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BEFOPE V His face is seamed .vith lines of care, Despair and agitation; His knitted, clouded brow is wet With beads of perspiration. Wl jat dreadful curse hangs o'er his head, Like sword to fall and smite him? Or lias his conscience serpent fangs To sorely sting and bite him? Oh, no; with friends he cracked some Jokes When all were feeling mellow, And they convinced him that he was A bright and sparkling fellow. They captured in his moments weak, This rash, vainglorious sinner, And he consented with a speech To grace a public dinner. ^ 'K' 'I' 'I1 !"] ?Ij '1? 'l* ^ 'I* !?'!??I"fr :: Courag'e, v" B I . !i Tingley Has In\ (a J! for After-Din f A hundred and fifty gentlemen in evening dress sat in ghastly alignment along the sides of the huge banquet table. The debris of an elaborately indigestible menu had been removed from the cloth, and 150 stomaches were, so to speak, wringing their hands over the problem in their midst. Before each gentleman was his demitasse and his thimble of liqueur. The air was heavily aromatic with the incense of 100 cigars and the smell of 50 cigarettes. There was a show of luxury everywhere; yet a look of dog*rnA mic-orr cot nn Ol'prc miPTI and de~ iuiov^l J SJU o V4*wy ? ? , spair was abroad in the very atmo-' sphere as at the feast of a Belshazzar. I But there was no handwriting on the wall to cause this dejection. The explianation was simple. During the procession of viands the cates and embottled sunshine, conversation had flowed freely from uncorked souls, jokes had popped and laughter had gurgled. But now the after dinner v speaker was getting in his deadly v. work. It is said that you can always tell at a banquet who the speakers are to be by observing those who eat least, orink most desperately and wear the sorriest faces. But once the food has ^ vanished, it is the audience, not the speakers, that wear the sorry faces. This was not the first banquet Mr. Oliver Tingley had attended, but it was the first since his last solemn cath that he would never go to another. He always made such a vow alter hours of that abject despondency, that living death, that state of tormented coma, one endures while flannel-brained oafs squeak ' and gibber through their after dinner speeches. On this occasion Mr. Tingley had been unable to decline the invitation. He knew the dinner would be harmoiously composed and melodiously served. He promised himself that along about tobacco-lighting time he wouid fade away with the first smoke. But it had been his ill-luck to be placed next to one of the speakers. He gave up hope of escape. He was in for martyrdom. He little knew, as he sat there, that this ordeal was to inspire him with an epochmaking idea. It is not necessity but +!-"?+ ie +V>q mrvf-hor r>f in VPT1 aunvn uiai. iu wu 1UVW.W. ? ? tfon. How little we know when we suffer what will be the outcome of our v * grief! What is the pearl but the teardrop of a despondent clam ? The toastmaster had been chosen for his political eminence in congress?an eminence that seems to unfit one hopelessly for after-dinner speaking. With an eloquence that was appallingly out of place the toastmaster began to dilate on the grandeurs of American liberty, the westward progress of the star of empire, the lowly prairie schooner with is freight of glory, and kthe magnificence of our free school system. It was all very important and more or less true, but it did not contribute to digestion. The toastmaster let the eagle scream himself hoarse, then made him scream some more. He pulled out the tail feathers one by one, and it was only when he had extracted the last pin-feather that he consented to Introduce the first speaker. The Hon. Justice Sudbury had for his subject the promising little trifle, "International law in its relation to the origin and scope of the Monroe Doctrine." ? The Justice gazed down on the guests as if they were so many defendants in a civil action. And he read to them a speech full of legal verbiage and pomposity that had neither a scintilla of interest nor a prophecy of conclusion. He might have been talking yet had not one of the guests, who had managed to become cozily drunk, leaned across the table and asked him in a loud and bibulous tone: "Is the old horse thief going to talk all night?" The Justice overheard, and came to a halt. He realized that the offence was beyond his jurisdiction and he could not sentence the man to death. He clutched at a few straws and ignominiously sank into his seat. Every one applauded?ostensibly the speaker, actually the beneficent drunkard. This apparently unimportant episode started in Tingley's mind the first workings of the idea that resulted in his era-estaDiisnmg invention. The toastmaster rose again, studied his notes, and told a few stories, of whose hoary antiquity he alone seemed to be "ignorant. He dragged them from their graves with the glee of a grinning ghoul. But as even the effort and inclination to be humorous are rare at banquets, the audience acclaimed him with gratitude". But he introduced Senator Peavey, whose subject was "Peace hath her victories no less renown'd than war.?Milton." L He spent five minutes saying that he / WATERLOO. Where is his inspiration gone? His mind now gropes and wanders. And now and then he mutters low And bites his lip and ponders. He turns his stock of stories o'er And tinds with memory murky He's stuffed as full of chestnuts as A roast Thanksgiving turkey. So he'll break down?he knows he will? Supreme of all disgraces! He shudders as he thinks he sees The rows of glistening faces. So. as the fatal hour draws nigh, He paler grows and thinner. And gloomier than a funeral feast Appears that dreaded dinner. ?Chicago News. 4* 7 Gary Diner. I ^ * ~~ i rented a Quietus * . * (a ner SpeaKers. J 1 4? 1 was no speaker and twenty-five minutes proving it beyond a shadow of doubt. He Ixijan logically with the first war, that of Cain and Abel, and came down the valleys of history with the deliberation of a glacier, neglecting few details and freezing everything he touched. People coughed, shuffled their feet, talked and groaned. One man gave vent to a cavernous ana revemeraiu yawn. Everybody laughed. But the speaker ignored him. At the end of thirty minutes Senator Feavey had reached the paintings of Verestchagin, which he described with detail that was harrowing without being interesting. A man from Texas delighted a group by declaring, "If he doesn't shut up I'll shoot him," but he disappointed them by inaction, though they promised him a verdict of justifiable homicide in self-defence. But nobedy ever does the things that everybody wants to do. In the balcony a few women sat yawning behind their fans and wondered what men saw in these affairs. But, like all things mundane, even Peavey came to an end. Again a long interlude by the incorrigible toastmaster, then he introduced Congressman Quinby. Now, Quinby was chiefly famous for the occasion when he prevented the Hous9 from voting on a bill by talking against it for thirty-six hours, at which time the exhausted majority promised him anything if he would quit. He began as if he were going to do it again but Mr. Tingley grew desperate. * He rose from his place and sneaked from the room under pretence that he was overcome with a nose-bleed. Less couragous diners gazed at him with envy and longed for a hemorrhage or a paralytic stroke tc rescue them. Once out of the room, Tingley decided to walk home. The silence of the sky and the beautiful repose of the flittering stars led the thoughts to that heaven where there is no afterdinner speaking. It soothed him and uplifted his soul to a height where he In-nrrn/? + n /In cnmofhinf tn hp!r> his I VV UV WW ? W-JT- ?suffering fellow men and to leave a name that posterity should call blessed. Plainly the crying need of the twentieth century was a means of choking off long speeches after dinners. Warnings, prayers, hints, did no good. Tingley had once heard a desperate toastmaster introduce a speaker thus: "The hour is exceedingly late. Every one wants to go home. I call upon, Mr. Thaddeus Budd, because I know he has the good taste to close the occasion with about half a dozen words." After such a preface, Tingley had seen this man Budd rise and talk for one hour by the clock. And one hour of after-dinner speaking equals a cycle of Cathay. He had seen speakers who had talked on and on while the banqueters, one by one, in common despair, folded their napkins like the Arabs and as silently stole away. He had seen speakers provoke a riot of protest and talk it down. " "* it ^ i..? Me naa seen speaners resist, uie Lagging of the toastmaster at their coattails. It was evident that the relief was not to be found in admonition or prayer or in any human intervention. The simplest means of ending the evils of after-dinner speeches would be, of course, to give up the dinners. But Tingley knew that men liked to get | together in regalia over the board. It was a survival -of primitive and cannibal times. "But in those days," he mused, "If a man talked too long the rest probably grabbed him, threw him in the pot and made an entree or a hors-d'oeuvre out of him. Ah! An Idea!" Tingely started with joy. Of course, it would be impossible in these effete days to eat a garrulous speaker. But why not boil him? Tingley hurried home and late as it was, went to his desk, turned on tb#? lieht nnd worked like mad draw ing plans. His wife found him there at 4 p. m. He heard a gasp and saw her standing somewhat like the Goddess of Liberty in curl papers, etc. "What in heavens' name are you doing at this hour?" she gasped. "Saving the great American people from the greatest danger that now threatens them?the danger of being talked to death," said Tingley, with a strange gleam in his eye. "Conversation has always been the greatest sin of republics, and dyspesia admittedly the greatest blotch on American health ergo, dyspesia is caused by conversation. Remove the cause and nature will do the rest I have at last discovered the remedy." Mrs. Tlngley was not interested but she edged toward a cold steam radiator and listened while Tlngley ran on. "Like all the great inventions, my dear, the simplicity and obviousness of this chiefly excite one to marvel that the ages have had to wait so long for its discovery. My device is based on the same idea as that of common or garden gallows. "The' speaker, when introduced, is escorted to a platform or dais, slightly raised above the level of the floor, so that all may see him better. He is in reality standing on a trapdoor, operated by clockwork. As soon as he begins to speak the toastmaster presses a button, which sets the clock mechanism in motion. The speaker is warned that his remarks must be limited to ten minutes. It is possible to prolong the time by a simple adjustment of fhcv /?!#"?/? L-TL-nrlr Vm* iinrlov Tin rirflim stances can this be extended beyond eighteen minutes, as nobody on earth can conceivably have anything to say that a crowd of men full of dinner can properly listen to for longer than a quarter of an hour. "One minute before the allotted time the speaker hears a low but oniinious buzzing beneath his feet This gives him ample time for his peroration or reminds him of his final story. He then finishes and retires. "Otherwise?otherwise, my dear, at the exact end of the allotted time the trap beneath him opens automatically, and he disappears into a yawning chasm." "Good gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Tmgley with pardonable excitement. "What becomes of him then?" "That depends," said Mr. Tingley. ! "I have several schemes in mind. In I - - - - - -._x_ _ , pattern a ne is aroppea mio a large caldron of boiling oil. This is surely no more than is due to a man so merciless of his fellow citizens. An | eye for an eye, torture for torture. "As there is, however, a mawkish sentiment against making the punishment fit the crime, I shall expect to install more of my pattern B. In this the speaker is deposited on a polished chute or runaway, something like the "down and out" at Coney Island. Through this he glides swiftly and safely to a porthole, whence he is carried by his own momentum into a waiting jpatroi wagon, which takes him to the police court. After a night in a prison cell he is arraigned the next morning fcr disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and maintaining a nuisance. I call the device Tingley's Post-Prandial Trap, or Banqueting Made Easy. I shall incorporate a company tomorrow under the laws of New Jersey and begin the manufacture of those pain-killers at once. And now, what do you think of your husband?" "I think," said Mrs. Tingley grimly, "that if you were on one of those postprandial traps now I'd press the button. As it is you'd better go to bed." No hero is a hero to his valet and no inventor a genius to his wife; but the world is soon to see 1 he Tingley mechanism placed on the market. No hotel or banquet hall can afford to be withr out one.?Harper's Weekly. A MODEL ENGLISH VILLAGE. Bournville, Where the Workers Live in a Wooded Park. During the past eleven years Bournville village has arisen, and today it shelters a community of about 3000. It covers an area of more than 500 acres, nearly the whole of which was a free gift by Mr. George Cadbury. The village, which stands amid gardens and park lands, comprises dwellings which are not beyond the resources of the artisan, and also a fair proportion of houses of the villa type. No two houses are alike. The average garden space allowed to each house is 600 square yards; and that most of the occupiers take a pride in their gardens is abundantly evident. The- roads are 42 feet wide, and are planted with trees. The houses are set back at least 20 feet from the roads. About 1200 out of the 4000 employes in Messrs. Cadbury's factory reside in Bournville. Of the re maining residents aDout 4U percent work in Birmingham. Mr. George Cadbury explained that out of their 4000 workpeople only seven had died for the last four years, a death rate of less than two per 1000. Six hundred or 700 girls had learned to swim in a large bath provided for them at the works. Practically all the boys and men could swim. No cottage is allowed to occupy more than one-fourth or one-fifth of the area of land on which it stands. Mr. Cadbury urged that if we were to maintain our position as an imperial race the problem of overcrowding in unsanitary surroundings in our great cities must be faced. At Bournville village the death rate was 7.5, whereas in the working class quarters of Birmingham the rate was three times as high. One of the principles which had been put into practice at Baurnville was that every child should be within five minutes walk a playground. He hoped England TT-/-.n7/I ennn odnnt fhr? Cormqn CfTlPmP of not allowing any district to be developed for building without the whole of the plans being fist submitted to a central authority.?London Times. Some Hints for Parents. We would like to wager that when the Topeka girl who left a home of wealth to marry a ball player and jointkeeper thirty years her senior was a child she kicked and screamed if she didn't have her own way and kept kicking and screaming till she got it We make this wager for the benefit of parents who in to the children every time the children kick and scream to have their own way.? Atchison Globe. \ Palmetto Stale Newsj v w v + ii t y f t f f i Prominent Physician Dead. Dr. W. H. Huger, SO years old, died in Charleston a few days ago. For 50 years he was a physician of the Charleston orphan home and a member of the board of health for 25 years. He was a Mason and prominent in social organizations. * * Officers Capture Big Still. 'State constables captured a big illicit still in York county one nights recently, making the second still that has been captured in the county during the last= ten days. The officers making the raid are attached to Chief Constable Fant's division, with head quarters in Spartanburg. * * Planter Surrenders. H. L. Cox, a truck planter near Charleston, surrendered himself to Sheriff Martin last week. He shot and killed a negro on his plantation. He was released on bond of $5,000 for his appearance at the ' next term of court. * * ? Operator Travis Arrested. T. ?>. Travis, a telegraph operator, whose home is at Newnan, Ga., and who is wanted at Columbia, was arrested in Chattanooga and taken back to Columbia by the officers. He was formerly connected with the Central of Georgia office in Columbia and is charged with forging express money orders. * ? Failed to Turn in Money. William P. Sharp, employed at Claxon's marble yard, iSpartanburg, has been arrested on the charge of breach of trust, it being alleged by G. E. Claxcn, proprietor of the marble works, and Sharp colectea between $1,000 and $1,200, which he failed turn in to the office. Sharp has been 'in the employ of Claxon for five years. * * Alleged Counterfeiter Jailed. ti. M. (iranam, a leading xarmer, was jailed at Anderson a few days ago on a charge of making counterfeit 50-cent pieces. iSome time ago he turned over to the authorities a counterfeiting outfit, saying it belonged to a neighbor, and offered to assist in running this neighbor down, but the officers, after a careful investigation, have suspected that 'Graham himself is the guilty man, and the arrest followed as a result. * * * No Appropriation for Triplets. Mrs. J. -Christopher of Florence has written to Governor Heyward, asking if there is an appropriation for triplets. She has them, and they are three months old. She has three other children, and is a poor woman. Governor Heyward replied that he has no appropriation for this purpose, but will refer the matter to President Roosevelt, under whose universal jurisdiction such matters come. * * * Columbia Seeks Subtreasury. The Columbia chamberpot commerce appointed a committee consisting of Messrs. W. A. Clark, R. W. Shand and F. H. Weston to push Columbia's claims for the subtreasury. A letter was read from Congressman lever in Washington stating that Columbia would receive the support of the South Carolina delegation, and that Charleston had been eliminated. He asked for facts and figures on which to base Columbia's claims. . The committee was instructed to get up the necessary data and go to Washington to press the matter. * * * Heyward Declines Invitation. In reply to an invitation from Secretary Cooper asking Governor Heyward to deliver an address on 'Immigration" at the annual meeting of the Atlanta chamber of commerce, Private Secretary Norment wired that Governor Heyward will be unable to accept. The legislature will meet about that time, and the governor cannot leave feis office in 'Columbia. 4 * * Doctor Found Dead in Road. Dr. B. D. Hopkins, a prominent physician of Fork Shoals, was found dead in the road two miles from *his home. The cause of- his death is not known definitely, but the general opinion is that it was heart disease. Dr. Hopkins was out in the country and it is thought that he was on his way home when he died. About sundown his horse and buggy came up to his house without him, and his son suspicioning that something was wrong went in search of his father and found him lvine in the middle of the road dead. Dr. Hopkins was 55 years old. He was a large farmer and was in a prosperous condition. * * Fireburg Contradicts Himself. Lewis Burton, the negro firebug, new in the county jail at Newberry, charged with the burning of the prop. v 'c'---- ." / - V- .<- -. : ' ' s erty of Press N. Boozer, has made another confession, in which he contradicts in a large measure the statements made by him shortly after his arrest. Ee says that his former statement was false; that there is no organization of the negroes in that community. Henry Ciay, colored, he says, was the one who set fire to the barn, his reason for so doing being that Mr. Boozer had charged him $30 for a pair of shoes, which he had stolen, and which were found in Clarv's nos session. Sam Pinson, colored, is also named as a party in the crime. According to the statement of Burton, the burning was planned by these three negroes that night. Clary started it in the hay loft and Burton, who was in the employ of Mr. Boozer, took it upon himself to notify Boozer of the fire as soon as it had gained sufficient headway. * * * Moody Escapes from Jail. W. R. Woody of the marine corps, held in jail at Charleston,' charged with the murder of Lillian Reeves, on October 30, made his escape by taking' advantage of the liberty of the building, securing a plank from the engine room and scaling a 15-foot wall. He was shot over the left breast on the night of the murder of the Reeves woman, taken to the hospital and sent to jail November 8. It is the custom to allow invalid prisoners the liberty of the jail buildire The doors were not locked un til 6 o'clock, and the escape was made before then. A reward of $50 has been offered by Sheriff Martin for his arrest. lie is a marine, brunette, weighs 150 pounds, height 5 feet S inches, and wore a uniform under a civilian ccat. The Reeves woman was found dead, shot in the left side. Woody, wounded over the breast, was found several blocks from the scene of the crime cn the same night. DYNAMITE DEALS DEATH Youth Drops an Explosive Cap to Illustrate an Accident and Death and Destruction Follow. By the explosion of dynamite in the small fireworks factory of Joseph Carbo and John Niva, Italians, in Savannah, at 9 o'clock, Wednesday night, one fireman was burned to death, another was fatally .burned, assistant fire chief and another fireman - were seriously and possibly fatally burned. The proprietors were alio painfully burned. Carbo and Niva were engaged in counting torpedoes they had manufactured. One dropped and caused the explosion of the rest. Carbo and Niva suffered painful injuries, those of uaroo Deing uie more serious. The small building took fire and. a chemical company of the neighborhod responded to the alarms and quickly extinguished the blaze. Assistant Chief Mouro was telephoned, as it was desired that he investigate, it being suspected that the Italian proprietors had a greater quantity of explosives in the place than the city ordinances permit. Upon bis arrival he and Fireman EJady, O'Leary and Daley entered the building. With them was a boy, Fred Chitty, 16 years old, who had crowded his way in. The firemen were speculating as to what could have caused the explosion. "I'll show you how it happened," remarked Chitty, picking up a dynamite cap. This he hurled to the floor, and tliere followed three explosions in quick succession. The building collapsed and the detonations -were heard all over the city. Window glasses were broken in the neighborhood and debris was sent flying in every direction. Fire followed the explosions. Eady was caught beneath the fall' ing timbers, crushed to death and his body incinerated. The others escaped to the open. All of the injured were at once hurried to hospitals. Carbo and Niva had already been hurried to Park View sanitarium for treatment, but the superintendent of police almost immediately directed their removal to the' police station. This was for a dual purpose, the effecting of their arrest and to save them from a mob. The crowd became greatly inflamed immediately upon ariving on the scene and hearing what had occurred. "Lynch the dagoes," was the shout. "Never mind the police; lynch the dagoes." The cries stirred the crowd to a pitch of frenzy, jut the appearance of additional policemen prevented an outbreak. MORMON KIDS SPIT ON FLAG. Wife of Idaho Senator Says Mormonis m is Greater Curse Than Slavery. "Mormonism is a greater curse to the country' than was slavery," declared Mrs. Fred T. Dubose, wife I of the Idaho senator, in an address at I m-ti t. rtf TtTrtf Wfctsmugwu urn ui j.uw*monicm,?' Tuesday night She said that should President Roosevelt make a trip through southeastern Idaho lie would no longer be willing to deelare that there is nothing in the Mormon question. Six United States senators, she said, owe their election to the influence of the Mormon church. In closing her address, Mrs. Dubois said: "Mormon children in Idaho and Utah spit upon the American flag." v ..&&& n-fO V #> ' . . . ?- V . GREED NOR COLOR Considered by Rooseveft tip^i r Discharging Negro Troops. MESSAGE TO CONGRESS Evidence of Guilt, Says President, 'M Cannot Be Disputed?A Blacker 'mSm Crime Never Before Disgraced Army Annals. >' ^ A c J A iiieasitgt: uurn ricbiuwut nwaer- ?;>$ velt was read before congress Wd-; ness relative to the discharge of the ^ negro treops in Texas, charged with ^ "shooting up" Brownsville. The president is so prompt thorough in his response to the- sen- ^ ate resolutions calling for the facts*v ||p about tlie Brownsville affair that there Is room for the slight suspicion that he abetted if he did not inspire the v:? resolutions. His response came in the , shape of a bulky document of 18$ j- ... -J pages, or about 50,00$ words, of which!; ^ 4,000 words form his message to the: ." . ' senate, the rest including the report ' of Secretary Taft and additional uments bearing upon the case. The president in his message say^/: - % "I ordered the discharge of nearly^ - ^ all the members of companies B, & and D of the twenty-fifth infantry b7. "' V'. name, in the exercise of my consti-' - ^ tutional power and in pursuance of ' ' >/< what, after full consideration, I founds ?. *? to be my constitutional duty as com? ~ 3 roander in chief of the United v fA army. I am glad tp avail myself of: J the opportunity afforded by these res- ^ olutions to lay before the congTes??kJj the following _?acts as to the murder- / 7 ous conduct of certain members of tbe^ < companies in question and as to -the^i'^ conspiracy by which many of tti? other members of these companies . > . saved the criminals frem justice, C the disgrace of the United State*--,' "An effort has been made' to disfe^ credit the fairness of the investigation. into the conddct of i these troops by pointing out that Geaejjfir Garlintgon is a southerner. Pveclfipfcjr vSQjj the same action would have been % en had the troops been white* V .5 "It appears that in Brownsville, the city immediately beside which ^ Brown is situated, there had beencoBiJ~y; &}? siderable feeling between the' and the colored troops of the gart^o^T,!.jy companies. Difficulties had ocoqrir^^S there being a conflict of evidence whether the citizens or the troops were' to blame. My. is that, as a matter of fact, in tgesqff V difficulties, there w as blameto both sides; but this is a' w&e^'i'. || unimportant matter for our purpose, as nnuirag .^uxai, uccux^.mh^^h fered in aay shape or way an excnn/. | of Justification for the atrocious; %'*1 duct of the troops when, in and murderous spirit, and under xkfftyl', " ? er of the night they made thieirv^j7 if tack upon the citizens. "TMs attack was made near night on August 13. The foJlowiaf|y:^ facts as to this attack are made clear^ \ by Major Biocksom's investigation*''; and have not been, and, in my judg-i - ; ment, cannot be successfully canfocn 7 "7 "Prom 9 to 15 or 20 of the colored 7 soldiers took part in the attack. ThejK. v leaped over the walls from the bajy- I racks and hurried through the town? v;: They shot at whomsoever they sal?: moving and they shot into bouses where they saw lights. In some these houses there were women and 7 7 children, as the would-be murderet*7 / must have known. " * " tj;7S "In one house in which there vrer$ 7 . two women and five children soaae t^^^^ aUntc wsnt thronsrh at a . height ' about 4 1-2 feet above the- floor, on puttiBg out the lamp upon the table. The lieutenant of police of the town heard, the firing and rode toward It; ^ He 5net the raiders, who, as hestat-'; . ; ed, were about fifteen colored soldiers, They instantly started firing upon him. He turned and rode off, and c they continued firing upon him .'xuskitiiV I they had killed his horse. They shot ' him in the right arm?it was after-\ ward amputated above the elbow. "A number of shots were also fired at two other policemen. The raiders. fired several times into a hotel, someof the shots being aimed at a guest,' sitting by a window. They shot intoa;.-r',; saloon, killing the bartender and ~ wounding another man. At the same " time other raiders fired into another house in which women and children' were sleeping, two of the shots going through the mosquito bar over A, the bed in which the mistress of the x house and . her two children were ^-x|1h ing. Several other houses were by bullets." ? DECEMBER GINNING Bulletin of Census Bureau Shows 11,099,001 Bales to Date. > According to a bulletin issued the census bureau at Washingto^O?3 there had been ginned up to December 13 of this year's cotton crop. 11,099,001 bales, against 9,297,918'at time last year. The number cf ginneries reported itt;A & operation this season prior to Decenw . ry ber 13 was 28,322. *4 ' ^