The Refugio Review. (Refugio, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, April 6, 1900 Page: 1 of 10
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The Refugio Review.
Only Paper In the County.
J. D. AUTRY, Publisher.
Subscription $1.00 Per Annum.
VOL. 2.
REFUGIO, TEXAS, FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 1900.
NO. 17.
THE COMMISSION.
fhe Eighth Annual Report Has Just
Been Printed.
COMPLETE SYNOPSIS Of SAME.
I Statistical Statement of Everything of In-
terest Connected With These Com-
mon Carriers.
history.’ I have been often urged
ly, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa
Fe, Missouri, Kansas and Texas
and Texas and Pacific; each killed
twenty-six persons our of the 176
killed during the year. The first
road injured 1097 persons, the
second 133 aiid the last one 170.
Of the total killed 57 were em-
ployes, ‘6 passengers, 99 trespass-
ers and 11 not trespassing. Of
the injured 2048 were employes,
239 were passengers, 187 trespass-
ing and 90 others killed.
A table is given showing that
the average amount of stock and
bonds issued per mile of road is
$39,069, while the commissions
per mile is an average of $15,752,
against an average assessed value
for taxable purposes of $8677 per
mile.
According to the table in the
report 203,522 free passes of all
kinds were issued in 1899. There
were 43,539 annuals issued, ns fol-
lows: Exchanges 29,538, em-
ployes 4075, other persons 8384,
of the time passes 1248 were is-
sued in exchange, 1713 to em-
ployes and 1420 to other persons;
total 4381. There were 155,605
trip passes issued, divided as fol-
lows: In exchange 14,259, em-
ployes 120,336, other persons 20,-
164.
One other matter not shown
fully in the text published was a
complete statement of railroad
bonds approved by the commis-
sioner under the act of April 8,
1893, which is as follows: Aran-
sas Harbor Terminal Railway
company $34,000, Colorado Valley
Railway company $42,000, Dallas
Terminal and Union Depot com-
pany $80,000, Galveston, Houston
and Northern Railway company
$800,000, Galveston, La Porte and
Houston Railway company $1,-
<100,000, Gulf and Interstate Rail-
way Company of Texas $870,000,
Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Rail-
way company, $150,000, La Porte,
Houston and Notliern Railway
company $150,000, Pecos and
Northern Texas Railway com-
pany $627, 000, Rio Grande Rail-
road company $55,000, San Anto-
nio and Gulf Shore Railway com-
pany $360,000, Rio Grande
Northern Railway company
$360,000, Union Passenger Depot
company of Galveston $64,000,
Wichita Falls Railway company
$250,000. Total $4,832,000.
The eighth annual report of the
railroad commission of Texas is
just out of the hands of the print-
er and ready for distribution. Be-
sides the text, all tariffs and cir-
culars issued during the year, it
also contains statistical tables,
the summaries qf some few were
included in the text, which was
more than a month ago.
One very exhaustive table
ehows the freight tonnage move-
ment for each railroad classified
into commodities. The largest
Gmmige was that of lumber, 3,-
330, i tons, coal and lignite 2,-
796,3o0 tons, grain with 1,789,056
tons, cotton next with 1,781,977
tons, merchandise 1,414,843 tons*
unclassified forest products 1,-
310,391 tons, livestock 1,277,810
tons, cottonseed products 1,089,-
943,^ unclassified manufactures
o82,724, fruits and vegetables
474,263, stone and sand 436,333,
Hour 430,926, sugar and molasses
383,760, ores 330,048, railroad ma-
terial 302,796, cement, brick and
I'mf; 267,157, wines and liquors
248,253, iron and steel rails 237,-
794, petroleum and other oils 227,-
557, bar and sheet metal 221,466,
castings and machinery 204,552,
unclassified agricultural products
198,834, packing house products,
not including dressed meats, poul-
try, game and fish 150,809, hay
116,362, mill products, not includ-
ing flour, 108,996, salt 102,188,
wagons, carriages and tools 65,-
631, dressed meats, poultry, game
and fish 59,257, wool 57,551, house-
hold goods and furniture 52,274,
agricultural implements 44,803,
hides and leather, 31,697, tobacco
24,690, pig and bloom iron 24,374,
rice 21,822.
i Other miscellaneous commodi-
ties swell the total number of
tons of freight handled in Texas
during the year ending June 30,
189», to 20,824,890 ton * . Ti,», Will Sot Penult.
The greatest number of tons of ^ a meeting of the Robert E
freight transported by the roads 'Lee GamP of Confederate Veter
handling over 1,000,000 tons was |ails of Fort Worth some weeks
as follows: Missouri, Kansas and aS°> «• resolution was passed to
Texas 2,530,202, Texas and New | the effect that a committee be ap-
Urleans 2,023,171, Gulf, Colorado! pointed to write to Judge John
and Santa Fe 1,833,677, Texas and Keagan, inviting him to write
Pacific in Texas 1,658,501, Loui- j»■ history of the civil war. The
siana Western extension 1,437,- j letter was forwarded to Judge
163, Galveston, Harrisburg and j Reagan by the committee, which
San Antonio 1,398,637, Houston j included Messrs. K. M. Van
and Texas Central 1,234,678, In-' Zandt, Thomas Bratton and W.
by persons whose views were en-
titled to respect to engage in the
preparation of such a book as you
speak of, and while I fear that
such persons, as well as your-
selves, may overestimate m,y abil-
ity to write such a book as would
be worthy of the subjects to be
treated, and as would be accept-
able to the public, still, it has for
some years, been my wish to en-
gage in such a work. It has hap-
pened that in the course of a pret-
ty long life (I am now in my
eighty-second year) I have wit-
nessed and participated in many
events which have become his-
toric.
r.
“1 have so fas beeii prevented
from engaging iiacsuch a work be-
cause of the factxliat coming out
of the war, as most others of the
south did, without means, and so
situated that I have had t© care
for a number of families besides
my own, has prevented me from
accumulating means for the sup-
port of my family and the pay-
ment of taxes while engaged in
such work.
“I have a very valuable collec-
tion of documents, running
through the last fifty years, but so
far I have not been able to com-
mand time from other duties to
classify and arrange them for use.
if I had the means to meet the
necessities I refer to 1 would at
once relieve myself of all official
duties and undertake such a work,
but it cannot be successfully done
without incurring a good deal of
expense. I still hope to do this,
while sincerely distrusting my
ability to meet public expecta-
tions.
“I sincerely thank both your-
selves and the R. E. Lee camp of
Confederate Veterans for the
compliment implied in this re-
quest. Very truly and respect-
fully, JOHN 11. REAGAN.
“Messrs. K. M. Van Zaiidt,
Thomas Bratten, W. M.
nell, committee, Fort,
Tex.”
Tvhe Easy Weight Guess Fake.
"Guessing a person’s weight is the
easiest) thing in the world, if you only
make a little study of it/’ remarked
a talkative fakir to a newspaper man
the ot*her day. “Last summer I was
up against.a pretty hard game. I
had li^id my plans for a good season,
hut at] the last minute everything
fell through. It was too late to go
into anything else, as all the fran-
chises' at the suburban parks had
been given out, and the best I could
do was the nickel weighing machine.
Well, for a couple of Aveeks at the
beginning of the season I struggled
along, not making my salt. But all
the time I had been watching my
patrons, and got into the habit of
guessing myself what they Aveighed.
And J Avas surprised to find how near
I cofiId come to calling the turn.
That started me thinking, and it
wasn’t long before I had mapped out
my scheme. I had a placard painted
and tacked up over the machine, an-
nouncing that unless I could guess
the Aveigbt of a person within three
pounds, the money would be re-
funded. It-was like finding it. Be-
fore my customers stepped on the
scales I would name the number of
pounds they Avould weigh. Then
they would get on, drop a nicked in
the slot, and the.machine Avould rec-
ord their Aveight. Eight times out
of ten my guess Avould he within the
three pounds either Avay. And the
trick caught on, too. People would
stand in line, waiting their turns,
and at the end of the season I was
just as well satisfied that my other
plans had miscarried.”
-1*—--
Early Spring Immigration.
Thp spring tide of immigration is
ternational and Great Northern
1,219,523.
..The Louisian Western extension
<2?
railway, as shown above, enjoyed
lieawy tonnage, which is due to
the fact that it is a link of only
six and three:quarter miles in the
Southern Pacific system between
Orange and Sabine river crossing.
Another table shows that there
are 34,862 persons in the employ
of railroads in Texas divided as
follows: General officers 305,
other officers 190, office clerks 1,-
352, station agentsl,001, other sta-
tion men 1,968, enginemen 1,377,
firemen 1,478, conductors 928, oth-
er trainmen 1987, machinists, 1,-
049, carpenters 1829, other shop-
men 3805, section foremen 1440,
other trackmen 10,710, switeh-
M. McConnell, and the following
reply has been received:
“Gentlemen: Your letter of the
12th instant has not been more
promptly answered because of my
absence from Austin. You advise
me that you are a committee ap-
pointed by R. E. Lee Camp of
United Confederate Veterans to
address me on the subject of my
writing a book of reminiscences
of Texas and the late war between
the north and south. You add
your expressions of appreciation
of my ability for such a Avork, as
indicated by your camp, because
of my long residence in that state
and my connection -with the late
President Davis as a member of
his cabinet.
•T feel complimented by the
McCon-
Worth
uicu; flagmen and watchmen 1140, j suggestion of your wish, if I had
telegraph, operators 702, other la-1 not done sc, that 1 set about the
borms 3601. task of writing such a book, not
'i-li.-te life three roails tied in al, for unr benefit, bat that
llo- uuwIhM' of people killed, «*;a|„sWitj kuow the truth of
Pension Statistics.
The state of Texas is gradually
getting itself into the pension bus-
iness on a scale that promises to
grow and become quite large.
The twenty-sixth legislature,
in regular session, appropriated
$100,000 for the year ending Oct.
1, 1900, and $150,000 for the year
ending Oct. 1, 1901.
The first six months of the first
appropriation will expire on April
1, and the percapita apportion-
ment w as $6.81 per quarter. There
are 3673 pensioners on the rolls
at present, and the next appor-
tionment, which will take place
on April 1 next, will swell the to-
tal considerably, which will have
the effect of reducing the appor-
tionment
With a short inter\ral between
now and the next apportionment
there are 1577 approved applica-
tions to be placed on the rolls,
with others pending. It is proba-
ble that eighteen or twenty more
applications will be approved,
which will add about 1545 pen
sioners to the rolls, making a
grand total of 5218.
On Get. 1 next there will be
available $150,000 for the year,
instead of $100,000. This will in-
crease the amount available for
each quarter from $25,000 to $37,
500.
The increased appropriation for
next year would raise the appor-
tionment to about $7 per capita
with the number to be on the rolls
after April 1, but during the next
six months more applications will
be received, and doubt!es* ap-
proved, which would reduce the
per capita to about $6 per quar
ter.
Had to Give Up the Note Book,
One of the raconteurs of the Phil-
adelphia Art Club, a man of rather
convival habits, Avas unbosoming
himself recently over a small bottle.
“My memory isn't A\diat it used to
be,” he is quoted as saying, “and
yet, once a man gains a reputation
as a story teller, he lias to keep it up.
It used to be that I could hear a
story told, and I could remember it:
and often, in retelling it, if 1 do say
it myself, I could usually improve it
in the way of original embellish-
ments. Two or three years ago,
hoAA'ever, I discovered that my mem-
ory Avas rather going back on me,
and I supplied myself with a little
notebook small enough to b*. con-
cealed in my Avaist coast pocket.
When I would get with a crowd of
good felloAvs, and I Avould hear a
new story, I would excuse myself and
surreptitiously jot down a sugges-
tion of it in my notebook. Of course,
I wouldn’t have time to outline it,
but Avould just write down some lit-
tle reminder calculated to bring it
all back to inv mind the next day.
Sometimes it would Avork and some-
times it would't. It seemed to de-
pend largely upon how the drinks
were coming. The days when my
mind seemed befogged, that note-
book Avould drive me to distraction.
I Avould look over my heiroglyphics
in the morning and decipher such
sentences as: ‘Buying watch with
Avhiskers in ears,’ or Smith’s watch-
man and new baby/ or ‘Old maid’s
tonic/ or some equally absurd sen-
tence, that conveyed absolutely no
meaning to me. Real ly, I grew
alarmed, and that’s why I have dis-
pensed with my notebook. I would
it its height. During last week j much rather trust to my memory
ptf lably. mojjj than 10,000 iimni- I think it’s safer.
grants landed at the Ngav York
barge office. Three steamships—the
Bremen, the Rhein and the Werra—
brought in Thursday 3,017 home-
seekers. On the preceding three days
7.820 immigrants Afr-re admitted.
More "than half of these are Italians.
A large part of those already landed
are Croats and Polanders, A\rho are
going to jvork in the Pennsylvania
mining region. There is an unusu-
ally large number of young English-
men, some of whom, it is said, left
their homes to avoid military ser-
vice.
A “Souless Corporation’s’’ Gall.
“We found the other day,” says a
Boston hotel clerk, “that there was
a company doing business here in the
city, consisting of five men, avIio had
made their headquarters in our Dil-
lard room for eighteen months. All
their mail Avas delivered there. They
sent out all of their mail
from there. And never a cent of
revenue to us. .1 cta.ll that the most
expansive gall up to date. And Avlien
Ave discovered the thing and told
them to get out, they unanimously
agreed to hurt the hotel all they
could by reports. Not even grati-
tude for what they had received.”
Tenement House Reform.
An exhibition in the way of so-
cial reform is that of photographs j
of and plans of tenement houses I
now made by the Twentieth Ceiitu- j
ry club’s special committee on that !
sul iect in Boston. The tenements ]
of London, Edinburg and Glasgow, J
as they were, are shown beside the j
model buildings since erected in
these cities. The similar improved
houses in Rouen and Lyons, France,
occupy another lot of Avail space.
Betterments in the new buildings of
Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Manhattan
and Boston are shown. The exhibi-
tion shows great progress.
f ---—n---*
Dog and Quail Frozen.
The • record dog story comes from
West Virginia. A setter stood on a
dozen ijiiail until all froze to death,
and dqg and birds, are now on ex-
hibition in Marlinton. The quail
were afraid of the setter, and the lat-
ter's call to duty caused him to stand
until death overtook him.
Fiske Tells of Himself.
This is what John Fiske, historian
and essayist, says in reply to one of
those inquisitive persons Avho seek
information as to the personal habits
of authors: “Always sit in a draft
Avhen I find one, Avear the thinnest
clothes I can find in Avinter and sum-
mer, catch cold once in three or
four years, but not severely, and pre-
fer to work in a cold room, 55 to 60
deg. Work the larger part of each
twenty-four hours, and by day or
night indifferently. Scarcely ever
change a Avord once Avritten, eat
when hungry, rarely taste coffee or
Avine or smoke a cigar, but drink
two or three quarts of beer each day
and smoke a pipe all the time when
at work. Never experienced the feel-
ing of disinclination for work, and
therefore, never had to force work.
If I feel dull Avhen at Avork, a half
hour at the piano restores normal
mental condition, which is one more
argument for the hygienic and re-
cuperative effects of music.”
- :--•—# +--
Nunez Talks Encouragingly.
General Emilo Nunez, the civil
governor of Havana is visiting his
home in Philadelphia. He says that
the visit of Secretary Root had an
excellent effect in helping to restore
a feeling of confidence in the United
States and her promises, which the
people there believe Avill be kept b*
every respect. The health conditions
in Havana Avere said to be better
] at present than at any time in the
i history of the city.
Shoe-Saving Sled Steerers.
Sleds can be steered without wear-
i ieg out the boots by a new apparat-
1 us patented by a Rhode Island man,
: comprising a lever mounted on either
1 side of the sled, with handles on the
] long ends of the levers and flat
blocks on the short ends, which are
forced, against the ground by lifting
the levers,
-----* + -♦------
The Disintergrating; Dewey Arch.
To prevent possible injury to pe-
destrians passing beneath the tem-
porary DeAvey areh in New York the
arms of one of the figures on it have
been amputated. The arch is rap-
idly going to.pieces.
Post Checks.
Bills to prevent robbing the mails
have been introduced in the senate
and house. They propose a system
of “post checks.” The bills are idem
tical. If the plan is adopted the
first result w ill be that all $1, $2 and
$5 bills Avill be replaced with new
notes of like denominations, the nerv
issue to be known as “United States'
post-check notes.” Then $50,000.-1
000 of United States notes of larger
denomination than $10 vLll give
way to $50,000,000 in “fractional
post-check notes of 5, 10, 15 and 50
cents, four inches long and two and
one-quarter inches wide. These
would be redeemable at the treas-
ury or any subtreasury in turns < f
$5 or more. A new detail of tiiis
post-check money, notes the Chicago
Record's Washi ngton correspondent,
would be the line “payable to the
bearer if spaces are not filled.” The
words “post-check" would appear
and space for av Pi ting in ink the
name, address and receipt of the.per-
son to whom the money is sent
There would also be a space for a
postage stamp and fractional post-
check notes or “shinplasters” would
require 1 cent stamps for transmis-
sion through the mails, and the $1,
$2 and $5 notes a 2 cent stamp Oil
the back of a post-check note there
Avoir id be blank space for indorsing
it over from payee to some other per-
son. Rest-check notes canceled at
subtreasuries would be sent to the
postoffice department at Washington
and thence to the treasury, tvhere
they Avould be exchanged for new
“post-check notes.”
----» •. ♦----
Heavy Gambling.
John Morissy is said to have made
$700,000 out of his New York gamb-
ling house in-seven years, but that is
small.gambling in comparison with
the revenues of an ancient house, in
London, which is reputed to have
cleared in the season of 1788 over
$750,000. In one night a million
of money is-said to have changed
hands in this place.
-—-----
None Spared.
That the Boer Avar effects all class-
es was proven by a recent painful
incident at the London Avar office.
One of the fevv journalists who have
been there nightly since the begin-
ning of hostilities, on making his"
customary inquiry for the latest list
of the casualties, was handed a list
whereon* under the head of killed/
was the name of his own son.
The Murderers All Flay Ch eckers.
Roland B. Molineux, the convict-
ed poisoner, is one of eight candi-
dates for the electric chair at Sing
Sing prison. All are checker players
and each has a hoard in his ceil."
Molineux is the best player of the
lot, and Avhen a game is on the
moves on both sides by both contest-
ants are conveyed to each other by
shouts.
—---*■ * --;-
Worcester’s Fine Offer.
Professor Dean C. Worcester, who
has just resigned his chair in the
University of Michigan, has had
an offer of a salary of $15,000 a
year as manager of certain mining
interests in the Philippine islands,
and when his duties as commission-
er are fulfilled he may accept the
©ffer.
-—► --—
Saber’* Three-Cent Boom.
The District of Columbia Demo-
crats, “in mass meeting assembled,
have declared their preference for
William Suker, of New York, as the
democrat is candidate for vice pres-
ident. But, as an Eastern paper
suggests, the influence of the Di$*
Givi of Col umbia democrats is small.
They don't even vote.
Iowa Leads in Bunking*
According to the Iowa State Bl-
ister that State has 300 mors finan-
cial institutions than any other State
in the Union. The banks
ally small, however. • f
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Autry, J. D. The Refugio Review. (Refugio, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, April 6, 1900, newspaper, April 6, 1900; Refugio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth848990/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dennis M. O’Connor Public Library.