mortal that an opportunity for a hearty laugh is more than welcome to most people. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine," and so do the humorous features of that great metropolitan daily, The Chicago Record-Herald. The first thing that greets you on the first page of every issue is the humorous cartoon by Ralph Wilder, the well-known artist, that frequently tells more at a glance than could be conceived in a column of reading matter. Every issue contains also a humorous small story on the_editorial page, and the "Alternating Currents" column, written by S. E. Kiser, one of the most popular humorous writers in the country. In addition to all these, the Sunday issue always includes a comic section, guaranteed to produce laughter.

It makes all the difference in the world where the language is used. According to President Harris of Amherst, for instance, a word that is looked upon as profanity in Boston may express the deepest sentiment out west, in proof of which he tells the following story:

"A rough miner died out West, and was laid away by his fellow laborers. with a common slab of stone to mark his resting place. On the stone was this inscription:

"Bill Jenkins: Died June 13, 1901. He done his damndest. Angels could do no more.'

No other American magazine is publishing, from month to month, anything like the amount of campaign material that appears in the successive numbers of the Review of Reviews. The editorial presentation of the various issues in that periodical closely follows the trend of the national canvass, and no important development is overlooked. In connection with the appearance of Judge Parker's letter of acceptance, the October number of the Review has an interesting discussion of the charges of extravagance against the Roosevelt administration and an exposition of the famous "Order No. 78." There is also extended comment on the New York state situation and the comparative strength and weakness of the opposing gubernatorial candidates, Justice Herrick and Lieutenant-Governor Higgins. The "Cartoons of the Campaign," this month, are the best of the season.

We have received an address delivered by Mr. R. C. Richards, General Claim Agent of the Chicago & NorthWestern Railway Co., that should be read by every man in the transportation department of every railroad. The advice he gives is also applicable to actions in other walks of life. The lecture was delivered at Chicago and several other points on the North Western, and then put in pamphlet form for distribution, and we have no doubt but what Mr. Richards would gladly send it to anybody upon request. The lecture is really sound advice and a masterly interpretation of the rules governing agents and conductors in the discharge of their duties toward shippers and the public. Some of the "mistakes" of agents and conductors and helpers in loading freight is brought out in a most ludicrous way-as for instance loading silks and other dry goods in refrigerator cars and laying the stuff flat down on the floor so they will get wet-or loading heavy hardware into a car with light easily breakable material and putting the heavy stuff on top-of course we never did such things, but we know they are done. Mr. Richards tried to impress upon his hearers the fact that "It takes less time to learn to do a thing right than it does to explain why you did it wrong." Mr. Richards claims that the damage account on the NorthWestern has increased 400 per cent, and the shortage account has increased 700 per cent in the last seven years.

From that excellent journal "Railway World" we clip the following brief editorial resume and forecast of railway earnings and business activity: General business conditions, as revealed by the reports of railroads which are now appearing in large numbers, are by no means so seriously depressed as the tone of the financial and industrial press for some time past would seem to indicate. Some declines in gross earnings are to be noted, most pronounced in those sections which are largely devoted to the iron and coal industries. In general, however, the reductions are moderate, and do not indicate more than an expected reaction from the abnormal conditions of the past few years. Nor has the work of improvement and new

construction been so generally suspended as the public has been led to believe. It is true that new projects are suspended, pending an improvement in the market for securities, but most of the work already begun is still being pushed on to completion. A general survey of the railway situation furnishes much encouraging evidence of an early revival of traffic activity. The financial situation is exceptionally sound. Most of the water combination has been eliminated from industrial securities and, while the public are in no mood to indulge in wild speculation, there is no reason to doubt that 1905 will witness a general revival of the demand for sound railway securities. The effect of improvement in traffic, combined with a broadening security market, will be the resumption of the work of railway reconstruction and extension, upon which the prosperity of all industries so closely depends.

THE SAN PEDRO BREAKWATER.-In the construction of the San Pedro breakwater, which is to give smooth water to a large area, two kinds of rock are used. That of the center is a superior quality, to give a strong vertebræ to the giant structure. On the outside another kind is employed, and small rocks are drop

ped into the interstices here and there, to make it solid. The superstructure is to be of the same quality as the interior, and the result will make a wall which will withstand the heaviest seas which pile in upon the Californian coast. The rocks of granite which are now being lowered to form the superstructure weigh from eight to twenty tons. The results of this work will give San Pedro, and indirectly Los Angeles, a harbor of refuge embracing an area of one square mile, in which can float the navies of the world.-Charles Frederic Holder in Sunset Magazine for October.

Рось

"ASK OF ME NOT MY STRENGTH." Ask of me not my strength to match with thineThe strength that lies in cunning, nimble thought;

For what was worthiest in me, though wrought In darkness, gave I thee with the first sign Of love between us; and the gift was mine Of heart and soul in one great rapture caught, Of tears and smiles into strange union brought; Oh, Love, a poor return for the divine Sweet touch thy claiming hand made known to me!

Yet now that I have learned all that thou art, Shall I not praise my inefficiency, My poverty of light, my weaker part? Since, in exchange for these, thou couldst to

me

Intrust thy great, thy glorious, childlike heart. -Louisa Fletcher Tarkington in June Century.