, Pa., March 16, 1917. THE CACKLE OF THE HEN. 1 love to hear the Robin, The harbinger of Spring, As he sits upon the apple tree And gleefully doth sing; I love to see him flitting And hear him, too, but then, There's no song so expressive As the cackle of the Hen. The canary in his gilded cage A singer is of note, . His trills and runs amaze me From such a tiny throat: But when it comes to music, No matter where or when, There's nothing that's so cheering As the cackle of the Hen. You've heard about the Mocking bird The Southern warbler sweet, And the Nightingales some singer, Tis said he can’t be beat; But e'en the sweetest songster, In forest, field or glen, Wakes no responsive heart-throb Like the cackle of the Hen. Wilkes-Barre “Record. Overland by Automobile From Phila- delphia to Rushville, Nebraska. (Continued from last week.) August 12th we broke camp at 2:15 p. m., after having mended tires, washed, bathed and cleaned ‘up in general. We stopped a short time at Clyde for oil and again at Napol- eon for provisions. It was getting late so we determined to camp at the first available place. About two miles out we saw a nice looking grove and went in and asked some grown boys if we could camp there. They said, “certainly,” and opened a couple of gates for us to go through, We made camp and were just ready to eat. I went up to the house to get some water, and I thought I would see if they had any eggs or butter to sell. I saw a small boy and asked him. He disappeared into the house and I went ahead and got my water then waited for some time but he did not come back, so I went up to the back door to see if he was coming. I rapped but no one appeared, and I could see no one about. At last I started back to camp and when I got about half way there I was met by a man who imme- diately started in to lecture me for camping there. He wanted to know if I did not know that I was on his ranch? What did I mean by coming in there without permission and start- ing a fire? Was I trying to burn his place down, ete. I explained that we had asked his son. He said, “Oh that boy is too easy! He don’t know any- thing.” He had more to say about it, but I told him to shut up and we would get out. He was very much under the influence of alcohol. I told Mr. Beck, the farmer, that he was the only person who had not shown us the greatest courtesy, and that, rather than be near such an uncivil person, we would go at once. So we went out and ate our supper, which was all ready, and then, although it was dark, we packed up our stuff and left Fairview farm. We proceeded on down the road about five miles through Midville and asked another farmer to let us camp in one of his fields, and at the same time told him about the other case. He said of course we could and at the same time told us that Mr. Beck was the only man he knew of who would act like that. He did not seem to be very highly thought of about there. So we camped under a large tree and the place was really better than where we had camped at Fairview farm. The next morning I fixed the speed- ometer and reset it at 691.2, the dis- tance we had traveled so far. It was 10:45 when we got under way, but we made good progress, stopping at Bry- an for gas and oil and at noon stop- ped 13 miles inside of Indiana, for lunch. While we were preparing lunch Helen was running around the place enjoying herself and when we were ready to sit down she was no- where to be found. A few minutes before we had heard the farmer call her and she had gone to him. When we started to look for her the farmer told us she was in the house eating her dinner. There she was sitting in a high-chair, as big as you please, eating her dinner. The farmer’s wife begged us to let her there as she was enjoying herself. That is the way most of the people treated us. They seemed glad to have us about and to talk to us and it made us feel very good after the experience of the night before. After lunch we continued on and camped at a very nice school- house, about five miles east of Gosh- en. The roads were paved along here and the farms were well kept up. That night a farmer came up to our camp to talk to us. During the con- versation I asked him why it was that the farms looked so much better along the paved roads. He said that it made the hauling better and that more people passed and saw the places so the farmers fixed up the places and took more pride in them and did more fertilizing and there- fore raised better crops and made more money. It certainly was so; the places were all well kept up, the school houses looked as good as in the city, although smaller; the fences were in repair, and the farmers were driving about in autos. Good roads do make a difference. August 14th, we broke camp at 9:30 and ran into Goshen, where I decided to have new bushings placed in the steering connections, as the front wheels were getting very loose. This took until almost noon during which time we got our daily provis- ions and had grease placed in the differential. We then started on our way again, the machine steering very hard, due to the new bushings. We made good time but had a bad blow- out just as we were entering South Bend. I had a spare tire on the rim so it did not take us long to change and we reached the city at 8 p. m. There we got “Dad’s” letter, telling us where we would find Jim Wilson. We looked him up and they invited us to stay all night which we did. Here we had a chance to clean up and sleep in a good bed. No one who has not been in a similar condition can ap- preciate how thankful we were for that great kindness. August 15th, we left at 9:50 a. m., after having had a lovely time. They were making new road out of South Bend and we had been given very ex- plicit directions how to get around the blocked road but we missed the ‘mark somewhere and got into a pep- permint swamp. When we had final- ly returned to the road we found that we had traveled twenty-five miles to make fifteen. Soon after getting back on the cement road we stopped at a farm house to eat our lunch. I went in after water and although I saw a, savage looking bull dog I thought that I was avoiding him. I had just turned away to ask permis- sion to get water when suddenly I heard a growl right at my feet. Nat- urally I lost no time in getting away from the dog, but then I saw that he was tied by a short leash to a wire which permitted him to run between the house and the barn. I got my water but you can bet that I went well around that dog when returning to our camp. That night we pitched camp on a sand dune covered with trees. This was 23 miles from Chi- cago, and right back of a saloon, but on account of the swamps around Chicago this was the only available place. This was the worst place we found on the whole journey to camp, although the people treated us very nice. August 16th, meter reading 932.3, we broke camp at 10 a. m. and reach- ed the city at 11.50. There we had to wait some time to get the muffler, which I had blown off, fixed, as well as to get two tires adjusted. These were American tires, and I swore never again to buy any of that make as I had not only had trouble all along with them but when I asked them to change them for me they were surly about it and then in putting them on, their so-called mechanic, pinched a new tube for me and then put on a cold patch. I was thoroughly dis- gusted and told them if they ever sold tires on account of my recommenda- tion it would be a great surprise to me. We also got route bocks here as well as provisions and left ithe city at 3:55, meter reading 957.4. We stop- ped at Downes Grove for some addi- tional provisions and then pitched camp at 7 p. m. at a lovely school- house, surrounded with trees. There was a pump there and the yard was covered with trees. It was a fine place except that we had to leave the car outside and go back and forth through a gate, made by winding back and forth through a number of posts set upright in the ground. August 17th, meter reading 995.1, we broke camp at 9:15 and reached Aurora at 9:50, leaving at 10:50. We wanted to stop at Sulphur Lick Spring, but the people seemed so in- hospitable and attempted to put so many restrictions on us that we went on about a mile. Here the people were very nice to us. We stopped at Wya- net Station for provisions and pitch- ed camp two miles east of Sheffield at 6:30, in a lovely country school- yard up on a hill overlooking the country all around. We were able to drive in the yard and pitched our tent under the trees. These yards are the best prace to camp through Iowa, be- cause they have all one needs and no one to bother you. August 18th, meter reading 1105.3, broke camp at 9:05 and started for Sheffield. We found a fair dirt road from Sheffield almost to Rock River, but we made good time over it until we got to the river, there our coils gave us so much trouble that we were compelled to stop in the midst of a very dusty road and repair them. We then crossed over the river and stop- ped from 12:30 to 2:50 for lunch. The farmers came out and talked to us and wanted to know why we did not come in and make ourselves at home on their lawn. They also gave Helen a cake which pleased her very much. We reached Moline at 3 p. m., and Davenport at 4 p. m. There we stop- ped for some time to have that coil repaired and also to get a check cash- ed. Although the garage men work- ed for some time on the coil they did not seem to have very much luck with it. Then, when we went to get the check cashed we again had trou- ble, although it was a traveler’s check. We finally went to one of the hotels where they cashed it. We then filled up with gas and oil and secured som= pennants, and left the city at 5:30. We next stopped at Durant for pro- visions and pitched camp at 8 p. m,, about three miles out from Wilton in a shady grove. The farmer took the trouble to walk about two blocks across the road, in his stocking feet, to show us the best place to camo. This was the best camp we found on the entire road. The grass was short and the trees on all sides of us fur- nished plenty of shade. We stayed there all morning, washing and tun- ing up the car, We had bent the ra- dius rod and I took the trouble to turn it over which made it steer very much better. During the morning a little girl came over and played with Helen. She brought her dog along and that pleased Helen very much. Then some chickens and geese came over to see her and shz had a great time trying to catch ther. August 19th at 1:10 p. m., we final- ly were ready to start and had to leave this delightful spot. We stopped at Marengo for provisions and finally pitched camp off the road a short dis- tance at a school house next to a field of timothy seed, which interested Eve very much. The next morning she got up at 4:30 to care for the baby and stayed up till 5:30 to see sun come up, not having seen that sight lg than three or four times in her ife. August 20th we broke camp at 8:50, the earliest we had gotten away so far. We stopped at Victor and had some wires soldered on the spark coils. We then started on but not far when our radiator ran dry and the pistons stuck. We wasted some time there getting them loosened up again. We reached Des Moines in the early afternoon, but on account of its bein Sunday we could not get a new Sol coil, which I was very much in need of, but finally found a master vibra- tor, which we thought at the time was a compromise, but it proved to be the best thing we have done as other coils were almost gone. It was late when we got this fixed however so we start- the club house and got permission to! —— ed out looking for the nearest plac? to camp. We got on a dirt road and | finally to the top of a steep hill. Wg | were disgusted so I got out to lcJk | around and found that we were right | alongside of a golf course. We pitch- | ed camp right there and I went up to % i camp and also water. We found that we were on the public golf course, and ! were told that we could camp. It! was a long tramp for water but the | care taker came back with me and! showed me where we could get water much nearer. If we had known about | it we could have had a dandy place ! they had fixed up for picnickers right | at the well. We did not pitch the tent | this night but slept in the open. i (Concluded next week.) ee —— i Trophies of War. | In the auditorium of the academic building at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis are 15,000 square yards of flags, most of them trophy flags. The capture of these tattered ban- | ners helped to make the stars and stripes respected by the nations of the earth and reflect undying glory on the men of the United States Na- vy. They are living proofs of the he- roism and courage of the soldiers and sailors who fought to maintain the flag when the nation was struggling for independence and later when it was fighting to establish firmly the foundations of the greatest republic of the world. From 1847 to 1901 this collection nf flags which should be one of Ameri- ca’s most highly prized treasures, was kept at the Naval Academy and ex- hibited in the old naval institute hall. In 1901, when it was decided to tear down this building, the flags were packed in iron boxes and stored away. Being in a dilapidated condition when they were taken down to be packed grave fears were entertained that they would be further damaged by moths. During the ten years they remain- ed in storage repeated efforts were made to have the government take some steps to put them in a perma- nent state of preservation, but with~ out success. In 1912 Congress appro- priated $30,000 for the work of pres- ervation. About three months later Mrs. Amelia Fowler, an expert on flag preservation obtained the services of forty needlewomen, who began the arduous task of sewing over by hand every inch of the 15,000 square yards in the flags, as the natural decay of age as well as the almost hopeless ravages of moths made any ordinary method of preservation seem impos- sible. A special process was originated by Mrs. Fowler, which is described as “spreading the tattered remnants of each flag upon a backing of heavy Irish linen of neutral color.” The delicate work was guided by the original measurement of the flag, by a knowledge of its design and by placing in vertical and horizontal line the warp and woof threads in the fragments of bunting. What remained of the original flag was then sewed firmly to the linen backing by needlewomen under Mrs. Fowler’s instruction and guidance. Less than a year after the labor of repairing was begun, on May 16th, 1913, the flags were completed and put on exhibition at the Naval Acad- emy. In the ceiling of the academic build- ing is one of the most interesting of the trophy flags. It is a British roy- al standard taken from the parlia- ment house at New York, now Toron- to, then the capital of upper Canada, when the place was taken by the squadron under Commodore Isaac Chauncy and a land force under Gen- eral Zebulon Montgomery Pike, April 27, 1813. The squadron, with about 1,700 sol- diers aboard effected a landing at York under cover of a fire of grape from the ships, cleared a way through the Indians and sharpshooters that the English had formed to oppose them and stormed the batteries. The capture of York resulted in the acquisition of the royal standard, the only British royal standard captured and held by any nation. The flags captured by Admiral Dewey at Manila Bay are in this au- ditorium and some of them are ex- quisite. The one flown at the main of the Spanish cruiser Don Antonio de Ulloa is a reminder of the plucky captain of that cruiser, Enrique Re- biou, who refused to surrender -at the battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, so the Ulloa sank with its guns blaz- ing defiance and all flags flying.— Boston Globe. Different Kind of Spring. Jaynes—“Do you remember Jinks, who used to spend all his time writ- ing poems about spring ?” Baynes—“Yes and he nearly starv- ed to death doing it.” Jaynes—“Well, I met him today and he’s looking well fed and prosper- ous. Baynes—“What is he doing now?” Jaynes—“He’s still in the same business, only now his poems are about motor car springs, and he gets a good price for all he can turn out.” Where He Belonged. The recrnit was not very robust, and during a trying route march had to fall out no fewer than five times. The sergeant, an Irishman, got exas- perated. “You are in the wrong regiment,” he shouted. “It’s mot this one you should be in at all.” The recruit looked puzzled. “It’s in the flying corps you should be,” continued the sergeant, “an’ then yer would only fall out once.” Implied Disaster. A lady who refused to give alms to a man heard him mutter: “There! I must resort to my first resolution.” : Judging that he contemplated sui- cide, she called him back and gave him some money, and at the same time asked him what he meant by his remark. : “Oh, ma’am,” said he, “you are very | cakes about three or four inches long, a — SWEETS AND FAVORS. Little Things With a St. Patrick’s Day Flavor. FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN. DAILY THOUGHT | A is . | of the sun, it has the fixity of the stars.— Entertaining is a pleasant and easy | pornan Caballero. task these days when the “bakers and | candlestick makers” and the rest of o 1 Pennsylvania suffragists ave jubi- hie sh ok FEDS keep tabs on nie cal: { lant over victories recorded for their y | cause in the last few days. Successes the elaborateness and variety of their | 7/1 q0 the granting of primary elec- | holiday offerings. a : . os | tion franchise for the wonien of Ar- There are numbers of such delicious | kansas and the enfranchisement of looking little cakes this year that will | | 2 ce . : be of special help to the hostess. Lit- ie women Wn hi Plovise oud tle sponge cakes are cut in the shape | g Sanda, d i I a of shamrocks and. iced a delicate | suffrage bill vas passed by the House } . tl : iz - green, or plain white. If they are | of Representatives by a vote of 51 to 1: Hho | 27, and has been signed by Governor Mite they are decorated with a touch | Brough. The Lill empowers wonen no remind us of the “Harp that | t° vote at party primaries. Fropon- ate Halle? | ents of the bill say this is virtually once through Tara's Halls” are small | ¢;;" oy grrage, as nominations in Ar- | kansas at the primaries always mean | election. The enfranc<hising of the women of Ontario leaves practically only one cut harp shape, with icing strings and decorations and the whole cake covered with green. : Potatoes of cake are very Bef | large province, (zuebec, in Canada tle round balls—not always i round, either, covered with cinnamon, wv do oot oe and of the If common sense has met the prillizney | good. I had almost resolved to go to work,” . that will taste very good when eaten | \,4;onq] Suffrage organization also with a green ice or an ice-cream Son of Erin. Yes, the ice cream makers will help you, too—you may have your ices in the shape of miniature Irishmen. The candies will help carry out the color scheme beautifully. Of course, there are chocolate straws—nice shiny green sticks with delicious chocolate tucked under their crisp green covers. ‘White and green bonbons, too, you may have with frilly green paper cases to set them off. And pipes also—chocolate and white ones, that you may use for fa- vors and your guests may afterward consume. . To help make the table attractive and unique there are all sorts of lit- tle contrivances. Green paper pedes- tals with bust of a roguish Irishman on too are hollow and will hold candy. Little earthen flower pots show sprouts of both pipes and shamrocks and they may be grouped about the board in unique fashion. Harp and heart-shaped boxes are covered with green paper and many shamrocks and will hold sweets. Then there is a book that looks like a “best seller” with a green paper cover and a suggestive title. But it won't bore the recipient one bit, for when she lifts the cover she’ll probably find her own particular kind of bonbons. You probably never saw such green pigs with long hair such as the ones the sweet shops are showing, but that doesn’t matter! They never grew that color, but if you want to add the right emerald hue to your feast they will be just the necessary bit of green- ness. And snakes—we almost forgot them! Green, glistening, wiggling, affairs that aren’t specially pleasing, but have a connection with the day. Saint Patrick and the Shamrock. The 17th of March, 465, is general- ly given as the date of Saint Patrick’s death, his burial place Downpatrick, where the remains of Saint Columb aR Saint Bridget were laid beside im. The authentic records of Saint Pat- rick’s life are fairly numerous and of great age. ings attributed to him, and which have been handed down in the Book of Armagh, written in 812 by the scribe Ferdomach. This. famous manuscript book contains the “Con- fessions of Saint Patrick,” written by him in his old age. The miracles attributed to Saint Patrick are many and varied. How the Saint drove all the snakes out of Ireland is told in many stories, both serious and humorous. It is said that he made a wondrous drum, the sound of which caused the serpents to plunge themselves into the ocean. On Saint Patrick’s day the sham- rock is the universally worn emblem. The Saint, in expounding Christiani- ty to the followers of the Druidcal priests, is said to have used the sham- rock in symbolizing the Blessed Trin- y. And for fifteen centuries the mem- ory of the brave and faithful Saint who planted the Christian deligion in the Emerald Island has remained as green as “the dear little, sweet little shamrock of Erin.” The glory of Ire- land’s past clusters about him.—Se- lected. The First-Class Man is Wanted. The first step on the ladder that leads to success is the firm determin- ation to succeed; the next is the possession of that moral and physical courage which will enable one to mount, rung after rung, until the top is reached. One can hardly imagine a boy say- ings: “I am going to be a second- class man,” says a writer in “Suc- cess.” “I don’t want to be a first- class, and get the good jobs, the high pay. :Second-class jobs. are good enough for me.” Such a boy would be regarded as lacking in good sense, if not in sanity. You can get to be a second-class man, however, by not trying to be a first-class one. Thous- ands do that all the time, so that second-class men are a drug on the market. Second-class things are wanted only when first-class cannot be had. You wear first-class clothes if you can pay for them, eat first-class but- ter, first-class meat, aad first-class bread; or if you do not, you wish yeu could. Second-class men are no more wanted than any other second-class commodity. They are taken and used when the better article is scarcz or too high-priced for the occasion. For work that really amounts to anything, first-class men are wanted. Many things make second-class men. whose understanding is dull and slow, whose growth has been stunted, is a second-class man. A man who, through his amusements in his hours of leisure, exhausts his strength and vitality, vitiates his blood, wears his nerves till his limbs tremble like leaves in the wind, is only half a man, and in no sense could be called first- class. Lively Agent—Well, sir, can I sell you an encyclopedia ? Native—No, I guess not. I'm get- ting purty old to ride around much. They include the writ- | ‘A man menaced by dissipation, | i are elated by the telegram of Presi- dent Wilson to Speaker W. R. Crab- tree, of the Tennessee State Senate, expressing his hope that that bedy will reconsider its action in rejecting legislation extended to women. In ‘reply to a message from Speaker Crabtree asking for an expression on the situation in Tennessee, President Wilson in his answer stated ‘that since the measure is one of the party pledges, the moral obligation is com- plete.” President Wilson’s telegram follows: ’ White House Hon. W. R. Crabtree, Speaker of the State Senate, Nashville,— May I express my earnest hope that the Senate of Tennessee will reconsider the vote by which it rejected the legislation extending the suffrage to women. Our par- ty is so distinctly pledged to its passage that it seems to me the moral obligation is complete. WOODROW WILSON. County chairman of suffrage organ- izations throughout the State have received from their headquarters in Harrisburg a detailed report of the plan adopted by the executive coun- | ¢il of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which met re- cently in Washington, D. C., to devise methods of assisting the various States and the Federal Government if the United States engages in actual hostilities. Prefacing their offer of service to the President and Government of the United States, the National Suffrage leaders expressed the following senti- ment: : “We devoutly hope and pray that our country’s crisis may be passed without recourse to war.” “If, however,” the suffragists de- | clare, “our nation is drawn in the | maelstrom, we stand ready to serve with the zeal and consecration which should ever characterize those who cherish high ideals on the attitude and obligation of citizenship.” It was also made plain that there was no intention of laying aside their constructive, forward work to secure the vote for women. Specifically, the offer of service con- tained the suggestion that a national central committee be formed at once to be composed of a representative from each national organization of women willing to aid in war work if the need arises as a clearing house between the government and women’s organizations. It was suggested that the central committee undertake to establish a department consisting of employment bureaus for women, another to in- crease the food supply by training women for agricultural work and the elimination of waste, a third to direct co-operation with the Red Cross so- ciety, and another having as its ob- ject the Americanization of foreign- ers. If the need arises a council of coun- ty chairmen will be called to discuss the details of State-wide plans. If the Pennsylvania Legislature fails to pass the woman suffrage amendment now in the Committee on Constitutional Reform of the lower branch it will be in a minority among the States where similar bills ‘have been introduced. Already, in 1917, the North Dakota Legislature has passed a bill granting the women of that State the right of Presidential and Municipal franchise. The bill has been signed by Governor Frazer. In Ohio, too, both the House and Senate have passed a bill granting the women of the Buckeye State the right to vote at Presidential elections. In other Legislatures from Maine to Texas, where bills have been intro- duced, they, for the most part, have been advanced steadily toward the point of granting a referendum or Presidential or Municipal suffrage. The Democrats are preparing to strengthen themselves for the next national campaign. To this end plans are under way for the establishment of permanent headquarters in Califor- nia. The leaders said it was necessa- ry to consider the West and the wom- en voters. A special committee was appointed to consider headquarters and the formation of a permanent women’s headquarters. Women attired in overalls, employ- ed as machinists and working side by side with members of the male sex, have become such a common thing in the great factories of the East that the International Association of Ma- chinists has submitted to a referen- dum vote of its affiliated locals a res- olution making women eligible to membership in the Union and enti- tling them to all the privileges and benefits of that organization. Over 900,000 women are now doing men’s work in Great Britain. Compulsory national service Great Britain will include women. Each of the divisions of the Ger- man army has a woman attached to it as directress of the division for wom- en's service. in The Prussian Minister of Education announces that 10,950 public school teachers have been killed during the war and that their places have becn taken by women. oi sso Government Crop Report. Washington, D. C.,—A summary of the March crop report for the State | of Pennsylvania and for the United | States, as compiled by the Bureau of {Crop Estimates (and transmitted , through the Weather Bureau,) U. S. , Department of Agriculture, is as fol- i lows: | WHEAT ON FARMS. i State—Estimated stocks on farms March 1 this year 4,700,000 bushels compared with 8,612,000 a year ago and 5,462,000 two years ago. Price on March 1 to producers, 31.76 per bushel, compared with $1.13 a year ago and $1.42 two years ago. United States—Estimated stocks on farms March 1 this year 101,000,000 bushels, compared with 244,448,000 bushels a year ago and 152,903,000 two years ago. Price on March i to producers, $1.64 per bushel, compared with $1.03 a year ago and $1.34 two years ago. CORN ON FARMS. State—Estimated stock on favins March 1 this year 17,000,000 bushels, compared with 21,652,000 a year ago and 21,762,000 two years ago. Price March 1 to producers, 112 cents per bushel, compared with 79 cents a year ago and 83 cents two years ago. United States—Estimated stocks on farms March 1 this year 789,000.000 bushels, compared with 1,116,559,000 a year ago and 910,894,000 two years ago. Price March 1 to producers, 101 cents per bushel, compared with 63.2 cents a year ago and 75.1 cents two years ago. CORN OF MERCHANTABLE QUALITY. State—The percentage of the 1916 crop which was of merchantable qual- ity is estimated at 81 per cent., com- pared with 80 per cent. of the 1915 crop and 88 per cent. of the 1914 crop. United States—The percentage of the 1916 crop which was of merchant- able quality is estimated at 84.0 per cent., compared with 71.1 per cent. of the 1915 crop and 84.5 per cent of the 1914 crop. : OATS ON FARMS. State—Estimated stocks on farms March 1 this year 18,628,000 bushels compared with 12,300,000 a year ago and 12,554,000 two years ago. Price March 1 to producers 65 cents per bushel, compared with 50 cents a year ago and 59 cents two years ago. United States—Estimated stocks on farms March 1 this year, 394,000,000 bushels, compared with 598,148,000 a year ago and 379,369,000 two years ago. Price March 1 to producers, 56.9 cents per bushel, compared with 42.7 cents a year ago and 52.1 cents two years ago. BARLEY ON FARMS. State—Estimated stocks on farms March 1 this year 47,000 bushels, com- pared with 45,000 a year ago and 45. 000 two years ago. Price March 1 to producers, 76 cents per bushel, com- pared with 65 cents a year ago and 30 cents two years ago. United States—Estimated stocks on farms March 1 this year 32,800,000 bushels, compared with 58,301,000 a year ago and 42,889,000 two years ago. Price March 1 to producers, 96.9 cents per bushel, compared with 59.6 cents a year ago and 67.7 two years ago. * Coaling Ports for World’s Ships. There are about one hundred and forty coaling-ports scattered over the seven seas, from Panama, lying in strategic position at the Canal of Apia, but there arc none so essential to shipping, and none so celebrated on all the water-fronts of the world, as Gibraltar, Port Said, Colombo, Singapore, and Negasaki, on the main trade route to the Orient. For ships London bound on the long, eleven- thousand mile voyage from the far East, necessary stops are regularly made at these ports by both cross-sea liners and plodding cargo carriers. Pert Said was unheard of, and Ne- gasaki was unvisited by the seafaring men of the full rigger age, for trade routes and ships have changed since the tea-clipper left Whampoa and made London without calling it a port. The present-day mail-steamer, making cighteen knots an hour, is unable to carry sufficient coal for an eleven thousand-mile passage without renewing the supply in way port; and the modern tramp steamer, built to carry as much cargo as can be stow- ed, and barely enough coal to drive the engines from one coaling-port to the next, is in the same predicament. Huge supplies of coal are kept in all these ports for the needs of arriving shipping. At Port Said for instance, a million tons of coal are landed each year from colliers which daily arrive from England to supply the shipping which passes through the Suez Canal. Wherever there is a coaling-port, there the trade routes gather. On the “Tract Chart for Full Powered Steam Vessels,” published by the Hy- drographic Office, Washington, the trade routes which cross the great ex- panse of the Pacific radiate in all di- rections, like the spokes of a gigan- tic wheel, from each of the island ports of Honolulu, of Asia, and of Tahiti. Shoreward they are directed to San Francisco, to Panama, and Val- ariso, and on the Asiatic side of the acific all routes lead to Nagasaki in the north, and to Sidney in the south. Similarly, in the south Atlantic Ocean there are established for the use of steamers plying the routes of those waters, coaling-stations of large im- portance to the otherwise remote ports of Santa Cruz De Teneriffe, at the Cape Verde Islands, at Ascension Island, and at St. Helena, all of them island ports lying well from the Af- rican coast. Teneriffe, is a regular coaling port on the route to all Afri- can ports from the Ivory Coast to Cape Town; and the Cape Verde Is- lands—where 'four thousand steamers call for coal in a single year—are on the main route from the English Channel to the ports of South Amer- ica. These ports are on the cross-sea highways of the world’s commerce; from them stretch the by-paths and to them come the coast wise routes.— zine. Wealthy Japanese capitalists among whom are some of the most prominent business men in Japan, have organized a company for the manufacture of egg products in Tsingtau, China. George Harding, in Harper's Maga- wd
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