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It is estimated that discoveries, inven¬ tions, and compounds patented each year in the United States and never amounting to anything cost $3,000,000. The largest amount of land held in the United States by an alien corporation is that owned by the Holland Company in New Mexico. It embraces 4,500,000 acres. The hardwood production of the coun¬ try in 1887 was 25 per cent, greater than in 1886. The hardwood trees of the United States are being rapidly ex¬ hausted. A soap mine has been discovered near Pine Ridge, Wyoming. At all events, if it isn’t soap it’s something that resem¬ bles it very closely, being yellow in color, and capable of making a good lather and removing grease from hands and clothing. The supply seems to be unlimited. California is proud of her record foi 1887. Three hundred miles of new rail¬ road were laid, the assessed value of property increased $132,000,000, the wine and brandy product was large, 50,500,000 pounds of tanned goods and 35,000,000 of green fruit were shipped, and there never was such a year for tourists. Au effort to suppress bull-fighting’has been made in Mexico. An attempt to make the powers of Europe disarm would be as likely to win success, sarcastically observes the New York World. Take j bull-fighting from Mexico and there would l.e nothing left save a little pulque, some red pepper and the halls of the Montczumas. Speaking of Mrs. Cleveland, a Wash ington correspondent says: “Her red denceof a year and a half in Washington has not taken the edge off the curiosity of the people living right here at the capital. When she goe3 shopping the clerks and customers at any < tore she may visit drop everything to look and listen. When she takes a scat in a box at the theater the performers lose Half the attention of the audience, and when she gives a reception at the White House the men and women pass in line before her and then eagerly rush around to the corridor, where on tiptoe there is some chance of catching another glimpse of the fascinating hostess.” “Australia,” says the New York Times, “ has received a set-hack by the refusal of the mother country to join her in the plan of contributing $25,000 each for an Antarctic expedition. But the objection made by tho British Government, namely, that the amount proposed is too small to be of service, is a very easy one to cure, if Australia wishes. Still, it is not im¬ probable that any increase in the sura devoted to such an expedition would be so much additional money thrown away. While discoveries within the Arctic circle have been pushed to a distance of only a little more than six and a half degrees from the pole, the furthest advance in the Antarctic region is still nearly twelve degrees from tho South pole. Practically, nothing of importance has been discovered in that direction for nearly half a cen¬ tury, or since the triple successes achieved between 1840 and 1843 by Sir James Ross, our American Wilkes, and the French Dumont d’Urville. Ice and snow perpetually cover latitudes correspond¬ ing to those in which at the north fiour i-hing vegetation, many quadrupeds, and even permanent populations are found. To suppose that any. commercial advantage could come of another at¬ tempt to penetrate these prodigious ice barriers is preposterous, and there is only a slender chance of deriving scientific knowledge of importance from the fpiest.” The number of women in the French capital wlio use tobacco is somewhat on the increase, for there are three or four establishments in the city of pleasure devoted exclusively to the manufacture of ladies’ cigarettes—and they do, it is said, a roaring trade. An inquisitive journalist, however, has ascertained that the cigarettes solely made for the ladies contain a soupcon of opium, which is de¬ cidedly a bad thing for the health and nerves of tiiosc who use them, and who thus may be said to doubly narco¬ tize themselves. The Mexican International R. K. has been completed to I.erdo, on the Mexican Central line, thus closing the gap be¬ tween I.erdo and Eagle Pass, the Ameri¬ can terminus of the International Hoad. This completes the second all-rail route to the City of Mexico, and shortens the distance from the Texas border over 200 miles, as against the El Paso route, while the tot ill shortening of the distance from the interior of Mexico to New York and the East is about 700 miles. The Inter¬ national line is part of the Southern Pacific system, and gives San Antonio direct communication with the City of Mexico. The distance is 1, PiO miles. The Philadelphia Time s says it “has been authorized to invite free suggestions from the multitude as to the best public use that could be made of a gift of $50, 000. The authority comes from a gen¬ tleman of large fortune and large philan¬ thropy, and it is his sincere desire to re¬ ceive intelligent suggestions to guide him in applying that sum in any line of pub¬ lic charity or beneficence to produce the best results to society. The money is ready, and will be given as soon as it slia'L be made clear how it can be made productive of the greatest good. It is not intended that individual or family suffering should be embraced in the list 0 f causes presented.” A Monster Bridge. At n meeting of the American Professor Society of Civil Engineers, Gustav Lindenthal read an exhaustive paper on “The North gigantic River Bridge scheme Problem.” for It outlined a construct¬ ing a suspension bridge across the Hud¬ and son Twenty-eight at a point between for Fourteenth the of streets, purpose bringing ali the great railroad lines into this city. The plan of the bridge con¬ sisted of two wrought iron towers distances on sunken stone at from either shore, with three suspension spans, the Tho middle one single being 2,850 feet de¬ long. signed largest day span is that ever be¬ up to the present longing Scotland. to abridge now being is construct¬ ed in Its length 1,700 feet. The width professor of the river argued has made that the engiueers great rather favor a tunnel than a bridge, ow¬ ing to the many difficulties involved in the construction of the latter. Still a bridge with six tracks, which would ac¬ commodate all of the railroads desiring to enter this city, could be constructed at a much smaller cost than the number of tunnels that would be required for the same purpose. Besides, it would be much safer. A bridge built according to his plan, he said, would be capable of transferring 50,000 passengers an hour in one direction, and would thus meet the demands for at least fifty years. The cost of construction for the bridge alone, including anchorages and abutments, would not exceed $15,000,000. This estimate did not include the outlay which would be involved in the purchase of the necessary amount of laud at cither ap¬ proach, the termini.— nor for tho tracks York Observer. and stations of New A New Beverage. Kaffce-thce or coffee tea, is the name of a new beverage prepared from the roasted leaves of the coffee tree. Ac¬ cording to a late report of Gche, the Malays prefer this tea to coffee, as it is suppose to contain more of the‘ bitter principle decoction and looks to be more nutritious. The like coffee, smells like tea, and tastes like a mixture of both. As the leaves contain 0.5 to 0.7 per cent, of caffeine, this new product may become the important of as an caffeine article of food as well as source .—New York Market Journal. WILL BREAKERS. FIERCE LEGAL STKIGGI/ESPOK DEAR MEN’S WEALTH. Lawyers Who Feed Fat on 15itr Estates in Litigation — Divert¬ ing Millions From the Pur¬ poses Its Owners Intended. A New York correspondent, writing (o the Pittsburgh JDUpate/t, says: Sur¬ before rogate Hollins had 384 wills contested him in his throe years’ term. He admitted all but fifty of them. It would be impossible to estimate the amount of money involved in these contests, but $500,000,000 would not over estimate it, for they include the estate of Samuel J. Tilden, the $10,000,000 of James Hokes, the $11,000,000 of Jesse Hoyt, the 5000,000 of Louis Hamersly, the $5,000, 009 of Sarah Burr, and the $3,000,009 of Reran Steven, besides the great fortunes of A. T. Stewart and his widow. Twenty-five, men are paid by the city to look after the proper distribution of dead men’s estates, according to their wishes, but Surrogate Hollins said there ought to be 100 employed in the work, growing Scarcely greater every day. half a dozen wealthy men, or women either, for that matter, have died here in the past ten years without leav¬ their ing a heirs. legacy of The endless litigation among late William If. Van¬ derbilt. and Miss Catherine Wolfe are the only exceptions I recall at present. Even Miss 'Wolfe, though, had to make the terms of her will in such explicit and iron clad terms that it was plain that she fcarqd fore the humiliation of a contest be¬ the Surrogate. 3 n fact, it has grown to be the prerogative of kinship to grab for other people’s money, and the flimsiest pretext serves the purpose, even if it only results in bagging a few thousands for hush money and counsel fees. What a revelation there would be'for the rich men of the land if they could come back to’earth and listen to the fight over the results of their toil! Here’s A. T. Stewart, the greatest dry goods mer¬ chant this city ever saw, pictured as mentally incapable of disposing of the millions he had gathered; his widow is in hep grave less than a year before two dozen heirs are pounding on the doors of the law courts to upset her bequests; Jesse Hoyt’s $11,000,000 have opened the doors of his family closet, and the skeleton stalks out in the glare of publicity; Sarah Burr died four years ago, but her $5,000,000 were made the object of hitter litigation, and her ec¬ centricities paraded before the world. Samuel J. Tilden, keen lawyer as he was, made a will that his nephews are determined to break, and his great scheme for a free public library here is thus and baffled. The Paran Steven3 ease was only settled permanently litigation a short while ago after 15 years of and personal abuse of the worst sort from the widow to her son in-law, and vice versa. Paran Stevens was one of our great Bonifaces, and his estate still holds an interest in the Fifth Avenue and Victoria Hotels here and similar property in Boston. He died in I860, leaving his widow, a married daughter, and son-in-law !o manage his estate and divide the property among about twenty heirs. Mrs. Stevens and her son-in-lawnever did get on together, and the breach widened after the old man died. Early in 18 i 2 she denounced him and began suit to have him removed as executor. Mrs. Stevens, it will be remembered, created a sensation at New¬ port last summer by entertaining the Duke of Marlborough. Her fight to oust her son-in law cost $250,000 at least. Who of those who knew Daniel H. Lyddy would have thought that he would be put forward by his brothers after death as a subject of undue influ¬ ence? He was as sane as any many that ever lived, and yet he was hardly in his grave before his brothers—the ones who made themselves notorious by accepting $12,000 his widow from Sharp—declared his The war ludicrous upon for estate. part of the story married is that Liddy hadn’t a penny until ho Madame Con¬ nolly, the famous dressmaker here, who not only owned all the Long Branch property but had a good sized bank wealth ac¬ count as well. Of course that greatly increased under Mr. Biddy’s shrewd management, hut where would he have been if he had not married thousands? Now his brothers have be¬ gun a fight to keep those thousands on their side of the house, and they declare the will bogus that gives back to the widow the property that was originally hers. An array of high-priced legal talent has begun a long contest over theWidow Stewart’s estate, which ex-Judge Hilton lias rightfully or wrongfully appropri¬ ated. Mrs. Stewart's niece is not satis lied with her $30,000,but wants the will set aside as having been fraudulently ob¬ tained ; one of the nephews, a brother of the present contestant, entered suit for the same purpose, though on different grounds, six months ago. It would not surprise many people if the two Stewart wills were still in litigation after Judge Hilton’s death, for he is getting on jn years now. Meanwhile the big white marble mansion at Fifth avenue and Thirty-fourth street is closely curtained and shuttered, and no one goes in or out but the old butler. It is literally ahouse of death—a marble grave. How every dream of A. T. Stewart’s later days hus been dissipated. His marble mansion is nothing ing but a gloomy tomb, the work¬ women’s home that he planned and set afloat thousands for has been turned into a fashionable hotel,in which a single meal costs as much as he meant to charge for a full week’s board. His scheme for a grand cathedral Garden seat and educational centre at City is ail but a flat failure, and the dry goods house that he made known the world over is now merely a reminiscence. Kvcn his bones, weary after a lifetime of drudgery, are hidden no one knows where. There is rest in the grave for the weary, but not for the wealthy. A Frightful Position, Ur. Robinson, late of the Ouion steam¬ ship Liverpool Arizona, who has returned from to settle in New York, reports a most the singular accident which occurred on great steamer on her last outward trip. Among the passengers was an amateur ventriloquist,whoseantics-served to help pass the time very pleasantly for those who were not afflicted with the horrors of a first day’s sea-sickness. The steamer had hardly passed Sandy Hook when the engineers heard terrible shrieks coming from the direction of the engine-room pit. A thorough search finally convinced them that they were tire victims of the ventriloquist’s search. jokes and they stopped On the second day out, while the sec¬ ond engineer was inspecting the machin¬ ery, he noticed what seemed to beasaek lying pit- directly the’ under the eccentrics in the of engine room. The great ec¬ centrics were whirling over the object at the rate of sixty revolutions per minute. On closer examination the sack proved to be a man lying oqhis hack. The en¬ gines were stopped, the Arizona came to a standstill and with the aid of a rope position. tlie man was dragged from his perilous He was still but his left arm was crushed to a jelly by the terrible blows from the eccentrics. lie had crawled into the engine-room before the steamer left her dock and lay there facing death for trics fully forty-eight hours. within The eccen¬ eight inches came of whirling his face down and the slightest movement in any direction meant certain death. So he lay there while the power¬ ful eccentrics continued to mash his arm with clockwork regularity. The man gave liis name as Henry Smith, from New York, but refused to say anything further about himself. left Dr. of Robinson amputated what was his arm. The first man to leave the ship at Liverpool was the stowaway, who, with his smiled bundle hearty under good-by his remaining the doctor, arm, a at saying he was the going to a hospital. and lost Ho passed the crowd.—New over gang-plank York Journal. was in The Wily Red Man. Near Montour, la., is an Indian reser¬ vation, where a large number of the Sac and Fox tribes find a home. Last Thursday thousand their dollars annuity in was gold paid. Fifteen was distributed—each member of tho tribe receiving exactly $39.99 as his or her share. In order to avoid tho trouble of making change a proposition was made to some of the chiefs to pay them $10 and for them to return the odd penny. This they refused to do. Thoy are ex¬ ceedingly and suspicious demanded of the the exact Government change. agents suspicion to be mutual, for the The seems agent, instead Indian of paying out after the money, which gave each a check, he was escorted to a bank, whero the exact change was handed to him. This was done to prevent the wily Indian from getting two annuities—the strong family resemblance making that trick good once before .—New York Graphic,