The argus, 26 mai 1906, samedi 26 mai 1906

[" © PRP 1-179 Price 8 Cents /) TELEPHONE: f y, V6 LI EDITED BY HENRY DALBY PUBLISHED BY The Argus Publishing Co., Ltd.e Main 2973.180 ST.JAMES STREET.MONTREAL Vol.II.No.34.Montreal, Saturday, May 26, 1906.sb \u201cElicuiers te oo 1 U.S.A.32.00 MR.CHARLES MELVILLE HAYES.aw SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY COMPANY: PRESIDENT GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY.Who has recently been banquetted on the occasion of his Fiftieth Anniversary. 2 THE ARGUS.Che Ergus Published Weekly by TH E ARGUS PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED, 180 St.James Street, Montreal.Prick Five Cents.Annual Subscription, free of postage, in Moutreal .$2 50 Elsewhere in Canada and the United States.200 Editor.000.vovcos oovo00 0000.00.HENRY DALBY.= - - - - - TE = SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1906.News-dealers or subscribers who have any difficulty in obtaining supplies of THE ARGUS are requested to apply, giving full information on the subject, to the Publishers, THE ARGUS, 180 St.James Street, Montreal.One of the commonest indications of crudity in political science is the constant hankering after radical constitutional charges.* x * * \u201cMy son,\u201d said the Wise Man: \u201cFear thou the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change.\u201d * * * * It 1s a good thing for Canada that it is no light undertaking to make any change in its constitution.Not even the power which created that magnificent instrument, can tinke- it without dealing with tremendous obstacles.* * + * Every now and then somebody wants to abolish or to reform the Senate.The same cry is frequently raised agaist the Provincial Legislative Councils and 1s mere cffective in their cas?because It is a simple matter to get rid of them.Their abolition dees not affeet the constitution of the Dominion.\u201c+= x x It is not always the same people that want to destroy the Senate or the Legislative Council.It depends upon wh se ox has been gored lately.+ * * * | know one paper that fer years clamoured for the abolition of the Legislative Council of Quebec.Then the Council throw out a measure concerning the charter of the City of Montreal, and was hailed by the same paper for years as the safeguard of the peoples\u2019 Iiberties and preperties.New the paper 1s once more abolitionist * * * - There was à debate in the Senate itself this week on senate reform and Sir Richard Cartwright while declaring that any change must take years to accomplish, expressed the opinion that a radical change must come.LJ x x * .Sir Richard suggested that pari of the Upper Hcuse should be elected by the Prcvincial Legislatures and the rest appointed by th: Governor General in Council.* * * * I do not believe that giving the Scnate this half- and-half representative character would satisfy the constitution tinkers for long, and 1 feel very sur: that it would not improve the personnel of the Upper House.* ® * The Canadian Senate is not based upon the model of the United States Senate, but more upon the House of Lords, the finest legislative body in the world.In my opinion the memb:rship of the Scnate 1s of much higher character than that of the House of Commons, the representative Chamber.+ * + * * It speaks volumes for the already high quality of the membership of the Senate that when the constitution tinkers want to show the bad results of the appointive system, thy practically always point to one particular blatherskite as a specimen of man who could never have been elected and should never have been appointed a senator.LS ® * * My cwn cpinion is that the Government of the day has already all the power in its hands to effect all the reform that the Senate rcally needs, without interfering with the British North America Act.x Xk * * The Senate can by legislation be made a representative body in the sense that the American Senate is a representative body.It can b: made to represent any quantity of Provincial wire-pulling, scheming, lcg-rolling and boodling.Or it can be made without any legislation a representative body in the sense that the House of l.crds is a representative body, it can be madz to represent all that is best in the nation.* * x » The Hcuse of Lcrds is not compused simply of politicians.It is composed largely of men who have won distinction in almost every walk of life, but trade.It includes dist'nguished soldiers, sailors, churchmen.lawyers, literary men, pcets, journalists, men of science and physicians.+ e + - It is rather an anomaly that in the British Upper House trade and commerce are not more directly represented.There are, of course, brewers, distil- - THE ARGUS.3 lers, shipping men and manufacturers in the peerage, but they seem to represent accumulated wealth rather than trade.\u201c x.| The Canadian Senate might bs made a legislative body, that would compel the respect of everybody in Canada, but the exceptional fool.* * » * I believe that the recommendation of men for the Senate should be the personal prerogative cf the Premier, who is generally the best man in his party and has to bear the responsibility of the appointments, no matter what pressure may have been brought to bear upon him.* * * * I fancy that most of the \u201cmistakes\u201d in senatorial appointments have been duc to pressurc from su- ~ bordinate cabinet members who were too much under lccal party influences for the good of the Senate.* * * * An eminent Japanese professor, Baron Takaki, has been delivering a course of lectures at onc of the London hospitals, regarding the preservation of health in the army and navy of his country which is full of instruction and interest.Incidentally he mentioned that 384.405 patients pas:ed through the field hospitals during the war.\u201c Xx x x The percentage of deaths was remarkably small especially from wounds; surgical operations were avoided as much as possible, and whenever practicable the Japanese soldier and sailor went into action \u201cwearing new clothes on a perfectly cleansed body,\u201d not only as a matter of sclf-respect, but as a preventive against the introduction ot any poison in case of a wound.* * *æ * The manner in which detail was attended to by the medical department is a revelation to those who are inclined to treat the Japs as simply \u201cveneered\u201d with civilized methods.Detailed experiments were constantly made to ascertain the most healthful and nutritious form of ration in war and in peace; the subjects of physiology and hygiene are handled in the most up-to-date manner by men thoroughly abreast with all the discoveries of modern science.* * * It is of especial interest to note that it 1s found advisible to increase the consumption of meat and to use barlcy or other grain in conjunction with rice.This may mean an increase in Japanese imports from Canada and a gradual change in the diet and, consequently, in the tone and habits of the entire nation.Another point which may be commended to the attention of the anti-vaccination cranks is that \u201cthe smallpox cases numbered 347, of which 33 only were fatal, the discase 1s supposed to have been caught from Chinese, and that it did not spread to any extent 1s, Baron Takaki attributed, to the fact that vaccination 1s compulsory in Japan.\u201d * * * * [Last week I alluded to the effect which the dispute betwcen England and Turkey might have upon the Mahomedan population in Egypt, in nerth east Africa.and eventually in India.Since then the inccming mails show that serious minds are devoting attention to the future of Asia Minor and the part Mecca may play on the international chess board at no distant day.* * .* The scheme for rapproachment between Russia and England shows that the statesmen of St Petersburg and London are under no illusions as to the task which lies before the Christian powers if they attemnt to oust the Sultan from Europe.Greater political developments will attend this step whenever it is taken, than followed the suppression of the temporal power of Rome; the followers of Mahomet are united to an extent which puts the professing followers of Christ to shame.Indeed, sometimes I wonder if the Buddhist and Mahome- dan of to-day is on a par with the Gentile of 19 centuries since, and the quarrelling Christians resemble more the Sects of the Pharisees and tne Sadducces who warred about the externals of re- legion.The \u201cpeninsula of Sinai\u201d promises to play another great part in the history of the world; Mount Moriah, Sinai, Calvary and Mecca, the Red Seca and the Dead Sca, all the old names arc becoming more familiar.+ » * * Chinamen are still pouring into South Africa, in accordance with the terms of the contracts made when the late government was in office.By the time the new Transvaal and Orange River Colony constitutions are in working order the South African labor question will probably have adjsted itself as Lord Milner anticipated it would.* x x * All the fuss about Chinese \u201cSlavery\u201d was, cvi- dently.not made out of any Christian brotherly love for the Chinese, but upon account of that race prejjudice against the Chinese which resembles the attitude of the Jews \u201cwho would have no dealing with the Samaritans\u201d We seem to be meeting with 4 THE ARGUS.hypocrisy at every turn, from Parliamentary enquiries to mission work.* e ® + The return of Mr.Bonar Law, for a London division, by four times the majority given to his unionist predecessor is the most significant movement of the pendulum since the general election.Mr.Bonar Law will add greatly to the debating strength and influence of the colonial group which supports Messrs.Balfour and Chamberlain.Lord Hugh Cecil 1s still the most missed debater in the Opposition side, but he still declines to move a single step towards the Chamberlain platform.[lis return to Parliament will be a sign that the differences in the party on fiscal questions are healed.* + * LS The attitude Mr.Bonar Law, and other fiscal reformers of the Chamberlain type now take up.was well defined in his election address in which he said that he is and has \u201clong been strongly in favor of a radical change in the fiscal policy of this country.\u201d lle 1s also a firm believer in the desirability of a system of preferential trade within the Empire.He would not, however, support proposals for preference until they had been fully discussed by a conference representative of the whole Empire and unless he was satisfied (which he believes to be possible) that the change could be made without in any degree adding to the cost of living in the United Kingdom.It 1s only out and out free traders among the Unionists who would object to this policy, men who consider that the policy of England must ignore that of the rest of the Empire.* * * * Mr.Whitelaw Reid, the United States ambas- sader in T.ondon, has been pointing out to the Chamber of Commerce.that the sum total of American trade with all the world was $2,858,651,- 399.of which the trade done by the United States with Great Britain and the British Empire, totalled $1.141.806,571; under such circumstances, of course.war between them would be a crime.The figures are certainly startling, especially when we remember that the growth of American trade is largely done with Canada notwithstanding tanff barriers.e + J * Speaking at a Masonic banquet held at the Mansion House, upon his return from South Africa, the Duke of Connaught said: \u201cI believe that there is nothing that will do more to promote good feeling between the British and the Boer population than freemasonry ;\u201d adding that he had lost no opportunity of pointing out what a splendid opportunity existed in South Africa, of showing to the world what a power for pcace freemasonry was.\u201d The Duke seems to have had a great reception generally upon bis return and to be immensely popular.\u201c= kx Xx There was little prospect of any change in British policy regarding the cattle embargo from the moment when the cabinet allowed the question to come up in Parliament through a private member and left the decision in the hands of the House.¢ ss oo The announcement by the Marquis of Ripon, the Government leader in the Lords, that \u201cthere is no present intention of repealing or altering the Act\u201d is significant as foreshadowing the attitude of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman regarding the Trades Union Bill and other questions.It seems evident that no pressure will be brought to bear upon the Upper House to pass any private bill introduced by the Labor Party and passed by the House of Commons.If the peers reject or vitally alter the Education Bill or other measure introduced by the Treasury bench, there will be another story to tell.* * * * No one can blame the attitude of Sir Henry, which is strictly constitutional and will save him much trouble.The pet measures of sections of his party will go on record as having been killed by the wicked lords, earls, dukes and bishops, after passing the Commons with the assent of the ministry which will thus retain its popularity and avoid the impossible task of reducing many Utopian theories into such a practical legislative shape as would he agreeable to their advocates.e ° .e The Coal Mines Bill, which affects 670,000 persons and arms at gradually reducing the hours of labor until, in 190g, there is a universal 8 hours day for miners in the United Kingdom, will be the next measurc of this kind to go before the second Chamber.* * * * When Mr.John Morley was M.P,, for Newcastle, his attitude on the 8 hours question lost him his scat; there are two parties cven among the miners who widely differ in their views regarding compulsory hours; the feeling that it is the foreigner who mainly benefits by this sort of legislation is a growing onc.A universal 8 hours\u2019 day, or 6 hours\u2019 day for the matter of that, might be all right.® * ® ® \u2018The accidents in New York harbor and the ship channel from Sandy Hook are so numerous that they seem to attract little local attention.An accident in the St.Lawrence is blazoned forth with THE ARGUS.almost a flourish of trumpets.I am aware that the anxiety of correspondents to provide copy for the outside papers which they represent in this city or in Quebec is largely responsible for the fact.The injury done to the St.Lawrence route by the anxiety for sensational copy is, however, an increasing one.* .* » The laudable efforts to make good advertising out of the stop of the \u201cEmpresses\u201d at Quebec, both for the C.P.R.and the city, has also resulted in accentuating these local jealousies which all good friends of the St.Lawrence route and of cheap transportation are trying to minimize.* * * * The St.Lawrence is only open some seven months in the ycar; all the Canadian ports need to act together to obtain systematic improvements in their facilities, instead of wasting time advertizing their individual merits at the expense of their neighbors.In the long run I suppose the Dominion Government will have to assume the general control if we are to hold our own against the great Occan ports of the United States.= * * » There scems a touch of politics in the endeavor to blame the Allan and C.P.R.for wishing to avoid the risks and delays of the call at Moville for the mails.The Queenstown vs.Galway and Moville ve.Milford argument is a sort of Irish question as Mr.C.R.Devlin, M.P,, is so constantly reminding us.* * * * That the call at Moville is a ridiculous waste of time has long been evident; that it is not an easy port to enter except in clear calm weather every insurance and shipping man of any importance knows; political reasons should have no weight in such matters as these.*« x + x I understand that it is quite likely the date of departure from Liverpool may be altered from Thursday to Friday, which is an \u201coff day\u201d at the great English sea port, consequently, would be for many reasons more convenient; on Saturdays many vessels are using the landing stage, street traffic and railway traffic is also more congested.Moreover, a Canadian mail steamer leaving Liverpool and Quebec, on Fridays would have a day of its own for there is no dispatch of a mail even via New York, on Fridays either way.® » + The first departure under the new arrangement for carrying the mails will be that of the turbine \u201cVirginian\u201d from Liverpool, either on Thursday June 21, or Friday, June 22, followed the next Ed > week by the \u201cEmpress of Ireland\u201d on June 28, or June 29, and by the \u201cVictorian\u201d and \u201cEmpress of Britain\u201d in weekly succession thereafter.® e e ® The arrangement between the Allan's and C.P.Ris a friendly one; the contract with the Government however makes the Allan's solely responsible for performing a weekly mail service during the five vedrs commencing 1st July next.* ® Lu ° Whether we are to have a bi-weekly Canadian mail service before 1911, is apparently a subject under consideration.Unfortunately, passenger traffic to Canadian ports 1s very light in the winter and 18 knot mail steamers carry too little cargo and burn too much coal to make them pay expenses without a large subsidy from November to Maye * * + A couple of weeks ago | congratulated the city on the promptness with which the civic asphalt plant had got at work on the repairs to the asphalted streets.»s + + I pointed out that it was put at work toward the end of April instead of toward the end of July, as was the case in the old contracting days when ut took all summer to get the contractors to attend to the necded repairs.* * » I have made some enquiries since and find that while this civic plant is doing a lot of work and doing it well, it is quite unequal to the task of attending promptly to all the repairs that are needed.* | e * I am also told that the city surveyor made applications in this year's estimates for a duplicate plant, so that one each might be put at work in the cast and west ends, but it was turned down on account of the everlasting excuse of \u201cno money.\u201d * Xx * * It is quite plain to the man who observes that the conditions in Montreal are such that we shall never have clean and smooth roads until all the streets are permanently paved with suitable material.* * * > The combination of clay and broken limestone, which is the condition here, cannot result in anything but dust in dry and windy weather or in anything but mud\u2014mud of the most tenacious kind in wet weather.e e e The obvious thing to do is to get at least another plant so that the spring repairs may be rushed through as rapidly as possible and when they are all completed, both plants should be put on new work for the rest of the summer. 0 THE ARGUS.Under this plan those streets that are now paved would be made available and comfortable to use much earlier than they now are and cach year would see an increase in the area of permanent roads.» » + * And it is up to our \u201creform council\u201d to bring this about.* + » + I think that it is about six ycars now that we have suffered from the incubus of this \u201creform\u201d council which promised to do so much for the city.e ® * What it has done beyond a mere tightening of the purse strings is not very evident.Any one can cut his expenditure d.wn to his revenue if he is content to go without things, but in many cases it is poor economy.*# * * * It should be the duty of the City Council, whc- ther it poses as a \u201creform\u201d organization or is just an ordinary old time kind.to administer the affairs of the city in a way that will be a credit to its citizens, to do it wisely and economically, and most of all, by hook or crook, to find the necessary money.Once more the question as to what price we shall pay for our gas in consideration for a greater or less extension of the existing contract with the Montreal Light, Ilcat & Power Co, has become acute.« x \u201c * In sceking light upon the question the editor of one of our daily cvening papers has been down to Boston, with the view to studying the system of gas lighting and distribution as it is practised in the State of Massachusetts, for there it is a State- managed question instead of à civic one as it is In Canada.* + e ® The Boston alderman, unlike his Montretal prototype, has nothing whatever to say or do regarding the price at which gas light, or clectric light for that matter, shall or may be furnished to the people of that city.* * ® > The whole control of the question is rested in a State-appointed commission of threc members whose powers and customs are similar to those cf our federal railway commission.+ * * * The State Act under which this commission was created was passed perhaps a dozen or more years ago, and its results have been eminently satisfactory, both to the gas companies doing business in the various cities of the State and to the people.By it the financial interests of the companies are conserved and a maximum dividend of ten pc.upon their actual investment is assured them while the people have enjoyed a continuous reduction in the price of gas.* * * * There are scme public utilities which are natural monopolies and the State of Massachusetts recognized the supply of light, whether gas or electric as onc of them, when it passed the act constituting its Light Commission.+ * + * But it also recognized at the same time the ne- cissity for public control, in the public interest, of all ccrpcrations enjoying monopolistic municipal privileges, and this public control is precisely what the Commission is appointed for.+ © = +# It has power to examine the company\u2019s books of account and to possess itself of all information which is needed to enable it to decide at what price light can be reasonably furnished and it has also the power to fix the rate at which each company must furnish it.> - e .This to the Montreal mind may look like a rather arbitrary power, but it must not be forgotten that in fixing the price the Commission is bound to have regard for the provision of a ten per cent.dividend upon the actual capital value of the company\u2019s investment.+ * ® * In Massachusetts, therefore, the gas and electric light systems, wherever they exist, are operated as, what is known as regulated monopolies, a system which has been found to work admirably whenever it has been tried and which I am inclined to believe would be acceptable to our Montreal Light, [leat & Power Co.+ * + e What capitalists desire more than anything else is stability of investment; it is of infinitely more importance to them than high dividends.The constant talk in Montreal of competition, both civic and by special companies has a most disturbing effect upon the company.e + »# # In Massachusetts the companies have absolutely nothing of this character to fear.Their investments and dividends are as secure as it is possible to make them, and the people get their light at the price it costs to make plus a reasonable profit to the investor. THE ARGUS.My contemporary has done well to take up the study of the Massachusetts system and he cannot do better than to persist in it and endeavor to get it adopted in this province.* * +.+ But he should also endeavor to be fair in his references to the Montreal company, which up to date he has not been.* * # +# Thus in his issue of the 22nd he carries on an imaginary conversation between the Massachusetts Commission and a Boston company, and by way of contrast between the Montreal council and the Montreal company with evident intent to cast discredit on the Montreal company.* + * * But as he has been to Boston to study the Massachusetts system he ought to know the difference between the Commission, which is a responsible body and the Municipal Council which is an utterly irresponsible one.* * * * If the Boston Common Council had propounded questions of the character indicated to the Boston company, its answers would in all probability be similar to those attributed to the Montreal company.® ® e © What is wanted in this matter is fair discussion not bias.By all means let us have the Massachusetts system discussed, but let us have it in its entirety, not those portions only which seem to discredit our home company.H.D.\u2014_\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 OPPORTUNITY.They do me wrong who say I come no more When once I knock and fail to find you in: For every day I stand outside your door, And bid you wake, and rise to fight and win, Wail not for precious chances pa-sed away, Weep not for golden ages on the wane Each night I burn the records of the day; At sunrise every soul is born again.Laugh like a boy at splendcrs that have sped, To vanished joys be blind and deaf and dumb; My judgments seal the dead past with its dead, But never bind a moment yet to come.Though deep in mire wring not your hands and weep: I lend my arm to all who say \u201cI can!\u201d No shamefaced outcast ever sank so deep But yet might rise and be again a man?Dost thot beho'd thy lost youth all aghast?Dost 1e-1 from righteous retribution\u2019s blow?Then turn from blotted archives of the past And find the future\u2019s pages white as snow.\u2014Walter Malone, .7 Twentieth Century Theology.By HENRY DALBY.Registered in Accordance with the Copyright Act.CHAPTER XV.THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.(Continued.) There is much to be hoped for, from an intellectual and spiritual revival of interest in the things which belong unto our peace, the really important things of life.A few years, a few decades at the most, and what will it matter to any one of us, that we achieved what the world calls success, or had what the world calls failure, thrust upon us?Whether we fasted the more, or feasted the more, whether we counted our wealth in millions or our debts in dimes ?With a general reign of pure religion and un- defiled the Kingdom of Heaven on carth would be a foretaste of Paradise.It is so already to those who know cnough to make it so.True they do not enjoy immunity from all the ills and woes of life, the bereavements, the sufferings, the privations, which make up so large a share of the common lot.But where faith, hope and love prevail, ills have comparatively little weight, \u201cand tears no bitterness.\u201d The worst troubles are those for which we are conscious of being responsible, the keenest regrets those tinged with remorse.Then how much of the suffering endured by humanity 1s caused by the sclfishness, injustice, cruelty or indifference of those who profess to be Christians ! Modern society (using the word in its broadest sensc) is a failure in direct proportion to its lack of the saving restraints, of true religion.The Reign of Terror, in France would have been impossible, had not both the scum of society, which rises to the top, and the dregs, which sink to the bottom, ccmpletely \u201cemancipated\u201d themselves from the influences of religion.Is a Reign of Terror in the Twentieth Century, and on the enlightened continent of North America, unthinkable?Were the follies, the vices, the crimes against humanity, of the French aristocrats, more extravagant than the follies, the vices, the crimes against humanity, of American \u201cSociety?\u201d The utmost cxtremes of wealth and poverty cannot co-exist without an element of danger to the body politic.In the years 8 THE ARGUS.vf plenty, the danger may not be acute or imminent; but what about the years typified by the seven \u201cpoor, very 1ll-favoured, and lean-fleshed\u201d kine, and by the seven ears of corn, \u201cwithered, thin, and blasted with the east wind ?\u201d Arc the respect and affection of the submerged tenth of the people of this continent, for those who should be their leaders, so much greater than the respect and affection of the Paris sans-culottes for the old French nobility, that we can count upon them as sufficient restraining influences in time of social stress ?I have great confidence in the common sense of the great majority of the people of this continent.There 1s a veneer of civilization over nearly all classes which wears well, in the years of plenty to which we have happily become accustomed, but there are times and places when the veneer peels off.At Pitsburg, Iomestead, Chicago, Buffalo, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, and many other places, there have been times when the tide of ignorance smarting under the sense of perhaps ill-understood, but real injustice, has risen to the level of a threatening if not devastating flood.\u201cIf in the land of peace wherein thou trustest they wecaried thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?\u201d The population 1s becoming very mixed, anarchism, socialism and nihilism, are among the political forces with which we may yet have to deal.The cleavage between the classes and the masses constantly widens, the rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer.Unless we are to ignore the teachings of all history and experience surely it behoves us to consider, what is the power upon which we rely to save our civilization from the fate of older civilizations! Is it the wisdom of our Congresses and Parliaments or the bullets of our Militia?Or is it the intelligent self-interest of the people?In times of prosperity these may suffice, in times of famine and distress, of intense class, bitterness and jealousy.something more is necessary, and that is a deep sense of duty and responsibility to God and man among the people themselves.To do \u201cthe classes\u201d justice, they generally regard religion as a good thing\u2014for the masses.As something that will teach them as the catechism has, it \u201cto obey all that arc put in authority, to submit themselves to all their governors, teachers and spiritual pastors and masters, and to order themselves lowly and reverently to all their betters.\u201d oo And the masses on their part are beginning to be suspicious of religion as something designed to keep them in subjection.This attitude of mind is encouraged by the formalism or indifference towards religion of the classes, and by the inherent improbability of much of the theology taught.The horny-handed son of toil, asked to believe something essentially improbable, and which evidently his \u201cbetters\u201d do not believe, regards the whole system of religious teaching as cunningly devised fables, designed to appeal to his credulous fears, and to keep him down.That the masses would respond to a frank appeal to the reasoning powers, made in the spirit of Christ, I do not question.Their instincts are at least as good as those of the classes, their sympathies are stronger, and their intelligence is greater than they get credit for, from their over-lords.As of yore, the common people, would hear the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ, gladly.It is not so hard for a poor man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as it is for a rich man.He has less impedimenta.When I had been writing on Twentieth Century Theology, for a few weeks, an old friend, an cducated and exceptionally able man, a devout Christian, and a large employer of labor, said to me (after referring to the articles) \u201cYou had better come up with me and have a talk with the Bishop.\u201d \u201cWhy\u201d I asked, \u201cHave I said anything wrong?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d was the reply, \u201cI have not seen anything to which | take exception, but you can never tell what effect this kind of argument may have in weakening the faith of the lower classes.\u201d My friend\u2019s attitude, was fairly typical of the attitude of his own class upon this subject.They are sincere enough, they have been brought up to regard the miraculous and the mysterious, as among the chief essentials of religion.Having abandoned or modified through education (perhaps reluctantly) some of their early beliefs, they still feel that if the masses once begin to distrust such a doctrine, for instance, as the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, they are in imminent danger of losing all faith in God.The masses would, I believe, welcome an appeal to their reason, they resent an appeal to their superstition, and especially to their superstitious fears.Even the people who stay away from church are conscious of the need of religion.Often they send their children to Sunday School, not simply to get rid of them for the afternoon, but with a vague idea that the influence of the school will be good for them.Their position with regard to the clergy is not hostile, it is defensive rather than aggressive.But they stand on different planes of thought.If the feeling of the better class of non- church-goers towards the clergy could be verbally expressed, I think it would be in some such words as thosc of the man from Macedonia: \u201cCome over and help us\u201d (To be continued.) THE ARGUS.9 THE WEIRD-WAILING BANSHEE.By A.W.JARVIS The wildest legends of the Emerald Isle have nothing more solemnly grand, more awe-inspiring.than \u201cthe weird-wailing Banshee that sings by night her mournful song.\u201d As the dreded cry breaks forth on the night air, curdling the blood of the belated traveller, it sounds the doom of some member of the family to whom the Banshee acts as the herald of disaster.Ere long some dire misfortune, or death, will overtake him.Though the strange superstition is heard of in Scotland and in Wales, it more particularly pertains to the sister kingdom.To none but families of the purest Gaelic blood 1s.however, vouchsafed the honour of possessing one of these mourning spirits.In their aristocratic exclusiveness they never condescended to patronise the descendants of the Norman invaders, while those of more recent settlement would be beyond even consideration.Individually, too, they were entirely hereditary in their sympathies.No matter how low the representative of the family upon whom she attends may fall in the social scale, the \u201cWhite Lady of Sorrow\u201d remains loyal to her trust, until the last member shall be gathered unto his forefathers.Though, perhaps, in these matter-of- fact days of enlightenment this ancient belief is more often greeted with a smile than with credence, yet in some of the remote parts of Ireland it is looked upon as very real indeed; and most of the old families proudly cherish stories of their Banshees.\u201cThe Banshee,\u201d says Mr.D.R.McAnally, \u201cis really a disembodied soul, that of one who, in life, was strongly attached to the family, or who had good reason to hate all the members.Thus, in different instances, the Banshee's song may be inspired by opposite motives.When the Banshee loves those whom she calls, the song 1s a low.soft chant, giving notice, indeed, of the close proximity of the angel of death, but with a tenderness of tone that reassures the one destined to die, and comforts the survivors; rather a welcome than a warning, and having in its tones a thrill of exultation, as though the messenger spirit were bringing glad tidings to him summoned to join the waiting throng of his ancestors.If, during her lifetime, the Banshee was an enemy of the family, the cry is the scream of a fiend, howling with demoniac delight over the coming death agony of one of her foes.\u201d The Banshee generally makes its presence known after the shades of night have fallen; but some truly remarkable accounts of its appearance by day are given by the Author of \u201cThe Story of an Irish Sept,\u201d from Mr.Standish Hays O\u2019Grady\u2019s translation of a contemporary record\u2014Magrath\u2019s \u201cTriumphs of Turlough.\u201d He relates how, in 1304, Turlough O\u2019Brien, with Clancuilein and their allies, marched forth, and.passing through Cashel, ravaged the country as far as Thurles, and then turned north reaching Nenagh.Here, upon the advice of his friend, the Earl of Ulster, he gave up the idea of further conquest and returned to Clare.As his army moved along the lovely wooded banks ot Lock Derg, Magrath informs us, \u201cthey were met by a lone woman who approached them: fair of face she was, and modest of mien.From her strange aspect, and beautiful form, the whole of Turlough's followers took heed of her: a maid with red lips and taper fingers, long and waving, flowing hair; her whole being commanded respect.\u201d Addressing the king she said: \u201cMy name is Ireland's sovereignty, and if strangers had not caused thec to turn back, the sovereign rule of the whole of Ireland would have been yours\u201d Attentively the army listened to her words; but upon their pressing too close, she is said to have disappeared in the scm- blance of a bright cloud.The incident deeply impressed Turlough, who acutely regretted having listensd to the Earl's advice.Never, it is to be hoped, has the Banshee appeared in a more revoltingly horrible shape than that seen by Brian Roe on the fatal August morning, in 1317, as he marched on Corcomroe to give battle to the forces of Dermot O'Brien.When they reached the shore of Lock Rask, and while all were looking at the shining mere, \u201cthey saw,\u201d says Ma- grath, \u201cthe monstrous and distorted form of a lone, ancient, hideous hag, that stooped over the bright lock\u2019s shore.The loathly creature's semblance was this; she was thatched with elf locks, foxy-grey and rough as heather, long as sea-wrack, inextricably tangled; that had a bossy, wrinkled, foully ulcerated forehead, every har of her eyebrows was like a strong fishhook, and from under them, blearing, dripping eyes peered with malignant firc between the lids all rawly crimson- edged.The crone had a cairn of heads, a pile of arms and legs, a load of spoil, all of which she rinsed and diligently washed, so that by her labour the water of the lake was covered with hair and gory brains.The army, hushed, intently and long gazed at her, but the chief spoke to the bel- dame: \u201c\u2018What is thy name, what people are thine, of whom are kin, thes: the so maltreated dead on this moist shore ?\u2019 10 THE ARGUS.\u201c\u2018The Dismal of Burren I am named always, came the reply; \u2018\u2019tis of the tuat ha de Danann 1 declare myself, and, royal chief, this pile stands for your heads, in their midst thine own head, which now thou carriest it, yet no longer is thine Proudly as thou goest to battle, the time is not far from you when all to a very few ye must be slain.\u2019\u201d Terror-stricken and maddened by the hag's blood-chilling prophecy, the soldiers were about to throw their javelins at her, when, on a rushing wind, she rose above them screeching forth their doom.\u201cNever heed ye the daft thing's rambling prophecy,\u201d cried the ill-fated prince, as he marched on Corcomroe\u2014and his fate.Ere the dawn of another day he lay beneath the Abbey pavement.The following year De Clare set out to make his last and ill-fated effort to overthrow the Celtic chiefs of Clare.As he passed over the Fergus a strange female is said to have confronted him.Magrath states that she spoke Gaelic, and so De Clare asked his Irish followers to tell him who she was and what she meant by washing a quantity of blood-stained robes in the river.The Banshee replied that she was \u201cGronach, and abode in the fairy hills of the land, but that her p:rmanent residence was among the dwellers of hell, from which place she had come to invite De Clare to follow her\u201d Scoffing at the creature, the knight passed on to attack the stronghold of the O\u2019Deas; but before many hours had passed his army was routed, and he and his gallant son, together with many of his bravest followers, lay cold and stark on the battle-field.It will be observed that when the Banshee takes a visible shape, this differs as greatly as the character of its song; but it always takes the female form.\u201c\u2018The friendly Banshee\u2019\u201d writes Mr.Mc- Anally, \u201cis a young and beautiful female spirit, with pale face, regular, well-formed features, hair sometimes coal-black, sometimes golden ; eycs blue, brown or black.Her long, white drapery falls below her feet as she floats in the air, chanting her weird warning, lifting her hands as if in pitying tenderness, bestowing a benediction on the soul she summons to the invisible world.\u2018The hateful Banshee\u2019 is a horrible hag, with angry, distorted features; maledictions arc written in every line of her wrinkled face, and her oustretched arms call down curses on the doomed member of the hated race.\u201d As a rule, the weird warning of the Banshee takes place a day or two before the death of which it is the knell.But casrs are cited in which it has been heard when some action is being taken which 1s to end in disaster.A story is told of Kerry, where the low, sad notes were heard at the moment of the betrothal to her lover of a beautiful young girl.Cruelly jilted, the poor girl died of a broken heart, and the night before her death the dirge of th= Banshee was heard once again, loud and clear, outside the window of her mother\u2019s cottage.As a rule, the spirit comes alone, but instances are given in which a number of voices are heard singing in chorus.It is said that, some years ago, a much-loved lady of the O'Flaherty family was taken ill at the family mansion near Galway; but, as her ailment seemed nothing more serious than a slight cold, no uneasiness was felt on her account.Some friends who had called to see her were merrily chatting with their sick friend, when suddenly weird, wild music was heard.All turned pale and trembled as they recognized the fateful singing of a chorus of Banshees.In the course of a few hours the lady\u2019s ailment developed into pleurisy and terminated fatally.As the sufferer lay dying the unearthly chorus burst forth again in a sweet, plaintive requiem.Nothing is more dreaded by those families who are pursued by the \u201chateful Banshee,\u201d as it is called.than its awful cries summoning them to their last sleep.The author of \u201cIrish Wonders\u201d gives a remarkable instance of this family horror.\u201cA noble Irish family,\u201d he says, \u201cwhose name is still familiar in Mayo, is attended by a Banshee of this description.The Banshee is the spirit of a young girl deceived and afterwards murdered by a former head of the family.With her dying breath she cursed her murderer, and promised she would attend him and his for ever.Many years passed, the chieftain reformed his ways, and his youthful crime was almost forgotten even by himself, when one night he and his family were seated by the fire, and suddenly the most horrid shrieks were heard outside the castde walls.All ran out, but saw nothing.During the night the screams continued, as though the castle was besieged by demons, and the unhappy man recognized, in the cry of the Banshee, the voice of the young girl he had murdered.The next night he was assassinated by one of his followers, when again the wild, unearthly screams of the spirit were heard exulting over his: fate.Since that night the \u2018hateful Banshee\u2019 has never failed to notify the family, with shrill cries of revengeful gladness, when the time of one of their number had arrived.\u201d In more than one case the harbinger of death has been seen crouching with veiled face, crying bitterly beneath the trees; or flying past in the moonlight.Lady Wilde tells of the fair daughter of - Le ed \u2014 THE ARGUS.1 an old Irish family\u2014strong, healthy, and a splendid horsewoman.At the hunt she attracted unbounded admiration, for none rode so well or looked so beautiful.One evening there was a ball after the hunt, and the young girl moved through the dance with the grace of a fairy.But that same night a voice came to her father\u2019s window, as if the face were laid close to the glass, and he heard ringing out into the night : \u201cIn three weeks death; in three weeks the grave \u2014dead\u2014dead\u2014dead!\u201d Three times was the dreadful warning repeated; but, though it was bright moonlight, and he looked from the window over the park, he could discern no form.Next day, his daughter showed symptoms of fever, and, exactly in three weeks, the lovely young girl breathed her last.The night before her death soft music was heard outside the house, though no word was spoken; and a shrouded woman could be distinctly seen by the family as she crouched beneath a tree.But when they sought to approach her, the phantom vanished, though the soft low music continued till dawn.This same gifted authoress states that \u201cat Lord O\u2019Neil\u2019s residence, Shane's Castle, there is a room appropriated to the use of the Banshee, and she often appears there, sometimes shrouded, and in a dark, mist-like cloak.At other times she is seen as a beautiful young girl, with long red-gold hair, and wearing a green kirtle and a scarlet mantle, covered with gold, after the Irish fashion.\u201d She adds that there is no harm or fear of evil in her mere presence; but, if she is seen or heard crying, it is a sure sign that the angel of death is waiting for one of the family.A curious account of the Banshee is given by Sit Walter Scott from the \u201cMS.Memoirs of Lady Fan- shaw.\u201d It forms a note to his \u201cLady of the Lake.\u201d \u201cLady Fanshaw and her husband were visiting some friends in Ireland, who lived in an old baronial castle, surrounded with a moat.\u201cAt midnight she was awakened by a ghastly and supernatural scream, and looking out of bed, beheld, by the moonlight, a female face and part of the form, hovering at the window.The dis tance from the ground, as well as the circumstance of the moat, excluded the possibility that what she beheld was of this world.The face was that of a young and rather handsome woman, but pale, and the hair, which was reddish, loose and dishevelled.The dress, which Lady Fanshaw\u2019s terror did not prevent her remarking accurately, was that of the ancient Irish.This apparition continued to exhibit itself for some time, and then vanished with two shrieks similar to that which had first excited Lady Fanshaw\u2019s attention.In the morning, with infinite terror, she communicated to her host what she had witnessed, and found him prepared not only to credit, but to account for the apparition.\u201c\u2018A near relation of my family, said he, \u2018expired last night in this castle.We disguised our certain expectation of the event from you, lest it should throw a cloud over the cheerful reception which was your due.Now, before such an event happens in this family and castle, the female spectre you have seen is always visible.She 1s believed to be the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors degraded himse!f by marrying, and whom afterwards, to expiate the dishonour done to his family, he caused to be drowned in the castle moat.\u201d Such then are some of the wild stories related of Ireland\u2019s most cherished superstition, so pregnant with poetical imagery that we would fain desist from any attempt at scientific examination.But, in these days, it is difficult, if not impossible, to give credence to such phantasies.And yet it is not altogether easy to dismiss them with a smile.It is not as though the tales were entirely based on the unsupported testimony of the illiterate.All classes of the community will be found supporting the traditions, including people of position and education.\u2014 English Illustrated Magasine.\u2014 A NOTABLE INSTANCE OF THE NEGRO IN POLITICS By BOOKER T.WASHINGTON, in the Outlook.It is not often that one finds a colored man acting in the capacity of Mayor of a city of 208,000 inhabitants, yet when I visited Toronto, Canada, not very long ago, I found that for two months during last summer a negro had cccupied that position while the regular Mayor was absent in Europe.The man to whom I refer is the Hon.William P.Hubbard, president of the Board of Control, which in Toronto is the Mayor's cabinet.As the highest officer in the cabinet, Mr.Hubbard becomes acting Mayor when the regular Mayor is away.It has been my habit for some years past to take note, in the course of my travels abc ut the country, of those members of my race who, by the exercise of those common virtues that are within reach of the humblest man, have achieved some sort of success and made themselves respected in the communities in which they live.I have taken particular note of these men because their success:s indicate pcssibilities that are open 12 THE ARGUS.to the great majority of black men in this country, and because I believe these men, as a class, represent a new type that is coming into existence among the people of my race.The class of men to which 1 refer do not belong to the ignorant proletariat who are without property and without self-respect, neither do they aspire to belong to the professional and literary classes in which success is ordinarily gained by those who have some special talent for that sort of labor.They constitute rather a sober, industrious, thrifty, self-respecting middle classa class which is the backbone of every race and cvery people that has successfully entered into and become a part of our modern industrial civilization.William P.Hubbard, comptroller of the City of Toronto, has been for twelve years, first as Alderman and then as comptroller, a member of the city legislature of Toronto.Although during this time he has given his attention almost exclusively to the work of a political office, he represents in an exceptional way the class of practical negro business men to which I have referred.I have met men of this class in nearly all the various vocations of life.They are farmers, tradesmen, business men, contractors, and bankers, and comparatively few of them have had the opportunity of college education; most of them have made their way up from the humblest walks of life, and have gained success, not because of any exceptional talent which would have placed them at the outset in a class by themselves, but merely through patient and persistent effort, meeting obtacles and overcoming them, cheerfully, courageously, day by day and week by week.Mr.Hubbard was born in Toronto in 1848.His parents, who were of African, Anglo-Saxon, and Indian parentage, came from Richmond, Virginia, in 1844.His father, Mosley Hubbard, died at an advanced age in Toronto in the year 1897.He was said to be onc hundred years old at his death.Both of young Hubbard's parents were free.His father brought with him eight hundred dollars in cash, which he had earned as a carver in a Richmond hotel and afterwards at the Niagara House at Niagara Falls.Mr.Hubbard remembers his father as a sober, reserved man, who never smoked or drank.His mother, on the contrary, was of the opposite disposition, genial, sympathetic, and fond of company.Mr.Hubbard seems to have combined the qualities of both his parents.He has the easy and friendly manners of his mother, but he has also a vein of sober earnestness which has enabled him to gain in an unusual degree the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens.Coming to Toronto, Mr.Hubbard\u2019s father and mother rented a little piece of land on the outskirts of the city, where they kept for many years a market-garden.After a time the elder Hubbard obtained work in the city as a pork-packer, but the garden was kept by Mrs.Hubbard and the children.Mr.Hubbard was born in 1848 on this place in a little cabin in which the family was then living.Both father and mother made every effort to give all their children a common school education.Fortunately for him, young Hubbard obtained the good will of Colonel Robert Wells, who was much interested at that time in the welfare of the colored people who, coming from the United States, settled in that part of the Dominion.He sent him to what was known as the \u201cModel School,\u201d a kind of high school well known in Toronto.After leaving school he was apprenticed to a baker by the name of John Kerr.He served his term as apprentice and journeyman, and was for eight years foreman of the shop.Ill health compelled him to give up this work, and he went into the livery business with his brother Alexander.In this business they prospered.Mr.Hubbard put his money into real estate.He built three cottages and two houses at this time, and has continued to invest his money in this and other ways until he owns at present fifteen houses and a store and pays taxes on about thirty- six thousand dollars\u2019 worth of real estate.In 1894 Mr.Hubbard was elected to the position of Alderman from the Tenth Ward.In this election there was no question of party or color, but merely of fitness to serve the people of that ward.In this ward there are fifty thousand white people and sixteen colored.\u201cI got all the colored votes,\u201d said Mr.Hubbard, \u201cbut they were not sufficient to elect me.\u201d From that time to the present Mr.Hubbard has been continuously a member of the city legislature, either as Alderman or Comptroller.As soon as he was elected to the office he set himself at once to making himself thoroughly master of all the details of the city\u2019s business.His interest and knowledge of the problems of city government have grown steadily from that time, until he seems to have become generally recognized as the most competent man in the city government and the man who has the best record.I took the pains to inquire, while I was in Toronto, from newspaper men, business men, and others whom I met, as to Mr.Hubbard's standing in the community.Mr.J.C.Hamilton, an attorney and a writer, who has interested himself for some years in the history and progress of the negro race, said: \u201cHubbard has about the best record of any Alderman we have.I should not wonder if he would be Mayor some day.\u201d The same opinion was ex- \u2014- \u20142g\u2014\u2014-. THE ARGUS.pressed by several others with whom I spoke.That this is pretty generally the opinion of the people of Toronto is attested by the fact that at the last election he headed the poll in the vote for Comptroller, receiving 15,035 votes.As Comptroller Mr.Hubbard is a member of the Mayor's cabinet, and is elected, like the Mayor, by the city at large.Mr.Hubbard has a reputation outside of the city of Toronto and throughout the Province of Ontario.He is president of the Ontario Municipal Association.At the time of his election last year the \u201cCanadian Journal\u201d said of him: \u201cThe new President, Comptroller W.P.Hubbard, of Tcronto, is one of the well-known enthusiasts in municipal work all over Canada.Feeling that he has enough of this world\u2019s goods, Mr.Hubbard determined to devote himself to serving his fellow-citizens in municipal matters, and has given loyal service, not only to his own City of Toronto, but to the Province of Ontario and the Dom\u2018mion generally.\u201cEntering the City Council of Toronto in 1804, he this year attains his majority as a member of that body, for the citizens have shown their appreciation of his disinterested and valuable services by keeping him in office, first as an Alderman, then as Comptroller for one section, and now as Comptroller elected by the general vote of the whole city.He has served as Chairman of the Fire and Light Committee, and did splendid work there.As Chairman of the Island Committee he is credited with the concrete sidewalk and many other improvements.He has sat on the Harbor Board, the Technical School Board, Victoria Industrial School Board, and on that of the Children\u2019s Aid Society.\u201cHe is now vice-chairman of the Board of Control, the Mayor being the chairman.\u201cHe has been an attentive and active member of the Ontario Municipal Association, and was elected a member of the Executive Committee at the first meeting.\u201cThis year the Association has elected him to the presidency, and under his guidance there is no doubt of a successful year.\u201d An interesting fact about Mr.Hubbard's career is that he has made way in political life not as a colored man or as a party man, but simply as an efficient administrator.When I asked him to what he attributed his success, he said: \u201cIt is very simple.As soon as I became a member of the City Council I made it my business to know, as far as I was able, all there was to know about the affairs that came before me for consideration.I found that to do this meant that I must make a business 4 13 of city government, and in recent years I have given all my time to that work.\u201d Mr.Hubbard\u2019s success 1s due to no special gift nor to any particular good fortune, but merely to tact, intelligence, and an unusually persistent effort on his part to do the work that was set before him as well as it was possible to do it.The point which seems to be particularly important 1s that Mr.Ilubbard represents a large and growing class among the members of my race, who silently and patiently, by deeds rather than by words, are doing much to solve the problem which the presence of the white and black races on this continent has created.SOME WINNIPEG SIGNS.CURIOUS BUSINESS ANNOUNCEMENTS HERE AND THERE IN THE CITY.The quaintness Dickens found in the out-of-the- way little shops of old London, in the original manncr of getting and transacting business, in the sometimes remarkable character of the wares exposed for sale or in the always remarkable character of the shopkeeper, we are told, has pretty well passed away from even the sleepiest alleys and the most 1naccessable courts.Oddities in business methods like oddities in dialect suggest the past rather than the present.Modern bustle and stress, the railway, the press, the telephone and the stock ticker are great levellers, and the little ship chandlers shop where Captain Cuttle was wont to wave his arm stump in argument has in all probability given place to a departmental store or some other ordinary, well-kept dustless establishment whose proprietor advertises upon scientific principles and follows stock quotations.The oddities of the trade of early days, have pretty well vanished from Winnipeg, though even after the city had a daily paper, pemmican was bought and sold, and indeed advertised in its columns by the leading business houses.There is oddity enough even now in the shabby, dirty dens in which some of the foreigners trade in the necessaries of life, and some visitors to the city take a great interest in the smelly, dingy, little places along Main strect and Higgins avenue.But even in plain English here and there are to be found some painted signs and business announcements, which if not outrageously funny may be at least worthy of mention as showing that individuality is yet to be found in business and business methods.Not the least peculiar is a sign which since December last, has adorned a barber shop in the North 14 THE ARGUS.End, on Salter street.It is neatly printed on canvas and is as follows: \u201cArs Longa Vita Brevis Come all you brave Who want a shave As clean as blade Can make it.Come hasten soon To our new room Where you may quiet Take it.\u201d How this remarkable production has succeeded as a \u201cbusiness getter\u201d was not enquired into, but the only conclusion concerning the Latin introduction reachable by at least one passerby, is that if the art of the tonsorial artist be long, and life be short, the best policy to pursue is to seek out a parlor where the art is not so long or still further save time by shaving one\u2019s self.A laundry on Elgin avenue very evidently had its sign manufactured from a French-English dictionary giving \u201cEnglish as she is spoke,\u201d with a minimum knowledge of idiom.It reads.: \u201cLaundry Parisian Cleanse of Garments.\u201d On Isabel street a neatly painted sign \u201cSkats Ground\u201d Was in use all last winter.That is not quite so shocking as a want had displayed a week ago in a Selkirk avenue window which read : \u2018\u2019Wanted\u2014A god paper hanger.\u201d What was really wanted can only be guessed at, but it is quite possible that a man who would specialize on ceilings and other high and heavenly work was enquired for, or perhaps one who devoted his encrgies to the decoration of the upper back portions of theatres.\u201cBoots and Shoes Repairer \u2014in hier,\u201d is to be seen just across the street, and not far away an announcement for sale or rent of \u201cA stable for 40 horses with creek also on it.\u201d Logan avenue had once a restaurant man who revelled in devices to lure the passing epicures; one of the most constant of his alluring announcements being, \u201cJohn\u2019s Juicy Steaks brings him Business.\u201d There seems in the north end a tendency to phonetic spelling, which one can readily think of as bringing the deepest pleasure and satisfaction to the heart of Andrew Carnegie\u2014or possibly now Andru Karnagy\u2014should he ever pay Winnipeg a visit.Several merchants have inserted an \u201cs\u201d for the \u201cc\u201d which ordinary old-fashioned people consider in place about the centre of the word \u201cgroceries\u201d One well painted sign, which, by the way, is not in the north end, reads, \u201cGeneral Groceries Stcre,\u201d this being followed, of course, by a few words of unpronounceable translations into half the tongues which followed the curse of Babel.It is strange, too, how frequently even in well ordered communities the *\u2018s\u201d is found reversed.In a town not one hundred miles from Winnipeg the iron gate opening upon one of the best residences has cast indelibly and uneffaceably upon it, the owners name with *\u201c\u2018s\u201d reversed.Along Dufferin avenue some time ago he who ran might read on a small foreign looking cottage: \u201cFor Saly.Apply within,\u201d \u201cAll very well,\u201d a passer-by might mediate, \u2018but who, pray, is Saly, I haven't the pleasure of her acquaintance.\u201d \u201cPlain and Russian Baths\u201d is another sign adjoining Dufferin, and testifying to the cleanly habits of residents in that part of the city.Whether the two kinds mark out two degrees in the efficiency of the remedy.or, on the other hand, two varying degrees of need upon the part of the applicant does not appear.\u201cH.Grudge, Plumber, &c,\u201d is a sign easily appreciated by those whose hard experience it has been never to have had plumbing without owing a grudge in connection with it.A sign that 1s said to have been at one time hung out in Winnipeg by an enterprising business tailor was, \u201cClose Made in all languages.\u201d The meaning of this seems clear.This clever and versatile sartor stood ready to furnish forth upon shortest notice the fan-tailed draperies of a Doukhobor fur coat or the expansive hips or British riding trousers, the silk blouse of the almond-eyed Celestial, or the free flung cape of the new come Parisian, wild west Indian toggery to the tourist out to bag grizzlies, or the habiliments of civilization to the mild-mannered brave from the reserves.The very open handed and charitable appearance of a window sign on Nena street need not be taken as proof of a generous heart within, but rather of the innate degeneracy of window sign letters, which makes them altogether unreliable.The sign reads and has done for long enough, \u201cHave 10 cents! Have 10 cents!\u201d But the presence of a barbers pole destroys the hope kindled in the breast of the small boy passing and even he guesses that an \u201cS\u201d must have fallen from its place before each \u201cHave.\u201d It was not a score of miles from Winnipeg that a party of hunters encountered somewhat to their bewilderment, a roughly written sign warning them that upon a certain property there was \u201cNo shoot- in\u2019 aloud.\u201d Provided as the men were with nothing but the usual ammunition, having neither smokeless powder nor soundless misseles of any sort, they had no alternative but to give this par- mt ee lms mnt mil.enti dora a m+ THE ARGUS.IS ticular preserve a wide berth, regretting at the same time they could not accept the implied welcome to hunters whose firearms would not make a noise.The man who advertised \u201cPups for sail,\u201d possibly made a specialty of Newfoundlands and the man who announced that he had \u201cBoats for sail\u201d was really not very far off.The intention is clear, too, in another north end sign although the expression is somewhat involved.The card reads: \u201cWanted \u2014Roomers, or the whole flat.\u201d An employment agency surely would not intend to have its bulletin taken literally, which reads: \u201cWanted\u2014Station men, at 16 cents per cubic foot.\u201d Leaving out of account the difficulty of calculating the proportions of a man in cubic feet, or suspicion of slavery which might be involved in the purchase, the price offered is not even up to the plantation price of fifty years ago.It is as much as three or four years ago that one of the large employment agencies of the city unwittingly put upon its blackboard two signs as follows: \u201cNo men wanted to-day.20 Recruits wanted for NNW.M.P.\u201d Everybody would guess at once that it was south of the 39th parallel, and possibly east of the Adirondacks as well, that a country postmaster, prevented by law from putting a speculative price upon postage stamps, hung out the following sign: \u201cStamps 2 cents, Stamps licked 3 cents.Stamps licked and stuck on 4 cents.\u201d It may indeed have been in the same part of the MONTREAL STOCK EXCHANGE CLOSING PRICES MAY 23rd, 1906.8 Sellers Buyer Canadian Pacific.ee.a.160 1584 Duluth Common .\u2026\u2026\u2026.\u20260 PO 00 900000 000 19 18 \u201c Preferred .ceee seve crvesriaess coos 39 35 Minn.& St.Paul .+.