Daily Greencastle Banner and Times, Greencastle, Putnam County, 28 September 1897 — Page 2

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TJTE DAILY BAXIS'EK TIMES

GREENCASTLE, ENDIAJNA-

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It it estimated that tho wheat crop or the United States for the present year will be almost 500,000.000 bushels, and that 1100.000,000 bushels of this will be demanded by Europe and Asia to supply the loss caused by crop shortages on those continerts. One New York bank shipped west over a million dollars the ether bay to be used in moving wheat, a: d similar shipments will probably occur from day to day throughout the season. It is a generally accepted fact that a good wheat crop and good times go together, but few persons even of those most directly affected understand just how it is that the two facts are related or what an enormous power for good is in the great flood of yellow grain that is sweeping eastward over the country. A few figures will tell the story more eloquently than any words can. An ordinary freight car will hold 1.000 bushels of wheat. It will require 600.000 cars to move the present crop; coupled together in a single train they would reach from New York almost to San Francisco. A fleet of 1,500 ordinary grain carrying vessels will he hardly enough to transport to Europe the part of the crop that will bo exported. If the Erie canal gets only its usual share of the grain carrying business 10,000 canal boats will be filled with wheat, enough to make a towhalf as long as the canal itself. If we put the figures in the form of dollars and cents the array is even more striking. Half a billion bushels of wheat at sixty cents per bushel—

hour. In going a mile this machine reaps nearly ten acres, and does more work than our grandsire, with his cradle scythe and flail, could in a whole season. This is the starting point of the wheat on its Journey marketward. The sacks that are thrown out by the great harvesters are gathered up in wagons and driven off to the nearest railway station, where they are dumped into grain cars or small storage warehouses. A grain car is an ordinary box car fitted with an inside partition and an extra door of planking that can be let down, making the car perfectly tight. The <ars from the various lu-anch lines are hurried off as soon as loaded to one of the great transfer stations, of w hich Kansas City and Duluth are perhaps the largest. There it is turned over to the big trunk linos or lake vessels for the next stage of the journey. The extraordinary demand for wheat in the eastern markets has led to an unusual state of affairs in Kansas City and other w estern shipping points during the past few weeks. The grain has been required for shipment as fast as it came in. so that it has not been allowed to lie in the elevators at all. It has been found, however, that the easiest way to transfer it is to run it through the elevators. Accordingly the cars from local points are run in on one side of the elevator, and cars, or in Duluth the boats, for the east on the other. One leg of the telescopic chute w-ith its endless belt of cups is let down on the receiving side, and the grain is hoisted up to the lofty roof of

est grain ports in the wo-’d. Two new elevators, which ate now in process of completion there, arc the largest In the world, and embody some new and interesting arrangements for the handling and storage of grain. The larger of these is the (Jreat Northern elevator, which will have a capacity when completed of 2,000,000 bushels. The other will be known as the electric elevator and is being built for a capacity of 1,000.000 bushels, with the probability of enlargement to 2,000.000. The unique feature of these new elevators is that in them the old-fash-ioned wooden bins have been abandoned. Their place has been taken by a series of gigantic cylindrical steel tanks. In the Great Northern elevator there will he three rows of these, with ten tanks in each row, each with a capacity of 100.000 bushels. The steel bins will be eighty-four feet high, and will ho so arranged that they can be hermetically scaled in order to protect the grain from moisture. Hetween the rows of lofty steel bins will be smaller storage bins, into which the grain will first be moved from the

but is made by means of barges. The cars containing the grain are run into the elevators; again the leg of a long chuto is let down into the car and the iron cups carry the grain in a steady stream 40, 50 or 60 feet to the top of the building, where it passes under the eyes of the weighers and inspectors. Wheat is graded according to its weight per Winchester bushel. The hopper bins have a certain capacity in bushels. The weigher sets his scales at the mark required of No. 1 or No. 2. according to the grade to which the wheat is supposed to belong, and when the bar lifts he moves a lever and lets the grain run out into the bin prepared for that partciular grade. From the bottoms of these same bins streams of wheat run into another set of weighing bins, and thence into the barges that lie alongside the elevator. These barges are then towed alongside the ocean steamers which are to carry the grain to its destination. Here another elevator, this time a floating one, picks up the grain, passes it along to another set of w-eigning scales and thence into the

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BIGGEST HEADER AND THRESHER IN THE WORLD.

the ave.rage price that the farmer is receiving—means $300,000,000. Three -hundred millions to he expended in lifting mortgages, paying labor, buying food and clothing and agricultural Implements is itself a powerful spur to prosperity. But this is not all. To convey the grain from the fields to the Atlantic seaboard costs about twenty cents per bushel. On the portion of the crop which must be moved half across the continent this will mean tens of millions of dollars for the railways and elevators, lake vessels and canal boats, for the rommission man and the laborer. Europe must pay well for all she takes, and that means $150,000.000 or more coming across the Atlantic to pay for American w heat. And not to carry the enumeration to wearisome length, it wil suffice merely vo refer to the share of this golden harvest which will be reaped by the miller, thf manufacturer of machinery and others more or less affected. This rich bounty, so great and so widespread, is not won without a vast expenditure of human effort. The way in which this flood of yellow grain is moved, controlled and directed is highly interesting as an object lesson in modern industrial development. It is interesting, too, to noto that if the present crop is the largest of recent years the facilities for handling it are also the most perfect. This year, 1897, lias seen the largest harvesting machine. the biggest grain carrying boats and the most gigantic elevator ever built. Out in Redlands, Cal., they have been cutting grain this season with a harvester that is truly a mammoth of its kind. It has a cutting bar over fifty feet in width, cuts the grain, thrashes it. ties it up in sacks and turns out hundreds of these sacks per

the elevator, and rushes down on the opposite side without pausing a moment in the transfer. The elevator men have thus been able still to collect their toll of one-half cent per bushel for transferring the grain. There are two great wheat routes from the west to the Atlantic seaboard. One is a water route via the great lakes and the Erie canal, and the other is a land route via the four great grain earrying lines. The former is the cheaper and the later is the more expeditious, and the competition between the tw-o prevents the prices of transportation from rising to an exorbitant height. The larger part of the grain moved between Duluth and New York city travels by a combination water and land route, in big steel freight boats down the lakes to Buffalo, and thence by rail to New- York. The lake rate from Duluth to Buffalo is 2Mj cents per bushel during the busy season, and. as the newer grain ships have a carrying capacity of 160,000 bushels, the business is a profitable one fru- them. At present there are nearly 700 vessels engaged, for a part of the season at least, in carrying wheat on the lakes. This is more than are employed in moving the export crop across the Atlantic, and, what may seem more surprising, the largest lake vessels are considerably larger than the ordinary ocean craft engaged in the same line of work. The new craft of modern steel construction which have been put up on the Great Northern Co. are among the finest models Of Americanbuilt merchant vessels. At Buffalo the grain that is brought down the lakes again passes through the elevators for reshipnient to New York and Boston. Its fortunate position lias made Buffalo one of the great-

vessels and afterward elevated to the larger bins by the usual cup method. The method of discharging the grain is equally interesting. The huge steel cylinders are raised above the floor and rest on square steel columns. Their lower ends are bowl-shaped with a valve at the lowest point so that by simply moving a lever the grain will run out and can he conveyed by steel tubes to ears or boats without the use of hoisting machinery. Every bit of machinery in the new elevators will he run by electricity from Niagara Falls, and 1.000 horse-power dynamos are now being built for the purpose. The silent ease and resistless power with which these tons upon tons of grain are to be moved by Niagara’s mighty arms, when compared with the old cumbersome methods of lifting and shoveling, afford a striking testimonial to the w'-^'ters of modern industrial development. From Buffalo Hie wheat travels eastward again by canal and rail. The railway rate between Buffalo and New New York is five cents per bushel, and is held steadily at that price by the joint traffic association. For several years there has been a tierce rivalry between the canal and the railways, and in 1895 when the project of devoting $9,000,000 to the improvement of the canal was before the voters of New York the traffic association put down the price of transportation two and a half cents per bushel in order to show the uselessness of the "state ditch,” as it is irreverently called, in that year the canal tarried only 14,000.000 bushels, while the railways

ship s hold. The numerous weighings to which the grain is subjected acts as a safeguard for the different companies, as any discrepancy greater than 1 per cent lost in dust and in the process of handling would require an explanation, and would indicate that somebody had made a mistake. When the wheat passes out of New York harbor it ceases to pay tribute to America hut in the course of its travels from the plains of the Dakotas to the Atlantic tides it gives employment to thousands of Americans and scatters its golden increment broadcast over the land.—New York Jour«nul.

LATE NEW INVENTIONS. To assist men in training their mustaches a new invention has a flexible band to be drawn tight across the mustache after it has been curled the baud being held In place by loops at each end which go over the ears. The stopping" of runaway horses is made easier by means of o new bridle which has pads to fit over the nostrils to shut off the animal's wind when the reins are drawn tight, the pads lying loose when the reins are slack. For use in time of war a new explosive shell is forged with longitudinal grooves on its Inner surface .to insure its bursting lengthwise after firing, thus scattering the shot inside at right angles with the direction of tile shell.

jtLAKt ONTARIO.

ON THE ERIE CANAL

transported 72,000,000 bushels to New York. The canal men hope that with the improvements now being made on their highway and the possibility of bringing grain all the way down the lakis in steel canal boats they may regain some of their former prestige. At the seaboard the grain is weighed, inspected and graded, and takes its fincl transfer to the ocean vessels. In New York harbor this transfer does not take place directly,

Ocean-going ships can he easily cleaned on the bottom by a new machine, which is run by power from the ship and has a shaft set in a socket to hold it and fitted with a series of wire rings which scrape the hull as the shaft is revolved, A new coat and hat holder which will prevent the garments from slipping off the pegs has a pair of clumping jaws, which are opened by a lever on the ilour. to be pressed by the foot, and pull a rod or chain which operates the jaws.

To prevent the explosion of kitchen boilers and water heaters a U-shaped glass tube is filled with mercury and attached to the top of the boiler, the steam blowing the mercury into a cup and escaping when the pressure becomes too high. Piano players will appreciate a new music leaf turner which can be attached to the music-holder and has a number of spring arms which are placed between the leaves and fastened on the right side, to he released by a pedal under the foot.

A man weighing two hundred pounds , would weigh nearly three tons on the I sun. and his own weight would prob- | ably flatten and kill him. the farce of I gravity being twenty-eight times great- ; er at the sun’s surface than on the j

earth.

VICTIM OF ARNOLD.

SCENE FROM A REVOLUTIONARY NOVEL.

The Great C’oinniancler of the United States Army K©fti»ed to ChanR** the Mode of Death of the Unhappy Drills h Spy.

OCTOR S. WEIR Mitchell’s novel of the American Rcvo 1 u t i o n , "Hugh Wynne,” is nearing its end in the Century magazine. In the August number is the following int e r v i ew between the hero, Hugh Wynne, and Gen. Washington immediately following the sentence of Maj. Andre; »*ynne seeking to induce Washington to allow Andre to die a soldier’s death: A huge fire of logs blazed on the great kitchen hearth, and at a table covered with maps and papers, neatly set in order, the general sat writing. He looked up, and with quiet courtesy said, “Take a seat, Capt. Wynne. I must be held excused for a little.” I bowed and sat down, while he continued to write. His pen moved slowly, and he paused at times, and then went on apparently with the utmost deliberation. I was favoraoly placed to watch him without appearing to do so, his face being strongly lighted by the candles in front of him. He was dressed with his usual care, in a buff waistcoat and a blue-and-buff uniform, with powdered hair drawn back to a queue and carefully tied with black ribbon. The face, with Its light-blue eyes, ruddy cheeks, and rather heavy nose above a strong jaw, was now grave and, I thought, stern. At least a halfhour went by before he pushed back his chair and looked up. I am fortunate as regards this conversation, since on my rettirn I set it down in a diary which, however, has many gaps, and is elsewhere incomplete. “Capt. Wynne,” be said, *T have refused to see several gentlemen in regard to this sad business, but I learn that Mr. Andre was your friend, and I have not f c-gotten your aunt’s timely aid at a moment when it was sorely needed. For these reasons, and at the earnest request of Capt. Hamilton and the Marquis, I am willing to listen to you. May I ask you to be brief?’’ He spoke slowly, as if weighing his words. I replied that I was most grateful--that I owed it to Maj. Andre that I had not long ago endured the fate which was now to be his. “Permit me, sir,” he said, "to ask when this occurred.” I replied that it was when, at his excellency’s desire, I had entered Philadelphia as a spy; and then I went on briefly to relate w hat had happened. “Sir,” he returned, “you owed your danger to folly, not to what your duty brought. You were false, for the time, to that duty. But this does not concern us now. It may have served as a lesson, and I am free to admit that you did your country a great service. What now can I do for you? As to this unhappy gentleman, his fate is out of my hands. I have read the letter which Capt. Ilimilton gave me.” As he spoke he took it from the table and deliberately read it again, while I watched him. Then he laid it down and looked up. 1 saw that his big, patient eyes were overfull as he spoke. ”1 regret, sir, to have to refuse this most natural request; I have told Mr. Hamilton that it is not to be thought of. Neither shall I reply, it is not fitting that I should do so, nor is it necessary or even proper that I assign reasons which must already be plain to every man of sense. Is that all?” I said, “Your excellency, may I ask but a minute more?” T am at your disposal, sir, for so long. What is it?” I hesitated, and, I suspect, showed plainly in my face my doubt as to the propriety of what was most on my mind when I sought this interview. He instantly guessed that I was embarrassed, and said, with the gentlest manner and a slight smile: “Ah, Mr. Wynne, there is nothing which can be done to save your friend, nor indeed to al'cr his fate; but if you desire to say more, do not hesitate. You have suffeted much for the cause which is dear to us both. Go on. sir.” Thus encouraged, 1 said, “If on any pretext the execution can be delayed a week, I am ready to go with a friend.” —I counted on Jr.eR--‘ , to enter New York in disguise, and to bring out Gen. Arnold. 1 have been his aide, I know' all his habits, and I am confident that we shall succeed if only I can control near New York a detachment of tried men. I have thought over my plan, and I am willing to risk my life upon

it.”

“You propose a gallant venture, sir, but it would be certain to fail; the service would lose another brave man, and I should seem to have been wanting in decision for no just or assignable cause.” I was profoundly disappointed; and in the grief of my failure I forgot for a moment the august presence which Imposed on all men the respect which no sovereign could have inspired. “My God, sir!” 1 exclaimed, “and this traitor must live unpunished and a man who did but what he believed to be his duty must suffer a death of shame!” Then, half scared, 1 looked up, feeling that I had said too much. He had risen before I spoke, meaning, no doubt, to bring my visit to an end, and was Standing with his back to the fire. his\admirable figure giving the

impression of greater height than wa» really his. When, after my passionate speech. 1 looked up, having of course also risen, J his face wore a look that was more solemn than any face of man I have ever yet seen In all my length of

years

“There is a God, Mr. Wynne,” he said, “who punishes the traitor. Let us leave this man to the shame which every year must bring. Your scheme I cannot consider. I have no wish to conceal from you or from any gentleman what it has cost me to do that which, as God lives, I believe to be right. You, sir, have done your duty to your friend. And now may I ask of you not to prolong a too painful interview.” I bowed, saying, “I cannot thank your excellency too much for the kindress with which you have listened to a rash young man.” “You have said nothing, sir, which does not do you honor. Take my humble compliments to Mistress Wynne.” GROUNDS FOR COMPLAINT. What Happened When the Tailor Mlied tlio \V©<l<Iing NuIt*. “I’m on the warpath," declared the young man who is yet in the first quarter of his honeymoon, says the Detroit Free Press. “If I get a Judgment of less than $10,000 against that tailor of mine I’ll appeal the case and go to the end of the road with him. There should be a special statute aimed at such offenses as his.” “What’s your claim against him?” “Surest case you ever heard of. I’ve got him where he can’t wiggle. You know that I was married week before last ’at the residence of the bride’* parents.’ They live fifteen miles from Detroit anil I decided to ride out there on my bicycle the day before the ceremony. The tailor had made my wedding suit, but it needed pressing and was to be sent to mo that night by express, without fail. I impressed it upon him time and again that the delivery was imperative. Next morning along came the clothes neatly packed. I looked them over and then hung them away till the fateful hour ar-

rived.

“When it came time to dress I progressed with a fair degree of equanimity till I donned the breeches. Then I had cold sweats and something that was mighty near a fainting spell. I yanked the braces till I stood on my toes and even then the pantaloon* were six inches too long. They were big enough for the Colossus of Rhodes, i tried the vest and h. d to button it to keep it from sliding off, while the coat never touched me. I said more things than I ever had before in my life, but that couldn't provide a wedding suit and I had to be married In about as tacky an old bicycle outfit as you ever saw. I was guyed, laughed at and humiliated at least $50,000

worth.

“When I went roaring and foaming into the tailor establishment there was a 250-pounder threatening to wreck the institution. He flourished the remnants of my own suit that he had tried to don for his own wedding, ripping seams and scattering buttons till the clothes looked as if they might have been hung out to dry in a cyclone. Now we're both after the tailor and we're go’ng to get him.”

Th© Tone of I?©1]ji. Many persons suppose that the varying tones of bells in a cathedral chime depend chiefly upon the size and thickness of the different bells. But a writer in the Scientific American say* that the tone is governed by the protuberant ring of metal on the flange of the b«ll a little back from the edge. The bail founder who desires to impart a particular tone to a bell is very careful about the thickness which he gives to this ring, and its dimensions are calculated in advance.

Origin of "Tip.” Here is an interesting bit of philology. it concerns the origin of th» word “tip,” and throws a little light on the origin of the custom. In old English taverns a receptacle for small coin was placed conspicuously, and over it was written, “To Insure promptness.” Whatever was dropped in the box by guests was divided among the servants. In the course of time the abbreviated form, “T. I. P.,” was used.

Queer Kiiglinti Charity. There are several places in England, according to London Answers, where any one can for the asking have a glass of beer and a piece of bread. One of them is the Hospital St. Cross, near Winchester. Any person who chooses to apply at the porter’s lodge there is provided with a horn cup of beer and a wedge of bread. The custom originated with a generous old gentleman, who left a sum of money to provide all comers with this refreshment in perpetuity.

lilj? Family. The seventeenth annual reunion of the Harlan family took place in West Chester, Pa., last week. This Is one of the largest families in the country, with members in every state In the vnlon. The 1,000 or more members of the family in the assembly are descendants of George Harlan and his family, who settled in Chester county 200 years ago. The ship In which they sailed from England was wrecked on the Atlantic coast just 100 years ago.

A PerplexInfiT Order. Judy: A sergeant in a volunteer corps being doubtful whether he had distributed rifles to all the men called out: “All you that are without arms hold up your hands.’

ALASKAN WEATHliR.

JAPAN CURRENT PROTECTS IT FROM EXTREMES.

N THE c accent number of the !>«. tury there is an Article on •The M iska Trip” by .Mm Muir, the California writer and naturalist. Mr. Mult says: The climate ,f all that portion of the coast that ioathed by the Japan current, extending from the southern boundary of the territroy northward and west wad >i the Island of Atoo, a distance of twenty-five hundred miles, is rema; kably bland, and free from extreme of heat and cold throughout the year It is rainy, however; but the rain is of good quality, gentle in its fall, fillltn: the fountains of the streams, and keeping the whole laud fresh and fruitful, while anything more delightful thij. the shining weather after the rain the groat, round sun-days of June July and August—can hardly be found elsewhere. An Alaska midsummer day is a day without night. In the extreme northern portion of the territory Mi, sun does not set for weeks, anl even as far south as Sitka and Fort V/rangel it sinks only a few degrees below the horizon, so that the rosy colors of the evening blend with those of the morning, leaving no gap of darkness between. Nevertheless, the full day opens slowly. At midnight, from the middle point between the gloatnii v and the dawn, a low arc of light s seen stealing along the horizon, with gradual increase of height and span and intensity of tone, accompanied usually ty red clouds, which make a striking advertisement of the sun’s progrws* long before he appears above the mountain tops. For several hours after sunnseverything in the landscape se»aii dull and uncommunicative. The .loads fade, the islands and the 'mountain with ruffs of mist about them, ca. t. illdefinrd shadows, and the whole firmament changes to pale pearl-gray with just a trace of purple in it. But toward noon there is a glorious awakening. The cool haziness of the air vanishes, and the richer sunbeam*, pouring from on high, make all the bays and channels shine. Brightly no* play the round-topped ripples about tin edges of tiic islands, and over many a plume-shaped streak between them where the water is stirred by some passing breeze. On the mountains of the malnund and in the high-walled fiords that fringe the coast, still finer is the work of the sunshine. The broad whit' bosoms of the glaciers glow lik-> sii ver. and th"ir crystal fronts, and the multitude of icebergs that linger aboip them, drifting, swirling, tinning thei myriad angle; to the sun, are kindled into a perfect blaze of irised light 'I he warm air throbs and wavers, and makes itself felt as a life-giving, on* : Kilting ocean embracing all the earth I dled with ozone, our pulses bound and we are warmed and quicken*'! into sympathy with everything, taken hack into the heart of nature, whenr ® W® feel the Ufa and no iot about us, and the universal beauty the tides marching back and forth with weariless industry, laving tin beautiful shores, and swaying the pur pie dulse of the broad meadows >t th sea where the fishes are fed; the wih streams in rows white with watetfalls ever in kioom and ever in song, spread ing their branches over a thousan mountains; the vast forests feeding oi the drenching sunbeams, every ’ell in a whirl of enjoyment; misty flo* k-* >' insicts stirring all the air; th-* wi t sheep and goats on the grassy ri lgo:above the woods, hears in the berry langles, mink and beaver and otter fahack on many a river and lake; Indians and adventurers pursuing thej lonely ways; birds tending their fount -everywhere, everywhere beaut,- ml life, and glad, rejoicing action. Through the afternoon all th ■ wo down to tlie west the air seem- to thitken and become soft, without los ing its fineness. The breeze (ti»> iwjv and everything settles Into a ieep conscious repose. Then conies t ii>* cmset with its purple and gold—not i narrow arch of color, but oftentimes filling more than half the sky Ttw horizontal clouds that usually hat Ti* horizon are fired on the edges, in I the spaces of dear sky between them are filled in with greenish yellow and amber; while the flocks of thin >v • - lapping cloudlets are mostly touched with crimson, like the outleanuig sprays of a maple-grove in the begin ning of Indian summer; and a RUlr later a smooth, mellow purple flushes the sky to the zenith, ana .ue an tairly steeping and transfiguring tin islands and mountains, and th-mgi u all the water to wine.

A Little Fren©h Trirk. An Englishman recently took i s’ut at a cafe table in Paris. A Frenchman sat on ti e other side of it. Ho began to play with the lever of a seltz t syphon, when suddenly, and seemingly by accident, a stream of the nera' 1 •water struck the Englishman hi th* face. The Frenchman apologized profusely and wiped off the water wch his own handkerchief. After the V - lite Frenchman had gone the Kagl-e*-man discovered that his purse conMieIng nearly £500 had also dlsapivv ! ! *