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Show SC S32 ONLY TWO PLACES IN LAND WHERE INDUSTRY PREVAILS. From 500 to 800 Reptiles Kept Ranch at Hot Springs, Ark and Culture Is an Inter. esting Process. CAMPLE ? NO! Is the Emphatic Reply of Expert Ernest Me Gaff ey 1U1 IT worth tho average man's time to engage In politics? That depends on what you mean by engaging In political life. Active participation In poli- S tics taught'me a number of things. It taught me, for instance, that the man who merely votes at each election is only with flirting I used ,to see at the polling places, at each election, dozens of joung fellows who came and deposited their ballots and went away immediately, having selected their candidates according to their party ,leanings, or according to the views of their favorite paper; and who looked upon the politicians standing about the place as so many curious specimens of the genus Ilomo, remote from them to a maiked degree. And yet it was the duty of those young fellows to vote intelligently, if at 11. And how can a man judge political measures and candidates, unless he will give some of his time to actual conditions, as they are controlled by the practical politicians of his waid? The people, as a rule, are the ridden portion of the community; the politicians are the ridcis. This is the fault of the people themselves, for they outnumber the politicians ten to one, but they aie willing to let it go at that. Take the average young follow in a city ward who is on a salary, and who has some aspirations in the dilection of society. lie has the dances and panics to attend, amateur theatricals and theaters to consider, calls, receptions, iHUsicales, diives, walks in the parks dozens of social matteis io take up his time and attention. He is ambitious, and yet the pearl of great pi ice," his right to vote is either cast to the swine, or unused. He i3 too Arc you a Voter? Then you Are Flirting With the Flame, Declares Experienced One in Article Telling of Doings Dehind the Scenes . 235 poli-tic- wards I have campaigned in. And yet that was just what ought to have occurred. You cant stay at home and control the current of political events. and alert as Men as shrewd-witteyou can ever dare be are out in all kinds of weather and at all sorts of personal saciifice, gathering up the reins of power, and preparing to drive, with you trying to catch on behind.' Get busy, good easy citizen; get into politics in this manner, and you will And, from even the low standpoint of on Washington. It Is claimed that the alligator farm in Hot Springs, Ark. i larger than that in St. Augustine Fla and that these two are the only farmg of the kind. The farm in Hot Springs is on a small mountain stream that feeds a series of little lakes or ponds These are made use of to form the breeding grounds," stockyards" and winter quarters for this stock Indus, try. There are at all times on this farm between 500 and 800 alligators, ranging in size from little baby 'gators, iessj than six inches long, up to Big J0e nearly 15 feet long. The little fellows have all been hatched on the farm, but the big ones were caught in the swamps and bayous of the south. The alligator is a cannibal, and for that reason it is necessa-- to separate the ponds by means of heavy wiie and to place reptiles of very nearly the same size in each inclosuie. Big Joe, the monarch of the establishment weighing nearly 600 pounds, Is kept by himself. Otherwise, it is alleged, he y net-tin- g would soon he the only alligator there. The eggs are placed in incubators quite similar to those for hatching After being hatched the chickens. little ones are placed in a sepai ate inclosure, to prevent their elder hi others and sisters from eating them. They grow very slowly, so that an alligator two feet long is about two years of age, and one 12 feet long may be 15 years or more. Some reach a length of 16 or 18 feet. If allowed to follow their hibernating habits in captivity, the alligators would bury themselves in the mud and lie dormant for nearly half of the year, and busines'j would have to be suspended during that time on the alligator farm. Some way had to be devised for avoiding, in part, at least, this hibernating instinct. The winter quarters are in a long, low building divided Into many compartments Each compartment contains a pool of water through which run steam pipes, so that the water can be kept at a constant temperature. One small pond will contain 200 or 300 alligators. Hundreds of baby alligators are sold every year to patrons of the health resort at Hot Springs for pets, for home aquariums and for curious 'mementos to be sent to distant friends. For these purposes little creatures not more than six inches long are preferred Reptiles of larger size, from two feet in length up to the largest than can be obtained, are sold for use as advertising novelties, and for exhibition in amusement parks, museums, shows and menager ies. Large numbers of all sizes are killed, stuffed and mounted in striking or fantastic attitudes and used for ornamental and decorative purposes. The skins are tanned and manufactured into suit cases, satchels, handbags, belts, pockethooks, and, In fact, almost anything that can he made of leather. The durability, beauty and costliness of the tanned hides cause them to be esteemed among the most desirable of leather materials. Even the teeth are not wasted, being manufactured into small ornaments and articles of jewelry and sold as curiosities. PEARLS IN WHITE Indiana and to mix in with rough ward polities. It would be vastly better for him If he did. It's coarsening," you say? Well, yes, maybe It Is a little! But there may be an excess of coddling tho feeling of exclusiveness. It takes all kinds of people to make a world, and you never know until you butt into" municipal politics what a vast variety of people there are in the world. The noblest study of mankind Is man; and you will have more types to choose from, in this fascinating study, the game of polities! than in any other walk of life. You will get a QFFcewm chance to judge the candidates at first hand, be- IS BESIEGED sides. You will have an opportunity to enlarge your knowledge of human nature. You will hear arguments for and against proposed measures of public policy. You will get a practical inside CONCEIVABLE SORT view of the political arena which will benefit you when you come to pick a candidate. In a hundred different to the people of his ward, or to protest against something that ways you will widen the worldly perspective, and add to your he thinks is not for the benefit of the ward, he has something stock of general information. to back him up in his demands. You can depend upon it that To Bet into politics for the purpose of -the aldermen of his ward will know of him, and will do all in onscientiously and intelligently performing your duties of citizenship is not their power to aid him. As spokesman for some voting strength, a privilege. It is a trust. It is something on which yourmerely own easily shown by say a good live committee going with him, he safety may depend, and those on whom your hopes are builded. commands attention from the mayor and any public official, and Make yourself active in polities, and you can make he will find the old copy book adage of his school days confirmed yourself respected by the politicians. The stall-fecitizen who simply In union there is strength. votes is a mere chessman in the game, to be shoved here and How can you tell a candidate's fitness by seeing his lithothere. If he has acquainted himself with the rudiments of the graph on a telegraph pole? Or reading some partisan puff of this up by a steady course of him in a game and followed party newspaper? Get out to the meetings and hear seeking instruction and keeping up with public movehim talk. Size him up." Get an introduction to him, and sound ments if he looks up He personal qualifications of him peisonally as to his Intelligence and sincerity. Such a cancandidates and votes intelligently, he is doing his duty broadly, didate has the power, we will say, to speak for you in a matter not narrowly, as a citizen. It is very well worth the while of directly concerning your health and safety. If you went to a docevery man, and particularly the young and active man, to entor, would you go to the first one who had a physicians sign gage in politics in this way. livery young fellow of voting age hung out? If you were hiring a clerk, you business man, would should attend the waid meetings and join the ward clubs of his jou take any one who happened along? Of course not! And ward. He should attend the primaries, and do all that lies in his yet the laxity of the average voter so far as any knowledge of power to see that good delegates are chosen. the fitness or personality of the average candidate is concerned, All questions of public safety, comfort, morals, and health amounts to almost criminal stupidity. are necessarily a matter of politics. Suppose, for instance, that The spectacle of a goodly number of intelligent, a young fellow I3 piesident of his ward club: or of an Indepenand reputable citizens at an average primary (say the clerks and dent organization of young voters in his ward. If he goes down business men of the district in a body) would be something to the city ball to make a request, say to have a favor granted which would cause a gasp of horror-strickesurprise in some thin-skinne- d cohmmrm even donjfois of d -- well-dresse- n Gem Sells for $500. Boy Finds RIVER. Which He Muncie, Ind. For the first time pearl hunting this season has become a distinct industry in White river. Many campers along the stream hunt pearls, while a few persons make it a regular occupation. As yet no very valuable pearl has been discovered nearer this city than Farmland, 12 miles away, where a boy found a gem which he sold for $300. Many pearls are found, but most of them are worth no more than a dollar or so, and are bought at these prices by local jewelers. Every day local jewelers receive pearls, nearly all known as slugs, or imperfect stones. Usually a part of dollars and cents, that the game is worth the candle. the gem is but most of it is If you belong to a card club or a bowling club or any worthless, andgood, when the yaiueless end social organization, strive to make that a power in is cut off the remainder is so small Get the voting strength of the association politics. as to be of little worth. committed to the best candidate, regardless of party A boy who walked all the way from Paity fealty is all right; party allegiance Is party discipline; 12 miles east of here, vas Windsor, but dont trade ihe birthright of suffrage for a howl of party potlocal jewtage. Make your party put up good men or suffer the conse- greatly disappointed when a for eler offered dollars him five only quence. And this applies to all men, young and old. The mid to three keep The decided lad pearls. die aged men have no right to sit by the fire in their slipper and let politics go to the devil. They will have to pay for it in them himself. Local jewelers have begun making as many different ways as there are angles to the winds. regular shipments of White river will make more . breaches than the cannon-ballsNeglect to the eastern markets, where pearls Of course it is the duty of every more good citizen to interest the himself in politics, but at the same time, if he does, hell prob- when gems bring considerably and set than is paid to polished ably get into the game up to his neck and if he doesnt he I the pearl hunters. called an undesirable. The average office holder is be sieged for donations by every sort of institution and organizaEleven Geese Under Arrest. tion which has even a glimmer of hope of extracting any of the r coin of the realm. Pottstown, Pa. Burgess Hiram It s a gay life; it s a hard life; its a thankless one gave his Republican administration its master stroke the other day, officeholder makes enemies. He Is often damned if heEvery does and damned if he dont. lie cannot expect fair treatment when, to show the populace that it could not set at defiance his recent from an opposing press, he cannot hope for from the justice that no geese or ducks would edict partisans of an opposite party. The changes are sudden and be permitted to roam the streets, he often lasting; the r tards are inadequate and generally hrief-thhad 11 of the former arrested. t of t shortlived notoriety is succeeded by the The specific charge was that the ex nesS of a most Cimmerian obscurity. Hawked at by the mousing owls of the press, pestered by cranks and advisers geese, with others not yet pulled in. had ruined 300 head of cabbage i baited Jy reformers, betrayed by friends and plotted against Chester Kepners truck patch. bv enemies. Ishy, now, is professional politics worth engag-inAs the station house was too small in? to accommodate so many prisoners at On the level, NO! one time, they were impounded in ERNEST M'GAFFEY Harry Livengoods yard Until their (Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.) owner paid $1.50 fine. Col-le- e lime-ligh- ' |