Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1891 — Page 3

M’KINLAEYISM EXPOSED.

THE TARIFF LAW MINUTELY EXAMINED. An Item by Item Comparision of the Old an& New Tariff Laws aud the Mills Bill— Specific Duties Changed Into Ad Valorem Equivalents—Some Enormous Duties. The Reform Club of New York has recently published a pamphlet which will prove of great assistance to all persons who wish to study the McKinley tariff law. This pamphlet is called “Comparison—ltem by Item. ” It gives a comparison of each duty under the old tariff with the same under the Mills bill And under the McKinley law. The value of this comparison is in the k ffact that it gives the ad valorem equivalent of the specific and compound duties. The difficulty with most people in getting a correct idea of the extent and weight of the tariff burden is that most duties are levied at so much per pound, gallon, yard, etc. This is called a specific duty. On a very large class of articles, too, there are two duties, one specific and the other ad valorem Now, if a person does not know the first ■cost of an article by the yard, pound, etc., it is impossible for him to form a correct idea of just what the duty on it means. He cannot tell how much duty there is on the dollar’s worth of goods. Yet this is the only form in which one can decide whether a duty is high or low. When a b’acksmith is told that the duty on anvils is 2% cents a pound he cannot form an exact idea of the “size of this duty unless it is estimated at so much on the dollar. In order to get that estimate he must know the price of anvils when brought in at the custom house. That price was an average of 6 cents a pound In 1889; and the duty of 2% cents a pound is therefore equal to 42 cents on the dollar’s worth. That ■which is landed at the custom at SI goes to the wholesale merchants at SI. 42, and is passed on through other dealers and finally to the blacksmith at a price at least double the first cost Still more difficult to estimate are the so-called compound duties, or specific and ad valorem duties on the same article. Take corduroys, for example; when a woman is told that the corduroy goods that she buys pay a duty of 14 cents a yard and 20 cents ad valorem, she cannot tell just how high that duty Is. She must know that corduroy costs in England all the way from 15 cents a yard to 70 cents. Then she can calculate the duty ou the dollar’s worth. She will find that on corduroy worth 15 cents a yard the duty will be 14 cents specific and 3 cents ad valorem, equal to 17 cents, or a single ad valorem duty of 113 per cent. In other words, a dollar's worth of corduroy will leave the custom house at a cost to the importer of $2.13. The pamplet already referred to changes all duties into their ad valorem equivalents, and anyone can learn from it what tariff duty he pays on a dollar’s worth of any goods. The three tariffs compared have each two columns, one for specific duties and one for equivalent ad valorem duties. The headings of these columns are given thus: Tariff of 1883. Milla bill. McKinley tariff. Ad lAd Ad Specific, val. Specific, val. Specific. vaL $ eta. p. c. $ eta. Ip. c. | $ eta.lp. c. The changing of the McKinley compound duties on worflen goods into their ad valorem equivalents gives a striking exhibition of the enormity of the present tariff law. A few cases will suffice. Here is.how the matter looks when the compound duties on woolen and worsted cloth, blankets, wool hats, and flannel for underwear are changed into their equivalents: WOOLENS AND WORSTEDS. McKinley tariff. I Ad Specific. | val. Sc. |» c Valued at not above 30e per lb. 33 c &40 150 Valued above 30c and not above 40c per lb &40 $c 135 Valued above 40c and not above 80c44 c &50 19c 1*35 Valued above 80c per 1b44 c &50 j9c 86 BLANKETS, HATS, AND FLANNELS. Valued at not above 30c per lb. 10'Ac &30 ibc 91 Valued above 30c and not above 40022 c &35 19c 98 Valued, above 40c and not above 50c'33 c £35 ibc 101 Valued above 50c, and not above 60c &40 ibc 119 Valued above 60c, and not above 80c &40 19c 95 Valued above 80c &40 ffic 71 The equivalent ad valorem duties on knit woolen goods range from 79 to 166 per cent?; on wqolen and worsted yarns, from 72 to 132; on women’s and children’s dress goods from 73 to 123. On ready-made clothing, composed wholly or in part of wool, the duties are 49% cents a pound and 60 per cent., and these duties are equal to an ad valorem duty of 85 per cent This tariff dictionary might well be called an exposure of McKinleyism.

Where the Tariff Is a Tax.

Italy is one of the most heavily protected countries in Europe. The high tariff taxation on the necessaries of life in that country lays an intorable burden upon the poor laboring people, and perhaps in no country in Europe is there so much poverty. Bat there is strong and intelligent opposition In Italy to high protection. The opponents of protection there have been making a study of the actual cost of protection. One of these, Signor Pareto, has published a statement showing the tariff taxation of a workingman’s family at Florence. This family is composed of poor hard-working people. Its entire earnings for a year amounted to $476, and its savings were $5. Out of the family’s expenses of $471, taxes direct and indirect amounted to sll3, or 23 per cent, of the total expense. The share of,the royal treasury was $69, the city took $24, the province $2, and about $lB went into the pockets of protected manufacturers and agriculturists. This family spends $41.20 for clothing, but that sum included a tax of $7.-41, of which $1.28 Went to the state and $6.13 Into the pocket of the protected manufacturer. lu like manner, the family paid out for bread $77.40, in so doing turning over to the state $7.22, to the city $2.69, and to the protected producer $8.85. So much for protected Italy. A similar study of the expenditures of a family in England has been made. In England there is no protective tariff, and the amount of taxation upon the poor is, therefore, far less than in protected countries. The English family in question was composed of a man and wife and five children; Their expenses for a year were about $385, of which only about 317 went to pay taxes. The rate of taxation pf tffb Italian family was

more than five times greater than that of the Eaglish. familyA few cases will show why there is so great a difference bitween the expenses of theltalian and the English family. The English family buys untaxed sugar at a little below 5 cents a pound, while the Florence family has to pay 14 cents. The duty on sugar he must pay the state and city is nearly 8 cents a pound The Italian family has to pay a duty of over 18 cents a pound on coffee, the English family 4 cents. Kerosene oil costs the Italian family 58 cents a gallon, which includes a duty of 36 cents a gal on. Evidently the tariff is a tax in Italy.

Imports for December.

When President Harrison sent his message to Congress he pointed with pride to the fact that up to some time in November the entries of goods at the New York Custom House were 8 per cent, greater than for the corresponding period in 1889. He called attention to this fact in his defense of the McKinley bill against the charge that it hindered importation. The President apparently took delight in noting that the tariff bill was failing to do the very thing it was intended to do. But the President was too hasty. The recently published report of the Treasury Department on imports and exports for December shows some marked decreases in imports for that month. The total decrease for the month on dutiable goods was nearly a million dollars’ worth. The following table gives some of the entries in which a decrease is reported, together

The last hold breaks.

with the imports in December, 1890 and 1889: Articles. 1890' 1889’. Buttons.'... $103,010 $211,000 C10ck5..... 9,000 39,000 Cotton manufactures.... 2,942,000 3,110,001 Fancy articles.v.... 447,011 540,000 Manufactures of flax, etc. 1,260,000 1,418,001 Cutlery 72,000 167,000 Gloves of leather 316,000 392,001 Leaf Tobacco 572,000 1,082,000 Wool manufactures 2,597,000 3,981,000 These articles came into the country only because American citizens wanted them. Why should other American citizens seek their own gain by having laws passed to take away liberty of purchase from their fellow-citizens who wish to order their goods from such countries as can make them cheapest and be t?

Steel Rail Production.

Our total production of Bessemer steel rails last year was 1,797,489 gross tons of 2,240 pounds. The price ofTails has recently been fixed by the steel rail combination at S3O a ton. The average total cost of producing a ton of steel rails in this country has been given officially by Labor Commissioner Carroll D. Wright as $25.77- The net difference between this cost of production and the price at which the combination sells rails is $4.23 a ton. If this was the net average gain on the total product of last year our steel rail manufacturers —there are now only six companies—cleared $7,600,000 last year. The price for the first half of last year was considerably above S3O. The present price of rails in England is about $24 per ton, or a difference of $6 cheaper than at our trust price. To cover this difference our trust is given a protective duty of $13.44 a ton. If this difference of $6 a ton continues throughout this year, and we produce the same quantity of rails as last year, we shall be compelled to pay $lO,78 ’,OOO more for them than the price of the same quantity in England. In order to insure ourselves the privilege of paying more for our rails, and increasing the prices of our railroad tickets and of freights, we tax steel rails $13.44 a ton. The protection oh 1,797,000 tons at this figure equals $24,150,000. This is the sum which foreign rail-makers would have to pay if they should try to flood our markets with 1,797,000 tons of rail. But the home market is sacred, and we must keep it for our own use to make our own millionaires No wonder that Andrew Carnegie is reported to have said at a dinner in London last year, that the American people are great fools to tax themselves to make millionaires of a few smart men like himself.

To Form a Tin-Plate Trast.

Our paternal protectionist Government has taken the unborn tin-plate industry under Its -wing, and already there are signs that when the “infant” is born it wi 1 find a ready-made trust to enable it to feast and fatten on the tariff spoils. A late nuftiber of a high-tariff organ, the Boston Commercial Bulletin, prints the following piece of news: “Edwin Norton of Norton Bros., Chicagos, and C. R Britton, of Britton & Co., Cleveland, have visited the United States Tinplate Mill at Demmler, Pa., to see how that plant can be embraced in a reorganization of the American Tinplate Asso -iation; to include all the present members; to absorb the Western

Sheet Iron Association, which Is largely represented in Wheeling. Cleveland and Chicago, and to admit all Manufacturers of sheet-iron, steel billets and tin? plate who desire to become members—about 25 firms at the start." Npt*only are the people to be ma{ie .to pay a high tariff price for their tin plate, but apparently a trust is to step in and Shylock-like demand the drop of blood. In doing *his the tru-t will simply take advantage of the situation the McKinleyites have created. Why sWuld the people object to trust prices it they can tolerate McKinley prices? Tney should not forget that McKinleyism and trusts have the same objects in view, the enrichment of manufacturers by raising prices.

McKinley’s Somersault.

McKinley is the champion jumper of somersaults. In his Toledo speech he undertook to reply to ex-President Cleveland’s utterances at the Thurman banquet in favor of such a policy of taxation as will cheapen commodities to the consumer. After attempting to show that cheapness is not to be desired, that we must have a tariff to shut optTEuropean cheap goods and prevent European competition, he claimed that in this way home competition would be developed, “giving the American consumer better products at lower prices, and the farmer a better nfarket than was ever enjoyed under the free trade tariff's of the Democratic party." McKinley objects to “free trade tariffs” because they make things too cheap; and

A TALE OF WOE.

yet he promises by his protective tariff to make things cheaper than ever a free trade tariff does! McKinley's head is muddled.

Competing at Home and Abroad.

Protectionists are happy over the prospects of increasing our exports of manufactured goods to Brazil. But one grave question arises, How are we to beat England' in South America if we cannot beat her at home? In order to keep England out of our own market we lay heavy duties on manufactured articles. The McKin.ey duties on the manufactured goods which Brazil now promises to admit free are as follows: McKinley protection. Agricultural tools ajjd machinery 45 per ct. Mining and mechanical machinery 45 per ct. Scientific instruments and books. .45 to 60 per ct. Railway construction and material... .45 per ct. and those on which Brazil will rednce the duties one-fourth are as follows: McKinley protection. Cotton manufactures ....40 to 60 per ct. Manufactures of iron and steel 45 perct. Furniture of all kinds 35 jfer ct. Manufactures of India-rubber 30perct. Manufactures of leather 35 per ct. It is said that Brazil will be bound to admit all these articles on the same terms with England as from the United States.. Can our merchandise pay freights to Brazil and then compete successfully with British merchandise. If so, why does it need protection from England in New York, when it has no ocean freight to pay? This question was put to Mr. Charles R. Flint, of New York, who was a member of the Pan-Ameri.can Congress, and who is largely engaged in South American trade. Although a stout protectionist, Mr. Flint, says the report, “denied that the United States were unable to compete in their own market with European nations in those articles of merchandise which it was expected that the United States would find a large market for in Brazil under the reciprocity convention. The United States did successfully compete in their own territory with other nations in those articles specifically mentioned in the convention, and all those embraced under general terms, except such as were of a very high grad 6 and particular style, and produced only in Europe. The United States already successfully competed with other nations in Brazil in many’of those articles to the value of nine million per annum: and the object of reciprocity was not to create in Brazil for the United States a now non-existing market, but greatly to enlarge a market already enjoyed.” This being the case, the protective tariff can serve no other purpose at home than co give the protected manufacturer a monopoly of the boasted home market. An Indianapolis man went to Europe and on his return was searched at the doek in New York, and several tine watches were found in his pockets. He was trying to save a duty of 25 per cent. How does it happen that this man became a smuggler and ran the risk of going to the penitentiary, if it be true, ae the protectionists assert, that goods are made in America and supplied to the consumer as cheaply as in Europe? The devil never, to begin with, asks anybody to go farther with him than the next corner.

PERUSE AND PONDER

OVER THE NEWS FROM TOP TO BOTTOM OF INDIANA. Killed by a Falling Tree—Accidental Killing—Divorced and Married Within an Bonj—Juvenile Thieves Jailed—Big Damage Sult. —Franklin County pikes are now free. —Russiaville wants to be incorporated. —Grain thievesare working in Elkhart County. —Edinburg has raised $17,000 for an ice plant. —Spiceland public schools closed for lack of funds. —Noblesville Democrat wants to have houses there numbered. —Elwood's glass factory covers five acres—all under slate roof. —Total value of grounds and buildings owned by Indiana, $8,628,417. —Michael Doyle, of Winchester, aged 78, died suddenly of apoplexy. —William Haub contributed an arm to the moving train at Vincennes. —George W. Rose, of Wayne County, was fatally injured in a runaway. —Greenwood’s canning factory is one of the largest in the United States. —Miss Bertha Knove won the honors at the Franklin oratorical contest. —Samuel Faust, of Arcadia, aged 60, hanged himself. No cause is known. —Mrs. Kate Tucker, near Anderson,3o, married her nephew, Frank Tucker, 20. —Eva Francisco fell into an open file in a fainting fit, at Osgood, and seriously injured. —A number of dynamite cartridges were found under the L. E. & W. depot at Muncie. —Fish-Commissioner Dennis Is after Rockford and Jacnson County illegal fishermen. —Mrs. W. E. Borders. Vincennes, who was taken sick on the streets, died an hour later.

—Martinsville druggists have agreed not to sell whisky excoj<on a physicians’ prescription. —Evansville Spiritualists have been warned by White Caps not to hold • urther_seances. —A cloud burst near Brazil submerged fifteen houses. Families rescued, but much property lost. —The Lebanon Council has required saloons to remove screens and other obstructions to the view. —John Hibbs claims to have discovered a copper-mtno'tin the line of Hendricks and Putnam Counties. —Benjamin Money, aged 16, while hunting near Brownsburg, shot himself in the leg and bled to death. —Abraham Neal, John Potter, and William Stewart have been indicted for the killing of Marcus Selig, near Madison. —J. A. Armstrong's daughter, New Albany, and also his married sister have lost their minds over religious excitement. —Pennsylvania company sued at Columbus for $40,000 by the family of James Stanfield, a brakeman killed by the cars.

—William Crawley, of Chicago, fell from a third-story window of a South Bond hotel and suffered probably fatal injuries. —Three little boys of Ladoga jailed at Crawfordsville for selling stolen chickens. Said they needed the money to go to the show. —The safe in the Panhandle depot at Windfall was blown open by burglars, and railroad tickets and several hundred dollars in money were stolen. —A Noblesville youth approached a Democrat reporter with a piece of news. Reporter asked, vis it authentic?” “Oh, no, its straight goods,” was the reply. —Old man Nagle, wife and two sons, leaders of a notorious gang* of thieves, captured in Elkhart County. Their storehouse was found stocked full of plunder. —Michael Sellers, Crawfordsville, found a 180-pound hog in the bottom of a forty-foot well, been there fortv-one days and was as well as common when rescued. —Martha Meek and Thomas Jones, each divorced at Greensburg from disagreeable partners the same day, turned around and married each other in less than an hour.

—Mr. and Mrs. Amos Hunt, aged and respectable people, were attacked in their house, n<?ar Muncie, by hoodlums and Mrs. Hunt was seriously injured by a blow from a stone. —Company I, State militia, at Crawfordsville, has elected the following new officers: Captain, C. E. McCampbell; First Lieutenant, Hawkins Rose; First Sergeant, Will Schiemmer. —John Aldridge, a boy of 16, who killed John Gleason, aged 15, by striking him with a car-shoe, and who fled while out on bail, has been recaptured and brought back to Jeffersonville. —Samitel £ence, a heading-piier employed at the Coleman heading factory, at Tipton, fell from the top of a heading pile, dislocating his right shopjder and seriously injuring himself otherwise. ' —lt is announced that a new savings bank will shortty be started Jn Fort Wayne. John W. White, late manager of the White Wheel-works, is named as the prime mover in the new enterprise. —An altitudinoustale comes from Vincennes to the effect that a cow owned by Thomas Williamson, a farmer of that vicinity, swallowed a pitenfork handle about twenty inches long and is none the worse for wear. . . - —Three young prisoners tore away a part of the roof of the County Jail at Terre Haute and made their escape. Two, Driscoll and Vaugt, were under sentence for two years for burglary, and the third, Densmore, was awaiting trial for participation tn the same burglarv.

—The prospects for a good crop of fruit in the southern portion of the State were never better than now. —Elias Lyons, 80, south of Muncie, died recently. He never had a hair on his head, and his son has the same physical peculiarity. —Ada Johnston, of Jeffersonville, aged 23, committed suicide, by taking poison. Disappointment in love is supposed to ha.e been the cause. —Benjamju Stone waylaid Grant Summers, a rival in love, at New Providence, and beat him so that he now lies at the point of death. Stone escaped. —A saloon-keeper at Crawfordsville, knowing tnat he had violated the law in selling beer after midnight, and supposing that he had bceu indicted, went before the Circuit Judge and demanded to be fined. He was accommodated and fined S7O. —Oliver Lee, who was arrested for the shooting of Mrs. Mary Randall at Lebanon one year a~o, bnt afterwards released, was instantly killed in his effort to board a moving freight train on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St Louis Railway. —Years age Anthony Fuller, now of Terre Haute, brought suit against his wife, Alevia Fuller, In Clark bounty, Illinois, for divorce, and his lawyer informed him that he had won the suit. Since then he has married and become the father of several children. The other day he discovered that his first suit had boon dismissed and he has applied to the courts for relief.

—Eini) Eicher, the 17-year-old son of a well-known citizen of Evansville, was fatally injured while out on the river hunting for ducks. The coat of a companion .caught on the hummer of his gun and an entire load of duck-shot was the young man’s side. Most of tho load lodged in the vicinity of the spinal column. He was brought ashore as rapidly as possible and prompt medical assistance summoned, but without any avail. —Mrs. E. Kepler, secretary for ihe j lndiana heirs of the Anneke Jans estate, announces that a meeting of the heirs for the purpose of establishing their claims will be held on March 4, at New Albany, Instead of Indianapolis, as heretofore reported. Tho former place is chosen on account of being tho residence of Mrs. Eliza Whitcrow Keyes, said to be the nearest living heir, and who is of advanced age.

—A number of movers passed through Crawfordsville recently, going from Kentucky to Dakota, who had with them a curious-looking girl, about five years old. The child had all over her head and neck what appeared to be chicken feathers. and when she would jabber the sound made would resemble a chicken. Tho only reason assigned for this strange freak was that her father was given a coat of tar and feathers some five months before her birth. —Tho night American express train, from Chicago eastward over the Michigan Central road, has been robbed twlcs within tho last six weeks, the last tlmt. being a week ago. The officers at Michigan City arrested A. P. Craig and Jesse Williams, tho latter colored, as the robbers. Williams confessed and produced a vast quantity of stolen articles, including Silk dresses, clothand miscellaneous merchandise to a considerable valuo, which had been secreted about his home.

—Eugene, a small town six miles north of Newport, was raided by thieves. The residence of Sam Bowers, proprietor of the flouring-mills at that place, was entered and three gold watches and a pah of diamond ear-rings were taken. Mr. Bowers had 8100 in cash in his trouser's pocket which they did not get. They also entered the residence of William Fultz, but got nothing there save a few dishes and four or live dollars in eash. It is believed the burglary was done by home talent, but there is no clew tc identify them. —Thomas Ward, aged 60 years, was found lying along the railroad near Net* Richmond nearly, frozen to death, and he will die from the exposure. He was clad only in his shirt and drawers. An investigation showed that he had undressed in the middle of a Held, it being the supposition that he thought he waft at homf and preparing to go to bed. During the night he had waded through a pond, and in breaking through the ice his feet had been ent to such an extent that the ground was colored with blood for some distance. He was a well-known citizen, and his derangement has come suddenly upon him. —When John G. Keadle, In 1861, left home, at Talbot, as a volunteer in th< Twentieth Indiana Regiment, he tool with him a lock each of his young wife’} and 3-month B-old daughter’s hair, care fully enclosed in a gilt-edged Bible, giver to him by his wife. At a battle it Georgia he lost the Bible. A friend frotr Georgia, visiting George R. Harper, It Madison, told how his relative, Gapt. Joht Russell, of the Third Georgia Regiment had found just such a Bible, with name and all. Harper did not know Keadle but advertized the find, saying that' i> had been placed in his keeping. Kcadh saw the advertisement, came down t< Madison, recovered his treasure and re turned with it to his home in Talbot The daughter is now 30 years old , ant married, and her mother is dead. —Anderson Boswell entered' the cabit home of Mrs. Belle Bass, Bartona, ant cut her throat from ear to ear. She hat refused to elope with him. AH colored —Olivet' Stone, a wealthy young farm er living near Wabash, was found dea< in bed. It is thought that he was suffo cated, as he was found lying on his face —Reports that the sand supply o Hoosier slide at Michigan City is beinj exhausted are not true. Say “there’s enough there to supply the glass sac tories of the whole world for 100 years.’

HAVOC BY HIGH WATER.

JOHNSTOWN, PA., IS AGAIN FLOODED. * offering and Devastation Canted by the Swollen Rivere—General Suspension oj Business and Travel. Concerning the rising flood, a Johnstown, Pa., special says: Stony Creek began to overflow its banks and soon the water came pouring steadily into the streets and flooded the business district of Johnstown. Both the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers are rising rapidly and feeding the flood. Thieves took advantage of the excitement and began plundering right and left. By orders of the Mayor armed men were detailed in all parts of the city to remove property to places of safety and to show no mercy to anybody who was scon to steal anything. .A mounted patrol was established and worked in connection with the gangs of volunteers in the Tousing of sleeper* and the moving 'of property. The railroad people sent a crew of men who worked all night at the stone bridge keeping the arches clear. Seven meg imprisoned in the town jail were liberated because the authorities found that they might be drowned like rats in a cage, as did actually occur at the time of the great flood. Many bridges have gone down. All over the city business men hastily rigged pumps and are laboring to get the water out of their cellars, but with discouraging results. Both the rivers are swelling from hour to hour. The marks show a depth of'twenty-five feet. This is past the danger point, and both rivers an'd all their tributaries are growing larger. A height of thirty-three feet at least is looked for, and the greatest efforts are being made to meet thia emergency. Should the water go higher

LOWER ALLEGHENY CITY.

io effort can avert enormous loss of life end property. Word comes from the lower part of Allegheny that a house has been swept away and all Its occupants drowned, but no names or particulars can be obtained at present. All the large stores on Pennsylvan'a avenue, a short way from the Allegheny River, are flooded, and the work of removing property is very dangerous and slow. All of the railroad* are seriously disabled by landslides and washouta and all trains which have not been abandoned are very late. At Jeannette many persons have abandoned their homes to.the'flood, 1 and have sought'personal safety on the higher ground. Many bridges and houses have gon* down already, and the water is rising at that 'point very rapidly. All railroad traffic has been suspended at - Washington, Pa., since the bridge* are not considered safe, and at Temperanceville, a suburb of this city, the Chartier Creek covers half the town and is spreading. Hundreds are homeless, and since all the trains are tied up they can only seek tho higher ground and take with them what few belonging* they can carry in their hand* A message from Bradford tells that both branches of the Turva Creek have become roaring rivers, ana Davies, Florence, Foreman and Ann streets are inundated. The water has come into the Bevlrio and Seifangs mammoth iron works and ail the tires are put out. At Pittsburg, the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers continue to rise and have reachod'tho highest stage since the flood of 1884, the marks injioth rivers registering 27 feet The men and those in possession of reliable information from *up-rlver points expect th* waters to reach the thirty-foot mark. In this event all of the First Ward of Allegheny and a large part of that city kuown as Manchester will be submerged. Every person in both cities owning property in places Hable to be affected by the flood is preparing for the worst Already many of the mills, glasshouses and factories along both river banks have closed down, while scores of residences between Sharpsburg and lower Allegheny City are surrounded by water, in some Instances reaching to the second floors. Traffic on the Pittsburg and Western Railway has been entirely suspended between Sharpsburg and the depot at Union Bridge. Water covers the track from four to six feet almost the entire distance. Op the lower Mississippi the continual rise of the river, says a Helena (Ark.) dispatch, is causing much anxiety. In the neighborhood of the Williamson plantation the levee is quite bad and • considered dangerous. A large body of men have been pnt to work to construct a “run around” In that locality, which Is 300 yards in length, It is hoped that this Will prevent an incursion of th* water, which is barely two feet from the danger line. At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences the Prince of Monaco read a paper demonstrating the possibility of shipwrecked people, who have taken to • the boats and are without provision, being able to sustain life with what they could catch in a drag net trailing overboard over night One of the chief features of e the use of paper fabric for building purposes is the ease with which it can be worked .Into sheets of any required width or thickness that will notboaffected by changes of temperature or humidity. The following surnames appear in old English records: Duck, Duckrell, Drake, Sheldrake, Wildrake, Wildgoose, Mallard, Duckworth, Peter le Goose, and Walter le Gows. Now is always the very best time if «* will only make it so.