Newspaper Page Text
The crop possibilities of this country
are far from having reached their maxi
mum.
A Kansas paper predicts that in fivo
years tho state will make hor own su
gar, and in ten years havo millions of
pounds to sell.
The German government proposes to
resume tho building of largo ironclads,
which was stopped after the wreck of
the Grosser Kuorfurst.
Tho American electric light is tho
only light in uso in England and in
France. Tho Germans havo an unsatis
factory light, but they keep it in pref
erence to patronizing the Americana.
The fivo groat Continental powors of
Europe now havo 12,000.000 men un
der arms, not to mention tho naval
armaments, almost double in size tho
whole sen fighting force of tho world
twenty yonrs ago.
Some doctors say improved methods
of treatment aro to bo credited with tho
light death list of 8 per cent, from yel
low fevor at Jacksonville, Fla., but
that it would require another epidemic
to provo this claim.
Tho cannery proprietors of British
Columbia havo arranged to introduce a
largo number of crofter fishermen from
England next season to take the place
of Indians and Chinese. Thoro will bo
120 families or about GOO souls in all.
French women are agitating for tho
right to vote for judges who sit in
judgment on cases which they bring
against men, and who, they declare,
are often influenced by tho fact that tho
male defendants aro voters while they
aro d ot.
It is tho opinion of Chief Gravos of
the National Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, that the American woman
cannot work, that sho cannot stand tho
continuous toil which would bo con
sidered light and pleasant by women
of other countries.
An American merchant who has been
in businoss in China for several years
says that tho average fortuno brought
home by a Chinaman on his return to
China from the Uaitod States is about
$300. On this small sum ho is ablo to
live in comfort freo from tho toil of
oarning his living.
A pound of broad, which in Germany
costs twenty-one pfennigs, can bo had
at a few minutos journey over the Swiss
border for seventeen pfennigs. And of
course everybody within easy distanco
patronizes the Swiss bakers, carrying
back only tho exact amount of import
allowed to pass duty free.
The wealth of church members iu tho
United Stutos, as given in tho census of
1880, was nino billions of dollars. Their
contributions annually for missions was
an averago of one-sixteenth of a cent
for every dollar, or one dollar in every
flfteen hundred and eighty-six.
A visitor to Japan no ticcd tho pro
porderanee of German influence in that
country. Many of the Yokohama shops
“had their Japanese signs translated
into German only, while in all noticos
which appeared in foreign languages,
German held, the first place. Next in
frequency, and not far behind, came
Russian. English and French followod
after a long interval," and Portuguese
brought up tho rear.
Richard Marion Jackson, tho Ameri
can member of tho cabinet of the king
of Wurtcnburg, is an Ohio mao. Ho
went to Stuttgart to study miuic, and
ono day was so fortunate as to rescue
tho king from a party of drunken stu
dents who were snow-balling him. In
a short time Jackson wa3 mado a privy
councillor, and tho king took such a
fancy to him that his subjects sDoering-
]y said that ho was in love with the
American. Just at present Jackson is
under a cloud, but ho will doubtloss
como out on top.
A custom is ia vogue ou tho Penn
sylvania railroad by which all enginoers
and firemen aro allowed a promium for
tho coal they save from day to day.
Each engine i3 allowed a cortaia num
ber of pounds per trip, and each en
gineer turns in a slip at the end of a
run which shows how much coal ho ha3
received and liow much has been saved.
A strict account h kept and a statement
reuderod monthly by which each en
gineer and fireman shows liow much ho
has mado during that period. If more
coal than tho allowance bo used, tho
engineer pays tho penalty of having his
perccivtago wiped out. Some mon
mako as high as $25 a month by the ar
rangement.
Our department of agriculture ia this
country has many opportunities for de
velopment. Italy has two and a quar
ter million acres of olivo trees and Cali
fornia has only 5000 acres, while the
uso of olivos and olivo oil in this coun
try is incroasing far moro rapidly than
tho production.
Maryland lias a prooLm on hand in
her oyster pirates. What there is about
tho mild and toothsome oyster, observes
tho New York Telograin, to induce n
man to turn pirate is hard to imagine.
But Mnrylaud has no time to philoso
phize on this hoad. Sho has been
whipped and must rondor her navy
more efficient or stay whipped.
Admiral Porter of tho Uuited States
Navy thinks a man-of-war is tho best
naval war collogo, and he says in his
report to the Secretary of the Navy that
tho bestTocture room for naval appren
tices is the deck of a ship, whoio tho
officers can deliver lectures through the
speaking-trumpot, which would stimu
late the boys to handle masts’ and yards
and furl sails quickly. The best gym
nasium is tho opon, double-banked boat
which, while strengthening tho mus
cles, will teach tho rowers that which
is moro important than handling dumb-
bolls.
Iu England tho annual agricultural
products have boon trebled within tho
last thirty years, by tho know.odgo of
bettor methods which public aad pri
vate enterprise hns disseminated. In
America tho farmers havo tako.i care
of themselves, until recently, without
any practical schools of agriculture iu
tho country. It is not too much to ex
pect that the spread of valuablo knowl-
odgo through tho Government and
State experiment stations now being es
tablished, will result in largoly in
creased averago crops to tho acre, and
to an advancement all along tho lino in
methods of farming.
Says a tourist in “The Valley of tho
Yosemito”: “Ono important fact which
is never mentioned in tho guide-books
and seldom in nowspapor correspond
ence, is that tho women visitors who
cxploro tho placo to any extent, do so
on horseback and ride astride. Tho
steeps are so abrupt that a woman who
attempts them perched unnaturally on
ono side of a bea3t is sure to como to
griof, and coming to grief on mountain
trails, whero tho precipices are a mile
high, is a milter ofc lifo and death.
Womon must either leave tho glories of
tho Yosemito unseen, or thoy must em
ploy all the advantages which naturo
lias given them.’’
Comparatively fow persons who de
pend upon Uncle Sam for their moans
of communicating with friends out of
town havo any idea of tho vast nrmy of
men and women employed in the Uuited
States mail sorvico. Thoro aro to bo-
ain with 58, 200 postmasters, Presiden
tial and otherwise; 7000 railroad mail
sorvico employes, 7000 letter carriers,
100 inspectors, 5000 clerks in tho post-
offices, GOO clerks in tho Post Office De
partment. This gives you a total of
77,900 employes. Every postmastox
averages two assistants, and this in
round numbers amounts to 116,400 per
sons, which numbor added to 77,900
gives you 194,300 persons ovor whom
the service has control.
DEEP SEA CABLES.
The Earth Encircled by Nine
Great Submarine Wires.
How the Work Is Done by a
Little Army of Operators. ..
Thcro is something queor about this
poultry business, says an expert When
a man keeps a little brood of fowls, say
ton or twolve, and makos thorn profita
ble, ho thiaks ho can increase his brood
to one hundred-or two hundred with
equal profit. His roasoning seems por-
foctly logical. If ten fowls will pay a
net profit of $1.50 apiece annually,
why should not 100 fowls pay $150, and
1000 fowls pay $1500 annually? What
ever tho flguros are, however, thoso
large broods do not pay tho snmo pro
portionate profit ns tho smaller oaos.
The capturo of a Belgian slavo vessol
has led to the discovery, asserts tho San
Francisco Chronicle, that a former Bel
gian Consul has boon ongaged in tho
slave trado at Zanzibar. This will not
be any surpriso to thoso who havo fol
lowed tho growth of tho slavo traffic in
tho last fow yoars on tho E ast coast.
The British cruisers at ono timo mado
it a precarious industry, but lately their
vigilance has boon rolaxed. Every
European nation except England winks
at this traffic in humaa boings, and tho
Portuguese mako small pretenso of con
cealing thoir share ia tho procurement
of slaves. Recently tho discovery of
groat bodies of land at the headwaters
of the Congo that may bo utilized for
agriculture has led to an urgent demand
for slavos for working thoso plantations,
and it was probably for this new field
that tho slavos on tho Belgian vessel
were destined.
Although it is comparatively a very
brief period since tho first submarine
telegraph cable was successfully laid be
tween Ireland and Newfoundland, such
vast strides havo been mado in tho per
fection, construction nnd laying of deep
sea cables that the earth is now almost
entirely girdled by them. Tho coast
linos of tho Americas, Europe, Asia,
Africa and Australia are festooned with
countless miles of submarino cables that
loop gracefully from the ocean bed at
regular intervals to touch at some busy
seaport or relay offico. Thoro are now
nine great submarine cablo companies
in tho world, witti over sixty thousand
miles of cablo, extending to the re
motest parts of the habitablo globe.
The greatost of those companies is the
Eastern Telegraph Company of "London,
with 39,000 miles of cable under its
control. This line starts from Land’s
End, England, and runs under tho
ocean to Lisbon. From there it loops
to Gibraltar, then under tho Mediterra
nean to Malta and Alexandria, ovorland
to Suez, under the Red S9a to Aden,
under tho Gulf of Arabia to Bombay,
looping around to Madras, to Singapore,
to Saigon, to Hong-Keng, Amoy and
Shanghai, in China, to Nagasaki, end
ing at Yladivistock, Eastern Siberia.
Africa ia looped on tho oast from Aden
to Zanzibar to Capo town. On tho west
coast 4000 railos of cablo only touch at
four places. Another long cable runs
from Lisbon to Pernambuco. South
America is festoonod on both coasts
as far south as tho Argentine Repub
lic. Tho Eastern also has a lino 'to
India through Psrsia, thcnco through
tho Persian Gulf. There are nino
working cables between America and
England. All tho West India islands,
tho Grecian Archipolago and Australa
sia aro roachod by cables.
To work these vast lengths of subma
rine cables a good sizod array of opera
tors is employed. Not much has boon
written about tho3o men, but thoso deep
sea cable operators constitute ouo of tho
finost bodies of Skilled workors in tho
world. All tho cable linos are manu
factured and ownod in England. These
cablcmen aro brave, fearless- and far
above tho avorago intelligence. Thoy
never flinch from going whore duty calls
them, and they aro most important fac
tors in commerce, diplomacy and pro
vincial government. They aro great
travelers, and numbors of them have
been in every part of tho known world.
The deep sea cablemcn aro taught tho
rudimentary elements in London. Thoy
are then sent to Porta Kurno, Ponzance,
whero they become familiar with the
working of tho siphon recorder, the
spark and tho transmitter. When pro
ficient they are detailed to any place
touched by cable. Tho.se operators aro
wcdl paid, work short hours and very
seldom leave tho service. They are
calloi upon to work in the deadly fevers
of Panama and Africa, to face wild
beasts in India, to work among prowl
ing bands of robber nomads ia Arabia
and Persia; they must live in tho
cholora-strickcn cities of Siam and
China, tho yellow lever of Cuba, tho
torrid climate of South Amorica and tho
bleak coast of Eastern Siberia. But in
spite of tho fact that tho cablo lines aro
laid through such pestilential countries,
the morality rate among tho cablo opera
tors is very low. This is no doubt duo
to the fact that tho companies are con
tinually changing their men about in
such placos. An operator is dctailod to
very unhealthy places for oix months or
a year. He is then sent to some very
healthy spot. Men aro often trans
ferred from Panama to Nagasaki or
Cape Town.
To keep thoso vast linos in order a
numbor of steamships aro fitted up for
that purposo and the men spend a few
pleasunt months on board them, taking
turn ubout. If an operator marries and
locates in a place ho is allowed to re
main thero. Tho men livo a very pleas
ant life, except when they aro detailed
to dangerous or unhealthy stations.
The mon always roly on the protection
of tho homo Government and they fear
lessly go to stations in the wildest spots
of Arabia, Turkey, Porsia or Africa,
conscious of the fact that if the natives
molest them a British gunboat will soon
make things howl in that vicinity.
Tho largest force of operators are
kopt at tho repeating stations, whero all
messagos have to be transferred. At
Suez and Aden GO cable men aro em
ployed at each station. On the Ameri
can aide the largest force Is at Heart'*'
Content, Newfoundland, where thcro
are 40 mea. This it a steady colony of
cable operators. Nearly all of tho
older men are married, and aro bringing
up families. Thoy have a chapel,
school, club-house and own their own
houses. At the cablo stations tho com
pany builds several buildings, including
tho office, a club-house furnished with
a piano, billiard table, card room, and
all conveniences. Single men livo here.
Marriage is' encouraged, and when
a man marries he is given a small house,
his fuel and the doctor's services, all
free. Lifo is made as ploasant as possi
ble, and tho stations aro furnished with
boat houses, sail and rowboats and fire
arms. The men are given thirty days’
vacation with pay yearly. The leavo
is cumulative, and if a man works fivo
years he is given fire months' leave
with pay, and his pass ago paid to
whatover part of the world he may livo
in. The cablo men are regarded as a
species of supernatural beings by tho
different wild tribes in outlandish
countries.—[Now York World.
A Professional Rattlesnake Killer.
The Albany (N. Y.) Journal’s Lake
George correspondent writos:
Isaac Davis of Hague, who in four
yoars has killed upward of 1,400 rattle
snakes, and who la3t fall, at tho county
fairs of this vicinity was the first to
handle rattlesnakes in public exhibi
tions, recently killed four monster rat
tlers near Sabbath Day Point. This
year ho has killod upward of 400, for
which he has been paid a bounty of 25
cents per snako. Ho makes rattlesnako
hunting, catching and exhibiting his
whole business, and is paid $50 a month
during tho season by property owners
about Hague for killing snakes. Hj is
believed to bo the only man in the
world following this occupation. He is
an intelligent man, fond of reading, of
quiet demeanor and gentle disposition.
All his friends apprehend that ho will
meet his death some day in handling
those reptiles, but the businoss seoma to
have a fascination for him outside of
the remuneration it affords him and tho
dissuasions of his friends only scorn to
confirm him in his liking for tho busi
ness. He always carrios with him a
romedy in caso ho should be bitten, but
does not feel any special confidence in
its efficacy, lie is a man of 45 yoars
and killed his first snake before ho was
six years old but nevor went into regu
lar snako hunting until four yoars ago.
His father before him was tho famous
snake hunter “Miat" Davis, who used
to kill them for the oil to soli to drug
gists. Tho old man is said to havo
been bittoa sovoral times by snakos and
to have cured himself by uso of “rattle
snake weed.” It used to bo a standing
joke about tho lako that whon arattlo-
snake bit old ‘'Mint’’ D vis, it was tho
snako that was poisoned to do nth. Tha
old man certainly seemed to havo no
moro fear of a rattlesnako than a child
for a kitten.
Injury of Bandaging the Eyes.
The custom prevalent among physi
cians as well as tho laity, of tightly
bandaging or tying up tho eye as soon
as it becomes inflamed or sore, is
branded a bad oao by a writer in
Health. Ho says: “It precludes tho
free access oncl beneficial effects of the
cool air, and at tho same time prevents
and greatly retards tho froo egress of
the hot tears and morbid secretions of
tho inflamed conjunctiva or cornon, or
both. In those cases, too, whore a
foreign substance has got into tho oyo,
the bandage (which is usually clapped
on the first thing) presses tho lids moro
closely against tho ball, and thus in
creases the pain and discomfort by aug
menting tho lacerations caused by the
foreign body. This cannot fail to bo
harmful. In those cases whore tho
light is painful it is my habit to adjust
over the organ a neatly fitting shade,
which, whilo it excludes tho light, al
lows the freo access of air.”
How To Sharpen a Pocket Knifo.
A large dealer in cutlery exprosses
the opinion that not ono man in fitly
knows how to sharpen a pocket knife.
“A razor,” sayi he, “must be laid flat
on tho hone, being hollow ground and
requiring a fine edgo. But a pocket
knifo requires a stiff edge, and the mo
ment you lay it flat on a stono, so as to
touch the polished side, you ruin tho
odge. Tho blade must be hold at an
angle of twenty or twenty-five degrees
and havo an edge similar to a chisel.
This is technically called tho 'canncl,’
and is marked on all new knives by a
fine white lino which does not removo
or touch tho polishoi surfaco. Knives
improperly whottod aro often con
demned as too hard or too soft without
reason.”—[New York Tribune.
• Just So.
For thus it is with men of brain,
Finding their fortune on the wane,
And hoping they may take a rise—
Advertise!
The greatest men who live today
Have found In this the only way
To swell beyond tho common sice:
Advertise!
It never yet was known to fall
To brighten times and make a sale;
To bind your luck with golden ties,
Advertise!
And so, whate’er you havo to sell.
Do this at once and do it well;
Keep it before the public eyes—
Advertise!
So let you^ name be Jones, Smith, Grimaa
Try this one way to cheat hard times;
You’ll find herein the secret lies:
Advertisel
When times are hard and cash is low,
And trade conies in most awful slow,
What is it that 1 would advise?
Advortlse!
When folks go streaming past the door,
And never step inside the store,
My best advice do not despise:
Advertise!
When drawer and pocket both seem thin,
And much goes out and naught comes in,
If you would be exceeding wise,
Advertisel
I1UMOKOU&
A handsomo couple—Two dollars.
“Lives out” all hor days—The hired
girL
Tho children’s hobby—A wooden
horse.
Iu the mattor of fans tho Chinose
take the palm.
There is a cheerful ring ia an en
gaged girl's laughter.
Even a rug-god person may not fool
mat-rimonially inclined.
Tho most appropriate shoos for police
men aro tho copper-tood variety.
Bundles of comic valentines aro the
laughing stock of the nowsdealer.
A dead fruit tree is liko a ship drift
ing at sea. It has lost its boariag.
The way a ship is bound has no rela
tion to tho restrictions of commerce.
“Talk is cheap"—tho exception be
ing when a lawyer is talking for you.
Tho tax collector is always surp td
como arouad in duo time to every man
The druggist charges tho soda fou
tain aud makes tho customer
cash.
Although corn has many
thoro ia no sign it was first gro
Kentucky.
Now is tho timo when
Bhovol in his own coal and tell
ho is paying an olcction bet.
Tho old B iy stato always makes'’
good showing of her militia when she"
presents her troops ia Mass.
“It is fillin’, but not fattenin’," as
tho old Irish lady said of tho wator sho
fed tho pig an hour before she sold
him.
Grammatically speaking, it may bo
said that criminals and the judgo differ
widely iu rogard to the length of sen
tences.
Milkman—Did you wi3h to settle for
your last mouth’s milk? nousewifo —
Not today; I guess you’ll havo to
chalk it, as you usually do.
Thero is a great doal of danger in
telegraph wires. A man standing in
front of a stock tickor the other day
was hoard to complaiu of being badly
hit.
“My dear young lady,” said a gush
ing artist to her, “you are positively
lovely I Wouldn't you liko mo to do you
in oil?'* “Sir," exclaimod her father’s
pride, indignantly, “do you take me
for a sardine?”
It was at the broakfast tablo. Mr.
Smiiingboy was telling Mrs. S. about a
farce he had attended tho night before.
“Ah,” said he, “my dour, you’d have
died laughing if you could have been
there 1” Then he added in a tone of
burning enthusiasm: “How I wish
you hod.”
A Reasonable Demand—Sho: No I
Mr. Harding, it can nevor be. But I
will always be a sister . Ho (ris
ing): Oh, that’s tho doal, is it? Well,
then, sister, if you’ve got your thimble
handy I wish you would sow up the
knoos of my trousers that I havo sacri
ficed in finding out our relationship.
Tho little boy had como in with his
clothes torn, his hair full of du3t and
his faco bearing unmistakable marks of
a sevoro conflict. “O, Willie! WillioI”
exclaimed his mother, dooply shockod
and griovod, “you havo disobeyed mo
again. How ofton have I told you not
to ploy with that wickod Stapleford
boy?” “Mamma," said Willie, “do I
look as if I had been playing with any-
body?’’
