matter through the mail amounts to $500
q day.
Every year the federal government
sends out more than JOO.O 900 expensive
books to&certain designated libraries in
different parts of the country. Very few
of these libraries use the books. Many
of them return them to the government
printing office at the expense Of the gov
eminent, while the great majority simply
discard them. Extremely technical books,
some of which are filled with expensive
plates and weigh as much as eighteen
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

PUT This Is a Bagatelle
L Compared With the Doc
uments He Wastes Otherwise
An Authoritative Commits
sion of Both Houses of Con-
gress Is Responsible for This
Statement-Books That Cost
S. Each Are Having Their
Covers Torn OFF and Being
Sold for 3 Cents-Thousands
of Tons of Wasted Docu-
rnents Are Stored Away in
Government Warehouses and
Bas e m n ts-Congress Is
Making a Strenuous Effort
to Stop This Waste and to
Get to the People the Publ
cations They Want.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

pounds per copy. are thus broadcasted to
people who do not want them.
These and scores of other equally SEN
sational facts have been developed by
Senate. headed by Statesman Senator
Reed Smoot. All these statements are
from the mouth of Senator Smoot, and
may therefore be regarded as safely
within the facts. This commission, which
has been seven years in compiling it's
facts. has just reported upon conditions
in the government printing office and
recommended an entire new printing law,
with the idea of obv:ating great many
Of the old abuses.
This commission reports that since 1895
there have been printed ten million pub
locations that it has never been possible
to distribute. The commission further
holds that this number is merely a baga-
telle compared with the vast amount of
government publications that has been
wasted by improper distribution and Of
which it was unable to find a trace. The
commission holds that it is conservative
to estimate that the ten million worth
less documents that have accumulated
in Washington during the last seventeen
years cost the government an average Of
so cents each. which would indicate a
net loss of five million dollars on this
definitely known accumulation. Senator
Smoot places the estimate of the loss
due to defective printing and distribution
methods on the part Of Congress and the
federal departments at $4,000, 600 for the
last seventeen years.
When the joint commission began to
look about for accumulated documents
its first find was in the various depart
ments. In Easements and storerooms
or those departments it dug up more than
three million books that had been printed
on the order of those departments and
which had never been distributed. There
were about 1900 tons of this material.
This means that it would fill thirty-five
big freight cars to their capacity. The
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

1t II claimed that since his death he
communicated with HyslOp and Lodge.
dunn, and at the age of seventy-three,
he died firmly believing In the survival
of human personality after bodily death.
1t was to prove this TO the hundreds OF
his brother savants. some Of whom. be-
cause OF his spiritualistic views. cameato.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

PROF. WILLIAM JAMES,
Who arranged to communicate with
HyslOp.
down in Boston, where he became head
Of the old American branch of the Brit
ish Society of Psychical Research, and
where he met Prof. James. who took him
to see Mrs. Piper. DIR. Hodgson studied
this woman for eighteen years. and she
convinced him that telepathy. automatic
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21

BY JOHN ELFRETH wATKIN