The Meyersdale commercial. (Meyersdale, Pa.) 1878-19??, February 01, 1917, Image 6

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    THE MEYERSDALE COMMERCIAL, MEYERSDALE, PA.
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Pomp seed
Alx Sonne
Rochelle Salts
A inise Seed. *
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LAWSDS STORY
1S GiVE
Wh 2 and Fisk Ar Before:
Leak Invastize urs
SAY BOSTOH MAN KUIANCER
-
Fisk Emphatically Denounces Tale of
Fh s Alleged Control Over Sccretary
R:cAdoo.
A sweeping denial of all of Thomas
W. Lawson’s charges as they per-
tained to themselves, was made be-
fore the leak investigation committee
in New York by Pliny Fisk of Har-
vey Fisk & Sons, New York bankcrs,
and Archibald S. White.
Among ca.egorical denials made by
Fisk were that he ever had a joint |
Wall street account with McAdoo and
a senator; that he had told Archibald |
White or anyone else that he had con-
trolled Secretary McAdoo and had of-!
fered to call him out of bed at an
early morning hour to answer a tele-
phone call and that he had received
any, advance Tnhformation regarding
President Wilson's recent peace note.
In response to a request Harvey |
Fisk & Sons sent to the committee !
communications they had with John |
their Washington correspon-
Boyle,
dent, in recent months. All of the
communications related tc bond trans-
actions.
Boyle is the Washington correspon-
dent of the Wall Street Journal, owned
by the Dow Jones company. It was
their ticker which carried an advance
hint of the coming of the president’s
peace note. Boyle testified in Wash-
ington that he had nothing to do with
the information.
Fisk held that Lawson had “wan-
tonly” blackened a reputable name,
but that perhaps “it was the result
of a disordered brain.”
While denying all knowledge of a
leak or a deal with McAdoo, Fisk
admitted previous close business rela-
tions with the secretary.
Lawson's testimony quoting Archi-
bald White as saying Fisk had boast-
ed of having control over McAdoo
was hotly denied and provoked this
outburst from Fisk:
“This statement of Lawson’s about
an alleged interview with Archibald
‘White has gone broadcast, and I think
that Mr. Lawson should be taken at
his word and be put behind the bars
for perjury, for wantonly using a
reputable name as he did mine.
“I said at the time that it may be
the result of a disordered brain ande
in that case the good Lord might take
care of it in his own way.”
° After denying that his firm ever had
received from the treasury depart-
ment “any advantage which any other
Wall street firm might not have re-
ceived,” Mr. Fisk admitted thao! the
federal reserve bank had leased of-
fices in a building owned by his con-
cern after he had suggested to Secre-
tary McAdoo that the offices were “the
best adapted of any in the street.”
“Have you ever purchased orighiised
to he purchased, in the last :four
years, any securities in which, Sec-
retary McAdoo was interested?” Sher-
man L. Whipple, counsel for the in-
vestigating committee, asked.
“] have not,” sir «Fisk declazed.
with great eraphasis. . 7
; {Mothers Know That
4 Bears the
Signature,
N BERIAL
Fo or Infants and Children.
Genuine Gastoria
Always
THE CENTAUR COMPANY. NEW YORK CITY,
ER oF
Archibald § 5. White, testifying before
the committee, denied Thomas W.
Lawsow s charges that White told him
liny Fisk had boasted to him about
his alleged control of Secretary Mec-
00.
“It’s all romance,” White declared.
| never mentioned Fisk’s name to
son.”
BETHLEHEM M CUTS MELON
Stock Dividend Tre Trebled—Quarterly |
Profits Reach 10 Per Cent.
|
The. Bethlehem Steel corporation |
declared a quarterly dividend of 10
per cent, or an increase of 214 per
cent over the .previous disbursement,
and a stock dividend of 200 per cent.
The "directors recommended an in-
| erease of the capital stock from $15,
1 000,000, the existing authorized
amount, to $60,000,000.
Of this sum $30,000,000, or 200 per
“cent, will be given to the stockhold-
ers as a bonus on the basis of two
shares for each share now held, and
the additional $15,000,000, or 100 per
eent increase, will be offered to Stock
‘ holders at par.
Attempt to Kil King of Spain.
An attempt was made to wreck a
train on which King Alfonso of Spain
was a passenger. The royal train was
preceded by a freight train, the en-
gineer of which saw an obstacle on
the track and removed it. Neither the
royal train nor the freight sugered
| any damage.
|
Man With a Riiscellansous Past.
“We have been gradually growing
accustomed, and especially of more re
cent years, to regard ourselves as a
composite people—an amalgamation of
several races and many nationalities.’
says the New Republic. :
“To illustrate that. the writer is fond
of quoting Herbert Croly's character-
ization of Mark Hanna's ancestry. Aft-
er describing how ‘in his father's biood
there was a Scotch-Irish, a Welsh and
an English or Dutch strain and on his
mother’s side a French Huguenot, an
Irish and an English infusion,” Mr
Croly concludes, ‘He became by virtue
thereof a tolerably typical American.
which means a man whose past is
so miscellaneous that he is obliged to
seek for himself some form of effective
personal definition.’ "
Quite Musical.
It may be so, and it may not, but a
Los Angeles student affirms it in an
examination paper. and here it is:
“Beethoven discovered the sonata in
four moves. Before this it was a sweet.
He wrote many piano sonatas for the
violin, and they were ealled string
quartets. When a piano sonata was
for an orchestra it was called a sym-
phony. The ninth piano sonata he
wrote for voices to sing.”
Still Willing.
“You said you ‘d go through fire and
water for me.’
“Show me a combination of the two
and I will.” —Puck.
i
| Why. no.
1
PITTSBURGH FIRE
LES B15 DAMAGE
Retail Cartr Sco Sane of Dis-
astraus Cons Loniagraiion
LOSS PLACED AT DAT SY, 563,000
No Cause Yet Been Determined For
Flames Which Started In Basement
of Five and Ten Cent Store.
Fire which swept through a sec-
tion of the retail business district of
Pittsbursn on Salurday destroyed the
Frank & Scder department store, the
Grand Opera House, the McCrory five
and ten cent store, the Hilton CGloth-
ing company
smellier buildings. ‘Four firemen w.ro
sericus!y hurt and a dozen or more so
badly injurcd that they were removad
to. hospitals.
Revised estimates of the losses
placed the total amount at about
$5,600 000. Four huzdred policemen,
drawn frei every disiriet in (he e.ty,
were on. guard. in 1h) bursa, distr.ci.
Durirg the prozress of ihe blaze
many were the norrow ogcnpas of fire-
men and spectators. As walls toppled
over and br. cks Bow, several men were
struck aid «injured ‘and ‘the hug:
sparks i} carried over sky-
scraper cps by 2 brisk wind eausad
anxiety for the safcty of cther build-
ings.
A trick of the blaze which aston-
ished the firemen and ‘caused Chief
James F. Richards io ring a fourth
alarm, which was cone hour after the
third alarm had been rounded, wis
the renewal of the outburst. Chief
Richards sa‘d that ‘he sew dangsr of
the fire spreading and called the other
companies for the sake of preparad-
ness.
It was in the basement Of the Me:
Crory store that the fire originated,
according to Chief Richards, but 10
cause has been dotarmine
P. M’S ON C'VI1 SEMISE LIST
-Senzte Bisnases of qin Sin
ures—House Passes Rivers
The annul logislative, cob u
judicial bill, the second big
oes
My Manag,
Bill.
supply
2
to be dizposed of beiore
March 4. vas passed by tho senate
after provisions had been written into
it placing all
service list, forbiddi ng employees of
the bureau of education from receiv-
ing compensation from private educa-
tional foundations, and further in-
creasing the pay of government clerksy
Under tho scale of salary increases
for government clerks, adopted by the
senate, those receiving less than $450
annually
cent and those receiving batween $430
and $1.000 raises of 10 per cent.
About $1,000,000. was added to the
measure in the senate, bringing the
total to approximately § 40, 006.000.
The annual rivers and ‘harbors an-
propriation bill, carrying $33,000 000
and including more than 210.600 000
for new projects, was passed by the
house today by a vote of 221 to 131.
It now goes to the senate.
AN EMBROIDERED CEILING.
RE MAc
it Once Craced’ the Chinese Imperiai
Falace at Peking.
One of the most beautiful and elab-
orate pieces of embroidery ever exhib-
ited in New York was the ceiling of
the couneil chamber of the imperial
palace at Peking. This ceiling was
formed of yellow silk of heavy quality
that much resembled faille in the
weave. The back was of a greenish
blue, woven in a small diamond pat-
tern. The total measurements of it
all were twenty-one feet six inches
long and nincteen feet six inches wide.
The design witk which it was em-
bellished was aun imperial dragon in
the center and four others, one in each
corner. Encircling these a groundwork
was formed of cloud pattern, and dis-
persed were small bats and other sym-
bols. - The cloud effec. was worked out
in blue and purple and the bats in
pink. The dragons were largely gold
work, and a threefold line of gold sur-
rounded each part of the design.
The story of this ceiling and how it
came to New York includes a small
part of Chinese history and custom.
It was In the imperial council chamber
at Peking that the énvoys of the va-
rious nations met in 1902 to settle the
Boxer difficulties. At the close of the
session a representative of the emper-
or courteously informed them that the
contents of the chamber were censid-
and a dozen or more |
sters on the civil
ji Its Backbone Is a Spring.
| - The snapping bug has a spring in |
| his back like a knife. When not in
use as a spring it serves him as a
backbone, so you see he is a believer in
scientific efiiciency and makes one part
| ef his machinery "do the work of two.
| His spring backbene, or backbone
| spring, if you prefer, gives him power
| to jump, which in turn gives him his
name. Nature probably e him the
spring to help him get or his feet when
he’s on his back. You've noticed how
, helpless some insects are when you
lay them on their backs.
however. He slips his backbone out
of its groove and then slips it back
again suddenly. The spring pops him
up in the air;
and drops right side up. Spring back-
bones are common in several other
beetles. remarks the Philadelphia
North American. The beetle of the
pestiferous wireworm, ‘which destroys
the farmer's crops, has a spring in his
back. Other members of the family
make their homes in trees or decayed
wood.
A Good Shot.
The town hoaster was in a reminis-
i cent mood and for the benefit of the |
i crowd of young loafers gathered at
| the village store had been recalling the
stiriing times on the first election day
after the war in the southern town
where he had lived.
“Yes-sir-ee, that was a hot time,” he
conclud®d. “They was a lot of shoot-
in’ took place. and I done my share of
it, I tell you. Why, fellers, I shot and
shot until my old revolver just felt hot
to my hands.”
Turning to another old man who had
come from the same southern town, he
said rather condescendingly: “Why,
Jim, you must ‘a’ been there that day.
How many times did you shoot?"
Jim spat with deliberation, rolled his
eyes reflectively and answered: “Jest
once. I was right in the thick of it
when the fight begun, and I shot round
the corner and down into a cellar.”’—
Youth's Companion.
No Black on Nature's Palette.
Nature uses no black in any part of :
her work. I will not except the black-
berry and the so callel black pansy.
On a bright, clear day shadows on the
snow are pale ultramarine blue; under |
a blue sky in midsummer the color of
shadows on the grass are lilac;
weathered gray board walk they are
neariy as blue as the sky itself. The
palpitating atmosphere of a warm July
day lifts the coloring of the landscape
to a higher but softer key instead of
reducing it with gray, and in the au-
tumn, when the sugar maple's leaves
‘are turned to gold, the shadows cn
the trunk and every gray rock in the
vicinity are tinged with strong lilac.
In fine, when the sun shines every-
thing, even the shadow, which we are
would get raises of 15 por |
one to believe is gray, is replete
ith color.—F. Schuyler Mathews.
Hitting at the Ball.
Jim used to playin 85. His game
was fairly cood—eould putt, approach
and cut tue ball, was steady with his
wood.. Then Jim read all the golfer's
books, absorbed each written line and
found his game was going bad. He
played in 89. Kind friends essayed
to help Jim out—instructed what to do.
He followed all their kindly tips—and
played in 92. And then he cut out theo-
ries—just practiced day by day, with
different clubs a-hitting at the ball
where'er it lay. So Jim now finds an
80 is no trick to play at all if he prac-
tices plain hitting—just plain “hitting
at the ball.” —Golfers’ Magazine.
The Retort Courteous.
James Russell Lowell was once a
guest at 2 banquet in London where he
was expected to reply to a toast. The
speaker who preceded Mr. Lowell said
many contemptuous things about the
people of the United States, avowing
and repeating again and again that they
were all braggarts. As American min-
ister at the court of St. James Lowell
could hardly overlook this speech, so as
he arose he said smilingly : “I heartily
agree with the gentleman who has just
spoken. Americans do brag a great
deal, and I don’t know where they got
the habit. De you?”
e
Above the Vulgar Gaze.
Until 1870 it was against the law
and sacred custom for any subject to
look at the emperor of Japan. His
political advisers and attendants saw
only his back. When he first left the
palace the shutters of all the houses
had to be drawn, and no one was per-
mitted in the streets. Even today.
when the emperor has the privilege of
driving through the streets like one of
his subjects, 1t is not considered quite
proper to cast a glance at him.
A Young Pessimist.
First Office Boy—The old man’s ste-
nographer just told me she loved me
for myself alone. Do you think she’s
ered profaned by the presence of foe
eigners and that they were therefore
at liberty to divide among themselves
the chamber’s furnishings. Im
manner the ceiling fell to the share ¢#
the American envoy.—St. Louis Post
Dispatch.
Caught Both Ways.
Mrs. Exe—My servant girl has left
me. She said I had so much company
there was too much work to do. Mrs.
Wye—That’s singular. Mine has left
me too. She said I had so little com-
pany it showed I had mo social posi
tion.—Bosten Transcript. §
‘Not Yet.
Don’t you think I'm en-
ion, John? Mr. Bacon-
A ‘pension: is something you
get after y:.1 a:e through fighting-
Vonkers Stacesman.
Mrs. Ba -on-
titled to » ve
' tainly not.
kidding? Second Office Boy—No, cer-
Probably the old gink is
going to raise your salary to $5 a week
and has told her about it.—Boston
Globe.
Useful Attachment.
“I wonder how that rough looking
fellow with his terrible language keeps
his place in a ladies’ hairdressing par-
lor?”
“I think it is because the patrons of
the place heard his talk made one’s hair
curl.,”—Baltimore American.
Not Tender.
No, Maude, dear; we very much
doubt that you could hurt a canalboat
by treading on its tows.—Philadelphia
Record:
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
—EBuripides.
he turns a somersault |
Not this one, |
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i
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the placid lake is cobait blue and the ;
1
on a |
| rulers of the
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One of Nature's Mysteries.
One of the most sudden changes in
animal life revealed in geologic history
took place about the close of the
mesoz era, or age «of reptiles, as it
popularly cailed. In
the mest powerful ani-
ZOo1¢ line
mals re huge land reptiles, known
as dinosaurs, whose bones have been
found in abundance in the Rocky
mountain region. At or near the end
of mesozoic time these, great monsters
suddenly disappeared from the western
courisy as well as from the remainder
of the world. They left no desrend-
ants, but in the following age of mam-
mals, or cenozoic era, their places as
earth were taken by the
mammals, The cause of the disap-
pearance of these great reptiles has
been a matter of rather fruitless spec-
ulation. Any explanation which will
| be acceptable must also account for
the disappearance of a great many
forms of animal life and the great
modification of most of the others, both
on land and in the sea. Some general
cause which would bring about changes
in climate and other conditions of life
seems to be a neccessary part of any
satisfactory explanation.
— en
Friction Skins.
Several theories have been advanced
to explain the corrugations of fingers,
palms and soles, but the most plausible
one is that expressed by the term “frie-
tion skins,” given by Mrs. Harris H.
Wilder. Not only man, but all the mon-
keys and apes have such ridges on the
skin of the grasping part of their hands
and feet. And, strangely enough, the
American opossums and tree porcu-
pines, Australian phalangers and South
American monkeys have just such cor-
rugations on their tails.
The openings of (lic ducts of the
sweat glands are along the tops of tli
ridges. Ti supply the slight moist
that is n« ary to proper grasping.
The Journal of Heredity, in a long
study of haud and foot prints, remarks
that a man iustinctively moistens the
palms of his hands when he wishes to
grasp securely. ,
The pattern of finger prints is gen-
i erally hereditary, but every individual
| develops his own details.
nl
Tracer Shells.
It is one thing to stop a hostile bat-
tery in an artillery duel and ancther
problem altogether to hit it. The lo-
cality may be well Known, but the
range difficult to determine. To sim-
plify matters in this respect “tracer”
shells are used. Into the base of the
shell a metal case is screwed contain-
ing a material which is self igniting
as the projectils rushes through space.
For night operations the material used
in the “tracer” bursts into a brilliant
flame, but by day the “tracer” leaves a
trail of dense black smoke. By this
means the gunners are able to watch
and time the shell right up to the mo-
ment the explosion takes place, and
by knowing the locality in which the
shell bursts the adjustment to the
range of the target is comparatively a
simple matter.— London Mail.
Just an Accident.
Two boys had indulged in a physical
end of the affray they were summoned
before the teacher to give an account
of their, misdeeds. One of them had a
bloody ve The teacher looked upon
this sanguinary feature with horror
and endeavored to instill in its inflictor
certain pacific principles.
“Now, Billy,” she said, “1 think you
cught to apajasine to Jimmie.”
“Huh!
no accident!” Billy answered.
“Accident? Why, Billy, how can you
call it an accident? Didn't you intend,
to hit Jimmie on the nose?”
“No, mom, I didn’t. 1 swung fer
his eye an’ missed!”—Cleveland Plain ;
Dealer.
Settling a Bill.
When Andrew Jackson lived at Salis-
bury, N. C., he once attended court at
Rockford, then the county seat of Sur-
ry, and left without paying his bill,
which was duly charged up against him
on the hotel register, which seems to
have been’ the hotel ledger at that time,
and so stood for many years. When
the news of the victory of the 8th of
January, 1815, was received in this
then remote section the old landlord
turned back the leaves of the register,
took his pen and wrote under the ac-
count against Andrew Jackson, “Settled
in full by the battle of New Orleans.”
Pills to Prevent Earthquakes.
“I remember,” says Addison in the
two hundred and fortieth Tatler,
“when our whole island was shaken
with an earthquake some years ago
there was an impudent mountebank
who sold pills which, as he told
the country people, were ‘very good
against an earthquake.’ ”—London Sat-
urday Review.
Head Work,
“Maria, you'll never be able to drive
that nail with a flatiron. For heav-
en's sake, use your head!” admonished
Mr. Stubbins.
And then he wondered why she would
not speak to him the rest of the day.—
Puck.
Johnny's Reasoning.
Sunday School Teacher—What is con-
sclence, Tommy? Tommy—An inward
monitor. Sunday School Teacker—
And what is a monitor, Johnny? John-
ny—An {ironclad boat.—Chicago News.
Their Charges.:
Lady—I want to sue my husband for
divorce. Lawyer — What are your
charges? Ludy—What are yours first?
—Boston Transcript.
Do as weil as you can today, and
perhaps tomorrow you may be able to
do better.—Rev. John Newton.
encounter on the playground. At the!
I aingt a-goin’ to apologize for,
10 BUILD SHIPS
AT COST PRICE
Beikishem Steal ¥ Jil itake 0f-
fer to Uncis Sam
B:DS ON16 INCH NAVYSHELLS
No Chance For Profit In Them Under
Present Tests, Grace Says—Possible
Explanation of the Prices Made by an
English Firm Which Bids Under All
American Manufacturers.
Speaking recently before the Terra-
pin Club of Philadelphia, Eugene G.
Grace, President of the Bethlehem
Steel Company, said in part:
In a peculiar sense Bethlehem Steel
serves the American people.
For example, though we have been
able to obtain in Europe almost any
to the United States Government, to
tie basis of prices established before
the war began.
We agreed—if the Government would
abandon its plans for a Federal plant—
to make armor for our Navy at any
price the Government itself might con-
sider fair.
Our ordnance plants are at the dis-
posal of the nation at a fair operating
cost, plus a small margin, thus saving
the Government jnvestment and de-
preciation.
One of the special needs of the new
navy is sixteen-inch guns— guns sixty
feet long and capable of hurtling a
2000 pound shell with such power and
accuracy as to hit a 50 foot square tar-
get fifteen miles away.
We have undertaken voluntarily to
construct, at a cost of $4,500,000, a
plant fitted te build sixteen-inch guns.
Under no conceivable circumstances
can orders which we may receive for
this plant pay even a fair return on
the infestment.
Considerable comment has been made
upon the fact that a British manufac-
turer recently bid less than American
manufacturers, for sixteen and four-
teen-inch shells for the navy.
I am unable te state the basis upon
which the English bid was made. It
should be remembered. however. that
this bid was for a specific shell, sam-
ples of which are Leing sent over for
test—a test not yet made.
' Two years ago we took an order for
2400 feurteen-inch armor-piercing shells
at a contract price of $768,000, to be"
delivered within a certain time or we
had to pay a large penalty.
The only specifications for making
‘these shells are that they shall be
of a certain size and must pierce
armer-plate at a certain velocity on im-
pact. It is impossible to foretell the
exact conditions of the tests.
We bad made large quantities of shells
in the past which had been accepted.
But in placing this particular order the
Department altered the angle at which
the tested shells must pierce armor-
plate. The result, however, has been
absolute inability on our part to pro-
duce in any quantity, shells which will
meet these novel tests. In fact, we
know of no process of projectile-mak-
ing through which it is possible to pro
duce in quantities shells which - will
conform to the requirements.
The result is that up to now on that
contract of $768,000. we have put into
actual operating expense $447,881. and
have been penalized for non-delivery
$495.744., a total of $943,625., with no
receipts whatever.
Such was the experience in the light
of which we were called upon recent-
ly to bid for sixteen-inch shells.
We bid on these shells at approxi-
mately the same rate per pound as
that of a fourteen-inch shell contract
of one year ago upon which the Gov-
ernment awarded contracts.
.We have not the slightest idea what
profit there will be in the making of
these shells. We do not know that
there will be any. There is no certain-
ty that it would be possible for us to
deliver a shell to meet the test.
For officers in the Navy to assume
that any bid made under such condi-
tions is “exorbitant” is utterly unfair.
We bid on the new battle-cruisers
sums which Navy department experts,
after examination of our books, found
would yield a profit ef less than ten
per cent. We agreed to assume risks
for imcreased costs of materials and la-
bor, that made it possible that these
contracts might yield no profit what-
ever.
The costs run beyond the amount ap-
propriated by Congress on the basis of
the cost estimates made a year ago.
And because shipbuilders could not
alter the inexorable cost facts and re
duce bids te early estimates of the
Navy Department, the prices are called
“exorbitant.”
It would be a real advantage to be
relieved of this naval construction. The
profit from it cannot possibly amount
to much, and the responsibility is enor-
mous.
We have determined to make this
offer to the American Government.
“If you will build two of the battle-
cruisers in Government navy yards,
we will build the other two at the as-
certained cost of building the ships in
the Government yards. without addi
tional expense or commissions of any
kind. We will also contract to have
our ships ready for service ahead of
eo sod
the Government ships.”
price, we have adhered, in our charges
Nord POPOV
wi jd Dd o£ 0 OO