"Here, what are you going to do now?" he demanded, watching the operation uneasily. "I'm going to throw you through the window," was the grim reply. "But wha-what for?" faltered Silas in alarm. "For insulting my wife," thundered the burly-looking gentleman. Things were getting decidedly serious, for it certainly seemed as if he intended to fulfil his promise. But at that moment the lady intervened, and after some very profuse apologies from Silas peace was proclaimed. Then, with a smile, she turned to the company, and specially singling out Mars' Jones and Joshua Green, very proudly introduced the burly-looking gentleman as her husband. "You see, we were married early this morning at Claypool-my husband's home, so perhaps that is the reason why you Boughton people have not heard of it yet." "But if there should be anybody present," added her new lord and master, darkly, "who happens to feel personally affronted, or is not perfectly satisfied with our domestic arrangements I shall be very pleased if he will kindly mention it." Nobody feeling inclined to accept the challenge, after a rather awkward silence, the company respectfully took their leave and joined the remainder of the deputation outside, who were already beginning to get very impatient. It was remarked that during the journey homeward both Mars' Jones and Joshua Green seemed lost in thought, until suddenly looking up and catching each other's eyes they gravely saluted and then solemnly shook hands. And now it is known-not only in all Boughton, but for many miles around-that there are not two greater friends to be found anywhere than Mars' Jones, undertaker and general dealer, and Joshua Green, the baker. European vs. American Trades Union Leaders BY THE REV. CHARLES STELZLE. Two months recently spent in the leading industrial centers in Europe gave me an opportunity of comparing the labor movement and its leaders abroad with the men and the movement in America. The trades unionists on the other side seem to have been developing a company of specialists who direct them in their efforts to secure specific legislation in Parliament, or in obtaining concessions from their employers. In such matters as child labor, old age pensions, woman's place in the state and in industry, in educational questions, and in temperance, the English workers in particular have a group of leaders who have no superior in any walk of life. They are the authorities on these subjects. While the American labor leader's knowledge of men and affairs is probably more general than his European brother's, the leaders in Great Britain have made a more careful study of economic subjects, and they are in a position to intelligently direct legislation with reference to these problems. No doubt this situation is due to the fact that European labor men have for a longer time been confronted with such questions, and they have been longer "on the job." Another marked difference is the comparative interest in politics. Every trades unionist in America knows the difficulty of enlisting the workers in this country in a political campaign. We seem to be opposed to anything that appears like a "workingman's political movement," probably because in the past such movements have often been complete failures, and because few of us believe in class distinctions. But the organized workingmen abroad are in politics with enthusiasm and with most excellent results. The English Parliament has thirtyone labor members elected by the Labor party, and about twenty additional members elected by the miners, who co-operate on all matters that are of common interest. They are a force to be reckoned with. The government recognized the labor wing in Parliament in its appointment of John Burns to the cabinet. While in a minority in the House of Commons, the Labor members are in a position to dictate favorable labor legislation to such a degree that they have brought about many reforms which will be of value to workingmen. One of the remarkable features of the trades union movement in England is the strong temperance sentiment existing among the leaders. Fully two-thirds of the men in Parliament are total abstainers, and probably none could be said to be reckless drinkers. One such who was discovered to have imbibed too freely, making a spectacle of himself, publicly apologized to his constituents, and promised ever after to abstain from all intoxicating liquor. There is an organization composed of trades unionists exclusively known as the "Trades Union Officials' Temperance Fellowship." Every member is committed to total abstinence and to the effort to have trades union meetings held in halls which are free from the influence of the saloon. One-half the delegates attending the annual convention of the British Trades Congress are members of this Temperance Fellowship and each year they have a "tea," which is the occasion of a temperance propaganda among the delegates who are not yet identified with the movement. The best men in the English trades union movement are connected with the organization. While the sentiment in favor of temperance is not so strongly developed in the American Federation of Labor, it is gratifying to know that it is rapidly growing, and the time is not far distant when the American labor move ment will be freed from the curse of strong drink. When it is remembered that most of the labor leaders in Great Britain received their training as public speakers in the church, many of them having been lay preachers, it is not surprising that over two-thirds of the Labor members in Parliament are actively interested in or affiliated with some church organization. Many of them frequently speak at the great church brotherhood conventions, which brotherhood, by the way, has an active membership of half a million and is composed mostly of workingmen. It is in these church brotherhoods that the Labor Party has much of its strength and to them that it owes considerable of its success. It was my privilege to address a number of their mass meetings. in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester, and I discovered in them a strong trades union sentiment, as I referred more particularly to such matters. Our American labor men are just beginning to catch on to the value of having the church with them, and they are beginning to realize that even the American church is composed very largely of their own class. Socialism is more strongly developed among the leaders in Europe than it is in America, but the Socialism over there does not seem to have the bitterness and the malice that I have discovered in this country. It is more constructive, and less destructive. It is not making the mistake that the church and religion must necessarily be opposed to Socialism because it may not unequivocally endorse it. I refer, of course, to the kind of Socialism which is free from the immoralities of the extremists. As a matter of fact, many of the leaders of Socialism in England are churchmen, particularly those who are members of Parliament. It is also true that many of the leading ministers are Socialists, so that it would seem that they have proven to their own satisfaction that there is a kind of Socialism and a kind of church which are not necessarily antagonistic. The Socialist leaders in Germany, France and Belgium I found to be almost solidly opposed to and fighting the church, but this opposition is due, particularly in Germany, to the attitude of the State Church, which must, of necessity, stand by the government, whether that government be good or bad, although it should be said that the government is not necessarily bad. In practically every country the people have just about the kind of a government that the people want. The reception accorded me as a trades unionist, was most hearty. This was especially true among the men who have attended the annual conventions of the American Federation of Labor as fraternal delegates from the British Trades Union Congress. It was in this way that they showed their appreciation of "the many kindnesses" shown them while in America. A Smoker's Paradise BY FREDERICK J. HASKIN, IN "CINCINNATI CHRONICLE." While cigars of excellent quality are produced in numerous well-regulated factories throughout the United States, the superiority of genuine Havana cigars has long remained and still continues an undisputed fact. Although the members of the tobacco trade may be more or less well posted on the conditions surrounding the manufacture of high-grade cigars in the Cuban metropolis, there are many phases of the industry they're not posted on. The fame of the city. of Havana is the fame of its cigars. Wherever there is a cigar smoker the standard of his delight is the aroma of the Havana weed. Wherever there is a cigar maker the greatest praise of his wares is the boast that it approaches the excellence of Havana. Poets have sung the praises of the Havana cigar, sages have been lifted on the clouds of its ethereality, grave scientists have analyzed its properties, kings have acknowledged its spell, pontiffs have received its incense. The Havana cigar is unique among luxuries. It is almost a misnomer to refer to the "manufacture" of Havana cigars. They are made by human hands, of course, but so intricate and delicate is the operation that the mechanical feature is lost from sight in the artistic. There is nothing whatever in the process of making Havana cigars which suggests to the American mind the idea conveyed by the word "factory." One walks down a residence street in Havana, admiring the beautiful iron grille work which bars the windows and speculating upon the life stories of the people to whom these prison-like palaces are home. In the midst of these houses there is one finer than the others, larger and more beautiful. "Who lives there?" is the question. "No one. That is a cigar factory." In another section of the city one finds an imposing group of public buildings, and, among them, one more imposing than all the others. It is a cigar factory. In a business street there are many handsome houses devoted to all sorts of trades and displaying their colors by means of great signs and advertising placards. Here one finds a handsomer building than the others, and no announcement of its character other than a modest brass plate on the door. That is another cigar factory. Entering one of these factories is like nothing else in sightseeing. There is the patio with its garden of palms and flowers, its sparkling fountains and its easy chairs. There is marble-tiled court and the marble stairway. The sun is excluded and the air is cool. But it all is heavy with the indefinable aroma which is exhaled by Vuelta Abajo tobacco, and by nothing else in the world. Entering the great warerooms this odor becomes so heavy that one is almost overpowered. The tobacco is received into these warerooms from the plantations in the province of Pinar del Rio, where the best tobacco on earth is grown. The larger and more perfect leaves are reserved for "wrappers," to go on the outside of the cigar and to give it finish. These leaves are packed ten in a hand and are cared for as if they were worth their weight in gold-which sometimes is literally true of the very finest leaves. The smaller, coarser and broken leaves are the "fillers," and they are packed with as much care, but with less regard for the individual leaf. The bales are unpacked and the precious wrappers are taken from their palm-leaf nest. A brawny workman takes a "hand" in each of his hands and immerses the tobacco in a tub of water. He then stands on a cement floor and exercises every muscle in his body to shake the water off the tobacco leaves. That process leaves just the right amount of moisture on the outside of the leaf and permits the leaf to absorb a certain amount and makes it pliable. The "hands" then go to the selectors, who unfasten them and examine each leaf separately with great care and skill. The wrappers are sorted here according to size, texture and quality. This leaf selection is a great art, and adept selectors command high wages. Not infrequently one may see a millionaire manufacturer himself at work at the selecting tubs. In the meantime various grades of fillers have been blended under the direction of an expert, who has learned just what combination of different kinds of fillers will produce a particular flavor. That flavor must be brought out, for by its virtue a certain brand has become famous, and the very reputation of that brand is worth more in dollars and cents than the whole physical property of the factory building and all. After being inspected and passed upon by half a dozen experts the tobacco is ready for the hand of the artist, who is to mold it into a cigar. The cigar makers sit at little tables, made with a hood not unlike that of a rolltop desk without the rolling top. At one hand is a pile of fillers dumped loosely on the table. In front is a little stack of the priceless wrappers. There is a ruler with a measure cut in its side, by which the size of the cigar is regulated. A little cup of paste and a peculiar knife, which looks like an artist's palette cut in half and sharpened on one edge, complete the outfit. With the skill born not alone of long practice, but of family pride and a true workman's devotion to craft, the cigar maker selects the filler, twisting the small leaves in the inside, tearing and splitting them until they form just the right sort of core, wrapping larger and larger leaves about them, and all with a carelessness that is sublime. Then the careless look leaves his face, He takes up the wrapper and becomes intent and serious. Carefully and slowly the perfect leaf is wrapped tightly about the filler. Carefully the curved edge of the flat knife cuts away the waste, carefully the tip end is pasted and molded into shape. Carefully the cigar is rolled under the flat knife until it is round and smooth. Finally it is finished, a perfect cigar, and the maker resumes his careless mien. The cigar-making room is a great sight. A half-thousand men are bending over their tables, making cigars. They are well-fed and well-paid workmen, but they are a motley crowd. They are of mixed races, and their faces present every shade of color, from the pale blonde of the Basque mountains to the ebony of the Kongo. In the center of the room, on a high platform, sits the "reader." The reader is the one great institution of Havana cigar factories. Havana has sixteen daily newspapers, fourteen published in Spanish and two in English. The reader goes through each of the fourteen Spanish papers every day. Then there are magazines and novels to read. The object is to keep the men from gossiping with each other. The result is that men do more work in a day, that they get more money, as all cigar makers are paid by piecework, and that they are kept well informed on the news of the day. Besides, there is a lot of fun in it. The cigars, having been made, they are taken to the selector's table, where great skill is again required. These tables are invariably placed under a high window on the north side of the building. The northern light is more even, and is not affected by the direct sun. But even this light must not fall directly on the table, so the high window sill sends it above the head of the selector. He lays the cigars out before him in scores of little piles, graded according to color. To the eye of the novice a dozen piles may be just the same, but the expert knows that they are different in color, and furthermore, he knows that under some conditions the difference would be perceptible to the layman. For the honor of the brand the cigars must be packed according to colors without the slightest variation. After having been sorted by colors, the cigars go to the packer, who carefully arranges them to go in the boxes. With the finer grades each cigar is handled and examined separately. Any cigar which is not entirely up to the standard is rejected by the packer. Once placed in the box, made of the famous Spanish cedar, which is absolutely necessary to perfect the aroma of the finished product, the cigars are pressed in and made to fit. Then they are taken out once more, and the fancy bands are pasted around their middles by young girls who work with incredible rapidity. The cigars are returned to the box, the lid nailed down and there is another box of Havanas all ready for shipment. Here is a special box made to hold 6,000 cigars. It is being filled for a fashionable club in London. Here is a small carton of cigars which would retail in the United States for $4 each. The best cigar maker in the house can make more than five or six of them a day. They are destined to regale the imperial heart of the Czar. Here is a consignment of short and ugly bulldog cigars for a famous Wall Street magnate. And in this particular factory the very cheapest cigar that is turned out would retail in the United States for 15 cents. In Havana such a cigar may cost only 7 or 10 cents. Statistics might show how much the Havana cigar business means to the trade of the island and all that, but it isn't necessary to quote figures to prove the quality of Havana cigars. They are deliciously luxurious and indescribably superior. Havana is the smoker's paradise. Year's Work at the Iowa State Tuberculosis Sanatorium 80 Per Cent Apparently Cured In an effort to curtail the annual exodus of hundreds of citizens to western states Iand to afford relief to those whose financial condition renders effective treatment here or elsewhere impossible, the Iowa state legislature three years ago decided to provide an institution for the treatment of tuberculosis. The State Sanatorium located at Oakdale, near Iowa City, was opened to patients on February 1, 1908. For the year just ended, two hundred and thirty-six patients have been admitted, having reached its capacity in November with an average of seventy-seven patients. During the year more than four hundred have been turned away as too far advanced to be received. Of the total number accepted only thirtythree, or fourteen per cent, proved to be incipient or early cases, and of this class eighty per cent, who remained over two months, were sent home apparently cured. The sanatorium was built and equipped for the treatment of incipient cases only, but while room was available the more favorable of the advanced cases were accepted on trial for treatment. Of these ninety per cent who remained two months showed marked improvement. Such gratifying results justify making provision for the treatment of this class of patients. The statement that tuberculosis strikes down those of greatest value to society is abundantly proven by the fact that of the two hundred and thirty-six admitted for treatment one hundred and six, or nearly fifty per cent, were between the ages of twenty and thirty years. While generous appropriations are being made each year for the support of education, how much more important is it that equally liberal expenditure be approved by the state for the eradication of a disease which is levying its toll of death annually upon hundreds of young citizens just as they are prepared to enter the most productive period of life. People all over the state have been astonished at many of the remarkable results observed in friends who have been patients at Oakdale. This will be readily understood from the fact that many have returned home who have gained from twentyfive to forty pounds, with corresponding improvement in their lungs. So accustomed have people become to look upon the west as the only place where lung trouble can be successfully combatted that it is with difficulty they can be convinced that this is but another popular fallacy which medical science long since exploded. As an incident in point the experience of some who have left the sanatorium and gone west might be cited. Three patients who have done this write after several months sojourn in the West that they have not done so well there. One, |