I regret very much that I cannot manage to speak before the Farmers’ Institute next Thursday afternoon. I have a luncheon engagement with the President of the Michigan Northern Road and cannot break it. Please express my regrets and say that I hope the farmers, who are the bone and sinew of this great nation, will come forward and do their duty on election day. Yours respectfully, [** signature illegible] THE LABORING CLASSES ARE GETTING TOO MUCH MONEY. OFFICE OF THE CONSOLIDATED COAL MINING CO. To Stephen Elkins, Washington. Dear Son-in-Law:— I shall be home Thursday. Am very tired and worn out. I do not believe that I can keep up this pace for six months more. My back aches, I fainted from over-exhaustion yesterday, and the only food I can eat is pre-digested milk. Please have Murphy, the foreman of the mine, discharge the laborers who are agitating for higher wages. We are now paying them 80 cents a day and what can these ignorant German and Irish laborers expect? They never earned that much at home and yet they dare to come over here and make these preposterous demands. I never could tolerate the Germans and Irish anyway. However, do not mention this fact before election day. Yours affectionately, Henry G Davids [** signature] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MAYOR HARRISON’S CONFERENCE WITH JUDGE PARKER AT HOTEL SEVILLE, NEW YORK [Illustration: MAYOR HARRISON TO JUDGE PARKER—“_Judge Parker, I promise you the electoral vote of Illinois. And more than that—_” ] [Illustration: “_I promise you the electoral vote of Wisconsin! And that is not all—_” ] [Illustration: “_I promise you the electoral vote of Indiana! And while I’m at it—_” ] [Illustration: “_I might as well promise you the electoral vote of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Michigan, etc._” ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESERTED; OR, THE TRAGEDY OF THE DESERT ISLAND [Illustration: MR. BRYAN—“_You’re a bad lot and you’re all in cahoots with the wicked Wall Streeters._” ] [Illustration: “_You got your nomination by crooked and indefensible means. Your platform is straddling and meaningless BUT_” ] [Illustration: “_I think I’ll get aboard and four years from now I can organize a relief expedition for my forsaken comrade._” ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ “HOMELESS” [Illustration] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER [Illustration] ------------------------------------------------------------------------