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NEWPORT DULY INDEPENDENT
PEPCY H. VAN DYKE, Publ!*h»r »nd Editor.
NEWPORT. - - ARKANSAS.
A LONG ISLAND TRADER.
lie Hml Everything In HI* Stoi'U from
Wlndui 111m to Trained
Horiea,
The character in fiction who bought
a door-plate on which was engraved
the name of “Thomson” without a “p,”
because there might he a daughter
who would grow up and marry a man
by that name, has a parallel in real life.
This worthy lives on Long Island,
where, besides a cozy home, he has a
vast barn filled with bargains from a
thousand auction sales. No one knows
how many objects he possesses in his
treasure house. According to rumor
there were more than 10,000 a decade
ago, and the list, has been growing
steadily ever since, says the New York
Post.
On one occasion he secured some an
cient circus horses, which were so ac
complished that they could do every
thing but talk, and for many months
he tried to persuade his friends and
neighbors to start a hippodrome in or
der to utilize his purchases. On an
other occasion he notified a party of
acquaintances that be had just secured
three misfit tombstones at a great bar
gain. Py cutting out the letters they
would be just as good as new, and
would only cost, one-quarter the price
of first-handed ones'.
A__*__1._1, __
uv v * v i» i i i n ii\ 11 in. *» uo '■ *< * »«* ■ ‘
for orders a friend who had become
wearied of his importunities said:
“Look here, my good man, I’m sorry
that you never have anything I want,
or that T don’t want what you are al
ways offering; but I would like to do
business with you.”
The bargain hunter and museum
owner responded; “If there is any
thing you want. T am sure I must
have it!”
The other unwarily replied: “There
is only one thing I need, and of course
I can’t get that in this part of the coun
try. It’s a steel windmill, like those
they use out in Kansas.”
Tohisdismay his companion grasped
his hand energetically, remarking: “T
knew it, I knew it. I’ve got just that
kind of a windmill in my barn!”
THE MORNING MAIL.
How One'* II on Hli In Menaced by
OpeniiiK Letter* at the Break
fast Table,
Who does not have his morning’s
_. ^ letters placed upon his breakfast ta
* ble? Science, which is so mercilessly
interfering with many of our tradi
tional “comforts” lias now declareu
against this. According to the Lon
don Lancet, the practice is con
venient, but from a sanitary point of
view appalling:
“It is undeniably a dirty practice.
In nine cases out of ten the envelope
containing a letter is licked, as is also
the stamp, by the sender. Infection,
therefore, may easily lurk here, es
pecially us by the time the letter
reaches its distillation the stamp and
sealed cover arc dry. Any materies
morbi present would be easily detect
ed. Then there are the risks of in
fection to which a letter is exposeo
in transit. The sorter at the post
office or the postman may not be as
baeteriolngically clean as is desirable,
the dust of the road may adhere to
any exposed gum, or the letters may
be dropped, and the bacteriology of
the road dust exhibits some well
known pathogenic organisms. Let
ters are frequently smeared with
road mud. Among the microbes rec
ognized in road sweepings are the mi
crobes of pus, alignant oedema, teta
mis, tubercle and seepticaemin. The
post probably is a very wide dis
tributing agency of all sorts and con
ditions of organisms, and this would
be difficult to prevent. But surely
care might be taken to keep from
association the plate upon which
food is partaken and the letter or
newspaper packet. It follows that
from a hygienic point of view letters
cLivnl/1 mtvnr Iip nni'iiprl nr rpiirl rlnr
ing a meal. Good manners, more
over. would indicate the same thing,
and thus be in accordance with strict
hygienic observance.
Onuifir Cream Kill In*.
Beat one cupful sugar and two ta
* blespoonfuls butter to a light cream;
add one cupful rich milk. Mix well
and bring to boil. Add to this boiling
mixture the beaten yolks of two eggs,
juice and grated rind of one orange
and three tablespoonfuls corn starch
—previously wetted in cold milk;
cook until smooth. Spread between
crusts. Beat whites of eggs to dry
froth, then incorporate one cupful
sugar, and spread evenly over top of
pie,—Ladies’ World, New York.
Strawberry and Pineapple Salad.
Put strawberries in a glass dish
with alternate layers of fresh or
creamed pineapple. Pour over the
mixture a little sherry or the strained
juice of two lemons or two oranges.
Keep on ice until ready to serve as a
dessert with sponge cake.—Good
Housekeeping.
BEEP AND BANANAS.
Their Food Value Compared by Men
of Science.
Meat Trust Cannot He Downed by
Hating Tropical Fruit Instead
of Steak—Nutritive Prop
erties of Vegetables.
[Special Correspondence.!
44 TP YOU want to down the beef
J[ trust, don’t eat meat. Eat ba
nanas instead.” So a Philadel
phia daily soberly says that a dealer in
fruit there advised, and asserted also
that: “It may surprise you to know
that the banana is the king-pin of the
vegetable kingdom, so far as nutrition
is concerned. It is 25 times as nutri
tious as wheat of the same weight, has
45 times the nutriment of potatoes and
30 times that of rice, the three staple
vegetable products of the world. These
figures are the result of scientific inves
tigation.”
Studious men in several parts of the
world, whose habit it is to dig up and
show to the world the truth, the whole
truth even to its minutest rootlet, have
analyzed and weighed by wonderful
devices the different parts of almost
every * food commonly used by man.
Having learned a great deal about
these things, those men agreed on a
standard or unit by which to measure,
weigh or count those parts, andl thus
get at their value.
That unit of measure of food values
they agreed to make a calorie, as en
a dozen, beef shoiild be worth 18.85
cents a pound. But if beef sells at 15
cents a pound, then bananas should
cost no more than 11.8 cents a dozen
to make matters e^en.
Potatoes have 81.6 parts of waste
matter, including water, in 100; while
bananas have 83.9 parts of waste, leav
ing only 17.4 pounds of food in 100
pounds of the fruit. A pound of ba
nanas furnishes 260 calories; a pound
rtf potatoes 295 calories. If bananas
and potatoes were each priced at one
bent a pound, the money value of a ton
of potatoes would be 17.6 cents more
than that of a ton of the fruit. Sci
ence seems to have failed this time
to sustain the assertion of our fruit
dealer. It seems to me safe to say that
scientific investigation has not clearly
shown that bananas have 45 times the
nutriment possessed by potatoes.
A pound of whole-wheat our has
1,650 calories. This is 1,390 more than
a pound of bananas affords. One would
have to eat 6 1-3 pounds of bananas
to get as much food as a pound of the
flour furnishes. He who prefers to
eat soda crackers instead of whole
wheat flour, can so get from a pound
as much food as 7 2-5 pounds of bananas
will give. Rice has about 6 1-3 times as
much nutriment as have bananas.
Here again science appears to be not
completely in accord with the Phila
delphia authority.
Possibly he had in mind an assertion
often credited to Humboldt, to the ef
fect that an acre of bananas will yield
as much food as will 44 acres of pota
toes. Before accepting such state
ment as a guide in laying out a bill of
fare, it may perchance be well to in
MARKETING BANANAS IN HONDURAS.
gineers have named their standard of
energy a horsepower. A calorie is that
quantity of heat or energy which
would raise the temperature of a pound
of water about four degrees Fahren
heit; or, to be more exact, of one kilo
gram of water one degree centigrade;
or, in other words, to lift one ton 1.54
foot. By analysis, the scientists can
learn very nearly the number of
calories in any food. It has been said
that as a rule these men are exces
sively jealous for their reputation for
accuracy, and fancy that there may be,
possibly, rivals who would be delighted
to pounce upon, drag out and shake
an error in public places, and perhaps
even cry aloud about it, that all might
— I ■ -.... ""JWl'.l
BANANA TREE IN BLOSSOM.
see and hear. If that is true, it may
be taken for granted that scientists
will be quite careful of their state
ments, and that we may therefore
trust to their published deductions.
I have taken the trouble to write all
this tedious explanation because to
many people the term “calorie” is new-,
and because I wish to prejudice the
jury so that it will accept, without
too much explanation, the statements
which are to follow. One of these is
that the average man doingliard work
requires each day about 4,450 calories
of food; he who does moderate or
ordinary work gets along on about
3,1S7 calories, while the men who do
light work need but 2,572 calories to
keep their steam up to good working
pressure.
Now we can get back to the notion
that the beef trust may be downed
by eating bananas instead of beef. In
a pound of beef are 944 calories, and
in a pound of bananas there are 2C0;
so, to get as much food out of the
bananas as the beef gives, one must
eat 3.63 pounds of the fruit. The av
erage bunch of bananas has about 18
dozen fingers of 751 calories to the j
dozen. If bananas are worth 15 eents j
quire whether, if Humboldt did say
such a thing, he had in mind the prod
uct of an acre of a warm and fertile
farm of Europe, or of one of Peru;
whether he compared the fruit with
the acrid little tuber of the Andes,unfit
to eat before it has been frozen, or with
the big. floury and sweet product of
modern skill in farming.
The average yield of bananas is 288
bunches yearly to the acre. The aver
age bunch weighs 52 pounds, which
makes 14,970 pounds per acre. That
would feed a man three years, fo*ur
months and seven days, if he were do
ing moderate work. No wonder life
goes easily in banana lands; or that
an eminent Mexican declares that the
banana is an institution for the promo
tion of laziness.
In the years 1890 and 1900 an average
of 82.2 bushels Of potatoes per acre was
obtained for each of those years. A
man doing moderate work would be
fairly supported by a like amount of
food one year, six months and 11 days,
which is two j ears, one month and 15
days less than bananas would feed
him. But 44 times as much food as an
acre of potatoes give would feed him 55
years.
Again disappointment awaits ns,
when we look into the statement that
an acre of bananas will give us 25 times
as much food as will an acre of wheat.
To do that the fruit should support a
man 30 years, four months and 19 days.
It lacks some 27 years and 12 days of
doing what has so often been claimed
for it. Nor does “the result of scien
tific investigation” help us much more
when we examine the claim that ba
-Minn r. + ! rti o C- no mil/tVl no
~ — - — - --
rice gives to the acre.
That we may see at a glance precisely
how bananas do compare with the
more common of other foods, let us
put them side by side on a table, and
show the average annual yield- per
acre, the actual food value, and the
number of days each will support a
man doing moderate muscular work;
thus:
Days'
Crops. Pounds. Calories. Foo4.
Bananas.14,976 3,893,760 1221.7
Potatoes. 4,933 1,455,117 456.6
Corn. 1,417 2.316.46S 726.8
Sugar. 1,096 1,918,577 602.0
Wheat. 900 1,486.000 465.9
Rice. 797 1,291.140 405.1
Bananas may be the “king-pin of the
vegetable world,” but those who have
a tooth for sweeties may be glad to
learn that while that fruit has a beg
garly 260 calories to the pound there
is a delightful confection which has
5,625, or more than 20 times as much
as bananas, and more than has any
other food easily found. Great is the
virtue of chocolate. Long may it
soothe and sustain from the breakfast
cup; long may it fill the bonbon box.
For it and it alone is the kingpin of the
vegetable kingdom. PAUL BiTT.
ARE GETTING CROSS. j!
—" . „ r
Congressmen No Longer in Lov* t
with the Reed Rules. s
—-- €
R.pnblic. - - "7"'""* l
Tlre.1 of One-Man Power In the _
Shaping of National
Legislation. ,
[Special Washington Letter.] .
( , f-w-^ HERE is nothing in congres- _
I sional life that a man should .
desire to spend ail of his dajs
in its drudgery, sajs U »
Page Morris, of Minnesota, In ere
bo abler man, no more conscientious
public servant in the national house of
representatives than the gentleman
from Duluth. He t*as born in \ irgima.
of one of the oldest and Lest families of
that great commonwealth, and in . *■
when only 30 years of age, he was
republican candidate for co’ip ■
against John W. Daniel, one of \ n>
ginia’s ablest and most eloquent sons*,
and came near being elected. 1 a y
Daniel was subsequently elected to the
United States senate, and is still a
member of that body. Mr. Morris, in
1886. went to Duluth where he has since
resided. He has been representing the
Duluth district in the house of repre
sentatives since 1S96, when he was
elected to succeed the celebrated ora
tor, Charles A. Towne.
“I have had all of the experience in,
national legislation that I desiie,
— .. ,, . Lt__rft.
says u uuge-»iui auuu.iwv..-,,
tire to private life. Although some
men remain in congress as long as the
people will keep them there, there
comes a time when every man would
gladlj- retire., and I propose to retire
now. before the life palls on me. I here
is an awful lot of hard work in the life
of a congressman, and there is very lit
tle appreciation of it in some quarters,
because thousands of people have no
conception of the environments of a
representative of well nigh 200,000
citizens.”
That is a very brief way of telling
the story. There is nothing but selfish
ness in the life of a professional poli
tician, and there is no such a thing a?
gratitude. High-minded gentlemen
must, sooner or later, tire of congres
sional life. The longer a man remains
in the senate or the house of represen
tatives, the more supremely selfish he
becomes, and the more ungrateful to
those to whom he owes his preferment.
The few who retain their unselfishness
of disposition tire of the life and quit
it, sooner or later.
Three years ago Thomas B. Heed, of
Maine, resigned a greater olliee than
that of senator, an office almost as
powerful as that of chief magistrate
of our republic. While occupying the
position of speaker of the national
house of representatives Mr. Heed re
signed from congress and retired to
private life. He was opposed to Mc
Kinley’s policy in the Philippines, and
in other matters, and he resigned
rather than remain in congress and
continue in a political wrangle. It i>
probable that the administration
would have been powerful enough to
have caused Mr. Reed a great deal of
trouble or humiliation if he had not
retired from the scene of his triumphs
and exaltations. His superior ability
has always been conceded, even by
those who were most opposed to him.
That he rendered his party and his
country good service is conceded; and.
yet, the Reed rules are not an unmixed
THOMAS BRACKETT REED.
good in parliamentary law. They have
come up again and again to the detri
ment of the dominant party, and at
the same time to the detriment of the
country.
Congressman Terkins, of New
^ °rk, says: “Many estimable peo
ple have decided that the influence
of the house of representatives is
diminishing, and that this sad result
is due to the rules of that body. The
first proposition is questionable, and
the second is nonsense.” That is the
diretum of one, who has been a mem
ber of congress in active service a
little more than six months. It is epi
grammatic and bold to declare any
proposition “nonsense,” and it is
usual with a certain class of men to
be aggressively self-assertative, bur
assertion is neither syllogism nor
conclusion.
The congressman, whose gentle life
has been spent within sight and
sound of Genesee falls, and whose
ome in Rochester is cne of the most
°lv in the land, will have ample
, revise his views, because his
'“pie will probably retain him in
he congress for an indefinite period.
is views have been disseminated in
nine of the newspapers of the east
rn states, but they have not exert
1 s0 great an influence as they
.right have produced if they had em
nnted from a congressman whose
xperience in public life had been
nore extended and diversified.
Congressman Morris, of Minnesota,
.peaks from six years of experience,
1S against six months of the hew
fork representative, nnd he says that
he rules of the house of represents
ires “simply reduce that body to an
.ggregation of pitiful followers of
he man in the chair.” He further
' . “There will be no national dan
rer in these rules, so long as there
fliall he a speaker whose patriotism
is bigger than his egotism. Hut there
HON. JAMES B. PERKIN*!.
(New York Congressman. Who Defends the
Reed Rules.)
is likely to come a (lay when a man
in the chair will wield the power of
the position for his own aggrandize
ment. Then you will see a dictator
whose antics may produce anarchy.”
Congressman Hepburn, of Iowa,
who is accredited with great abil
ities, natural and acquired, and who
has been in the house of representa
tives for 20 years, says; “The rules
of the house make every member
look like a little midget bowing and
scraping to some other midget. who
is magnified by the obsequiousness of
the midgets who have enthroned him.
Under the existing rules there may
be an ass in the chair, and giants on
the floor, but the ass will be the
master of them ail. The rules make
the speaker master of his fellow rep
resentatives; whereas, the constitu
tion declared that all of the repre
sentatives should be equal. There is
no reason why one man should be
selected from the majority and unto
him be given all of the rights of the
other representatives. But that is
the condition of the popular body un
der the existing rules.”
Those are words spoken from the
brain of experience and from the
heart of an honest man. The great
est absurdity of the existing rules is
the committee on rules. That com
mittee consists of two republicans,
two democrats, and the speaker; at
least that is tin* way it looks on pa
per. As a matter of fact, the com
, roittee on rules consists of two mem
bers of the majority party and the
speaker; because the two members
of the minority party are always out
voted, and usually do not. attend
meetings of the committee. Now the
absurdity of havinar such a com mi 11 am
li(»s rigiit here.
The speaker appoints the chairmen
and members of all committees. He
is chairman of the committee on
ruies. and appoints two members of
his own party on the committee, who
do exactly what he tells them to do;
or else lie can turn them out and ap
point two others who will not hesi
ate to “crook tl,e pregnant hinges of
the knee that thrift may follow fawn
ing.” So, after you analyze the com
mittee on rules, you see that it is a
mere makeshift to fool the people
It is no committee at all. but merely*
a gauzy attempt to hide the one-man
power of the speaker himself.
!No matter what the rules of the
house may be, it is left to this al
leged committee on rules to decide
''hat bills shall be taken up, how
long they shall be debated, and when
«i \oto shall be taken. The speaker
himself decides all these important
.natters, and then calls a meeting of
he committee on rules. That seems
)lg> *7 ?raker tells his two fol
lowers what he wants done, and then
•me <)f the two majority members ad
dresses the house and says- “| i '1
to report a rule from the committee
on rules, deeding thus and so ” rt
f tlien m the power of the house
to vote against the order of the
speaker, thus thinly disguised- but
because of his power in all other mat
ers, the majority party always sus
tains the speaker in this b?Jay ,v
sustaining the alleged report of the
committee on rules. Thus the house
'* ^enied by one man, under the
7ed rules, and i, is about time for
xvill'" thsir,,le h"Ve V,‘r.V little to d»
InUeeJ government. Very little
SMITH D. FRy.