Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Ohio has declared election day by law to be a legal holiday. Sir Charles Russell says the keynote of reform in England is “one man, one vote.” The scheme to number the hours ot the day up to 24, instead of 12 and re¬ peat, seems to be gaining popularity, especially among railroad managers. It is said that the Jocks on the gov¬ ernment vaults in Washington are so weak that most any burglar could pick thorn While the debt of Great Britan has been reduced nearly $12,000,000 in three years, Germany’s has increased nearly $95,000,000. The Comte de Bizernont or the French Geographical Society says Frenchmen have no sympathy for Ex¬ plorer Stanley, and would not do him honor. During the last eignt years the United States have increased prodigi¬ ously in population and business, but during that period the amount of money in circulation has shrunk sev¬ eral hundred millions of dollars. Mr- Ozaki, a Japanese editor, who tias lately visited Europe, has contrib¬ uted to the Japanese magazine a paper entitled, “Value of Men Returning Home from the West,” in which he says that the majority of Japanese who travel are a disgrace to Japan. There is a dissatisfaction in Cuba. People are leaving the island for South America. High taxes have caused 400,000 farms to be seized. It costs $14,000,000 a year to support the military and naval establishment, and Cuba foots the bill. Artesian wells are being put down In great numbers in the district of Riverside, in California, and owing to them, this district, which v/as pre¬ viously uninhabited on account of the scarcity of drinking water, ha6 now a population of 7000. The New Orleans Picayune asserts that In northern Michigan there are many counties without a church of any denomination, and thousands of men, women and children g/ow up in the towns and in the woods who never have heard the word of God or seen a church. “We may not produce the greatest philosophers or theologians,” moralizes the Chicago Herald,“but we can claim the proud distinction of using the most soap. For every 100 pounds used in the United Stales, England uses 85; Germany, 83; France, 85; Sweden, 70; Italy, 37; Bulgaria, 35, and Mex¬ ico 27.” According to the laws of Italy, fath¬ ers are responsible for their sons’ re¬ turn when they leave the country, and, should they not return to do the mili¬ tary duty required of them, are put in prison. A young Italian, who had been living in Waldoboro, Me., re¬ turned to his native land recently, to save his father from a term of im¬ prisonment. One of the greatest hardships of the grain growers of Russia is the want of adequate means for storing and trans¬ porting their produce, At certain periods cfjhe year 6uch quantities are brought to the railways that a sufficient number of wagons for transport is not to be had, nor are the railways pre¬ pared to store it. Piled up in sacks in the open air, exposed to rain and mow, much of it becomes damaged and worthless. A great many stories are told about the parsimoniousness of Tamagno, the great Italian tenor. Although receiv¬ ing $2,000 a night for singing he al¬ ways stopped while in America in second-class hotels. lie cooked spag¬ hetti in a chafing-dish in his room, and rather than pay 20 cents a bottle for beer in the hotels he would send out and get 10 cents’ worth in a pitcher from the nearest saloon. Coming back from Mexico he had a special stateroom in a Mann car, along with the other artists. He had an alcohol cooking stove on board, and he actual¬ ly brought live chickens into the car and killed and cooked them right there as a means of economy. And Tamagno is worth in cold cash five hundred thousand dollars. It is singular, muses the Chicago Herald, that Great Britain is the only country in Europe where the doctrines •f Mormonism can be promulgated in the public streets. Elsewhere it is a punishable offence for an elder to be found “on the stump” at a street corner. William L. Scott, the Pennsylvania coal magnet, recently said that he would give his $20,000,000 for good digestive apparatus, and it is now r said of John D. Rockfeller, the richest man in the United States, that he looks as though in ill health and his face is almost ashy. It is the face of a man who is never free from worry and re¬ sponsibility. His brow has eett.ed into a permanent frown. The poor multi-millionaires are having a tough time. It seems strange and unreal, declares the San Francisco Chronicle, to read that Mrs, Amelia Bloomer,who created so great a sensation by her peculiar costume, is still alive in Iowa. She fondly imagined over forty years ago that women would soon be emanci- pated from skirts, but she has probably discovered before this that the fair sex is very conservative, and that the one thing which the genuine woman never wants to do is to look or act like a man. Missouri is a great state, and one o the best evidences of the fact, in the estimation of the Picayune, is to be found in the magnificent provision it makes for public education, The amount expended on its public schools last year vnis $4,999,842. It kept 9087 free schools in operation, fox which were enrolled 611.541 pupils, and in which were employed at liberal salaries 13,654 teachers, The expen- diture for school purposes this year will exceed $5,000,000 considerably. Some time ago the Wisconsin legis¬ lature enacted that in counties of 150- 000 inhabitants the estates of deceased persons if valued at more than $3,000 and iess than $500,000 should be taxed one half of 1 per cent., and if valued at more than $500,000 on the excess six-tenths of 1 per cent. The supreme court of the state has just declared this enactment unconstitutional. Probably the ground of the decision is that the constitution requires the rule of taxation to be uniform, and does not sanction any rule of “pro¬ gressive” taxation, At all events that is a sufficient ground on general principles, “Progressive” taxation amounts to a sort of confiscation, and it is a fine imposed upon thrift, inven- tire genius, and business capacity. The Chicago Sun says: “Notwith slanding the fact that a larger amount of business is now being done in the United States than ever in our history there are thousands of business men, manufacturers, farmers, miners and workmen who are in narrow straits, and see very little prospect for relief. Averaging up the entire country we find that business is of extraordinary proportions; that money is fairly abundant; that failures are not in¬ creasing ; that more money- than ever is seeking employment in new direc¬ tions; that manufacturing capacity in almost every direction is on the in¬ crease, and that new enterprises, com¬ mercial, manufacturing, mining and farming, are growing in number more rapidly than last year, or, in fact, any other year.” Last year 2,000,000,000 bushels oi wheat were raised in the world, so far as records show; of this, Uncle Sam furnished 490,000,000 bushels, or about one-fourth. It is rather a re¬ markable fact that the little country of France came next with 306,000,000 bushels. The reason is, that French agriculture is in such a high state of development that its results are a mat¬ ter of surprise to American farmers. Great, big India comes next with 237,000,000 bushels; Russia follows with 188,000,000 bushels; but includ- ing Poland, a wheat raising country, the figures are 300,000,000. Italy fur- nishes 100,000,000; Portugal comes poking along with 9,000,000; frozen Denmark turns out 5,000,000. They find enough land in Switzerland tc raise 2,500,000 bushels. Bpain fur- nishes 73,000,000 bushels; Germany, S4,000,000 bushels; Hungary, 95,- 00o,000 bushels; Asia Minor, 37,000,- 000. Away off in Persia the yield it 22,000,000 bushels. LICK OBSERVATORY. IT CONTAINS THE GREATEST TEL- ESCOPE IN THE WORLD. Ite Eccentric Founder’s Bomantic Leva Affair. The traveler who visits California should not fail to go to San Jose and take the delightful ride up Mount Hamilton, There he will 6ee the famous Lick Observatory, with its great telescope, the largest in the world. From San Jose to the top of the mountain is a distance of twenty- seven miles, but the easiest mountain ride I ever had the good fortune to take. James Lick bequeathed $050,000 for the building of the observatory. It stands on the top of Mount Hamilton, the rock summit of which was leveled down over 200 feet to give suitable standing room for the necessary build¬ ings. The diameter of the great dome of the observatory proper is seventy- five feet. It is made of steel plates and weighs 130 tons, yet by the turn¬ ing of a little wheel the dome is noise¬ lessly moved 60 that its window opens to any part of the sky that is desired. The telescope i6 fifty-six and a half feet long and weighs twenty-four tons, yet is so poised that it can be moved to point in any direction by the turning of a wheel or by placing your hand on the lower end of the telescope. The entire floor of the observatory can bo lowered or lifted n distance of seven- teen feet, so that the observer may sit in his wheeled chair and follow the moving telescope from the zenith to the horizon. l nder the massive iron pier sup- pouting the telescope James Lick is buried. There is a little romance and “a woman in the case” that brought James to this magnificent resting place. Below him stretches the beau¬ tiful valley of Santa Clara, inclosed 011 the west by a range of low hills cov- ered with orchard and vine and be¬ yond the great ocean; to the east and southeast the snowy tops of the Sierra Nevada range glitter in the sunlight, although they are over 140 miles away. James, when a boy, worked in a mill in Pennsylvania, and fell in love with his employer's daughter, lle asked for the hand of his beloved, but was informed by the stern father that $18 per month w as far below his daughter’s ambition. Jpmcs replied that if the girl would have him they would marry without his consent, but after time for reflec¬ tion the girl came to her father’s view and Janies left in disgust, assuring the old gentleman that he would yet ow T n a mill, the hopper of which should cost more than his entire plant. James went to South America; made $40,000 in mining; came with his money to California in 1846; bought land in San Francisco and else¬ where in the state and became one of the first and greatest of California’s millionaires. Part of his property was a mill of the greatest magnificence, with a hop¬ per made of every variety- of expen¬ sive wood, highly polished and inlaid. He had the mill photographed, ex¬ terior and interior, but especially the hopper, and sent copies to his former employer. His lady- love had married in the meantime, but James remained single and left all his millions to edu¬ cational and charitable purposes. Let me give you a few figures that will show the relative size of the great Lick telescope. The “light- grasping power” of the four largest telescopes in the world as follows: Washington telescope, area 551 square inches, Vienna telescope, area 573 square inches. Russia telescope, area 706 square inches. Lick telescope, area 1018 square inches. The width of the great lens in the telescope is thiry-six inches; tliat of t,ie Kussia telescope is twenty- ecven inches. I had supposed that in grinding of one of these powerful lenses the most perfect evenness of graduation would be secured, but, on tbe contrary, there are in ’the great Jens * n telescope places where depressions of one-eight of an inch are ma de to counteract the differing dens- ot the glass, which could be de- te rmined only by the eye of the finish- er ’ who uses the hand and the eye al- tcrnately.— [Detroit Free Press. The Profils of Anlhorship. A New Y ork letter in the Philadel¬ phia Press says: 1 caught one of our best-known authors in a confidential mood recently, and his comments on the revenue of authorship, which he gave me permission afterwards to print, carry interest with them. 1 may add that the name of this author is one of the most widely known in American literature to-day. “Seven years ago I chose between law and literature. I had every opportunity to succeed at the bar, for, through hard study and my connections, a lucrative practice seemed open to me. But I turned to authorship. To-day I am what the world calls a successful au¬ thor. My last novel was bid for by three publishers, and my royalties, I am told by my publishers, are higher than those of the majority of their writers. “I have the pleasure of hearing my books and name hawked on the trains when I am travelling, the newspapers give me from a quarter of a column to a column and a half reviews. But what has literature brought me in money? Let me open my vest pocket to you. Here is my actual revenue for 1889, and includes, as you see, royalties on six of my novels, maga¬ zine articles, etc., and everything is collected. Here is the total—$2170.40. Compare these actual figures to the paragraph recently circulated in which I am reputed to earn $10,000 from mv pen. Is it any wonder that the unsophisticated enter literature with false hopes? Yes, print these facts if you wish; only, of course, withhold my name and identity.” I reproduce liere tlie facts and figures as they were given to me. I only wish it were possible, for the sake of those who think that literature is a bed of roses, t0 give this author’s name. Protecting Lincoln’s 3Ionument. A stout iron fence has been pul around the Lincoln monument at Spting.ield, III., and nobody will be allowed inside the enclosure except during certain hours in the day. Tills step wa* decided on at a meeting of the Lincoln Monument Association, the object being to prevent the monu¬ ment from being mutilated by relic hunters. Heretofore there has been no fence of any kind immediately sur- rounding the monument, and when the custodian was not on the ground it was left to the mercy of visitors. Within the last few months two of the groups of statuary on the monu¬ ment have been badly mutilated. The sarcophagus in which once reposed the body of Lincoln is in the catacomb o:i the north side of the monument, only a few feet from the entrance, where there is simply an iron grating. A short time ago, some visitor, dur¬ ing the absence of the custodian, reaching in between the gates with a heavy cane, knocked a piece of garble from the sarcophagus, raked it out and carried it off Similar acts of van- dalism have been quite common for years, and it has been found necessary to provide 6ome means for the protec¬ tion of the monument.—[Commercial Advertiser. A Fortune in Asparagus. “On a spur of Lake Tohapekaliga,” Bays the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, “six miles by water and about nine by land south of Kissimmee, is the already famous asparagus plantation of Mr. F. Goblet, who went there about a year ago from Charleston, S. C.,where in ten years preceding his departure he amassed a fortune in the cultivation and sale of asparagus, which was chiefly shipped to Northern markets, and it i* his main purpose to giow it here on an immense scale, the design being to plant fifty acres of it. It is argued that it can be placed on the market at a season when there is no competition, as the time of planting in South Carolina and Georgia is in March, while here it is in January, giving a crop two months earlier. The colossal experiment will be watched with intense interest by the agricul¬ turists of Florida.” An Electrical Churn. The Count of Assata, in Italy, has connected his dairy plant with an elec¬ tric motor of twelve horse-power. This drives a churn with a capacity of some 400 quarts at the rate of from 120 to 160 revolutions per minute, producing butter of the finest quality in 30 or 35 minutes.—[Trenton, (N.* J.) Ameri¬ can. Ti;c Harper. Tbe harper woke end sung his songs As God and Nature taught him- Tbe busy world passed by besoughth^ in throngs And with rough words To leave his craft, an idle choice, To those of rarer Land and voice. • The harper slept. The scales fell 0 ff Blind eyes, and ears grew sharper; Praise rang from lips all-used to scoff; “A great man was our harper!” And round the sleeper's name and tomb Is wreathed the laurel with its bloom —[Emma C. Dowd, in Youth’s Companion, HUMOROUS. Meet and drink—Old cronies. Little things that tell—Small broil era. A pawnbroker is deserving of pathy. He is a loan creature. “How are you coming on?” j, quired the man of hi* wet boot. Tailors 6ay that the fast man is go crally pretty 6low about paying up. An early crop—The one that is <jji tended by the proverbial early worJ How the tobacco habit is spreadij —even horses smoke after a hard huskiJ ruj The queen of all bees is the bee. You can distinguish her by J red ear. Sometimes tbe lover who is fiJ with passion for the daughter is pi out by the father. It’s funny that the blind boy eaJ J even see his father, although the man is always a parent to him. The only thing that really intereJ the average hired man is someihiJ that he is not paid for attending to. I “Yes,” said Fogg, “as a success I have always been a failure, but as I failure 1 have been an unqualified sol CG8S. i “There is no smoke without soi fire,” sadly remarked the young m who was informed that he would 1 discharged if he didn’t quit using cij arettes. “Can you show mo the grub t makes the butterfly?” she inqui sweetly. “Buckwheat’s the grub, tain't in season,” answered the ignorant grocer. A New York editor is trying to cide which is proper. “I saw opera” or “I heard an opera.” If sat behind* the regulation size the latter term is correct. Officer—“Well, Anton, how's master today?” captain, he’s no better yet. just now to 6hy his boot at my but hadn’t the strength to do it!” Mrs. White—“Have you heard news? Dr. Jalop’s daughter eloped with a Pullman car Isn't it awful?” Mrs. and she always has 6aid that has no attraction for her, the elite!” A man in a village of Holland n seen one day- painting a heavy bla line on the gable-end of his house,& attaching to it a date, say Novcmi 18, 1882. Asked what he was aboi he said: “I am moving my hid water mark up to where the boys ca^ scratch it out again, I am sick their pranks.” An Indian Robin Hood. Jhunda, the dacoit, who was cently killed in an encounter with Indian police, appears from the counts of his life given by the to have been a kind of Indian Hood. He began his career in native army, but soon left the for the more congenial occupation robbery. In 1874 he was and sentenced to fifteen years’ prisonmeut. After breaking in an attempt to escape he Meerut goal till 1888, and became most expert carpet weaver in prison. On his release he band, which soon became the Meerut and the adjoining His usual course of operations pounce upon a village and call the local 6hroff, or banker, to his bonds and receipts, which then publicly burned, while the s himself was plundered. This proceeding made Jhunda popular the indebted classes, who form a 1 proportion of the rural and by their aid he succeed in the police for the lasttwo years. bis English prototype, he is also have been charitable to ihe There was at first some doubt idea® he was actually killed; but his i6 now placed beyond question.